So herein lies the current state of Arcadian Dreams Metalwork -- might be of interest to other self-employed business mavens. :D
Finances:
About $2500 in the hole at the moment, which is fine; my business plan allots for up to $5000 "red" before I will have to change strategies. So that's good. :)
Advertising and Promotion:
Will never be on the front page of Etsy, and my items honestly don't fit their new "branding" schtick... so I will change my focus from them to myself/other venues.
Project Wonderful got me views but no sales and no trackable hearts; will give it another go when I have a fully stocked shop.
Twitter would probably get me sales if I used it for my business, but it feels icky to do so and I'm worried about spamming people.
Current strategy is to open an ArtFire shop, keep three lines in my Etsy shop (Cocktails, My Heart Is A Castle and eyeballs) and use the rest in ArtFire, featured as a cart function on my main website, which will be overhauled.
Pricing:
Will likely stay the same for the moment. Right now I am using a formula that marginally works -- essentially overhead (shop expenses, packaging, shipping) + materials times x. Nope, no labour in there; I'm currently working for free, which is bad business, but I am trying to stay competitive. When I'm a big diva of the jewellery world this may change, of course. ;)
Meatspace venues:
Will definitely be doing the gem and jewellery show this October; will be saving up stock to do it, and have lovely new displays. I'm aiming for 50 items, which is pretty ambitious, but I have a few months to do it.
Still have consignment space at the Purple Door; will put some pieces there before and after the gem show.
New skills:
Cabbing! Cutting and polishing my own stones is not only a heck of a lot of fun, but will reduce my cost substantially.
***
So there you have it. I'm not kicking ass but I'm not going under. :D
Showing posts with label shoptalk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoptalk. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A happy silver family. :D
Remember this?
Finished it today, just in time to present to Mrs. Helpful-friend-of-the-family for Mother's Day.
The S and K are the Mama and Papa, and the small s, o and a are the kidlets, with their birthstones or reasonable substitutes thereof (aventurine, amethyst and citrine).
There are some weird reflections in the high shine of the silver -- it's all been buffed mirror smooth. The perils of taking pictures outside! Note to self... light box for shop photos, always. ;)
And a happy upcoming Mother's Day to the mamas who may be reading. <3
Finished it today, just in time to present to Mrs. Helpful-friend-of-the-family for Mother's Day.
The S and K are the Mama and Papa, and the small s, o and a are the kidlets, with their birthstones or reasonable substitutes thereof (aventurine, amethyst and citrine).
There are some weird reflections in the high shine of the silver -- it's all been buffed mirror smooth. The perils of taking pictures outside! Note to self... light box for shop photos, always. ;)
And a happy upcoming Mother's Day to the mamas who may be reading. <3
Sunday, April 26, 2009
What Two Months On Etsy Have Taught Me
Beta testing is now officially over! I have reached my two month mark open on Etsy, so now is a good time to regroup and draft my four-month plan. Then, I will make my eight month plan, and so on... always gotta be tweaking the business and it really helps me to put down on paper where I need to trim my edges.
1. Continuity in photography. I've more or less figured out my camera, now, so it's time to invest in some backdrops that will offer my items a uniformly photographed look; using "whatever was on hand" did give me some interesting results, but overall people like sameness and they like a professional look.
2. Cheap and cheerful. I love making time-intensive wyrdling pieces, and I'll still do those, but I also need some cheap and cheerful, bread'n'butter pieces that are under the $30 mark and that I can produce en masse. I don't have to be an artist all the time; sometimes I can let myself be a crafter.
3. Filling the shop. My initial speculation that no less than 30 pieces was a good goal mark for my shop seems to have been correct -- people like full shops! When I re-open next month it will be with a full complement of items.
4. Advertising - Project Wonderful did bring me views but no clicks; I'm going to give it another try when I have a full shop and see if a bigger selection will have better results. On a related advertising note, it really is worthwhile to invest in the more expensive PW sites... the more expensive sites got me more views across the board!
5. Polished packaging. My packaging was pretty good, but (with permission from her) The House of Mouse's was just amazing, and I've taken a few cues from her brilliant packaging to use for my own. It may cost me a little more in the short term but I think it will be worth it in the long term.
1. Continuity in photography. I've more or less figured out my camera, now, so it's time to invest in some backdrops that will offer my items a uniformly photographed look; using "whatever was on hand" did give me some interesting results, but overall people like sameness and they like a professional look.
2. Cheap and cheerful. I love making time-intensive wyrdling pieces, and I'll still do those, but I also need some cheap and cheerful, bread'n'butter pieces that are under the $30 mark and that I can produce en masse. I don't have to be an artist all the time; sometimes I can let myself be a crafter.
3. Filling the shop. My initial speculation that no less than 30 pieces was a good goal mark for my shop seems to have been correct -- people like full shops! When I re-open next month it will be with a full complement of items.
4. Advertising - Project Wonderful did bring me views but no clicks; I'm going to give it another try when I have a full shop and see if a bigger selection will have better results. On a related advertising note, it really is worthwhile to invest in the more expensive PW sites... the more expensive sites got me more views across the board!
5. Polished packaging. My packaging was pretty good, but (with permission from her) The House of Mouse's was just amazing, and I've taken a few cues from her brilliant packaging to use for my own. It may cost me a little more in the short term but I think it will be worth it in the long term.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday bloggin': What's On The Bench?
Castles, that's what!
Well, tiny TINY castles suitable for the wee-est of pixies, maybe. But castles nonetheless!
I'm starting a new line called "Castles In My Heart": A heart theme surrounded by stone castle walls. I have a history of getting my heart broken, so motifs of protecting the heart tend to show up in my work a lot, as do hearts in general.
Here are the first earrings of the set -- post backs with a setting for either enamel or small gemstone hearts.
These are sterling and natural ruby. I have matching pendants, too, but they need to wait on a supply order as I don't have a proper hammer.
Well, tiny TINY castles suitable for the wee-est of pixies, maybe. But castles nonetheless!
I'm starting a new line called "Castles In My Heart": A heart theme surrounded by stone castle walls. I have a history of getting my heart broken, so motifs of protecting the heart tend to show up in my work a lot, as do hearts in general.
Here are the first earrings of the set -- post backs with a setting for either enamel or small gemstone hearts.
These are sterling and natural ruby. I have matching pendants, too, but they need to wait on a supply order as I don't have a proper hammer.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Nightmare of Seascape 1: Also Known As "UR DOIN IT RONG"
This is going to be a long entry, as it will involve construction notes and the like. If such things make your eyes glaze over, feel free to look at the pretty (and not so pretty pictures) and skip the text. :)
This is The Beast in question:
I got a wild hair to do something totally creative and artistic and frivolous, so I thought "well hey, let's learn enamelling!". I bought an enamel kit and with the aid of my trusty PMC kilns, got down to work. This is, of course, when everything went South...
The first cock-up: Do not try any fancy-schmancy folding tricks with PMC.
I had originally intended to roll out a thin sheet and fold it, accordion-style, to create a neat rippled backdrop for the back of the piece. DO NOT DO THIS. This creates air pockets in the PMC that come out later as huge gaping holes in the piece, when the silver shrinks. D'oh.
I ended up camouflaging my mistake with lines scribed in the back, but it did not stop the aforementioned Grand Canyons of Fail from showing up. Hmmm. This necessitated enamelling the back of the piece as well, to fill the holes, something I had not intended to do.
The second cock-up: Enamelling the back of a huge piece of silver that was not intended to be enamelled is bad news bears.
Ping! Ping! Ping! If I never hear that sound again for the rest of my life I will be a happy woman. See, for those among the enamelling unitiated, enamel likes to crack. It will crack if there are impurities in your water or dust in your enamel, and it will crack if the working surface is not an ideal shape for enamelling onto (domed), and it will crack if the piece is cooled too quickly. I sifted. I fired. It cracked. I cleaned. I sifted. I fired. It cracked. I cleaned. Ad nauseum.
In fact, I full-cover sifted the back of the piece no less than eighteen times. Eighteen times! Finally, I gave up. At least the PMC Holes of Badness were filled, right? Oy. So the lesson here is that some things really don't want to be enamelled, particularly if they are the wrong shape and thickness.
This is how the back ended up:
Parts stayed enamelled. Parts didn't. It all got fired. Holes got filled. I ended up stoning the enamel down so it looked like beach glass. Not too shabby, all things considered.
I fired the ever loving heck of it at the end, which resulted in the fine silver of the PMC actually boiling up over the shibuichi coral... which brings me to the next part:
The third cock-up: Shibuichi does not like to be fired with fine silver.
I had cast the shibuichi (the pink-silver stuff at the bottom) myself, and it came out in this lovely coral shape, so I used that as a platform to work from. I cleaned and set the coral into the wet PMC and fired the whole thing. So far, so good, right? I did notice, though, that during the first firing the PMC really wanted to "creep" along the surface of the shibuichi in a fine skin. I figured I could take it off later. Um. Not so much.
After firing and firing and firing some more, especially the high temperatures of the flash at the end, the fine silver caught on the surface of the shibuichi actually balled itself into shot... tiny, tiny nodules of shot that fused hard. Um. It's a good thing this was a creative, freeform, underwater piece or I would have cried.
In the end, I actually like how the nodules look, definitely like coral! I'm not sure I could duplicate it if I tried. You can see the nodule effect, and the enamelling I floated throughout the front of the piece, here:
Everything else was more or less not cock-up worthy. I bought a vintage coral necklace (I can not, ethically, support the harvesting of new coral at the expense of the reefs... so I purchase old stuff) and reamed out the tiny holes with a diamond bit.
I strung everything on 20g steel wire, to hold its shape. Oh! I guess there is another cock-up...
The fourth cock-up: 20g steel wire does not wire-wrap in any kind of pretty or decorative way, unless you are The Hulk.
So I used to bitch and moan about sterling silver being tough to wire-wrap. Ha! Double ha! A breeze by comparison. Wrapping the ends of this wire was an exercise in bruises, blood and frustration. In the end I did the best I could, but it's ugly (were this a piece for sale, I would cover the shitty wire-wrapping with an assortment of pretty jump rings for camouflage).
I had a piece of cuttlefish doodad lying around from my last run of Lovecraft jewellery, so I used that as a simple clasp:
It's actually good and secure, given how heavy the necklace is and how stiff the wire is.
So anyway, this was it: Seascape 1, sterling and fine silver, peg-set cultured pearl, modified gypsy-set moonstone, enamel, coral, steel.
In 10 years, when I have more buff skills, I am going to make another one. :D In the meantime, I have the necklace to remind me of all the lessons this piece taught me... and an even more permanent souvenir:
Just in case anybody wondered how hot kilns get... I didn't even feel that. It burned right down before I could say boo.
This is The Beast in question:
I got a wild hair to do something totally creative and artistic and frivolous, so I thought "well hey, let's learn enamelling!". I bought an enamel kit and with the aid of my trusty PMC kilns, got down to work. This is, of course, when everything went South...
The first cock-up: Do not try any fancy-schmancy folding tricks with PMC.
I had originally intended to roll out a thin sheet and fold it, accordion-style, to create a neat rippled backdrop for the back of the piece. DO NOT DO THIS. This creates air pockets in the PMC that come out later as huge gaping holes in the piece, when the silver shrinks. D'oh.
I ended up camouflaging my mistake with lines scribed in the back, but it did not stop the aforementioned Grand Canyons of Fail from showing up. Hmmm. This necessitated enamelling the back of the piece as well, to fill the holes, something I had not intended to do.
The second cock-up: Enamelling the back of a huge piece of silver that was not intended to be enamelled is bad news bears.
Ping! Ping! Ping! If I never hear that sound again for the rest of my life I will be a happy woman. See, for those among the enamelling unitiated, enamel likes to crack. It will crack if there are impurities in your water or dust in your enamel, and it will crack if the working surface is not an ideal shape for enamelling onto (domed), and it will crack if the piece is cooled too quickly. I sifted. I fired. It cracked. I cleaned. I sifted. I fired. It cracked. I cleaned. Ad nauseum.
In fact, I full-cover sifted the back of the piece no less than eighteen times. Eighteen times! Finally, I gave up. At least the PMC Holes of Badness were filled, right? Oy. So the lesson here is that some things really don't want to be enamelled, particularly if they are the wrong shape and thickness.
This is how the back ended up:
Parts stayed enamelled. Parts didn't. It all got fired. Holes got filled. I ended up stoning the enamel down so it looked like beach glass. Not too shabby, all things considered.
I fired the ever loving heck of it at the end, which resulted in the fine silver of the PMC actually boiling up over the shibuichi coral... which brings me to the next part:
The third cock-up: Shibuichi does not like to be fired with fine silver.
I had cast the shibuichi (the pink-silver stuff at the bottom) myself, and it came out in this lovely coral shape, so I used that as a platform to work from. I cleaned and set the coral into the wet PMC and fired the whole thing. So far, so good, right? I did notice, though, that during the first firing the PMC really wanted to "creep" along the surface of the shibuichi in a fine skin. I figured I could take it off later. Um. Not so much.
After firing and firing and firing some more, especially the high temperatures of the flash at the end, the fine silver caught on the surface of the shibuichi actually balled itself into shot... tiny, tiny nodules of shot that fused hard. Um. It's a good thing this was a creative, freeform, underwater piece or I would have cried.
In the end, I actually like how the nodules look, definitely like coral! I'm not sure I could duplicate it if I tried. You can see the nodule effect, and the enamelling I floated throughout the front of the piece, here:
Everything else was more or less not cock-up worthy. I bought a vintage coral necklace (I can not, ethically, support the harvesting of new coral at the expense of the reefs... so I purchase old stuff) and reamed out the tiny holes with a diamond bit.
I strung everything on 20g steel wire, to hold its shape. Oh! I guess there is another cock-up...
The fourth cock-up: 20g steel wire does not wire-wrap in any kind of pretty or decorative way, unless you are The Hulk.
So I used to bitch and moan about sterling silver being tough to wire-wrap. Ha! Double ha! A breeze by comparison. Wrapping the ends of this wire was an exercise in bruises, blood and frustration. In the end I did the best I could, but it's ugly (were this a piece for sale, I would cover the shitty wire-wrapping with an assortment of pretty jump rings for camouflage).
I had a piece of cuttlefish doodad lying around from my last run of Lovecraft jewellery, so I used that as a simple clasp:
It's actually good and secure, given how heavy the necklace is and how stiff the wire is.
So anyway, this was it: Seascape 1, sterling and fine silver, peg-set cultured pearl, modified gypsy-set moonstone, enamel, coral, steel.
In 10 years, when I have more buff skills, I am going to make another one. :D In the meantime, I have the necklace to remind me of all the lessons this piece taught me... and an even more permanent souvenir:
Just in case anybody wondered how hot kilns get... I didn't even feel that. It burned right down before I could say boo.
Monday, March 23, 2009
The nature of success...
So with no cold sales under my belt yet -- that being people who do not know me but are buying the piece cold -- I have gotten to thinking about sales and success in the jewellery field.
Apprenticeship #1: Fairly mainstream mall jeweller. Didn't take a lot of creative risks, mostly did repairs, watch battery changes and bridal set sizing. Can live off her profits well. Creativity 4/10, financial success 8/10.
Apprenticeship #2: Haute-couture art jeweller, very creative but mostly stuck to what was trendy/popular (a very idiosyncratic ring texture with a bezel-set stone in contrasting metals). Could live off her profits alone but ended up expanding her gallery to include other artists to fatten margins. Creativity 6/10, financial success 6/10.
Apprenticeship #3: Eccentric, award-winning art jeweller, extremely creative, took risks. I'm the most like him :) Did the occasional repair, etc., but mostly was called upon for "weird" custom work. Probably could not live off his work alone, unfortunately. Creativity 8/10, financial success 4/10.
There is a pattern here. Food for thought... perhaps I need to revamp the criteria for when I will feel successful as a metalsmith.
Apprenticeship #1: Fairly mainstream mall jeweller. Didn't take a lot of creative risks, mostly did repairs, watch battery changes and bridal set sizing. Can live off her profits well. Creativity 4/10, financial success 8/10.
Apprenticeship #2: Haute-couture art jeweller, very creative but mostly stuck to what was trendy/popular (a very idiosyncratic ring texture with a bezel-set stone in contrasting metals). Could live off her profits alone but ended up expanding her gallery to include other artists to fatten margins. Creativity 6/10, financial success 6/10.
Apprenticeship #3: Eccentric, award-winning art jeweller, extremely creative, took risks. I'm the most like him :) Did the occasional repair, etc., but mostly was called upon for "weird" custom work. Probably could not live off his work alone, unfortunately. Creativity 8/10, financial success 4/10.
There is a pattern here. Food for thought... perhaps I need to revamp the criteria for when I will feel successful as a metalsmith.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday bloggin'
So Monday mornings have been officially set aside as my blog time, barring illness and/or "nothing good to say today grump grump" days.
The shibuichi poured perfectly, one pour radiating outward like coral... so I have decided I am going to use it for my first ambitious, Rio-Grande-catalogue-esque PMC piece. Shibuichi, sterling, PMC with moonstones fired in place. It will either be amazing or it will be a hot fractured mess. No risk, no reward, eh? Besides, there's always Jack to fall back on if it goes horribly wrong (Mr. Daniels to you, please.).
My favorite apprenticing jeweller was absolutely fearless. He would size large and irreplaceable stone-set rings without qualm (stone-in! GAH!), put thousand dollar silver spoons in my hands to polish on the wheel (which could, at any time, catch hold of the enormous piece of silver and send it spinning off into oblivion)... I mean, this man had the proverbial balls of solid granite. He was amazing, and the closest to me in terms of creative style and attack.
The creation process for me is always blood and fire and Nero fiddling and Sturm und Drang and Valkyries flying overhead and O Fortuna playing in the background and hammer hitting steel (and occasionally, me). I am the exact antithesis of those amazing artists who create precise, pristine geometric pieces. I look at their work with admiration and respect, because it is so far from my element, but it is not a style that comes naturally to me.
I take risks. All of my work involves some element that is, at the beginning, just a greycat whisker beyond my ability. By the end of the piece, I've either learned how to do something new or I go back to the beginning and try again with a different approach.
My jewellery is... dangerous. Mostly to me. :) And I like it that way.
The shibuichi poured perfectly, one pour radiating outward like coral... so I have decided I am going to use it for my first ambitious, Rio-Grande-catalogue-esque PMC piece. Shibuichi, sterling, PMC with moonstones fired in place. It will either be amazing or it will be a hot fractured mess. No risk, no reward, eh? Besides, there's always Jack to fall back on if it goes horribly wrong (Mr. Daniels to you, please.).
My favorite apprenticing jeweller was absolutely fearless. He would size large and irreplaceable stone-set rings without qualm (stone-in! GAH!), put thousand dollar silver spoons in my hands to polish on the wheel (which could, at any time, catch hold of the enormous piece of silver and send it spinning off into oblivion)... I mean, this man had the proverbial balls of solid granite. He was amazing, and the closest to me in terms of creative style and attack.
The creation process for me is always blood and fire and Nero fiddling and Sturm und Drang and Valkyries flying overhead and O Fortuna playing in the background and hammer hitting steel (and occasionally, me). I am the exact antithesis of those amazing artists who create precise, pristine geometric pieces. I look at their work with admiration and respect, because it is so far from my element, but it is not a style that comes naturally to me.
I take risks. All of my work involves some element that is, at the beginning, just a greycat whisker beyond my ability. By the end of the piece, I've either learned how to do something new or I go back to the beginning and try again with a different approach.
My jewellery is... dangerous. Mostly to me. :) And I like it that way.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Fire = The Solution To Everything
I am having a distinctly gloomy tigger week and have been largely unproductive in the shop (despite having a potential real life consignment opportunity this Saturday); I have decided to cheer myself up by melting the living daylights out of some metal and replenishing my shibuichi alloy stock.
Catharsis, thy name is Little Torch. :)
Catharsis, thy name is Little Torch. :)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The underpants gnomes had it right...
Step 1: Make jewellery
Step 2: Open jewellery shop
Step 3: ????
Step 4: PROFIT!
Am currently at Step 3, also know as "Well, WTF do I do now?". ;)
PMC, you are a cruel mistress. I slagged about twenty bucks' and four hours' worth of the stuff in the kiln the other day... literally five minutes too long and BLOOOOP. Good thing I'm the optimistic sort. Yay! I now have lots of fine silver, uh, casting grain.
I am at a bit of a creative standstill at the moment as I decide where to go next. With no (full price) sales to speak of, I'm at a loss as to which direction I should head in, as I don't know yet what will sell.
So, with that in mind, I am making pieces that will eventually be enamelled. Do I have any enamels at the moment? No, of course not! That would make too much sense. I am going to spend time on pieces that may not see the light of day for months... but are really fun to make. :D Now I just need to look up the copyright rules for the Rider-Waite Tarot deck...
Step 2: Open jewellery shop
Step 3: ????
Step 4: PROFIT!
Am currently at Step 3, also know as "Well, WTF do I do now?". ;)
PMC, you are a cruel mistress. I slagged about twenty bucks' and four hours' worth of the stuff in the kiln the other day... literally five minutes too long and BLOOOOP. Good thing I'm the optimistic sort. Yay! I now have lots of fine silver, uh, casting grain.
I am at a bit of a creative standstill at the moment as I decide where to go next. With no (full price) sales to speak of, I'm at a loss as to which direction I should head in, as I don't know yet what will sell.
So, with that in mind, I am making pieces that will eventually be enamelled. Do I have any enamels at the moment? No, of course not! That would make too much sense. I am going to spend time on pieces that may not see the light of day for months... but are really fun to make. :D Now I just need to look up the copyright rules for the Rider-Waite Tarot deck...
Monday, February 2, 2009
Jett Sett, how do I love thee?
Stonesetting has always been a bit of a bete noire for me. Oh, I'm as capable as the next intermediate jeweller -- but it tends to stress me out beyond all reason because I am terrified of scratching the stones.
Yesterday, whilst setting a pair of amber cabochons, I tried a new product and am now kicking myself for not having used it all along: Jett Sett. It's a thermoplastic which you melt down, attach to a handle (like a pitch pot), push the piece into and let harden again to hold the piece secure so you can set it more easily.
All this time I've been fiddling around with holding tiny awkward pieces in one hand while setting with my other. It is simply miles easier when all I have to hold is the fixture handle!
Jett Sett is available through Rio, and my trusty handy bear made me the fixture from dowelling, a salsa lid, a screw and a washer. We are very low tech here at Arcadian Dreams. ;)
The other handy tip I figured out when setting the cabs was, during the final burnish, all I need to do to protect the stone is... drumroll please... cover the stone with my fingernail. No more fussing with tape to protect the stone! Natural weaponry is, as usual, superior.
I'm waiting on a lovely pink star sapphire cabochon to arrive so I can start on Spring's crown -- I intend to make a new crown, one of a kind, every season as a collectible for all the faery princesses out there. The trouble, of course, will be forcing myself to sell them and not keep them all for myself... a girl can never have too many crowns, or red shoes.
Yesterday, whilst setting a pair of amber cabochons, I tried a new product and am now kicking myself for not having used it all along: Jett Sett. It's a thermoplastic which you melt down, attach to a handle (like a pitch pot), push the piece into and let harden again to hold the piece secure so you can set it more easily.
All this time I've been fiddling around with holding tiny awkward pieces in one hand while setting with my other. It is simply miles easier when all I have to hold is the fixture handle!
Jett Sett is available through Rio, and my trusty handy bear made me the fixture from dowelling, a salsa lid, a screw and a washer. We are very low tech here at Arcadian Dreams. ;)
The other handy tip I figured out when setting the cabs was, during the final burnish, all I need to do to protect the stone is... drumroll please... cover the stone with my fingernail. No more fussing with tape to protect the stone! Natural weaponry is, as usual, superior.
I'm waiting on a lovely pink star sapphire cabochon to arrive so I can start on Spring's crown -- I intend to make a new crown, one of a kind, every season as a collectible for all the faery princesses out there. The trouble, of course, will be forcing myself to sell them and not keep them all for myself... a girl can never have too many crowns, or red shoes.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Nose, meet grindstone. Grindstone, meet nose. Learn to love each other!
So I have finally received my long-awaited casting order. It isn't complete -- they forgot to cast enough of a few things so back the molds go tomorrow -- but it means that there are 60-odd frosty white pieces sitting on my bench, waiting to be cleaned up like baby birds waiting to be fed. Peep peep!
I am completely out of sheet stock and do not have the money to place another order... so it's creative thinking time here at Arcadian Dreams (who am I kidding, it's always creative thinking time here ;) ). I do have enough cuttlefish to cast a sheet ingot if I am very careful about thickness, and since what I need the sheet for will be textured anyway the rippled effect is not a problem...
Difficulty: My sniffer is feeling very sensitive today. Some people get bitchy with their PMS... not me, noooo! I get the big, teary-eyed, sob-at-phone-commercials moogliness and my sense of smell becomes so acute I can guess with fair accuracy when the person on the bus next to me had their last bath... so I may have to leave the cuttlefish for another day.
It's not like I don't have enough castings to keep me busy... until June. ;)
ALSO: Did you know... that if you leave your wet tumbled pieces in the steel strainer overnight, rust will go all over your silver pieces! File under: BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER.
I am completely out of sheet stock and do not have the money to place another order... so it's creative thinking time here at Arcadian Dreams (who am I kidding, it's always creative thinking time here ;) ). I do have enough cuttlefish to cast a sheet ingot if I am very careful about thickness, and since what I need the sheet for will be textured anyway the rippled effect is not a problem...
Difficulty: My sniffer is feeling very sensitive today. Some people get bitchy with their PMS... not me, noooo! I get the big, teary-eyed, sob-at-phone-commercials moogliness and my sense of smell becomes so acute I can guess with fair accuracy when the person on the bus next to me had their last bath... so I may have to leave the cuttlefish for another day.
It's not like I don't have enough castings to keep me busy... until June. ;)
ALSO: Did you know... that if you leave your wet tumbled pieces in the steel strainer overnight, rust will go all over your silver pieces! File under: BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
