Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

Around noon today, I came back to my computer after playing Scrabble to find a message from porcinea asking if I could make it to dim sum. Well, it would take me a while to get there. She had no problem with that, and we agreed to meet at Jing Fong (20 Elizabeth) at 1:30. Much good food, possibly too much, but I introduced her to bacon-wrapped shrimp, and we had two orders of those flaky pastries filled with roast pork, and I got really fresh hot water chestnut cakes.

Then we walked up to the West Village, continuing to talk, and did some window shopping. She bought whole bean coffee, I bought a cup of tea, and we rendezvous'd with elissaann, and walked to a place called Point, which combines yarn/knitting shop with cafe. The young man running it liked us, because we were serious about chocolate. At one point, I mentioned that I didn't want to take up knitting while I was still finding my way with another new-to-me craft, jewelry making. By luck, I was wearing the wandering wire earrings I'd made when elisem taught me a bit of the technique, so I was able to show them to him.

It had been too long since I'd been for dim sum; I should do this more often.

*Spending time with my beloveds is wonderful and necessary, but feels like it's a different category: in that sense, this is the second social thing I've done since getting back from Montreal, the other being having roadnotes over.

The 24-gauge copper wire seems too thin, and too flexible, to make the outside/structural loops for wandering wire earrings, as I was trying to do. I may go get some 20-gauge, if I can buy a small amount. Or I may just use some of this to play with shapes and curves, and then make silver earrings.

I've also got a small cut in an annoying place on my left thumb, but that's not the only problem, so waiting a few days won't solve it. On the other hand, it is sufficient reason to wait a few days before getting out the silver, because the technique involves stroking the metal with the ball of my thumb. A bandage protects the thumb from the wire, but it costs me dexterity. Which suggests waiting regardless, both because I'm new enough to this that I want all my physical resources, and to avoid picking up bad habits of working around a very temporary problem.

I had a better workout than Tuesday, from which I infer that my health is basically recovered. (Specifically, I got back up to the weight I'd previously achieved on one machine, where a slightly lower weight on Tuesday was too much.) I also spent a minute or two wondering whether I'd exceeded my previous maximum on another machine, leading to "does Windows have a cat(1) command" followed by "It doesn't matter, I have cygwin." (It's also possible that I can tell it to search for the relevant string in all the files in a directory; I may try that first.)

After I worked out, I walked over to Metalliferous. I now have a pound of 24-gauge copper wire, and about half an ounce of 24-gauge silver. The plan is to use the copper to fiddle with and get a feeling for the techniques, because it's a lot cheaper and I had fun playing with pleonastic's 28-gauge copper in Montreal ten days ago. I'm not sure I know anyone who wears copper; please let me know if you might be interested in some of the experiment results (which will be earrings or pendants, I think.) I am not at all surprised, though more pleased than I would have expected, at living in a culture where it's that easy and inexpensive to buy copper wire, in a wide range of gauges.

On the way there, and then from there to the N train, I walked down a street that had been blocked off by the Fire Department at both ends. No sirens, no apparent commotion, just fire trucks at both ends of the block, preventing anyone from driving in or out, fire fighters standing around, and another engine or two on Broadway, while pedestrians went about our business. It didn't even occur to me until I was going down the subway stairs that I not only hadn't stopped to ask what was going on, I hadn't seen anyone else do so.

I had lunch in Chinatown, at the usual place, then took the A train one stop uptown. I returned two hardcover books and a pair of CDs [one album], paid off the fifty cents the Inwood branch had been unable to collect on my previous visit, and borrowed one paperback. Then I walked down to Porto Rico Importing for coffee; I meant to stop for chocolate on the way, but Varsano's had a sign up saying they were moving across the street at the end of August, and the place across the street was still labeled "coming soon." I got a cup of hot tea at Porto Rico. "Cinnamon orange spice" this time, since they'll sell you a cup of any loose tea in the store for the same flat 90 cents. The man asked me to get the canister, which meant that I spotted where they keep the Torani syrups. Thus, we now have a large bottle of mandarin orange syrup, suited for mixing with seltzer, or flavoring hot cocoa (and probably other uses as well). Also, it's nice getting tea someplace where they absolutely understand that you let it steep first, then add the milk, even when that means leaving it on the counter while he serves a double espresso and a muffin to the person behind me.

I came home with all that (and some stuff from the drugstore), put it down, and meant to go right back out and walk in the park. Instead, I talked to friends on IM, which is also good.

( gym numbers )

I stopped on the way out of the gym to give them a new credit card to charge my membership to, since the one they had on file expires Saturday. The woman in the office commented on my dedication; there may or may not have been an element of flattery in there, but I do make it there twice a week, most weeks, for a nice long workout, and have been doing so for what probably counts as a long time. I would like to be exercising more often, but I suspect that's true of a lot of people, regardless of our actual levels of exercise.

First, I called the Unemployment Insurance people, just after 8 a.m. (I'd called yesterday at about 4:30 and been told, after three or four minutes of automated menus, that they were too busy to get to my call by close of business at 5, try again later.) I talked to a nice person who asked my mother's maiden name (in addition to the usual PIN), asked three questions, and told me okay, I had now certified for the week I'd forgotten.

cattitude and I headed out around 9, he to work and I to the bank and the gym. I explained to the teller that no, I didn't want twenties, or I'd have gone to the ATM and not used her time, I wanted tens and fives, which she gave me. (We're not talking inch-thick stacks here, folks.) The workout seemed to be going well until I got to the mat work, when I found an odd pain on the left side of my upper back; I stopped doing crunches, did a few more things with machines, then showered and changed back into my street clothes.

Lunch at Excellent Dumpling, as is my habit. I'd arranged to meet someone at 2:00 to pick up a pot (suited for dyeing fabric) that she was giving away on Freecycle; it was barely one o'clock when I finished eating. Well, I have an errand and an unlimited Metrocard, so I went up to Toho Shoji and bought a selection of little Swarovski crystal beads in purples, cobalt blue, green, and clear, suited for stringing on wires for the sort of thing elisem was showing me how to make. And some of them might wind up in earrings, especially if I can figure out a good way to get duck feathers onto an earring head pin.

Back on the train, a quick rendezvous on Third Avenue, and I and my nice used pot went back west to meet roadnotes.

We sat in La Lanterna, whose air conditioning wasn't getting enough voltage to satisfy either us or the owner, and talked. I told her what a good time I'd had in Montreal, and about other stuff going on in my life, and she told me how she's coping with healing her leg, and we continued the long-standing discussion about friendships, relationships, and human interaction. Eventually I observed that I'd talked myself hoarse, and had better stop. We ducked down to Porto Rico, on Bleecker Street, for coffee—one of the employees praised my (really Cattitude's) choice of Kenya AA, and I also bought some loose vanilla tea since I've used up what I bought at Tea Luxe in Cambridge and may not be up there again for a couple of months.

It was just past five when I got on an A train. I was standing, and a stranger offered me his seat. Thinking "I am proud, and tired," I thanked him and accepted: I'm proud, but not stupid enough to let that pride lead me to falling over (I'd been a bit unsteady on my feet waiting for the train: too much running around on a hot day). And so home, with a brief but pleasant breeze as I walked up Isham Street. Soon, I shall start chopping things for a chicken curry.

( gym numbers )

I took a look at the two pairs of earrings I have from elisem in something like the style that she taught me and kythryne about yesterday. The magenta ones seem to focus on a spiral made before it was anchored to the rest of the piece. The silver ones with the pale blue Swarovski crystals are closer to what she showed us, but with lots of lovely curves and fewer intersections and anchor points.

Also, googling on "wandering wire" gets me a link or two to Elise's work, and an assortment of things that have nothing to do with jewelry. If anyone else (except kythryne, soon) is using this jewelry-making technique, they're either not being discussed online, or they call it something else.

Also: Metalliferous has what look like the kind of pliers I need, and I think I'm going to pick up a cheap pair to play with while I figure out whether I want to spend a lot of time on this. (The price difference between the cheap ones and the Lindstroms that Elise and Kythryne were talking about is something like a factor of eight.) And I'm wondering about colored/coated wire. I definitely want more Swarovski crystals, and maybe some other small beads (I've been using what I got in Beads of the Month for earrings--the large packages for colors of night and pearls both have good small beads--but it's not enough.

kythryne just sent me her photo of the brooch pendant I made this morning, while elisem was teaching us some wire-wrapping techniques: ( cut for size )

This morning, I went over to kythryne's apartment, where elisem was teaching her, and me, some wire-wrapping jewelry-making techniques.

By some standards, I was underprepared for the class; I've barely done any jewelry-making. Kythryne is a professional and wanted to learn specifics of Elise's techniques. Elise solved this by first showing both of us some things, and then teaching Kythryne more advanced techniques while I practiced what she'd covered first.

I now know a bit about how to make what Elise calls wandering-wire earrings and brooches. During the first teaching section, I made a pair of freeform earrings, less like each other than they were meant to be. I'd misunderstood the instructions Elise was giving us, so instead of an oval with loops inside it, I made overlapping curved shapes. Then, while Elise was showing Kythryne things about clasps and necklaces, I made a brooch, working within a framing oval she shaped for me. It didn't come out as I'd expected, I think in part because I decided that a particular wire that had been sitting calmly, minding its own business, needed to be pulled loose and woven through five other wires, and doing so moved the central bead out of position. And then I picked up a loose bit of wire and started bending it, and wound up with a single earring, much more jagged than the curvy pieces we'd been working on.

I had fun playing with the wires, and the colored beads, and now I know a few things about bending wire smoothly (using my thumb, as if I were curling ribbon with a scissor) and into loops and waves. I also know how to anchor one piece of wire on another, though I definitely need practice at that. Elise also sold me some silver wire, so I can play with this more, but I think I need a pair of bent-nose pliers first, and I probably want to do more bead earrings first. I may combine things and put bends into head wires for bead earrings, but probably not this month.

Kythryne took some photos of things Elise had made recently. I also got her to take a photo of my brooch, which I'll post here when she emails it to me.

---

I walked Elise to the post office, and then went back to the A train to pick up bugshaw. When I was making plans with Bug, she liked the idea of coming uptown to have lunch and hang out quietly, as a break from apparently everyone else in New York fandom wanting to play tour guide for the TAFF winner. I showed her a restaurant that served good salads; some of Inwood Hill Park, including the salt marsh (at high tide and again close to low tide), and julian_tiger, and we talked quietly about life and craft and people. I hadn't seen her in a few years, and it was good to catch up in an unhurried context (no panels to go to, nor worries about missing trains).

I have made myself a pair of earrings, which I'm now wearing despite not being entirely happy with the results. I think the beads I chose are a little tricky (they're rounded-off squares of malachite, with the holes running at a slant, so it's probably unavoidable that some of the headpin will show); perhaps because of that, the loops at the top aren't smooth.

I think I'm going to go back to stainless steel for the next few earrings. This pair are on sterling silver; in addition to the malachite, they have small beads, a shiny dark gray from elisem's "colors of night" Bead of the Month selection.

At the moment, my hair is at a length such that it doesn't much matter what earrings I wear, except to me (because I remember what I put on): it's not long enough to put back easily, and when worn loose it hides my ears, including earlobes and earrings of any size I'm likely to find comfortable.

Addendum: A second pair are in shades of gray, and I suspect may be for someone else, since I used the stainless steel kidney wires that Elise gave me, and I usually prefer the question-mark-shaped wires. Snowflake obsidian beads as the centerpiece, with gray beads that Elise labeled "we don't know" in the pearl BotM, and a tiny dark gray bead also from colors of night. Yes, I have beads I didn't get from Elise, but the only really small ones of those that I can find are Swarovski crystals, which didn't work for this. (I seem to recall buying some seed beads; I don't know where they got to.)

[N.B. I originally posted this to a restricted friends group, having set those permissions in Semagic for a post I wound up not making; I'm editing the time and hoping it'll now be at the top of the page.]

I picked up my latest package from elisem today, including my artists' challenge branch, which I'm torn between wanting to put in easy view from my normal position at my desk, and wanting to keep safe from julian_tiger; the Big Magpie package of Beads of the Month pearls (which I will look at again in better daylight, and spread out and play with and see how it goes with my other beads and whether paired earrings are sensibly doable here); a gorgeous blue dichroic glass pendant, which may push me into wearing a shirt with a collar so I can show it off (it's heavy for me to wear right againt my neck); and my "wishmelon" earrings, all shiny and green.

[I suppose that didn't have to all be one sentence, but it started that way, and went on until I reached the end.]

I got myself over to Metalliferous today. I now have a couple of simple silver necklace chains, suited for wearing pendants and such on. I have some sterling silver ear wires and pins. And I have beads.

I have a half dozen pretty glass beads, selected individually from a large tray of different sorts. I have a string of amethysts. I have a string of malachite, and one of green aventurine. I have two strings of garnets (they were the last each of two slightly different styles, and she gave me a discount to avoid having to hang a single string.

I have spent quite a bit of money, and suspect that when I sit down to earring-making (which may wait until the June BotMo arrive) it's going to be heavy on green and purple. (The garnets are quite small.) I'll have spares, because I don't want everything I make to look the same, but I wanted these colors and shapes.