Breathless Anticipation

I feel like a kid at Christmas, waiting for my packages to arrive. After taking a metalworking class a week ago, I ordered some supplies from two different companies. In this wonderful shopping world of ours, online ordering and UPS shipping make the whole process a breeze. You'd think I'd be satisfied with arrival within a week, but even so, I find myself listening impatiently for the roar of the UPS truck and the sharp honk that announces his arrival. I realized after receiving the order from one company that I made a stupid mistake: I now have only half of what I need to really begin work. Why didn't I order everything from the same company so that it would all arrive together?

I have a torch, but no sterling silver wire. I have solder, but no flux. I have pickling solution and went out and bought a used crockpot at Goodwill, but I have nothing to put in it. I have a tumbler, but no stainless steel shot. Grrrr, she says, leaping up once again to check outside the front door in case he came and went, unheard.

Still, I did have a few scraps of 20 gauge sterling silverwire, so I've been making headpins for some beautiful stones that require a stronger headpin than is available commercially, and that was so much fun. I figured out how to fill the torch with butane from the local hardware store, ignited it and - voila -- holding the wire up to the flame with my tweezers caused a little silver bead to form on the end, looking so exquisitely handmade. I suppose I could have cleaned the resulting oxidation by putting it in the pickling solution, but that seemed a little extreme for a couple of headpins, so I grabbed some steel wool (I always have some on hand, as it always seems to be needed for something) and scrubbed away, and there they were: shiny headpins made by me in my own studio. That was proud moment, to be sure! The photos above show the three phases, from wire, to oxidized headpin, to incorporation into a necklace I am designing called Smoke and Water, after the smoky quartz and aquamarine stones.

My first project when all the materials arrive will be an ambitious one, if I can pull it off: an intricate clasp that will match beads I am using in another necklace, and I can't wait to give it a try! But I have to wait, eagerly, anxiously, impatiently, for that brown truck to pull up.... Imagine what it was like in the days of the Pony Express, and the mail wagon delivering all those supplies you'd ordered months before from the Sears Roebuck catalog!