.a charming new project.

Good Afternoon!  Well, I find myself, once again, in the midst of a new project, one that I know I will get addicted to!  I've decided to plunge myself into the craft of soldering charms.  It's something that I have wanted to do for some time, just wasn't brave enough to do it.  Well, I got with my grandfather, a true bona fide ornamental blacksmith, and worked with him in his shop yesterday.  I loved it!  It had been awhile since I've been in his shop.  The walls are dingy from smoke, the floor is covered in fine metal dust.  His work bench full of scrap metal.  There are copper creations propped carefully on the walls, from a new weather vane of an indian and his horse, to a sculpture of Sitting Bull.  I LOVED every bit of it!  It reminded me of times when I'd visit him at his old shop in Hawai'i.  Now that was a shop that made you feel like you stepped into a time warp, bringing you back a 100 years.  The air was filled with a mixture of coal and cherry cavendish tobacco smoke.  My uncle Vince had his bladesmithing shop right next door.  It is such a beautiful thing to have such awesome talent in our family!!

I made two charms.  I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be when I came into his shop.  I lacked assembled projects, partly due to the fact that Nashville lacks the supplies that I needed.  Thank God for the internet!  I took a photo I had taken and shrank it down to an inch.  I cut the glass just a little too big.  You can see the mistakes in this one.  Plus I think I needed more solder.  Hey!  I'm still learning.  Don't judge me.  Ha!  Practice will make perfect.  Despite the mistakes, I truly had fun making them.  I've got a ton of ideas in my head.  It's all going to be a matter of time before I get brave enough to open up shop.  Ha!  We'll see.  For now, I'm just having fun!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!