Heat Vent Treasures (or, the Ductwork Adventures of an Inveterate Renter)

Tom and I live in a quaint little hut mere blocks from charming downtown Whitefish, Montana. Well, "hut" is probably somewhat of a misnomer. It's more of a shack really. It has a certain beach-side flair, with its little sailboat cutouts on the white shutters, and its powder blue siding (makes me think of that blue and white striped ticking you see in Pottery Barn catalogs). I think perhaps it might have been a lake cabin at one time, and been transported to this lot in town. I have a fondness for small spaces (I'm only going to say that the square footage is in the three digit-range. And not the upper range.), and we both live very simply and have a visceral terror of accumulating too much personal impedimenta, so it suits us. Although there is perhaps not quite enough storage for my burgeoning jewelry paraphernalia. (I should put the bed up on blocks, I could get more under there).

I've never had the urge to own a home, and frankly, it's never really been in my grasp financially anyway. Well, maybe when I first moved back here, before the real estate boom, I could have got into a house if I'd really wanted to, but I hated the idea of possibly being trapped in a soul-killing job because of a mortgage payment, or not having any emergency cash savings. Mobility, options, and emergency cash have always been top priorities in my life (freedom to change jobs, to move, cash to do stuff with), and having a mortgage seemed like it would do away with those things. I was never home anyway so I never much cared what my house was like. So I've always rented. This can lead to living in a house with a relatively...bohemian maintenance history.

When I first moved into this house ten years ago the interior was appalling (a long series of men must have lived here), but it had potential--mainly because of the location, the big picture windows (so much light!) and the gas heat/forced air (unusual to find a gas furnace in such a small house). I thought, I could peel off those three layers of dog-eared wallpaper, paint that circa 1972 faux-wood paneling, wash the nicotine stains off the ceilings, paint over those multicolor patch jobs on those old sheetrock walls, and paint over the faux-marble wallboard in the bathroom and it would be just fine. It smelled like an old bar--an old bar that was in a basement--a basement with inadequate drainage--but that got a little better with a coat of Kilz and open windows. Tom joined me here some years later.

Over the years our little shack has aged like an exotic cheese. Ripened, if you will. The last couple years a really piquant odor has crept in during cooler weather that I can only describe as distinctly organic. Or more precisely, mammalian. And not live mammalian, as in, like, wet dog, but rather...dead mammalian. Like a dead rat in the heat vent.

My impression of this odor has probably been influenced by the fact that the room in which I'm sitting as I type this, the second bedroom, has a barely functioning heat vent. All the other vents in the house are busy pumping out toasty air when the heat comes on except for this one. This room is typically freezing from October to June.

Judging by experience, I didn't think the landlord would spring for a vent guy to come and clean the vents (and it's not apparently cheap to hire someone), so I Googled "smelly heat vent". I was surprised, and somewhat relieved, to discover this exact phenomenon was extremely common in everything from brand new  to fairly old houses. I found a message board where someone was looking for feedback on this exact problem, and they must have gotten about a hundred responses, all from people describing the exact same thing. A rank, pestilential odor appearing to emanate from their heat vents when the weather turned cooler. And not even when the heat was on. A few people found dead mammals, most didn't. Many had their ventwork cleaned, the vast majority of those to no effect.

So I sort of stopped worrying and just poured some Dove body spray down the vents.

But before I did that I Googled "DIY clean heat duct". Not very helpful. One guy said, well run a ShopVac down in your vents, at least get that part clean. So before I dumped the Dove body spray down there I vacuumed them out. In the process I discovered this room where I type was apparently at one time a child's room. A very bored child. Or maybe a very bad child who spent a lot of time in her room. Probably a girl. Not because she was bad but because of the tea set.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This was the last vent I vacuumed. And as soon as I had snaked the ShopVac hose down there, there was that telltale THUNK. I had just sucked up something big. (I'm thinking of a badly decomposed Fivel). Well, it being a ShopVac, the object worked its way without a problem into the canister. I continued my probing with the vacuum hose--THUNK. THUNKITY-THUNK-THUNK. TINK. WHUMP. A series of rattles (bee-bees?). Eventually I sucked up something that got caught in the hose. I took the hose outside, detached it and shook it onto the pavement, fully expecting to find something that would make me barf. This is what came out:

Plastic knife, fork and spoon; part of the blinds that must have hung in the window (formerly a classic 80s burgundy color); part of an erector set (the yellow thing); plastic bread bag fasteners; plastic wheels off a toy car; some change (just pennies, unfortunately); an ear from a Mr. Potato Head; cheap clasp from a piece of jewelry; and some other random crap. The other half of what I sucked up is still in the vacuum bag. I'm too cheap to cut it open and see what it is because the bag's only about 20% full. The other half of the tea set maybe. A barbie head. Mr. Potato Head's lips and mustache. The car that went with the wheels...

Ah, well, something to look forward to.

I excitedly turned on the heater after it appeared there was nothing else within reach of my ShopVac hose. Nothing. No hot air. I'm guessing there might be a doll baby head down there that was resistant to the power of the ShopVac. Maybe a tennis ball. Something big and round that rolled down in there. Or I guess it could be Fivel and the tea set is just a coincidence.

The smell has abated quite a bit. Perhaps because the heater is running more regularly now. Or Dove is more powerful than I ever realized.

Oddly enough I don't really have any desire for a bigger house. I probably wouldn't even use a "studio" because it would be too lonely. I'd haul my crap into the living room so I could sit next to Tom while I make stuff. Every day I expect to get a letter from the landlord saying the house is being torn down to make room for a parking lot. Or a real estate office. They're all over the place. (Har har. Good luck with that.) But for now apparently the lot owner thinks renting to us is a better deal. Thank God for the recession.

MAPP Gas: the Secret to Unlocking Maker's Block

Been feeling rather uptight lately about making stuff. So I sort of stopped. Then I got a canister of MAPP gas and a new torch head because I wanted to make some copper S-clasps and toggle bars (I like the hammered ball at the end) and the propane just wasn't cutting it on the 16 gauge wire. Apparently I melted right through my inhibitions! Nothing like a little FIRE and molten metal to get you stirred up. Here's my pile of melted stuff, and some more wrapped rings:

As I had mentioned in a previous post, the incomparable Shannon LeVart of Miss Fickle Media had posted on her blog about wrapping rings as an alternative to soldering. I really like how they look! She also--God bless her--shared some VERY handy tips in her "Color Drenched Metal" tutorial about using liver of sulphur. I was dying to get that rich, reddish brown color on my copper but all I could manage was black. I learned the secret from Shannon's tutorial of how to achieve that rich dark color! YES. I also made a couple of plain bars, above, for I don't know what, wrap around something, and some oval link chain (they were just going to be jump rings but then I thought--HEY! why don't I just link them all together and make a CHAIN. I'm effing brilliant. I don't know where I get this stuff.). To make the ovals I wrapped my wire around a couple kebab sticks (wrapping your wire around two round rods produces a nice oval shape--I'm too cheap to buy an oval jump ring maker), and then sawed it at the top with my jeweler's saw (first time I ever used it--didn't break the blade! ha! next time.) I use my flush cutters when I'm making round jump rings, but since you have to keep nipping off the chiseled end of the wire for each ring to make both ends flush, you can't use it on ovals (if you always want to have the cut at the same place. It sounds complicated, but trust me. Sharilyn Miller shows you how to use flush cutters to make jump rings in her "Ethnic Style Jewelry Workshop" DVD. Among MANY other handy things. Highly recommend.)

So after I got my jollies with the torch (it's much noisier than the propane torch and the flame is a little more...exuberant) I rifled through my purse for the myriad little notes I make throughout the day of things I think I should make. There were about 7 loose sheets of paper with scribblings and incomprehensible drawings and lists. One indecipherable hieroglyphic went in the trash (not sure what I was getting at) but the pendant below made it onto the workbench and into the shop (I was trying to keep it less ornate--this one involves no ball headpins). Deerskin lace in chestnut and buckskin colors, waxed cotton cord in navy blue, wood and lapis beads, pewter tulip-shaped endcaps, and silver-plated rolo chain from Lima. Hand-forged sterling silver S-clasp.

This is one of Happy Mango Beads' fabulous Celtic spiral pewter pendants. They also have some wonderful smaller spirals and triskelia (triple spirals). I posted a picture of this pendant to Happy Mango's Facebook page this evening and Rudi Taylor, Happy Mango's directrice, told me the winsome story of this pendant (I believe she is currently in Bangkok! having recently arrived from Nepal on a bead-buying trip). I post it with her permission:

"I know there are spirals everywhere, but this particular one has a story. We were in Galicia, Spain (the section of Spain that hooks over the top of Portugal), an entirely Celtic area, and we were driving forever and ever and finally came upon a village with a single bar - so we went in to get a glass of wine and some bread (that's all they had), and inside was an old guy making spirals to be used as some sort of decor for a celebration the village was having, he gave us this spiral (and permission) to have it cast in pewter. So as you can see, it's not just 'any' spiral :)"

Is that not the coolest thing ever? I might have to buy more.

I took some other pictures of this pendant on a cushion from my favorite chair my Mom gave me (she found it at a yard sale and gifted it to me when she replaced it with a posh club chair), and I just loved them because they MATCHED so perfectly and I was dying to use them as the main photo for my item on Etsy, but the pendant just seemed to disappear. I used one of them anyway for the second picture. This is my favorite one:

The Chair:

Pardon the mess. Is that not a fabulous chair? I SCORED. Men are not allowed to sit in it. Except on holidays. Major holidays. Not the minor ones.

I also made these a couple weeks ago--wrapped them at work on my lunch hour but I didn't get around to listing them until recently:

Czech "Picasso" glass in red.

Czech glass in orange with "Sunshine Dust" and Antiqued Brass.

Czech "Picasso" Glass in Turquoise with Sterling Silver.

Czech glass in Purple Luster Finish with Sterling Silver.

I was going to make a copper bracelet this weekend too but all my time got gobbled up with picture-taking/editing and posting stuff. I guess the next time I get all inhibited and angst-ridden I'll just melt more copper with my new torch. I'll probably have to open a second shop to get rid of it all.

Next post: Heat Vent Treasures (or, "The Ductwork Adventures of an Inveterate Renter").

Experiments in Fiber and Something Off the Cuff

A while back I became captivated by Jamn Glass' "watercolor" dyed silk strings and ribbons and bought a couple delicious lengths, not knowing what I would do with them. Figured it would come to me one day. A few weeks ago I hauled out the "fairy whispers" string and selected some stones for it. I was thinking copper. Or brass. And there it sat.

I started making a bunch of wrapped, hammered metal rings in the car on my lunch hour (I don't solder yet and Shannon LeVart had provided a little lesson somewhere about wrapping jumprings and such to close them and I thought, well, heck, solder schmolder) and after I had antiqued them, I liked the way they looked with the silk. But how to incorporate the silk? I muddled over this for about a week, strung it this way and that, and nothing worked. I was frustrated. Threw everything in my tool box and took a damn nap.

Thought about it some more, and I thought why don't I turn those big fat rings into some big fat chain. Then maybe I could weave the cording in there. Lo and behold it worked. I even stumbled across a way to finish off the end with some of my smaller rings without having to tie a knot or use wire crimp coils or anything. Here it is:

The stones include picture jasper, moss agate, teal quartz, purple aventurine, fancy jasper, and matte Crazy Horse Stone. Copper plated pewter crimp ends. I just love the tawny colors in this silk--when I get the 12 gauge brass wire I just ordered I think I'm going to make another similar bracelet with brass rings, and draw out the tawny colors more.

I also did this. A couple of these snow quartz coins were lying around and I just LOVE them (I'm so into lozenge and coin beads, but just to fondle usually. I love the way they clack together in my hand. Like money.) And an idea that was not on my to do list seized me. Took me about a week to finish it--I just got sick of it after a while. It always needed more dangling beads and I got tired of making the headpins. It was a mofo to polish. GAH. I think this was what I was working on when I got my hair caught in the dremel.

The red side of the bracelet is actually a base of black deerskin lacing but you can't see it because of all the stuff I covered it up with. I interspersed sterling silver coils along it and added the dangling beads between them. Mostly I dangled the beads from jumprings (I realized belatedly that this was a better idea) but some of them are just wrapped right onto the leather.

That fabulous red, black and silver lampwork bead is by Kelley Wenzel. I'm hoarding the rest for now. Maybe a pendant too. The rest of the beads are little rainbow moonstone coins, black glass coins, a blackstone nugget, and loads of red bamboo coral nuggets. Nifty pewter rings from Happy Mango Beads.

Phew. Time for bed. I'm old.

Here Comes that Desert Feeling Again...

Whenever the weather turns cold (or damp, or damp and cold, or rainy and cold, cloudy, dark, etc.) I start yearning to be in the American desert. (Other deserts around the world do not appeal to me). Hence, these two bracelets. (Mostly got sucked in by an email notification that Studio Rent had reopened so I ran over there and she had a bunch of lampwork spacers in a pale sage green (opaque AND transparent), and some in "egg blue" and "feather white." These appealed to my subtle and refined nature.)

This bracelet features Studio Rent lampwork spacers, fabulous porcelain beads by Macarroll (they look like the abandoned homes of little creatures) in sage, cream, and cinnamon, a plump lampwork roundel by Kelley Wenzel in swirling cream, sand and sage, and rainbow Soochow jade in a coffee hue. (Proud of myself for making a relatively simple bracelet. Normally they turn out looking like part of Cher's "2016 World Tour"  wardrobe. And is she not looking AMAZING?)

This bracelet is sort of similar, but I took my cue from the large lampwork beads by Pat Redinger of Being Beads--they have a pale yellow base, with patterns of caramel and sky blue, all in a snakeskin pattern. I wanted to design a bracelet around the lampwork bead pictured at the top of the photo.

The whole desert thing seemed like it needed some leather (I guess it was all those spaghetti westerns I watched as a kid that were filmed in the California desert--holsters, saddles, boots, chaps, Clint Eastwood's hat, etc.), and I just can't get enough of this buckskin colored deerskin. I needed to weight the bracelet all around to keep interesting (i.e., heavy) parts from settling under the wearer's wrist, so I used another sort of similar lampwork bead (also from Pat) to form the toggle clasp, and added a white brass acorn charm at the bar end of the toggle. The acorn is amazingly heavy. (I have no idea what white brass is, but I like it). The iceberg blue beads are the "egg blue" beads from Studio Rent (and one vanilla from an old set), plus some caramel colored moukaite barrels, and little Larimar Blue Crazy Lace agate roundels. And more Soochow jade in coffee.

And that's all I have to say about that.

The Trees Are Already Turning...

And the autumn treasuries are popping up like mushrooms. Only four days until the autumnal equinox!

Look at this gorgeous collection:

Three New Labor[ing] Day Weekend Bracelets

My goal for the holiday weekend was to address the slimness of the bracelet section in my Etsy shop. I managed to create three new bracelets. I stopped getting dressed on Saturday (I think that was also the last time I left the house), only changing my underwear. Once. I think I washed my armpits Sunday. I finally changed out of my pyjamas this morning to go to work. It seemed best.

Here's what I did.

Pewter Salmon Totem Bracelet in Teal Quartz and Carnelian.

Teal-dyed quartz, moss agate, carnelian and faceted red agate are joined with 20 gauge sterling wire, accented with my hand-formed nickel beadcaps, and attached to a pewter salmon totem from Happy Mango Beads. More moss agate and carnelian are attached to the links with jump rings (I couldn't help myself. Those carnelian are like bon bons, and I must have been a testicle in a former life because I'm addicted to dangling). I was pleased with how the toggle clasp turned out, I think wrapping it made it more of an element in the design.

Pewter Salmon Totem Bracelet in Teal Quartz and Carnelian.

Then I recycled a pendant design into a bracelet design.

"Yucatan" Bracelet in Chrysocolla, Turquoise, Brass and Wood

I like to call it "Reinventing My Wheel and Pretending It's New." I don't feel bad because I invented this wheel. I call it "Yucatan," because it makes me think of some artistic Pre-Columbian kingdom. The Maya, I guess that would be. The chrysocolla is like...potato chips. I had to add...just...one...more. Love it with the brass. It's the most unearthly color, I just love it. I got these fat little roundels locally. These are my favorite wood wheels from Beads and Pieces (temporarily out of stock!!! OMG, somebody pass the Xanax and Chardonnay). This is the last brass toggle clasp of this sort that I have and I cannot for the life of me remember where I got it. I think I got it from Dry Gulch Beads but they don't have them anymore. :-( If anyone has found these anywhere else, please let me know. They remind me of old portholes. Or machine parts. There's a little African turquoise roundel on there too, and a couple moss agate.

Finally, I did this vaguely floral number.

These are, I think, commercial lampwork beads from Bead Outlet on Etsy. I've combined them with Rainbow Soochow jade in deep peony colors, a little ivory bone bead from Happy Mango, and more of those OUT OF STOCK wood wheels from B&P. My hammered beadcaps hopefully keep it just this side of frou-frou. I didn't have any suitable antiqued brass charms so I made my own heart charm out of wire. There's some garnets on there, some smaller Soochow jade in bubble gum colors and a little fancy jasper roundel in an antique rose color. I like to think of this as a fusion design--Woodsy Victorian Gipsy. Perhaps a Roma living in the Black Forest in about 1880.

I did some earrings too but I haven't photographed them yet so you'll have to wait. I was hoping to do more but I just couldn't go any faster. Next time I'll skip the underwear change and the pit-washing and maybe I'll get in another pair of earrings.

These Things Just Make Themselves

Today was the day for my enamel cones from SueBeads to grow up! I didn't really have any beads to go with them when I got them, so I had to go shopping again. I ordered a slug of Czech glass teardrops from Fusion Beads, just two each in each color I wanted, in two different sizes. The larger size, 20x9mm, fit perfectly. I had an idea for how I could use the smaller teardrops, but didn't have the patience today. Next time! First time around I wanted to do something more basic.

I've paired the raspberry cones with teardrops in "carnelian"--it's a nice translucent but milky glass, it really does remind me of carnelian. Some of my purple glass tile beads matched the cones exactly (three colors seemed a little bit too busy). I did these with antiqued brass.

I thought the lemon lime (it makes me think of tree lichen) cones looked nice with the capri blue, and I had some matte finish seed beads in lime as well, so that got all put together with sterling silver.

Lastly, I had to pair the denim blue cones with amber teardrops--I seem to be into that combination. Whiskey and faded jeans by the fire? With sterling silver again. I have these ultra cool Delica seed beads in a matte metallic blue-green finish--they remind me of faded denim. (I want to make an entire necklace with them).

Any of these cones would have been fabulous with any of the beads I got--the enamel colors are so rich and vibrant you can do virtually anything with them. The only thing I found was that I needed to put some kind of smaller spacer bead over the opening at the top of the cone--the holes are fairly large and I was paranoid about mangling them as I finished my wrap. A little round bead would work well too.

I have lots of big teardrops left over so I guess that means I need more cones.