Hello Everyone!

A few weeks ago I wrote about some ways that can we survive our current economic situation. If you think about it, it’s a very important subject. If things keep going the way they are now none of us would be able to survive unless we tighten our belts. With that in mind I thought that it would be a good idea to talk a little more on the subject.

When I first began wirewrapping I had no idea what to do with my scrap metal. When I was finished making a piece I would take all of the scrap from the project and brush it into a garbage can. Each and every time that I did this all I could hear is money being flushed down the toilet. I did this for several years. Then I read online something that would change the way that I dealt with my scraps forever….recycling.  

Were you aware that you can sell your scrap metal? Obviously I wasn’t. However it’s true. All of the small scraps of wire that you end up with after you have finished a project can all be sold to either the company that you purchased it from, or a dealer who deals in recycling precious metals. The process is very simple and extremely rewarding. Here’s how.

I purchase my metal from Rio Grande (http://www.riogrande.com). As I am working on a piece I keep a separate container for all of my scraps. That’s extremely important. You don’t want to waste a lot of time separating all of your scrap before you send it off. Take my word for it, Rio won’t do it for you.  As I clip off wire I place it into the receptacle. When I get a few ounces I package it up and send it off to Rio. They make it really easy to return your scrap metal. They have a separate department that handles the entire transaction. When they receive it they process it and give me either a credit on my account or a check. In my case I always have them give me a credit because I earn more on deal. I think of it as a savings account for future projects.

Rio Grande is only one company that will accept scrap metal. If you do a little research on the internet you’ll find many companies that will take your scraps. Before you send any of your metal to one of the online recyclers make sure that you fully understand what you are getting into…read the fine print. There are a lot of “shady” people allowed to run around in this world and all of them are looking to steal a buck off of you.

This is just one way to recoup some of the costs involved in making jewelry. If you have a great tip that you would like to pass along on how you are saving in this bad economy please let us know. Email your tip to jim.mcintosh@macjewels.com and we’ll pass it along.

‘til next time,

Jim McIntosh  

Hello Everyone!

This week I thought that it would be a good idea to give you a sneak peek into the NEW Book that I've been working on. Let me know what you think. Here it is -

Forward

 Ask most wire artists who C.G. Oxley, Jim and Mavis Llewellyn, and Tom Phalen are and you’ll probably get a blank stare. Few today have any idea who these pioneering wire artists are. Yet they’re familiar with their work. Have you ever heard of the Common ring also known as the Pharaohs ring? That design was created and patented by Tom Phalen. Since then it has appeared in numerous books and magazines and is made by wire artists around the world.

Most wire artists forget that a majority of the techniques and patterns used in wire wrapping began in the early 20^th century. C.G. Oxley is the Henry Ford of the Wirewrapping world. While he didn’t invent the art, he did revolutionize its production and popularity. Around World War I wire art was used as therapy for soldiers. Mr. Oxley saw the potential of the art and employed teams of artists to create wire art for department stores in England. The designs were simple strands of wire embellished with glass beads or faux pearls. One of the more popular designs was wire pins that spelled out a sweethearts name or simply said Mother.  Today wire name jewelry designs are making a huge comeback.

Jim Llewellyn admired the work being produced by Oxley. Eager to create his own wire jewelry he purchased wire and instructions from Oxley 1935. In no time he had taught himself to create wonderful pieces of jewelry. In 1959, after many years of perfecting his craft, he and his wife Mavis immigrated to Canada. Unable to find employment that he preferred, Jim and Mavis opened The Amulet.  The shop highlighted the wire designs Jim had perfected over the years.  Soon his wife Mavis began to create her own pieces of wire art. In the early 1960’s Mavis joined a local gem club and began cutting and polishing stones. Eager to find a way to incorporate these stones into her wirework, she devised a way to wrap wire around cabochons to make pendants. Over the years Jim wrote 3 books on making wire jewelry. These books are still available from The Amulet (www.theamulet.ca). Many of today’s Wirewrapping techniques can be traced back to designs created by Jim and Mavis Llewellyn.

Another key figure in modern wire art is Tom Phalen. Not much is known about Tom. He was a wire artist who traveled to various art shows throughout the United States and Canada during the 1950’s and 60’s. It’s obvious though, that his contribution to wire art is significant. The Common ring, patented in 1948, is more popular today than it ever was. At a show that my wife and I did we came across a gentleman wearing one of Phalens Common Ring designs created by his brother in 1965. The ring was well worn but in perfect shape, the true hallmark of a masterful design.

People like Mr. Oxley, the Llewellyn’s and Tom Phalen along with many other pioneering artists created many of the wirewrap designs being used today. As the years have passed and new artists have emerged, the proper credit for these designs has died. Many credit their mentor for the design. Others credit books, magazines, and videos that have featured these wonderful creations. Sad to say many jewelry instructors have passed these creative designs off as their own creation. In reality those teachers are simply passing on designs that have already been created.

This book is dedicated to those pioneering artists. We’ll be using their wonderful techniques to create modern jewelry designs.  It is our hope and desire that you take these designs and techniques and use them in such a way as to create new works and designs of your own.

So that's it! What do you think...

'til Next Time

Jim McIntosh

Hello Everyone!

As I was sitting here trying to think of today’s blog topic my thoughts started drifting to the news. It seems like everyday we hear about how bad the economy is. If the economy improves .001 percent it becomes front page news. I then began thinking about my own situation. I thought about changes that we could make in the next few months that will propel us forward for 2010. Here are a few of my thoughts.

As an artist, it’s important to have the things needed to create our art. In a bad economy where things are tight we have to spend more time planning out how we’ll use materials with as little waste as possible. That means creating a budget. Take a little time and look at your sales from the past year (I know, I know it’s heartbreaking to look at. But trust me it will get better). Calculate how many of each jewelry type that you sold. Look at the price that you sold it for and the cost it took to create the piece. Also look at the inventory that you still have on hand. Finally, look at the shows that you have scheduled for the coming season. Using this information figure out the amount of materials you’ll need to purchase for each show. Doing this will give you a better idea as to how much it is going to cost you to produce pieces for your upcoming shows. This will help you build a budget that you can survive with.

Along with the above calculation, try and figure out how much inventory that you would like to have for each show. Keep in mind that some shows might require that you need a little more than others.

Another way to survive through this economy is to downsize. Looking at various shows throughout the years I’ve noticed that many booths are filled with hundreds of pieces. The idea is to provide a huge variety of pieces that will appeal to a large audience. In past years that may have been a good approach, however in our current economic situation this approach might work. Consider cutting down your inventory for this next show season. Less inventory means less expense in materials. This could help you survive this economic downturn.

A few words of caution when downsizing your inventory. Avoid falling into the trap of using “cheap”, inferior grade materials in your work. Think about it, do you really want to build a reputation of being an artist who makes junk jewelry and tries to pass it off as high end pieces? Of course you don’t.  You’d end up losing a lot more customers than it’s worth. Another caution is to not supplement your handmade inventory with cheap pieces that you purchased from an overseas supplier. This approach could kill any sales that you may have hoped for. Remember, people are buying your work because it is a unique and handmade. They can purchase mass produced jewelry from Wal-Mart.

In past years I used to offer a lot of pieces in gold filled. When the price of gold began to rise I quit creating work that featured this precious metal. Today, the price of gold is still on the rise. Because of this many artists have begun to work with other metals like Argentium Sterling Silver, Sterling Silver, Copper, and Brass. There’s nothing wrong with this approach. Actually it’s a great way to create jewelry with a fresh look. But this doesn’t mean that we have to abandon using gold. Why not consider using gold filled wire as an accent. One thing I like to do is use 21 gauge half round gold filled wire for my wraps. Announce of 21 gauge half round gold filled wire will go a line way. This makes adding a touch of gold to a piece a lot more economical. Plus, gold and silver look wonderful together. In this weak economy many of your customers may appreciate the opportunity to own pieces of your work that sport a bi-metal look.

Something else you may want to consider is shows that are closer to home. Many of us have to travel many hours away from our home to get to regional art shows that attract a lot of art customers. However, you may have noticed that many of these shows haven’t been attracting the numbers that they once did. Does it seem reasonable to put out hundreds of dollars for booth space fees, hotel, gas, and food to do a big regional show that has low numbers? Why not plan to do a few regional art shows and supplement the rest of your schedule with smaller shows near your home. You’ll save on booth space fees, hotel fees, and car gas.

The last thing that you might want to consider is diversify. If you are a bead artist, diversify your work by learning to create wire wrapped jewelry (http://www.macjewels.com). If you are a wire artist consider learning to create wiresmithed jewelry (http://www.wiresmithing.com). By offering your customers new and interesting works of art you’ll capture their attention and hopefully pry the last remaining dollar that they have in their tightly clinched fist.  

You may have heard people say that the only living thing that will survive a nuclear war are cockroaches. Ever wonder why they say that? Cockroaches are very resilient. That’s what each and every one of us artists need to be. Now I’m not calling anyone a cockroach. I just want you to understand how to survive this economy. We need to look at this as an opportunity to come out on top of the art world. Think of all of the artists who are putting their craft aside and or even leaving it behind. Their absence gives the rest of us the opportunity to step in and fill their place. When the economy improves, we’ll be the ones who survive.

These are just some of my thoughts. I hope they help.

‘til next time,

Jim McIntosh

Hello Everyone!

Hello Everyone!

Each day I receive a lot of emails from people from all over the world. Most of the letters that I receive are from people who need help solving a specific problem that they have encountered. I really enjoy these emails, they give me the opportunity to help a fellow artist out of a jam.

However, I recently received a surprising email. Peter Johns, the inventor of Argentium Sterling Silver (www.argentium.com), emailed to comment on my YouTube video on hardening Argentium. He had some interesting things to say about it. “I came across your You Tube movie on hardening Argentium.  Your presentation is excellent and I had a good chuckle watching it.  Everybody thought I was mad when I wanted to be able to harden Argentium in a domestic oven, but as you aptly demonstrate, it is perfectly possible.” What a thrill! The inventor of Argentium enjoyed my presentation.

Since Mr. Johns took the time to write me I thought that I would take this opportunity to ask him a question or two. I was curious to see if all of the information that I presented was 100% correct. Here’s what he had to say, “I think you gave the information on hardening Argentium very well in your video.  My only feeling is that three hours may be a little longer than necessary for hardening at 500°F.   When I tested in my own oven with a maximum temperature of 460°F, I found it hardened in two hours.  I presume 500°F is the maximum in you oven?  Slow cooling after hardening is an important part of the process.  I would not quench because it will detract from the hardness.  Leave the piece to cool on the support that was used in the oven and do not touch it until it has reached room temperature. Argentium does not lose hardness because the heating cycle is longer than necessary.  It just reaches a high point and stays there.  Three hours will certainly make sure the piece is hardened but I think you may be burning more energy than necessary.”  There you have it folks, straight from the horses mouth. Two hours of heating in a conventional oven at 460 degrees F or higher is more than sufficient for hardening Argentium.

Mr. Johns also informed me that he will be at “Rio Grande’s Catalog in Motion” at the 2010 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in February (here’s the link - http://cataloginmotion.com/cim_seminars.html). If you plan to be there take the opportunity to introduce yourself to Mr. Johns. Be sure to let him know how glad you are that he came up with this fabulous material.

If you missed my Hardening Argentium Video here it is-

‘til next time,

 Jim McIntosh

Hello Everyone!

Well summer has ended and fall is upon us. For most of us the art show season is over. The question now is, “What am I going to do with myself until the shows start back up in the spring”? Here are a few suggestions that you might consider.

1. Stock Up. Over the next few months you might want to think about restocking for the next show season. Just think of the head start that you can get if you start making new pieces today. By your first show in the spring you’ll have tons of new work that you’ll be able to entice buyers with. Personally I like to set goals for how many pieces I would like to have by my first show. I’ll figure out how many rings, pendants, earrings, and bracelets that I would like to have by that first show. Then I break that down by the number of months that I have until my first show in the spring. From there I set goals as to how many pieces I want to accomplish each week.

2. Find Shows. I know that it might be a little late to think about applying to spring shows. Most of the top shows for the spring had deadlines months ago. However, it is a great time to be thinking about late summer and early fall shows for 2010.

A great resource for shows is zapplication.org (www.zapplication.org). Most of top shows (and a ton of the smaller shows) use zapplication for their show application process. You can search for shows by region, state, month, and deadline. There is a lot of information on each show that they list including average attendees, application requirements, etc. The site is free, and only takes a few minutes to register. I love using them and have found tons of great shows using the site.  

3. Learn Something New. With all of this down time you might consider learning new jewelry making techniques. Learning new techniques helps keep your work fresh. By keeping your work fresh your regular customers will always find something new and interesting. This will keep them coming back every time you do that particular show.

There are many ways to learn new techniques. Visit your local bead shop and see what classes they are offering. Pick up a current copy of Art Jewelry or Jewelry Artist Magazine. These publications are full of techniques that are very easy to learn. Visit your local library and see what books are available on jewelry making. You can even pick up a copy of one of my books by visiting http://www.macjewels.com/tutorials.html.

These are only a few suggestions on how you can spend this fall and winter. Taking the time now to plan ahead can help you have a great art show season in 2010.

Until Next Time,

Jim McIntosh

Mackintosh Jewelry Studio

http://www.macjewels.com

Hello Everyone!

Well we have come to a decision. On what you ask? The future of the online academy.

After a lot of research we've decided that the online video conferencing jewelry classes will have to wait until later.  A couple of weeks ago we posted several dates and times for our initial classes. We thought that there would be a flood of students signing up. The reality is we have had very little interest. This tells me that at the moment the idea just isn't right. Who knows, maybe after a few months we'll revisit the idea, throw out some feelers to see what people think, and make this original idea a reality.

One of the things that seems to be holding everyone back is the equipment. I think there's a bit of fear when people think about using a webcam. That's understandable, however webcams are simple to use.

So over the next few months I would like everyone to think about the idea. Maybe look into getting a webcam and see just how simple and fun they are to use. I really think that this type of learning is the future of jewelry classes. They are inexpensive, informative, easy, and a lot of fun.

That's it for now. 'til next week,

Jim 

Hello Everyone!

First, I would like to thank everyone for all of the wonderful emails. You can only imagine how your kind words helped us deal with the situation. Things are beginning to look up for us. The financial sting that we have been feeling has begun to disappear, thanks to many of you who have purchased a copy of my book (thank you so much).

However, it’s a new week and that means a fresh start. Kim and I have decided that we aren’t going to allow the UK bureaucrats to affect our lives anymore. Don’t misunderstand me, we have nothing against the wonderful people of the UK.  We have received some really kind words from many of those that were scheduled to be in class.  We have just decided to take the high road and push ahead. To borrow words from the popular ‘80’s group Timbuk3 “My futures so bright, I gotta wear shades”. With that in mind here are a few announcements that we would like to make.

Cabochons Available

A while ago we announced that we would be featuring cabochons produced by our son Robert. After a few technical difficulties we are pleased to announce that the first batch of those hand cut cabochons are now available on our website. Stop by and have a look –

http://www.macjewels.com/cabhome.html

Future Classes

One of the positive things that’s come from our UK Immigration nightmare has been a renewed interest in our jewelry art classes. At the moment we are trying to put classes together in the Bay area of Northern California, the San Antonio Texas area, and the Richmond Virginia area.

The California and Texas classes are in the initial planning phase. The classes in Virginia have been in the works for some time now, however we are having a difficult time getting enough students to join.

Also, if anyone in Southern California is interested in a class please let us know. We would love to do a Northern California and then a Southern California class around the same time.

We also have an upcoming class in Kansas City Missouri that has a few spots left in it. So if your near Kansas City we’d love to have you in class next month.

So if you are interested in joining in one of these classes please let us know by emailing me at jim.mcintosh@macjewels.com. Please contact us also if you are interested in a class near you.

Online Video Classes and Q and A Sessions

Speaking of classes, yesterday I sent out an email to my list asking everyone what they thought about an idea that I recently had.

Here’s the idea – Each month we would like to host an online Q&A session where wire artists from around the world can ask me questions. The session would be an online video chat. In the video I would help artists overcome problems, show technique, and various other tips.  If you don’t have a video camera for the conference you can join the session and watch. You would also have the opportunity to ask questions via chat. This Q&A session would be free to everyone.

Keep in mind that this idea is in its infancy. We will be developing it much further in the coming weeks. And that’s where you come in. Please send me an email and let me know if this sounds like something you would like to do. You can also throw out any ideas that you may have that will help make this idea come alive.

The plan is to have the first Q and A Session in early October and the first class toward the end of October. I’ll keep everyone posted as we develop the idea.

NEW Book

I am also pleased to announce that I am currently writing a NEW Book. For this book I am teaming up with my daughter in law, Bianca, to create another unique way of designing jewelry. Bianca is a wonderful jewelry artist who has a fresh look on the art. We hope to have it available sometime in November 2009.

Well, that’s all that’s happening at the moment. Next week we’ll take a look at a jewelry technique that will prove to be most helpful.

‘til next week,

Jim McIntosh

Mackintosh Jewelry Studio

http://www.macjewels.com

http://www.wiresmithing.com

Hello Everyone!

WARNING! This is a very long blog entry. However, it is the documented saga of two weary travelers and the hellish nightmare of a journey that should have never taken place.

Also...So that this situation doesn't happen to anyone else I ask that you please email the link to this blog to everyone you know (and even those that you don't). No one should have to go through this situation. Thank You.

I am writing today’s blog from the comfort of my studio in the good old US of A. Why do I mention my location? Because I should be writing this blog from merry old England. If you’ve been following my blog or are familiar with my teaching schedule, you’ll recall that Kim and I had scheduled some classes in the UK. It ended up not happening. Here’s the story of the nightmare that took place on our trip. And believe me, when I say nightmare I do mean nightmare, because we are still haunted by the horrific situation that we ended up in.

Wednesday September 16, 2009

Kim and I left our home in the early afternoon to drive to Nashville where our journey to the UK would begin. We traveled to Nashville with a sense of excitement and nervous anticipation. Kim isn’t a confident traveler and this trip would prove to challenge her beyond her imagination.

We checked in for our flight to Minneapolis where we would connect for a flight to London’s Heathrow airport. We checked our bags, went through security, and headed for our departure gate. As we sat in the departure lounge an announcement came over the PA system telling us that our flight was delayed due to a late arriving plane. This was the first of many problems that began our nightmare. The delay would cause us to miss our connection in Minneapolis. I quickly headed to the gate and asked the agent what we could do about this. She immediately rebooked our flight to a Delta Airlines flight. This flight would take us to Atlanta where would connect to London. The good thing was, the departure gate was just across the aisle from our current gate. We thanked her for her help and headed to our new gate assignment.

The aircraft for our Atlanta departure arrived on time and we again became excited about our adventure to the UK. Then came the announcement over the PA system “Due to weather in Atlanta Delta flight xxx will be delayed”. Kim and I looked at each other and wondered what is trying to keep us from leaving the US? We again spoke with the gate agent and she informed us that they would leave as soon as they received permission that they could land in Atlanta.

We sat in the departure lounge for over an hour when we received the news that our flight was cleared to board and depart. This was great news, but we wondered about our connection. Would we make it? According to our calculations we would get to Atlanta about 15 minutes before our flight left for the UK. It was going to be close but every great adventure has close moments like this. So we headed for Atlanta.

Funny thing about Atlanta…the airport is HUGE. Once you land there you are at the mercy of the ground control gods that have complete say over when you get to your gate. As we sit on the taxiway waiting for a gate assignment the minutes quickly ticked away. We missed our connection by 10 minutes. As we deplaned the gate agent informed us that we could get a hotel for a reasonable rate and handed us a voucher for the accommodations. She also let us know that we were booked on a flight the next afternoon to Newark New Jersey where we would connect to London.  

Thursday September 17, 2009

After a decent night sleep and a good breakfast we headed over to the airport for another attempt at going to London.

At our assigned departure gate the thought came to me that we may need to check on our flight. We wandered over to the Delta airlines counter and made our inquiries. Guess what? Delta lied to us. It was true, they did have us on a flight to Newark, however, they didn’t have us confirmed to London. The Delta agent said they were having a hard time finding us a seat out of Newark. Plus, they had us double booked on a direct flight from Atlanta to London’s Heathrow at 10 o’clock that night. The Delta agent checked around and asked if we wanted to be on an earlier flight to London’s Gatwick airport. We jumped at the chance to leave and begin our UK adventure. We asked if our bags would be put on our flight with us and she said it would be no problem….This is lie number 2, at this point we would never see our bags again until we arrived home.

Our flight to London departed on time at 5:30pm, we were finally on our way. The flight was long and uneventful. This would prove to be the best part of our UK experience.

Friday September 18, 2009

We landed at London’s Gatwick airport at 6:15am. We gathered our carryon bags and headed for customs.

We made our way through the long line to meet with a customs agent. If you thought that our ordeal was already bad, brace yourself, it’s about to take a HUGE turn for the worse. Our customs agent asked what the purpose of our visit was and we informed him of our plans to teach 5 days in the UK and then sight see in London. He then asked for our papers that said we had permission to do this. We informed him that we were told that we didn’t need any documentation.

Let me explain how we came to this conclusion. In April we researched whether we needed a visa to teach these classes. We found that a visa would be needed if we were working there for an extended period of time – which we weren’t. We also spoke with the shop owner in England and asked her what was needed and she said that nothing was necessary.

Guess what? According the customs agent in England we needed some type of “sponsor certificate” to teach 3 classes (less than 1 week of work) in the UK. He began to ask us multiple questions as to what type of classes these were, who we were teaching, how much were we charging, where we were teaching, etc, etc. Here’s where the nightmare gets even more horrific. We were informed that we are being detained by the UK immigration service for further investigation. Our passports were taken away from us and we were escorted to an office for questioning.

Before questioning we had to find our bags. We were escorted to the baggage claim area where we found out that our bags weren’t on our flight with us. One bag was put on a Northwest Airlines flight to London Heathrow and the other was put on a Continental Airlines flight and they had no idea when or where it would arrive. Delta Airlines completely and totally lied to us about our bags in Atlanta…lie number three for those of you keeping count. At no time were our bags found (as they said they had been) or put on the same flight as us (as they said they had been). We filled out some paperwork with the baggage claim agents and then were escorted to the customs and immigration detention center for questioning.

In the detention center we were searched, finger printed, and photographed. Our carryon bags were searched and scrutinized. They took our drivers licenses and various other pieces of identification (including our Sam’s Club membership cards that have our business name on it) and then escorted us to a holding cell to await further questioning.

Let me take a moment and inform you and set your minds at ease. At no time, throughout this entire ordeal, were we body cavity searched, which we thought was good news. However, if we had been that wouldn’t have surprised us. We were actually expecting it at some point.

The holding cell was filled with a lot of interesting people. One guy informed us that the customs people accused him of being a terrorist because he had a couple of different passports and had visited several places in recent months or years. Another man, from St. Lucia, arrived in the UK on a questionable ticket and they felt he was doing something illegal. The third man was from Jamaica, he spent most of the day sleeping and talking on his cell phone. We have no idea why he was there.

At about noon we finally had our interview with an immigration officer. Kim was the first to be questioned. After 10 minutes she was returned to the holding cell and then I was taken in for questioning. Another 10 minutes later I was escorted back to the holding cell. After an hour and a half of waiting to see what was going to happen to us the immigration official returned to give us the verdict. It was determined that we didn’t have the proper papers to enter the UK and we were refused entry into the country. She told us that we needed a visa. She also told us that we needed a work visa. So in total we were told 3 different stories of 3 different documents that were needed to teach 42 people in the United Kingdom jewelry art. She acted as if we had hatched some type of plan to subvert the British government and extort millions of pounds from the good people of the UK. We felt like common criminals. We were booked to leave the UK on a flight the next morning. The immigration official said that our checked bags were being sent directly to our home.

We were then told that we would have to spend the night in a separate holding facility that was off of the airport property. We were put back into our holding cell to await transportation. During our 5 hour wait sitting on the hardest metal benches ever created we watched a parade of some of the most unsavory individuals come into the holding cell. On top of all of that, the self proclaimed terrorist that we met when we arrived stopped up the men’s toilet before he was escorted to his flight back to his home planet. That was real nice of him because it backed up and made a huge mess.

As the minutes and hours ticked away in the holding cell Kim and I fell deeper and deeper into depression. We never intended to do anything wrong, we felt that we had thoroughly investigated what was needed to enter the UK and teach our classes. We asked the shop owner what was needed and she said nothing was needed. We also thought about our family back home. We had no contact with them to let them know our situation. They didn’t know whether we made it to England okay and they certainly didn’t know that we were being detained and refused entry. I don’t think that I have ever been so depressed and demoralized in all of my life. The entire ordeal was one of the worse things that I have ever experienced and I would never wish this type of treatment on my worse enemy. But we hadn’t been to the overnight detention center yet….the whole experience gets worse…much worse.

At 5pm we were escorted to the vehicle that would take us to our overnight accommodations. The vehicle was lined with a locked cage making us feel even more like criminals. As soon as the van began to move Kim couldn’t take the stress any longer and she burst into tears. I did my best to comfort her, but the comfort was only temporary. Once we pulled up to the detention center she again fell apart. The building was surrounded by a 20 foot metal fence topped with razor wire. The gates slowly opened so the van could move into the outer parking area. We drove to a second gate that was opened leading us to another secured parking area. They parked the van and we waited for a third gate to open. This led us to the inner parking area where we would be removed from the van and escorted inside the building for further processing.

We were set in a small room where we again were searched, our carryon bags were searched, our picture was again taken, and we were explained how the overnight detention center worked. We were also told that we couldn’t take our cell phone into our room because it had a camera on it. I asked if I could make a call from my phone in front of him so I could let our family know that we were coming home the following day. He said that wouldn’t be a problem. I called one of our sons and let him know what happened. I didn’t go into any great detail because I only had a minute or so to make the call. I told him when we would arrive in Nashville and asked if he could arrange for someone to pick us up. This was the only contact that we had with anyone outside of the situation that we were in. It was one of the loneliest moments of my life.

After 20 minutes we were given picture id’s with a locker key attached. An officer escorted Kim and I to a doctor who asked us if we had any medical conditions. Interestingly enough, the doctor said that they don’t get many people from the States in there and he asked us what happened. We told him the whole story and he was in total disbelief that this went on. As a matter of fact, everyone that we dealt with couldn’t believe that this was happening.

After we met with the doctor another officer showed us around our “deluxe accommodations”. There was a computer room, a TV room, a courtyard that we could walk around in, a fitness room, and several places of worship. The room that we were assigned was designed for families to be detained. It was nice to know that Kim and I would be allowed to stay together because this proved to strengthen us through our ordeal. We were then escorted to the dining hall for dinner. The tour to the dining hall was one that really opened our eyes to the stark reality of our situation. The courtyard was full of men from the Middle East and Africa. As we walked through every eye was upon us and they all seemed to leer at us if as to have a desire to kill the ugly Americans. To add to this Kim was one of only two women in the facility. This put me on a heightened sense of protection for the security of my wife.

We went through the dinner line as quickly as we could. The only thought that we had was to eat fast and lock ourselves in our room until the next morning. The food was horrible – baked chicken (which was the highlight of the entire meal), nasty dry rice and potatoes that tasted as if they had been cooked in fish water, corn, bread, and a beverage (we chose water). We ate quickly so we could get to our room. Kim didn’t eat everything, I though ate it all. I think that I went into some type of prisoner mode feeling that I needed to fill the space in my stomach in case there wasn’t another meal in my future.

At 7pm that evening Kim and I made our beds and laid down to get our first sleep in about 36 hours. The beds were one step above lumpy cement. Kim quickly fell asleep for about 4 hours. I, on the other hand, laid there recalling everything that had just happened to us. I was still in total shock over the whole ordeal. All we wanted to do was visit the UK, teach a couple of small classes, tour London, and have a wonderful adventure. Instead we had the worse time of our lives.

At about 11pm Kim woke up and we talked for an hour about how we were going to pick up the pieces of our lives when we got home. What nobody knows is the financial toll that this took on us. We are not rich people by any means. We run a small business that takes care of our material needs and we are very satisfied with this. The only way that we were going to the UK to teach was the experience and financial gain that we would have. Once we taught all of the classes we would have the means to tour London. We would also have the finances to come home and improve our lot in life. We sacrificed a lot of things just to be able to purchase the tickets and materials for the class. To buy the materials we sold our old, crappy car with the plan of purchasing a much better one once we returned home. All of these wonderful plans have just been wiped out. At this point we have no idea how we are going to turn all of this around.

After our little talk we both laid down again to try and get at least a little sleep before we were escorted back to the holding cell at the airport. This time I fell asleep and Kim laid there pondering the events that had just taken place.

Saturday September 19, 2009

At 3:15am a female guard entered our secured room and informed us that we needed to wake up because we were going to be out processed in an hour and taken back over to the airport. Kim and I quickly got out of bed and began to shower. I have no idea why we bothered to clean up, we had to put on the same clothes that we had been traveling in for the past 56 hours. By now they began to smell like a herd of goats. We did our best to freshen up and were then escorted to the processing center.

We were again searched, our bags were searched, and we were placed in a room to wait for a ride to the airport. I don’t think that I have ever been frisked this much in my entire life. After 20 minutes or so we were placed back into a secure van and driven to the airport where we and our bags were again searched. Once we cleared security, again, we were driven back to the holding facility at the airport immigration center. After we and our bags were searched again, we were placed into the holding cell. We would sit there for two and a half hours. By this point we were tired and beat. We looked like a couple of worn out dishrags. Our morale was at an all-time low. And our butts had a permanent waffle imprint of the metal benches that we were sitting on.

At 8am we were escorted to our flight. The guards informed us that we wouldn’t get our passports back until we were out of British airspace. Like we were going to somehow take over the plane and have them take us back to the UK. This last escorted trip felt the worse. We were being paraded in front of the people that we would spend the next 9 hours with trapped inside of an airplane bound for the US. They all looked at us as if we were part of some international crime syndicate that had plans to hijack the plane. Talk about feeling like a criminal.

We met the flight attendant at the aircraft door and she showed us to our seats near the back of a completely booked flight. Our guard handed her two envelopes that contained our passports and tickets. Sitting in our seats waiting to leave we felt a little relieved. We prayed together for a safe trip back home and Kim jokingly took a couple of pictures out of our airplane window to show that we had actually been in the UK. They closed the aircraft door and we began our journey to Atlanta.

By this point, Kim and I had been in an aircraft for a long, long time. We both were exhausted and sleep deprived. We had a terrible ordeal spending the night in ‘little Beirut’. Our nerves were completely shot. Our bodies were quivering uncontrollably. During the flight one of the flight attendants asked Kim why we were detained and Kim unloaded the entire tale to her. By the time the story was over, the flight attendant felt bad for us. She told Kim that whatever we needed just ask – if we needed more to eat…or anything, just ask and she would take care of it. It was the first nice thing that happened to us in the past 48 hours. 

We landed in Atlanta at 1pm and we were never so happy to be back in the US. The flight attendant handed us our envelopes containing our passports and told us not to open them. We walked, unescorted, to the immigration office. As the officer looked at the envelopes he said that we needed to be classified orange….I have no idea what that meant, but it didn’t sound good. He then changed that and said “wait a minute, you guys are American citizens, let me hurry up and get you guys on your way”. Finally, FREEDOM! He asked us why we had been denied entry and we explained to him the entire terrible situation. He explained, “we have a reciprocal agreement between the UK and us, they should have never done this to you”. I wish it had been him at the UK customs center instead of the moron that we dealt with. We were then sent on our way back home.

We got on our last flight to Nashville. During the flight home the delivery service called and left us a message that our bags, which we hadn’t seen since we left on Wednesday, were being taken to our home. Another piece of wonderful news.

We landed in Nashville and were met by our son and his wife. It was wonderful to finally see a familiar face. Kim again broke down in tears as she hugged our son and daughter in law (I’m actually getting a little choked up just writing about it). We got into their car and began telling them the entire tale. After the two hour trip we finally made it home. And things got even better. The rest of our children met us at our home. They had decorated our living room with balloons and a welcome home banner. We hugged them all and finally felt relieved to be back. Kim told them everything that took place not sparing any detail and they felt just as horrified as we did.

After a couple of ‘adult beverages’, Kim and I went to bed to try and catch up on all of the sleep that we had lost. It was the hardest that I have ever slept in my entire life. I was unconscious for 10 hours. When we woke up Sunday morning our bodies were still quivering. I hope that in the coming days that this horrible feeling stops.

So that is our tale. As I write this my thoughts are our future plans. We have no car, lost a couple thousand dollars that will devastate our financial future for the coming months, and we are emotionally crushed. Will we try to do this again? Probably not. I think that this experience has taught me that teaching wire art will be something that we will only do here in the States. It would have been wonderful to take my methods to the UK and I feel terrible for all of those that signed up for the class. All we can do now is try to fix everything that has been broken.

‘til next week.

Jim McIntosh

P.S. – does anyone know of a reliable vehicle for sale at a cheap price? Lol.         

Hello Everyone!

I would like to take a moment and apologize for missing a week of blogging. Things around the studio have been rather hectic. Aside from traveling for a class in Jackson Michigan at the end of August, we are trying to get everything together for our trip to England. As of today we leave for London in 9 days. This is really going to be an adventure.

Our trip to England isn’t only for pleasure. We have 3 fully booked Wire Art classes that we’ll be teaching. That’s where all of the stress is coming from. I counted up all of the metal that we’ll need for the classes and it amounts to a whopping 46 ounces. That has to be the most metal that I have ever purchased in one sitting. We plan to take plenty of pictures and video of our adventure and I plan to post them here when we get back.

Now on to other news.

I learned something new when I was in Michigan. During my wiresmith class we got on the subject of annealing. I explained what it is, why you do it, and the basic procedure involved in annealing metal. I passed along my little trick to know when the metal has reached the point where it’s annealed – flux becomes watery when it reaches about 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the students passed along another indicator that can be used and I would like to pass that along to all of you.

Take a permanent marker and draw a line across the metal that is to be annealed. Begin heating the metal as you normally would when annealing. As the metal reaches the point of annealing (around 1100 degrees Fahrenheit depending on the metal) the permanent marker line will begin to fade and almost disappear. Once it fades the metal should be properly annealed. Neat trick, huh? To me that seems much simpler than painting the entire piece with flux.

I must point out though that I would only use this when working with Argentium. Why? As all of you know (I talk about it all of the time) Argentium can be heated without using flux because it doesn’t develop firescale. Other metals – fine silver, sterling silver, gold and so forth – need to be protected with flux when annealing.

Last Bit of News

I wanted to remind everyone that we still have a couple discounted books available so if you’re interested in saving a bit of cash (and who isn’t these days) stop by –

http://www.macjewels.com/bookdeal.html

Well, that’s all for now.

‘til next week,

Jim McIntosh