I think I would like to be a Renaissance woman. It is just too hard to stick to one hobby or activity. Maybe women aren’t good at multi tasking out of necessity – maybe they start lots of projects so they don’t get bored! It’s a little like playing a game with yourself. How many things can I start and finish today? Or, I must be alive because I have so much to do and finish!
On that note, my hobbies aren’t just flying, writing, making jewelry, and traveling. Of course I love to read and learn new things. I learned how to use In Design, a publishing program. The museum needed an editor, so I decided to save them money by putting it together myself. I didn’t know how much I didn’t know! Maybe I’m a jack of all trades and master of none, but I love doing so many different things. Graphic design isn’t easy – there’s a lot to it, and if it weren’t for Scott Thompson at Morin Printing, the books wouldn’t look nearly as professional as they do.
I used to make stained glass windows and sometimes still do. I love photography and I make cards and books out of my pictures. I love to speak to kids, and I used to act out characters from history in the schools. I taught colored pencil at the high school for years, and I take watercolor classes on Mt. Hood with Claudia Nice. http://brightwoodstudio.com It was great and I can’t wait to go again in the fall to learn texture with pen and ink! One week we painted tree bark – yes, tree bark!
Learning to paint water
My stepdad was really sick in 2005, so I went to Florida to be with my mom and dad before he died. A girlfriend of mine from sixth grade, Maribeth, was back in town, too. Maribeth decided I needed a break from everything and she invited me over to make jewelry. Mitsubishi is making a silver clay out of their leftover computer silver, called PMC or Precious Metal Clay. You roll it out like cookie dough, design your piece, dry it and cook it in a kiln at 1110 degrees (or more!) for thirty minutes. It is so fun. Now I’m using Art Clay because it costs less, but is basically the same material.
When I was in high school (PK Yonge, Gainesville, FL) I made copper enamel jewelry in shop class. Making silver jewelry is just as rewarding and fun. Now I teach classes and sell my pieces locally. My Valentine pieces sold well, and I’m also selling school spirit pieces. We’re the Huskys – Go Dawgs!
Within a year I have a viable hobby I love. I’m not getting rich or making a living, but I am paying for my fun.
After firing, the clay looks white but now its all solid silver (99.9%, no copper). Now the price of silver has skyrocketed, with the war. I plan my pieces more carefully. I have started melting more glass to wrap the silver around so that I use less silver. I can cut small slivers of dichroic glass and put them together in patchwork styles, or just cut the dichroic into different shapes. And there is a new copper clay, and it costs a tenth of the silver! I still want to get back to enameling, so I may try that next. A local store in Moro, Now and Then, sells my pieces for me, and The Dalles Art Center showcased my art in July 20o9.
Shine it up (I use a rock tumbler) and sell it!
