Mica shift- first time!...

I have known it by seeing for almost 3 years and never tried to make it.

Yesterday I have got orders for 2 Mezuzahs- one for a friend's teenager daughter and the other for a new opened natural food store.
So I had my first Mica shift experience...

What is mica? wikipedia says it is a mineral.
The word "mica" is thought to be derived from the Latin word micare, meaning to shine, in reference to the brilliant appearance of this mineral . For more info- see wiki.

Mica is a naturally occurring stone that forms in thin crystalline wafers. It is very soft and can be pulled apart with your fingertips. Egyptian, Greek and Roman women used ground up mica in their make-up to impart a 'glow' to their skin because even when ground to a powder, mica's crystalline structure allows it to reflect light.
When you unwrap a bar of gold Premo ,you may notice streaks of dark gold running through the clay. When you process the clay in a pasta machine, the streaks disappear and the clay seems to brighten several shades and become much more reflective.
If you want to align the mica for maximum shine you must first process the clay,#1 on your pasta machine- for about 10 to 20 times...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael's butterflys-freedom!

I used to work hours on one piece...
Thinking, imagining, falling in love...
A month and a half ago I decided to make 120 butterflies magnets
in order to give as a new year (Jewish) gift to friends...

I had no idea of how I am going to do it! Never done such a quantity and I had time limit with other thongs to do.

This made me create effective and productive "systems" and I think I changed my hard disc for thinking about my abilities...

In order not be bored I made them in differant techniques-

here are some of them-

Flower buket cane-
 

 

 

Donna Kato style-

 

Mokumegane-

 

 

 

 

 

Retro-
 

 

AA

 

"Clasic"...

 

Packed...

 

My name cards- as I promissed...

Time runs so fast, and now I am getting better managing it...
I used to be late almost always (not including air flights...)
I used to get lots of adrenalin from being in the situation of time-stress...

On the past 2 months I do my best to improve my time managing by using my
Palm as an alarm clock to all my activities.

It is a very interesting process to me, to study my abilities...
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I wanted to make unique name card, to give it away and to ensure that the person who get it will keep it!...
so I decided to make them one of a kind each...

I took it as an opportunity to use old cans which I put into one big flourish cane,
and I did not reduce it to a very small diameter.

 

Make a surface- 3 or 4 on the pasta-machine, cut thine slices of the cane and put it on the surface

 

I did the same with 2 jelly role canes with gold leaf:


 
 

To make the surface very thin I use making paper on to of it and then role.
This way the thin surface does not stick to the roller...

 
 

I used a heart cutter-

 
 
 

I baked it only for 20 min because it is very thin.

 
 

I know,I know, I have to be a better blogger...

My dear on-line friend pcbysusan helped me to come back to myself...(and all of you will enjoy her art, I bet!)
I have been so buzy these days,
never like this in my life!!

As if I have changed the hard disc in my head...
Changing is the key word of this time for me, with all the difficulties and joyment of growth...