happy halloween

Half my halloween day was spent on my bike riding around lucky town in this weird semi-summerish weather. It's not totally summery, just warmish for what you'd expect. Anyhoo, I've been meaning to make my way to Mount Olivet Cemetery because local cyclist types have been encouraging me to do so. I fully expected to have to ride on Market and then down sorta towards the mall thus having to deal with car traffic but, that was not the case. Mount Olivet cemetery has an entrance at the end of Court Street. How freaking easy is that?

The cemetery is sort of on the large side and it's situated such that you can see the Costco and Harry Grove Stadium as well as other urban sprawl. Interred there are both Francis Scott Key and Barbara Fritchie as well as Francis' parents and other notable local dignitaries. It's got a visitor's center and chapel but I didn't make a study of those things. Alls I did was ride around and look for decent shots in this lousy light. Found a few but nothin' much. I'll be back though. Have a spooky holiday! Wish you were here.

twinkly lights

Hi. Okay, clearly this is a place holder. It's not even a picture taken by me. This picture was taken by Miss March when she made off with my camera at a party. I'm a fool for twinkly lights so finding this picture on my camera was nothing short of delightful. Plus, it was taken inside Ande's house which makes it even more delightfuller. A person could do an entire blog on the interior of Ande's house. It's located no where near Frederick but she would love it here so it's allowed. Have a grand and glorious day. Wish you were here.

even more metal

Anyhoo, here's another thingy I made on Wednesday, October 21. It's an example of what's called a hot twist. That first silvery thingy (in a previous post) was done by way of the controlled twist. The hot twist is all blacksmithy and such. You take a torch and make metal red hot in one spot only, then you can twist the hell out of it because it's so darn soft. The rest of the metal does not twist as it is cold, relatively speaking. So, you see how part of it's twisty and part of it is less twisty? Well done. Teacher's pet.

The ends are curved slightly and flat. Much like the junior high version of myself. The flatness is achieved by means of hammer and anvil that sits atop a tree stump. This is true. There are several tree stumps in the classsroom. They're set upon carpet squares. An anvil on a tree stump on a carpet square makes for quieter hammering and less annoyed administrators on the floor below. Have a jolly day. Wish you were here.

more metal

Here's more show and tell from jewelry class. This is the stuff I made today (not the little leaf ~ I made that last week.) Techniques pictured include: taking a straight piece of brass wire and turning it into a spiral; making serpentine-type curves without the use of a jig; making a pin and clasp on a spring; flattening the crap out of wire; pounding texture into flattened wire; twisting two wires together to make one long strand from which you create other things; flattening said twisted wire; fashioning one bracelet from the aforementioned twisted/flattened wire ~ and wearing it home.


The cool thing about that bracelet up there is that a person could make one of those from stuff you can easily get at a hardware store. In about 10 minutes (not including the shopping.) All you need is the wire, a sturdy door knob, one pencil, a hammer, and wire cutters. I guess when I look at the picture again, it kind of looks like something somebody made from stuff from a hardware store. But hey! Whoohoo for metal!

metal

One of the benefits of working where I work is that I get to take classes for free (provided the class isn't full.) Intermediate Jewelry had one available spot so, guess who took it. Not that I am, by any means, intermediate ~ the instructor figured I was pretty okay at cutting things so she let me in. So far, I have learned to cut metal with a saw. Behold my tiny oak leaf half liberated from a slab of copper.


And here are my feet, safely encased in proper footwear lest an anvil or pot of acid drops on them. The wooden contraption gets clamped to a work bench and allows you to support your chunk of metal with one hand while you saw up and down with the other. Kind of like a sewing machine except things come apart in the end rather than get put together.


Anyhoo, in addition to the metal cutting, I've also learned how to melt metal into a puddle using a propane torch, poke tiny holes through metal using a drill press, and buff the crap out of metal using a flexible-shaft dremel-esque drill. Yay metal!

street party

Saturday was one big street party and this is what the end of 4th street looked like all day. Market was closed to traffic from the creek all the way up to 7th. Thank the gods for off-street parking. Anyhoo, I spent the entire day taking pictures, some of which you can view---> here!


The weather was stupendous as were the food smells wafting about. I ate my lunch at home, however, and saved my cash for another day. Next year, my plan is to not run around so much but to sit around and enjoy the music. Oh, and to not work in the evening.

open

It's been just about a month since I stopped posting to my little blog to myself. Thank you for not stopping by! I do believe that I'll post some pictures and just quit taking breaks.