Maybe it's these pandemic / quarantine / lockdown times - but it seems like every time I turn around it's Thursday again!?! I have a tendency to front load my week with business tasks, then I finally get to the jewelry-making. . . . you know, the designing, fabricating, torch-wielding, and bench-working . . . towards the back half of the week. (aka all the stuff involved in actually making the jewelry!)
This week, I spent a decent amount of time on quarterly tax filing, financial analysis, listing products on-line, and yesterday I worked on my website flow. If you have a website, you know there is always something to do! It's truly amazing how many hats a small, micro business owner must wear. It's fun, but it's grueling and less than glamorous at the same time. Honestly, I should cut myself some slack and be happy that I'm finally ready to focus on jewelry-making on [yet another] Thursday!
So what's on the docket left to accomplish this week?
- I have some shark's teeth charms to solder, polish and photograph. If you follow me on Instagram @petersonmade, you probably remember the found sharks teeth fossils I created a mold for, then I transformed them into sterling silver with the lost-wax casting method. So fun!
- I have a few repairs to complete. One of my clients asked me to repair and upsize 2 fine jewelry rings in her collection. First up is a Cascading Diamond & Gold Marquis Ring that I have already cleaned and it's now ready to be resized, and on deck is an Emerald & Diamond Cluster Ring that still needs a deep, thorough (but very gentle!) cleaning, followed by a resizing. Both are going up 1.5 sizes. Extra precautions must be taken for the Emerald, so I'm taking my time on that one. Lastly, I have a sterling silver necklace chain replacement to complete for another client.
- Component prep + a Powder Coating Session. I have a few new earring designs that combine geometric powder-coated shapes with metal. So I have several pieces of metal already cut and formed, and just waiting for some final TLC. Plus I have a First Born Skull Ring, that a client has asked me to powder coat in a Satin Black as well. (I can't wait to see this one finished!) The Powder Coating set up takes a minute, so I like to make sure that I have enough pieces ready to make it all worth while.
Not bad, right? (Ha!). As much as I'm feeling behind, I will feel pretty accomplished if I can finish all of the above by the end of this work week, which is actually Saturday for me.
Maybe I need to try something new though. Instead of being surprised it's Thursday [again] - perhaps I should start a new trend of saying "Cheers! It's Thursday!" and celebrate all that I've accomplished vs. feeling behind. (It's actually a great idea!). Who's with me?
