Hiatus

It's been a little hectic the last couple of weeks with the holidays approaching. I've been busy making new things for shows, designing some custom pieces with my new CAD skills, and plus my day job has been a little cray cray. I'm trying to keep it all together and just get through these last few weeks and then it's VACATION.

Here's a few snapshots of what's been going on:

Like last holiday, I will be participating in the Chicago Winter Renegade Show. Please come say hi if you're in town!

Once that's over with, I will be taking a much needed mini hiatus. I'll try and stop in before the year's end and do a Renegade recap as usual. But if y'all don't hear from me, I hope everyone has a magical holiday and remembers all the great things we all have accomplished this year.

I put up my Xmas tree already :) Can you tell I'm ready for holiday vacation??

P.S. I do stay pretty active on instagram so if you're ever dying for some Tytin Jewelry updates, follow me there! 

Jewelry challenge

My friend spotted this ring at a museum and asked if I knew how to make it. Sure! Why not? Challenge accepted. Below is the beginning process, blocking out the shape.

Lately

Oh hey! It's October isn't it?? The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. I haven't even had a chance to take in the fact that it's fall or eat pumpkin pie or go to an apple orchard! It's sad to say but my day job has been taking the better of me. BUT I can't let that last for long. Holiday season is upon us and I'll be participating in Renegade's winter show again which I did last year. Thank goodness for these shows. They keep me motivated and working on my own jewelry in the midst of work chaos. For this holiday season, I'm trying to focus on simpler pieces that will make a nice addition to my current collection. So to help with that, I've been beading...a lot.

It's also been a great meditative thing to do with my hands while I calm down from the day's silly work chaos. I'll keep you posted on my progress. You can't see in the photos but I've racked up quite a collection of various beads and I want (NEED) to make something out of all of them! You ever find you're spending more money on storing these things than actually selling them?? I think I have a collecting problem.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend! Mr.T and I are spending all day Saturday at a local family farm dinner tour. CANNOT WAIT.

If you've been around a while, you would know I spend my days working for a custom jewelry manufacturing company in downtown Chicago. For the last 2 years, I worked as a project coordinator helping small jewelry stores around the country develop custom pieces. I would guide them and their design through the jewelry manufacturing process from sketches to final pieces. Not only did I have to make sure it came out correctly, I had to make sure it came out on time. Surprisingly people can get extremely antsy about jewelry and apparently lots of people get married on a Wednesday??

In any case, I've learned a lot about the entire process of jewelry manufacturing and I genuinely enjoy it. However, the pressure from that position started to wear away at me. Customers can be a lot to handle! I was also ready for a new challenge. I was tired of knowing just an overview of the process. I wanted to learn more about the specifics. Well in the last month, I got what I wanted. I jumped on an opportunity to move into our CAM department and learn about the entire process of rapid prototyping.

In a nutshell, CAD design files are arranged onto a 'grow plate' using a computer program. Each brand of machine has their own program to work with. Once you layout the designs onto the plate, you upload that file to the appropriate machine. Then the machine starts to build/grow the designs layer by layer. Above you can see the plate has pieces hanging upside down on it. This plate lowers down into a liquid material where each layer is built onto itself. Once finished, you remove the plate, turn it around and ta daaaa! Prototypes! This is only how one type of machine grows/builds the models. Others have a slightly different process but the general idea is the same: building onto itself layer by layer. Below is a different machine hence the different color.

It's amazing what these machines can do! And the details they can create are so impressive. Once these prototypes are cleaned up, they are then used in the lost wax casting process, and from there onto finishing. Fascinating isn't it?? (nerding out).

On top of learning about the CAM process, I've also been continuing to practice my CAD design skills. Above is the CAD I created and below is the final piece. Oooo...ahhhh...isn't jewelry making cool??

Some days I really hate having a day job, but I have to say, I do appreciate being able to expand my knowledge. Thank you, day job, for being cool some of the time!

Renegade Recap

Last week I exhibited at Chicago's Summer Renegade Craft Fair as you may know. It's my second time participating in Renegade but my first time doing its summer show let alone an outdoor show. Outdoor shows are definitely different than indoor ones that's for sure!

First thing's first, you need a lot more gear for set up: tent, tent walls, tent weights, rugs to cover the street, outdoor signs, renting a car...so much more! Of course, not everything is obligatory but definitely helps in creating a nice 'shopping experience'.

Another thing I've learned, selling rings on a hot, HOT day...not the best idea. Selling bronze rings on a hot humid day, also not so great. Lesson number 1, be up front with your customers about the natural qualities of your materials. Silver and especially bronze develop a natural patina when exposed to oxygen a.k.a. silver turns black and bronze turns dark brown. Bronze will also sometimes turn your skin green. I forget some people don't know that but after one girl returned her ring that same day, I made sure to remind everyone following her.

 A few other things I learned: use a white tent so more light can get in (I had a blue one). If you have a mirror available make it more apparent. When customers know they can try something on, it increases their willingness to buy. And lastly, maybe for these types of events, I'll stock more necklaces and bracelets since they're an easier fit than rings.

All in all, summer Renegade was a fantastic experience! I really couldn't have done it without Mr. T's help and motivational support. Thanks to Renegade for organizing it and organizing it well. If you're ever thinking of doing Renegade or something like it, DO IT. There's nothing better than watching all your hard work be put into action.

Vegas Vacation

How was your Labor Day weekend?? I spent mine in Vegas! I didn't win big at the casino but I got in a lot of pool time, sleep time, and other fun times.

Now that I'm back, it's crunch time! I have 3 days until Renegade Craft Fair...LET'S DO THIS!!

Stay tuned for post Renegade recap and please come by and say hello if you're in the Chicago area. I'll be at booth 95!

Week-end

It's been another long week full of busy-ness. I ended last week/started the week with a relaxing outdoor excursion to Ravinia Music Festival. I know nothing about Yo Yo Ma, but know he's pretty famous in the classical music world...so why not? Sure! I'll go see Yo Yo Ma! Turned out to be Yo Yo Ma and a few others who formed a quartet and created the Goat Rodeo Sessions. All in all, not what you would expect when you hear 'yo yo ma', but it turned out to exceed my expectations!

In other news, my day job responsibilities have changed drastically. I'm now helping out in our CAM department where we oversee all the rapid prototyping models. So I'll be spending a lot more time with things like this:

I've spent the last 2 years in a customer service/coordinator position so I'm extremely happy to be transitioning into the more technical side of jewelry manufacturing. I'll be learning all the ins & outs of prototyping machines and jewelry casting concepts. It's been a tough transition, not gonna lie. The amount of information is immense but incredible. Who knew there was so much to consider when making jewelry like 'microns', 'metal flow', or 'grow plates'! This is definitely a new challenge I'm taking on but challenges and change are what keep me going.

And while I'm doing all that, I'm still working hard to get ready for Renegade. It's slowly sneaking up...2 weeks now! I've got my display all planned out. If you can't tell, I'm going for more stark contrast and keeping everything very black & white, very minimal.

And like last year, Renegade and Moo.com so graciously offered us Renegade participants free business cards. Just got mine in the mail yesterday :)

I've got another busy weekend ahead of me with finalizing more Renegade details and finishing up a few more pieces. I hope your weekends are filled with busy fun! Have a great Friday and don't let the man get you down!

Hey! It's Friday!

It's been quite a lovely week this past week.

I hosted a 'friend-in-town / friend-got-engaged' party on my porch.

I went to a random Cubs game. I prefer the White Sox over the Cubs...well mostly I prefer Sox fans over Cubs fans...so I usually avoid Wrigley Field at all costs during Cubs games...but it's silly to say no to free tickets so to the Cubs game I went! And look at those seats! Unfortunately, they lost...as usual...

     I also started putting some final touches here and there on some necklaces.

And I relished in the fact that all these pieces are finished! Well minus the small box on the bottom left. I got some soldering to do with those earrings.

Thank goodness some pieces are finishing up because Renegade Craft Fair is in 3 weeks. They've posted all the 300 vendors that will be exhibiting. Nerd alert: it feels so cool to see my little logo there. If you're in the area, please come say hello!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

I'm on a boat

It was my first time being out on Lake Michigan yesterday...how could you NOT love this city?? I'm usually a hater for cloudy days, but you have to admit, the city still looks pretty badassssss.

Day Job Discoveries

We just finished up this jewelry set for one of my customers at work and it's one of the most beautiful color combinations I've seen in a long time. 14k rose gold metal with tanzanite center stones embellished with tiny black diamonds...rose/blue/black...gorgeous. My dinky phone pictures don't do it justice but this is a color combo to keep in mind.

And yes, my glove is so dirty! Sorry to expose you to the filth of the jewelry world. It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Looking up

Here's to looking up to better and brighter things!

Isn't Chicago beautiful?? I just needed a little pick me up after this tiring Monday. Hope everyone has a great rest of their week!

Meager beginnings

It's always cool to go back and see where ideas came from.

Pictured above: Surveyor and Pioneer ring in bronze.

Progress

For those of you who don't follow me on the FB or instagram, I've posted a few action shots of my most recent jewelry making progress. Here they are corralled together for you on one easy convenient blog post.

This is a casting tree. This is how we jewelry people produce multiples.

This is my tumbler in action. This is how we jewelry people clean more than one thing at a time, aka life saver.

Here are my casted pieces all piled up neatly, sitting there, taunting me with the many hours of work ahead.

During one of my many zombie-like filing sessions, I looked down and noticed, "Daaaaang my tool is so badass." It's the little things that keep me going :)

ALSO, another little thing...

Isn't it amazing when the sky turns this deep blue color?? I know, random. But this is one of my favorite colors and I can't believe my camera phone actually caught it. 

Happy Wednesday everybody!

Summer Break

I escaped to LA for the last 5 days for a much needed vacation and a mini reunion with some lifelong friends. 

We spent two entire days at the beach, 

Waited in line for the most glorious movie-in-the-park experience,

I watched my friends deck themselves out in my new jewelry collection. I must confess, my new pieces look fabulous in the California sun! 

Love these guys! 

Nothing beats a reenergizing five day vacation of sunshine, lounging, eating, drinking, and nonstop laughing. Now, I'm ready for the two month nonstop work ahead of me to get ready for Renegade Craft Fair!