Saturday, February 4, 2017

Meeting a master craftsman

So I've set up my jewelry station at my apartment, and it's sad, but I've done very little with it.  I crafted some things at Quench Jewelry Arts in NE Minneapolis while I was home for the holidays, and finished a couple things when I got back, but that's about it.  In fact, when I went to polish up what I had worked on, my rock tumbler (used with steel shot for shining silver jewelry) blew up on me.  I used it with a converter, but evidently mis-calculated what I actually needed to convert it to, and it billowed smoke throughout my apartment while I was in the other room finishing something up.

Realizing that it was now dead, and I probably shouldn't do any additional jewelry work until it was fixed or replaced (you know, because it's essential to getting stuff done - not...) I set out to see how I could solve the problem.  Turns out, there is a woman in southern Poland who sells the Lortone rock tumblers and was willing to order one and ship it to me.  We conversed back and forth a couple times, and I settled on just getting the base of the machine, since I already had the container you put the steel shot and jewelry in.

This is the machine - I thought I was buying the blue part with the cord.... turns out I was wrong.

She agreed to sell me the blue part, and was ready to post it to me.  BUT, she was on her way to a big gem show in Arizona, so she asked me if I just wanted to pick it up from a friend of hers.  Evidently, he is a metal smith she was staying with before her journey to Arizona.  I thought, okay, I could have her mail it to school, or I could go to this guys house and meet a Polish metalsmith.  I decided it would be cool to meet a polish metalsmith and worked with a colleague to call him and arrange a time to go to his house.  Keep in mind, I don't speak Polish, he doesn't speak English, and my colleague Joanna (Polish) is not going to be there to translate for me.  I figured it would be quick, I'd go to his house at noon, I'd give him money, he'd give me the base and all would be great!

Not the case.


First of all, I showed up to this:

Now I like dogs as much as the next guy - but this is a guard dog, and a German Shephard.  He was definitely there to alert his homeowner to my presence and as he growled and barked at me, I damn near peed myself.  Luckily, when Jacek (pronounced Yah-check) opened the door, the dog was escorted inside and I was allowed through the gate.  He greeted me and asked if I'd learned how to speak Polish since Joanna (my colleague) talked to him the day before, and chuckled.  So off we went - to his workshop upstairs in his house.  

He opened the box with the part, and lo and behold it held... just a motor (see it on the right below).  


Wait, what?  Huh.  So, if I paid the money for this part, I would have to take the other motor out, and put this one in.  Okay - I'm a "maker" I can do this, right?  Hmmmm.... he started talking to me in Polish, I started using the Google translate app, and was typing things like, will this work in my machine?  He kept saying something about America, america and I responded with "I am american" which evidently did not answer his question.  He paused and made several phone calls to try and find a friend who spoke English.  No luck.  Hmmm.  We stared at each other for a minute, I typed in something else in the Google translate app, and then I got an idea.  There is a microphone on the app as well - so I tried it.  I pushed the microphone while he was talking and I'll be damned if it didn't recognize Polish and translate it into English for me.  WHA?!?!  WINNING! 

We were both in awe of the fact that it could listen to me speak English, translate it and then speak it back in Polish to Jacek.  It was really incredible.  
If I pushed the microphone, it would detect which language was being spoken and translate into the appropriate "other" language.  It was amazing. 

Turns out, there had been a mixup.  The woman I bought the motor from thought I wanted to take the Polish motor and use it in my machine in the United States.  I'm not sure why that may be the case, but it's what he thought was happening.  I asked if the motor would work in Poland, he said of course, yes it would, but not with the plug on the machine being American.  I told him (only slightly confidently) that I could figure out how to change the cord, and it would be fine.  He looked at me, smiled and said, "moment."  He got his tools out and went to work.

I stood and watched (and took pictures) while he managed to take a cord from his workroom, disassemble it, and reassemble my cord into a functioning one that would conduct European power from the motor he had.  It seems simple, and I'm sure my parents who are very handy, could have done it - but they're not here.  And they don't speak Polish.  I was lucky enough to come across someone willing to stop what he was doing, take time to help me, and ensure me that his door is always open if I want to come back and make jewelry with him.  What an absolute treat.  I am both humbled and so appreciative that he took the time to help me, when he was definitely not bargaining for such an affair in delivering a motor to a customer.  

There are good people in the world, and there are great people.  Jacek will forever be one of the great people in my life experiences.  Enjoy the pictures!
                                                  


Note the IKEA screwdriver I brought in case I thought we might need a tool **rolls eyes








Some of Jacek's work.  Absolutely beautiful and entirely hand made.


He was working on these baby rattles when I interrupted him


my machine with the new motor waiting to be put in

scale

Jacek's tumbler.  I'm such a rookie.








His tray of work again.  Stunning.