MEGAN AUMAN

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practically in my own backyard

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I’ve been blown away by some of the landscapes I’ve seen in my travels lately, so its nice to be reminded that I’ve got some pretty stunning views close to home as well.

We saw this waterfall yesterday while mountain biking. (Oh, and speaking of biking – I just have to share – I completed my first triathlon on Saturday. A 500 yard swim, 14.8 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run in an hour and 48 minutes!)

upcoming exhibition

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While I was at Patina Gallery, I got to see the work coming in for an exhibition of jewelry chosen by Charon Kransen. It was great to be able to see (and touch) the work in person. It was also nice to see work in person that I had only seen online. (Like this brooch by my friend Sharon Massey.)

You can see more of the work from this upcoming exhibition on Patina’s newly launched Flickr site. (I’m so proud!)

what i’m reading: groundswell

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It seems like I’m trying to read about 12 books right now.  But I finally finished Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies in preparation for my trip to Patina Gallery tomorrow.  (Yep, I’m off to Santa Fe tomorrow – I’m so excited!)
Groundswell was a really interesting book.  While geared more towards larger companies, I still found lots of useful insights about using social technologies to grow my business.  I’d definitely recommend it.

thank you!

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Thanks to everyone who commented on my post the other day.  Its wonderful to know that even though I’m no longer in school, I can still be connected to other artists willing to help me out with a problem.  THANK YOU!  I’m experimenting with some of the suggestions – I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted on the results.
Still working on prep for my next craft show – the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in Reston on Saturday – including drying out my tent, which was very wet from last weekend.

full disclosure

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I’m having a small problem that I thought I’d share here in the hopes that someone can help me find a solution.  When I make my fine silver on steel pieces, I use a process called fusing to adhere the silver to the steel.  (For all you non-metalsmiths, this means I heat the metal with a torch and melt it together.)  The nature of the process is that some of the drops are permanently affixed, and some, well, aren’t.
I then go through a number of steps to knock off the loose drops before I sell them.  I bang the pieces around on the table before I put them in the pickle.  After the pickle, I tumble them.  Then, when I’m doing the final finishing by hand, I try and knock off any that still seem loose.
But even with all that, it seems like I’m having a number of pieces sent back lately because the drops are falling off, particularly rings.  What should I do?  I don’t want to stop making the line, because its very popular (and I really like it as well) but I can’t have pieces coming back all the time.  Should I tumble longer?  Should I tumble with a harder material?  (Right now I’m using plastic media because I want a matte finish – perhaps I should use steel shot.)  I considered throwing a few rocks in with the media, to give the pieces something heavier to bang around with.  (This will probably be my next attempt.)  But I would love any other suggestions.  Help!