Metalsmithing 101 - Class Eight (finale)

For the 8th and final class I made this pretty turquoise pendant for my daughter's 30th birthday. The bead dangles represent my grandchildren's birthday stones. I strung it on a simple sterling silver box chain. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I sure have a long way to go before my pieces look anywhere close to the way I imagine they'll look......eventually. LOL

I got my torch, but it's giving me grief. I've assembled it three different times and all three times it has leaked. Very scary! I'll have to try using teflon tape on the threads next time. I've been sick for the past few days so I haven't bothered to try it again. Dealing with explosive propane is a little unnerving so it's not something one should do when they're feeling foggy brained.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Class Seven

For the 7th class I made my Mom's charoite and amethyst pendant. I was rushed for time so the instructor Barrie was kind enough to solder the bail on for me so that I could give the piece to my Mom on her birthday the following Sunday. So many things are crooked on the pendant, but Mom seemed to love it anyway =)



I made her some matching purple calcite drops, and a sterling silver wire wrapped ring using one of the same little rough amethyst nuggets like the ones shown wire wrapped onto the pendant's chain. She was thrilled!

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Show Your Studio!

I'm not a member of the Aspiring Metalsmith Group but I enjoy reading their blog and looking through their members' flickr photo albums. They recently decided to do a round of blogs entries where members posted photos of their studios. I love seeing how others set up their studios. If you'd like to show me your studio I'd be happy to visit your blog and say hi. Post your blog links in the comments section of this entry =)

Credit: I stole the tree photo in the black frame on my table from my friend Patricia's facebook photo album (hehe)

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Class Six

My second project was a Spinner Ring. Sparkly isn't it. Spinners should come with a warning! I'm addicted to spinning the inner rings! I actually completed this ring at home during the week before class. For the sixth class I began my Mom's Charoite & Amethyst pendant. I got as far as soldering both the large oval and the small round bezel settings onto the backing sheet for the two stones.

I'm a bit stumped as to how I will proceed. The oval shifted when the flux was heating. The flux is a thick gooey paste that tends go on in globs and then it bubbles up when heating and moves small pieces so this has happened to me twice now (on both projects). When I work solo in my studio I'm going to water down my flux more to try and gain control over this problem.

Anyhow, it is what it is. Now I have an oval bezel that isn't properly aligned with the round bezel sitting above it. I might try to make the piece look more organic by cutting notches and curves along the backing sheet in hopes that the oval might not appear so crooked.

I'll take a photo tomorrow and show you what I mean. I plan on working on it this week and then soldering the bail in class next Tuesday then moving onto my ammolite pendant.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Class Four & Five

Ta Da! My first project is complete! The stone is Biggs Jasper, and considering it's the very first piece of silversmithed jewelry I've ever made I'm pleased with how it turned out.



In class 5 I made a chunky spinner ring with 3 textured spinners on a wide 18g hammer textured band. I'll wait until after I tumble it before posting photos. I'm amazed at how shiny sterling silver gets after tumbling. As pretty as shiny silver is, I plan on doing some oxidized pieces as well. On Tuesday (class 6) I begin my Mom's Charoite & Amethyst pendant. Hopefully that will progress quickly enough for me to be able to complete my more complicated ammolite pendant before the 8th and final class.

Aside from having my nose buried in my sketch book dreaming about all the silversmithed designs I'll be making in the future I've been busy making my usual style pieces for the remaining 6 Christmas Craft shows I'm doing this year. I'm tickled pink about my new necklace puppets. The color and texture of the fabric works perfectly with the black satin ribbons and the black semi-gloss bases. My table display color theme is black and brown with wood and black wrought iron. I'm aiming at having a bit of a rustic yet elegant presentation. I think it's working because I get a lot of compliments on not only my table setup, but also on my website. Here's a photo of the most recent show I did. Sorry for all the background distractions. Everyone was supposed to have skirted tables, but many vendors didn't honor that request.



These little bracelet project kits are going over well =)



Here's my little Christmas tree with snowball drop earrings as decorations. You can also see my gift wrap samples.



I have a few wood picture frames I'm using to display earrings



That's it for now. I'm sorry about the irregular entries. I tend to get wrapped up in what I'm doing offline and I don't realize how much time has passed in between blog posts.

Many Blessings to you and yours . . . Ronnie


Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Class Three

During the third class we selected bezel wire for our stone, then soldered the bezel, then soldered the bezel wire onto sterling silver sheet. I'm doing a frame around my stone. Some students chose smaller stones so they're setting their stones right onto the ring shanks. They selected thicker bezel wire that they can file in a half moon shape to go around their ring bands. I've been watching what they're doing so when I make a ring like that I won't be totally unaware of how to do it.



My intent was to leave enough space around the triangular bezel so that I could add some little balls. BUT, when the torch flame hit my pieces it moved the bezel wire up the sheet. You'll notice how little sheet there is at the smallest end of the triangle. Oh well. Maybe I can add another larger triangle underneath and have a 'stepped' effect with enough room to add little balls.



I also paid off some of my tab and bought some extra bezel wire, some sterling silver sheet, and a small oval charoite cab. I was originally going to use the charoite for my Mom's pendant, but I decided it was too small for that so next class I'm buying a bigger oval charoite cab, and a small amethyst round cab to use in the design for my Mom's pendant. The two cabs will be set on a larger soft rectangular sheet backing with two silver balls on either side of the amethyst. I'm doing a wire swirl bail. The bail will have an extra curly tail on the back of the pendant. I think it will be really pretty.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

I Enjoy Thinking

In fact, I enjoy thinking so much that occasionally I have to remind myself that actualizing thoughts and dreams into reality requires some leg work. As in, it's nice to dream and sketch layouts for my studio, but I am going to have to get off my butt at some point and actually move some boxes and sort through everything before I can make any changes. So yeah, that's what I told myself last night while sitting on the porch last night sipping decaf looking at the sky and dreaming about how my studio is going to look by the end of this month.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Shopping Spree - Tools & Supplies

Yes, I am a tool junkie. I admit it. I LOVE tools. I love the feeling of a brand new shiny tool in my hands. I recently discovered I have a 'thing' for hammers. I didn't know this about me. Last weekend my roomie and I went shopping at Princess Auto out in Langley, and at the cash register as he was putting all my new hammers up on the counter he dryly commented "I guess you plan on doing A LOT of hammering eh?" I responded with "Just you nevermind what I do with my hammers! Not the household's hammers...not your hammers, but MY hammers buddy!" Yes, I even like roofer's hammers. Weird looking things that they are.

So here's the list of things I've purchased in the past two weeks:

Hammers (10 of them)

- plannishing (square/round head)
- brass mallet
- dead blow
- 2 ball peins
- german style chasing hammer with pistol handle
- double headed texturing hammer
- rubber/acrylic head
- small brass/acrylic head
- leather mallet

(I still want a couple of riveting hammers)

Other items not related to hammers:

- steel ring mandrel
- metal ring sizer
- dapping set
- silquar board (like a fire brick)
- charcoal block
- 2 ceramic tiles
- digital caliper
- swiss file (4 cut)
- swiss file (2 cut)
- titanium diamond file set (5 pieces)
- jeweler's saw frame
- blades for the above
- bees wax (for the above)
- slicone polishing wheels for my dremel
- 3 new pairs of pliers (another thing I have a 'thing' for)
- tweezers (several pairs - copper, metal, AA, locking, insulated)
- third hand
- bib apron with pockets
- safety glasses
- respirator
- 2 auto dollies (excellent substitude for the typical 4" X 4" steel block)
- emery paper (several grades from 80 to 600 grit)
- solder chips (easy, medium, hard)
- containers for solder chips
- sterling silver sheet
- fine silver bezel wire
- butane micro torch
- PH Down (sodium bisulphate - used as pickling agent)
- mini crock pot (for pickling)
- Dandix flux
- ring clamp
- bench vise
- bench pin
- adjustable C clamp
- metal shears (only 7 inches! Fits perfectly in my tiny hand)
- brass brush
- file card (for cleaning files)
- bezel roller
- burnisher
- center punch
- oak leaf stamp (need more design stamps)
- bead baking tray (for polymer clay)
- Word texture plate (for polymer clay)
- Liquid Liver of Sulphur
- Tim McCreight's Complete Metalsmithing - Professional Edition

Purchased items unrelated to tools:

- 30 ft of 22g sterling silver wire (for wire wrapped pearl rings)
- oxidized copper wire
- oxidized brass wire
- green and brown glass leaves
- strand of 8mm dark green jade rounds
- 15 1/2 inch strand of 9mm turquoise rondelles
- serephrinite cabachon
- turitella cabachon
- turquoise cabachon
- light blue pau shell cabachon
- ammolite cabachon
- jasper cabachon
- 9mm brown, green, and gold faceted glass rondelles
- a whole whack of silver plated and brass balled head pins
- several different styles of toggles
- brass chain
- silver plated chain
- solid brass lobster claws (I love these!)
- 1000 business cards
- and a large custom supply order for one of my customers

Next item to be purchased is my Whale Torch! Yay! I'm so excited I can hardly wait!

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Pantone Fall Colors 2010

I don't usually follow seasonal color trends when I make jewelry. I order most of my supplies from the US and it often takes 3 weeks for shipments to arrive at my doorstep here in Canada. So, following trends isn't practical for my situation. For this Autumn most of my pieces are in shades of brown and golden colors with a few pieces including green as in my 'Enchanted Forest' themed pieces. And, of course, turquoise. My turquoise pieces ALWAYS sell well no matter what time of year I offer them.

My first solo piece I plan to make in my studio when I get my own torch at the end of November will be a turquoise pendant for my daughter. It's her 30th birthday on December 4th. The cab color fits into the Lagoon blue color scheme from Pantone. It will be embellished with 'water' elements which will further fit into the Lagoon theme. =) Here's the turquoise cabs I'll select her's from:



Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Stone Talk - Turritella Fossil

Turritella 'Agate' is a chalcedony rich sedimentary rock from Wyoming which hosts the fossil shells of Elimia tenera was originally incorrectly called Turritella agate. It was named after the sea snail genus Turritella because of the resemblance of the freshwater snail shells to the Turritella fossils that are found in agate in Texas and California. The Wyoming fossil shells, however, are in a freshwater sedimentary deposit and identifiable as the genus Elimia which is an extinct species of freshwater snails. These fossilized and less-silicified Elimia tenera occur in a region which is now southern Wyoming, northern Colorado and northeastern Utah.

The fossil beds are approximately 46 to 51 million years old and occur in the Laney Member of the Green River Formation. Evidence suggests that the Elimia tenera were deposited nearshore in a series of shallow lakes, which geologists have named the Fossil, Uinta and Gosiute Lakes. The climate was subtropical and there were intermittent volcanic eruptions. The best preserved Elimia tenera are from Lake Gosiute which fossils occur in the Fort Laclede Bed of the Laney Member at outcrops in Sweetwater County, in southwestern Wyoming.

I find this stone fascinating. The one in the picture will be made into a pendant. During the past several years of my rock collecting I've realized that I'm very drawn to fossils. I think it's amazing that extinct species are preserved for future generations to study.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Classes One & Two

For our first class we learned about tools and safety precautions. We also selected stones for our projects, and used our jeweller's saw to practice cutting in copper sheet.

During our second class we hammered and soldered our ring shanks for our first project. I was surprised by how quickly the whole process happened. Heat, quench, pickle, hammer, form, heat, flux, solder, quench, pickle, file and we were done. I was also very surprised by how short the flame was from the torch. Filing takes the longest amount of time, and that's only if you're as meticulous as I am. I think I can do this!

I selected a triangular piece of brown jasper for my first ring. I forget what type of jasper, but I'll ask again on Tuesday. The instructor's husband cut the stone. Here it is:



And here's what my ring band looks like before I add the bezel set stone. I will be adding a larger backing around the bezel with some sterling balls as decoration.



And as promised eariler here's a picture of my pretty ammolite. I will be making this into a pendant with decorative elements representing vines and buds. It's a fairly significant sized cabachon at 31mm X 14mm. I will be posting this picture again in another entry in a series I'm calling Stone Talk. I love stones so there will be a lot of talk about them. =)




Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Trying Not To Sweat The Small Stuff

I had a little rethink about the issues surrounding my previous post and decided to take my own advice. Whenever one of my children is having a challenging time dealing with a "life doesn't always go your way" issue I ask them if there is anything they think they can actually DO about the problem. Sometimes the answer is simply "No." Sometimes we can't really do anything about a problem except change the way we react to it.

That might seem like a passive thing to do, but once you accept the 'do nothing' approach things start to shift inside. To me that's action. It's movement toward a better understanding of what's important. What's important to me is learning, and expressing creativity. The process of creative expression is healing. So, I'm going to continue to learn, and create.

Later this morning when the daylight arrives I'll take a picture of my pretty little piece of ammolite and show you =)

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - first class

I decided to edit this post because I'm not pleased with myself for sounding ungrateful or grumpy. My first impression was wrong. The instructor is very sweet, and very passionate about sharing her knowledge.

I'm really happy to finally be taking a silversmithing class taught by someone willing to show us students short-cuts and give us tips to help save us money. Feeling blessed about this opportunity is all that matters.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Blue Soup With Stars - Organic Beginnings

Although my jewelry is rather demure in size and number of components, I have always admired chunky, clunky, multi-strand, bohemian styles bracelets. I also love organic materials. For some reason I haven't pushed myself out of my 'demure' box and made more eclectic pieces. That's what I intend to do with this delicious pile of goodies.

Blue Soup One - Organic Beginnings

There's a variety of wood saucers, small seeds, wooden buttons, rustic ceramic large holed beads, shells, wood rounds, and a few cute little ceramic fishies. I also have one of my own Soul Song poly-clay pendants that I'm thinking of using as a focal point for a necklace along with some poly-clay beads & gemstones I could throw into the mix for bracelets.

I'm thinking of asymetrical bracelets, with leather cord, and button clasps. I'd like the pieces to make magical noise when you move.

So, this will be my next project. I hope to be able to post a few pictures within the next few days. Maybe early next week. Stay tuned.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Grand Re-Opening Sale at RadianTrace Jewelry

The transformation at RadianTrace Jewelry is complete. I'm very pleased with the new layout and colors. I added header graphics to the top of several sections which will be fun because I can change them out whenever the mood strikes. A few of them are made from my own photos while others are made from some of my favorite photographer's photos.

For the Grand Reopening I decided to have a sale. There will be a 15% discount on all items purchased on Friday October 1, 2010 from 12:30am (just after midnight) until 11:30pm in the evening.



So for example: this Olive Oil ring is regularily priced at $15.00 but it will only be $12.75 on Friday. I love the color combination of the antiqued copper wire with the olivine green glass pearl. Very Maid Marianish =)

Also, the first episode of the Blue Soup with Stars series will be posted soon. I'm just waiting for my camera batteries to finish charging so I can show you photos of the cool bead stash pile I  accumulated recently. Very rustic and woodsy. I'm so excited about this particular stash that I can hardly wait to show you.

My poor old camera really got a work out today. So did my old back! hehe I need to start sitting down to take pictures. Something about leaning over and forward is really messing with my lower back. Does anyone else have that problem, and if so, how did you resolve it so that you could spend more time taking photos?

I'm craving oatmeal so I'll see you again in a little bit.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Site Updates - One Step at a Time

Website design is not my strongest skill, but by putting one foot in front of the other Whimsy Within is progressing along slow and steady. I'm actually starting to enjoy doing the coding. I think I've finally figured out a way to add an order form that won't be too terribly complicated for buyers. I had to think like an 'artist' to come up with the idea so "nana nana boo boo" to all my 'technically wired' web design friends. Maintaining the order form will require a great deal of vigilance on my part, but that's what I get paid for so no biggie.

Off topic....I went shopping yesterday and scored a tripod for my camera, a new battery charger, and some cool little ear buds so I can drown out my roomie's TV when I'm working online.

And also off topic.....I plan on doing a regular series of posts called 'Blue Soup With Stars' in honor of an old online friend named Magali who had an MSN community named Blue Soup With Stars. Magali is the main reason why I stayed online 10 years ago instead of giving up and unplugging my computer forever. Were it not for her kind words and encouragement I never would have gone on to discover that I'm actually talented at drawing graphics. If there wasn't any graphics, there would never have been any jewelry. In other words...she inspired me, and encouraged me to explore my creativity, and push myself beyond my boundaries.

So the 'Blue Soup With Stars' series will be about taking risks...exploring creativity....trying new things. And I will show my process here on my blog. I don't know whatever happened to Magali, but I've never forgotten the impact she had on me. Thank you kind lady.

(P.S. I think it's serrendipity that 'Soup' will be in the title of my series. Just like how 'Soup' is in Lori Anderson's 'Cup of Bead Soup' series about the same topic.)

Jewelry Making Classes

I posted a 'Classes' section at RadianTrace Jewelry for anyone local who'd like to take a class. I'm also in the process of redoing my jewelry site. This process will probably take a few weeks to be complete. During this time the color scheme of various pages may not match. Don't worry though...everything will be coordinated when it's finished.

Earth, Wind & Fire Bracelets

Earth Bracelet



Wind Bracelet



Fire Bracelet



The above 3 bracelets are for sale. Post a comment if you're interested in knowing the prices and I'll get back to you ASAP =)

Jewelry Designer Lisa Barth

I've been following Lisa Barth's work for a few years, and her imaginative Art Clay designs never cease to amaze and inspire me. She's also an incredibly talented wire work artisan. She teaches Art Clay design & jewelry design classes, and you can find many of her tutorials on both her own website, and on Eni Oken's Jewelry Lessons website.

Here's some of Lisa's recent work. A Fish Tale:



Lisa's design sketch before creating the pendant



The other side



The back of the pendant



A special arrowhead Lisa wire wrapped



A beautiful woven wire bezel setting



You can see more of Lisa's work on these websites:

Lisa Barth (her commercial website)
Jewelry Lesson's (Eni Oken's tutorial site)

Why a Dragonfly?

Why do I use a dragonfly for the logo on my Whimsy Within website? It represents lightness of being and transformation to me. I have always been attracted to dragonflies, but the intensity increased when I became ill. I was told to expect a long 2 year recovery. I used to be a somewhat high energy, scattered type of person. As I age though, I'm becoming more calm and peaceful with a mental clarity that I'm very grateful to possess. I'm just generally very grateful everyday for everything I have in my life. Life is so short, and I'm trying to enjoy every moment to the fullest. I think I owe it all to the connection I have with my lil friend Dragonfly.

Dragonfly: Illusion, the Power of Light

Dragonfly is the power of light. The dragonfly inhabits two realms: air and water and the influence of both these elements will be felt by Dragonfly people. They will be emotional and passionate during their early years (the influence of water) and more balanced with greater mental clarity and control in as they mature (the influence of air).

Dragonfly is the essence of the winds of change, the messages of wisdom and enlightenment; and the communication from the elemental world. Dragonfly medicine beckons you to seek out the parts of your habits which need changing. Call on Dragonfly to guide you through the mists of illusion to the pathway of transformation.

The number 2 is important to Dragonfly, so think in terms of two year periods when you begin a change. Dragonfly brings the light and color of transformation into your life.

Dragonfly Totem Description from Lin's Domain

Artist Jennifer MacNeill-Trayler

Horse lovers beware! I discovered the very talented artist Jennifer MacNeill-Trayler a couple of years ago through the One World One Heart Blog Giveaway. I immediately fell in love with her beautiful equine art. Jen is a very interesting artist in that she has a 'thing' for Halloween and out of that grew her fondness for carving pumpkins. She enters carving competitions and all her entries are displayed on one of her many blogs which you can find links to at her The Mare's Tales blog. (I think Jen also has a 'thing' for making blogs ;p)

When I 'met' her she was handpainting horses on wooden tiles and selling them as pendants. She still does that, but now she's also an official artist at The Trail of Painted Ponies. One of her painted horses will be released as a mass produced figurine.

Here's just one example of the beautiful artwork you'll find at Jen's Ponies.

The Sketchbook Project

I just read about this really cool project on Julie's blog (Recapturing Creativity) Click on the image below to view the project.

Metalsmith Carole Axium

As I often do I was just surfing through flickr when I came upon this very talented metalsmith named Carole Axium and my jaw dropped open. Her style is rustic yet elegant.



I love the wire scroll details she adds to some of her work. It looks like vines. Very organic and breath taking. Her 'style' resembles my sketches. I imagine my pieces will be very similar theme wise.



This one is very unique. I've never seen anyone attempt this type of design. By the way it's a pendant. At first I thought it was a ring =)



She's originally a wire work artisan. Crazy talented!



Designs by Carole Axium

Inspiration for the Spirit

This is my friend Patricia's website. Go take a peek. You'll find it very inspiring. Careful though....it's still under construction.

Inspiration for the Spirit

This is one of the sections I keep returning to time and time again

"Still Waters"

All Site Updates Will Be Added Here

In the interest of simplicity, and getting myself more organized I will be adding updates for all my websites here at Ronnie Unplugged. If that doesn't work for you and you'd like specific site updates you can sign-up for my Newsletter. In the right hand menu you'll see the sign-up form titled Subscribe to Ronnie's Sites. Just enter your email address, uncheck the boxes for the items that don't interest you, and click submit. It's a double opt-in so you'll need to sign into your email account and confirm your submission.

You can also follow my supply site Whimsy Within on Twitter for quick updates. Twitter.com/WhimsyWithin. My RadianTrace Twitter account is a mixture of site updates and personal nonsense, but feel free to follow it if you don't mind occasional silliness. Twitter.com/RadianTrace

Ronnie Unplugged will also be used for posting articles and commentary about artists, other jewelry designers, books about making jewelry & books about various techniques. I have an amazon Book Nook at Whimsy Within, and as I purchase and read some of the books I have on my list I'll review them here. AND speaking of books...this is a very cool website - Blog2Print.

I'm also taking a metalsmithing course so I will be posting pictures and comments about my progress.

To navigate through this blog click on the various links in the Blog Categories section to the right.

My off topic ramblings, and poetry etc...will now be posted only on my 'Inked Soul Songs' blog located at soulsongs.posterous.com

Eventually, one day at a time, I WILL get myself more organized.

Building My Supply Site

So I decided to sell supplies. I sold them at the last 4 events this summer, and it went well so now I'm busy building my supply site to sell them online. I'll be taking photos and editing them then adding them to the site over the next several days.

It will take me awhile. I haven't done much site design or editing for the past couple of years, but it's coming back to me as I go. Things have changed quite a bit over the years in regards to scripts and web design. I won't be adding anything fancy. Just the basics. Have a peek. I don't mind having an audience as I build.

Whimsy Within

Nose to the Grindstone

I've had my head down and my nose to the grindstone trying to get several new jewelry pieces made for the end of the summer markets. I will be going on a huge supply shopping trip very soon. I'm almost completely out of silver plated findings.

I've been thinking about investing some money into a significant stash of supplies. I might become a supply seller for the fall and winter months to help suppliment my regular earnings. I haven't decided for sure yet....but I'm seriously thinking about it.

Always dreaming....dreaming.....dreaming.......

Unplugging The Phone

Sometimes you just have to unplug the phone and be alone with yourself. This past year I have been coming to terms with a serious health issue which hasn't been 100% resolved yet. I'm undergoing treatment, and it will be at least another year and a half before I'm well again.

In the meantime alongside (because of) the physical health issue I've experienced a spiritual awakening. The funny thing is I thought I was already walking in conscious contact with God. I felt at peace with who I was. Little did I know. This illness has been like a test. All the self-growth I'd experienced to date was like the stitches holding my roughly shorn edges together. Illness was the water poured over me to test if my soul could remain dry and intact while travelling the rough seas.

I feel well enough now to poke my head out and be part of the world again.