My new adventure

I have taken on a new venture Or should I say ADVENTURE. I have taken over a Jewelry supply and tool business called Fundametals from my dear freind Jeanette Blix Ryan. It has been a learning curve...bit is a bumpy start...kind of a wild ride....BUT wa are building up steam over at Fundametals. So to create a little buzzzzz I am having a giveaway of some cold hard fundamentals CASH! $25 bucks to shop with on fundametals.net.  Do you need a new tool? How about some metal, wire, beads..oh my? PLUS I will ship your order to you FOR FREE!  All you need to do is a few simple tasks....that are oh so easy. The more tasks you complete the more entries you will get. I have wanted to have a giveaway for a while but they are so hard to manage. But I found this really cool service called Rafflecopter. It takes care of all the entries for you. The more tasks you complete the more entries you will get. Now that is pretty cool. They are also having a giveaway on their website to win an Ipad. Go to their site to enter. Yeah! Free stuff! To enter our contest just use the widget below. The more you tasks you complete the more entries you will get. Contest ends on the 12.01est 1/19/12..so hurry!

Thank-you! Michelle Mahler Teka and Zoe AND Fundametals a Rafflecopter giveaway

My new friend..He is called a Potter Press

Last summer I was sooo lucky, after selling off some unused tools, to take the plunge and buy my hydraulic press. I researched and researched...Will it be the Shark Bite? The Bonny Doone? Then I stumbled onto the Potter USA website. I first I dismissed it, was it for ceramics(potters?)? I went around and asked others questions..read up on building my own. I do tend to obsess over the details when I am making a big decisions like this one. Then with more searching I found the Potter USA site again and this lead to Kevin Potter's You Tube channel. The videos of this guy totally enjoying his job..cutting and welding metal won me over. I then ask him a bazzillion questions which he patiently answered. So my order was placed...once it arrived...It was Love at first site! Or should I say first squeeze! I thought of making a video showing you how they work. But how much better could it be to see Kevin himself explaining how a blanking die (or pancake die) works with a 20-ton press. The press can do a multitude of tasks. Cutting metals blanks is just one of them. Thus the term "blanking die". This is a sample of what a pancake die looks like:Here is Kevin demonstrating how to cut with the die: This is a necklace I made using this very die. I first cut it out of copper, shaped it with some reposse and dapping tools. Then I enameled it: More about the press later. Michelle Mahler Teka and Zoe and Fundametals.net