A TURTLE?

"Tonight, class, we are going to be making a TURTLE." This is Jennifer speaking. How the heck do you make a turtle in a metal class? Will it be some cute little silver turtle charm we hang from our charm bracelets? I know people who LOVE turtles, but I can't say I'm one of them. TERRIBLE memories involving a pet turtle and a couple of dogs getting loose in the house. Uh huh. You get the picture. Anyway....turns out, a turtle is a cool little think you cut out of metal to mount a stone in. You trace around the stone, the add 4 legs and a head. After you cut it out, file, sand, etc., the legs become the prongs around the stone, and you can drill a hole in the head, or bend it down, to hang your stone! Cool, huh? I'm liking this class. My mind is racing with ideas of all the things I can do with a turtle!

P.S. I got the soldering right. My bezel sample looks mahvalous, dahling.........

CONTROL FREAK

Ok. I’m back. After ignoring this blog for many, MANY months, I am inspired to let you back into my brain.

I am currently taking a class in stone setting. My usually mentally taxing college classes are on hold for the semester (well, I AM taking one…) as I hone my skills working with my hands. My CONTROL-FREAK tendencies are being pushed to the limit. FIRST, my instructor, hereafter known as Jennifer, tells us that she doesn’t give A’s to beginners. What? Is she kidding me? Doesn’t she know about my 4.0 GPA? Oh, THIS isn’t fair. But I tell myself (almost convincingly) that I want the skills she is teaching more than I want educational perfection. THEN, after all my friends say, “Well, maybe you’ll be the first!”, I SUCK. Do you know how hard it is to solder? With 50-year-old eyes? Who can see those little pieces of silver? I carry with me two pair of glasses, a contact lens case and solution (just in case I need to remove the lenses so I can see with my bare eyes), goggles and a high-intensity lamp. All of the young girls in the class just roll their eyes when I tell them I can’t see crap. Just wait. They’ll understand someday.

Now, I must admit that I LOVE the torch. I’m not talking about a little soldering iron. This is a propane torch! What power! I love the color of the flame, I love the sound of the flame, and I love the bright red that the metal turns when it is over 1400 degrees. But I don’t love it when, 3 times in one night, my bezel falls off the base in the pickle. Ha! Technical terms. At least I’ve got the words.

Stayed tuned. More next week. I’M SURE.