Here's a quick look at the blue flagstone we got Pops for his birthday...There are a few smaller pieces that aren't visible that Mom got for mother's day.

Time for Metalwork

It's Jewlery and Metalworking 185 - - Intro to Metals - - and metals are nothing if not time intensive. My first project was a nickel bookmark, and this, a small budvase out of copper, is a work in progress. Saw, file, sand, anneal, quench, pickle, drill, hammer, solder - - - these are my new verbs.

The jeweler's saw frame is roughly 10 inches by 5 inches, but the blade is a very thin, high-pitched soprano/pianowire E, and if it doesn't sing when you pluck it, it isn't going to work for you. I hold the alltime record for the number of sawblades broken in one semester, which is a very frustrating condition. Nevertheless, I really like being able to see the tangible results of my labors. It is surprisingly and peculiarly satisfying.

Metalwork is intrinsically slow, and I am a very slow worker. My hands just don't want to cooperate, so I bought my own set of needle files first to do finish work at home in front of the tv, and later my own saw frame and 144 saw blades (I still have nearly 100) so I could practice without everyone watching me, and still later my own bastard file. You can't really cut without support, so I also had Frank cut me a bench pin (a 1-inch piece of wood shaped like a pair of jeans), and I picked up a C-clamp and a spring clamp. You can see the bench pin clamped to the table in this shot. Recognize it? It used to be one of the shelves in the hallway curio cabinet before I traded them in for glass last year. See? Sometimes it's good to save things! The top of the vase has twelve holes drilled in it to function as a flower frog. For that I learned how to use a drill press. I have also made four rivets, two flat or "hidden" and two exposed. They are quite small. Thanks to Jason and Sarah for technical support!

POSTSCRIPT: Probably all beginner pieces should be considered collaborative pieces between teacher and student. This began from the terra cotta head vase/planter that I had by the back door for a number of years. It kept getting cracked and finally smashed to smithereens. I have been looking for a replacement for years, but could never find one, but it wasn't worth taking a whole ceramics class for. It is the inspiration for this requirement, which had to be something of "hollow box" construction. I wanted it to be sleek and modern and like the prototype only in that it is to be for flowers and that the form is to be androgynous. The profile is a loose remembrance and a conflation of the profiles of my children and is handdrawn. The side pieces were cut first, annealed, pickled, filed and shaped by hand and also hammered around a wood form cut from my drawing. Re-annealed, more shaping, more filing, sanding, drilling (starting with the smallest drillbit and working up), then soldering, quenching. I am trying to sayI have had lots of help, but I have put in enough work and original ideas to feel it is mine, though the teacher did cut the wooden form on the band saw. When I saw how close her fingers came to the blade, I decided it was probably best!

Well, it's not the real thing, but a nice teaser...Just an idea of what you can do with your blog, Grandma & Grandpa!