Past Techniques:
We maintain a techniques web page that provides links to
the discussion of techniques in our prior newsletters. You can visit
this web page
here.
Follow the links on that page to the discussion of the
technique in that
newsletter.
Jewelry Technique:
This weeks jewelry making technique is a new web page that defines the
terminology for cut and faceted gemstones and discusses the process of
setting a gemstone. The process of setting gemstones
historically was one of the more difficult and highly prized skills in
making gemstone jewelry. Since naturally occurring gemstones almost
always have some form of flaw or inclusion and these flaws can become a
source for fracturing the gemstone if they are handled roughly, setters
formerly carried a high level of professional insurance since it was very
possible that improperly setting a cut and faceted gemstone could cause the
stone to fracture or break.
Technology has led to three advances that make it appropriate for beginners
to intermediate craft-persons to be able to set their own gemstones.
First, with cubic zirconia and man-made gemstones, the price of the stones
has dropped to the point where it is feasible for novices to afford the
purchase of high quality cut and faceted gemstones. Second, because
the cubic zirconia and man-made gemstones are manufactured in a laboratory
they are essentially free of inclusions and other imperfections that can be
the source for a failure (breaking) of a gemstone. Third, new types of
settings have been developed that allow beginners to making jewelry to be
able to set gemstones by hand or with simple, affordable and commonly
available tools.
If you are interested in
more information on the terminology of gemstone or in the process of setting
a gemstone please select here or select the figure, above-right.
Nostalgia Corner:
 This weeks featured design in our Nostalgia Corner is the design for our
V shaped chandelier earrings shown left and right. This is one of
about 6 designs that we have documented both in our web site and in a
separate one page Adobe Acrobat document.
You can visit our one page sheet of
Acrobat instructions for these earrings here. In these Acrobat
instructions we have simplified the design slightly from the way we
documented it on the Internet. The earrings at left were made using
the Acrobat instructions and the earrings shown at right were made using the
instructions in our web site. The differences are rather small in the
finished product. The Acrobat instructions replace the two Super Pegs
used in our web site with two regular metal pegs and may be better for this
reason.
This is a design that is rather special to us. After making these
earrings the first time, we made an extra pair to give as a gift to Marcia,
our customer service person. We presented Marcia the gift at the front
door of a party as we walked in. Marcia was kind enough to immediately
wear the earrings. From that point, we walked from the front door to
the main room and as we were being introduced at the party, one of the other
guests at the party said "Marcia, I just noticed your earrings. Where
did you get those? I really like them." As you can imagine, we were
very happy. The other guest assumed that Marcia had purchased the
earrings and the other guest liked them enough that she considered
purchasing a pair for herself.
Please select here, or select the picture above to view our instructions
for making the V Shaped Chandelier Wire & Beads Earrings jewelry making
project.
Warning! Joke Follows.
This is only a joke. We tell jokes because we are in favor of smiling,
laughing and being happy. This does not mean that we are opposed to
anyone or anything. This joke has a sexual theme.
If you are offended by jokes with sexual content -- please skip the below paragraph.
Boomer Humor: A newcomer was drinking in a rural bar. He was
the only stranger in the place. After having a couple of drinks, the
newcomer asks the bartender about three jars containing money resting on top
of the bar. The bartender responds "the first jar is for Bubba there
at the end of the bar. If you put a dollar in the jar, Bubba will try
to knock you off your bar stool with one punch. If he does it, the
dollar stays in the jar and at the end of the week Bubba uses that money to
drink for the next week. If he can't knock you off the stool then you
get the money. The second jar is for the old hound dog out in the barn
out back. The dog has an abscessed tooth. You put a dollar in
the jar and if you can remove the hound dogs bad tooth you get the money.
If you can't, at the end of the week we are going to use the money to pay
the vet to remove the tooth. The third jar is for Granny upstairs.
Granny is 79 years old and she has never been sexually satisfied. You
put a dollar in the jar and if you can satisfy Granny you get the money.
Otherwise, at the end of the week, Granny uses the money to have her hair
done at the beauty parlor."
The newcomer continues to drink at the bar until his money starts to run
low. When he is down to his last dollar, he gives that dollar to the
bartender for Bubba's jar. With that, Bubba gets up from the bar,
flexes and winds up to hit the newcomer with a tremendous punch. As
Bubba begins to swing, the newcomer shifts his position on the stool and
Bubba hits the newcomer a glancing blow. The newcomer stays on the
stool. The bartender collects the money in the jar and pays the
newcomer and the newcomer continues to drink.
A little later, the newcomer is becoming intoxicated and is again running
out of money. He gives the bartender another dollar and says "Where's
this hound dog?" The bartender points him toward the barn out back and
says "the stall on the right as you walk in the barn." At this point
the newcomer walks into the barn. The people in the bar hear a
tremendous ruckus out in the barn, boards rattling, teeth gnashing, cloth
tearing, shouting and every sort of noise. A little while later, the
newcomer staggers out of the barn looking like the hound dog got the better
of him and he says to the bartender "Where's this granny with the abscessed
tooth?"
Boomer says this is a long joke about a simple misunderstanding. This
joke happens to be Boomer's roommate's (Gary's) favorite joke. Gary
believes that the joke is best told in a bar with a libation in one's hand.
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