Lost and found again
Dec. 27th, 2008 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonAs I mentioned in a previous post, I've started doing crafty things again: assemblages, jewelry fabrication, that sort of thing. I used to be quite the low-level metalsmith, but I didn't have any room for it in my apartment and I lost the taste for it, so I stopped for a long time. I'm quite rusty (it's been ten years or so), but I made an assemblage piece for someone for Christmas—bent copper wire, folded paper, beading—and oh my word but some of those joinings were really funky. Overall, it worked, I think. Not that I'd want to enter it into a professional show or anything, but whatevs.
Back in the day I used to have a wonderful book called The Complete Metalsmith: An Illustrated Handbook by Tim McCreight. It was recommended to me by an instructor as a kind of bible for those seeking to do this sort of thing, and it really is a comprehensive How To. But when I stopped doing the work, I thought, "I'll never do this again." I have a tendency to make such sweeping generalizations about myself and living to rue the day. In the case of the McCreight book, I wound up giving it away to a woman I worked with who quit the job in order to move north to Virginia City. She'd expressed an interest in doing this kind of work, so I thought it would be an appropriate goodbye gift. I don't regret giving it to her, but lately I'd been wishing I could refresh my memory on a number of things.
Yesterday, I decided that I had to go to Barnes and Noble and dispense with my gift certificate. It was burning a hole in my pocket and making me all fidgety. So I wandered the aisles a bit and didn't want to spend it on the usual junk. You know, you're "supposed" to spend gift certificates on things you might not otherwise allow yourself to buy, but I couldn't find anything until I wandered upstairs and realized I should go through the crafty books. Maybe I'd find something to help me get past my rusty spots. Yep, you guessed it. They had the McCreight book! I felt all fluttery, like the book had been returned to me. And I even had enough left of the gift certificate to buy another, Semi-Precious Salvage: Creating Found-Art Jewelry by Stephanie Lee. I liked this one because it contained a number of techniques for "Stone-Cold Connecting." In other words, no torches and soldering required. I don't mind soldering so much, but I really don't like working with torches. (And hand-sawing metal puts my teeth on edge, but that's another story.) Between that and Altered Curiosities: Assemblage Techniques and Projects by Jane Ann Wynn it looks like I'm all out of excuses. Oh, and I forgot Beading From Nature: Creating Jewelry With Stones from the Earth by Crystal McDougald. Hmm. No more books like this for me.
This doesn't take the place of writing, but I find I'm a more balanced person if I have some other creative outlet besides writing. Guess it's time to get to work.
Back in the day I used to have a wonderful book called The Complete Metalsmith: An Illustrated Handbook by Tim McCreight. It was recommended to me by an instructor as a kind of bible for those seeking to do this sort of thing, and it really is a comprehensive How To. But when I stopped doing the work, I thought, "I'll never do this again." I have a tendency to make such sweeping generalizations about myself and living to rue the day. In the case of the McCreight book, I wound up giving it away to a woman I worked with who quit the job in order to move north to Virginia City. She'd expressed an interest in doing this kind of work, so I thought it would be an appropriate goodbye gift. I don't regret giving it to her, but lately I'd been wishing I could refresh my memory on a number of things.
Yesterday, I decided that I had to go to Barnes and Noble and dispense with my gift certificate. It was burning a hole in my pocket and making me all fidgety. So I wandered the aisles a bit and didn't want to spend it on the usual junk. You know, you're "supposed" to spend gift certificates on things you might not otherwise allow yourself to buy, but I couldn't find anything until I wandered upstairs and realized I should go through the crafty books. Maybe I'd find something to help me get past my rusty spots. Yep, you guessed it. They had the McCreight book! I felt all fluttery, like the book had been returned to me. And I even had enough left of the gift certificate to buy another, Semi-Precious Salvage: Creating Found-Art Jewelry by Stephanie Lee. I liked this one because it contained a number of techniques for "Stone-Cold Connecting." In other words, no torches and soldering required. I don't mind soldering so much, but I really don't like working with torches. (And hand-sawing metal puts my teeth on edge, but that's another story.) Between that and Altered Curiosities: Assemblage Techniques and Projects by Jane Ann Wynn it looks like I'm all out of excuses. Oh, and I forgot Beading From Nature: Creating Jewelry With Stones from the Earth by Crystal McDougald. Hmm. No more books like this for me.
This doesn't take the place of writing, but I find I'm a more balanced person if I have some other creative outlet besides writing. Guess it's time to get to work.