This month we ask ourselves –

What is the most difficult piece you’ve ever made, from a technical perspective?

Hmm. Which one to choose? The technical part is what makes jewelry making interesting to me — the piece has to work, it has to function properly — you have to make the design work, and the piece work.

Helping students work out their engineering challenges and order of operations is one of the things I enjoy about teaching metalsmithing.

I’ve raised a few bowls, those are fun, but not really that challenging. I’ve made some hollow containers (salt and pepper shakers) by forming the halves in the hydraulic press and then soldering the parts together. But that’s not hard either.

In metal clay, my piece (from my series of medals), “The Society of Mothers…” was a technical challenge because the sterling silver baby was in the center of a piece of fine silver mesh, and the mesh had to be attached somehow to the outer edge of the medal. That was fun to figure out how to do.

Another medal in the series, the Anti-war Medal, was easier, because a) I’d already worked out how to attach the mesh, and b) the leg (yes, that’s a leg, symbolizing the many lost limbs in the Iraq war) spans the medal.

The tiny spoon I made in PMC was a bit of a pain in terms of getting the bowl shaped just right.

After experimenting with firing the bowl of a spoon (just a bowl I did, no handle) over a combustible core, and not being happy with that, I fired the whole spoon flat and shaped it after it was fired.

I used steel stakes in the hydraulic press to get it shaped just right.

Wondering what the other blog carnival-ites have to say on the subject? Here are their links:

Andes Cruz

Tamra Gentry

Tonya Davidson

Vickie Hallmark

Angela Crispin

My studio is in a small room, 60 square feet, that it shares with this very computer and its desk. And, oh, it’s kind of cold in the winter.

The other day, my dear husband had the clever idea of moving my studio (and rather heavy jeweler’s bench) down to the basement, where I’d have more elbow room.

More importantly, it would be quiet and I’d be further away from potential interruptions.

I like this idea. A lot. Now I just have to make the time to pack, call the electrician to have some outlets installed, and schedule a moving day!

How about you? Do you like being far away from everyone else? or in the hustle and bustle?

Cyndi’s post Beaded Jewelry as Decorations reminded me of Ornament Thursday, a blog carnival I participated in back in 2007.

Here are the links to the ornaments I posted then:

Polymer Clay Ornament

and

Memory Wire Ornament

This month we ask ourselves,

“how are you coping with high precious metals prices?”

This year, I’ve done more work in BronzClay and also some pieces involving silver foil leafing. (those are pretty cool, can’t wait to show you those.)

I’ve been using my BronzClay key chain daily for months now, and it’s holding up really well.

I’ve even taught BronzClay to kids, and they’ve done great work with it. What I’m getting out of working with the bronze, besides saving money, is working larger, more freely, and in a more sculptural way.

Here’s what the rest of the Blog Carnival folks are doing to cope with high metals prices:

Vickie Hallmark:

http://fiberartglass.blogspot.com/2009/11/jewelry-blog-carnival-soaring-cost-of.html

Tamra Gentry:

http://jewelrydesignchronicles.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/november-blog-carnival-high-metals-prices/

Marco Fleseri:

http://www.fleseri.com/blog/2009/11/20/how-are-the-continued-higher-prices-of-precious-metals-affec.html

Andes Cruz:

http://andescruz.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/november-jewellery-blog-carnival/

Tonya Davidson:

http://www.tonyadavidson.com/musings_and_mullings/2009/11/carnival-blog-november.html

Out of all the pieces you’ve created, which one means the most to you and why?

I ruminated over this question for a while, and the piece that kept coming up was the medal, “The Society of Mothers…” which you may have seen in Studio PMC a few years ago.

That medal is about the death of my daughter, Sophia. The ribbon on the medal is torn, as in the Jewish tradition of the mourning pin.

The piece was probably my first narrative piece, and the first to evoke a strong emotional response in people. Some people really like it, others, I don’t know, they’re too polite to say, but I imagine some people really don’t like it. I wrote more about in in the Studio PMC article at the time, about my inspiration, I’m going to go find that copy so I can quote myself. (See back issues of Studio PMC here: http://www.pmcguild.com/print/printindex.html if you’re a member.)

In addition to jewelry, my El Dia de los Muertos shrines and alters have been quite meaningful to me personally. So far I’ve made three large scale ones and one “pocket shrine,” in metal clay (PMC).

I wrote about the shrine for my brother, Joe, in this post.

Here’s a picture of it:

Images are (c) 2006 Elaine D. Luther All Rights Reserved

More more blog carnival posts on the topic, here are the links for the other posts, including two from new members:

Welcome Vicki and Andes!

Lora Hart:
http://lorahartjewels.blogspot.com

Lorrene Davis:
http://lorrene-davis-designs.blogspot.com

Marco Fleseri:
http://www.fleseri.com/blog

Tamra Gentry:
http://jewelrydesignchronicles.wordpress.com

Tonya Davidson:
http://www.tonyadavidson.com

Andes Cruz:
http://andescruz.wordpress.com

Vickie Hallmark:
http://fiberartglass.blogspot.com

Angela Crispin:
http://angelacrispin.canalblog.com

If you’re in the Indianapolis area, be sure to check out this year’s Day of the Dead events, complete details here: http://www.dayofthedeadindy.org.

This month’s question is:

Motivation: What’s inspiring to you about designing and working with jewelry? What excites you enough to create a new item?

I can only answer this question generally — I make jewelry because of the technical challenge — I like the mini-engineering of figuring out how to make pieces function. Jewelry isn’t just pretty, it also has to work, necklaces have to hang right, earrings have to be the right weight.

That and love of the medium. I just like metal and metal clay. Other media don’t particularly inspire me. I may dabble here and there in sewing, collage and silkscreening, but when I have something to say artistically, most of the time, I’m going to say it in metal.

That’s kind of short, but it’s a tough question. How about you? Post a comment! Thanks!

Here are the links for other members of the carnival:

Lorrene Davis
Tonya Davidson
Lora Hart
Tamra Gentry

Angela Crispin

I like being outdoors as much as the next person, but when it comes to my jewelry, I’m gradually realizing that my inspiration comes from a much more urban source.

I feel like I’m supposed to be inspired by images of nature, like these:

Here are some photos I’ve snapped of things that catch my eye when I’m out and about. One of the things I notice are little bits and pieces left behind at the playground, when I’m there with the kids. When I see a barrette, or a pencil, or a scrap of ribbon, I wonder who left it? Did they notice it was gone? When did they notice?

I like how a little piece of a broken toy becomes totally unrecognizable. What is it? Where did it come from? Would I know if I were a kid?

If I were a writer of fiction, maybe I’d write a story about these bits and pieces, but since I’m a Maker of things, specifically metal things, I make things inspired by this urban detritus.

I also make jewelry that’s about every day bits of stuff. Like this necklace in sterling silver made from found objects:

(c) 2009 Elaine Luther All Rights Reserved

These are the things that make up my daily life as a mom of three — bread tabs and lost barrettes and parts of toys.

Here’s another one that caught my eye and made me wonder, what was the story?

Sure, it’s just a couch in the trash, but — think of the effort involved. And why? Why did they put it in the dumpster, instead of next to it? The way the couch is sticking straight up like that, it’s funny. See what I mean, urban detritus.

More on the subject of inspiration from the blog carnival crew:

Lora Hart
Tamra Gentry
Tonya Davidson
Angela B. Crispin
Lorrene Davis

Photo credits: top photo, Pylons, is from The Stock Exchange. All other photos snapped by me, at the conservatory, in the woods, at the park, and next to the dumpster.

I love ‘em. How else to get anything done? If it weren’t for deadlines, I probably wouldn’t have posted today, but I have to, because I’ve got a deadline for today’s carnival!

I love deadlines so much, I give them to myself. If I want to submit a piece to a magazine, I give myself a deadline in basecamp to submit it. I set up pre-deadlines to make the piece, photograph it.

In addition to my own deadlines, I also use show deadlines to get myself to make a new piece. I put those in basecamp too. (I have a whole post on how I use basecamp, here.)

Working alone in one’s studio, one has to create a way of working, a way to get pieces made. For me, deadlines are a help. My new thing is to try to create the pre-deadlines so that I’m not working up to the last minute. (you know, like I am right now.)

How about you? Weigh in in the comments.

Read more from the other carnival members here:

Tonya Davidson

Lora Hart

Lorrene Davis

Tamra Gentry

Angela Crispin

Some of you may have noticed that I quietly closed my e-commerce tool shop recently. While a learned a ton from having the tool business — including manufacturing skills, selling online, customer service, and even blogging — I was ready for the next thing, ready to get make to making more jewelry.

As I made the decision and then went through the process of closing down, I thought:

What direction was a going to take? What would I do with all my new found spare time? What kind of jewelry would I make?

I was reminded of the series of posts from Luann Udell, about making space in your life for the next thing to come in. (Her blog is huge, I can’t find the exact series, but she writes on those topics a lot.)

I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen, but I decided to jump in anyway, make space.

Closing down the shop turns out to be the right decision for me now. While I’m sad that some of my fabulous tools are no longer available in the world (and I hope you’re sad too!), I feel relief, and freedom. I’m glad to be just me out in the world, just me, making jewelry, making art, entering shows, submitting work for books, and blogging away.

That’s all nice, but what else am I doing? I’ve decided to take the plunge and I signed up for the Masters Registry.

The first step: I got a new sketchbook and am planning out my projects. There are 50 projects, each designed to get you to do a specific technical skill or design task.

If I do just one project a week, I can finish in a year. I like having goals, I like direction. I’ve always made my best work when given an assignment — either an outside assignment, like entering a show, or giving myself an assignment.

I’m also figuring out what else I can cut from life to get more time to make jewelry. I’ve found places.

If you’re feeling stuck, you might like these books:

What now? a lovely little book that started as a commencement speech, but is soooo much more than that and not like any commencement speech you’ve ever heard before.

And Making Room for Making Art, which I’ve mentioned before, is a good one. Oh, and Art and Fear is another.

And maybe asking yourself, what do I need to get rid of in my life so I can make room for the next thing, even if I don’t know what that is yet? Will help you.