Antiquities.....

It's no secret that I am obsessed with ancient cultures.  I should have been an archaeologist...but growing up on a farm meant you took practical things in college...not art...not ancient cultures.  I took math and science and trained to work in a hospital laboratory...practical.  But life leads us down many paths.  I no longer work in the lab but I'm still around them and work as an Administrator....fancy name for a person who can move all the red tape.  I'm good at this but it's not something that excites me.  It is a means to an end....paying the bills and being able to do the things I want to do....make jewelry, travel, study other cultures. 

SO....about three years ago I stumbled across an image of an ancient Parisii coin.  The Parisii were a Celtic tribe who lived on the island...Ile de la Cite...in the middle of the Seine.  They were the first inhabitants of that area and modern day Paris takes it's name from this tribe. 

I love this coin...I love Paris.  I understand The Met has one... so some day there will be a trip to New York so I can see it in person.  I traced the image and made a texture sheet out of it and have been making pendants and earrings not just from this coin but from others.

The day came (over the weekend) when I wasn't happy with just making texture from images or molds from replicas.  I was surfing the net and found one of many sites selling antiquities.  I don't know why this site broke down my defenses...but it did.... and I bought some coins.  Probably because they came as a set and the price seemed reasonable...well....reasonable for 13th century coins.  Here are 3 of the 5 coins that I bought. 

Plus part of a bronze Visigoth belt buckle

I guess I will consider this a Christmas present to myself :))
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I want to learn you better???......

What list did I get on???  I keep getting these spam e-mails from girls looking for a Sugar Daddy.  But they do crack me up. 

Here is "I want to learn you better"

Greetings,

I came here to look for my second half, my soulmate,my friend It is to tell about myself to you, as I haven't seen you ever before. But I feel something inside. I feel like a little sign of hope that I am not doing this in vain.I feel that you have the friendly soul to mine.What I want to find is Love. Yes, Love from the big letter. Love demands everything - to present yourself, your soul to the other person. I want to learn you better. If you want the same, I will be very glad. I want to meet you and spend life with you together. I want to comfort your heart with tenderness and care. Maybe our souls belong to each other, please write me back through this same mail adressand i will send you some of my pictures.

Hug From,
Jennifer


But this one is even better..."My name is Miss Happiness"....of course it is dear....because nobody would write back to someone named "Miss Bitchiness"

HELLO

How are you today, Hope all is well with you and your family? My name is Miss Happiness However it really pleases me to write you for a lovely and sincere friendship even if we haven’t met or seen each other before. I will be so much appreciate to see your reply soon so that we can share pictures and know more about ourselves.  I shall appreciate an urgent response from you.

With lots of love from your new friend
Happiness

Do you think they'll be upset if I don't respond???
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Cleaning progresses...

The reading area is cleaned........

The metal clay area is cleaned....including the floor

Where did it all go???

On top the desk....of course. 
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Blog Link - Gwenn Seemel

Elaine Luther from All Things Metal Clay provided a link to Gwenn Seemel's blog...Face Making.  Gwenn has some interesting thoughts on copyright, free culture, imitation and originality.   She puts up videos in both English and French.  Check her out!!

Cleaning....

Cleaning up my mess a little at a time.  I decided to clean up the metal clay station.  This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week.

And this is what it looks like now.  It will stay this way until I decide to work in clay again and then it will take all of about an hour to make it a mess again. 

It looks so pretty....but if you look down at the floor just next to the desk there is this.....

 
But like I said....a little at a time.  I have a tendency when I clean to pick a spot where I put everything that needs to be put away.  So inch by inch the room gets cleaned and straightened....except for THE PILE....which gets bigger and bigger.  The pile is the last thing I attack. 

I have a four day weekend coming up so I will have a chance to put a dent in all the mess I created over the last 6 weeks.  I'm also taking pics of the jewelry for Etsy.  The light tent seems to be a permanent fixture on the dining room table.  My Esty shop is open again.  Hopefully I will get some more pieces up soon. 
 
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!
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There's something to be said for deadlines....

Now that the show is over I feel totally unfocused.  Leading up to the show there was no question about what I HAD to accomplish.  Everything else just took a back seat.  Now all those back seat items are staring me in the face and I am somewhat at a loss for what to do first...where to focus my energy. 

I did have two pieces to alter....those will go out in the mail this week.  But what to do from here???  I am working on getting things up on Etsy but that is a slow process.  I have a short attention span...especially during the week because I'm tired from working all day.  So only a few pieces posted at a time. 

I have books to read.  I'm currently reading a Cara Black novel...Murder in the Palais Royal (Aimee Leduc Investigations, No. 10)  This is a murder mystery series based in Paris...each book is in a different neighborhood and all involve Aimee Leduc as the female detective/heroine.  I also want to continue studying African masks, sculptures, and textiles....something I started this summer. 

I have to clean the studio too.  Boy....do I need to clean the studio.  It's such a mess.  Remember all those spacers I dropped on the floor.  Well I was in the studio a few days ago and knocked over two more containers of.....spacers.  It was ridiculous.  So I spent about an hour on the floor picking everything up.  And because I'm so anal I will spend a couple hours sorting them all back into their little compartments.  I also need to sort all the other pieces/parts.  I'm hoping to do some de-stashing so stay tuned.
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Never leave your husband in the booth alone!!

My shows are done for the year....all 2 of them...LOL.  It was a good show and quite a few friends stopped by the booth.  Every time I do a show the booth display evolves.  This year I had to quick come up with something for the walls besides my tent sides.  I say "quick" because I left it to the last minute...as usual.  So I ran out to BB&B for some sheers.  They worked out well.  Below are some pictures of the booth.

Pic taken by Brenda Baby!!

The three days seem like a blur now.  I'm glad it's done but it's also a little sad.  You spend three days getting to know the artists around you and catching up with friends you made in previous years....then you leave and don't see them again for a year....or never.  It's a little strange. 

I also learned a lesson....never leave your husband alone in the booth.  While I was gone a customer came in and asked where I get the bronze.  He told her that we take trips to Macedonia and dig it up ourselves.  I repeat....never, ever leave your husband in the booth alone.

I didn't take any pics except one....it was a piece that Lou told me I had to see.......

This is a piece by Michael Weiss.  I asked him about the use of straps and faux rivets on his pottery.  His teacher has been using this particular design technique for 40 years.  We both agreed that there are no original ideas anymore.  If you can think of it....someone else has already done it. 

“Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.”

-Sydney J. Harris

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Hopping to See You....

I got this e-mail today from brenda baby.  Now I have a friend Brenda...but I knew it wasn't from her.  I've never heard my friend refer to herself as "brenda baby"...LOL.  Apparently brenda baby is "hopping to see me".

I am Brenda. I am sorry for inconvenience you, i found your email where i am searching for browsing, and decided to have contact with you, and hope you will not neglected to contact me, i respect people especially for their good characters, understanding and way of reasoning. I hate to be neglected, humiliated or cheated! I like people that are straight in heart, truthful, social,loving, kind, humble, obedient, And am ever ready to meet you at your door step if your love could be true!. I love to keep a date with a man who understands love and know what it takes to build a healthy and strong relationship that could lead to marriage and not just a relationship. I accommodate new friends and serious relationship most. I love and associate with people who have fear of God. Your nationality, race, locality, location, Body color, eyes, hair or language is considered not a problem if only we love and understand each other very well. i will send my photos to you when we get on very well. please contact me on my email hopping to see you, have a nice day with my regards


This is a first for me.  I get lots of spam but I haven't been hit on by a girl before. 
 
 I also get spams on my blog all the time and they are weird.  They make no sense.  It's like schitzoprenic poetry.  The last line is particularly interesting...as long as your not a male.

Body, hundreds of spectators, thousands of spectators, arrived at the ball field at that you have the the federal highway funds. Out, they?re going to assign morning television, answering earnest questions from David Hartman in a simulated still and thinking flu-related thoughts. That is constantly being enriched by a diverse and electromaggots Today?s science question that people give you for Christmas when they get desperate. Soon the excited england, not to mention that we lose a couple of airmen, to achieve the purpose catching Hell Call me a regular American guy if you want, but baseball season is kind of special. Great jokes angry letters from shouldn?t be too much trouble as long as you avoid Common Taxpayer Errors. The character that breeds tremendous pains couple agreed with that policy. League, I look for yet obnoxious?can this city face up to the multitude of problems besetting it and consisted of deciding that our band outfits should include sun glasses. Which as I said earlier people have loosened up to the point where they would react positively past, namely: You get a hold of a whole bunch of the males, sterilize them, and drop them.

So the hours are ticking down until THE SHOW.  The car is packed and I'm ready for set-up tomorrow.  I like the fact that we set up the day before. The show starts Friday. 

Now...I'm heading back into the studio to make a few more necklaces....I'm never comfortable with my inventory.  I could have 500 pieces and I would think I needed more.  I could have 500 pieces and someone would ask for something that I don't have.  One year a women asked if I had a bronze pendant in purple to match her sweater and this was after 30 minutes of trying of almost everything I had. 

Let the fun begin!!

The Goal: 30 earrings and 10 necklaces in one weekend...

so I am ready for the show next weekend.  I can work a little bit during the week but the bulk gets done on the weekends. 

Needless to say my house and studio are a disaster area.  I have managed to get some laundry done but not much else.

The carnage that is my studio....

 Yes...I was sanding metal clay....and running with scissors.  What you can't see is my mask.  I do wear one when I sand.



 I said it was carnage.....

Gotta have my glass of Diet Dr. Pepper...that's my version of coffee

 Maybe I shouldn't have posted these...this is embarassing

 I use a strainer from the kitchen store to sift through the carbon for my pieces.  It works really well.

All the stuff on the floor by the wastebasket....I tipped over a container of little spacers....no time to pick them up...LOL...gotta keep going.  If I need them I know where they are.

 Lots of bits and pieces all over the place.  I sometimes wonder how I can work like this.

 Glass, bone bronze, brass....

 Some cool beads by Karen Elmquist...the white and frosted round ones.  The rectangular ones are Roman glass

And the results......so far 7 necklaces and 27 pairs of earrings...and I still have about 6 hours left before I call it a night.

Later!!
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