Category: Website

I have finally settled on a new name and have begun the rebranding of this website.

If you look at the banner, you will now see that this website is now The Adventurous Smith.

Why I am a SMITH?
If you read Wikipedia and look at the Visual Thesaurus, you will see that not only is a smith someone who works in metal but it can also mean a person who is a skilled worker. Since I have moved beyond Silversmithing, I am now a smith!

So? ................

What do you think of my new log and redesigned website??

Why the change?

Well, I have always wanted a nice logo and since I was paid for an upcoming article in Art Jewelry Magazine, I thought I could take that money and fund the logo design.

I found a design firm (The Firehouse Collective) in the area and we discussed my requirements: logo, colors for website and business card and that I could do the website redesign myself. We came to an agreement on price that was within my budget and voila about 3 weeks later I had everything in my inbox. Yes, we only met once to do the final selection of colors.

And today less than one week later after staying up late and working on this through lunch I we also have a new website.

I still have a few things left to do

Get the business cards made
Get a touchmark/stamp made for putting on metal
Fixing some images here on the website and a few other geeky items

I hope you like it as much as I do

1 Comment

Search Terms

5/26/2013

Today, while printing all the panel for my exhibit, I took a look at this websites stats. This shows me:
- how many visitors I have per day, for the past 30 days
- where they come from, for the past 30 days
- what are the most popular pages, for the past 30 days
- and what they search for, over the past 30 days

Most of these I can understand but there are just a few that are off.

Here is the list from April 26 through May 26. I will let you decide which are which.............

30 minute silver smith jewelry projects
american silversmith large holloware stump
blank bracelet cuffs synclastic
books on fold forming
california metal cuff bracelet workshops
chased and repousse mountain
Chasing & Repousse
chasing & repousse tools
chasing & repousse.pdf
chasing and repousse
chasing and repousse imagery
chasing and repousse jewelry
chasing and repousse pdf
chasing and repousse tools for sale
chasing tools silversmith tools
colonial silversmith tools
contemporary methods of chasing and repoussé
copper repousse and chasing at home
dirty nails
dixon crimping stake
dixon hammers
dixon jewelers tools
dixon silversmith hammer
dixon silversmith hammers
dixon tools
ebay silversmithing
exhibitor appreciation night san diego fair
flattening tools for chasing and reppousse
fold formed bracelet blanks
fold forming
fold forming bracelet
fold forming hammers
fold forming jewelry
fold forming pictures
fold forming video
foldforming
grinder for making chasing repousse tools
has saign charlestein tools
hot forged silver
how to apply silver leaf
how to apply silver leaf to paper
how to fold metal for jewellery
HOW TO MAKE FOLD FORM BRACELET
how to make own chasing tools
how to remove stains from hand forged sterling silver jewelry
huang silversmith
images of chasing and repousse
jewelry silversmiths
make your own chasing tools
metal fold forming
metalsmith class los angeles
metalsmithing classes los angeles
metalsmithing classes san diego
metalsmithing workshops in san diego california
nc black allcraft
nechamkin chasing tools set
new foldform jewelry images
old forming
photographs of tools
pitch pot repousse
repousse chasing
repousse class+california
repoussé equipment
reverse electroplating etching
san diego metalsmithing classes
second hand tools for silversmithing
set of chasing tools
shibori metal raising techniques
shibuishi forging
silver fold forming book
silver leaf application
silver smith patina
silver smithing classes san diego
silversmith
silversmith blogs
silversmith class california
silversmith hammer
silversmith resources
silversmith stake holder h-100 jewelry ebay
silversmith stake picture
silversmith stakes
silversmith tolls in california
silversmith tools
silversmithing classes in los angeles
silversmithing classes los angeles
silversmithing classes SanDiego
silversmithing lessons in southern california
silversmithing mushroom stake
silversmithing stakes
silversmithing studio layout
silversmithing tools
soldering station.pdf
story bracelet carl stanley
synclastic cuff how to do
tools and equipment for silversmiths in california
tools and materials of chasing and repousse
tools of a silver smith
tucson silversmiths
used silversmiths stakes ebay
what is a silver leaf in silversmithing
where can i buy saign charlestein's tools
where can i purchase saign charlestein tools
white patina for silver
www.valentinyotkov.com

My 4th Blogoversary

3/31/2013

I can't actually believe it.

Four years ago, I started this blog. Well actually I started it over at the Ganoksin website but I eventually set up my own website and migrated the blog to here.

I started, oh, so, long ago, with just cutting a few cab's, then setting them in a silver bezel. Then it was chains and some jewelry.

But NOW, it is hollowware and chasing and repousse. With of course various side trips into enamel, fold forming, and blacksmithing and many many classes, workshop and trips along the way.

So please tell me what you have liked reading about - so I can share the memory with you.

Trust

New Page - My Library

1/1/2013

Looking through the search terms that people use here on The Adventurous Silversmith, there are some odd ones but over the past few months, it seems that people are looking for books.

Thus I have started another page called Library and it is here that I will be listing the books that are on my shelf that I have aquired over the years.

I have put a few already and it will grow over the next few weeks.

I hope this assist people.

You have to stay on top of these things

12/12/2010

I have spent most of today catching up on photographing my work. I find that I take pictures as I work but I don't take "good" pictures when I am done.
What do I consider a good picture?

1) High Resolution: Preferably in Camera Raw so it can be cleaned up later but you have all the data to begin with.

2) In my mini-photobooth: So I have a consistant color background in all my good pictures.

3) Using indirect but natural light: The indirect light cuts down on reflection points that are too bright and the "outdoor" natural light bulbs give the right temperature so the picture is not yellow or blue which would then have to be adjusted for later.

4) Minimal shadows: I use 4 lights to help cover the entire piece.

5) Take the pictures in a dark room: This is so no other light can impact the colors, shadows, and bright spots of the picture.

Once I have several pictures in raw format, I bring the images onto my computer and open them up in Adobe Bridge. Next I decide which pictures are the best to keep, deleting the ones I don't like. Then I save them as digital negatives with the raw information embedded in the file, I don't make any adjustments at this time. Once this is done, then I can work with the file to bring down the over exposed areas and bring up those areas that are over exposed. IF everything is set up correctly, I should not have do any tweaking of the image. In today's batch, I did not make any adjustments so a big yipeee for me.

From the digital negative, I then open the image in Photoshop, crop the image, if required. At this point I would save the image as a high quality tiff file (jpg's can reduce the quality every time you open and then re-save the file) and I save a jpg just for posting; but now I add a copyright at the lower left corner and then do my saving. Once this is done, I also print out a picture to add to my photo album slash portfolio. You never know when you might be asked to show your work!

I am not happy with many of the pictures i have in my portfolio or have posted here on the website and redoing them is a big task. As a result, today I decided to just work on two items - start with just a few and then the task is not so over whelming. I am hoping to redo at least one per night when I get home from work.

Yet, some pictures I can't redo because I no longer have them, they were either sold or they were presents - which is why you have to stay on top of this; at least take the pictures, they can be worked with at another time but taking them before they leave your hot little hands is a must (yeah, lets see how long that lasts!)

Then along with posting new pictures here on the website, I shall also be rearranging the layout on a few pages, adding "my banner" in my chosen font (more Photoshop work), and posting a few more items for sale.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR CHANGES!

New Name!

New Look, New Logo

Search Terms

My 4th Blogoversary

New Page - My Library

You have to stay on top of these things

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