New Pendants!

Just wanted to share the last few pieces I wanted to finish up before leaving Nashville. Each of these is inspired by the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Tennessee countryside. Enjoy!

3 weeks in Nashville = lots of jewelry finished!

Our time in Nashville has been extremely prolific for me. And I've been able to finish up a bunch of random projects and start focusing on new pieces.


One of our homestays here was with a fellow metalsmith and jewelry maker, Lisa Aronow. I love being able to stay with jewelry people - in part because I simply love being able to connect with other folks who are making their livelihood in the same way I am, in part because it's a great way to learn and grow beyond what I already know, and in part because I get access to tools that I'm not carrying (like a torch!).


I have a few other pieces that I hope to finish up and list in the next couple days. And then I'm seriously going to return to my previous commitment to focus on one new piece per month, pushing myself to step outside of what I've already been creating. I'm really feeling called to shake up my style a bit, so I'm kind of excited to see what happens...

the Desert as Inspiration

New pieces now available in my etsy shop! Sterling silver, copper, and materials I've collected over the past few months of cycling through the desert.

Working on the road...

A few days ago, Russ and I celebrated eight months on the road. Wow... eight months of continuous travel! We made it through one of the coldest and wettest winters on record... and now it's spring here in Texas. Flowers are blooming, everything is bright green... it's an incredibly beautiful change from the months of cold, dry desert.


The more we travel, the more I think about how to work on the road. Like everything else, I have had to completely re-conceive of what it means to work on jewelry while we're traveling. Yet, unlike figuring out how to cook, navigate, set up camp, stay warm, etc., setting up my studio and creating new pieces has been a real challenge for me.

For so long, I've worked in sets... simultaneously creating several pieces at once. When you have a studio and can leave things spread out, it's a great way to work, because you can fit bits of work into random chunks of time, and you can knock out all the sanding (for example) at one time (not to mention, the more you stare at something, the more you can refine the design). As we travel, however, I don't have the freedom to just leave things laying around. And my brain, in all honesty, isn't adapting so well to this. Which is why I've been ever-so-slowly working on the same ten pieces for the past three months. Yes, three months.

Now, to be fair, I have worked on other projects during this time. For example, these custom head badges for a bicycle frame builder in the Sacramento area...


My goal is to finish up these ten pendants before we push out of Austin, and get them listed in my shop. These are all pieces that are inspired by our desert crossing... the brown hills, the skies full of stars, the bright red and orange desert plants. And now that we're not in the desert, I want to wrap them up and start looking at all the trees and fresh spring greens for new inspiration. I've made it my mission for the next few days, so I'm actually making a fair bit of progress. Take a look...


And, then, I'm making a radical change in how I work on jewelry. This sort of came to me the other night as I was going to sleep... and I think it'll help me focus better on each piece and not feel so overwhelmed. My plan is to work on and complete one piece, inspired by our travels, per month. If I get that one piece finished up before the end of the month and want to move on to a second piece, great! But, I'm going to finish that one piece first.

And I want to push myself to document the creation of these pieces... where I found the inspiration, what I'm incorporating, the various stages of making each piece, all the back-stories. I'm really excited about this new challenge, and I hope you'll follow along.

But, first, I gotta finish up these desert pieces...

Ah, Jewelry, I remember you...

As it turns out, carving out the time to work while traveling is a LOT harder than I ever imagined. Or, rather, it's a lot harder to prioritize my time so that jewelry-making gets an equal share (it's just so easy for the studio time to get squeezed out, in favor of cycling and exploring new towns and talking to people and connecting with our homestay hosts and relaxing in those few moments we get).

And now that it's officially winter all around us, I have to contend with the cold factor too. A few days ago, we planned a rest day at a state park. 'Great!' I thought, 'I can get some work done on these pendant ideas that have been floating around in my head for weeks.' And then it rained. All freakin' day. And at about 2pm, it was a whopping 38 degrees outside. Not exactly conducive to setting up shop at a picnic table.

So, what can I say but that I'm a bit frustrated by the situation and I'm still trying to figure it all out.

Which brings me to something that I have been able to do... drumroll please...


This pendant was a small idea that kept popping up and rolling around my head for weeks, in different combinations, until finally it made sense one day (I love when that happens!). And I scored enough downtime in Tucson to finish it up. It's made of sterling silver, copper, and bicycle inner tube. And the idea is to bring together all of the inspiration of the desert that we've been riding through for the past many weeks... vast, brown hills and skies full of stars.

The pendant itself is way too heavy, especially with this small chain (which is the only kind of chain I have with me right now), but I wanted to show it off. Especially since finishing this pendant started my head buzzing with smaller, lighter, more wearable variations of this design. So, whenever I can finally carve out the necessary time, I've got a whole desert series to work on.

***

All of this brings me to my next great idea... collaboration! One of the other things that I have wanted to do while traveling is connect with other jewelry and metal artists around the US. I have done an absolutely crappy job of this so far, so I'm really trying hard to make it more of a priority. What I'm thinking so far is this... What if I could connect with other artists in various parts of the US, as we travel through, and spend a couple days sharing ideas and studio space? It could mean working together on some sort of collaborative finished product or using the opportunity to learn (together) about some new skill or just spend the time swapping tips and suggestions. Or any number of other ideas that I haven't made their way into my head yet.

Interested? Our rough route for the next few weeks is as follows... Alamogordo, New Mexico... Marfa, Texas... Big Bend State Park... Texas Gulf Coast... San Antonio... Austin... Ft. Worth... New Orleans... then on to the East Coast somehow and then North and then back toward the West Coast. If you're along that route, or near that route, or think we should make our route go through your neck of the woods... and you want to work on some sort of collaborative something... let me know (email: tangerinetreehouse AT gmail DOT com). I'm excited just thinking about the idea, so we could start brainstorming today. :)

Whittling down my load...

My studio that I've been carrying around with me on our bicycle journey is ridiculously heavy. And I've decided that it's time to lighten the amount of weight I'm carrying. I opened up my tool roll and took stock of everything I have with with, pulling out tools that I really am not using (like my hand shears, which are really heavy, extra needle files, pumice and brush). And then, I went further.


For riveting, I use two hammer ends... a cross peen and a ball peen. Of course, they happen to be on two different hammers. When I was working in my old studio, it wasn't a problem to use the two hammers I had (so it never made sense to buy one hammer that does both). When we left, I tossed both hammers in the bag. And I've used both on this trip. But, really, does it make any sense to carry two hammers? Especially when one of them is really heavy? No.

And, so, in a stroke of genius, I realized that I could file down the planishing end of the cross peen hammer to replicate a ball peen and then send back the ball peen hammer. I borrowed some heavy duty machining files from a friend in town and took down the end of the hammer. Then, I sanded like crazy and took a polishing cloth to it. And, voila, a work of art! It looks like that end is supposed to look like that. And it works great. And I get to rid myself of the 10 or so ounces that make up the ball peen hammer. Happiness all around.

Join in the Mustache fun!

In case you haven't noticed, the Bike Mustache has gotten all sort of internet lovin' lately. I guess the facial hair trend isn't on it's way out, yet, which is great news for me! And great news for you!

I've been making mustaches on the road as we're traveling... in campsites throughout central California and at the homes of various hosts... and decided that it would be fun to let folks know where their mustaches are being created.

So, now, when you order a Mustache on yer Bike, it'll come with a note about where it was made (and maybe even GPS coordinates, if we can figure that out).

Here I am working on a mustache outside of Yosemite National Park...

Sitting and thinking...

It's raining today. A hard, driving, steady rain. Supposedly, it's the tail-end of a typhoon that hit Japan earlier. At times, the rain is actually coming down sideways. It's running down the road in a steady river and the wind is whipping the trees. It feels like winter. And I am ever so glad to be inside. We're staying with friends south of San Francisco, and we made it here just a few hours before the storm broke. In this moment, I feel so very fortunate. Not only are we inside, we're warm and dry, with an entire day to read, do laundry, catch up online, and there's no pressure for us to be pedaling down the road today. It feels very luxurious.

Lately, I've been thinking about how amazing it really is to be able to go on this completely open-ended journey. To have the freedom each day to decide what we want to do and where we want to go. It's not un-ending bliss, every moment, but it's a sense of complete self-reliance and ownership of my life that I haven't ever felt before. And that feels very luxurious as well.

Being on my bike, riding down the road, for several hours each day, provides an opportunity unlike anything else to think. Just think. Brainstorm and work through ideas. Some days, I ponder jewelry designs. Other days, I think about how I hate the way houses look when the garage is right in front, or how terribly sad (and smelly) it is to see so many dead dear (and raccoons, foxes, skunks, etc.) on the side of the road.

Without a doubt, the hardest part of this journey has been finding the space and time and energy (both physical and creative) to create jewelry. And, to be perfectly honest, I have my moments when I wonder if I shouldn't just put it on hold for a little while, and focus exclusively on the cycling. Except that, eventually, I'm reminded of just how fascinated I am with studio jewelry and how much it continues to intrigue and inspire me and be something that I want in my life. So, I give up the notion of giving up on making jewelry, and I go back to trying to figure out how to keep creating while we travel. And this is, quite possibly, one of the most amazing lessons of this journey so far... learning how to make the time for the things that I want to do with my life.

So, now, I sit inside, dry, while it continues to rain outside, and I'm thinking about just what type of jewelry to work on over the next few days of non-riding time in the Bay Area. And I find my brain waffling over whether to work on more complex, one-of-a-kind, gallery-appropriate pieces or smaller, simpler, more affordable pieces. Of course, there's no right answer, and if I can figure out the workflow, I'll probably end up making both styles.

Tomorrow, I'll probably still be huddled inside, as this storm is supposed to continue for a bit more, and it will give me some time to make sense of the myriad ideas running around in my head... and, hopefully, finish up some of the pieces that are in pieces in my studio bag. Cheers to the Japanese typhoon!

Enjoying the Journey...

We're now two weeks into our vagabonding... we spent a few days in Portland, then rode down to Corvallis (my hometown) for a friend's wedding and to see family, then rode back up to Portland (where we're taking a day off to catch up on blog posts and put new chains on our bikes). Tomorrow, we'll push off toward Seattle and the San Juan Islands.

The experience, in a nutshell, has been incredible so far. It's just barely starting to sink in that this is our new life for the forseeable future, not just a vacation. I haven't yet broken out my studio equipment, because I've been so completely immersed in the traveling part, but I hope to test out the limits of what I've brought within the next week or two. (Stay tuned...)

In the meantime, I thought I'd put up some inspiring photos of our trip so far. Head over to The Path Less Pedaled for more stories and photos.

Meet my Portable Studio

It's so crazy to think that I actually managed to pare down my studio to just what will fit in one small bag on my bike. I am seriously impressed! And even more curious to know if I'm actually going to be able to do all that I think I'm going to do. Only time will tell, I guess.

Until then, I thought I'd post a little tour of my portable studio...


I have a (custom) Bike Burrito loaded with all of my hand tools and a small portable benchpin. There are a couple of tins with misc. seeds, Liver of Sulfur, beeswax, stringing materials, etc. There's a shop apron, goggles, masking tape, some rags. A stack of promo cards. Sandpaper and a sanding board. Lots of metal. And, to be perfectly responsible, a folder for all of my business receipts.


My Bike Burrito holds the following: brass brush, soldering tools, Sharpie, burnisher, x-acto knife, .925 stamp, small hand drill, a couple hammers, hand vise, ring mandrel, saw (and blades), hand shears, wire cutters, a couple pairs of pliers, sanding stick, and files.

And that's all folks. With any luck, it's all I'll need. Of course, if it's not, there's still a bit of open space in the bag for me to stash anything else I need to pick up. (Like, perhaps, a small torch?)

Follow our travels over on The Path Less Pedaled.

Goodbye Beautiful Workbench

Yesterday, in our last preparations for our big bike trip, I handed off all of my stuff to my dad for safe keeping. Including my beautiful workbench.


A few years ago, when I started working with metal, I asked my dad to build me a workbench for Christmas. I needed a space to work and I didn't like any of the overly-complicated benches I saw on Rio and I thought it would be great fun to work with my dad on this project (which it was). It's a beautiful piece of furniture - simple, solid oak - and I have loved every minute that I have had it.


But, it's heavy and big and doesn't really fit on a bike, so we took it apart and loaded it into my dad's car for him to take back to his house. I trust it'll be safe until we find ourselves at the end of this trip and I can claim it again and set up a new studio somewhere. I'm feeling fine about it this morning, but it was (honestly) really hard to say goodbye to it yesterday.

I sold my under-used bracelet mandrel to Nina Gibson from Etsy Metal, and when she came to pick it up, she told me she had no idea how I was going to do it. I've been very calm about all of this until yesterday when it all of a sudden became very real - and, now, I have no idea how I'm going to do it either. I guess that's a part of the process - and I still feel that it's something I really need in order to push myself in a new direction with my jewelry. But, wow, I am officially workbench-less now. How very very strange.

I am also torch-less. I decided not to bring the torch I have, because it has a long hose and I didn't want to chance any punctures while it's bumping around on the bike. Depending on how things play out, I might be in the market for a small and very portable torch.

An inspiring trip...

After a week and a half of amazing riding and beautiful scenery, we rolled back into Long Beach yesterday afternoon. I'm trying to not let the culture shock get the best of me... but what an enormous difference Long Beach is from where we've been! I have a lot to digest about this trip... and I think it will take me awhile to find the words to describe the immensity of it... 'epic' comes to mind... so for now, I thought I'd share some photos of small moments that inspired me...

Middle of Nowhere... Here I Come!

And... we're off again!

I have been waiting, not very patiently, until we finally get to leave for our next bike touring adventure. I've been so excited for at least the last month that it's been hard to sit still (kinda like that feeling you get as a kid those last few days before Christmas!).

We're taking the train to San Luis Obispo and then riding up to Paso Robles (via a campout in Morro Bay) for the Great Western Bicycle Rally. We'll be in Paso Robles for a few days, riding around the hills and hobnobbing with other geeky cyclists. And then, from Paso Robles, we'll be riding back through a lot of nothingness, along the San Andres Fault to Ventura (where we'll hop a train back). And this time, it'll be more than just Russ and I! We have a whole big group of people coming along (for various parts of the trip). Can you see why I'm so excited?!


And as I mentioned earlier, I'm really hoping that being out in the middle of nowhere will help me make sense of the jumble of half-formed ideas in my head. Even though I have no idea what this trip will end up looking like, I know that I'll be surrounded by inspiration the entire time - and I'm so thrilled!

I'm leaving my etsy shop open, although I won't be sending out orders until I get back. See you all in June!

The Durability Test

Over the past few months, I've been hearing more and more concerns over the durability of my jewelry. I'm a complete perfectionist, so it's been hard to not take this personally, as I've always worked so hard to ensure that everything I make will hold up over time (and possibly become an heirloom in the distant future.) And, because this question has taken me by surprise, my answer has been a marginally-defensive one... "Of course it will hold up!"

But, no matter how much of a perfectionist I am, I've come around to understanding that this is actually a very legitimate question. Dried leaves and flower petals are quite fragile, so it's only natural to wonder if buying one of my pieces is a worthwhile investment.

In order to put my own mind to rest and to answer these questions definitively and non-defensively, I devised a test to check the durability of my jewelry-making methods... I would wear a pendant on one of my long-distance bike tours. And, our most recent tour to the desert seemed like the perfect testing scenario... long days of riding, hot days, cold nights, lots of sand and dust and dirt and sweat.

I usually don't wear jewelry while I ride, so I almost forgot to take the necklace with me, and had to come back to the apartment to get it while we were working out the last kinks with our riding companions. I wore it the entire first day. I wore it outside of my shirt, and tucked inside, and it bounced around a lot.

And, then, at night, I took it off and put it neatly in the pocked of the tent... and completely forgot about it the next morning when we packed up. My necklace got rolled up inside the tent, and probably squished as I was pushing out the air and strapping everything to the back of the bike. We stayed in a hotel the second night, so my necklace ended up rolling around the tent and bumping around on the back of the bike for 30 or so hours. And when we finally pitched camp on the third night, I found it in a pile of dirt at the bottom of the tent. Was I nervous? You bet. But, I blew off all the dirt and discovered that the leaves were still perfectly in tact. There wasn't even so much as a scratch in the shellac coating the leaves! I put it back on and rode with it for the rest of our trip.

We rode for five days, 243 miles, 85 degrees during the day, with only two showers the entire trip. By the end of that fifth day, I looked pretty ragged, but my necklace looked fantastic.

I'd say that counts as a passing grade, right?


The "After" Photo... slightly dusty, not as shiny on the front edge, and a bit of a seasoned patina... and I'll be wearing it every day, since I know it can take whatever I throw at it...

In town again

Got back today from our trip to the desert. Has it really only been six days? It feels more like three weeks...

Cycling through the desert is an amazingly intense experience. You're in the middle of absolutely nowhere, surrounded by a vast landscape that changes very slowly over all those many miles. It's incredibly beautiful (especially at this time of year, when everything is surprisingly green and the wildflowers are in bloom), and it's incredibly challenging. I came back stronger, nicely tanned, and eight pounds lighter, with a brain full of stunning memories.

A few highlights...

.. Standing at the edge of a windy hill just off I-10, surrounded by hundreds of windmills

.. Soaring 10 miles downhill into the valley of the desert at Joshua Tree

.. Making the somewhat risky decision to follow a 20-mile-long road through BLM land with no facilities instead of hopping on the freeway and being rewarded with a long, slow descent through a beautiful canyon I never would have thought even existed

.. Listening to music under the stars on my surprisingly good $10 speakers





And, like always, Russ shot many more photos than I did... check them out on his flickr.

That sweet siren song...

And we're off... again... Leaving Thursday for a long six-day loop out to Pioneertown, Joshua Tree, the Salton Sea and back. Should be close to 300 miles, sunny and dry, and probably a bit surreal. I'm really excited. My brain needs something new to look at for awhile.

But the past few days haven't been solely dedicated to packing and getting maps and making that last trip to REI... I've been working in my studio too. I created myself a small charm pendant to take on our trip...


I've been thinking that I need to make myself my very own necklace to wear on our trips (and anywhere else that I go), so that I can easily show people what I do when asked. But, truth be told, most of what I make, I'd be a bit nervous to take on the road (I can be a bit rough with my things when camping). After much brainstorming, I hit on this lovely little design. It's only about .75" wide, which makes it pretty hard to get at those leaves in the middle (it made it pretty hard to get the leaves in there in the first place!). I'm excited to road-test it and see how it holds up. If it does well, I think I might make a bunch of these.

Back next week!

The view is always so beautiful from a bike...

It was grey and drizzly most of the weekend, which kept the traffic down and the campground empty. And, while we had to ride through a lot of urban sprawl, we found parts of Orange County that haven't been paved over yet! Two little days and it felt like we had traveled an entire world away.

Russ' photos here and here.

We had a blissful weekend...

We're back from our New Year's bicycling adventure. Each time we go on a bike tour, I'm always amazed at how the world just drops away. We were only gone for four days, but it felt like months (in the best sort of way).

We celebrated New Year's in front of a roaring fire while a heavy fog rolled in over the beach and campground...


We rode down some truly beautiful country roads, lined with oak and maple trees whose leaves were vibrant shades of red and orange and gold and yellow...



Past acres and acres of farmland and vineyards...



We had breakfast in the small town of Guadalupe, which looks like it just stepped out of the Wild West. We stayed in an old hotel in Santa Maria, in the same room where Gregory Peck once stayed. We met lots of really lovely people along the way, that restored our hope in humanity.


In all, it was a truly wonderful trip and I am thankful that my stomach returned to normal in time for all of the hill-climbing. :)

For all the shots of us actually cycling down the road, head over to Russ' flickr.