"Out of the Blue"This week saw my first real comissioned piece of jewelry <--- I like to spell it the US way, less typing than 'jewellery' & it suits my style - no frills!!! lol! When I say comissioned - it was really a favour returned.
I have been extremely fortunate for a lampworker stuck down here far away from the hugely talented USA hub of lampworkers.....& equally as important lampworking supplies. I have made friends who have aided, abetted & sometimes just blatantly outright enabled me in getting things I would not have been able to otherwise. I'm eternally grateful to those people - but sometimes whilst wistfully longing to get to the USA & meet some of these awesome people & attend a class or ten, I can forget that there are some closer to home that have helped me out also.
One of these people is my cousin who runs an engineering company. He has helped me so much when I think about it. He's given me leads on the best places to source hardware, came up with a great alternative for a holding tank (when I discovered that it was more expensive to buy air carry tank here than it was to buy a compressor), he's made me tools, frit trays , a kiln rack & even converted a piece of machinery to make me a press for fitting silver cores into the big hole beads for European style bracelets - when I discovered that piece of machinery was going to cost more to get shipped than the actual cost of the machine itself. What's more he has done it all willingly, with a smile & always made sure that whatever he's made, has done the job I require of it - to perfection.
At one point when I asked what I owed him - he said he'd get me to make a bracelet for his wife's birthday. I asked him her wrist measurement - when he responded with "small" - I gave him 'the look' & told him the way to go about getting it.....without her knowing.
I have been extremely fortunate for a lampworker stuck down here far away from the hugely talented USA hub of lampworkers.....& equally as important lampworking supplies. I have made friends who have aided, abetted & sometimes just blatantly outright enabled me in getting things I would not have been able to otherwise. I'm eternally grateful to those people - but sometimes whilst wistfully longing to get to the USA & meet some of these awesome people & attend a class or ten, I can forget that there are some closer to home that have helped me out also.
One of these people is my cousin who runs an engineering company. He has helped me so much when I think about it. He's given me leads on the best places to source hardware, came up with a great alternative for a holding tank (when I discovered that it was more expensive to buy air carry tank here than it was to buy a compressor), he's made me tools, frit trays , a kiln rack & even converted a piece of machinery to make me a press for fitting silver cores into the big hole beads for European style bracelets - when I discovered that piece of machinery was going to cost more to get shipped than the actual cost of the machine itself. What's more he has done it all willingly, with a smile & always made sure that whatever he's made, has done the job I require of it - to perfection.
At one point when I asked what I owed him - he said he'd get me to make a bracelet for his wife's birthday. I asked him her wrist measurement - when he responded with "small" - I gave him 'the look' & told him the way to go about getting it.....without her knowing.
Sometimes we just have to make it easy for men - so I explained that the best way was to wait until she went out, raid her jewelry stash & look for one he knew she wore a lot & measure it end to end. In true male fashion - he did this....eventually. You know - like well after I had forgotten all about it & had no idea when her birthday was.
At the beginning of this week I got a phone call giving me the measurements in time for it to be ready by the end of the week - lol! Hey - I'm just impressed that he knows when her birthday is ;o)
Anyway the bracelet above is what I came up with - I hope he likes it, but what's more I hope that she does.
3 comments:
I just know she's going to love it. It's elegantly streamlined and the beads are gorgeous. Your cousin sounds like a gem, even considering the "Out of the Blue" sense of timing :)
I love the da bracelet! Wow! You did a fabulous job on it! What a way to repay your cousin. That's absolutely the way to go!
Hey ladies - thank you! He has just picked it up - & I am really thrilled.
I have never heard a guy rave so much over a piece of jewelry! He was absolutely stoked with it & very vocal about it too. It's made me feel so good :o)
Post a Comment