Coronavirus Update - October 2020

 Well, we have surpassed 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus. It doesn’t look like it is slowing down anytime soon. 

In spite of that, Palm Beach County has jumped to phase three of opening, so most businesses are open. We still have to wear masks everywhere. Th good thing about phase three for me is that the farmers markets and art shows can take place, so I can start applying to some markets. 

With the virus, some new words are becoming commonplace. 

-social distancing - staying 6 feet away from other people

-bubble - a group of people who are sequestered together and don’t come in contact with other people

-PPE - personal protective equipment, not new, but more common

-long hauler - someone who’s virus lasts for a very long time, sometimes months

-super spreader - an event that causes a large virus outbreak

Can you think of any other new words or phrases we’ve begun using since the virus?

School has started. Some people are doing virtual school (distance learning) and some people are doing in-person school. It is a mixture of both in the same class. For the virtual students, there is just a camera in the classroom and they follow along with the rest of the class. 

The unemployment rate is down to 7.9%, mostly from people going back to their jobs. Still not a good rate, but better than what it was. 

Halloween is pretty much cancelled, since kids can’t go door-to-door trick or treating. 

The president of the USA got covid-19 and was in the hospital for a few days. He seems to be better and is back in the White House now. We have an election for a new president in just a few weeks. Whether he gets re-elected or not will probably hinge on how people feel about his handling of the virus.

Can’t think of any other news for now. 

Cat

Covid Update

Instead of getting better, the coronavirus pandemic is getting worse. Deaths in the US are over 145,000 and cases are over 4 million.

It’s starting to feel normal wearing a mask everywhere. I wonder how long this will last. They are working on making vaccines, and are hopeful that we will have one by the end of the year. The question is, how long will the vaccine protect you? Some experts say protection may last only a few months. I don’t know if that would be long enough to stop the spread.

Unemployment is at 11%.

At least toilet paper is starting to show back up in the stores. Now it’s Lysol that is out of stock everywhere.

The other thing in the news a lot right now is the beginning of the school year coming up. Some cities are opting for online classes while others say they will still hold classes in person. Our school district is opting for the online classes, which means it will be up to me to work with Tyler and keep him on-task during the day since I’m the one at home.  He doesn’t do well with virtual school, so this will be a challenge. We’ll see how it goes. School is supposed to start August 10th, but they may delay it.

It doesn’t look like the farmers markets will be opening this fall since we are still in “phase one” of reopening in Palm Beach County. We would have to get to phase three by October in order to have farmers markets, which means cases of the virus would have to be decreasing. I don’t see that happening so soon but I’m still hopeful. I sell so much more jewelry at the markets than I sell online.

In other, non-virus, news, I am selling all of my beads so that I can make room for my silver supplies. They are on Etsy at my old store, Bead Street Studio. I have everything priced very low for quick sales. I am also still adding new items every day, so if you need beads or findings, hop on over there and pick some up!

Cat

Holding Steady

So, in the month since I’ve last posted, coronavirus deaths in the USA have risen to over 100,000. New cases in 10 states are declining, in 18 states are rising, and in 22 states are holding steady.

The country is still in Phase One of re-opening. Restaurants and retail stores can operate at 25% capacity, tables must be six feet apart. Hair salons can open, but customers must have their temperature taken upon entry, wear masks, and be kept six feet apart. Employees must sanitize fixtures after each customer, and wear masks and gloves (new for each customer). Bars and gyms are closed. Churches are supposed to be closed, but all of a sudden this week Trump deemed them as essential services, so I don’t know if houses of worship will be holding services or not. Masks are still mandatory in public.

One of Stacy’s coworkers tested positive for the virus, so our household is on a 14-day quarantine monitoring for symptoms of the virus.

The news says unemployment is at its worst since the Great Depression.

Trump is telling us there may be a vaccine ready by the end of the year. That would be great, but I’d be a little worried about taking it. Vaccines normally take years to produce and test for effectiveness and safety. With producing it so fast, how do we know there are no long-term side effects? I’ll let everyone else try it before I get in line for a vaccination.

Still no toilet paper in the stores.

Cat

Pandemic Update

When was my last post, 4/15? Now it's 5/1, and the deaths from Covid-19 have almost doubled, up to 63,000 in only two weeks.

In just the last 6 weeks, 1 in 5 Americans have applied for unemployment. The unemployment rate is 14.7%. And what about those who have lost their jobs but don't qualify for unemployment?

In spite of the fact that the pandemic doesn't seem to be getting any better, some states are relaxing their rules on the lockdown this week. They are allowing retail stores and restaurants to open, but they can only admit 25% of their capacity. Restaurants have to keep their tables 6 feet apart. They also have to use disposable plates, utensils, and menus.

They say that if and when schools open up the desks will have to be 6 feet apart. How is that going to work with school overcrowding?

Florida is partially relaxing their rules, except for three counties, one of which is mine.  So we are still on lockdown, only allowed to go out for essential business. And we have to wear masks when we are out and about.

This is what happens when you keep a six-year-old on lockdown for two months.

I mostly am making jewelry in my studio to keep busy, though who knows when we will ever have markets where I can sell it again.

Signing off for now,

Cat

Coronavirus - April 2020

This is a really strange time in our lives.  It started in February with people getting sick with a new virus in Wuhan, China.  Then as it started spreading around the world, we were told it was very contagious. The first thing that happened to change our lives was that in the beginning of March, all schools were closed - for two weeks we were told. Then restaurants were closed for eat-in service. They could only do delivery or takeout.

The next thing we were told was that schools would not be reopening this year and children must do their school learning online. Hmmm...try getting a 6 year-old to go to school online.  Also, all "non-essential" businesses were told to close. The beaches are closed. Doctor appointments are done by phone. Even court is being held by phone, if at all.

Now, we are told that we must remain in our houses, no visiting, and if we do go out for an essential errand, such as grocery shopping, we must wear masks and keep 6 feet of distance between people. They are calling it "social distancing" guidelines. Every day it seems like a new restriction. I miss seeing my other daughter who doesn't live with me and my grandchildren. Luckily I have my jewelry making to keep me busy at home, but I will soon be running out of supplies.

People are panic buying and the grocery shelves are bare of some items. One of those items being toilet paper, for some weird reason.  Luckily, Stacy works at a pharmacy, which is an essential business so she still has a job and also can buy a package of toilet paper before it goes on the shelf.

Unemployment is at 10% already and will probably go much higher as more businesses shut their doors. There are over 630,000 cases of this coronavirus, or Covid-19, in the USA as of this date and 32,000+ people have died. It is reminding some people of the flu pandemic of 1918.

Scientists are working on a vaccine, but say it will probably be 18 months before they will have one ready. Who knows how long this pandemic will last? And even if/when it is over, will things ever go back to normal as we knew it?

Cat

Silver Prices

With silver prices heading upward, I thought I would take a look at the history of silver pricing. How much has it really fluctuated?

The price of silver is driven by speculation and supply and demand, like most commodities. It is affected by currency fluctuations, inflation fears, and geopolitical risks. Silver prices can be extremely volatile. For instance, in January 1980 the price of silver was $49.45 per troy ounce (ozt) but by March of that same year, it had dropped to $11 ozt.

More recently, the average annual price between 2010 and 2015 for one ozt has varied like this:
2010 - 20.19
2011 - 35.12
2012 - 31.15
2013 - 23.79
2014 - 19.64
2015 - 15.68

So it’s difficult for silver artists to predict the cost of their supplies, especially since most of us are not economists. So what do we do?

Of course, we try to stock up when prices are low. At the beginning of this year, silver was about $14.50 ozt. As of today, it is $16.95 ozt. That may not seem like a big difference, but when I am producing jewelry I sometimes use an ounce or more per day. It adds up.

Another thing we do is save all of our scrap silver, such as the little pieces left when cutting out a shape. Some people melt and reuse it, others sell it to a refiner for cash. I sell it back to my supplier and use the money to buy more silver. I just recently sent in some scrap silver and received over $300 for it.

What are some ways that you try to save money in your hobby? Tell me in the comments.

Cat
www.ckmetaldesigns.com

School Review

I didn't keep up with posting from school like I meant to. As it turns out, I was disappointed with my school experience.

The jewelry fabrication semester didn't teach me anything that I didn't already know. I was looking forward to learning new skills, and that didn't happen.

Then came stone setting. All of the stone setting was done in cast rings. There was no instruction in how to hand-fabricate my own settings. So that was disappointing too.

All in all, I felt it was a waste of a lot of money.  I think I may give the William Holland school a try when I have saved up some more money.

Cat

End of First Semester

For the rest of the Jewelry Fabrication "semester", we mostly did things that I've done before.  Soldering, cleaning up your jewelry, making rings, forming metal into shapes.

I made a cool keychain with my initials on it.

I am using those initials to have a stamp made for myself so I can stamp my jewelry with my initials, a makers mark.

This week was my "final exam". They gave me this pile of silver:

And told me to make this out of it, with no help from the instructors:

So this is how mine came out:

I was pretty pleased with it, and I got an A on my final project.

Now I have a week off, then we start a semester of Metal Properties and Classification. That won't be as much fun as hands-on work, but I'm sure I will learn a lot.

If you want to see some of the jewelry that I've been making, visit me at CKMetalDesigns.com.

Cat

Melting Metal

I melted metal all by myself today...no supervision. It was scary, but I did it and poured it into the mold, no problems. Yeah!

Making Rings

Today I am going to learn how to make and resize rings. First I have to melt some silver to use for it, then shape the silver into a square sheet.

I made two beautiful rings, and then horror! I was told to resize them so I had to cut into my beauties. I made one bigger and one smaller. They both came out looking good, so it worked out well after all.

We’ll see what my next project is.