wires, drawings, and doodles

i hate how i can't update this blog as much as i'd like to anymore, so please bear with me readers. but i'm learning so much. 

it's a great feeling of accomplishment to make something with your hands. i love that moment of completion, of seeing everything come together and be worth it in the end. i was so happy to finish my first retainer. the wires are 18/8 steel - and very stiff. to fit the requirements of a retainer with that kind of wire made me want to rip my hair out - it was hours and hours of work, something i'm sure you wouldn't have guessed. the wire has to touch - but not push on certain teeth, it has to be a millimetre raised above certain spaces, it has to sit just so, dip here, twist here, be angled here. very aggravating in the moment. but my classmates and i are getting better and faster all the time.

i kind of liked this drawing assignment -  drawing can be very soothing. we had to anatomically draw the teeth to scale as well as label all their anatomical features.  compared to my classmates i was lucky - we used to have 6 hour drawing classes at OCAD. but i always feel like i can improve on my drawing skills, so it was good practice.

though, i do draw before i make my jewellery, but not to that detail. this little pendant is from one of the doodles in my sketchbook.

to do

sometimes my to do list saddens me a little. besides trying to keep myself sane by having a few leisurely moments each day my plate always seems very very full. it's gotten worse now because i'm in school. 

as of now until next week i have to:

study for 3 exams

finish the set up for some upper dentures

make a retainer

polish 3 acrylic plates for retainers

go to work on monday

go to classes from monday to friday

go to the studio on thursday

spot weld 2 space maintainers

finish 28 full page anatomically correct teeth drawings

prepare for a 10 minute presentation

drop off new jewellery for the devil's workshop

drop off commission work

pick up some findings for some pearl bracelets

do laundry

these are just the things i HAVE to do...not even the things i want to do...like go to yoga, or watch Dexter, or visit my grandma. 

*sigh*

a new kind of palette

it's news for some, but i'm back in school again - with a slightly new direction: dental technology. i like it because we use very similar tools, methods, and materials as in jewellery, but this time with a more utilitarian function. compared to all the art forms i've dabbled in over the years, i've found jewellery to be the most exact and finicky.

but dental tech is worse - i didn't think it was possible. in jewellery, pieces that are supposed to be soldered have to be filed so they fit perfectly together with no gaps, little scratches are huge imperfections, and solder blobs drive you crazy and make you instinctively reach for a small hand file.

in dental tech, if something is off a tenth of a millimeter the whole piece may be useless, it may ruin the whole tooth setup or cause someone extreme pain. it's far more challenging than i thought it would be. though i've been told it will get easier in time, which is normally true, so i'm hopeful :p

so now i will also be a maker of dental appliances, and they'll pop up in here from time to time. i can already see how it's inspiring new jewellery work from me, we'll see where it goes from here.

some of you who have had retainers may recognize these acrylic palettes. i had to make orthodontic appliances while studying for my ortho exam. it's been hard transitioning back into study mode, but i'm getting back into it (i.e. i'm drinking coffee again). i like how from this angle, the first picture kind of looks like a trio of swans.