Love From Lily

Item No. 1

I'm finally finished with the Elizabeth necklace and I'm feeling a burst of creative energy that I haven't felt in years. I suspect getting through this creative block will help me in every area of my life. All the sudden, things are new again. Lots of other ideas in the works... I can barely keep myself out of the studio!

Who Killed The Baby Mammoth? Uh, that would be me...

Yesterday, I  accidentally put a a couple sheets of paper that had some finished transfers sandwiched between them through the SHREDDER while I was sanding a silver piece (thus thinking about silver, NOT transfers). Doh! Okay, new rule—write "Transfers" note before setting aside. Geez, it seems as though I've really lost my multitasking ability! Baby Mammoth was all set for application and sanding and then POOF! GONE! DO-OVER! That's the rebuilding process below.

I'm almost ready to set the silver piece onto the Elizabeth necklace (work in progress below). It's my first attempt at any kind of enamel and it's definitely a bit more crude than I would have liked. But it's growing on me. It looks very cool from far away. Bad sign? Ha! I also have a lot of these prefab findings in my inventory. I tried to patina this one with a few different techniques, but ultimately, I think the gold-filled finish looks the best this time around. I've got some completely handmade pieces in the works too. Although I mostly prefer to work with precious metals and gems, I also want to offer some fun things that are affordable! Things are moving ahead slowly, but they are moving!

Detour: To Mid-Summer

I had no more than launched this blog when I learned that I was going to need major surgery of the female kind. It meant putting my art endeavors on hold and taking care of all the things around the house that required major physical effort and getting them done within a couple of weeks! The snow was barely gone and I was out in the garden hauling 63 bags of mulch and completing my yard and garden clean-up at warp speed. My neighbors all thought I was an insane woman. I was an insane woman!

Now, nearly six weeks into my recovery, I am finally getting back into the studio! Here's a mini preview of one of the pieces I'm working on: Baby Mammoth!

Get Some Good Air!
I used the downtime to catch up on some reading—after first having my fill of lousy daytime television and devouring the contents of all the blogs and magazines that I read on a regular basis—and to do a little research on air-quality and air cleaners. I’m much more aware of my chemical exposure than I used to be and want to limit toxins and dust in my little home art studio. I wince at the early days in my career when I worked at a photo studio and wiped off the light boxes with Bestine like it was organic Mojo water.

Surprised at the limited amount of data available regarding the use of Art Clay Silver and environmental precautions, I resorted to the Material Safety Data Sheet regarding particle size—which happens to be 20 microns. Although working with ACS is much safer than working with melted silver because the product sinters during firing—rather than melting as with lost wax casting—inhaled or ingested silver of any kind is still a bad thing. (Check out this story about the Blue Man who purposefully ingested colloidal silver!)

To help keep the air in my studio as clean as I can, I’m planning to purchase a medical grade air purifier from Allerair. I’ve settled on the AirMedic + Vocarb unit, which will also help eliminate toxins from paint thinners as well. This unit can handle particles down to 0.3 microns in size and the sales rep told me they can customize the carbon unit to address my specific chemical uses. Obviously, this isn’t a substitute for smart chemical use, i.e., good ventilation and a NIOSH approved mask when required, but it’s a start!

ROWE: Results Only Work Environment
One of the books I read during my recovery was Why Work Sucks And How To Fix It, by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. I found myself scratching my head a little at their concept of a Results Only Work Environment, ROWE™, which allows people to work whenever they want as long as they get their work done. Employees come into work whenever they want and can work from any location at any time of day on any day of the week as long as they get their work done—and this freedom extends to the support staff as well. The ROWE environment has been a success for locally based Best Buy Company and has been reported in the local media quite hardily.

While I did find some very useful tidbits in the book and I certainly support the idea of a lot more flexibility in the workplace—based on my own experience as an independent contractor for twelve years—I can tell you that even when you are the boss of yourself—which I highly recommend—you are still laboring under other people’s deadlines and time commitments, often in multiple time zones simultaneously. For many professions, it would be very hard to take time out of the equation. Of course, now that I'm doing art, I have the luxury of creating my own deadlines. However, I suspect that too will change as I get further into it. Although I have no deadlines, I still have goals after all!

I certainly won’t argue with Best Buy’s proven success, but I can’t help but wonder if Best Buy’s dominance in the marketplace drives their ability to work in this manner. Would this system work for them if they were not the Big Dog in the neighborhood? I’m not sure. But I like the idea and recommend this quick read for challenging your own ideas about the way we work.