Dan Takes On Two Apprentices!

We are getting ready for the big show in NYC. My mom is on a much-needed vacation to Aruba with her childhood friends, after working around the clock on logistical stuff. Dan has been working on nickels and pennies for hours every day (last year we didn't have enough), and I have done my share, too, creating a few new pieces (including an Acorn Quarter Pendant) and putting together hundreds, if not thousands (or millions, hee hee), of pieces. :)

It's a lovely season here in Woodstock. The Fall has been vibrant and crisp. Yesterday Dan was doming nickels outside on a big rock.



The impact of the hammer causes the rock under the tool to turn to powder, thus leaving an indent that reminds me of Native American cooking rocks. It's pretty neat.



He has taken on two apprentices!



I took pictures in the studio recently when I was making some new pieces, but they didn't come out well enough to post. Sorry about that.

I hope you are enjoying this fine October!

Today in my studio...

Hi, you. How about a little view into my studio?



See that chaos? I love it! Every once in a while, Dan or my mom will get fed up with the mess and clean it up. I hate that! In my mess of tools, I know where every single thing is. Like Tom Thumb, I can reach into the pile and pull out what I need.

People often ask how we get the pieces concave. Well, here are the doming tools:



Dan and I worked in there today while Joey was at preschool and Linus was playing with my parents. We listened to music (my favorite CD - Dan's). Dan was working on Indian Head nickels. I made a piece that I've been wanting to make for quite a while. It's a Leaf Half Dollar Pendant. I wasn't sure what it was going to look like until just before I started, when I looked around on the ground outside my studio for interesting leaves. I decided to go with a really simple design.



Here it is in progress, with one side already cut off:



I sanded off the eagle side, leaving the lady side intact. I cut off the tip of one of the scraps (see the scraps on the right side of the following picture) and soldered it to the top of the leaf, then soldered a half-ring onto the back. I created the veins in the leaf.



And a close-up, taken outside:



It was a productive day. :)

Garlic

Hi, Readers! People have told me at shows that they've been reading the blog. Thank you! :)

This past weekend was the Garlic Festival. It was our first time doing it. We'd heard there would be 60,000 people. I made 99 garlic pendants. Well, the weatherpeople thought it was going to rain all weekend long (and people believed them), so attendance was way down. It was actually a beautiful weekend. We ended up doing fine with the regular line, but we have quite a few garlic pendants left. If anyone has any ideas for me on how to market them, please let me know! There's a picture of the garlic pendant in the previous blog post.

I have some jewelry pictures for you. The first picture contains my process coins. You can see, from left to right, the evolution of a Flower half dollar bracelet piece. As always (though not pictured), the coin is visible on the back.



Here are two new Indian necklaces, each made with a Pushout Indian Dollar. The first is a 3-piece necklace with 2 Indian Head pennies and the second is a 5-piece necklace with pennies and nickels.





Here's a 5-piece necklace with a Morgan dollar, 2 Walking Liberty half dollars and 2 Standing Liberty quarters.



Finally, here's a picture of the Yin and Yang pendants, cut from a single half dollar, to be shared and worn by two people.



We'll see some of you at Rhinebeck this weekend! :)