it is what I do... making a custom piece

As making custom pieces is probably our plucky heroine's favorite thing to do, it was really delightful to collaborate with J. The custom rune pendant, a project that began several months ago, was just finished up and mailed out today.

This is a bit about how the process worked... I started with a series of sketches, the only caveat being the particular motif, the small size (1" x 3/4") and the colors blue/orange/gold. Not sure what kind of look they were going for, I offered an assortment of styles both pictorial and geometric:

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From all of these, the choice was for the simple elegant "bands of color" outline, which was my own favorite as well. Given the scale of the enamel, my plan was to use limoges painting enamel techniques for the rune motif, as it allows very fine detail.

I then did a more finished rendering, to clearly show what I proposed to create for them, a small rectangular enamel set in silver

In order to translate the sketch into a finished enamel, I needed to test the various orange enamels on hand, since that color is pretty much never used in regalia. I wanted to get as close a match to the sketch as I could...

None of the opaque colors looked right as a background for the center section, so I chose my old friend "Thompson's Tea Rose", a venerable pink that turns vivid gold when fired on silver. 

My first effort at creating the borders, the outer blue strip, while not a dark cobalt, looked much too dark compared to the warm orange and gold. By using wet-packing the enamel directly, instead of using cloisonné, I was able to get an effect of soft borders, rather than hard outlines, which really suited the design.

After some additional email consultation, the dark blue was replaced with a lighter color... much better visual balance. Adding the detailed complex lines of the rune (just over 1/2" tall) was a real challenge; I think it took at least six firings or more for the motif to have all the details even and tidy.

Finally a simple silver pendant setting was made to fit the enamel. I use serrated fine silver bezel wire to hold the enamel in place, as the malleable pure silver, combined with the serrations, is the most gentle way I know to hold the enamel in place securely. I decided to use some spiral twisted wire for the pendant bails, and made them large enough to allow for various kinds of chain or necklace to be used with the pendant.

I can only hope that 2017 will allow me additional opportunity to create durable, wearable special artifacts of beauty for people...

:::

November SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	charter #17	framed Summits charter	7 pounds
2	charter #18	framed Adiantum charter	Goodwill bag
3	reflective mesh vest	repair small frame	old chook gate
4	blue batik dress	frame fox print	paper recycle bin
5	brown pinafore	setting acorn enamel	3 bags recycling
6	setting rune enamel	-	2 bags trash
7	-	-	11 bags Goodwill
8	-	-	1 bag yarn
9	-	-	2 pounds
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

:::

a bit of breathing room

in which our plucky heroine is grateful for a chance to spend time with friends...


Last weekend was An Tir Collegium, a new educational SCA event, which was held in Pasco, WA.. I had already decided to attend, but not do a presentation (I was honored to have been asked, but my travels earlier this autumn precluded my also having enough prep time for a lecture and handout/bibliography). It was definitely useful to see various ways that other folks put their presentations together, and I have ideas for what I can do next time. A very nifty innovation was that the site token for the event was a tiny thumb drive the size and shape of a credit card, with all the handouts from the event, so that even for the classes (there were nine tracks, some with six or seven classes each) we did not attend we still got some data.

while traveling, we stopped both outbound and return at Maryhill Stonehenge... I love this view (two states and the Columbia River between)

The view in the opposite direction. I'd never been here before at this time of year, and the bits of autumnal color were a delight. Plus windmills. I love the windmills.

Driving across eastern Washington on the way home, the power lines formed a cohort of giant electric cats marching alongside the highway

Back at Stonehenge, the day was heading towards sunset, and the sky was much more dramatic

And, my excellent traveling companions... Marya, Ursel, and Mea

:::

Alas, I think that the cold, that I have been attempting to fight off since the weekend, is winning... I feel like crap, and a return to bed is seeming more and more like a good idea. I am too wobbly to keep trying to solder bezels. Seems like every time I stay in a hotel I come home sick... time to go put the chooks to bed and then do the same for myself

Tuesday tidbit

in which our plucky heroine breaks the rules...

I almost never bring trinkets home, as the last three years have been all about letting go of what is no longer necessary. But I could not resist these two small Japanese Akita-Inu figurines, who somehow ended up on the Goodwill holiday shelf. They are being added to my permanent collection here at Acorn Cottage. No, I was not born in the Year of the Dog, but I have been looking for some little sculptures just like these for a long time.

These are about two and three inches tall. I have read that little Akita figurines are sometimes a gift in Japan to parents of newborns, for good luck, and to convalescents as a wish for speedy recovery... not sure how true the info, but I liked the sentiment.

:::

November SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	charter #17	framed Summits charter	7 pounds
2	charter #18	framed Adiantum charter	Goodwill bag
3	reflective mesh vest	repair small frame	old chook gate
4	blue batik dress	frame fox print	paper recycle bin
5	-	attached scroll seal	3 bags recycling
6	-	framed Laurel scroll	2 bags trash
7	-	framed 1st AoA charter	11 bags Goodwill
8	-	framed 2nd AoA charter	1 bag yarn
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-

:::