almost lost it there (or how to make an entourage ring)

last week i started work on the 'entourage' ring (project nr 2 at school). so once again, melting, casting, pulling thread to 1.2mm size and 0.9mm. then had to make tiny tiny rings which had to be soldered together to make the base.

as i always do with a 'first-time' piece, i take pictures of the different stages of the work, which again, i did with this one...

however... back home, i showed Sam some of the pics, then we watched tv for a while, and i went to bed.

when i came downstairs the next morning and picked up my camera to stow into my handbag (where it resides all the time, ready for any kind of photographing) there was a note:
"so sorry, i wanted to take a look again at the pictures but i seem to have erased all of them, once again, so sorry!"

AAAAAAAARGH!

don t panic, is what i think, i had this once before too and the pictures were still there on the sd-card, but still i m a little worried... so as soon as i got to work, i checked.

NO PICS!
ALL GONE!

ok. so i had just finished reading EPL by Elizabeth Gilbert and thought to myself; it s not such a big deal, so what if you lose a few pictures, take a few more. stay calm!

but i was still pretty frustrated, my camera is not one of the most sophisticated ones, but i had taken some good pics of the 'entourage' and instead of re-taking pics, i actually just want to WORK on the piece!

plus, i had taken some really nice photos of Sam s father s gravestone (he passed on five years ago) which we don t get to visit often. and i hadn t uploaded them yet...

so, back at work, i tell my colleague what had happened, and he goes: don t do anything! i have a program that ll find them!
but, i d just formatted the sd-card, thinking that i might as well, since i lost the pics anyway.

still, to make a long story short, this colleague of mine, would you believe he was able to recuperate about 1/5th of what was on there? ALL of the 'entourage' pics, as well as a few of the gravestone! the rest i had luckily already stored on my pc.

lessons learned re picture-taking:

1 never ever let anybody handle my camera ever again
2 always upload pics immediately the day i take them
3 stay calm if anything does happen
4 do not format the thing, unless absolutely certain nothing s on there
5 ask colleague to check if anything is really lost for good or not
6 and if pics are really gone, don t fret, there s more important things in life to worry about
7 zen

anyway: here s what i ve been doing at school (just so as to not lose these again)

ps. i think it s time i told Sam that i got some of the pics back... poor guy...

broadening horizons

sometimes it s hard not to feel insignificant.

and sometimes everything just falls into place, and you realize that not everything s in vain.

take yesterday. it was the last day of school before Fall Break, i had made some new wire to start the next project we have to make, which is an entourage setting, and i d been talking to Diane, who is now doing the beginners course (the one i took last year). she s an extremely spontaneous and enthusiastic lady, very bubbly and i realized we share the same kind of passion for stones and jewelry.

later, when classes had finished and i was talking with another student, Miwa-san, Diane joined us with Frank, also a student at the TNA, and it turned out that Diane also has a website; STONED, where she showcases her jewelry, and Frank makes beautiful beautiful (i say this twice cuz it s the truth, i checked!) glass beads, and here s his website; HIERONIMUS GLASS JEWELRY.

i cannot tell you how much this excites me, to share thoughts and ideas and techniques with like-minded people!

i am happy!

expo 70

working with little spheres is addictive... i want to get the technique right, and it s not easy, it s a little scary, but oh so great when it works!

here s what i call my expo ring, plain band with a domed circle carrying 5 tiny silver balls in the shape of a flower, which somehow reminded me of the Tower of the Sun during the Osaka World Exposition in 1970 and its logo... it must have been in my subconscious. i even believe my mom and i went to see it, because we were in Japan during that time, but i don t really remember much

i posted a pic on FB too, and a friend of mine said it also had something of the Atomium here in Brussels

so there you go, my expo ring, matte and shiny finish for more contrast:

am thinking of other ways now to work with those spheres, might make a series, variations on a theme... hmmm