Kathryn's Blog

Updating my online shops... at last!
Thursday, August 12, 2010

After months of creating new work, but only showing it at art shows and in galleries, I've begun the task of photographing and listing pieces in my online shops. 

Many of you may know what a task this truely is.  It takes time to take crisp photographs from different angles, and then crop and scale them to size.  Next comes measuring each piece and writing descriptions, and then uploading everything together.  It is a chore, but it feels great to be breathing new life into my online presence! 

Right now I'm focusing on my etsy shop, because the photo editing goes twice as fast.  (A big thank you goes out to whoever wrote the code that resizes photographs automatically on that site!)  I've already added 20+ listings to my shop, with more still to come.  If you've seen something on flickr that you would like me to list, just send me a message and I'll do what I can ;)

RAD #124 5/4/10 'Take a Dip'
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

This was an excruciating ring to make!  Not the actual construction, but the photo shoot.
Yesterday's snails were super snails compared to today's batch!  Today's snails were moody and stubborn and soooo sllllloooooooowwwww....
To say a snail is sluggish is just silly.  Slugs are speedy little creatures!!  I put one on the ring and it went down the slide, took a swim, and then crawled out and down my hand.  All this while one snail just sat on top of the slide unmoving.
My hand was cramping up through this process (I didn't want to spill the water and had to be very still.)  
*Sigh*  No more snails for me for a long time!

 

I am happy to see that many people have enjoyed seeing this ring and the photos of my snail session!  It makes the 40+ minutes I spent waiting on the snails to to do something worth the time investment. And I do LOVE this ring/photos too!

You can see the other photos from this session in my flickr album.

RAD #123 5/3/10 'Snail Parade'
Monday, May 3, 2010

This was my exact idea from the beginning of the project (vs the 1 slug from yesterday.)
My ideal would have been 5 snails all crawling in the same direction around one of my fingers, with very little space between them. But...um...snails don't really listen to your directions. They do what they want, when they want, and if they don't want to play they just refuse to come out of their shells!
I think I was very lucky to find 3 tolerant and brave snails for these pics, there were 4 more that just wouldn't cooperate :-)

You can see more pictures from this photo shoot in my flickr album.

Ring A Day Project #122 5/2/10 'Mr Slug'
Sunday, May 2, 2010

I have wanted to 'make' this ring since the start of the RAD project.  This morning I happened to see a slug while outside with Bailey...So a little camera shoot later, it's 8:30am and I've already finished today's ring!  Woot :-) 

There are a few more photos of Mr Slug in my flickr album.

Lapidary Fun
Friday, April 30, 2010

Last week I purchased a new toy for my studio.  It's an 'All-in-Wonder' Lapidary machine that can do several jobs.  It converts from a rock saw to a grinder, to a flat lap.  Origianlly I needed/wanted the flat lap, but I figured the other options would be nice to have.

The instructions that came with it could definitely be improved, but after a while I was able to figure it out and get started.  It is a bit of a messy process, as water is used in all the processes in order to keep the tools from getting clogged or the stones from getting too hot.  Happily though, it was no where near as messy as the machines I used in college!

All-in-Wonder as the flat lap

The first thing I did was use the flat lap to grind some of my rough peridot flat at their bases.  I also flattened some of my Herkimer druzy cabochons.  This will make all of those pieces easier to set in bezels or prongs.  The stones should be more secure in their settings, but will still have the rough look that I was after.

Next I decided to play with the rock saw.  I ended up cutting a few random rocks, just to go through the process.  I'm not sure how I'm going to use these when they are done.

The last set up was for the grinder.  This allowed me to further shape the stones I had previously cut.


After grinding, I will need to go back to the flat lap and use varying grits to smooth and refine the cabs.  The last step will be polishing them.  Before I can properly finish them I am going to need to invest in some dopping wax and sticks, so that I can hold them better throughout the process.  In the meantime, I still have all those rough peridot and druzy stones to set!

Ring A Day Project
Tuesday, April 13, 2010

This year I joined with a large group of jewelers in the Ring a Day Project.  The goal is simple.  We are each making a ring every day for an entire year.  The rings can be made of any material, conceptual or not, sellable or not.  They can take 5 hours to make, or 5 minutes to make.  The point is just to make one!

So far the challenge is proving to be just that, a challenge.  I'm now well into the project and though many people have dropped out (for various reasons,) I'm still plodding along.  I can't let myself quit, so onward I go.  Some days are better than others, but the experience has been valuable.  I've explored new materials (like vintage silverware) and have pushed myself to try new techniques, or at least ones that I don't generally use.  I've started some new collections as a result of some of these rings.

If you would like to follow along with the rings I'm making, take a look at this set of rings on flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathrynriechert/sets/72157623114853198/

To see all of the rings made by the other jewelers, follow this link:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/rad2010/