Hephaestus Designs

Getting Out There

melacowan — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I’ve finally sorted some things out and have started signing up for arts and crafts events! First off, I am now part of the Denton Community Market. Here in Denton, TX, just next to the historic square. It happens every Saturday from 9am until 2pm, and goes on until December this year. http://dentonmarket.org/ I expect to be there every week unless the weather is just awful, or I have another event planned. Oh, and I won’t be doing any shows the last week of October/ first week of November because that’s when our wedding is happening!

So, besides the weekly show here in Denton, I have signed up for the following so far:

Denton Arts, Antiques, and Autos Extravaganza on September 10th from 9am to 3pm. http://dentonmainstreet.org/main/events/

Fort Worth Cowtown Indie Bazaar on October 15th from 9am to 5pm. http://www.cowtownindiebazaar.com/

As I add shows/events I will list them on here. So far, all of these shows are free to attend, so come on down and check out all of the awesome vendors! Besides arts and crafts, there are plenty of amazing food vendors, locally grown farmer’s produce and eggs, handmade clothing and purses, great music and family entertainment. Tons of fun for the whole family!

If you fancy something I’ve got at my booth, mention you visited either my blog or etsy store and I will give you 10% off your purchase. Yay, happy shopping. See you there!

Up, up, and away!

melacowan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:55:07 +0000

Finally got off my rear end and got my torch tanks refilled! And I do believe I have repaired my acetylene/air torch as well, thanks to the wonderful tech support team at ArcSmith. Turns out, the flashback arrestor has a little simulated stone with a pinhole in it that has to be super clean. It sure looked clean, but I went over everything again and poked and prodded it. I reassembled the torch tip and tightened it all very well. (I think that is what really helped the most) They also told me to go ahead and bump the psi up a little. I now run it at 13 psi instead of 8 psi. It seems to be working fine now.

So in case you have the same problem of your torch not producing its normal flame, take it apart, clean it, and tighten it all up really well. You may need to play around with your psi too.

Now that that’s taken care of, I’ve got a series of brooches to crank out for an upcoming competition. I will only enter one, but I haven’t quite decided which design yet. But here’s a hint of what’s to come…

So, a blog, huh?

melacowan — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:23:58 +0000

Welcome! I’ve finally jumped on the blogging wagon. After spewing information all over the web, I’ve decided to compile all of my ramblings into one organized space. It’s about time I assimilated.

So, what is this blog about? Well, I am a metalsmith/jeweler and all around crafty person. I plan on posting in-progress projects and their outcomes. Along with that will be tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way. Now that I’m out of school, I have only self-motivation and my own imagination to fuel my creative side. I’ve got a few projects coming up to show everyone, to be disclosed shortly. For now, I’ve got some more work to do with tweaking this website and some competition planning. So little time…