Well, a slightly belated "Happy New Year" to you. Now that it's mid January, I guess I really should take down my Christmas tree.
I've been working on upgrading and updating my websites these last couple of weeks. Wow, websites are going to be the death of me for sure. As a temporary measure, I have built one of those free websites that are quite easy to deal with while I try and decipher Joomla. Oh my head hurts just thinking about it! Please have a look at the new site here and let me know what you think. Once I get my head around the whole uploading and hosting stuff, hopefully, it will run smoothly, un like the current sites which give me constant grief. I know, you're wondering why I have such problems....well, it's a long story, the short version of which is that I had a lovely lady doing my site building and maintanence. She did a great job, but moved away and due to her explanding business was unable to continue with me. She assured me Joomla was easy and that I could maintain it myself......she overestimated me and now I'm in this pickle.
The studio is coming along quite well, still a lot to do but it's certainly getting there. We now have bathroom walls and a floor! It's starting to look good, I can't wait.
Workshop Tip:
When I'm finished using my saw-frame, should I take the blade out or leave it in?
I get asked this fairly often and I have come across many forum discussions about it with both options being pretty evenly recommended. So, I'll put my two cents worth in here and give you my opinion.
Definately leave it in... You'll notice that if you take a blade out of the frame that you have been using for a while, it will have a big bend in it. While the blade is in the frame, it stays straight due to the tension, but it warps once the tension is gone for any length of time. Now, if you put that warped blade back in the frame to use it again it never seems to get back into its right shape and you will find that although the blade looks straight in the frame and "pings" the way it should, your cuts will go off to one side. You'll think you're just having a bad cutting day, but really, it's your blade that just got too used to being relaxed (kinda like us when we get back from holidays!)
Speaking of holidays, we had a great Christmas. As usual we totally pigged out on oysters.
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| Who pinched the one in the middle??? |
And here's one of my latest jobs, a remodel of an emerald engagement ring.
My client had a traditional claw-set cluster engagement ring with a plain wedding band against it, but wanted to remodel it into something more modern that combined the two rings into one. Protecting the emerald was a big factor as they are quite fragile. I used her original gold, diamonds and gemstones and added a new baguette diamond on the side of the bezel, creating a "secret window" as an quirky design feature.
Thanks for visiting.
This year I promise to blog more often!!
Tracy
