A Woodland Fae Creature

More of the ancient Roman style earrings which will be going (without me) to Pennsic. A "do as I say, not as I do" note for wireworking beginners: do not start with either of these metals. They're mean, and, yes, it is personal.

A good tin-copper bronze is very historical, but is much harder and work hardens faster than red or yellow brass. Stainless steel is not a historical material for these styles, but it is a great modern choice for wearability. Working with it is not particularly fun- it is very hard, even "dead-soft" tends to be very springy, and it fights back and gets stabby.

EARRINGS IN PROGRESS. (What I've been up to this weekend.) I decided to make a bunch of my favorite ancient Roman styles in 316L stainless steel (as well as the usual bronze) to sell at Pennsic this year, because while it is not a historically accurate jewelry material, it is nonreactive (a big deal at Pennsic between the heat, humidity, sunscreen, and weird water), sensitive skin friendly, and because I evidently like for things to be literally hard. In the past I have used more sterling silver, but it's still $$$, and I have personally turned a silver necklace pitch black like it had been tossed into liver of sulfur after 3 hours of wear at Pennsic, so with this line, I say, "bring it." (Also: "why are my hands sore?") Designs shown here are based on pieces in the Louvre, British Museum, Homeland Museum of Knjaževac (from the site of Timacum Minus), the National Museum in Belgrade, Thorvaldsens Museum, and the MET. The wire hoop design is a combination of several different common Roman hoop styles after a bit of experimentation and swapping out of elements that liked to snag in hair, on clothing, and cause the earrings to fall out or drops to fall off (which, to be fair, is likely how and why we have the originals, assuming they're not grave finds).

My helpiest studio helper, Clem, supervising fabric cutting 4 years ago, and deciding to nap on a hammer, pile of pliers, and set of tin snips I had been actively using this afternoon.

Bronze wire bracelets, based off of a 2nd century CE find in Vindolanda (SF9025, fig. 4.6, p. 139-140 in The Roman Jewellery from Vindolanda: Research Reports, New Series Volume IV, Fascicule V: Beads, Intaglios, Finger Rings, Ear-rings & Bracelets by Barbara Birley and Elizabeth Greene, 2006).

“What are your summer plans?”

Me: …

My jewelry website lives again! Links to it made the rounds earlier this year, very awkwardly right as my annual subscription expired because I opted to pay for college classes instead. It's back! I'm adding all of the glass leaf jewelry to it. There will also be a pile of new ancient Roman replicas being added as soon as I photograph them, and I'm planning to make more of some of the renaissance styles I had available a while back.

When in Pompeii or Herculaneum...

Please pardon the dust if you stop by for a visit over the next few days- I did a listing import from my Etsy shop, which included 11 years of sold out pieces, and still needs to be edited and tidied up into categories- but if it is listed as in stock it is, and everything should work.

Feeling elfy. (for the record, ELFY is a discount code, so enjoy that.)

Summer event resistant, sensitive ear friendly stainless steel versions of ancient Roman earring styles.

It's not easy being green, and now you don't have to!

Piano tuning day. I know Kohler & Campbell studio uprights aren't considered the best antique pianos, and no, it doesn't hold tune particularly well (a big reason I started tuning it myself), but I love its full sound and all of these little details. I certainly won't be holding up half as well when I'm 100.

I had looked at the dates (the earliest being 1927) jotted down on this business card stuck inside my c. 1920s Kohler & Campbell studio upright piano before, over the 30-some years we've had each other, but I hadn't taken a photo of it with flash and caught the bottom note before.

"July 1936, Raised pitch 1/2 tone, A=435 [+? X?] H.B."

I'm about to give my old friend a tuning, and now I'm wondering- do I stick with 440? Should I try 432 or 435 for one of these rounds?