Surprise Visitor

Tonight was my silversmithing class at the Art Centre in downtown Christchurch. I made great progress on my pinkie ring -- in fact I finished it. After lots of filing and sanding, I dunked the ring in a boiling hot liver of sulphur solution which turns the silver black. And yes, it smells just like rotten eggs. Once the ring was blackened, I then polished all the raised surfaces to a brilliant shine and the dark bits stayed in the recessed areas of the ring. This is a popular technique with jewellery artists as it gives depth and contrast to a piece.


While I was happily immersed in filing and sanding the ring, I felt a tap on my shoulder, turned around and lo and behold, found Harry Fishel standing there. Many of you know Harry -- he is a frequent summer contractor at McMurdo Station -- and an accomplished silversmith. It was his 5-week class that he taught on the ice that introduced me to silversmithing...and he was the one that told me about the silversmithing course (that I am currently taking) at the Art Centre.

I had written an email to Harry to tell him that I was taking the course he recommended, but never thought he'd stop by the class once he'd left Antarctica.

What a marvelous surprise! I am kicking myself for not getting a photo of us even though my camera was right there in my handbag. Harry is on his way to Australia to look for opals (I think he is a bit mad about opals and he has shown me some truly amazing specimens). Good luck Harry...hope you find some good ones!

I also did the finishing touches on my other PMC and dichroic glass pendant that I collected from the teacher Anita last week. I hung it on a nice chain by a couple of decorative jump rings and finished shaping the earwires for the earrings (not shown). I think it turned out quite nice!

Mom, by the way, the yellow labradorite (stones) arrived and they are gorgeous! I will have to see if I can work them into a project soon. Thank you so much for sending them!

Shoulds vs. Want To's

I titled this entry to pay homage to the struggle between what I want to do and what I should do. So many times the shoulds win. I should finish my book (Antz is my biggest literary fan and very encouraging), I should exercise today, I should go to bed. But what I WANTED to do tonight was sit in front of the TV with a jar of peanut butter, a bag of chocolate chips and a spoon...and that is what I did. And you know, it felt GREAT.

Well, great, but a little lonesome in this quiet house with the rain falling gently on the roof.

Maybe it is because the butterfly left me today. I know he had to go and I would be selfish to want him to stay, so I wished him well as he fluttered away on his new, perfect wings. This was taken moments before first flight. It all happened so fast...


I wonder if parents feel the same way with their kids after 18 years, even though my flutter-bye child was only with me one week.

Catching up on creative stuff...I visited a friend (also named Christine) yesterday who lives in Lincoln, a 40 minute drive from my house. I've only ever met her once, but she is a fellow crafter and has recently relocated to Christchurch. We met in Hawera, in the North Island, in Anthony's home town. She hosted a weekly quilters group that I had the opportunity to be a part of a couple times while we were visiting. Christine is a gifted and prolific quilter and also does gorgeous paintings of stylized seed pods (sorry I didn't get a photo).

So I brought my unfinished quilt to show her and to try and get some feedback and inspiration to finish it. We layed it on her floor and decided it really is quite a lovely quilt and I really should finish it (there we go again with the 'shoulds').


I only need to make 14 more blocks just like these, then spend the rest of my life quilting it.

I also picked up one of my PMC pieces I made. It is a 'fold over pendant' and I added a little square crystal to it. Not bad for a beginner, I reckon.

Still, it is soooo dang easy to want to criticize my work...but I will not, I refuse. Take a lesson from the butterfly (that makes sense to me, hope it does to you too).

So, guess I SHOULD get into bed.

Starting blogs are always the hardest part. What to say at the beginning? Well, for one, I am NOT in Antarctica this winter, which is a big change. My husband Anthony IS down there on the ice at McMurdo Station, leaving me to my own devises for 6 WHOLE MONTHS.

I have decided to dedicate myself to creative pursuits for the aforementioned period of time. I am going to let myself take all those classes I've been wanting to take for a while now and just have a great time exploring the creative world. I have no idea where this will lead, but I can guarantee it will be fun.

I have already started my mission by signing up for a silversmithing course in Christchurch that my friend Harry Fishel told me about. It's a 10 week course in basic skills. I also signed up for a 6 week scrapbooking class and have picked our 2003 Antarctic wedding as the subject of my scrapbook. Next month I have a lampworking weekend in Auckland. For those who don't know what lampworking is, it is making beads from glass using a torch flame...basically melting glass in a bead form. In addition, I have just completed 2 separate courses in PMC this weekend.

PMC or "Precious Metal Clay" is an amazing art. Somehow Mitsubishi found a way to suspend tiny particles of pure silver into a natural binder, creating a clay-like substance. This clay can be molded and shaped into items of jewelery and when it gets fired in a kiln, the binder substance burns away and bonds the particles of silver together. The whole thing shrinks about 10% and what you are left with is a peice of fine silver jewelery. It is EXACTLY like using regular pottery clay...all the same rules apply for forming, joining, sanding, carving, etc but all in miniature. It's pretty trippy.

So, I had one class on Saturday and another today, on Sunday. Two separate classes with two different teachers. Both classes were excellent.

I had to leave several of the pieces I made with the teachers so they could kiln-fire them, but this tiny piece I brought home today because I fired it with a butane torch (and thus didn't have to wait for the kiln).



I'll post more photos when I get the pieces back.

Just to get you up-to-date. I knitted this baby hat and gloves for our friend's new baby due in July.


It is hard to refrain from squealing "ain't they CUUUUTE!" The mittens do not have thumbs, because I guess babies don't need them -- for a while at least. To put the size in perspective, each mitten fits nicely over one of my fingers.

I got the pattern from a great little baby knitting book I bought. Stitch n' Bitchers on the Ice: let me know if you need a pattern for anything baby-ish.

There is a praying mantis in the house tonight. I spotted it earlier, but it has crawled (or flown) off somewhere. I left a window open after sunset and now there are moths all over the ceiling...and one praying mantis. Is that good luck?

OH, and one last thing. I need help naming my blog. I have tried and tried to come up with something clever, but nothing has stuck. I could really use your help. Email your ideas to cgdownunder@hotmail.com or comment to the blog.