I've spent the past week at a daunting task - re-doing my website. My old computer had begun to eat bits and pieces of the old site, until it reached a point where I couldn't update the data any more. Now, I am not the most tech-savy individual around, but I must give myself a pat on the back, it turned out rather well. I found a template I could understand, which told me to do things in plain English rather than the gibberish my former web designer used, and I was off to the races. Well, not really races, but I managed. I'd like to add my own photo gallery and remove the Etsy one, but that's for another week. My brain is tech-tired.
In retrospect, it appears I have spent the past week or two doing anything but make beads. I enrolled in a glass course with George Shannon of On the Edge Glass Studio to learn how to make jewelry boxes , among other things. The other things being patte de verre, casting, advanced fusing methods...... At one time I wondered if an artist should focus only on one application of their chosen medium, and attempt to excel in that realm. But I want to know so many more things about glass. Spending time at On the Edge is glass utopia! George works in all of these applications, I have to refrain from bursting in each week and immediately throwing a barrage of questions at him on all topics.
Anyway, back to my original project, the jewelry box. My friend Ron gave me a brief intro some months ago on how to build a box, use flux and solder, the basics. It looked so easy when Ron did it. So... I practiced more, and came to the conclusion that I really sucked at soldering. This past week, I had an "aha" moment as I watched George deftly "tap" the solder into place. No dragging, tapping. Brilliant. Or at least I thought so, after spending hours dragging the stupid stuff off of where I have just put it. I can solder! Yay! Not perfectly yet, but I'll get there. Tim has enrolled in the class as well, and is hard at work on his first artistic endeavor, I'm looking forward to a time in the future when we are both adept enough to collaborate on a project. But for now, I'll concentrate on finishing the jewelry box. Hey, did I mention that I can solder...?