New Things ....

I started back to work at my very very very part time job last week and it has cut into my creating time and somewhat hampered my desires to even hammer a piece of metal.  Having said that, i did manage to make a few new things in an "experimental" way and haven't yet had the time to photograph them properly for the etsy site.  usually, what i do when i finish a new piece is to take a very "basic" photo which i will then post to my private facebook to see how it will be received.  if there is interest, i'll keep going down that path creative wise as far as i will let it take me.  

 these are some of the things i've been working on....   learning as i go that aluminum bracelet blanks are harder to hammer than copper wire.  don't know why ... but a 14g blank in aluminum is nearly has hard to hammer as a 10g in copper (which is a thicker wire).

 i like the outcome of some of these and will probably continue down this path some more to see where it takes me.

i'd like to know what your thoughts are on these.  which ones you like, dislike, changes you'd like to see or words you'd be interested in seeing interpreted, etc.   Feel free to leave a comment below.  

Something for Nothing

Funny how everybody wants something for nothing. Even the richest ppl want something for nothing. And it's downright annoying sometimes. Because these very same folks will condemn poor ppl for receiving foodstamps or housing assistance, or medical because they are getting something for nothing. I'm shaking my head and saying, but you want something for nothing, too. remember when you asked me if you could have a piece of jewelry or a pair of fingerless mitts in exchange for telling folks where you got it? That is something for nothing. Because #1, ppl might not ask and you won't volunteer where you got it so therefore you aren't providing me with possible sales and you refuse to hand them a business card of mine. and #2, recognition doesn't pay the bills ... I still have to pay for supplies to make that "something", so, I lose money.

last week saw me at the end of my run of sales at Scotland By the Yard. They sold quite a few penannular pins for me since last June. I went over to pick up the remainder before they started their going out of business sale, and ended up picking up a few things for future gifts. It will be sad when they finally close their doors for good. Now I have to find another outlet. I have put some of my pins at the White River Yarn shop in White River Junction, Vt. The owner is really sweet and if you ever get the chance to stop in, they have an amazing selection of yarns, and a Tues. and Thurs. night knitting/crocheting time. This coming sat., May 21st. they will be holding a destash (for everything but yarn and fabrics) at the Hotel Coolidge two doors down from their shop. I donated some scrapping supplies.

The Country Cobbler in West Lebanon, NH has bought some of my acorn earrings and is selling them. They have bought other jewelry of mine in the past to sell as well. They have quite a wide variety of things in their store. You should check them out if you are ever in the area.

I've been knitting a sweater for myself -- I never make anything for me anymore -- but it's slow going as I'm not a fast knitter. I needed to make some more fingerless mitts for my etsy site and started to crochet them this morning with some lovely llama wool from the White River Yarn shop. But it seems i've been knitting so long i've forgotten how to crochet, frogged the piece and will have to start again.

well, that's my news from lake wobegone today. hope you are all well.

Working Working Working

my boss went to florida the end of December and said she wouldn't be back for a month -- well, that turned out to be a bit of a lie, as she told others she wouldn't be back till April. Needless to say, it left me bereft of income and wondering how to make it work financially. i had sales from the Scotland By the Yard and then asked a couple of other retail places if they would be interested in either buying outright or consigning my products. One place has said to come back in July as they start their huge selling season then.

in the meantime, i've been making tons of new things and posting some of them in my etsy shop, where i have sold a few things. but i also signed up as a vendor for the Green Mountain Fiber Festival that will be held in White River Junction, VT March 18-20. If you are in the neighborhood and interested in fiber for spinning, or yarn for crocheting, knitting, or felt art, then this would be a great place to come. also, they will be offering classes that you can sign up for as well. i'm excited to see how this will work out for me as i spent a good deal on the table fee -- much much more than i have ever spent. my daughter is going to help me set up and stay with me on the Friday and Sunday. Sat. I'm hoping some friends will drop by as well to help. i'm hoping i've made enough product and that it is stuff that ppl will want to buy. lots of shawl pins and penannular pins as well as stitch markers and new earrings, bracelets, neckwires, etc. so if you are nearby come check us out.

Green Mountain Fiber Festival Website

So yesterday I ordered an anvil, ring and bracelet mandral set and another battery for my battery operated dremel. my son had given me a gift card to amazon for christmas and i put that towards these necessary items. on the one hand, i could have ordered something terribly frivolous -- but i ordered something that will allow me to do my metal working designs in an easier fashion, which in the long run should help me with my business. tools of my trade that everybody doing what i do probably has had for a long time, but that i've learned to work around not having.

it's raining and cold today so i opted to stay in and work on some of my designs. i started hammering at around 11 or 11:15 this morning figuring that my neighbors were probably already up and going for the day. idk how much of my hammering they actually hear downstairs -- next door says they hear nothing -- and they were off at church by the time i started hammering. at any rate, i then heard some movement downstairs and some yelling and figured i had awoken them, so i stopped, until around 1. but i have to tell you that when the urge to get a new design done strikes me it is very difficult to stop. i think although my new place is wonderful in size and light and everything else, it's biggest downfall is that it isn't on the first floor or out somewhere on it's own with no one else attached to it. i guess that will be something i will have to concentrate on for the next apt. i might move into. so much to think about when looking at places to live.

so as a result, not a lot gone done in the metal pins department today. but i did do three loads of laundry!

Transition Just Goes On and On and On

Well, since my last post on this blog a lot of things have happened. The entire summer and fall of 2014 I spent traveling between my home in NH to PA, where my dad was "recuperating" from major heart surgery and dealing with the loss of his partner of 17 years from ALS. Unfortunately, he did not recover and passed away on October 14th. I won't go into the messy details of it all. Suffice to say that I wouldn't wish that sort of death on anyone and I certainly wouldn't wish for anyone I loved to have to witness that kind of death either.

The summer of 2015 brought a move to a new apartment. A place of calm and quiet and blessing from Father God. After looking for over a year and seeing idk how many apartments, I finally just had had enough of living from boxes and when I came to view this one I was smitten. Nevermind that it's a third floor apartment and my knees are shot. It has huge vaulted ceilings and tons of windows that let in natural light and it sits high in the trees so you feel like you are in a treehouse. And finally I have room to have a work space all my own where I can pound out metal (when the neighbors aren't home) and make my art. It also has room for the bits of furniture I brought back from my dad's house after his passing. If an apartment can be a source of healing, then this place certainly is. A friend of mine told her husband (after seeing the initial photos I posted on my facebook page) that this was why I had had to wait so long to find an apartment -- God wanted me to have this perfect place. I believe she is right.

In the last few months I've been steering my business in a different direction as well. And to that end, I have changed the name of my business to reflect that. As a present to myself, I had my DNA analyzed through Ancestry.com and discovered that besides the Irish (21%) there is also Scottish, Viking, and Scandinavian blood coursing through my veins. I was aware of the Irish, the rest was a surprise. So, in order to pay homage to that I have changed the name of my company to Oh! Dougherty Designs ... it's a play on the O' from my 3x great-grandfather's last name of O'Daugherty.

I've been promoting the new products I'm making as well. A local store, Scotland By the Yard in Quechee, VT, has been selling my penannular pins and I'm making the rounds to other businesses to see who might be interested in carrying them. I ordered new business cards and had my daughter design a new banner for me.

So, you see, my life is still in transition. Idk if it's as a result of what I saw my dad go through or not, but I feel like time is very very short, life should not be so miserable, and somewhere along the line we need to find what makes us happy and concentrate our efforts on that. If you have stuck with me through the dry spell of no new posts on my blog, I appreciate that and promise to make more of an effort to post on a regular basis. If nothing else, I hope that the wisdom I gained through trying times might help others.

blessings for a happy and prosperous and healthy 2016!!

joyous little things ...

finding the joy in little things. my enameled hoosier table, with hoosier chairs, makes a lovely setting for my great grandmother's blue willow china and my grandma's red ruby glassware. add a few berries and some second-hand silver bought for pennies and polished to near perfection and we have a lovely little treat. such are the joys of my life ...

back to my roots ...

my father's side of the family is from ireland ... with a last name like dougherty you would have to know that. so this past st. patty's day i went to a corned beef and cabbage dinner put on by my pastor. several ppl contributed something, but i decided i needed to contribute traditional irish soda bread.

what most of us think of as soda bread isn't really traditional soda bread -- its more like a cake. true irish soda bread has no sugar or eggs or fruit of any kind. it's basically flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. and this is exactly what i used.

i rolled out the dough on my enameled table (see story below), and used my flour wand (that metal contraption on the table which is used to lightly flour the surface) and baked the bread on my pampered chef stone cookie sheet...

when it was done it wasn't pretty but it was a heavy dense bread and i just knew it would be awesome for sopping up the juices from the corned beef and cabbage.

when i went to the dinner, the pastor's husband and a few others gathered around as i was cutting the bread and putting it on a serving plate. there was a lot of discussion about what was considered traditional irish soda bread and the differences between what we see in the stores and what would have actually be made in an early irish home -- what supplies would they have had to make their bread.

the best part was when we all sat down to eat together -- many of us had irish roots and being able to break bread together was so much fun. there were lots of stories told, lots of laughs and that made for an incredible st. patty's day experience!