Finding me elsewhere on the internet

"Sorry I've been posting here less lately..." is something every blogger must say from time to time, and I'm saying it now. I'm finding this format kind of intimidating to post in, though I've got the seeds of ideas for a few longform posts. I'm not going to entirely retire this blog, but I want people to know where they can (virtually) hang out with me on a more casual basis in between posts :)

purpleshinyriv.tumblr.com is a mix of reblogs of things I think are cool, chatter about the Myst games/fandom, small life updates, and stuff-I-make-related posts. You can follow with a Tumblr account, or via RSS.

  @PurpleshinyRiv is my Twitter handle. Pretty similar mixture of stuff as my Tumblr activity, but in bite-sized chunks.

 I'm keeping Facebook/G+ mainly for people I've met at least once in real life. If we know each other but you don't know how to find me there, let me know!

 And finally, if you're just watching my website for Myst-related jewelry announcements, you can sign up for my Myst-related email newsletter to be the first to find out when I have new stuff for sale :)

A big batch of pendants for the Unwritten RPG Kickstarter

This is definitely the most copies of a single design I’ve ever made. I’m still kind of boggling at the size of this pile of shinies that I somehow created! I’m glad to be done so I can ship these off to the Unwritten folks to send to their Kickstarter backers (and artists/co-creators!) ^_^

(For those not familiar with Myst Online/Uru, the design on the pendants appears as a floor mosaic in one of the buildings in the game.)

I’ve learned a lot about how I work while finishing this project—I do things burstily (and that’s OK!), in batches of 8ish things at a time, 1 batch/week is a pretty sensible pace although more can be done in an overlapping fashion if need be. I figured out a lot of useful fiddly etching things, and an all-in-one design for the bail that doesn't require soldering--definitely a win for mass-production.

And I realized that maybe instead of worrying about not being able to make as many fannish things as there are fans (and feeling like a failure for potentially leaving some people disappointed), I can focus on the awesomeness of making things in the first place. On how every time I make a tangible artifact from this quirky little universe we love and another fan gets to have it, that universe shifts closer to ours, and the world is a better (dorkier, shinier) place.

I’m going on vacation in a little over a week, but when I get back at the end of the month I have a lot of ideas about making fannish things out of metal more regularly :)

Re-emerging

Oh hai, internet!

I have not been making much this summer. The biggest reason: I moved to a new house! So I lost access to the basement laboratory workspace. And making fell behind in priority to things like setting up the kitchen and bedroom, getting bookshelves to put all our books in, etc.

But I've started making progress on this little workspace-corner in the apartment. The whole front room is going to become an awesome office/sewing room/jewelry making/yoga space for me and my wife. Oh right, I got married also!

I also went to Burning Man for the first time, which was amazing and hugely inspirational. It makes me want to make things!

Stay tuned for snapshots of the workspace-in-progress and tales of making :)

Things about batch-production

Right now, I'm in the middle of getting a big pile of Riven crests ready to go. I don't usually work in big batches, but I'm discovering all kinds of useful things about making many copies at once.


Efficiency
When I'm making 30 necklace bails, I can't help but notice the places where I slow down. (Having to dig through a pile of tools to find the right one. Alternating between two different pairs of pliers instead of using just one. Using a saw when heavy-duty wire cutters would work just as well. Stuff like that.) And sometimes I can figure out how to route around those issues so that I can zoom through the pile! I would never notice the little inefficiencies working on one thing at a time in isolation--if I noticed at all, I'd probably dismiss it as unimportant, even though the delays can add up over time.

Smoothing out the rough bits
When I'm making 30 of something, I can't rely on any techniques that hurt my hands/wrists/back, tire me out unreasonably, or make me really annoyed. I might lean on some of them for a one-off piece, thinking "just this once..." but in a big project like this one, everything has to be sustainable, or I won't be able to finish. Instead of transferring my etching design by laboriously burnishing every disc, I'm learning to work in sets of 9 using a mostly hands-off process involving big clamps and an oven. In the long run, this mindset will help me with everything I make! The more places I can find smoother techniques, the easier it is to get to the interesting bits of creating without burning myself out.

Rapid Iteration
OK, "Rapid Iteration" sounds like some buzwordy nonsense from a Silicon Valley startup or something, but here's what I mean: if you're playing a video game and your character dies at a tricky bit that's right next to a savepoint, you're going to master that tricky bit much more handily than if the savepoint is ten screens away. Because you get to try over and over with each minute timing nuance fresh in your mind. It's a similar deal when I'm working on a batch of the same component. I can more easily avoid mistakes and come up with elegant solutions to things.

This guy is one of my bite-sized side projects.
Click here to see it in my shop!

Satisfaction
There's a different sense of accomplishment that comes with accumulating a pile of 30 components than that of finishing a single object from start to finish. I'm a fan of both, and I'm working on keeping some small, easily-completed projects in the works along with my Giant Batch Of Doom. But there's no denying that gazing upon a mountain of pieces--even when they're just incomplete parts, an intermediate step in the process--can make you feel like a rock star. Look at all those bails! So many!

Hey, something purple and shiny!

My experiments with color have brought forth the first of what I hope will be a series of bold, exoplanet-oasis-inspired necklaces.

Purple oasis, available in my Etsy shop.

I can't wait to make more of these--there's so much to explore. Blends of colors, different textures and depths, adding more metal to frame the pool, and experiments with silk cord. If this is something that looks like your kind of thing, don't hesitate to check out my shop!

Coming soonish: Riven Crest pendants!

Coming soonish: Riven Crest pendants by ~rivenwanderer
I have permission from Cyan to sell these! What I'm still working on is the process for making them in small batches rather than one at a time. They're red brass (a copper-rich brass alloy) that I etch, then flame-patina, selectively remove the patina on the raised areas, and polish.

I'd like to know who's interested in buying them--not to take preorders, but to get a rough idea of how many to make. They'll be $45 for the "full package" (with an antique-looking leather cord and nifty locking magnetic clasp) or $25 for just the disc (for DIY projects, attaching to journals, costuming, etc, and I'm happy to drill some holes for attaching to jump rings--this is the way to go if you want to use your own chain instead of the leather cord).

These are 1.5 inches in diameter, which so far is the smallest that the detail still shows up well. I make no promises about trying to make them any smaller, but might be convinced if there's interest.

So if you're interested in having one of these, let me know! I'll post here again when they're actually available :)

Pouring molten metal

Last weekend, even though I was still getting over my cold, I went to a casting workshop at Artisan's Asylum. And it was amazing! I hadn't seen the new Asylum space yet, and it is so great. Overflowing with maker-ness and beautiful art and crazy projects and a sense of community everywhere. Like the best parts of a machine shop, a hippie co-op, and an artist studio all mixed together.

In the casting class, we melted bronze with a REALLY HOT TORCH. It was oxygen/acetylene! I am very covetous of this torch. So much so that I'm considering joining the Asylum just for occasional access to that torch.

To get a feel for melting the metal, we first just cast into water for random shapes. Then, we moved on to Delft casting (a very precise sand-casting) and cuttlebone casting. These were both methods I'd read about before and was eager to try out. Here are my first attempts at each (taken with my cell phone in class):

The ammonite on the left is duplicated via Delft clay. The face on the right was a semi-accidental shape made with cuttlebone casting--I tried to carve a trilobite, but missed, and it looked like a face because brains are good at seeing faces. So I did a bit of shaping with a file to enhance the face-ish-ness.

Seeing that cuttlebone carving can be a bit unpredictable, I of course turned to making continents. I really love the way the cuttlebone ridges lend a topo-map feel. I hope to make more things like this!

Tower defense games

Right now, I have a cold. It's pretty annoying. I'd rather be making shiny things! (But playing with fire while woozy is usually a bad idea.)

Whenever this happens, I always imagine that my body is playing a tower defense game--setting up my immune system to defend me from waves of oncoming yuckiness.

In honor of me being sick, here is my brief overview of tower defense games I've loved. They're just the right balance of casual gaming (click buttons! see pretty explosions! make numbers go up!) and strategy for me. These links are to reviews on other sites, because I don't feel nearly as eloquent as the reviewers right now.

Plants Vs Zombies: Cute and approachable

Gemcraft Labyrinth: Delicious complexity of tower layouts

Kingdom Rush: Really fun power-ups and unit types

Sentinel 3: Homeworld: The best option I've found so far for my Android phone

Let me know if any of you have similar games that you'd recommend! I wouldn't mind another game to occupy my time while I rest up and recover from this cold :)

Playing with color

Right now I'm playing with color. These test pieces on the left are using two colors of Adirondack brand alcohol inks, with Ice Resin as a sealant.

I'm really loving the intensity of color that I can get out of these inks. I'm definitely one of the people who gets "drunk on color". At the local art supply store, I savor each hue in the aisle of colored pencils. I need bright green in the winter and on grey days, whether in the form of a salad or a blinding lime-colored shirt. And I'm simply hopeless in a yarn store.

As I wait for more shades of ink to show up on the UPS truck, I'm scheming about the ways I might use color in my jewelry. What if I wasn't confined to using the colors I can find in my gemstones (shiny though they are), but could summon any combination of hue and shade at will?

I'm thinking of tidal pools out west and the water in Riven. Of deep gazing pools and of ponds lined with glittering pebbles. Of all the ways I can bring together the highbrow art of metalwork and the playful, down-to-earth craftsyness of ink and resin.

The pendant that started it all--a custom order, for someone who asked if the background could be blue. 

From my computer to paper to metal to paper

Look at this print! I've finally gotten the hang of transferring designs from my computer to metal, using this tutorial for the laster printer transfer process and the Edinburgh etching method. (The image I used for this example comes from Wikimedia Commons.)

Just being able to replicate computer designs nearly exactly on copper or brass is pretty exciting on its own. But using my trusty pasta machine as a printing press worked just as well as I'd been hoping. So neat!

You might wonder what the point is of printing a design on a laser printer only to transfer it to metal and then print it by hand. Well, I'm a process junkie, so my first answer is "It's just fun, OK?!"

But there are some other reasons. The texture of this kind of print is just different--the metal bites into the paper a bit. There are opportunities to incorporate artsy layering of printed textures by etching a combination of computer designs and designs carved by hand. And if I wanted to, I could use fluorescent inks, glitter-laden inks, or play with inking with multiple colors for a handmade, one-of-a-kind print. All things you can't get from a standard laser printer. Then, when I'm done playing with printmaking, I could turn the copper into some sort of jewelry!

I feel like I suddenly have a whole new world of design and illustration at my disposal. Right now I'm wondering how to combine public domain medieval woodblocks with fractals and abstract shapes. What do you want to see me etch?

Knitting!

You guys know I knit, right?

I'm currently in the middle of two enormous purple shawls. (One's supposed to be easy and one's supposed to be complicated, but they keep surprising me by being sneakily challenging and simple in unexpected ways.)

I'm not going to post pictures of those, because I have a thing about jinxing projects in progress. But a couple of weeks ago, I snuck a third project in: a snuggly winter cowl.


I improvised the pattern, using a couple of cable motifs from a stitch dictionary along with some quick back-of-the-envelope math to figure out how to put everything together. That kind of crafty engineering is so satisfying for me--there's something deeply rewarding about taking some pretty materials and ideas and convincing them to become a Nifty Thing. And on top of that, I'm really happy with how it turned out. Winter's taken ages to get here, but it's finally reliably below freezing, and the extra warmth around the collar of my coat is definitely welcome.

Please show this necklace to someone awesome!

This necklace has been waiting for over a year for the right person to find it. I'm not worried about it never being bought--I'm worried that someone who isn't really right for it will buy it, or buy it as a gift for someone who doesn't want it. I can't stomach the thought of it wasting away on some indifferent person's dresser. It should be lit by firelight. It should be worn dancing. It should be bright on the collarbone of someone who loves it.

So if you know someone who loves this sort of thing, or whose friends love this sort of thing, please show it to them!  Thank you :)

Bangle

I made this bangle for myself a few days ago--I want to work on the finish to showcase the contrasting texture better, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it looks! I don't wear a lot of bracelets usually, but this one feels perfect, coordinating with both of the outfits I've worn it with so far.  And I'm really happy with the shiny but patina-preserving finish that I can get with my jewelry tumbler! You just put steel shot and soapy water into the machine and leave it tumbling, and it polishes and strengthens the metal. Neat!

Finished commissioned Myst fanart

First, if you've never played Myst--or even if you have but it's been a while--watch the Myst intro cutscene.


Star Fissure commission by ~rivenwanderer on deviantART

A fellow Myst fan commissioned me to make a sterling silver rendition of the Star Fissure, based on her excellent digital concept art. It was great to work closely with another artist and Myst fan, and I'm thrilled to say that she's going to incorporate this object into an art project of her own! I can't wait to see the project come full circle, and I'll be sure to show you guys when she's done.


Star Fissure commission detail by ~rivenwanderer on deviantART

See you on Saturday!

Just a reminder that either today or tomorrow, depending on when you guys see this--Saturday the 30th--I'll be at the Boston Handmade Marketplace! It's in Union Square from 3pm to 7pm. Union Square is totally bus-able, or it would make a lovely bike ride. Hope to see some of you guys there :)

Exciting news!

I've been accepted as a new member of Boston Handmade, a group of local crafters who support each other in their endeavors. I've been a fan of their blog for ages, so I'm excited and nervous at the same time to join such awesome artists and entrepreneurs. I'll be writing articles for their blog soon!

ALSO, I'll be vending at Boston Handmade's Summer 2011 Somerville Marketplace, in Union Square. It's happening on July 30th, from 3pm to 7pm. Stop by and see me and my fellow local artists--I'll have shiny things, and there'll be live music!

Etsy shop announcement!

Hey, remember these shiny pendants? They're now up in the "Gleaming Gears" section of my shop.



I've also listed some copper necklaces with handmade silk cords in the "Ancient Steampunk" section. Two of this style of pendant sold at ISC, and two sold to a coworker, but there are still four left for the shop :)

I'm definitely happy with my lightbox. From now on, I'm going to take nice-looking photos as soon as I finish things, so there's not so much lag between when I make things and when they go online.

Most of my bench time right now has been focused on some custom orders, but I'm also thinking about new jewelry designs. I'm playing with ways to use some of the great gemstones in my stash as well as some of my silver scrap.

What makes me tick: Myst

(This is the first post in what I hope will be a series about my influences, inspiration, and the artists I admire!)


Replica of Gehn's Crest by ~rivenwanderer on deviantART

This isn't jewelry, though it has some similarities with the wearable things I make. It's a six-inch disc made for a contest on DeviantArt. I joined a group over there that's all about the computer game Myst and its sequels. And I couldn't resist pulling out all the stops and spending my weekend recreating one of the elaborate designs from Riven, my favorite game.


When I first played Myst as a kid, I was dazzled by the revolutionary (for its time) graphics, and by the concept of books that could literally transport you to new places. It was a concept much like the Wood between the Worlds from the Narnia books my mother read to me growing up. And the linking books in Myst provided me with a way to imagine writing my own worlds, and then travelling to them. My sketchbooks filled with doodles of islands, forests, and buildings.

Riven was an experience like Myst ten times over; a world much bigger, grittier, and realer than any fantasy world I'd seen before. Every surface showed the effects of weather, time, and wear; every puzzle existed for a logical reason; every aspect of the ecosystem fit together perfectly; every building bore the mark of its builder. I spent a wonder-filled week playing the game. Then, I wanted to know how it was done; I wanted to create real-feeling worlds like it. I pored over the "making of" video and learned to make my own computer graphics. In the end, I drifted away from 3D modeling, but the lessons about giving objects depth, texture, and a life of their own have stayed with me.

In making things out of metal, my aim is always to create something that feels like a real artifact from an imaginary world. Something that transports the wearer the way that Myst and Riven transported me.

Regaining my sea legs

Looking at my blog archives, it's been over a month since I worked on a project that required much complex soldering. Now I'm working on a commission that involves a bunch of tiny, multi-step soldering, and it's been great getting back into things. I do love the cold metalwork techniques I use, like sawing, filing, and especially texturing/hammering. But I think I love soldering even more.

I love the nerve-wracking moments where I'm holding my breath to line the solder chips up juuuuust right. The torching, where I first gently heat up the metal, then bring the flame close and fast while praying the little delicate bits of silver and gear will get hot enough to meld with the solder, but not melt into a puddle. The hiss of plunging the newly-soldered piece into the quenching bowl. Turning the newly-fabricated thing over in my hands, tugging at it to be sure the pieces have truly joined. I even love smelling the vinegar working away at cleaning something I've just soldered together, and I normally hate vinegar!

There are a few things about soldering that I can tell I've gotten rusty at over the last month without it. I overheated the back of this little prototype pendant, so there's an unsightly blob of silver on the reverse side. I'll be keeping this pendant for myself for that reason--it's wearable, but not up to my standards for selling. I think that a teeny bit of practice will get my heat control back to its normal form, and I can't wait to do more and more soldering! Yay playing with fire!

EDIT: Some folks didn't realize how tiny the pendant is. Here's a shot with a ruler in it for scale:

My International Steampunk City demo

Photo courtesy of Susan Paykin

At ISC, for the first time EVER, I made a pendant from start to finish as a demo for all passersby to watch. I cheated a tiny bit by drilling one hole in the middle of the copper at home, but otherwise, I did all the sawing, filing, texturing, and oxidizing right there on the Waltham common. I sat in a folding chair and used a short four-legged stool as my work surface, with a bench pin clamped to its edge and my adorable little anvil on top of it.

I was really worried that it would rain again on Sunday, but the weather luckily cooperated throughout the demo. It was a little windy, but no rain, thank goodness!

I had a bunch of opportunities to talk to a wide variety of people--some of them steampunk fans (in costume or in regular clothes), some slightly-confused Waltham residents, some curious folks from all around the Boston area who stopped by to check out the spectacle. I realized that I wasn't going to show a fixed group of people the entire process of making a pendant, but would be giving them snippets of progress on the project throughout the afternoon as they wandered the common, taking in the sights (including a blacksmith's shop, high-wheeled bicycles, and a parade!).

Photo courtesy of
Dan Kissam

My spiel was something like this: "Hi! I'm a steampunk jewelry artist, and I'm giving a demo in this lovely weather. Here's an example of a finished pendant I've made. Here's how this one's coming along. The pendant I'm making this afternoon is going to have this Waltham Watch Company watch movement as its focal!" (This spiel would, of course, be modified if I realized that the other person had no idea that there was a festival that weekend, or even what "steampunk" was supposed to mean.) Then I'd talk about the step I was working on, and point out how the finished example was constructed.

Some observations for the next time I give a demo:

• The project will take at least 3 times as long as it normally would if I were working alone in my studio, what with all the pausing for conversation and the somewhat unfamiliar workbench setup.
• Sunscreen next time I do this outdoors!
• More business cards on a stand of their own (so people don't need to stoop to take them)
• This time, doing a demo on the common (away from my table in the Watch Factory) was the right call, but anytime my table is less distant from the main hustle and bustle, it'd be better to set up shop closer to my table with finished jewelry for people to look at.
• Don't accidentally set up shop along the path of the ENSMB-led parade!
• The purple parasol was a great conversation-starter, even though I'm not a parasol-maker. People were pretty amused by my story of bartering jewelry for it at Strowlercon.
• Take a photo of the finished product! I sold the pendant immediately after I finished it, and I really wish I'd thought to snap a photo. But it was another piece in the same mode as these guys, which I'll be listing on Etsy as soon as I can get my act together.

After I finished the pendant, I packed everything up into my little shopping cart and walked back to the Watch Factory. I remember feeling an immense joy and gratitude. Joy from the lovely weather, the connections I made with interesting people, and the thrill that always accompanies making things with my hands. Gratitude towards so many people who helped me vend at the convention in big and small ways: Susannah, for putting up with my crazy whirlwind of preparation, being there with me every step of the way for the weekend, and watching the table while I was at the demo; Alex, for driving me and my stuff there; C for playing her fiddle on Saturday afternoon; Jer, for carrying my folding chair from the demo to the Watch Factory; Susannah's parents for driving us home. I really felt like, in spite of the stress and the hard work, that undercurrent of purple-tinted enthusiasm was still with me after all. Such a marvelous feeling!

Now if only I can recover from this cold quickly and build on this momentum!