Ten thousand hours

[rhiannon_black]

Quote of the day: The wedding was beautiful, the bride gorgeous and the groom nervous. The service was conducted by Minerva McGonagall, now a member of the Wizengamot in her own right. The old vows took on a new meaning when said in her soft rolling burr. Harry sat on Severus’ shoulder, his tail wrapped around his neck and a constant purr echoing in his chest. It wasn’t until the bride and groom were saying goodbye to their families before leaving on their honeymoon that the cat shocked all the Muggles by morphing into a small-statured human being, who smiled shyly and kissed the bride, allowing the groom to pull him into a bone crushing hug. (Everybody Wants to be a Cat, Les Dowich)

I spent three hours in the studio Friday night and nine hours (give or take) there today. As Sandi was there with me today, I got less done than I might have if alone but did not get too badly distracted. I amazed myself with how well, suddenly it seems, that I can use my jeweler's saw. I cut dead on the line without wavering. It is scary. I cut out fours discs today--three of about 3 inches in diameter and one of four inches. I spent most of my time working on sinking them, as well as the disc I cut out the other day. They are as yet rather lumpy and unbalanced. Oh well, practice, practice, practice!

I worked as well on the new ginkgo leaf. I misread the artwork that inspired me and thus cut it out incorrectly. I am trying to make do with what I have. Even if it proves to be unusable, I am learning from the forming of it and so it is all good. I have hit upon another way to form the stem. I cut it out way wider than needed and have formed it into something of a tube. It still looks too heavy for the size of the leaf but I will play with it. I am thinking of collapsing it back upon itself. We'll see. I need to look into getting a decent swaging block, I think, or make one, as well as talk to Pat about those tube-forming pliers she has.

And call her Tuesday to ask her to bring in her mushroom stake or whatever she has. Using the sandbag and sinking the bowls is all well and good but I need to try raising them as well.

I love hammers.

I need to retrieve my copy of Silversmithing by Finegold and Seitz. I think the cats and the dog have managed to knock it off the bookshelf and under either the couch or said shelf. I need to read what he has to say about raising and sinking bowls and everything else.

Books A Million is proud of itself, I guess. I called to find out if my copy of Heikki Seppa's Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths had come in. It was due by today. After waiting what seemed an eternity on hold, and then having some rather dim girl pick up, and then waiting again, I was told that, yeah, it was probably in, just not out on the floor, so it did come in when they said it would. Uh, if I can't pick it up, no, it didn't. If I had ordered the thing from Borders, I would have had it in a week's time or gotten it free. Books A Million seemed the better choice. Live and learn.

I cannot find (though I haven't looked that hard) the battery charger for the Canon. If I cannot find it soon, I will break down and buy a replacement. I need to get more pictures.
 
I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers, and it's fascinating. The difference between success and failure, between being a world-class musician and a nobody--ten thousand hours. Ten thousand hours! Oy! If I put in a forty hour week in the studio, I'll get about two thousand hours a year. And what counts towards my ten thousand hours? Do hours of poring over books and websites and pondering jewelry and its design, do they count at all? How many have I garnered in the last three years plus? On a side note, being able to draw as well as I can, with as few hours in as I have (once I get a little current practice in), is almost scary. If I can do as well as I can now, with as little practice, what would I be like, what will I be like, with the full ten thousand hours? Does drawing count towards my jewelry ten thousand? I wanna know!

I need to get in to school in the morning to drop off my entry for the show as well as Sandi's box. I don't know why I feel so unsettled about it, but I feel as if I am right on the edge of forgetting about it, until the deadline has passed. 

I have decided upon a new course of action, or rather, inaction. I will not be emailing or calling anyone anymore to let them know that I'm in the studio. I am not their mother, I do not need to coddle them. They evince interest, oh yeah sure, but never follow through. It's time for all of them to take responsibility for themselves. I will make sure that anyone who claims to be interested has my cell number and email address and tell them that I am usually in Sunday afternoons/evenings. If they are interested and want to know if I have opened the studio, they can make the effort for themselves, take responsibility for themselves, and find out.