My Worlds Collide...

finally made it to a New Metal Artists monthly meeting. seems their usual Sunday monthly meeting date attracts other things for me to attend to way too often... an awesome group of metal clay artists... beautiful work, amazing how far folks are taking metal clay these days

so my worlds collided when i talked to a couple of the folks after the meeting...
mentioned to 2 folks i couldn't get out of bathroom 'cuz Squeak had shut the door and was spooked by my towel attire...turns out one of them has a Savannah Cattery.... http://www.africanveldtsavannahs.com/about_us.htm
she and i have loads more in common, spooky....

 i showed my castings for show and tell and another member is signed up for Joe Silvera's casting workshop in Berkeley the end of Sept.... i have another metalsmith friend attending the Sept one. there are only 6 students, what are the odds i'd know two of them???? do oyou think it's time for me to buy lottery ticket?!!!!!  i cancelled attending the June workshop but hope to make it there eventually.

Squeakster is now recovered from my Casting Trip.... we are making great strides in our bonding. He will now rest both his front paws on my thigh. he is one BIG guy...he was hanging from the guest room door knob by those front paws this a.m., "J" locks will be installed. thank goodness we don't have lever door knobs...He is also bonding with Scott and Ray, they don't have as much time to sit in cat room so it is a slower process.
i wish i could figure out some jewelry projects i could do in his room but the darling would put all the little pieces in his mouth like a human child... a challenge to savannah proof the house. hmmm, could i be productive and upload product photos, work on website product loading... gee what a concept...

we think in 2 wks time we will start acclimating him to our other savannah and the whippet... he is bored in this room and we want to see him running through whole house. i expect my mouth to drop open watching the two savannahs gallop across the living room together for the first time.  Moving the cat exercise wheel in here today. wonder if he will run on it, will be an awesome sight to see...http://www.catwheelcompany.com/productsstore.cfm
 if you live in So Calif, the manufacturer sometimes has 'seconds' available, that is what i bought...

i need to get back to jewelry making BIG TIME but for now squeak needs me...that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it...

I learned how to do lost wax castings!!!!

what an exciting time i've had the last several days. i drove up to Campbell, CA, a suburb of San Jose to meet in person an online metalsmith 'teamie' so that i could purchase her casting equipment and take 2.5 days of instruction on how to use it.
first off, let me just say how HUGE the state of California is. i drove up the central valley on I-5, the drive seems endless. SADLY there are huge blocks of land that are no longer producing veggies and fruit due to water supply issues. BIG signs saying congress created a dust bowl, SHOCKING tan versus green and lush.
Julie and i jumped right into a 3d working relationship: she teacher, me student, and she set to work to show me how to take seashells i'd collected at Sanibel Island, FL (a premier shell beach world renown) in 1992, and attach wax to them so they could be used to make a mold for wax...
i'll cover the process more when i upload my cell phone pictures but right now let me wet your whistle by mentioning that we did 6 castings: 3 in sterling silver, sea shells, various sizes of sea horses, sand dollar and starfish. and 3 castings in bronze, some shells, and a toggle clasp i fashioned from wax..
i will need alot more practice but Julie has gotten me off on the right start!
it was alot of fun, i enjoyed the time spent with her and am sad she will be moving to Slovenia in a month...
i am still working out in my mind where the casting, wax injection equipment will be set up so i probably won't be casting until mid-Sept but i hope to do some wax work before then.
I'm researching what type of wax i need for my creation style, i think i need modeling wax vs carving wax.
learning this will give me the opportunity to create pieces with an ocean life theme, or organic floral, veggie, or tree plus i will be able to create a heart themed collection of items...
julie had a great idea to do a hinged shell box, i thought i could 'hide' a pearl or semiprecious gem inside.. must increase my fabrication skills to do the project justice..

i'm in heaven!!!!

oh my gosh, what breakthroughs last nite and just now with my new cat, an almost 2 yr old F2 male savannah.... i'm euphoric, really can't get much better than this folks...
just to update you, he came to live with us July 22nd... i didn't know how long it would take for us to bond but as he lived in a household with 3 women he is bonding quickly with me
last nite he played FETCH, it was incredible and funny to boot as after every 2-3 carries back to me, he would detour past water bowl and dunk the little stuffed birdie...
so i came into the guest room this a.m. to see if he would play fetch again, YEP... so now we have a way to bond, interact. he tipped over the water bowl so then layed his chin on it and wrapped his paws around it wondering wheree did the water go
but Folks, it gets even BETTER, i know, is that even POSSIBLE?!!!!!!
drum roll momentous moment: i decided to PICK HIM UP (i'd tried one other time but he wasn't ready) so i lifted him up and then deposited him on the bed beside me where he has sat before. he was fine, didn't seem that "into me" but that will come.... little did i know what a breakthrough picking him up would so quickly lead to in our relationship......... i picked him up a 2nd time while i was standing, after i put him down and he strolled by my legs and HEADBUMPED me, YEP. how incredible was THAT?!!! he did it several times in various spots of the room, twined himself through my legs when i sat down to write this...

OH MY GOSH this is incredible the milestones we have made in just ELEVEN DAYS.....truth be told i've gone from being afraid, his HISS is intimidating, very respectful of him, after all he is pretty darn big and just stares at me with his golden eyes,  to seeing how awesome having a relationship with an F2 is gonna be..I'm so thankful to Adrianne of AJSavannahs for her trust we were the right family for Squeak and her help along with Andrew in SC for clueing me in on how to get an Adult Savannah to adapt in a new home. couldn't be doing this without their help. Plus i have other Savannah breeders willing to assist also... Brigette and the whole Savannah rescue community, you folks are awesome!!! I'm so glad Squeak's prior owners chose us and I'm sad our happiness is at a reversely sad time for them...

of course we've got to get him to bond equally as well (OK maybe i can always be his favorite..;-D) with my husband and son...and both he and i have to be comfortable with me picking him up in any situation, such as when in a new room or something startles him, or heaven forbid he is too aggessive with our other lovely pet family members so this is a work in progress but what FUN work....

i haven't a doubt that our other Savannah is gonna love this guy we got to be his playmate, they are already playing footsie under the door...and wish i could read my Whippet's mind when she sees him, this might be the nicest thing she thinks: " CAT?! are you nuts, what kind of cat is that? he is huge"

NEWS FLASH i just picked him up and held him against my chest. he started PURRING NEWS FLASH
I haven't rated one HISS from him today

I've been MIA

so much going on in my life the last month and a half....
planted a veggie garden, it is doing great,
but the big news is we adopted a 2 yr old neutered male F2 Savannah cat last Fri.

new kitty arrived with the name of Squeak, we are calling him Squeakster

Sinbad will be so glad to have a playmate, here he is helping me prepare to ship a kiln to a metalsmithing teamie...

squeakster is acclimating in our guest room. today was a fabulous day, he weaved in/out through my legs this a.m.
tonite i started to lift him up from behind, lifting him around the middle. he didn't like it, gave me the "look" and then a Hiss when i set him back down. he was instantly okay though... slow baby steps getting him used to me. he came from a household of 3 human females so quickly bonding to me... son and hubby will take time for him to adapt to.
our F3 is the same age, they are playing pawsie underneath the door. F3 was a perfect gentleman for his vet visit today...

MIA

well where have the weeks gone? i can't believe it is almost the middle of June....dang shift key, not gonna fight it, just type w/out many capital letters
i bought some more great supplies from RingsNThings local show in May,
really need to buckle myself into a chair in the jewelry studio
instead i'm working on getting my veggie garden planted and working out, once i get a routine going i can get back to cutting, hammering, torching metal.

i'm working on a plan to run a marathon when i turn 60 in 2013 and as much a rip van winkle i am that year will be here in a 'blink'. i wake up and a year's worth of time has gone by....

it's interesting though, at least tome, when i start working out, my creative brain gets re-activated as well. i'm thinking of stamping some inspirational words on charms and rings: believe, dream, faith
how about 26.2 ? i really do wonder how much tougher 26.2 miles is than 13.1 miles

How to make newspaper seedling pots video

Well Spring is here so my mind is turning to thoughts of vegetable garden. Thought I'd share this video on how to make seedling pots out of newspaper...

http://www.ehow.com/video_1745_create-seed-starting.html

I've seen wooden devices to make these but the glass method looks to be easy and free..

My GoldenWaterCreations.com website is up and running

whew, a big sigh of relief. i finally figured out how to do most of the steps necessary to get product uploaded and the web shop active.
so much still to learn: HTML, SEO, photoshop elements and a system to store pictures
all this takes me away from my real love: creating beautiful things.
Spring is here and i want to be creating pieces in beautiful orange, blues, pinks, greens...
i will slowing be adding more jewelry items to the shop.
look for classic sterling silver hoops in various shapes, sizes.
some luscious biwa pearl with icy blue chalcedony briolette.
i've got loads of semi-precious briolettes and faceted rondelles to create lovelies with.
also i've fallen in love with tourmilated quartz in black, white, clear.
and a man made product (usually i avoid those) volcano cherry quartz.
i've got some HUGE jade beads.
great Nevada turquoise to go with red and peach coral...
some many lovelies just waiting to get out of my head and onto the web shop "shelves"