Desserts
I don’t know about you, but the theme of “Desserts” leaves me a bit confused every season of Bake Off. Probably because, when I bake, in my head that’s always what I’m making. Dessert. Even if it’s for breakfast. Anyways, we had to do a little research to pick a recipe this week.
Eric’s grandma was from England - so what finally helped us choose our recipe was him saying we should make a pudding. Which, naturally, led to sticky toffee pudding.
Now, once again, this is a conglomeration of a few recipes - a cake that looked good, a caramel sauce we love, whipped cream the way we always make it. I think we could have added a FEW more dates to the cake itself, but overall this was tasty. Definitely hit the spot!
During my week off, I feel like I accomplished SO MANY THINGS - the first of which was the humble task of finishing my studio tidy and rearrange.
As I was cleaning I was struck with the fact that this is the first time I’ve had a complete, working studio since January of 2021 when we left our old house. In those early days, everything in the new place was scattered, in boxes and out. I was back to using a cobbled together ventilation system in a room where the furniture (so carefully chosen for the last space) didn’t seem to fit. And just when everything started to find its place, July arrived and we started our house construction. All of my tools and supplies had to be moved out or covered or tucked away for safe keeping - and it wasn’t until late October that I was really able to move back in.
Even then, though, there were challenges. I was no longer able to vent out of the studio window and needed help to get my exhaust fan mounted in the attic (a small job, so the wait was long). As such, soldering happened in the basement while everything else came together upstairs. My work days were spent running up and down and up again. I had also lost most of the closet in my studio, to enlarge the living room on the other side of the wall, so tools and supplies were again stacked in crazy piles wherever I could fit them.
In late January of this year, ventilation went into the attic which helped a LOT - but then I rearranged things to facilitate filming for the intro courses, which became my main priority in March. And since then? Well, you know. It’s been a long haul.
You really do have to live somewhere a minute before you can see how things fit. You have to work in a space and struggle and find what works and, more importantly, what doesn’t. So, finally, this last week tables and tools and benches were shuffled and swapped and suddenly - there it was! Balance. Peace. Everything finally home.
Two years’ worth of stones were finally sorted and priced and placed with love in my old watchmaker’s cabinet. I found all of my hammers. The pieces of wall art that never fail to inspire creativity, so carefully stored all this time, were hung on the walls. I’d show you more, but honestly the studio is a mess of making again. The minute things were clean I pulled out my sewing machine and got to work making a quilt (my first since the fifth grade!) and now there are fabric scraps everywhere. Not that I mind. I feel complete and, once said scraps are picked up, this little room will be ready for anything again.
My time off also gifted me with the chance to go out and take some photos in the golden autumnal light with the people I love - the first batch with my friend Julia to document the lovely top she recently finished knitting. She brought a pair of horns and a crimson book and we went walking by the river to make a little magic (it is October, after all!).
It was fun. Just FUN. And I kept thinking, “more of this!” - more light, more friends, more joy. How surprising it feels to find that the more time I spend looking around at what I’ve already got, the more I realize I already have everything I’ve ever really wanted or needed.
A few days later I went out again, with Eric this time, to capture us beneath the cottonwoods in one of our favorite autumnal haunts - but those shots have not quite made it through the editing process , so they’ll have to wait.
But, you ask, what’s next? Break time’s over, what comes now? Well I’ve laid the best foundation I can so…I guess I’m going to get into the good stuff. Which, for me, means more classes on the things that make my heart sing. The current list of possible topics includes :
• Saddle rings and curved stone settings
• Signets• Hollow form earrings - with fringe!
• Marriage of metals techniques
• Designing and building cluster settings (like the Pines rings)
• Boxes and lockets
• Belt buckles
I think I know which one I’m starting with…but I keep adding techniques I want to share (and projects that could teach said techniques) so I may just keep this brain storm rolling for a few more days and wait to commit until the rain of ideas begins to slow. And then it’s go time. I’m looking forward to being covered in silver dust, with a torch in my hand and a pile of stones waiting to become.