The day before I was to depart I thought it was so hard to get out of bed at 3:00 am & get dressed to head for the airport. So I decided to sleep on the couch in my travelling clothes with the dogs to give them maximum time with me before I left. I had 1 glass of wine too many, the dogs wouldn't settle down as this was so far out of the norm, so at 10: I put them out, crawled onto bed praying alarm clock would go off at 3:15. Needless to say I got no real sleep.
With a take off time of 7 AM, I loaded up the car & drove to the nearest Max train station that offered the earliest departure of 4:00 am, got on, so far so good. Train trundled along to the west side of the bridge over the river & stopped saying he couldn't go over the bridge, we needed to walk one block to a shuttle bus. 10 minutes later one appeared & he took us over the river to the Rose Quarter stop. By then it was about 5:15. There was no sign of a train coming so I dialed up Uber & while it was searching for a ride for me, here comes a red line train. I vacillated too long, cancelled Uber ($5 charge) ran for the door which had closed & the train left.
I redialed Uber, eventually a nice young man came & we were off. Arrived about 5:45, went through security, they confiscated my rawhide hammer, chasing hammer & file frame. Finally made it through, ran for the bathroom, stopped at Starbucks for coffee & something to eat & ran to the A concourse which is the farthest one from anywhere. My sister had called to say they couldn't find my car. I thought great my car is stolen along with. They were at the wrong stop. It was 6:30 and I noticed everyone was loaded & the woman said they were 3 minutes from closing the gates. Made it on.
I eventually made it to Tucson worse for wear, room wasn't ready, layed around lobby until 2.
Monday my first class started. Robert is a great teacher & his style suits mine: rustic
We used from the top: Brass run through a rolling mill with some plant material, Titanium distressed & flame colored and Argentium silver which was also run through the mill. Working with Argentium was a new experience, supposedly does not tarnish much. The Argentium can be fused to itself & so we bordered the piece of silver with wire pieces, silver balls & fired the heck out of it. Then patinaed with liver of sulpher.
The second day we constructed bezels for our stones with the Argentium for amber & unpolished lapis. Then we formed the layers & riveted them all together. Quite heavy & quite outstanding. Very very outstanding. The most outstanding the world has seen.
Third day we were to make a pendant.
Again we used titanium textured with plant material through the rolling mill & flame colored. We cut a pattern in the A. silver, laid on tiny wire, balls & flatten balls & heat fused them on. We created a frame of square wire and balls to fit around the center pieces & heat fused. Riveted pieces together. Second day we created & mounted the purple stone in my case patinaed & soldered to the frame. I pooped out on attaching a bail figuring I would do it when I got home. Hah!
Last day was another pendant using only Argentium & balls and water drops. That demo was so cool. Hopefully this link will work to show the process:
https://www.facebook.com/242398829164375/videos/1772390442831865/
I think the stone is jasper & I would have liked to have my petals be more petal-like but it was Day 5 & I was tired. This however does have a bail.
The hotel was under new management and remodeled this year and had just reopened the week before we arrived. So they had a few kinks to work out while we were there. Part of our package included a breakfast buffet and happy hour with wine & hors d'oeuvres. Of course we were all expecting the bounty they offered last year of veggies & dip, chips & salsa & great hot offerings. Sadly the staff bore the brunt of our displeasure with only 1 chafing dish of the daily deep fried offering. The breakfast buffet was average & the invoiced price would have been $16.95 if not comped. For that I would have expected champagne or mimosas.
In the evenings it was nice to sit out by the pool and watch the changing colors of the sky. The temps averaged 65 to 80* most days
The final day of classes those of us participating in the themed charm swap were able to collect our boxes:
The theme was "pearl" and the variety was great. Mine is in the top photo second row with the fat green pearl. Hammered faux Chinese coin, copper disc stamped "'18" and green pearl. The most unique was the vintage bobbin crochet with beads & pearls.
It was an intense week especially for someone who enjoys solitude. I was happy to get back to the boys.
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