I've been having adventures!
Mar. 10th, 2012 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsI took off yesterday, in a couple of senses of the phrase; instead of going to work, I went to the Philadelphia International Flower Show, which is apparently the oldest horticulture display in the country and the biggest in the world.
Although I took advantage of my height to get glimpses of things over the shoulders of people in line - they had exhibits of "paintings" made of flower petals, and miniature arrangements barely the size of my hand, and even teeny doll rooms decorated with/in flowers - to be honest, I was there mostly for the shopping. *This* year, they hadn't run out of Chocovin (chocolate wine) by the time I showed up! I also picked up seeds (herbs, mostly), got the cards of several artists that I want to patronize after the renovations are over, and some gardening-related books - The Edible Balcony (on container food gardening and yes, even with all this land I prefer to container garden. Less likely to find surprise poison ivy.) and Cook and Freeze, as I'm still working on stocking the freezer and expanding my cooking range.
I also had a Martha Stewart moment - I'd say "don't judge me" but it's probably already too late - and picked up a thingie of interconnected glass vials that are a sort of "auto-arrangement" deal. Not that I'm all that interested in flower arrangements, but the pitch at the booth was showing how it could be used for edible arrangements too, and *that* hit me in the soft spot. I want to be the kind of person who throws parties with lots of little nibbles temptingly laid out.
Across the street from the exhibition hall is the Reading Terminal Market (as in the Reading Railroad, Monopoly fans.) They have a cookbook stand, where my interests in supernatural fiction, the oddball, and cooking collided in Beyond Delicious: The Ghost Whisperer's Cookbook, which is supposed to be a series of recipes given to a medium by the departed.
I was caught between the urge to point and laugh and shout "It MUST be mine!" In the end I just quietly pulled out my credit card because seriously, if I turned down something *this* wild, I'd regret it for forever.
On the more conventional side, I also bought Dining By Rail: The History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine I was charmed by the recipe for "Potato Surprise," the surprise being a filet mignon tucked into a twice-baked potato.
Today I headed off to one of the local community colleges to learn silversmithing. My Dad, from whom I learned the habit of taking random classes for the good of one's soul, took a stone-polishing course in the army and a silversmithing class soon after he got married. The result was the ring on the left (propped up so it will stand straight). It was given to me when I turned 21, and I wore it for more than 20 years. I got more comments and compliments on that ring than any other I've worn, including my grandmother's engagement diamond.
So when I saw a blurb for a class that said you'd learn how to set a stone and walk out with a ring, I was THERE! The camera's not good, so you can't really see, but mine on the right has a double band of hammered silver.
To be honest, I can't make up my mind if it's pretty or looks like a cheap souvenir from Cancun... not that these are mutually exclusive concepts.
Apparently the same instructor does classes in "precious metal clay" and blended forging/soldering/claywork pieces. I'm still making up my mind if I'm interested in the forging class, but M and I are psyched to find the precious metal clay one.
(M's ring has an unhammered double band of half-round silver, and she set her lapis ring horizontally instead of vertically. I like that look; I half wish I hadn't corrected myself when I first set the bezel 90 degrees from what I finally soldered!)
And now to catch up from not being online for two days...
Although I took advantage of my height to get glimpses of things over the shoulders of people in line - they had exhibits of "paintings" made of flower petals, and miniature arrangements barely the size of my hand, and even teeny doll rooms decorated with/in flowers - to be honest, I was there mostly for the shopping. *This* year, they hadn't run out of Chocovin (chocolate wine) by the time I showed up! I also picked up seeds (herbs, mostly), got the cards of several artists that I want to patronize after the renovations are over, and some gardening-related books - The Edible Balcony (on container food gardening and yes, even with all this land I prefer to container garden. Less likely to find surprise poison ivy.) and Cook and Freeze, as I'm still working on stocking the freezer and expanding my cooking range.
I also had a Martha Stewart moment - I'd say "don't judge me" but it's probably already too late - and picked up a thingie of interconnected glass vials that are a sort of "auto-arrangement" deal. Not that I'm all that interested in flower arrangements, but the pitch at the booth was showing how it could be used for edible arrangements too, and *that* hit me in the soft spot. I want to be the kind of person who throws parties with lots of little nibbles temptingly laid out.
Across the street from the exhibition hall is the Reading Terminal Market (as in the Reading Railroad, Monopoly fans.) They have a cookbook stand, where my interests in supernatural fiction, the oddball, and cooking collided in Beyond Delicious: The Ghost Whisperer's Cookbook, which is supposed to be a series of recipes given to a medium by the departed.
I was caught between the urge to point and laugh and shout "It MUST be mine!" In the end I just quietly pulled out my credit card because seriously, if I turned down something *this* wild, I'd regret it for forever.
On the more conventional side, I also bought Dining By Rail: The History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine I was charmed by the recipe for "Potato Surprise," the surprise being a filet mignon tucked into a twice-baked potato.
Today I headed off to one of the local community colleges to learn silversmithing. My Dad, from whom I learned the habit of taking random classes for the good of one's soul, took a stone-polishing course in the army and a silversmithing class soon after he got married. The result was the ring on the left (propped up so it will stand straight). It was given to me when I turned 21, and I wore it for more than 20 years. I got more comments and compliments on that ring than any other I've worn, including my grandmother's engagement diamond.
So when I saw a blurb for a class that said you'd learn how to set a stone and walk out with a ring, I was THERE! The camera's not good, so you can't really see, but mine on the right has a double band of hammered silver.
To be honest, I can't make up my mind if it's pretty or looks like a cheap souvenir from Cancun... not that these are mutually exclusive concepts.
Apparently the same instructor does classes in "precious metal clay" and blended forging/soldering/claywork pieces. I'm still making up my mind if I'm interested in the forging class, but M and I are psyched to find the precious metal clay one.
(M's ring has an unhammered double band of half-round silver, and she set her lapis ring horizontally instead of vertically. I like that look; I half wish I hadn't corrected myself when I first set the bezel 90 degrees from what I finally soldered!)
And now to catch up from not being online for two days...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 09:41 am (UTC)I've had a loose stone for years that I've always intended to set into a ring: a 2-tone tiger's eye in regular golden brown & navy blue. Trouble is, it absolutely needs gold -- silver quenches it. And now that I could scrape up what it would have cost back then, the price of gold has increased exponentially...
no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 05:03 pm (UTC)Malachite would work with copper, however. I do have malachite earrings set in red gold, which is close enough to see that copper would also work.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-14 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-14 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-14 05:11 pm (UTC)It's been a few years since I was in the mood for making my own jewelry (I was never particularly good at it), but there's this project that struck me a few months back -- see, I've got this necklace of alternating pearls and lapis (round, probably about 8mm) with tiny silver spacer beads in between them. About 18" long, I wear it with dark blue with a blue cameo attached by a pearl clip. And I've been wanting to make an equivalent in alternating malachite and amber beads with copper spacers -- already bought the 8mm round malachite and amber beads, in fact. Just need to get the copper beads -- seed beads would work -- and actually assemble it.