Here I thought that metalsmithing started today but it actually started last week. I don't know how I got that wrong because I thought I put the start date in the calendar right after I decided to take the class. I must have got confused. Of course it turned out ok. I was able to pick up last week's and this week's the projects fairly easily and I've started working on something new.
It turns out that we'll be learning a new stone setting technique. It isn't the one I was interested in learning but I like it anyways and can see how it could be used. This session we're also going to be doing a lot with casting which is something new for me. We're going to start with doing some lost-wax casting of natural objects like flowers, seeds, and leaves. I have to find one and then figure out what to do with it - it's no good just making the mold and using up the silver to cast them. Silver isn't free so I don't want to waste it.
I asked my instructor about synclastic and anticlastic raising and making spiculums and she said, "those techniques require a lot of hammering." There are ten or so students in the class and if everyone were hammering metal the noise would be unbearable. Some people are good at hammering and others are very, very, very loud normally - imagine if they had to hammer this much! While I'd love to learn these techniques, that studio isn't soundproofed enough to make learning them pleasurable so I'll explore them on my own.
I also spoke to my instructor about my compulsion to make little boxes, even though I know very little about how to actually make them. She's fine with me using some of the techniques we're learning to make little boxes, if I want. I ordered a book on how to make boxes today and I'm looking forward to working through it.
In addition to being metalsmithing day, it was also denosumab day. They were running late at the cancer center so I was late to metalsmithing today. My nurse was running a half-hour late and then my bloodwork came back with elevated phosphorus. Fortunately, my calcium levels were normal. The nurse contacted the pharmacist who contacted my oncologist who said that she'd investigate this and to go ahead with the denosumab.
Calcium and phosphorus work together and there could be all kinds of things causing the elevated phosphorus (also known as hyperphosphatemia). My instincts say that it's related to last month's low calcium levels even though this month's calcium levels were normal. High phosphorus can also be caused by kidney problems, which I don't think I have, or bone mets, which I do have but which are supposed to be stable.
This denosumab was supposed to be my last one at the cancer center and the last bloodwork for the denosumab. However, it would make sense for my oncologist to want me to do the bloodwork again next month and maybe some other tests. For example, if we're concerned about bone met activity then it might be a good idea to see what my tumour markers are doing. There may be other blood tests that she wants to do as well. I spoke with the nurse about this and she was going to contact my oncologist about whether I should come in for more bloodwork next month.
It was definitely a big day. I'm enjoying lazing around and relaxing with Ian and Gozer
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Metalsmithing tomorrow!
Metalsmithing classes start tomorrow! It's been too long since I've been in the studio. I have no idea what we'll be learning this time around although I have some ideas about what I want to see.
I have an urge to make little boxes out of metal but I don't know how to make hinges (even though I think I have a good idea of how it's done) or how to make the lid fit properly on the bottom. I could probably figure it out, I know, but it's easier to be taught how to do things.
I'm also interested in using forging stakes to make synclastic and anticlastic forms and to make things like a spiculum (hollow sinuous curves, or tube-like things that are smaller at one or both ends) as I find the shapes interesting and beautiful. I mean, look at this bracelet:
Gorgeous, yes? Oh, yes. Smaller spiculums (spiculae?) can be used in earrings or as accents. They're amazing when done properly.
There are also some other stone-setting techniques I'd like to learn as well. I can work with what I already know but there are a couple of techniques that I've seen used that I think I could do.
We'll see what we end up doing in class. I've barely even scratched the surface on metalsmithing techniques and I'm sure that there are things that I'd love to learn that I've never heard of and know nothing about.
I have an urge to make little boxes out of metal but I don't know how to make hinges (even though I think I have a good idea of how it's done) or how to make the lid fit properly on the bottom. I could probably figure it out, I know, but it's easier to be taught how to do things.
I'm also interested in using forging stakes to make synclastic and anticlastic forms and to make things like a spiculum (hollow sinuous curves, or tube-like things that are smaller at one or both ends) as I find the shapes interesting and beautiful. I mean, look at this bracelet:
 |
| Spiculum Bracelet by Genevieve Flynn |
Gorgeous, yes? Oh, yes. Smaller spiculums (spiculae?) can be used in earrings or as accents. They're amazing when done properly.
There are also some other stone-setting techniques I'd like to learn as well. I can work with what I already know but there are a couple of techniques that I've seen used that I think I could do.
We'll see what we end up doing in class. I've barely even scratched the surface on metalsmithing techniques and I'm sure that there are things that I'd love to learn that I've never heard of and know nothing about.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Walking with my cane
I don't think I've mentioned before that I'm walking with the cane again. When Gozer pulls at the leash I go off balance and that's been putting strain on my back which in turn has been making my hip and leg hurt. Of course even when I'm not walking Gozer I've slipped or skidded on ice and that's put strain on my back, too.
Walking with Gozer and my cane hasn't been as fun as you might think. I prefer to walk with her on my right side but that's where the cane goes so I have to put her on my left. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to drift to the right when she's walking with me. She also likes to go from side to side if she gets half a chance. She's only tripped me once so far... but that was one time too many for my liking.
Yesterday was super-warm and gorgeous and then overnight the temperature dropped, leaving a thin film of ice over much of the sidewalk. Gozer was pulling on the leash a lot which didn't make walking over the ice any easier even though I did have my cane. I sort of felt bad for her because every time I'd slip I'd kind of pull the leash back. Then again, if she'd been walking like a good girl with slack on the leash, the leash pulling back wouldn't have been so bad.
Even when Gozer is walking like a good girl and the sidewalks are clear, walking Gozer with the cane poses other problems. My nose runs a lot when I'm doing any kind of exercise or when I'm cold, you see. Letting my nose run isn't an option and sniffing only works for so long so I end up blowing my nose a lot. When I first got the cane I learned how to blow my nose with one hand so that I could keep walking while blowing my nose. With Gozer's leash being controlled by the non-cane hand, there's no free hand I can use to blow my nose. I have to either stop or drop the leash to blow my nose and both interrupt the flow of the walk.
I am grateful that I can walk Gozer by myself, even if I have to use the cane. Still, I'd love it if I could walk without the cane at all, especially when I'm walking our little furchild.
Walking with Gozer and my cane hasn't been as fun as you might think. I prefer to walk with her on my right side but that's where the cane goes so I have to put her on my left. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to drift to the right when she's walking with me. She also likes to go from side to side if she gets half a chance. She's only tripped me once so far... but that was one time too many for my liking.
Yesterday was super-warm and gorgeous and then overnight the temperature dropped, leaving a thin film of ice over much of the sidewalk. Gozer was pulling on the leash a lot which didn't make walking over the ice any easier even though I did have my cane. I sort of felt bad for her because every time I'd slip I'd kind of pull the leash back. Then again, if she'd been walking like a good girl with slack on the leash, the leash pulling back wouldn't have been so bad.
Even when Gozer is walking like a good girl and the sidewalks are clear, walking Gozer with the cane poses other problems. My nose runs a lot when I'm doing any kind of exercise or when I'm cold, you see. Letting my nose run isn't an option and sniffing only works for so long so I end up blowing my nose a lot. When I first got the cane I learned how to blow my nose with one hand so that I could keep walking while blowing my nose. With Gozer's leash being controlled by the non-cane hand, there's no free hand I can use to blow my nose. I have to either stop or drop the leash to blow my nose and both interrupt the flow of the walk.
I am grateful that I can walk Gozer by myself, even if I have to use the cane. Still, I'd love it if I could walk without the cane at all, especially when I'm walking our little furchild.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Training and walking Gozer
There's never a dull day with Gozer around!
At training we're learning how to get our dogs to come to us. Each owner tried out the command individually by showing the dog a treat, walking some distance away, and then saying "Come!" followed by a stream of chatter to keep the dog running towards their voice. We were told that we could say anything except the dog's name and the word "come" in that stream of chatter.
When I did it the first time, I kept in mind that I was supposed to say anything but "Gozer" and "come" and ended up saying "Come Gozer girl Gozer Gozer Gozer come come come come Gozer come!" Yep, I said exactly - and almost only - the words I was specifically told not to say. It was like being told not to think about white elephants and only thinking about them.
We discovered that Gozer responds very well to strong male voices. Every time a male called "come" to his dog, she started forward. it was pretty cute to see :)
We got a bunch of snow over the weekend so Gozer was wearing her booties. While I liked the look of the Muttluks, they really haven't held up well. The serging on the inside is coming off and the toes are wearing out. They're also not waterproof and they take a while to dry out. As well, we've discovered that the velcro that keeps them closed tightens across her front dew claws, making her a little uncomfortable. We need a new solution.
I've looked into the idea of the creams that can be put on the dog's feet to prevent cracking and to create a physical barrier against salt and snow. However, she doesn't seem to have problems with her pads cracking and I don't really see how the cream could prevent snow- or ice-ball formation between her pads. Therefore, I don't see the cream as really being the best option for her and I think we need to find new booties. I'm currently doing research to try and find some that will work better for her.
I never thought that I'd be the kind of furparent who would do research on dog booties for her dog. Clearly, that's who I am. I do it because I want my furbaby to be happy and comfortable and well-trained. If she can look stylish, so much the better.
At training we're learning how to get our dogs to come to us. Each owner tried out the command individually by showing the dog a treat, walking some distance away, and then saying "Come!" followed by a stream of chatter to keep the dog running towards their voice. We were told that we could say anything except the dog's name and the word "come" in that stream of chatter.
When I did it the first time, I kept in mind that I was supposed to say anything but "Gozer" and "come" and ended up saying "Come Gozer girl Gozer Gozer Gozer come come come come Gozer come!" Yep, I said exactly - and almost only - the words I was specifically told not to say. It was like being told not to think about white elephants and only thinking about them.
We discovered that Gozer responds very well to strong male voices. Every time a male called "come" to his dog, she started forward. it was pretty cute to see :)
We got a bunch of snow over the weekend so Gozer was wearing her booties. While I liked the look of the Muttluks, they really haven't held up well. The serging on the inside is coming off and the toes are wearing out. They're also not waterproof and they take a while to dry out. As well, we've discovered that the velcro that keeps them closed tightens across her front dew claws, making her a little uncomfortable. We need a new solution.
I've looked into the idea of the creams that can be put on the dog's feet to prevent cracking and to create a physical barrier against salt and snow. However, she doesn't seem to have problems with her pads cracking and I don't really see how the cream could prevent snow- or ice-ball formation between her pads. Therefore, I don't see the cream as really being the best option for her and I think we need to find new booties. I'm currently doing research to try and find some that will work better for her.
I never thought that I'd be the kind of furparent who would do research on dog booties for her dog. Clearly, that's who I am. I do it because I want my furbaby to be happy and comfortable and well-trained. If she can look stylish, so much the better.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
2012 Golden Globes red carpet, Part 2
Here are the rest of the red carpet outfits from the 2012 Golden Globes red carpet. It took a lot longer to get through them than I thought it would; I guess I'm out of practice.
Interestingly, there weren't many black dresses at this event. There were more nude colours than black and even more jewel tones than nude colours. I think blue in its many shades were the most popular colour although green and red were well-represented. Even yellow showed up on this red carpet!
While there were a few all-sequin dresses, most dresses had only a small number of sequinned embellishments, if any at all. Lace is still making a showing but there weren't as many lace dresses as I'd expected.
There were a number of rather ugly dresses making an appearance which I don't understand at all. I also don't understand the trend of doing nothing with your hair and leaving it all scraggly. I know that this event is a bit of a fun party but that doesn't mean that you can skip combing your hair before you arrive.
Enough of my comments; let's get to the dresses. Enjoy them after the jump.
Interestingly, there weren't many black dresses at this event. There were more nude colours than black and even more jewel tones than nude colours. I think blue in its many shades were the most popular colour although green and red were well-represented. Even yellow showed up on this red carpet!
While there were a few all-sequin dresses, most dresses had only a small number of sequinned embellishments, if any at all. Lace is still making a showing but there weren't as many lace dresses as I'd expected.
There were a number of rather ugly dresses making an appearance which I don't understand at all. I also don't understand the trend of doing nothing with your hair and leaving it all scraggly. I know that this event is a bit of a fun party but that doesn't mean that you can skip combing your hair before you arrive.
Enough of my comments; let's get to the dresses. Enjoy them after the jump.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Training our dog
I've been very lazy today with respect to the red carpet post. I have been working on it but I haven't done enough to post. So instead I'll write about our sweet little doggie. She's doing so well.
She's loving having her squeaky toys lying around waiting for her to pick them up. She calms down more quickly when she can put a plush toy in her mouth and squeak it than without the toys. She's starting to properly play with her toys, too, batting them around and kind of throwing them up and catching them as though they were alive. Best of all, when we throw the plush ball she goes to get it and then brings it back and drops it in front of us. It's a proper fetch game!
We gave Gozer a bath yesterday and it went much better than it had the last few times. I'd spent the last week or so trying to get her to go into the bathroom where she gets her baths and it's paid off. The first few days I had to lure her into the bathroom by putting treats on the floor leading into the bathroom, after which I gave her lots and lots of treats. When she would come into the bathroom on her own, I started throwing treats into the tub and when she jumped in after them, I fed her more treats. When she got to that point, I turned the water on and let the water trickle out of the wand, just as it would when she had baths.
During her bath we fed her treats until she was too scared to take more of them. She doesn't like getting wet and she really doesn't like being shampooed so she trembled through that. once we started rinsing off the shampoo she took the treats again. She's gone back in there to eat some leftover treats so we know she'll go in there again. She does look beautiful with her snowy-white fur when it's clean and all brushed out so all that work is worth it.
Training is not going quite so well. We're doing a command where we say "watch", take out a treat, let her smell it, bring the treat up to our nose, wait for some amount of time, say "yes", and give her the treat. The goal is to get her to look at us and she does that. She also starts barking. She wants the treat RIGHT NOW and if she doesn't get it right away, right after it touches our nose, and she demands it. I don't want to reward her for barking but that's what we kind of end up doing when she gets the treat. I'll talk to the trainer on Sunday and see how to handle this situation.
She's loving having her squeaky toys lying around waiting for her to pick them up. She calms down more quickly when she can put a plush toy in her mouth and squeak it than without the toys. She's starting to properly play with her toys, too, batting them around and kind of throwing them up and catching them as though they were alive. Best of all, when we throw the plush ball she goes to get it and then brings it back and drops it in front of us. It's a proper fetch game!
We gave Gozer a bath yesterday and it went much better than it had the last few times. I'd spent the last week or so trying to get her to go into the bathroom where she gets her baths and it's paid off. The first few days I had to lure her into the bathroom by putting treats on the floor leading into the bathroom, after which I gave her lots and lots of treats. When she would come into the bathroom on her own, I started throwing treats into the tub and when she jumped in after them, I fed her more treats. When she got to that point, I turned the water on and let the water trickle out of the wand, just as it would when she had baths.
During her bath we fed her treats until she was too scared to take more of them. She doesn't like getting wet and she really doesn't like being shampooed so she trembled through that. once we started rinsing off the shampoo she took the treats again. She's gone back in there to eat some leftover treats so we know she'll go in there again. She does look beautiful with her snowy-white fur when it's clean and all brushed out so all that work is worth it.
Training is not going quite so well. We're doing a command where we say "watch", take out a treat, let her smell it, bring the treat up to our nose, wait for some amount of time, say "yes", and give her the treat. The goal is to get her to look at us and she does that. She also starts barking. She wants the treat RIGHT NOW and if she doesn't get it right away, right after it touches our nose, and she demands it. I don't want to reward her for barking but that's what we kind of end up doing when she gets the treat. I'll talk to the trainer on Sunday and see how to handle this situation.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
2012 Golden Globes Red Carpet, part 1
There are a lot of these red carpet photos! I'm still working through them but I wanted to post what I've finished so far so that you can get your red carpet fix.
I'm going to save the full analysis of the outfits until all of them have been posted. I figure the analysis will mean more when you can see all of the pictures.
Enjoy the pictures after the jump.
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