Square Rings

So today I wanted to talk about square rings and how they can be comfortable and stylish. I have been designing rings that have four showing sides. Sometimes a little rounded and other times more flat. The neat thing about them is that they are actually very comfortable to wear. The band is thin between the fingers and the corners get quite a bit thicker. These types of rings don’t tend to spin around the finger and have a nice weight and feel to them. Square shank bands are a bit eye catching too since most people are use to seeing a round ring. Square rings although have flat sides on the outside, the inside of them are still round to slide onto the finger as a traditional round ring would. Here are a few examples of square rings (see image below).

Examples of Square Rings

The Loopy Celtic knot ring that you see below is packed with detail on both the inside and outside of the ring. Even though you don’t see the patterns on the inside while wearing the ring, just knowing that it’s there makes it cool. When someone wants to see it you take it off and show all the extras that come with this band. It can be worn as just a great stylish ring or even for a wedding band. My bands are not usually gender specific. Male or Female can wear them. Most of my patterned bands are a little wider than some people are use to. Around 8mm to 10mm wide. They are this wide so that a pattern can be made in greater detail. For thin bands the pattern has to stay simple, but I like how the wider bands can show lots of detail and they also have a nice weight to them. That’s something you want in a ring. Thin rings tend to bend and wear a lot faster, but a well made band will be thick enough to be comfortable yet strong enough that it won’t bend the first time you drop it or bump it. These rings are some of my favorites.

Loopy Celtic knot ring

If you are ever looking for some unique style bands just check out my inventory. I’m about ready to swap out my wedding band to one of these. I also make them in 14k gold even when not listed on my site. Just ask for a quote if ever interested in a ring that is not in gold yet.

Well I love designing rings with patterns and as you can see I have a whole site dedicated to this. I design them in CAD software and that is like a master mold of that ring. I get inspired to create new designs by many ways. The usual way will be to just start building. I start playing around with different ideas and objects that I create until something works out. Yeah there are times I go back and look at old designs and I’m no longer happy with them. Those rings I don’t really know what to do with. They usually just sit there. Hopefully the better designs are the ones that over time I feel are still great designs. The better designs will stick around. I don’t believe in discontinuing rings. I would rather just keep an archive of all my rings and so they are always available even years down the road. Have you ever lost a ring and can’t get an original again? Well with me I’ll always keep the design available and if I accidentally remove it, just contact me and I’ll find it.

So that is a little bit about me and my designs. The square rings are my favorites right now so check them out and maybe there is something in there for you. :)

Blacksmithing

I’ve been playing around with steel.  I don’t have a welder and have never welded steel, but it’s something I think would help create a lot of art.  For now I’m just pounding away at hand forged pieces with no welding involved.    In reality the same ideas or base principles can be applied to blacksmithing as I have learned for precious metals such as silver, gold and platinum. The main difference I have found is that ferrous metals such as steel is worked hot while the non ferrous metals such as silver, etc are worked cold. I really like pounding away at something like metal. It’s actually quite relaxing and fun. You get to see the metal transform slowly before your eyes. For me blacksmithing is something I’m just starting to experiment with and I find it harder to work in the sense that for me it’s a pain to keep hot all the time while I work it. Silver and gold is so much easier to work cold and then heat up to anneal it.

So here is an image of me pounding away at some metal. I make a Fairy Hair Pin in a similar manner. It’s pretty much my first product that I make and sell in steel. It’s not too hard to make and it’s fun. I love how it turns out every time. Each one is unique or at least the scroll and hammer marks are always slightly different. The small twist near the back end is made by taking the round rod and hammering a section flat and then twisted in just that area. Both ends of the hair pin are hammered to a point that involves hammering the tips of the rod into a pyramid shape flat on all four sides. You keep drawing the tips out like this until the desired length and thickness is desired. Then the edges are rounded back out so that the tips are then rounded. The scroll on the end is the funnest part. I like slowly bending and rolling the tip upon itself while red hot. It’s so interesting how metal is so hard until heated hot enough. While red hot it bends like butter. Love it. These hair pins are then finished with a hammered finish and a bees wax seal to keep moister out so they don’t rust. A true fairy hair pin that looks great when worn. As a side note, these pins can also be used as a level of protection. They are well made and strong so I’m just saying that it could be used as a weapon too, but you didn’t hear that from me.

So I hope to create more blacksmithing products. I’ll be sharing more of my ideas as I create them. I hope that you’ll stay tuned to see my new ideas as I evolve as an artist. I love to make functional art. Lets hope that it’s both beautiful and functional. I mean what is the use of having something you like and not be able to use it? Blacksmithing to me is another fun way to help create just that.

Blacksmithing

Paradise Visit 2019

I recently this past weekend got together with a bunch of friends that grew up with me in Paradise. We were able to visit our childhood homes and see what has happened to our homes (Paradise will always have a place in our hearts). All I can say is I don’t have words to express the magnitude of what happened. All the stories and difficulties that have happened and are still happening. For each and everyone of us our experience is different and personal. It hits us in different ways. Ways we are not even aware of until those feelings come rushing in. For me there are many triggers, but at the moment it’s nostalgia of childhood friends thinking of past and present and this chimney. Why this chimney? This was the chimney where my families Christmas stockings would be hung across a wooden beam mantle. The kitchen table was right in front of it. A place that brings back so many memories. Although this picture is sad, my memories are not. My friends and I no longer live in Paradise, but some of us still had family there and we all have lots of memories there. I like how my friend more or less put it. Our visit was a bit sobering and we were absorbing both past memories while being confronted with the present destruction right before us. Those two things made it hard.

It was an enjoyable time with my friends. I had not seen them for over 25 years. It was like we were never separated. We got together and it was like good old times. I just wish it were for a different reason, but this has brought us closer together and I feel we will make more of an effort to have small reunions more often. I can’t wait.

Is this goodbye to Paradise forever? Not for me. I have family in Chico so I’ll be around every now and then. Paradise, CA will never be the same though. Homes, people and the environment will all change. I can see a slow rebuild happening in the future, but my little home town is lost, how I know it, forever. In memories it will live on and have a special place in my heart forever.

Chimney of the house I grew up in - Paradise, CA April 2019

Gardening

I love gardening.  What does a gardener do when he has no garden?  Rips out his grass and starts planting. Ok so I’m re doing my yard and planting season already began which means planting in the grass was the best I could do on short notice.  I actually have to tear out all the grass one one side of the yard.  No easy task.  The yard has two large patches of grass.  One side I’ll keep and expand.  The other side gets torn out and turned into a garden.  I have way to much growing in such a little space right now, but I could not wait.  It will improve over the years to come. 

This image shows some of what has started to grow. I can’t wait. I love to see them grow everyday. I could just be outside and stare into space/garden and dream. lol If you have any gardening tips, I’d love to hear them. I love hearing how others garden. It’s a wonderful time of year to be outside.

Pak Choy Toy Choy

Old PC Computers headache

So for all my CAD work I need a decent computer.  Basically they are great gaming computers, but that’s just a plus.  Anyway, mine is starting to get old, but hopefully can hang on a few more years.  

It’s interesting to see my last computer I had built for CAD years ago.  It still had windows xp on it.  At one point it was a great computer.  It’s amazing  how technology advances because now we can’t even use this computer because nothing works on it.  I decided to put window 7 on it.  Digging through boxes I found windows 98, xp, and 2000 discs.  Even an unopened xp disc.  Lol. Anyway I had to flash the bios with the latest update to install 7 and things were great after that.   Looking for drivers I found out that my motherboard supported a 64bit system.  So I installed windows 7 64 bit.  As I installed drivers and updates things went bad.  Computer would freeze a lot and lots of dreded blue screens.  It was a nightmare.  I re wiped the drive and tried again with different results, but still a nightmare so I tried the 32bit version of windows.  At last it works like it should.  Better than xp, but I still wish the 64bit version would have worked.  

So you might be wondering why I write about this.  I don’t know.  It was just on my mind.  Well I learned that even though my computer parts supposedly supported the 64bit system I’m sure the builders could not see the future and something about the new drivers didn’t like old parts.  For now we have a simple computer that the kids can do homework on or play some games that might still work on a 32bit system.  I also learned that a blue screen doesn’t nessisarily mean the hardware is bad.  It might just mean that the OS can’t handle the old hardware.  

Paradise “Camp Fire” Nov. 2018

I don’t even know how to begin.  My hometown Paradise, CA.  A place that never leaves my heart and where family still dwells.  My heart goes out to all of you that live there and those of you that are helping and serving.  I am still in shock and unbelief weeks later.   So much devastation and destruction.  It’s a nightmare that became reality.  I don’t want to focus on the negative even though that is all I can think of when my eyes see all that nothingness throughout the town.  It has been weeks since it started and the Paradise post mentions that “A total of 13,696 single-family homes, 276 multi-family residences and  514 commercial buildings have been destroyed by the fire that started  Nov. 8 off Camp Creek Road near Pulga in the Feather River Canyon.  153,336 acres have burned, at least 85 people died, and 296 are listed as unaccounted.”  My heart goes out to all those people from the area that had to go through this experience.  I can’t even imagine how it was, but my heart is with you and those kind enough to serve and help in the area.  I do truly wish I could be there to help my family and anyone compacted by this tragedy. 

Growing up in Paradise was good.  I loved playing in my backyard in honey run creek catching bugs or looking at the dragon flies pass by.  Playing in the “trails” making forts or tree lookouts with friends.  The fun of shooting BB guns and home made blow guns in our backyard.  Seeing deer pass through or stop by to eat our flowers.  Riding bikes all over town with no sidewalks and going so fast down those hills.  Going back up not so fun, but all good times.  Walking pretty far to friends houses or even to the grocery store.  Never any room for boredom or maybe boredom helped create fun like slicing through water filled soda cans with swords.  I’m sure my friends and I remember good times like those.  Really it was a great place to grow up.  I’ve never been able to create the same type of environment for my kids unfortunately.  

I and all fellow Paradisians will have an attachment to the town even after we leave.  Memories are what we take with us,  I’m glad that my family made it out safe even if there is nothing to return to.  We still can hang onto our rich memories that will stay with us forever.   With love…

The is where I grew up. Totally destroyed all but memories.

Photo credit goes to whomever took the picture for the active destruction map of the Camp Fire that started on Nov. 8th, 2018

Gemvision Matrix Dead or Alive?

What is Matrix?

Matrix is a plugin for Rhinoceros software geared toward the jewelry industry.  It has been around for many years now and I got involved and started using this CAD program in 2004 or 2005 when version 4 was out.  It was a tough learning curve at first, but once learned it only got easier.  Each version had it’s ups and downs with the software developers introducing new tools to make building rings easier.  Sometimes the new tools were only half developed and probably never got popular because of that.  Other tools had more time spent on them and became the strengths of the program that has made life a whole lot easier bugs and all.  

Community & Culture

So I always enjoyed being apart of  this growing community of Matrix users.  I had learned how to use CAD and I love sharing what I have learned with others.  GV (Gemvision) always brought an excitement for new versions of the program.  My favorite to this day was the day we received the newest upgrade in a sphere.  The CD inside and the coolness of it.  Then comes the GV symposiums.   I was fortunate enough to attend a few of them.  It’s always fun and exciting to learn better tips and tricks, be with fellow jewelers, and to meet new people.  One of the highlights to me was always the CAD contest which we could enter a design into one of three categories.  What a great and enjoybale times.  It was like magic.  They did a great job of creating this community of fellow like minded people that could share and have fun together.  After a training or symposium we had the forums to reconnect and continue our new found relationships and share knowledge as we learned the program together helping one another along the way.

Big company buys Little company

Matrix has been around for a while and has helped the jewelry industry immensely. 

I never thought that would happen.  I’m very sad about it, but should have seen it coming once Stuller bought it. 

 Stuller is the big company.  A great place to buy tools, metals and findings, etc for the jewelry industry.  I’ve used them over the years and am glad to have had them to purchase what I’ve needed for my artwork.  So the big company takes away the magic.  It’s too corporate to make it have the same feel as a small close company.  I think of it as a big pool absorbing a drop of water.  The big company only getting bigger while the small one disappears.  So sad!

The Future 

What does the future look like?  I can only give my opinion here, but it’s promising even with all the craziness that’s happening.

I totally disagree with the way Stuller is going about the death of Matrix.  They sent out emails for users to upgrade before they can’t anymore (users not knowing if Matrix’s death).  Then they announced that there will be no more upgrades or future development of Matrix.  They closed their user forums too.  Just like that years of knowledge gone.  

They came out with a new software called MatrixGold Essentials.  The pro version in the future.  What does that mean for us?  Bad news.  I can only speculate, but I already see them treating users unfairly.  So will they offer an upgrade price to the new program? Or only offer the new price?  It’s not right to scam us into upgrades and then cancel the program.  Full price?  Will they stop our Matrix key from working so we have to buy an $8k program?  Who knows.  I do know that we don’t know.  Lol

So the future regardless of feelings.  There is a future.  We will have to get on board somehow and evolve.  I’m sure the new program will be awesome.  We will continue to grow, learn and develop. As you can see though, they have lost the small business magic and it’s all gone to money and who cares about the rest.  Let’s force the money out of them. hahahaha.   

Conclusion

In all seriousness I’m hoping they will care for the old user base and work on keeping us happy instead of pushing us away. I’m hopeful for the future and know it will bring some amazing new tools for us users to keep creating and making a living.  So the real answer is that yes, Matrix is dead, but alive until further notice.  

My Craft Table

I know, I know. When you think of crafting you may not always think of leather work, sewing, gourd making, etc as crafting, but I do. I’m setting up this table as a way to finally have a designated spot to do what I love doing. My little area outside the shop. I know it’s a messy table, but that’s because I’m not done organizing the area. I brought most all my crafting tools to the table and now I’m trying to figure out what I need to get organized. I’ve put up some shelves so far, but the area needs a lot more. I’m excited about it. I’ll keep an update of it as I go. Here’s to more of my creations of art. :)

Leather working and sewing table.

Stump

You know ever since I lived over in Laos and learned a little about raising metal, I've wanted to do the same here in the U.S.A.  I never got that stump that I felt I needed to make it all happen.  20 or so years  later I finally bought a stump and am motivated to start using it.  Hopefully I can find the time to start learning this again.  I love doing it so hopefully I can get some practice in.  As yo can see in the image the first school I went to to learn silversmithing. I worked on the bowl for a long time over that stump and although I made it too thin by the end, it was my first one and I love how it turned out.  We started by melting a bunch of silver into a button.  Then from that point on it was all hammering and annealing.  First hammer out the disc and then start to raise it.  Then chase it at the end.  I hope to do this process again because it brings back so many memories, but for now I think I'll buy the sheet to save time.  Either way I now have a stump and a few hammers to get going.  This was a long time waiting,  so let's see what can come of it now. 

My new stump

Crazy Hair Day

Don't we all feel like this sometimes?  A little fun mixed with crazy hair day?   That's all I can say about this. 

Anja's Crazy Beach Hair