Barbara S. Fernald
P.O. Box 57
Islesford, Maine 04646
Phone: 207 244-5283
E-Mail: fernald244@gmail.com
My Etsy Shop
Tips and Tricks (Mine and other's)
- Carve your Cold Mold!
- Don't let your photos get lost in Cyberspace! Lorena Angulo makes an important point about tagging your photos.
- Don't put toggle loops in wrong place!
- Enlarge pearl holes
- Make your own templates Cut your own templates from soda cans
- Quick drying for bead halves
- Rehydrate old PMC scraps
- Rock Drilling 101
- Rock Drilling 201
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Barbara S Fernald Jewelry · Jewelry designs and beads made by Barb Fernald on Little Cranberry Island in Maine
Barbara S Fernald Jewelry 
Hi Barbara,
I love your blog/website. Have always loved your photos so it was good to see some of your winter shots. Ivan and I have gotten a few nice shots here this winter on MDI.
Great new box for shooting your jewelry…
and your heart shaped rocks!! Yeah, beats the old
milkjug. Sometimes we have to treat ourselves.
My recent treat was an 18″ paper cutter to
supplement the old 12″ one. Why didn’t I buy it before??
See you in the spring….it is almost here.
Sher
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Just discovered your name in the new issue of Fusion from the guild. WOW, thanks for your lovely site. I’m in northern Maine and fairly new to the world of PMC. Do you ever share your knowledge in workshops in Maine? Love to hear about them, if you do. I’m an art teacher and always looking for summer art opportunities.
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Hi Beth Ann,
Sorry it took so late to respond. Christmas week, etc. Our kids were home early from Baltimore and Boston. Where are you in northern Maine? I have not taught any workshops yet. Its one of those…”maybe…someday…” thoughts. But I have taken some very helpful workshops from Fred Woell on Deer Isle. He teaches a PMC certification class at his home sometimes. It is usually listed through Rio Grande. Lynda McCann Olsen has also taught some workshops in southern Maine. Check the PMC guild website for workshop opportunities. If you have some $ saved up, you might want to consider going to the PMC conference in Indiana this July. Info also on the guild website. I went for the first time 4 years ago and found it very helpful and inspiring. Today may be the day I finally start a list of people who have asked me about workshops. So if I ever decide to do one, I will have a mailing list. I can put your name at the top.
Happy New Year!
Barb
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I love your blog, jewelry, openness about your process in making beautiful jewelry, photos, etc. My favorite necklace of yours was the one offered on the MPBN auction. It disappeared so early on. What happened? the blue stones set off the silver. have you made others similar to that one?
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Hi Cathy,
Thanks for checking out my blog! One of my goals for January is to get an Etsy shop going so I can post jewelry for sale. I make the hollow silver rock-shaped beads a lot and combine them with lots of different stones. The blue ones you are referring to are actually tumbled glass. With your feed back about the MPBN necklace, I would probably be making one for the Etsy site this winter. If you are not familiar with Etsy, it is a commerce site for handmade items. There’s a great example of the site through the Holly Kellogg link on this blog.
Happy new year!
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I’m in the process of purchasing a kiln and wanted some input from someone who’s “been there, done that.” Having been certified by Rio Grande, I thought I might order their PMC kiln. Discovering Cool Tools shows me other options. My queries:
Would you have any specific recommendations?
Have you ever found yourself desiring the option of a bead door or the viewport?
Any experience with top loads?
I know that everyone has different experiences and needs, but just wanted some input. I am grateful for any comments you could make.
To answer your question above, I am in Caribou, Maine. I appreciate being added to your list of possible future workshops.
Thanks!
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Hi Beth Ann,
I have a Rio Grande kiln, the programable PMC kiln with a bead door. I’ve never made glass beads, but I wanted to have that option for the future…
I just bought this kiln last year so I could start firing bronze and copper clay. (My old kiln was really old. There was no computerized option available, but it worked fine for PMC, using a thermocouple to keep track of the temperature.)
The Rio Grande kiln I have looks comparable to the SC2 digital kiln at Cool Tools. It looks like the Cool Tools version is about $100 cheaper and they offer free shipping, though, it would be good to check what the Rio Reward’s price is, to compare.
I find the kiln a little small. Especially for firing bronze and copper clay. I’ve made it work for me, but if I were to do it again I would consider something bigger, since those steel boxes of activated charcoal take up more room, when firing copper and bronze, and if I ever were to teach a workshop I would want more room to fire students’ work.
I have had no experience with top loads. But whenever I look at Hadar Jacobson’s blog about her work and her students’ work I am envious of her top loading kiln!
I’ll be interested to know which kiln you choose. Aside from the rewards discount, from being certified by Rio Grande, I also had put together a lot of silver scrap from years of doing pierced work with sterling silver sheet. Last winter I actually had enough to turn in to Rio to pay for my kiln!
Good luck!
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Dear Barbara;
Susan White e-mailed me a copy of the Opsrey
blog. I am outraged that the Coast Guard has seen fit to destroy something so magnificient.
Was there any meeting or survey that discussed with the locals if indeed there was ,in their opinion, any navigational hazard? It’s poppycock! Too much time on their hands….leave the birds alone and try conducting a mission that would be helpful to the population. How about water safety classes for kids.. or adults for that matter…how to read a chart.. or send for help over a radio. I am a woman posessed.
Eileen
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Hey Eileen,
I might have done some mis-reporting. Out of practice already! (I love what you’ve been writing in the column, by the way.) I got a little clarification on the mailboat today. I guess the Coast Guard was replacing the triangular pieces with new ones. Fresh paint. And that they removed the nest to put up the new spindle. I didn’t realize that when I wrote that blog entry. Still, you would think they could have just moved the nest temporarily and then put it back.
Do they ever discuss any of the buoy tending with the locals? Sorry if I caused you to be possessed by any misinformation I wrote yesterday!
xoxo Barb
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Hi Barb, Im just getting started on here, I never blogged before. Your site is just fantastic! You are a very inspiring person in many ways! Just wanted to say hello!
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Hi Tiffany! Thanks for the kind words. I just checked out your blog. We island women have interesting lives. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. All of my island mom stories are in the past. But you will have an endless source of things to say about Johnnie these next few years. Good luck!
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Hi Barbara, It was so nice to chat with you at the craft show friday. I hope that I can go out to the Island this summer and check it out. Just wanted to make sure you had my email in case you decide to teach some day. Hope you have a nice Holiday season. Amy Gillis
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Hi Amy, I enjoyed chatting with you too at the fair. Thanks for your e-mail address, and for checking out my blog! Happy Holidays to you. xo Barb
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Hi, Barbara, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. I’m looking forward to getting your design ideas and estimate for the necklace we talked about at the IAA craft show. I’ve been doing a little bit of PMC, just getting my feet wet, and now I’m more aware of how much the silver costs! We talked about $185 or so, but I’d love to see what you could do for $200.
Many thanks!
Sharon
P.S. I was just looking at your beads on your website. Gorgeous!
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Hi Sharon,
Thanks for the nice comments about my work. Our holidays were a lot of fun. I hope yours were too. Now I’m ready to settle back into the studio after taking a little time off from jewelry. I have not forgotten about your necklace. I think it’s great you’re starting to work with PMC. But wow! Can you believe the cost right now? It wasn’t that long ago that a 45 gram package of PMC+ was around $50. I haven’t even priced it again since before Christmas. I’m hoping the price of silver will start to come down so the price of silver clay can come down. I’ll be in touch about your necklace soon.
xoxo Barb
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Can you tell me where I can purchase tube bending coils?
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Hi Jill. I bought them from the Micro Mark catalog.
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