Barb Baur

I love sharing what I do, whether it’s art, music, metal, whatever. Joy shared is joy multiplied.

Today I am packing my tools up to travel to The Gateway Burn, a regional Burning Man event in Missouri. We’ll be camping with our dear friends, Chris and Cherie of Technomadia. This will be my first “burn” type event, but after 13 years of pagan festivals I think I’m ready.

What’s new for me is the gradual addition of hard metals, steel and iron to what I’m used to: soft fine metals, silver and gold. This means I have to bring my oxy/acetylene torch and my new (to me) 200lb Vulcan anvil. I started dabbling in blacksmithing almost 2 years ago, but I haven’t felt confident enough to share until now.

I’m always glad I do this. Sure, it’s a pain to pack up my tools and then reset them somewhere on ground that isn’t level, using a portable workbench, trying to solder in the wind, trying not to burn up the bugs that are attracted by my torch after dark.

But there’s something to be said for having someone walk by and watch quietly, (or with questions) learning about things they always wondered about, like how to size a ring or solder a chain. I love interactive art because you never know what you inspire in someone and how it will be manifested.

And it gives me a chance to organize my tools in packing, unpacking and repacking. Keeping tools together by use, instead of spread across my work bench where they were left when I “finished that order and had to move on to the next thing”. Tool boxes and buckets. Boxes and bins. It’s a lot of fun to do this in the most efficient way possible.

Wendy is coming along and we’ll be meeting up with family in Kansas and seeing the sites in St. Louis as well as some other yet to be determined side adventures.

I plan to Twitter our adventures if you want to follow along.

Due to a medical issue that came up this last week, I have to postpone the Basic Jewelry Making class scheduled at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd, VA.

The new dates for the class are Monday July 12 to Friday July 16, 2010.

There are a couple of spots left, so if you feel like 5 days in the lovely Blue Ridge Mountains playing with metal, sign up soon!

I’m also scheduling a Trunk Show of my work in Floyd while I’m there….stay tuned!

Since I’ve been sick the last week and told not to be on a diet, I think today will be a butter cake day.

Butter cake is one of those things I grew up with. It wasn’t until I was living in Florida for a couple of years that I realized it’s one of those regional specialties. My next trip back to Philadelphia, I made sure to get one to fill my craving.

Since moving back home, I’m realizing there are vast differences in the recipe from bakery to bakery. And yes, we still have plenty of those little neighborhood bakeries and they all have butter cake. And if they have it, I want to try it.

What is it? I hear you ask.

It’s a thin cakey crust about half inch thick, covered with a gooey layer of buttery ooze that is slightly crusty on top.

In the last few months, I’ve been doing some independent research on the different butter cakes in the area. Some are gooier than others, some seemed too sugary or the hint of too much vanilla. Personal preference will make a difference in your butter cake choice.

On the list today. Either stop at Holmesburg or  Rillings bakery.

I often joke how Jack is still teaching me things, usually unintentionally, but here I go again.

Caregiving can be a tough gig. Generally I know I have it better than most. I have reliable help with Jack. The house is well equipped to deal with his disabilities. We have plenty of technology to help. He’s pretty independent generally.

But sometimes that independence gets him into trouble. His usual day out is Thursday. On April 15, I was working downstairs, had just mailed the last of the tax returns for which I am responsible and was just thinking I should check on his location with the ATT FamilyMap service when the phone rang.

It’s never good when the call starts with “I have a man in a wheelchair here, what is your relationship to him?”

It was the police at The Gallery, a mall in downtown Philadelphia and one of Jack’s favorite haunts. It appears that he went down three steps in his chair and ended up on his side, still strapped in the chair.  I was told that an ambulance had been called, but I also had to make arrangements for his chair.

So I headed downtown in the van, accompanied by Tracey, who is our Jack help on Thursdays. We picked up the chair and headed to Jefferson Hospital where the ambulance had taken Jack.

They had him in the Trauma area, which was good because it was quiet compared to the rest of the ER. After about an hour or so we had the results, no head injury, but 4 cracked ribs, a broken scapula and a broken clavicle. All on the shoulder of Jack’s “bad” side. That is, the paralyzed side.

The verdict, keep him in overnight for observation. Sure. Except it was going to be at least 4 hours till they got him a bed in the monitoring unit upstairs. It was already 10pm. So I headed home.

I called down the next day and he was still in the ER waiting on a room. Holy moly! So I went down hoping to get a verdict on releasing him. We were also waiting on a physical therapy evaluation to get some more ideas about new transfer techniques.

About Jack and Transfers: Because Jack is paralyzed on the right side of his body, we usually bring him to a stand by supporting him under his right arm bringing him to a stand and then pivoting him to another chair. It’s a good solid method that works well with Jack, doesn’t strain the caregiver, allows Jack to help by keeping his left (good) side free to grab the chair where he is transferring or a walker, cane or bar.

Not being able to hold his right side at all because of the broken bones completely hosed our transfer techniques.

Jack finally got a room late Friday night. No physical therapy came in on Saturday or Sunday, despite that I was there for hours waiting and had the nurses get in touch with them to find out.  Monday the two person team of an OT (occupational therapist) and a PT (physical therapist) come around.

They don’t give me a lot of options. They demonstrate a technique where the person transferring squats in front of Jack, blocks his knees, grabs his buttocks with both hands and pulls him to a stand, pivot and then ease back into a different chair. Talk about awkward! I tried it once and they said it look successfull, but it was so counterintuitive. Lorie was there too and it look very awkward to her too. The next day I had Lorie and Tracey come in to see the PT team about transfers.

The PT and OT then tried to stand Jack up to pull up his pants. No luck. What a mess. They hurt his knee  because his skin is so thin sometimes just being rubbed by something is enough to cause a wound. They start talking about sending him to a rehab for a few weeks before heading home. I ask again about other techniques. They seem to think this is the ONLY way he can be transferred.  They leave and I assemble “Team Jack” (me, Lorie & Tracey) We talked about all the mistakes the PT team had made and how we could deal with his situation at home. I talked to Jack about our ideas vs PT’s and he agreed he would be better at home.

It took until Wednesday before we were able to bring Jack home. With the help and input of Lorie and Tracey, I was able to counter the PT teams’ assertion that he go to rehab. We’re transferring using our own techniques and right now he needs two people to transfer.  Jack seems to be recovering, he’s tolerating transfers well, he’s able to help more again using his good side. He’s got a follow up appointment with his doctor next Wednesday and then he’s still “grounded” until I return from my trip around May 15.

Oh, and the chair that fell down the 3 steps with Jack, no damage, still runs fine.

I’m scheduled to teach a basic jewelry fabrication class at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd, VA. This is a 5 day class designed to give you a basic knowledge of jewelry metalwork. It will take place May 10 to May 14.

Class size is small to allow for plenty of individual instruction, but as of now there is only one person scheduled. We need at least 3. If you’re in the Blue Ridge Mountains stop in at the Jacksonville Center even if you aren’t interested in my class. It’s a cool place for creative people!

My Monday morning was spent getting Wendy to the airport at an ungodly hour (her description not mine) to meet with her Dad in Orlando then on to Boston. Then fighting a bad case of rush hour traffic to get back home and get Jack out the door for bloodwork. I was in no condition to get much more done than getting the mailing we stuffed yesterday for Creative Aging Solutions to the post office.
So I spent my time finally getting this blog in better shape.
It’s different. I’m still deciding if this is how it will stay, but for now, I like it.

So I’ve been thinking for a while that I wanted to upgrade the WordPress version I use here. Well because I did the original installation myself back in 2006, this is not easy.  Give me time as I try to get all my old stuff on here.

For now all the old stuff is at

http://barbbaur.com/oldblog

In the meantime let me distract you with these silly giant river otters from my trip to the Philadelphia Zoo this past Wednesday. Sorry about the reflections, just watch the pretty otters.

Philadelphia Zoo Giant River Otters

glowing

Originally uploaded by silvergoldberry

Most of my art the last few years has been jewelry. But in the last few months I’ve been trying to get back to my roots. I’m very happy with the water color I did last fall and I’ve been finding myself enjoying taking pictures even more. In fact I would say a lot of my enjoyment of last month’s trip to Charleston was based on wandering the town and taking photos.

So on a last minute whim, I decided to attend a Light Painting/Ghosting workshop at Fortress of the Arts yesterday evening.

This was my first time shooting fine art nudes and I’ve been really interested in light painting since last summer when Cherie and Chris introduced me to the basic techniques. I was on my feet for 5 hours which has me a bit stiff today, but it was worth it.

We shot using rope lights, laser pointers, flashlights, christmas lights, mini closet lights and studio strobes. Of course now my imagination is just stoked for more. Night time city scapes, quirky portraiture, I’ve got lots of ideas, I just have to wait for it to get dark.

There’s more images on my Flickr, (click on the photo) but be aware- there’s nudity- NSFW.

I’m pretty proud of the fact that in addition to being a jewelry artist, I’m a qualified bench jeweler. Which means I do a lot with the 3 R’s-
Repairs, Re-sizings & Restoration

This is actually where I started. My apprenticeship back in high school was with a bench jeweler who did a lot of repairs. So my training started with that perspective. Later on when I struck out on my own I was afraid with good reason. After the apprenticeship, right out of high school I ruined a friends ring. Mortifying. I still keep it and try to remember that incident when I get cocky.

But the 3Rs are about problem solving and I really enjoy that.
Rebuilding clasps that fell apart for some reason- can I do it better?

Taking out and resetting stones in a silver ring. Many jewelers won’t even repair or resize silver jewelry because it heats differently than gold. The whole piece needs to reach a very high temperature for solder to flow. That means you’ll ruin any stones left in place. So of course it takes more time taking out and resetting the stones in a silver piece, yeah it will cost more, but it’s not impossible.

When resizing a ring I enjoy trying to make the solder joints invisible, I succeed most of the time, too.

But chain repair, now there’s the mark of patience. Often a jeweler gets impatient and just solders the two ends together to form a small inflexible area where the break was. I hate that and only if I have exhausted all other options do I hand a chain back to a customer like that.

The trick is my “Little Torch” with it’s teeny tiny flame, substances like yellow ochre to control the solder from flowing where it’s not wanted and patience to rebuild the chain pattern the way it was and only solder the broken link. I often need magnification to get a good look at how the chain is made and the big challenge is to keep the repair from being noticed. I’m not a machine, but I pride myself on rebuilding things that were made by machines.

Restoration is something that can be a real challenge. Someone inherits a piece of jewelry they don’t like, but it has sentimental value. So we rework it, change the stones to something they like, make a ring into a pendant or vice versa. Or a customer buys a stone while on vacation, saving it until they decide what they would like.

It’s all about creative problem solving which is something you have to enjoy to be a bench jeweler, not the same as creating my own pieces, but I enjoy it.

Did you ever have one of those projects that seems to haunt you for years? My Dad had the “Roll Top Desk”. He bought the plans, the wood, started it, stalled, decided he needed to get a router and 30 years later, my family still jokes about it. The wood got used for other things, I don’t where the plans are.

I’ve felt that way about this project and I feel incredible that I can say I’ve finally kicked butt and got it done.

I was contacted by a potential customer in early 2004 to find out if I could make a locking pendant. He wanted to have a pendant that had a key, but didn’t want it to look like a lock, it was to look like a pendant. No one but he and she would know that it was locked on.

I loved the idea,. Yes I’ve seen locks as jewelry, but frankly they look like locks. And if you want it to be a secret that you are in alternative relationship where dominance/submission is part of your relationship, you either wear regular jewelry and pretend it’s locked…or you wear a lock.

I started the design process. I needed to learn how locks were made. I found a book about simple ancient Iranian lock designs. I spent months corresponding with the customer keeping him posted on progress. He was patient. We never met, but emailed and occasionally chatted online about the project.

Then I uprooted my life and moved to PA. The customer and his girlfriend broke up so there was no longer even the potential sale anymore, but I still liked the idea. And I felt that there were others who would be interested in it.

My small beginning prototype sat in a tiny plastic box and occasionally I would pull it out and spend a little time trying to figure out what to do about a spring. My gut told me I needed to learn more about non ferrous metals.

Last year I took a Blacksmithing course and at that point realized I was making things more complicated than they needed to be. I took some private lessons with a local blacksmith here in Philadelphia and my project with her was a lock. I acquired another book on locks, this time written for blacksmiths.

Riding the wave of productivity, I washed against the tiny plastic box again the other day like waves hitting the rocks. Damn it, this project has been floating around for 5 years, time to put it to bed. The springs were my hold up, but this time I decided to check Ganoksin about how to make small springs. I found out that music wire (piano wire or guitar wire) can be used to make springs. No worries about hardening/tempering.

And hey, I have a 12 string guitar laying around here I haven’t played in years. It has LOTS of strings. I leave out my Epiphone so it’s handy to play, but the 12 string is a pain, never in tune, etc. I started scavenging strings and as I was taking off the strings realized there was a set of new strings inside. So I took off all the strings I could use, took a few pictures and put it on Craigslist. I sold it for a few bucks and gave the money to the kid. (She’s saving for a new computer.)

The I sat down with my old drawings and worked out a new design with Illustrator. I looked through my stones, decided on a malachite and started over again.

The foremost problem is if the spring inside is heated up, as it would if I soldered the pendant, it loses it’s spring. My solution for that was to set a stone on the front of the lock. Get the whole thing soldered together, set the spring and then set the stone last.

I made the bezel and seat for the malachite, then a box the same shape as the malachite to house the lock under the stone. Then the connectors on either side. I choose a triquerta as the design element. A nice green stone like Malachite always looks good to me in a celtic design.

Then I cut out the mechanisms, the locking arm, the hook on the connector on the other side. Soldered one side connector in place.

As I began playing with springs I started to realize that using a silver shaft as the key wasn’t a good idea. It needed to be steel to be strong enough to push against the steel spring and not bend.
The springs and strength of the working components were the biggest issues I was working on over these years.
I used a nail and did some mini blacksmithing on my baby anvils to make the key. I also researched brazing (soldering) silver to the steel and found that was much easier than I anticipated. (I’m already dreaming of potential pieces using this idea.) Another Triquerta cut from sheet and voila! A Key. The key is very simple, just a straight piece of metal to put the locking lever back against the spring to release the connector. I’ll probably add a bail so it can be worn by who ever is holding the key.

Meanwhile, it took hours to determine the correct shape and size for the spring. The spring was the most challenging part of this project. Several times over the last few days I just stopped and walked away. Installing the spring, taking out the ones that didn’t work. I was at it for hours, it was an exercise in patience. I made at least a dozen different springs from the guitar wire.
In the end a coiled V spring (like the bottom of a safety pin) is what worked, but the coil had to be very tiny to fit in the area.
When the mechanism worked predictably, I soldered the completed bezel setting on top of the lock housing. Once it was in place there was a few more hours of playing with springs.
It finally all came together- and stayed that way.
And came apart when it was supposed to…

Then I only had to set the stone and it’s done. I’m VERY happy to have finally solved this issue.

Now the fun part of figuring what kind of chain/choker to put on. The original customer wanted a handmade chain. (Cha-ching!) but I think this would look nice with a flat omega style smooth chain because it will be against the skin, or some kind of fabric or cord. In any case, until it finds it’s home it won’t be finished because I believe it should be fitted.