Pink Crow Stirrings

Studio Rules: My Uniform

As winter melts into spring the angle of the sun is just so that each (sunny) day at mid-afternoon the most beautiful warm light pours into our home, which inspires me to pull the camera out.

Today I will highlight a couple of key players in my studio uniform.

First, my stack of studio denim.

Each pair of jeans in this stack has been worn beyond its usefulness in the outside world. Each pair, at one point, had been my very, very favorite, and you know how favorites go...when the time came I wasn't quite ready to let them go to be shred for recycling just yet, so for now each has been retired to live out the remainder of its days functioning as an important part of my pile of studio denim.

Studio denim is a very important part of my "uniform" at the bench. When I sit at my studio table my day is filled with tasks which include filing, sawing, sanding and drilling metal. Looking into your lap and finding silver dust, filings and bits is par for the course...just another day at the office. I do have a leather apron I could wear (believe me, it is not as sexy as it sounds), but most days I'm just in jeans. Each thigh of each pair of studio jeans is probably about 67% metal by now, and these metal-impregnated jeans are not allowed in the bedroom, they don't get thrown in the hamper, they are not worn on non-studio days, they are strictly studio jeans...and there's always a stack in the studio, so there are never any excuses to wear non-studio jeans in there. Got it?

Another "must" in the studio are my studio shoes. 

In every other part of my home I'm more of a socks at most kinda person, but in the studio, those slivers and bits of metal that fall and DON'T end up on my jeans wind up scattered about the floor surrounding my work table. Slivers of metal and bare feet are not friendly to one another, and socks without shoes in the studio tend to provide an ideal place for stowaway bits which are later found throughout the house...not good. The best solution is to wear shoes in the studio, but then wearing street shoes in the studio presents yet another problem for my borderline germaphobe self...don't get me started.

Enter my studio shoes...given to me several years ago by a friend who, judging by the soles, might have worn them out of the house exactly two times...maybe not even. I can live with that. They are easy to slip on, easy to kick off and I wear them in the studio only. They never go outside and usually don't even make it beyond the studio door. They keep my feet out of the metal and the metal out of my feet. I like 'em.

And a last bit of somewhat unrelated, but still 'studio' news:

If you've been keeping up with my "production" posts about the 3 series I've been working on, you'll be happy to know that I've scheduled myself to start final assembly at the end of this week! Exciting!

Best-

-c

Overheard...

Last Thursday my friend Jen and I popped into Momi's Cafe for lunch. At one point Jen left the table and while she was gone I overheard this precious exchange between the two sweet little older ladies at the next table. 

One of the women was a hip ol' gal who spoke exactly like a 70-ish Wanda Sykes, so I'll call her "Wanda". The other was the quintessential caricature of an older white woman, a grandmotherly lady who looked like her name should be "Aunt Gladys". 

The subject of the exchange was a new pair of eyeglasses that Wanda was wearing. They kind of looked like this:

Here is the exchange:

Aunt Gladys: "Oh my, I like your new glasses"
Wanda: "Oh, these? I just picked them up at my favorite shop, the place I got your calendar at."
Aunt Gladys: "Your beauty parlor?"
Wanda: "Yes."
Aunt Gladys: "They sell glasses there?"
Wanda: "Oh yeah, they sell everything there: glasses, calendars, even underpants!"

Me (thinking): Oh I would love to visit that beauty parlor!

Today's blog entry was brought to you by Sesame Street:

Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood,
In your neighborhood, in your neighborhood.
Say who are the people in your neighborhood--

Well they're the people that you meet
When you're walking down the street
They're the people that you meet each day!

-c

The Pink Crow Bailout

No, I'm not appealing to you for billions of dollars (but if you're offering I certainly wouldn't think of offending you by refusing), this is a different kind of bailout...more of an all out "bail-out".

I've spent the past few studio days fabricating my bails. I developed this design years ago, and you would think that by now I could whip them out like crazy, but no, my bails are very time consuming and labor-intensive to produce. I suppose I could just order pre-made bails and solder them to my pieces, but then, no, I really couldn't. Maybe this is going a bit too far for something that most people will never see since they end up on the backs of pieces, but I wouldn't think of putting anything else there.

One thing that has helped out tremendously is this handy little jig. Saves me tons of time (and waste) by getting my angles just right every time:

So, after cutting all of the pieces I need I wind up with a bunch of little angled tubes:

Then I file the bottoms flat, and later I file the little "peek" (see below). This is one of the details I love most about this design, not only is it pleasing to look at in and of itself, but once you put the pendant on a chain you get a little glimpse of that chain through this precious "peek". 

(You can also see one of my stars in this image...during a resin pour years ago a drop of resin ended up on my work surface and I decided I would make use of the drop rather than just wipe it off, so my desk wound up with a permanent star on it. I love those stars!)

And here are my finished bails, ready to be soldered.

And there's the studio update for today...final assembly isn't too far off!

-c

Let's Talk About the Weather

Let's talk about the weather for a moment. We're not talking about the weather in order to fill an awkward silence that has creeped up upon us, or because we don't know what else to talk about. No, right now we are going to talk about the weather because, well, today the weather here in Chicago felt like the best gift anyone could have ever given me.

 

This morning as I left my building I felt as if this day had been hand selected and delivered to me with the upmost care and attention...picked out perfectly to suit my taste...this is one gift I wouldn't even think of returning.

 

First of all it was SUNNY for a change...yes, sunny...I had almost forgotten what that was like! Rewind back 24 hours ago:

My boots are still drying from the deluge I walked home in last night, so it was great to go out this morning knowing I wouldn't be needing that umbrella I had with me "just in case". 

It was great to go out and before anything else feel the warm sun on my face. Oh, yes I said WARM! I checked the temps with several reputable sources before I left home and it was already in the upper 50s with temperatures increasing all day and peaking out in the mid-60s. I left my building knowing it would only get better from there. Gorgeous!

 

The down side is that I really didn't get to fully appreciate today's weather as I spent most of the day in the basement of my "other job" editing photos for the website. Today was one of those days where you find yourself seriously considering playing hooky for the sake of your sanity. Happily I did get a chance to steal away for a quick walk to Kinkos to have some store signs printed, but yes, for the most part I was underground. From time to time I checked The Weather Channel site to see what was happening outside, (which, ironically, is just upstairs and then 4 steps away), and at about 4:45 PM I knew the sun must be setting soon as I saw the forcasted temps drop by one degree for every 15-minute interval the forecast had listed.

 

It is now in the 40s once again. Goodbye my good friend...this weather that made my heart happy if for only a day...see you again in a few months.

 

=Sigh=

-c

Resin Day at PCS

Well, it was resin day today here in the studio, so all day long I was measuring, mixing and pouring resin. Posting pics of this process is kind of pointless as, well, resin is clear and there is really not that much visual difference between "before" and "after". Also, I accidentally left my camera at my "other" job, so...well, I can't get any nice, clear detail shots anyway.

Despite all of that I wanted to give you something to look at, so I got my phone out and took a really crappy shot of my desk with my day's work all laid out and the resin setting up.

-c

Correct me if I'm wrong...

No, I mean that literally...please, correct me if I'm wrong.

I was just reading some of my "archives" (what better to do at 12:20 PM, right? Yes, I read my own blog...it gets my numbers up...joking). Anyway, I found a typing error from way back in August. I had typed "it" instead of "in" and it was SO obvious. 

I will be the very first to admit that I'm no spelling bee champ...but generally I'm clued in by the red squiggly lines underneath errors. This one slipped by...it was typing, not spelling, but again, SO OBVIOUS. C'mon guys, let me know about these things...I have a reputation to uphold, I mean REALLY!

I contemplated offering a gift for people who catch my mistakes, but I'm so afraid I'll end up having to give away the studio (probably all to Iris)...so we'll see. 

Oh, and my excessive use of the ellipsis does NOT count.

-c

30 Second Rave: Orchid Island Juice Company

As many of you know I grew up in Florida, and by the time mid-winter rolls around here in Chicago I am in desperate need of sunshine, liquid or otherwise. A post on Iris' blog reminded me of a juice that I recently found which is as close to fresh-squeezed as you can get. Yes, squeezing it yourself is always best, but oh, the sticky-up-to-the-elbows mess, and in the midst of this crazy life who has the time? 

When I lived in Florida, and on my mid-winter trips there I often visit(ed) a locally-owned grove where you can buy citrus straight from the trees...and you can also get the most amazingly fresh citrus juices bottled right there on the premises...I always buy too much. If you're lucky you might even be able to get soft-serve ice cream that has been sweetened and flavored with fresh orange juice. Oh I miss those road-side packing houses!

Last month at my local Trader Joe's I spied a shelf in the refrigerated section upon which sat the familiar packing house in-plant-juicing bottles I had grown to know so well. They had orange and grapefruit juices, so I picked one of each. Carrying them home I was still a bit skeptical that the juice inside could be as good as the juice fresh from the grove (store bought never is), but I had to give it a chance. 

Well, I'm happy to report that I was thrilled when I took my first sip and was immediately transported home (Florida home, not Chicago home). Oh the goodness! I have to say that I will be doing my part to be sure that TJ's continues to carry this stuff!

Thank you Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company for bottling the sunshine and sending it north, and thank you too Trader Joe's for making it so easy for me to find.

Oh, and another thing about Orchid Island Juice Co., how can you not love a company whose toll free number is:

Awesome!

-c