Irrational Fear�

2001-12-07

Really windy today. The back of the patio is just covered with little brown japanese elm seeds. I think I'm going to gather them up in a black plastic bag and use them as mulch. If I leave the bag in the sun, the heat will kill the seeds. There's a hugh amount of them, and they are just the right texture for mulch.

Today was pool day. I went with a couple of friends and a lot of people from our IT department to play pool. We do it most Fridays. My playing sucks, but I enjoy it anyway. I enjoy their company, even if a couple of them are a little condesending. They assume I have no clue what I'm talking about. I have a clue. A very small one, perhaps, but I have a clue.

I need to order supplies for making jewelry. I have a couple of things I need to make for Christmas. While I have most of the materials, there are a couple of things I need. Wanted to go to the gem show in LA, but our sales meeting was the same weekend. So I'll order out of catalogs and hope for the best.

I've pretty much given up trying to sell the stuff I make. I'm just not a good salesman. I want to make stuff, not sell it. Maybe I'll ask my sister for the loan of her husband for a couple of hours. He can walk me through setting something up on E-bay. It can be her Christmas present to me. No cash outlay, although I do see their time as very valuble.

I wish I could sell the stuff. I've been making it for six years now. And now I'm much more comfortable with the stuff I design myself. It took a lot of looking, learning and practice to get my methods down.

I'm pretty happy with the stuff I do. I don't do casting, I just do wirewrap and assembly. Anyone can do it. The tools are not esoteric or expensive. Pliers, wire cutters, silver chain, silver wire and any kind of bead with a hole in it. And before you ask, yes, they make beads with no holes.

I have a bunch of stuff that belonged to my grandmother. She actually did soldering. I'd like to learn to do that, but fire scares me. I took a casting class and really enjoyed it. I enjoy carving the wax for molds. Casting the plaster molds was OK. I didn't really mind heating the metal until molten. Running it through the centrifuge scared the crap out of me. I could just see the metal being forced into some little bit of moisture left in the plaster and exploding the mold. I've been told by two people that actually know what they're talking about that they never knew it to happen. My very own irrational fear.

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