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I don’t know how many years it’s been since my sister left me her marble collection. I just know that every day I see a pair of glass jars, overflowing with colored spheres, on the shelf at home.

My sister has always liked them, and the truth is that they are an original gift, especially when you find them in an antique shop or flea market.

The last one I gave her is a marble die, it couldn’t be funnier, post apart the incredible shop where I found it.

So after so many years seeing them, day after day, I decided that I had to do something with them.

I have always loved the spheres themselves, but the size, small, material, mainly glass, makes them a kind of little treasure of precious stones. I can imagine them without much effort inside a chest on a pirate ship. You can spend hours looking at them, each one is different.

So, JEWELRY, how could I not?

I had to take a few of them to the workshop and start experimenting, drawing, seeing how far I could go.

The first thing I did with them, a bit roughly, I admit, was to put a diamond bit into one of them. If I manage to make a small hole in it, long enough to put a pin in, it’s a quick and simple solution.

But of course, the first ideas, at least in my case, are not usually the best.

After I managed to make the hole without any major problems, when I returned to the workshop the next day:

BANG!!

The marble had exploded. So, first idea to the trash, to think again.

I didn’t want to just glue the marble to a hood and be done with it. First, because it would come off without any big movements, second, because being a transparent piece of glass you would see all the glue and third, because I don’t like this kind of solutions, for this I studied jewelry.

With all these ideas in mind, I came to my second conclusion. I have to make a kind of metal cage, where the marble enters, from which it can’t get out, and which keeps it loose at all times.

That’s how I made my first marble earrings. I got so excited that not only did I make a pair with the traditional tricolor marbles, but I bought two rock crystal quartzes and made another pair. In total two pairs, I don’t know how many hours of work, but it proved to be better.

What’s next?

Of course! These first marble earrings I gave to my sister. She was the person who would best understand why such pieces of jewelry. She, in turn, gave away one of the pairs of earrings, the colored one, which I have never heard of again, but the quartz ones, which she kept, I can still see them because she still wears them, and I love to see them.

About a year went by, more or less, and even though I had managed to make a pair of earrings that were more than acceptable, there was something that I was telling myself I hadn’t completely solved.

So, I started the third phase.

The assembly that I had done for the slopes, was visually very simple, but somewhat cumbersome in construction. I gave the original idea a couple more turns.

And from that couple of turns, a small collection of necklaces and earrings was born.

Now the cage where the marble is is a little bigger and gives a little bit of a feeling that it’s a planet floating inside its rings.

I loved it, I can’t say anything else.

I started with a simple pendant, then two marbles, then lariats and finally earrings. The pieces were incredible and finally looked like a collection.

My marble collection.

By making so many pieces I was able to combine a lot of colors and different styles of marbles.

I recognize that my sister put on a face of:

What are you doing with my marbles?

How many have you spent?

But since she liked them, there wasn’t much conflict.

LESS BAD

I don’t know if I’m the only crazy person who likes this kind of pieces (now I have another crazy idea with some seeds they gave me that I’ll tell you about), well my sister likes them too, but I keep seeing them and I love them.

They look like small planets orbiting endlessly, I imagine that waiting for some adventurer to go into their depths.

LAST DAYS

Day 6 (Sunday): Yesterday I spent the whole day looking at the different combinations offered by the cylinders. I was cutting them and playing with them. Forming different structures. Everything was ideas and possibilities, so today it’s up to me to decide.

I combine this cylinder with this one, this other one can be left alone, … I have also started to see how I have to focus on the different pieces I want to make. Which processes go first and which later. This point is important so as not to make mistakes, since once the material has been manipulated there is no turning back. And in the first piece I have already made a mistake.

Error that meant total destruction! I cut a part before polishing, and when I tried to put the part on the wheel, I hooked it and destroyed it.

Good. That’s all right.

Just change the order.

I’ll start again.

First clean the marking part of the machine. Then smooth the part and start removing scratches. Puncture it. Pass it through the rubbers. Polish it. Cut it. Join parts. Adjust the pieces. Good! The process is the right one. More ideas come to me, changes of plane, multiple combinations,…and if I try …

Day 7 (Monday): I only have three days left to finish, so everything has to go smoothly. I see the work raised on the table of the jewelry workshop. It’s time to make decisions. Today I need to prepare five combinations, but I can fail in some. There is a margin. Yesterday I saw the rhythm I can follow and how to pose the pieces. I try not to put myself in machine mode and enjoy the process, also as it is not clear how many pieces will give me time to prepare, the best thing is to start with one and finish it.

In another situation I would work in blocks, but it doesn’t make sense to have the material of five pieces in step two and only one finished.

At the end of the day the result is three finished pieces, one more that only needs to be polished, and another that has been broken at the last moment. This indicates that it is time to stop for today.

Conclusion: I am very tired but very happy. The work is coming out and I’m more and more curious to see where I’m going.

Day 8 (Tuesday): Facing the final straight. Buff

I can’t believe it’s gone by today. Overall everything went quite well. I managed to meet the objectives set for today, and I find it surprising because there was a lot of work on my list.

In these days that I have been with the cylinders I have managed to systematize the work enough. It is true that the final result will not be seen until I return to Valencia.

It will be at that moment when I can assess whether or not there are errors, and if they can be solved. But my feelings, my stomach, tells me that everything is going well. This having to work in two, the stone part here and the metal part in Valencia is strange, but it’s the only way to get the most out of the workshop. However, I will have to accept that in this way, there is no margin for error. If I had assumed the metal part I would have finished one or two pieces maximum. That way I’ll carry around ten fingers in my suitcases.

What is strange is knowing that tomorrow will be the last day of work, then it’s time to come back.

Day 9 (Wednesday): The day has arrived!

Today is the last day in the workshop and well the reality is that I haven’t been able to work.

I woke up as usual and went to school with the intention of making the most of my last day in the workshop. But I knew it was goodbye too. Saying goodbye to all the people who have accompanied me in these almost six months. And I think that this part has made me more difficult.

I have arrived at the workshop and I have not seen any sense to continue working. I thought of the image of Zane, a colleague, who spent until the last minute making the most of the machines. But I haven’t been able to. I picked up my box, where the last pieces of stone were to be finished, I looked at them, and I realised that they will travel to Spain as they are, perhaps to remind me of the experience.

At the end of the day there will be cylinders on my treasure shelf. Exactly two cylinders. They will be accompanied by other pieces that have been left in these months.

It doesn’t matter, they will all have their special place.

However, I must not forget that I carry, I think they are nine compositions, ready to transform completely.

In the end it has been passed. Last week enjoying. Very tired but very satisfied with the results.

I can only say that there will be more and I hope to show you soon how all this history of stones and cylinders ends.

People who know me know that one of my characteristics is how stubborn I am. This sometimes comes in handy. You stick to your convictions, but others, especially when you don’t have a reason, keep you from doing interesting things. The good thing is that, as the saying goes:

“It’s never too late if bliss is good.”

The thing is, I had been recommended several times, and with very good arguments, to go to the Geominero Museum in Madrid, a museum I had never heard of in my life, and you see, as if I hadn’t made up my mind, I would never get caught in the act or there was always something else to see.

But, on my last trip to Madrid, the fairies of the destination came together, everything clicked and, finally, I approached.

The truth is that it’s centrally located, very close to the Castellana, at 23 Ríos Rosas Street and if that wasn’t enough,

IT’S FREE

What a commercial I’ve come up with.

Going back to what I was doing, I finally decided to get closer. I had about two hours left to catch my train and I thought it was a good idea.

And it was!

The museum is located on the 1st floor of the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, and just to see the building, the stained-glass roof leaves you speechless, it’s worth a visit. Now searching for information on the internet, I have found a review in the Tripadvisor that has made me very funny, but it is a truth like a temple:

“If Spielberg sees it, he would surely use it to shoot some scene… and then it would be impossible to visit it without queuing up a kilometre”.

Once you’re inside it’s like traveling back in time, full of showcases and more showcases. You lose your eyes among so many minerals and fossils.

I loved seeing T-Rex, around here, as if nothing had happened!

The collections date back to 1849 and have expanded over the years, but I think that even though there are new pieces, they all take up that old halo, which makes everything magical.

And if all the showcases that fill the room weren’t enough, suddenly you discover that there are spiral staircases that take you to three interior terraces that surround the whole room and where there are, more and more, minerals.

At the end I was about an hour and a bit and I had to go to catch the train. I just walked around, I didn’t stop especially anywhere, so when I get a chance, I’ll go again.

Also, after having searched for some information about the museum, I have made a few discoveries. As there is another museum, right next door, Rios Rosas 21, which is the Museo Histórico Minero, and in it we can make a visit to a MINA! So I’m going to put it in the agenda and the next time I’m in Madrid, and I have a couple of hours, I know what I have to do.

P.S. The Museum on its website chooses a couple of pieces per month and the ones in November are a calcite from the Balearic Islands and a Pasaloteuthis paxillosus from the Lower Jurassic.

LAST WEEK

Day 4 (Friday): I just had an incredible downturn. I can’t take it anymore. I realize that my body can continue to work, but my head refuses, I am tired of this dynamic.

I get bored, it can’t be more tedious.

Every day is the same, as I have divided the work in two to make the most of my time here. I prepare only the part of the pieces, which yes or yes, I can only do here, leaving the rest for when I return to my workshop in Valencia.

This means a very routine work in which it’s always the same, and I don’t see anything finished because that part will come later. It’s what I want to take full advantage of, what the stone workshop offers me.

Above all, the idea of how many things I can do here with absolute normality, which in Spain will be either impossible or very difficult until I manage to buy specific carving tools, weighs heavily on me.

Therefore, everything is cutting, forming, zuñir and polishing. Piece behind piece.

And it could not be otherwise. My head to said Enough!

That’s it for today. I’m going to pick up my things and go home. Tomorrow I’ll think about what I’m going to do. I rearrange my table, and I value what I’m leaving undone.

I see them again. THE CYLINDERS

Immediately my head connects several thoughts.

One: I can no longer with the work I am doing. I have been working exclusively on this for more than a month, I have more than enough material, and if not, then bad luck.

Two: how beautiful are the cylinders.

Three: it’s my last week at Idar.

And, as if I had always been there, an idea appears, and I make a quick decision.

I’m going to dedicate the last week of my Exchange to enjoy the stone carving work and the workshop I have here.

I’m going to grab the cylinders and go play. I want to see where I can get with them in a week. Immediately I come up with a lot of ideas. It’s as if my mind, the second after I’ve made the decision to start something else, has unlocked itself.

I feel totally new and full of energy. I can’t wait for tomorrow to start. It is incredible the feeling of strength that produces the illusion to build something new.

Day 5 (Saturday): It’s definitive. My last week will be Cylinder Week. Last night I couldn’t get them out of my head. I started to draw like a crazy person, valuing the possibilities provided by the shape of the cylinder. Thinking about how to cut them or how to place them. There are infinite possibilities, it seems to have no end. Right now I would love to have a hundred cylinders, two hundred.

Working without thinking about concepts, without anything to say, without research without anything, only with the cylinders and their shape. Enjoying. Looking at them, some are broken, there are different colors and different sizes. All of them have important marks from their passage through the drill, cracks from having been hammered, …

A lot of inspiring details, and nothing more…

One of the worst things about working with silver is the issue of cleaning. It’s amazing how quickly it stains and:

It gets UGLY!

If we do not have the piece in use, or we have left it on the bedside table or in the bathroom, it is more than certain that when we want to use it again it has begun to take a dark and dull tone with yellowish shades.

I find it curious because I oxidize many of my pieces artificially, accelerating the process by means of reagents. It’s a finish I love. A silver of an intense dark gray color, which we can leave matte or give shine.

But of course, it is one thing to do it on purpose, and another very different thing is that the pieces get stained without us wanting it.

The reason why silver oxidizes is due to contact with hydrogen sulfide in the air, this time oxygen is not to blame, although we still call it oxidation. This provokes a reaction and generates silver sulphide, forming first yellowish spots that little by little will go darkening.

Thanks to this reaction we have no more and no less than the origin of the photograph. A groso modo is silver that has reacted next to silver that has not done it, and of there comes all the scale of grays.

But back to our little jewels

It is clear that simple exposure to air blackens the material (it’s a good way to know if it’s silver or not, it couldn’t be all negative), but our own PH, if it’s very acidic, cosmetics, cleaning products, are not good friends of silver.

The conclusion is that, yes or yes, our silver pieces are going to oxidize, so:

How can I avoid getting silver stains?

The only way to avoid this 100% is to have no silver, and that’s not an option, we love our silver pieces.

So, how to minimize this?

There are several things we can do in a simple way to protect our silver. An easy and simple one is that when we do not wear our jewelry, is always well stored in a box or a plastic bag, thus being protected from the air.

It is also important to remove them whenever you are going to use some kind of cleaning product, especially if it is bleach, or makeup. In addition this will help us not to scratch.

It is not advisable to take a shower with the pieces on, as they can affect the soaps and are more exposed to scratches, which can go back to mates.

Apart from these small basic tips, there are homemade methods to clean the silver once it has been stained.

I have to admit that since I use specific machinery and products to clean in the workshop, I have never tried one of these cleaning tricks.

So, in post of the knowledge, I will be putting, little by little, videos with the different processes and results, to see if we manage to see our shining silver.

Counting my trip to Copenhagen, in a few words, is an impossible task. As I plan to write about a place we’ve been to, five more come to mind. So I’m going to try to be succinct.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!

Well, I’m going to try not to be so short.

At home, I looked for information about Copenhagen and two things stood out above everything else.  The first is that it’s very far north, I’ve always been a zero to the left in geography and I didn’t imagine it so far up. But, it is also the south of the Scandinavian countries, you see, everything depends on the point of view from which we look. The second thing is how expensive it is. All the websites I looked at highlighted it, even saying that it is the most expensive city in Europe.

Please, more expensive than London or Paris, where we are going to end up.

This meant, in turn, two things, having to borrow a coat jacket, but really warm (those of us who live in Valencia know what I mean) and assume that we would have to juggle money.

Both achieved!

We have walked without rest (means of transport of the low budget), the bambolla that I carry in my left foot corroborates it, and of course, to be all day in the street, something of cold also we have passed. But all these apparent hardships have allowed us to know incredible and unexpected places.

One of the big conflicts was food.

When you make this type of trip, two or three days, you try to make the most of it, as well as getting to know some of the local gastronomy. The way people eat in a city says many things about how they are. But in Copenhagen it is quite expensive to eat in a restaurant, so we had to look for alternatives.

Thanks to this reduced budget we have found incredible places: the famous food trucks, such as the Reffen, which is very far away but is a fantastic place. There are plenty of stalls with food from all over the world. They are areas of the city where you can eat at a good price and spend a very pleasant time talking to the person next to you, but there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that it seems that it is not common to order drinks, the menus that offer them do not include them and as a rule they are quite expensive. The second is that they do not admit physical money, it is necessary to pay with card in all the street stalls.

Another option that we have explored, are the free buffets. We ended up in the SAMOS Restaurant, with Greek food and it was love at first sight, we loved it! And all for about 14 €. Oriental food venues are also a very good and tasty option.

But even on such a tight budget, we were able to get into the JazzCup, a small place that is in Gothersgade 107, and where once you’ve sat you don’t want to go anymore. It’s a live concert hall, record shop and coffee shop all at once, where good music, cozy decor, charming owner and a very rich and VERY cheap coffee, make a combination of ten, you couldn’t ask for more.

Evidently we have walked without end (there is the option of the bikes, but we opted for the legs) and what to say:

Canals all over the city, the famous Nyhavn, the free city of Christiania, palaces, churches, countless sculptures in the streets,…

In conclusion: you can travel to Copenhagen with little money and lots of enjoyment. You can’t travel to Copenhagen without a good coat.

And no matter how many times you go, there will never be a new corner to discover.

PENULTIMATE WEEK IN IDAR OBERSTEIN

Day 1 (Tuesday): This morning, when I arrived at school, I found a series of agate cylinders on my workshop table.

I’m not sure who left them there or who they are.

The only thing I know is that they are precious, thus, without working, with the marks of the machines, freshly carved. I recognize that I look at them with desire and I imagine that they are a gift for me, but reality tells me that some colleague has left them on my table by mistake, or because he thought of picking them up later and forgot.

Day 2 (Wednesday): The cylinders are still on my table, just like I left them yesterday, no one has touched them.

Come on, nobody seems to have remembered them and that makes me think that maybe they really are for me. To make that number of cylinders in the machine of the school supposes its hours of work, and more in agate, with how hard it is.

I’m still in my business, I still have a lot of work ahead of me, so I forget about it.

At mid-morning Petr arrives at school, we say good morning and everyone gets to work. After a while, during the first break Petr asks me:

-Did you like the cylinders?

To which I reply with great interest: “The ones on my table? Yes, of course, they are beautiful, I saw them yesterday but I don’t know who they are”.

-They are for you.

-What are they for me? Yes!!!!!

Petr tells me that he went to a company that works with agate. There they dedicate themselves to make bowls with this stone and to do it, first they pierce the inside, forming these cylinders. They split them and go on, until they form a first hole on which to work with more precision.

These cylinders end up in the rubbish because for them it is only a way of roughing the stone. I can’t believe it. We continue talking for a while and tells me the name of the company and more or less where it is, of course, I do not remember (when I write things down when it touches). It’s a fantastic gift.

Day 3 (Thursday): I’m still preparing the pieces I want to take to Spain. The cylinders are still on my table just as Petr left them, I haven’t touched them.
I’ve decided I’ll take them, but I don’t have time left, with all I’m preparing to do anything for them, so it’s difficult for them to become part of a piece.

But I want to take them with me, I like them a lot and I think they will have a good place on my treasure shelf. I almost see them there already.

I’m still working on my pieces. At times it is difficult to accept that working with stones is slow. No, very slow. As much as I want to, I can’t stop anywhere.

The days go by and it seems that I don’t advance.

No matter how many hours I spend in the workshop I can’t break that dynamic, everything is slow. Although to be honest every night I arrive with finished pieces.

I think the month and a half that I’ve been working without rest is starting to take its toll on me. From Monday to Sunday. All morning and all afternoon. I start to lose motivation. I imagine it’s tiredness.

Today is August 30th and this only means one thing, we have to say:

GOODBYE SUMMER!

I know that, officially, until September 21, we did not change the season, but I think, that I am not the only one, that it goes back to school on September 1.

What does all this mean?

August is the month par excellence in which we all, in one way or another, stop.  Whether it’s because of the temperatures, this year they’ve been tremendous, or because so many people take their vacations this month, the thing is that everything seems to invite you to do anything but work.

August is the month of the beach or the swimming pool, good and the river, it is the month of the excursions for the mountain, it is to go to that town of which so well they have spoken to us but that we have never found the day to go, it is the month of the beers in the terrace, how not of the soporific naps, in which one does not know if this but before or later. In short, it’s the month to do fun things, to get out of the routine.

It is true that more and more people prefer to take their holidays at another time of the year and the cities are no longer so empty when August arrives, but even if you are working, as a freelancer you are always working, you always stick something of that holiday spirit.

Throughout the year we have to face the dreaded Mondays, you never know because Saturday and Sunday seem to have fewer hours, but September 1 is like the big Monday of the year, it is the first Monday of the year.

SUPER MONDAY

Everything starts again, we have to return to our routines and it is essential that we have recharged our batteries to be able to face the season with a lot of courage.

What’s more, those of us who, like myself, dedicate ourselves to craftsmanship and therefore the Christmas campaign is vital, so:

WE STARTED AT FULL SPEED

This year I’ve been preparing myself. I’m getting ready. Above all, I’m working on the planning, that everything is as orderly as possible, to get the most out of working hours.

I really want to start because it is now, when I see on the table all the projects I want to get involved in, all the work it is going to involve. It’s time to clarify ideas, to define times and objectives. It’s also time to let some crazy idea get into this whole order. Possibly an idea without much future, that is simply there to be the discordant point to the order. I need to know that I have an open window through which to escape when all the negotiations, when all the work necessary to run a project like LaBÉ, in a serious and professional way, overwhelms me.

I know that order and discipline will lead me to a good port, but from time to time I like to jump and get lost.

It is now, in September, when we reorder everything, we take up or eliminate previous work, we set new objectives, but above all it is the month in which we ask for many wishes and everything is possible if we are constant, we only have to work and continue dreaming.

WELCOME TO SEPTEMBER

“Summer vacations”, more than the title of a post, seems to be the title of a song, but there is no better way than with these three words to describe those few days (at least few for me) in which we take the suitcase and escape to a place X. I can’t avoid imagining myself choosing X turning a ball of the world and placing my finger, randomly, on any destination, but reality is not like that because money conditions and you have to be a little responsible.

Sometimes, they are great trips, to distant places and with many hours of airplane (not everything could be fun), and other times they are more modest, but not because of it, less interesting.

To me, this year, my X trip has taken me seven days to Cagliari, to enjoy the city and the beach.

Can you ask for more?

But today, in front of the computer, writing this post about my holidays, I can only say that I’m sad because it’s over. I landed yesterday back after a fantastic week in the capital of Sardinia. It doesn’t go into my head how fast vacation days always go by.

One of the things I take into account when I travel is that it doesn’t end up becoming something more exhausting than the days of work, countless excursions, endless visits, every imaginable museum and church, visits each and every one of the charming little villages in the surrounding area.

What’s up! We’ve come to rest!

It’s true that when you travel little, like me, you want to make the most of it. Enter the anxiety of not leaving anything unseen.

(Like I hate it when someone asks you, “Did you see this or that? And you can only answer NO).

Luckily, over the years I have realized that my memories are better if I take things easy.

So now when I plan a trip I take into account several things.

The first and most important, even most important of the place we’re going, is WHO I’m going with.

If you can not tell a story not to sleep gift from a fellow traveler, who ended up turning a wonderful vacation into a nonsense, please throw the first stone.

Therefore, point number one GOOD COMPANY.

This means, for me, someone with ideas and interests similar to mine when it comes to travel.

My second point is to be clear that holidays are for rest and enjoyment, which leads me to the conclusion that if I want to enjoy I have to rest.

Some time ago I decided that one less museum and one more terrace is a good solution to the excess of things to do.

Everything becomes more relaxed, and also allows me to get to point three.

Talking to new people, meeting people who live in the cities I visit, relating to the environment… all this is what will populate my memories in the future.

I realize that when I speak of my travels, of some place where I have been, I always end up telling the stories of people who have joined me, who I knew, where I was, why we started talking. The buildings and streets end up in a kind of disaster drawer in my head that I rarely remember, and when I do everything is mixed, but the stories with people, those always stay with me.

This summer, Cagliari (100% recommended), the company, the city, the food… everything has been great, although, now, the time has come to turn it into a souvenir of the summer of 2019.

I have to admit that I like to walk, I’ve always liked to walk, come on, I like it a lot and if I try to remember myself as a child, I’m perfectly capable of seeing myself walking.

Today I choose to walk to take the bus or the subway. And it’s not that I have anything against public transport, but I can already hear my head analyzing: -I think I always think the same thing, besides, the image I have is of the city, on this street or this avenue, sometimes through the park or, as

I live in Valencia, crossing the river. I know where the different bus or metro stops are, I could stop at any time and take public transport, although I choose to walk.

This is the first time, as far as I can remember, that the forest is part of my environment. Other times, I have occasionally walked through a forest, on a holiday or on an excursion. But I had never lived with a forest as close as I do now, and in addition, I had never gone for a walk just like that.

Evidently many times I have gone for a walk because yes, but there is always something else, to see some shop, to have a drink in that beautiful coffee, to go and draw to the beach…

Here, I simply go out and walk. Walking is, in itself, the action, there is no more. Or yes, because in that “there is no more”, there are many things.

I live in a city that gives me the gift of leaving home and in less than a sigh I’m already climbing a slight slope that leads me to the beginning of three roads. All through the forest and all different in themselves.

The reality is that I’m not far from the city, but at the same time I have the feeling of being very far away.

The first is a route parallel to a road, curiously you don’t usually hear the cars, the occasional siren or punctual horn and that’s it, everything else is sounds of the forest, birds, the air, the stream that accompanies me all the way, I saw a fawn!, and little by little, time takes another rhythm, it becomes slower, you don’t need to do anything, just walk.

To get to the second path, you have to climb the hillside a little higher, and in that way, you get a little deeper. It’s not that you’re far away either, but in this second path you breathe the depth, the light is sifted through the treetops and I even have a slight sense of caution. It’s certainly not my usual environment at all and I feel a little intrusive. The sounds are nuanced, everything seems heavier, somewhat slower.

I wouldn’t know how to explain it well, but my problems, measured here, always seem smaller, I’m all smaller and I like it. I imagine it’s the closest I’ve come to meditating, to having my head blank, just walking.

And the third way… The third way has become a secret, the secret between me and the forest.