But it occurred to me that more people might be in her position, so I decided to post a couple of pictures I took of the Pratt Jewelry and Metals Studio 1 on my first day there -the visual that grabbed me when I walked in.  Check out Pratt’s web site for all their art class offerings in a broad range of media.

By the way, we had lunch at Piatti in University Village – chosen specifically for their gluten free menu offerings.  They serve Manini’s gluten free pasta.  My first of this at a restaurant, but I had some of their fresh pasta at home this week, without knowing that it was what Piatti serves.  Man, is that stuff great!  Even my wheat-eating husband was impressed. 

Here are a couple of pictures of a piece I finished a couple of months ago.  It was a long time from start to finish, and then it had a couple of “finishes” before it was really done.  The enamel piece was one of the first pieces I ever did. I think it’s about 2 and a half inches long.

Chinese Pink repousse copper label

Used my Northwest Pitchworks pitch, some of the tools I made in my Pratt class, some of the tools from MettleWorks, and a couple of hours of my precious time.  It was fun!

It’s becoming more important lately as I try to express ideas in jewelry, because it’s important to be able to visualize pieces, processes, and effects.  Working with silver is expensive these days, the time it takes to make a piece is not trivial, especially when you are just developing skills, and your ideas may not translate into reality very well if they’re not clearly thought out.  Even if there is still some intuitive and spontaneous work that can take place during execution, I’m finding the “making” process to be much more rewarding if I have a better idea in advance of where I’m heading.

So I borrowed a book from the library (through the very wonderful King County Library inter-library loan program) called Jewelry Illustration by Dominque Audette.  I worked with it and did some exercises – and it really helped me.  This is finally an approach I can mostly understand.  Check it out!  I recommend it to those who are willing to invest the time and concentration and who need these skills.  After I had to return it to the library, I decided to purchase it (Amazon).  I need alot more practice, but even the little bit I’ve done has helped my thought process.  Here are some pictures of my exercises.

I’m fairly new to the activities and workings of the Foundation, so some of my observations might be “duh” to some, and may be even less-than-accurate to others.  Nevertheless, here’s some background as I understand it.  Comments and corrections welcome!  Add them below!

Last winter (and the winter before, and the winter before…) we had a very cold winter in the Pacific Northwest, and an especially early frost that did significant damage to many of the ferns in the Foundation’s Nursery.  The new, really wonderful, hoop house was built this year (?).  Now, it needs some winter protection.   Just in time, since some possible frost has been forecast for the next few days.  (Yikes. What’s up with that?)

A group of hardy souls met yesterday, in the rain, to cover the hoop house.  They unrolled the plastic, tied ropes to its edges in about 4 places - camping style, threw the ropes over the top of the house, and pulled the plastic over the top from the other side.  Very impressive.  Then the plastic was put over the ends of the house and secured with “wiggly wire” and fir stripping.  The doors on one end were framed in lathe, so the plastic can be cut and the doors opened.  I wasn’t on hand for the entire process, being in a group of volunteers happily weeding away on some nursery stock, but here are some pictures of the very successful activities.  (I did get a chance to cut some of the fir stripping with a saw that one person characterized as a butter knife – but with old wet wood that saw worked for me!)