wandering spirit designs

Closer to Fine

It was an Indigo Girls’ kind of day today and my space is almost finished- now the finishing touches such as putting my glass in its place and hooking up my equipment, etc. need to be done. Behold my fabulous new work space:I’ll be sure to get more photos of everything in its place by Monday- after some torching, of course. Have a creative weekend!

Progress w/ Garage Studio

The studio is coming along- the table is done and next comes the ventilation box and set-up. Things were changed midway, as many projects are. We had talked about switching the back door to one w/ a doggy door and using that as our vent, but I decided we use that door too often to have it stay shut. Instead the vent will run outside when I crack the garage door open and the make-up air will be the back door (the one in the garage, not the main house).Now to get ready for my son’s doctor appt. an hour away..maybe by this time tomorrow I’ll get my torch set up!

Garage Studio..Part I

First pics of future garage studio space. Planning to refresh the paint on the walls today and try and clean up around the space a little more since the electrical guy is coming tomorrow. Notice the perfect location of the fuse box! This will be saving me money since the electrician won’t have to run a bunch of wire for my kiln outlet.
One of the things I had to keep in mind was permanence- or lack thereof. Being married to a military man means we move every few years and this means my studio has to be easily dismantled and the space goes back to the way it was since this is a rental home.
My contractor should be making my tables and ventilation box this evening w/ set-up scheduled sometime tomorrow. We have a plan for ventilation since I’m sure you noticed there’s no windows..hopefully it’s easily set up as we planned.

To be continued..

Moooo-vin’ on Up

I heart Moo products, they always make my work look even better. The business cards go into each package getting sent out and anything over $50 gets a postcard, too, since they’ve gone over pretty well.
Have a Happy Easter, everyone! I hope to start taking progress shots of my studio getting put together since my contractor guy is going to give me an estimate and hopefully get started next week. Yahoo!

Big Daddy

The last few times at the torch I’ve been trying to work small, as you can see the smallest hollow bead is approx. 11x16mm. As customers keep asking if they could get smaller hollows, I thought it couldn’t be too hard to make them smaller…Yesterday, I couldn’t take it anymore and my hands decided to try and make the biggest hollow yet- it measures in at 37x49mm, which is nearly 2 inches across. And this made me think what else I could make bigger- smaller sculptural focals, perhaps? Who knows, the big daddy took me more than 30 minutes on my Minor torch and it was a decidely delicate dance keeping it warm enough. It’s always nice to feel my creativity start to percolate and see new possibilities.

Etsy Update for March 23rd

Hoped to get some of these listed today, but life got in the way..between a sputtering car, cranky child and hubby getting ready to leave for 9 days hasn’t left me w/ much free time. Tomorrow I’ll be editing all the photos for the listings- so look for these to be listed sometime in the afternoon/evening.
My etching solution was uber-strong, I’d forgotten about that since I hadn’t bought new solution in a while. Next time, I know not to leave the beads in for much time.

Lotta WIP

I have lots to do this weekend before hubby is gone for a week- this is just some of it, lol. Resin is a pain in the bootay to photograph due to glare, etc. I’m still on the fence about Ice Resin, but ‘a carpenter can’t blame his tools’ so I’m going to do some more research and try try again. The beads need to be cleaned and etched..meh.
I hope to get this work listed next week..and I hear my little man crying, so much for that afternoon nap.

Revving Up for Ice Resin

This is what I worked on today..not that pile of laundry or the counter tops that need to be cleaned off. Hmm, they’re not going anywhere but my resin should be arriving in the mail, tomorrow if I’m lucky, and had to have something ready to use! I had some Ice Resin and it has mysteriously disappeared..just like our 2G memory card for our camera- could be my forgetfulness or a mini person w/ sticky fingers…

Yes, those are baby jar lids that I spray painted matte black. Still need some work, but these are meant to be experimental prototypes, unless they turn out stupendous…then maybe into Etsy they will go.
It was such a beautiful day today and it felt like Spring was in the air w/ the chirping of the birds and the playful, balmy breezes.

Slow Progress

I feel like the tortoise instead of the hare trying to get my inventory built up for my first show next month. But I suppose since the tortoise won in the end, this sort of progress is good. My Etsy shop will be lacking in love and new items since most everything will be going w/ me to Oakland.

After making these and falling in love it reminded me of a friend saying she could never work in an animal shelter since she’d fall in love w/ all the animals and want to bring them home. My beads have metaphorically morphed into cute animals that I don’t want to let go, lol. But just like at the animal shelter, these beads need good homes, too. 🙂

One possible reason I may not want to let them go is due to the amount of work invested into each one. The beadcaps are made by me as is the bead and then they’re cored after all the prepping is done on the tubing. At least an hour’s time is put into each bead- this isn’t including the times in the kiln for annealing the bead and firing the bronzclay.
Now I’m just waiting on more sterling and copper tubing to come in the mail so I can get more made. Ordered from Metalliferous and they were super nice and had awesome prices!
I’ve been field testing a smaller peg w/ my Impress Bead Liner and it’s mucho easier adding bead caps instead of trying to just core the bead. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just me. Doing beads like this also makes me think sterling tubing is a little more ‘elastic’, I guess you could say, than copper. Or maybe I just need to compensate and cut the copper slightly shorter. Anyhoo, it’s still a work in progress, but I’m so glad to be able to make this style that has been stewing in my mind for a while now.
Let’s just hope they do well at the show..