resume programming

Life resumes today after a couple of weeks off after the Christmas and New Year's holidays. In many ways it is a relief to get back to a normal schedule, especially as regards the kids going back to school.

I finished and delivered the long-awaited commissioned piece over the weekend. The couple who had requested it were very happy with it, I'm pleased with the outcome and frankly glad it is finished. It was a challenge, in a good way, but as with a lot of large projects was not without it's panicky moments. Of course I have no photographs of the finished projects (I just never remember that step, for some reason) but have been invited to take photos of it in situ any time I want, so I probably will. Even with the project finished, I feel that there are a couple of "spinoff" pieces still in my head that will need to come out fairly soon. Probably have to cook awhile yet though.

In the meantime, I'm going to clear the decks--clean up my studio, in other words--and get down to some serious jewelry making. I'm seeing ads for this cropping up:

I've done quite a bit of work with silver PMC, but hadn't seen the bronze version. Main plus: it's much less expensive than silver. Main drawback: an actual kiln is required for firing. Rats. I cannot afford that expense at the moment. However, I do have some silver PMC on hand so I can get on with making silver jewelry. Here are a couple of previous pieces:

I kept this one for myself.

This one I sold. Actually I also sold a couple of similar pieces, so maybe I'll make some more since they seem popular.

I certainly hope 2009 is off to a good start for all of you.