DragonBlog

Well, today was the last day of Rio in Motion, and my last class for the trip.  The class was called “Cold Connections” which, for those who aren’t jewelry-savvy, really means “What to do if you can’t solder a piece together” in layman’s terms.  There are some times, like when dealing with a patterned piece of metal, when soldering it could potentially ruin the finish, so having ways to connect up your pieces without the use of a torch can be a handy thing.  I had the knowledgeable Mark Nelson again for this class – the instructor who taught my Flex Shaft 101 class from Monday.  Similar to Monday, he had some tips and tricks to share to help keep the students from having to buy every tool in the shop, but at the same time I managed to have at least a couple more things I’ll be adding to my “have to have” list later tonight.  Here are the pieces I was able to conjure up today:

The ones at either end are the projects we were assigned, and each of them makes use of the backing metal to clamp down on the other components of the piece and pull it together securely.  The center piece was designed as a pin, but we were left free to do whatever design we wanted to on the front of it.  They had some lovely dyed tagua nut to work with, so I carved into a bit of that and made a little bird, all excited to do the tube rivet as the eye… It was going great until I didn’t have the right gauge wire for the three holes you see down the back, where I was going to make some standard hammered rivets instead.  I acquired a drill bit to match my wire, but then the tail of the bird snapped off when I went to finish up the rivet.  Yikes.  Since there wasn’t going to be time to start the piece again with the other metal we’d been given, I did what I could to recover the design, using one of the cut pieces from the center of one of the earrings to fit into and embellish my little bird’s tail.  I have jokingly entitled the piece “Bird with Tail Prosthesis.”  I expect the next one I do will look much better and… not be a pin, as I really don’t know many people who wear them.  But… lesson learned – no hammering rivets in quite so close to the edge.  I see a lot of potential for some of these techniques in my future designs though.  I like to cut my own cabs and this gives me more flexibility in how I choose to use them and cut them.

Mark also showed us how to make our own teensy-weensy screws and screw-holes (no dirty comments from the peanut-gallery please!) so that, if I purchase the right set of tools to do it with, I could potentially  make some really awesome stuff for my steampunk-enamored friends.  I’ll have to think about what all I might want to do and measure it against the cost of those supplies…

I have mentioned the instructors I’ve had over this past week, but I don’t want to go without mentioning the “assistants” who were there to help each of the instructors with keeping things running smoothly.  They were there to show us to the classroom, make sure that we had everything we needed to complete the projects we were given, and otherwise be as helpful as they were able.  I will admit that I never got the name of the sweet woman who helped with the Flex Shaft 101 class, but Shelley, who helped with the Swanstrom Pliers class I was in, was very friendly and when we ended up talking about the setup and features on the web site ordering process, she was quick to jot down our comments and ideas.  The thing that I’ve been learning about this company, and it’s employees, is that I know that she will actually share those ideas with the right people.  That’s just how the people at Rio seem to work.  From the tales I’ve heard told this week, they not only listen to the input of the customers, but also from the employees too.  What a nice change from the usual Corporate America I’ve seen…

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the one “assistant” who was there for most of my classes.  I’m not sure if they were assigned to a classroom or handed out classes to handle in some sort of straw-drawing selection process, but every time I was taking a class in the Tiger Eye classroom, this wonderful man named Brian was there to help.  I was able to easily remember his first name, since my husband is a Brian too.  This Brian was quite knowledgeable about all the material we were learning, and friendly and helpful the entire time.  Not only was he able to rustle up missing supplies for the class on a couple of occasions to keep us from stalling out, but he seemed to know the products and catalog extremely well and was easily able to help anyone who had a question on where to find something so they could potentially order it.  Additionally, he had a sense of humor – always a good thing for someone put in the position of having to think on their feet as problems arise.  And I’m not just saying that because he mentioned today that he’s one of the ones who’s been following my little blog burst this week – I was planning to mention him anyway!  Thanks for all your help Brian – you rock!

By the end of the class today, I was full of mixed emotions.  On one hand, I am exhilarated by all of the new knowledge I have soaked in throughout the course of the week and I have to say that this has been one of the best learning experiences I’ve had in a very long time!  That, of course, leaves me feeling sad that the week is at the end and I’ll be heading back home tomorrow.  I’ve felt very “alive” this week, taking the classes, interacting with other jewelery enthusiasts of varying degrees, and taking little bits of time here and there to get lost in the beautiful scenery Albuquerque has to offer.  Phil Scott, who taught my Intermediate Stone Setting class, stopped by my blog and left a comment about one of his favorite spots to view the mountains from and I was able to go to that general area today and snap some pictures.  I was not able to be there for sunset, as he had suggested, as my stomach waged a war with my desire for a sunset photo and sadly the hunger won, but I did get some great shots nonetheless.  Here is one of the best from today:

You can see the Rio Grande River in the foreground, with the city beyond it and the mountains watching over it in the background.  I wanted clouds and I got them, so there’s some depth to the sky but it also means that the mountains themselves were a little hazy in the distance.  Altogether a beautiful view.  I can easily see why people chose to settle here in what might otherwise have seemed a mostly dry and inhospitable land to pioneers.  It was all I could do not to just abandon the rental car and go wandering off exploring on foot at several points during this week.  I have to wonder, if I were to live here, would I want to live in the foothills of those mountains, so I could explore them from my own backyard, or would I want to live further out, where I could look out my window every morning and see them there, majestically guarding over the city.  I am reminded of our stops in Santa Fe when Brian and I were traveling years ago, and how I loved this area of the country.  No matter how happy I will be to go home to my beautiful family and my own bed… I will be sad to leave New Mexico.

Today at Rio in Motion was another new class.  This time it was all about some of the useful tools that Swanstrom Tools makes for jewelers.  Swanstrom, we were told in class, makes tools for specialized uses.  Tim Sheriff is the guy who handles the selection of tools designed specifically for jewelry, and the person who designs the tools themselves.  And this is the guy we had as the teacher for the class!  How much cooler can it get but to have the guy that designs the tools themselves teaching you how to use them?  For those who are, and have been, at the show this week, this is not an uncommon occurance, however.  For example, Bill Fretz, who makes his impact on the industry with hammers and stakes, happens to be staying at my hotel.  I was unable to squeeze his class into this week, so it’s like seeing a celebrity in the hotel lobby, knowing that this is the guy who made the best hammers in my little home studio.  He’s not the only one.  There are people, some who work at Rio and some who don’t, who are the ones who came up with the most time-efficient, sleek tools the industry is using today.  And this week they’ve been teaching us their secrets…

Tim Sheriff’s started his class off by offering us “Tim’s Bag of Tricks.”  It even says so on the label the bag of goodies has on it.  The items inside the bag initially looked a bit unimpressive, really – a plastic knife, a couple of round rubber gaskets, some taped up popsicle stickes, and some sort of plastic block with a short metal rod stuck into it.  Oh, and a couple of bits of brass.  However, each of the teachers this week has been good about sharing little money-saving, time-saving tips with us students, and Tim had his all prepped for us.  Each of the items was clever AND useful and a couple of them we made use of over and over again throughout the class.   We made several small bits during the day, most of which were components that would make up larger pieces:

As you can see we learned different ways to wrap wire, mostly for beads.  We did do one wire wrap stone pendant project, towards the end of class and so, in the picture, you can see the very first wire-wrapped pendant I’ve ever managed.  I expect I will play around with wire wraps from time to time now that I know how to do them.  However, I will be doing more of the beads as I often like to make my own beaded necklace to match up to any pendants I make, and then match that up with some earrings as well.  I have been struggling with making these look pretty in the past and what I learned today will help me not only do it faster, but prettier and sturdier as well.  Tim was a wealth of information and was kind enough to demo the projects for us a couple of times each, at least, to be sure we all understood what he was showing us.

I managed to do a little driving after class today and did get some nicer pictures of the mountains and one really nice sunset image that I might turn into an added image for my blog banner at some point when I have time.  I will try to post some of the scenery shots with my wrap-up post once I get back home from the trip.  I did find a nice BBQ place to eat tonight that would probably have made my sweet husband jealous.  Especially since they didn’t even HAVE burgers, so I was inclined to eat the ribs.  At least I know he had a dinner out scheduled for tonight too, so I don’t have to feel TOO bad about it…

So, tomorrow is the last day of classes at Rio in Motion.  Mine is called “Cold Connections” and I’m feeling both excited for the class and sad that this week is about to come to a close.  At the same time, I know I have two little kids waiting at home who are going to practically knock me down with hugs when I get home, so it’s not like I don’t have something to look forward to.  Well, them and my super sexy husband…  On that note, time to make another evening phone call and then get some sleep.  More tomorrow!

I was back in for a second day of stone setting with Phil Scott today.  We started out by finishing up the channel setting we’d worked on the day before and I was pleased that my stones had held despite having been bounced around in my tote bag between class periods.  Thus, I was able to put it in the hot water that loosens the mold it was being held in.  It still has a little of the white stuff on it and could use a proper polish, but it’s pictured in the center of today’s quick-and-dirty photo:

Pictured on the left was the next project.  While it’s not strictly a piece of jewelry, it’s a piece of brass that someone whipped up as a way to practice the pave setting.  On one hand, I loved the pave setting.  It made sense to me, the way it is done, and I was ready to jump in even before Phil was done explaining it to us.  However, it’s not as simple as his lovely, crisp, computer-generated powerpoint presentation might have you thinking.  It’s very easy to make a slip with the graver and then suddenly have a corner you won’t be able to secure the stone with, not to mention an area where part of the “beading” will be missing from the design.  I was timid in my grinding and it took me several passes before I had ground enough metal away for the stones to seat properly in their settings, between the “prongs” we created in the process.  Then I had to do some manual graver work on the sides which gave me some troubles.  Overall, however, I think I did alright.  Not all of my settings in there are perfect, but they are secure, and I learned a lot from doing it.  The next one will be better.

Then we were handed ring blanks to play with, testing our new setting skills.  I was thrilled with this idea, and got a little overzealous, wanting to do another channel as part of it.  The ring on the right is the very unpolished result.  I did a flush mount on either side of the ring (and one of them turned out perfect – finally!) and then created a channel from scratch along the top.  When we had done the channel set on the pendant in the center, the groove for the channel was already there for us, as part of the way the silver had been cast in the first place.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have every possible rotary tool on hand to work with, so I had to make do with what had been provided while making my own channel.  This made for an extra challenge, as carving out a rectangular channel with round burrs was not going to work.  In the end, I placed the stones too close together and so it is far from perfect, but I did get them secure in there (I may have chipped one slightly in the process of doing it though).  I played around with texture on that one too, although in the end I kind of hate the look of the ring and would do it a lot differently if I’d actually had time to “design” it and a selection of different-sized stones with matching setting burrs to do the work with.  That being said, they gave us another blank which we didn’t have time to work on, so I have one to do more practice with when I get home.

Phil seemed to think that the entire class had a good handle on the settings by the time the class was over, so I guess I’m out of excuses to avoid anything outside of a bezel at this point.  Phil was also kind enough to advise me on a piece I’ve been agonizing over for some time, letting me know that what I need to do to finish it up is pretty much exactly what I thought I was going to have to do.  It’s a really nice thing having someone who’s been a pro in the field for as long as he has, confirm what you thought was the right thing to do.  I have to admit that the more classes I take the less I feel like I’m a total newbie at all of this and the more I feel like I can trust my instincts in my work.  Part of me can’t wait to be back at my studio at home.  Scratch that – I can’t wait until after my order arrives home so I will know I have the right tools for the job when I get to work in my studio at home.  I’ve got a few things I need to have, and more than a few I want to have.  We’ll see what makes the cut when I finalize my tool order.  I still have two more classes to take before I can do that, though, in case there’s something else crucial that needs to make it on the list.

I was planning to take off for a photo session this afternoon and get some cool mountain pics.  However, once again I am exhausted and I bailed on that to come back to the hotel and reheat my leftovers from last night.   I rationalized all this in the context that there weren’t clouds in the sky to give depth to it for my pictures.  I suspect this is common here in Albuquerque, however, so I can only hope that tomorrow will yield more texture in the sky.  If not, I will have to make do, as I am running out of time to do any sight-seeing or picture-taking.  If I can manage to come here again next year (to take the rest of the classes I couldn’t manage to fit into the week this year) then I shall have to try and leave myself a day for sightseeing.  Or sleeping.  Whichever is more important to me at the time.

Today was part one of a two day class on stone setting.  The class I took on Sunday was the standard settings.  How to cut the seat for the diamond to sit in the prongs of that simple, yet elegant, diamond engagement ring with the single rock, or how to take that lovely oval I carved out of turquoise and slip it into a round bezel setting for that beautiful pendant you’d want to give to your mom.  The intermediate stuff takes it another step farther.  How do you set your stones without the prongs or bezel?  How do you make it so the gems are flush to the metal but still shiny, pretty, and accessible for cleaning?  Enter the flush mount setting, bead setting, and more…

Now if you look at this picture you’re going to notice a TON of scratches.  The one on the right isn’t even a piece, but just a piece of silver that we used to learn and practice setting the stones on.  All these stones are inexpensive white/clear CZs, not diamonds – because trust me, they wouldn’t be giving us diamonds to play with while learning!  The ones around the edges of the square are flush mount and basically I finally got it right without the instructor’s help on the fourth one, and even that one managed to be seated slightly tilted.  It’s not going to fall out of the silver, but it’s at an angle so no matter how nice it looks, it’s still not quite there.  The object is to form, or push, the metal forward – over the edge of the stone – and then smooth it out around it.  While others in the class seemed to find this one easy, I struggled with that one.  The center stone of the square is a bright cut bead setting instead.  I had only one of the beads we formed at the corners not work out, but the others went easily for me.  I am glad of that, as that technique will be used again tomorrow if I’m understanding the pave setting correctly.  The embellishment along the sides of the stone to create the “bright” part of the setting was trickier and I’m not sure I have it down yet.  These are a work in progress though and the point is to learn – not churn out perfect examples.  I’m told I’m doing alright, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this stuff, so I’m having to remind myself not to chastise myself too much when these don’t look exactly right…

The piece on the left we did last, and technically we didn’t have much time to work on it before class was over for the day.  So it’s not finished, but it’s a channel setting with five stones in there.  I mentioned to the instructor, Phillip Scott, that I was hoping to add it to the photo for tonight’s blog and he kindly gave me a tiny ziploc to stuff it into in case my stones weren’t in there tight enough yet and popped out.  So far, they all seem to be holding, although I know one or two are still a little loose in the setting and will need to be tightened up when we finish this piece tomorrow.  I think it’s looking good so far though.

Each of these were definitely more challenging than the ones I did on Sunday and I’m having to work hard to try and make sure things are precise, measured (although they tend to give us the sizes we need for most things) and level.  I’m normally an “eyeball it and go with what feels right” kind of girl when it comes to these things, but I don’t have the experience to be able to pull that off yet, the way the instructor does.  He’s got years and years of experience and it shows.  He’s also got some great stories to share, however, and class today was quite enjoyable.  I’m definitely looking forward to doing more tomorrow.

I haven’t really been reporting on the rest of the time here, as mostly I’ve been exhausted and wanting to get to bed early.  I have yet to make it down to the hotel pool and I only managed to finally squeeze in some shopping today to find something to bring back for the kids.  While I was out doing that, I took some pics on my phone of the mountains that were better than any I’d gotten before, but I have to drive pretty far out to get to a decent spot to take pictures.  I found a good spot today, but had left my good camera at the hotel, so I’ll have to make another trip out later this week.  I am fascinated by the mountains.  I wish my room in the hotel faced them but, alas, I face a parking lot with a bunch of truck trailers and a billboard over the highway for “Conjunto Primavera”… whatever THAT is, it happens on February 18th, and features six men in suits.  Honestly I think my imagination for what it could be is possibly more interesting that whatever is really is… So that’s my view.  I haven’t taken a picture of it yet.  Not sure if I will or not.  The mountains are what I want to photograph.  Because far be it for me to not also indulge my hobby while I’m here too.

Food has been an adventure.  I keep deciding what flavor I want for dinner and then setting off to find it after Google informs me which one is closest that has the best reviews.  The first night I had Denny’s (which didn’t require Google’s help to find) because it was nearby, and then found out that leaving the parking lot to get across the street was more complicated of a drive than I’d realized.  For some reason all the roads here seem to be divided and then they don’t allow U-turns where they are most needed.  Sunday night I went downtown for fish and chips at an Irish place and last night was Mexican at a nearby place.  Tonight I went for Chinese and paid less than any of the previous restaurants and have enough leftovers to make up another dinner.  Go figure.  I’ll have to acquire a fork from the lobby to eat it, but I’ve got the mini fridge and microwave in the room to take advantage of it.  Then again, it’s Chinese.  I suppose I might be eating it an hour from now instead…

Well, that’s about it.  My review of the hotel, if I decide to share it, will be underwhelming, to be honest, but I’ll wait until the trip is closer to over before I write that up.  When I’ve run out of classes to babble on excitedly about instead.  More tomorrow!

Today’s class at Rio in Motion for me was Flex Shaft 101.  For all those with the dirty minds, NO… it’s not about that.  It was actually on techniques, tricks, and tips on how to use a rotary tool in the creation of jewelry and jewelry tools.  We learned about the different abrasive wheels and drilling burs and bits that one can use with such a tool.  Ways to cut, drill, grind, texturize, and otherwise manipulate metal, glass or stone with rotary tool bits.  The teacher, Mark Nelson, was full of neat little tricks to share with us – I only hope I can remember them all when I get home!  We worked on a couple of projects although the finishing of them wasn’t as formal as the class on Sunday – it was more about getting the idea and technique figured out than getting the piece perfect.  While if you screw up a stone setting the stone might go bouncing off into the carpet, when you’re working trying out texturing or engraving, you can finish up the rest of it later.  So the pieces I came away with today technically need a little more “spit and polish” than the ones from yesterday.  I’m not sure how much you can tell from my nightstand photo op here…The blurry thing sticking up from the table was actually a stamp we were taught to make.  I thought mine was turning out not half bad until I actually flipped it over and hammered the stamp into a piece of metal.  At which point I remembered that designing a stamp so that I could read it while I carved it meant that it would stamp backwards on the metal when hammered down.  doh!  **headsmack**  I shall have to redo this one at home when I have time.  Silly me!

Someone did kindly bring in a match for the earring I left behind yesterday, although it doesn’t look like it’s actually the one I made myself, but it will do.  Not quite a matched set, but… oh well.  I will be back in that same room again tomorrow though, so I may try to get the same desk and take a look around to see if mine is still there.  If not, it’s not a big deal.  The other thing I got today was a pair of optic glasses I ordered, and those are going to be well worth the money as now I can see what I’m doing, magnified nicely, and all in one.  The first day I was having some double vision with the borrowed glasses and the magnifying visor and so my depth perception was giving me fits when I kept closing one eye to see properly.  Not a good thing to do when you are manipulating teeny-tiny bits of metal and stone.  Now I can see much better.  At least I can when I am remembering to look through them.  For some reason I have to break a habit of looking over the top of the glasses and look through the things in order to benefit from having them…yeah.  Clever, I know.

I also had the opportunity to take the tour of Rio Grande‘s facility today.   I honestly had no idea that they did so much of the manufacturing on site.  I’d imagined the place to be like a big warehouse full of stuff waiting for distribution, but the reality is that they are manufacturing everything from patterned wire and jumprings to jewelry items and tools.  It was fascinating to go through and see all the different areas they had for manufacture along with all the rest.  I was also fairly impressed by the way she (thank you Betsy!) described the processes they have for managing orders and other aspects of the company itself.  They seem to have a pretty organized ship there and yet still leave room for the employees to make changes to improve their own processes as they work.  Hearing that they only hire about 1% of the people who apply for jobs there was a bit discouraging for me though.  Considering I’d have a house to sell and a family to move, I don’t think I’ll be able to put my application in any time soon.  Talk about a dream job for me though.  Working there would definitely rock my world.

Hmm.  Rock.  I didn’t think to ask if they do their own lapidary work there too…  Perhaps I’ll remember to ask that sometime this week.

Meanwhile, I’m exhausted again.  So much cognitive exercise going on this week!  More tomorrow.  Goodnight!