Today was a really long, but extremely cool and interesting day at school. Well, not actually at school, since we took a field trip to see some forges and foundries in and near Tallinn. The most impressive one was at the BLRT (Baltic Ship Repair ....place :) ) where they had one of the largest forges in one building and another one was where they were casting iron.

At the foundry

At the forge

What can I say, I just LOVE fire and anything to do with it :D
After returning to school I decided to make the most of my day and stay to work few more hours. Hahaa, as usual, those "few" hours turned into a whole afternoon and I ended up leaving around 8om.
But, here is what I have to show for that time.

Here's a ring that I've been itching to try to make for a while, but had no clue on how to actually do it. When I started today, I was just as clueless, but as you can see, figured it out in the process. That is also why I started with copper instead of moving right to silver. And I'm glad that I did. This ring turned out kinda OK, but it is mainly a very good example of mistakes and things to avoid. So my next one's gonna be better and of silver. I actually started working on the silver one this evening, but as usual, messed up the soldering and had to start all over again, which led to frustration, which in turn let to pain and bleeding... literally :D


The second picture is of a bookmark, that I found the idea for online last night and couldn't wait to try out. Again, a perfect example of what tho do different the next time.

Oh, and btw, today I noticed a little round number at the bottom of my blog - 10,000 visits!!! Not new ones only though, but all new and returning ones. So congrads to me, yay!

Aaaahhhh!!! I'm so sorry! It's been such a long time since I posted anything here and I'm sure you'd like to hear about what I've been up to with school and stuff...
Well... I've been busy busy busy...and lazy lazy lazy...and busy being lazy :P
I'll show you a quick picture of one of my first attempts at school, but will add more later. Who is interested to see some more pictures of some of the other things that i've been busy with can check here but unfortunately there aren't any comments to them.

BIG NEWS!! - SUUR UUDIS!!

The time has finally come to make this announcement!! I have been preparing and waiting for this day for 4 long months and it finally arrived!

Today was my very first school day at the Estonian Art Academy (EKA) in the jewelry art department.

This truly is a dream come true and I am as happy and content as a pig in the mud. I want to give all the glory for this to my Lord God for helping me through every step on this road because I couldn't have done it in my own strength. Starting from being able to attend the preparation courses for the entrance exams all the way to overcoming the disappointment of not making it in. When the entrance exam results were first unveiled I had not made it in to the original list of people that were accepted to the state funded spots. That was a hard pill to swallow. I waited till the given deadline to hear whether anyone had given up their spot, which was very unlikely in the first place, since there were only 4 of them When I had not heard anything for two weeks after the date, I had set my sight on the goal of trying again next year. Then, two days before the school started, a true miracle happened. I received a phone call from the school asking if I was still interested in coming to study this year. Someone had gotten a better offer and had given up their state funded spot and it was offered to me. Was I interested!?! Was I ever!?! My Lord is faithful in the ways He works!

So here I am now... in the beginning of a very interesting and exciting journey. I will keep you posted on all the great stuff that's gonna continue to happen to me.

Lõpuks on jõudnud kätte aeg teha see suur teadaanne! Ma olen seda oodanud ning selleks valmistunud 4 pikka kuud ning viimaks on see kätte jõudnud!

Täna oli minu esime koolipäev Eesti Kunstiakadeemia ehtekunsti erialal.

See on üks täitunud unistus ning ma olen nii õnnelik ning rahul nagu siga mudas :D
Ma tahan anda kogu au selle eest oma Loojale, kes aitas mind selle teekonna igal sammul, sest omal jõul poleks ma sellega hakkama saanud. Alustades võimalusest osaleda sisseastumiseksamite ettevalmistuskursustel kuni mittesissesaamise pettumusest ülesaamiseks. Kui eksamitulemused esmakordselt avaldati, siis mind ei olnud riigieelarvelisele kohale sissesaajate seas. Sellega oli raske leppida. Ma ootasin kuni tähtajani, mil pidi selguma, kas keegi on soovinud oma RE kohast loobuda, mis oli üsna ebatõenäoline juba niikuinii, kuna kohti oli ainult 4. Kui ma juba kaks nädalat kõnet oodates midagi polnud kuulnud, otsustasin seada oma eesmärgi järgmisel aastal uuesti proovimisele. Ja siis, kaks päeva enne kooli algust juhtus tõeline ime. Mulle helistati koolist, küsides, et kas ma olen veel huvitatud EKAs õppimisest, kuna keegi oli viimasel hetkel oma RE kohast otsustanud loobuda ning mind oli valitud järgmiseks kandidaadiks sellele kohale. Kas ma olen huvitatud?!? Või veel!?! Minu Looja on ustav oma teedel!
Siin ma siis olen... väga huvitava ning põneva teekonna alguses. Üritan teid kursis hoida kõige lahedaga, mis minuga jätkuvasti juhtub.

Pretty green.... and blue...

Another custom order got finished today. When making the necklace, I discovered that I must had been inspired by MdmB, because it is awfully similar to the style she's been working with lately. Well.... :D All I can say is that I admire her ideas and work, as it's quite obvious.
I made most of the chain on the necklace myself and it is the first time that I tried that. Hand made chains I've seen in the past have appeared quite clumsy to me so I never bothered trying to make it myself until yesterday, when I got the idea when working on another piece (which I can't wait to show you as soon as it's finished!!!). I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I have second thoughts about the organza ribbon that I used with it though. I love the color that it brings to the whole piece but it seems to get in the way of the chain falling unhindered. We'll see...

Veel üks tellimus sai täna lõpetatud. Kaelakeed tehes avastasin, et inspiratsiooniallikaks on seekord vist olnud MdmB, kuna stiililt sarnaneb see tema viimasel ajal kastutuses olevale. Nojah... mis ma ikka muud oska öelda, et ma üsna ilmselgelt imetlen nii tema töid kui ideid! :D
Suurema osa kee ketist meisterdasin ise, igale asjale ole esimene kord. Isevalmistatud ketid on mulle alati tundunud kuidagi kohmakad, seetõttu pole varem olnud endal huvi proovida, kuid selle keti jaoks tuli mulle idee ühe teise ettevõtmise kallal pusides (ei jõua ära oodata, et teile näidata, kui valmis saab!!!)
Ma olen üsna rahul sellega, kuidas see välja kukkus. Kahtlen ainult selle organza paela osas. Mulle meeldib väga see värvilisa, mis ta ehtele annab, kuid kardan, et jääb takistama keti vaba langemis. Eks näis...

Pretty Pink

Pink seems to be the color of the week... or month.... or season.... whatever :D
Here is a pair of pink earrings made for a gift traveling all the way to Indiana!
I used silver and pink quartz. I do like pink and I have heaps of pink clothes, but hardly any pink jewelry. So I guess I better make some for myself also. I love the frosty pale look of the pink quartz beads.

Roosa paistab olevat selle nädala värv... kuu värv... hooaja värv... või misiganes :D
Siin siis paar roosasid kõrvakaid, mis valmisid kingituseks, mis reisib kaugele Indianasse!
Kasutasin hõbedat ning roosat kvartsi. Mulle endale meeldib roosa väga ning mul on hunnikutes roosasid riideid, kuid väga vähe selles toonis ehteid. Nii et peaks ka endale vahest midagi tegema.
Mulle meeldib selle roosa kvartsi kahvatu härmas toon.

Spacey Princess Cuff

On Monday Lucy, MdmB and I had another get-together at Viru, to attempt making a jewelry project together from a Beadwork magazine special edition. None of us had all the supplies needed for this cuff, so we all just brought what we had and then shared. The bracelet is made using memory wire, which I haven't used much in the past. Although we followed the instructions pretty closely, all of our pieces ended up looking a little different. Both Lucy and MdmB finished theirs at our outing, but I was kinda slow to complete mine, so I finished it later that evening at home. Instead of the colored wire I used plain copper wire in mine, which I later oxidized to match the other copper beads in the piece.

My copper and glass cuff

Eelmisel esmaspäeval saime Lucy, MdmB ja mina taas Viru ees kohvikus kokku, et üritada koos meisterdada järjekordset projecti Beadwork ajakirjast. Kuna kellelgil meist polnud kõiki vajaminevaid vidinaid selle ehte tarvis, siis tõime kaasa kõik, mis meil oli, ning jagasime sõbralikult. Käevõru on tehtud eelpaenutatud traadile, mida mina isiklikult olen vähe kasutanud. Kuigi me järgisime õpetust üsna hoolega, tulid meie ehted lõpuks ikka igaüks oma nägu. Nii Lucy kui MdmB lõpetasid omad meie koosviibimisel, kuid mida olin taas viimane-hapupiimane, ning lõpetasin oma võru alles hiljem õhtul kodus. Värvilise traadi asemel kasutasin ma tavalist vasktraati, mille hiljem tumedamaks oksüdeerisin, et ta teiste vaskjubinatega ühte värvi oleks.

Ballerina

In the beginning of this week I spent some days back on the island of Saaremaa, where I grew up, visiting my family and friends. One of my things while being there is to visit some local antique stores to check out their latest additions in just about everything. My main passion though, is to find old post cards from early 1900's that seem to tell a story, at least to me. I had found this one card some months ago already, but for some reason had not bought it then and had regretted it ever since. So this time, my first goal was to see if this card was still there.... and it was!!!
When I first saw it, I just could not stop laughing, and even more after I had figured out what or who she was attempting to be. The second photo just caught my eye with her casual perky smile.

Selle nädala alguses veetsin mõned päevad Saaremaal, kus ma olen üles kasvanud, külastades pere ning sõpru. Üks asi, mis Kuressaares käies naljalt vahele ei jää, on paari antiigipoe külastamine, vaadates üle nende "uue kauba". Mul on suurem huvi just vanade postkaartide vastu, 1900ndate alusest, mis kannavad endas lugu ning sädet. Olin leidnud selle esimese kaardi juba paar kuud tagasi, aga mingil põhjusel ei ostnud seda tol korral ära. Nii et sel korral marssisin otsejoones selle kaardi järele, lootes, et see on veel seal..... ja nagu näha, oligi!
Kui ma seda esimest korda nägin, ei suutnud ma naeru pidada ning veelgi enam, kui taipasin, kellena modell pildil poseerida üritab. Teine foto jäi mulle aga silma modelli kelmika naeratuse tõttu.