more stuff

i just made another watch-part pendant. this one is kind of fancy!

resinator

i'm on a jewelless jeweling mission!

i've been playing around with resin, and it's really neat and there is a lot of potential for interesting, unique designs! i'm dedicating the first package of resin that i've bought to experimentation, and when i invest in more, it's going to be for pieces i plan to sell.

resin is essentially plastic. it's a two-part epoxy that you can add pigments to and embed objects in. you can drill into it or set it like a stone. so far i've just been playing around with coloring and embedding. i've been saving my tip money, and i'll invest in some copper soon. stu has a butane-fueled soldering iron i can use to work on some settings for pendants and rings and earrings and things!

here are some pieces i've made that i don't hate:

this has scraps of my old favorite scarf which was rendered unwearable a while ago. i've also used bits of the scarf to make a feather for my friend cory's featherless fedora.

this one has itty-bitty gears from inside a watch set into clear resin, and then i put some black resin behind it. i am really excited about making more pieces like this, i think they'll be a hit with the steampunk crowd.

brian has given me a ton of fun little electronics guts from computer boards he's taken apart. also i've played around with putting dried plants into resin. i don't have pictures of these things because my phone just died and i'm housesitting for the week. but stay tuned! one day i might even have an etsy page and i'll officially be on my way to cat-ladydom!

also, fashion update. i have been buttoning my cardigans. this is a thrilling, risky thing for me to do. i've never felt very comfortable in buttoned shirts or in normal non-cardigan sweaters. but i think this is working.

and check out these sweet shoes i got brand new for $10! these are pretty much my dream shoes. i've always wanted shiny doc martens and red doc marten boots. i'm halfway to my shoe goal!

i've also been wearing pants every day for over a week.

(oops. my cardigan is unbuttoned. now i'm a liar!)

big changes underfoot, for me!

other stuff i've been working on, kind of:

- trying to get a book club going at the cafe. kind of failing at it.

- hosted a second karaoke night at the cafe last weekend. total success. total blast. i am really good at being a karaoke host. i love every minute of it.

- helping stu work on a set for a short stop-motion film he and his roommate are going to shoot. fun!!

- i made a bunch of cute valentines for cafe-related folks, but forgot to take pictures of/scan them. i had intended to do a valentine's day blog post here, but i didn't. oopsies!

- this is how i've spent the majority of my non-working, non-babysitting time for the past week. hangin' out with winston and liza!

we're not so different

the weather needs to correct itself. it's driving everyone mad and we're all at each other's throats. sixty degrees in chicago on january 31? something is wrong.

everyone seems to be bearing the weight of some leaden grey cloud. it's spooky.

walking home today, i ran into a friend/acquaintance/fan of mine. he comes into the cafe occasionally, just to visit, never to purchase. he's a vietnamese man, about 50 years old, and has some sort of developmental disability. he is sweet and will soliloquize ad nauseum about the only two ladies for him: celine dion and the virgin mary. he loves to tease me about my love for paul mccartney. my friend's name is pham.

a while ago, pham was working for a nearby pizza joint, distributing menus/flyers. he left that job because the owner harassed him. pham has not gotten over this, and brings it up every time i see him.

as usual, when i ran into him today, he brought up the situation. during the discussion he said something very poignant: "all i want in this life is peace and love. and you do not want anything different than me."

well said, pham. i always run into him on my gloomiest days. he's my little toothless sunshine.

drawrings

i found some portraits i drew a while ago. i wanted to scan more but the scanner stopped working and then i got distracted.

brain scream

fear of flying

this guy isn't supposed to look so much like h. jon benjamin. he's supposed to look like the unhappy/nervous looking flight attendant on my flight back east in december. i like him anyway.

i'm great

i was thinking today about how i hardly ever write anymore, and how even if i do write, i don't blog it all over the place like i used to. i think that with self-acceptance came some sort of humility. which seems a little backwards.

i'm the least self-conscious now that i have ever been in my life. yet i feel no need to blab to everyone on the internet about my thoughts and crap. but when i was way more insecure, that's all i could do. i guess it was to try to connect and have someone relate to my pathetic woes and that would be like some sort of psychic salve.

i'm studying for the GRE, people. it's not pretty. it's not awful, but it is a lesson in self-discipline. good ol' PMS interfered with studying the past few days. all i could do was sleep and work and go see a movie and sleep and work and sleep some more. but today i'm a new lady! i'm less grumpy! i'm studious! and i'm procrastinating RIGHT NOW!

maybe i'm just lazy and that's why i don't bore you all daily like i used to.

quick, everyone look at what stu can do! he overflows with talent!! this is just the tip of the iceberg.

deacon blues

i'm pathetic at blogging on this blog. it's going to get better. i've made lots of stuff that i haven't shown you guys. you just wait!

a while ago, my jewelry class teacher gave me this big hunk of amber after i had told him amber is my favorite stone.

tonight i finally made a pendant from it!

it's my first attempt at wrapping. there are some hippies in this world that can do some really beautiful things with wire and stones. i doubt i'll ever be as good as them, however i do hope to improve my technique and learn how to make some nice details. i used cheap wire since i am still learning. once i get more comfortable, i'll buy some silver wire.

the great thing about wrapping stones rather than forging settings for them is how easy it is to revise your setting. at least at this simple stage i'm at.

here is a book box i made for my little friend erin for a secret santa!

i made 2 more as christmas gifts for family members. it's a fun and functional project! everybody knows i love me some mod podge!

currently spinning:

hello hooray

i finished another ring! this is just a plain silver band. it is asymmetrical, it gets wider and more bulbous on one side. i used the lost wax method, which means i made the ring from wax, put it in some plaster, then put the plaster coffin containing the wax into an oven. the oven melted the wax right out. then my teacher poured melted silver into the hole left in the plaster.

et voila!

i also did my nails myself! good job, eh?

if you want to see some really nice handmade jewelry, check out my friend roslyn's etsy page. did you read that, people? i made a friend in my class! she does lapidary, enamel, and hand-forged silver work. she also assembles some neat pieces from old vintage components. it's good stuff!

here's a birthday card i made a few weeks ago for my dear ol' pal, baylie roth. he turned 25! isn't that something?

i snipped the frightened mass from some old comic book. the rest of it is my work.

now i'm off to work on that comic. it's all happening!