No. 27 Jewelry making- refresh the silver soldering lessons.

No. 27- Refresh the silver soldering lessons.

First. I'm back. At least for a post. 

I've had a summer. 

My job changed, then didn't change, then changed again literally 4 days before it was supposed to end. The whole mess was exhausting and after six months of uncertainty, it turns out nothing changed after all.

And now I am on the cusp of Fall again in Colorado. It's been a lovely warm September but last night we had our first little cool front. Temps dropped at night and this morning I had my friend, the little yellow snowflake light, on my dashboard signaling a temperature below 38º.

But before I got to this cool spot, I went on vacation!   My first real vacation where I went where I wanted to and didn't just take care of kids or visit family or attend a wedding or shower.

Forty five years after starting college (so to speak) in Mexico, I returned to the scene of the crime with my two room mates for a reunion. Mind you this was the 45 year reunion of the START of our college careers as I don't think anyone ever finished school at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende.

Cathy (w/ Macho), Cherrilla (w/ Mugsy) and Me (w/ Mathilda and an unfortunate hair do)

Cherrilla lives full time in San Miguel now, joining our friend Jay who wasn't a room mate but was a friend back then. Cathy lives in Virginia, I live here in Colorado but we rented a house in "el Centro de San Miguel" for the week to go visit. Cathy had not been back for 40+ years. For me it had been 7. 

We didn't get the order the same but at least we got a pic of the 3 of us.

Cherrilla, Cathy, Me.

No pets. 

Our little house had been rented through Air BnB and it was perfect. Great location with 3 floors and 2 bedrooms and a balcony overlooking the Parroquia. The bathroom had a bathtub big enough to swim in which is basically heaven for me.

Our first morning Cathy woke up early and snapped this amazing pic from our balcony. 

That's the Parroquia glowing on the right. 

I slept through the sunrise. 

And...while Cathy was flipping through Air BnB offerings, she discovered classes. She sent the link to me and it took me about 5 seconds to find the silver working class.

 The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Forty five years later we are still learning.

 So...45 years to the month from the first time Cathy and I took silver working classes together, we returned to class. Our teacher this time was American, the class was only four hours and we learned the one thing I have been begging people to teach me: the basics of silver soldering.  I knew most of it but did not really want to practice on sterling silver without some guidelines. 

Enter our teacher, Nicole Williams, who made the class basic and fun and most importantly, gave me the confidence that yes, I can do this at home. 

Nicole explains the finer points of ring design.

We made simple wire rings- a set of 5 that stacked. 

Cutting up the solder...

Cathy places the solder carefully on her rings. 

Can you believe I was allowed to use a propane torch? 

Since we were so efficient and finished early, she taught us a couple of other tricks like twisting the wire to make a chain effect and doing a "spaghetti wire" ring where the wire was wrapped and soldered together. Let's just say we learned a technique and will hopefully be able to improve our skills with the more advanced efforts.  Our wire stacking rings were a huge success, though. 

Struggling to wrap the wire for my "spaghetti ring".

So. No. 27 is complete. Maybe I will finish the other challenges before I turn 70. Maybe not. But certainly I am thrilled to have completed this one. 

Now. All I need are supplies. 

Necessity...

Necessity is the Mother of Invention...
a substitute for No. 27.


Earlier this week I mentioned that I was giving up on silver soldering lessons (for now) and instead reviving my leather working skills.

Forty something years ago I went to college in Mexico. The Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende. Smack dab in the middle of the country.   San Miguel is a mountain town, a national monument, the birthplace of Mexican Independence, all cobblestone streets and colonial architecture.
To me, it felt like home.  I get the same feeling when I drive up the road to this cabin, seeing the mountains looming ahead, as I did when I came into San Miguel. I feel like I am coming home.

Anyway, the Instituto was an art school. And a craft school. My classes included weaving (seriously) and drawing. Painting. Jewelry classes. And leather working classes.

There I learned that working with leather is really not that hard. You can sew on it just like fabric. There's just a few tricks.

A couple of years ago I bought this little purse.

Perfect. Almost.

I love the concept of it. It's perfect. EXCEPT.  

The size. It is only 8" by 6". That's a pretty standard size for a clutch. It may be a standard size but I can't fit my phone, credit card holder AND sunglasses inside of it. At least not all at the same time.

But my attempts at finding the same thing only LARGER have been unsuccessful. I can find the size but without pockets. Or I can find the size and maybe it does have pockets but it costs a gazillion dollars. I wanted 12" by 8", but it just didn't seem to be out there. (At least not in my budget.....)


So. I decided to make my own.  My first idea was to incorporate this little Mexican blanket fabric with the leather. That became my prototype.

More perfect. 

And why can't I find a single spot in this cabin that doesn't have 

dog fur on it?? Carlos???

And I love it. Everything fits. It's just the right size. Perfect.

Do you know how hard it is to find the perfect little bag?  Impossible almost.


So now I'm going to make it completely in black leather. With the strap. And extra pockets inside.
And then I will be insanely happy.

Black leather, gold leather, taupe leather. 

O! The possibilities. 

The inspiration.

Or something like that.