yes, beth i admit it, i will find “watching” TV when i work enjoying
(usually when my public radio station is repeating itself.) andy
goodell
Most often I tune in to WFUV fm, a listener supported station at
Fordham University in Da Bronx, NY. WFUV plays a wide variety of
music from the blues, rock, singer-songwriters, jazz, world music,
ect. All without commercials, with lots of live on air interviews and
music. If you are beyond the range of their transmitter you can
listen online. Go to wfuv.org and click on “Listen Live” on the left
side of the home page. Joel
Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com
All, I have a question … I fabricated a ring in gold. Basically,
this ring is made up of two wires criss-crossing each other (it was
made in wax first) at several points (my wife keeps calling it
’baroque’ (sic) while I insist on semi-expressionist primitive
rococco, but contemporary is acceptable too). Anyway, I have now the
plan of casting the same ring twice again, once in yellow gold and
once in white gold. Then, I want to saw the rings and to assemble a
new, bicolor one. There are two problems. First, I would have to
solder the white and the yellow pieces together at perhaps eight or
nine places. I don’t know how to approach this. How to solder all of
this without the whole thing falling apart?
Second, while I think that a bicolored ring like this could be
pretty, I am not convinced that the yellow and the white would
contrast optimally. The ring has to be in gold, so I cannot use
Sterling for the white and oxidize it. Does someone has a suggestion?
Thank you for reading. Best, Will
Beth - you aren’t the only TV watcher! I keep mine on, but it is
satellite TV, so I use it to watch weather, news, history, science,
arts, landscaping, house design - and lots of “radio”. Mostly new
age, moodscape, 70’s, reggae, big band, jazz, classic rock. Every
now and then I get a hankering for something different and do the
Hawaiian music channel! Just depends on my mood.
Try to stay cool everyone! I for one am ready for summer’s heat to
be gone!
Beth in SC
Hi all.
Have to chime in with a question for all the Didgeridoo lovers.
Can you recomend a CD or 2 that is all Didgeridoo? I like the sound
also, and purchased some CDs, but they seem to use the Didgeridoo
for only a intro to their songs and then its on to something else.
When I’m playing in my basement I vary my musical listening to my
mood or what I’m trying to do.
Celtic is big for me along with old mountain music and cajun music.
Folkways goes good too. Tuva Throat singing will give you
goosebumps when you hear it and know it is coming out of someone’s
throat - good for pushing yourself. Marion Bradfield (an Irish
singer who has wonderful story songs that I know by heart), - I
listen to at any time - fills me with joy and an uplifted spirit.
Another old standby is Best Of Berlin. To me, it rocks hard. I
have a tendency to fall asleep while driving and I can put on BOB and
go for another 2 hours before I have to get off the road. Its a
driving sound for pounding metal - but not a lot of finesse to it.
I heard Baka Beyond recently - at the Phillidelphia Folk Festival -
and thought they were great. The CDs were sold out so I don’t have
any yet, but will get their work and it will go into my "work"
collection.
Cheers from rain drenched Ohio.
Eric
Here in Canada we have CBC radio (I and II - “I” being mostly talk
radio and II being mostly classical music) which we listen to in our
studio. I sometimes listen to recorded books, but find I have to keep
turning it on and off when I’m hammering or using machinery.
Sometimes when we’ve had enough of CBC we switch to a Toronto Rock
Station (100 miles from here) or listen to CD’s. CBC is a national
broadcaster, so it’s neat to meet other craftsmen at shows and find
out we’ve all been listening to the same thing. We used to have a
morning host (Peter Gzowski) who one time wondered what would happen
if one day he told all the potters listening to all use blue glaze
that day. He knew his audience. Sandra
Although I’ve lurked and replied to a couple of people off list on
one topic or another, this will be my first on list posting, and thus
my introduction as well. I seldom if ever listen to music at the
bench. While I work I play Teaching Company
(The Great Courses) educational tapes for the most
part, but also motivational, sales training, personal development
and other books or lectures on tape. Even if I’m working and not
really paying attention for much of the time, it all seems to stick.
I’ve built up a fair collection of this sort of material and don’t
mind listening to it several times. Some of the teaching company
lectures run 36 to 48 hours, so a single listening is good for a work
week. Occasionaly I run videos such as Alan Revere’s nice
goldsmithing set. I also have a small collection of tapes that I’ve
made on which I’ve simply recorded I wish to memorize or
review. The distraction keeps me fresh at the bench when I’m doing
repetitive tasks like throwing hundreds of bezels, makes double use
of the work time, improves my skill, gives me new knowledge or ideas
and, oddly enough, helps me focus when I’m doing technical work like
soldering. -Robert Beauford Wildsmith Gallery Taos, NM
I kept fighting the urge to jump in on this thread, but out here in
the desert, I listen to KZMU community radio in Moab, Utah. Y’all
really have to check this out, especially those of you who live in a
big city. They just played a classic Clapton song followed by the
Popye the Sailor Man theme song followed by a '40’s blues number.
You can listen in online while you’re reading your Orchid posts at
www.kzmu.org. Wendy Newman
Dr Didg has several albums out, including Out of the Woods, and
they’re all didgeridoo. Good tunes, and didgeridoo from start to
finish.
Lee Einer
Hi Orchdians! Two people have taken me up on my offer for some of my
favorite tunes for your studio. If you make a minimum of $20
donation to Orchid through PayPal, I will send you a CD of some of
my favorite music. This is a great way to give to Orchid and have
great music to work by.
Let me know if you can play MP3 (Itunes or CD MP3 Player) or regular
CD. I can pack a lot on MP3.
Since I am not making any income on this, there is no issue of
copyright. These tunes are for your personal enjoyment.
Some come on and get some Orchid Tunes!
-karen
Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph: 781/891-3854
Fx: 781/891-3857
www.metalwerx.com
email: @Karen_Christians
Board Member of SNAG
I remember seeing the guys in a jewellery workshop in Istanbul
watching football on TV (very loud - both TV and local
commentary!)while hand setting 10 pt diamonds without any
magnification. Talk about multitasking
Jack Ogden
@Jack_Ogden
Since I am not making any income on this, there is no issue of copyright. These tunes are for your personal enjoyment.
I don’t mean to be a trouble maker, Karen, but as a copyright holder
of a few songs(registered with the Library of Congress), my wife and
I have some knowledge of music copyright laws. We are not pros , by
any sense of the word, but lets consider this from a more closely
related media-jewelry. Lets say that I buy a few pieces of your top
selling designs, and a friend sees them. He happens to be the
director of fundraising for a non-profit organization. Then we decide
to make up knockoffs of your “bestselling designs”, that are
coprighted, to sell for a fundraiser. And since the styles you make
happen to be of top quality, we decide to make our knockoffs of a
cheaper grade, either to widen our NPO’s margin, or just to decrease
the amount that we sell them for, or maybe just because we are jerks
that do not care about quality. I am not going to make any profit
from this venture , only cover my material costs , and the rest goes
to the charity. Oh, and by the way, the charity happens to be a group
that represents the side of an issue that you adamantly oppose. Now
,how does that sound ? In the Christian Gospel music business,
copyright infringements are pursued aggressively by the artists who
find out that XYZ church had a group come in and sing for free, used
some of their material, and the church(an NPO) accepted a freewill
offering from the audience in attendance. The original artist is a
Christian, wrote a Christian song, and intended it for Christians to
hear, but he did not get his cut of the deal. Regardless of the
intent of the copier, for profit or not for profit, copying someone
elses material is strictly forbidden by law. Ed
Who wants to sit in a silent studio? Even my fabulous local public radio station gets old after a while!
It must be my age or should I say maturity, but when I am setting
some items of great value I don’t want to be put to sleep or lulled
into a relaxing state of mind. Noise or loud music or any kind, is a
total distraction. When I was setting a 300 diamond Rolex bracelet
last week, I turned off the radio chatter and music, and concentrated
on the absolute “here and now”.
I had to have full thinking on what I was doing. Telephone calls
interrupted my train of thought, even a need to get off the bench to
answer Natures call, was put on hold. I did it once and missed my
place for the many series of beads and where they should be located. I
will only allow a rest-break every 30 minutes. During that 30 minute
work session outside reality is thrown away, I do not allow any
interruptions of any sort… I’ve always been like this and it’s my
schedule of setting. I work, and that’s it.
When I am writing an article for the “Bench” magazine, I am the same
way. I will write and not look at the screen (as I am doing now),
this will allow me to think totally on what I am writing. No music
must enter my mind, food or other necessities of life and left
outside my office/computer room. I find that when I am writing a
series of events pertaining to a setting process, I go into a
5-minute state of full “now”. If I had to stop, go, rest, talk, walk
around. No sense of order would be in any of my articles…
gerry!
Hi All,
Radio/cd player is one of the most important pieces of equipment on
my bench! Mine is perched on top of my micromotor. On 99% of the
time,it helps keep a good flow going,however most radio stations
become a bore after a while playing the same tracks over and over
and over…
Of course sometimes total concentration is needed and the sound is
switched off,but for the easy boring mass production work it’s nice
to throw your brains in the corner and hum along while you work! Was
abit suprised when i had a look at all the nice workstations in the
“gallery” of this site. Where are your radio’s?
I’ve worked in a few places in my time and the happiest ones all had
a stereo of some sort.
I might add that anything involving wearing headphones is a big no
no in my opinion.
Cheers.
Chis Mead
cmsettingsATyahoo.co.uk
Gerry,
Sorry, it’s your age…
You should see how kids can multitask while doing homework.
Personallly I like music in the backround while at the bench and in
the store front. Of course it depends on the music but most customers
like it too. If you are observant to it, you will find most stores
have something playing in the background. Restaurants too.
Mark
Gerry,
I totally understand the necessity of peace and quiet while under
the pressure of a technical operation. Hey, age, maybe.
But when you want music, if you have a computer in your studio w/
speakers, don’t want advertisements every 5 minutes, and want a
terrific variety of choices…try Radio 365 (live365.com)
Listened w/out charge for quite a few years, then finally took the
plunge and signed up for two years: about $80 U.S. Quite an
improvement over the no charge site, but worth every penny so far.
Disclaimer. Gosh, maybe they’ll get a hold of this and send me
another year:)
Kay Taylor
I hooked my I-Pod to my reciever and put it on shuffle, I love it.
Sam Patania, Tucson
however most radio stations become a bore after a while playing the same tracks over and over and over.....
If you can get radio station www.kcuv.com (Denver) online, you would
be amazed at the diversity and originality of their playlist. It has
to be one of the best stations in the country. They have a oline
playlist so you can see in real time who the artist is that is being
played. I rarely get bored, and I think twice before switching to a
cd, I know I will probably miss something I want to hear.
Richard Hart
With my ipod and a website audible.com I can download books and
listen to a book while working. I can’t do calculations and
measuremnts but once that is done I plug into the book and even can
do the cad work on my computer. For calculations I then switch to
the music on the ipod.
Disclaimer I have nothing to do with Apple, I am just a happy
customer!!
Sue Dorman
www.suedorman.com
I find Classical music is extremely conducive to my own productvity.
Over cable or the internet my excellent, commercial free station is
available worldwide. Check out theclassicalstation.org. It doesn’t
get any better than this.
My muse loves it too and she stays around longer!
Happy listening!
Cyndy