Please Don’t Expect Me to Teach You for Free

Why do strangers expect me to share my time and knowledge with them for free?

I’ve been making jewelry for a bunch of years now and have expanded my skillset from the wire-framed cabochon pendants I began with to all kinds of silversmithing work. Along the way, I developed my skills by watching videos, attending hands-on classes, and practicing what I’ve learned. I’ve also invested literally thousands of dollars in equipment and materials.

This is not a “side gig,” as someone once suggested. It’s a real business with income and expenses. I was on track to be profitable (after all that training and equipment) in 2020 — until COVID hit. I’ll likely turn a profit this year.

Understand that I am self employed with several sources of income. Jewelry making is one of them. Making YouTube videos is another. Flying helicopters during the summer months is yet another. So when someone expects me to share my hard-earned skills with them without compensation, I bristle.

Getting My Skills

My jewelry making skillset began through watching a few videos about wire-wrapping stones. In hindsight, I realize that those videos did more harm than good. One of them actually recommended using hardware store pliers, which have ridges for gripping that seriously scratch metal. The finished pieces I created looked just as amateurish as the pieces in the videos. I fooled myself into being satisfied with them.

Montana Agate first Piece
The first true wire-framed pendant I made in sterling silver. Many thanks to Dorothy for sharing her knowledge with me.

But I was lucky in that I had a friend who did much nicer work and volunteered to teach me. We sat down together and I made my first piece in real silver using her technique. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. We were in Quartzsite and she was renting a far-less-than-perfect single-wide mobile home in a trailer park while working for a lapidary who was set up at Desert Gardens. We did it at the kitchen table one evening with a lamp brought over to provide the light we needed. She was very patient. That first pendant took two hours to make.

Bumble Bee Jasper
I made this Bumble Bee Jasper pendant this past weekend while sitting in my booth at the art show; it sold the same day. I can now make a pendant like this in about 30 minutes if I’m not interrupted.

I was happy with my first effort, but looking at it now reminds me of how far I’ve come. My style has changed significantly over the years. I now wrap all of my bails for a cleaner (in my opinion) look and work hard to cover the stone as little as possible. I’ve made (and sold) hundreds of these pendants over the past three and a half years and I’ve since moved on to other things.

I should make something very clear here. I never asked Dorothy to teach me how to make pendants. She offered to do it. She wouldn’t take my money, either — even though she’d provided the sterling silver for that first pendant. But I wasn’t satisfied to let it rest. I called up Rio Grande, the jewelry supply company she introduced me to, and asked them to put $50 on her account for her to use the next time she bought something. A sort of gift certificate. Months later, she found that credit and thanked me for it. But the way I see it, I still owe her.

The trouble with wire work is that it’s seen as an inferior form of jewelry making. I’m not sure why. While some wire work — like what I’d started doing on my own — can be pretty crappy, there’s other work that is far more polished and professional. Still, when you apply for a juried art show and the only thing you’ve got to show is wire work, prejudices keep you out, no matter how polished it looks. I needed to take my jewelry making to the next step.

That said, I signed up for a 3-day intensive metalworking class at the Tacoma Metal Arts Center. This was not a cheap undertaking. The class itself cost $375 and I had to get myself over to Tacoma, which is about a 4-hour drive. I also had to get lodging for myself; I lucked out there because they let me park my truck camper in their back parking area every night. I’ve since taken two other classes through TMAC, including a blacksmithing class in Eatonville.

Hammered Earrings
These silver earrings are entirely handmade, right up to the ear wire. (Only the beads are purchased.) I started with silver sheet metal and cut the earring and “washer” shapes. Next came hammering and stamping the texture. Then I applied a patina and used various tools to rub it off the high points. Finally, I created the ear wire with the quartz and silver beads.

I learned a ton there although few of the skills were polished enough to use right afterwards. I had to practice. I started producing different styles of earrings, using the metal forming skills I learned. Soldering, at first, was a stumbling block, but I (mostly) got past it. I began making tab-mounted, then prong mounted, and finally bezel set cabochon pendants.

I also decided to take the deep dive into jewelry making by investing in equipment. A flex shaft. A rolling mill. A table-top metal shear. Hammers and dapping sets. Mandrels. A vice. A grinder. Bench blocks. Finishing tools. Soldering station equipment. The list — and the related costs — go on and on. But if there’s one smart thing my wasband ever said (again and again), it’s “Every job is easy when you have the right tools.” I invested in the tools I needed to explore my design ideas and get the job done.

And I took more classes. In January/February 2020, before COVID hit hard, I signed up for 5 Vivi Magoo classes at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. That meant an investment in close to $2,000 on just skills. And $250 for a site in a campground nearby — rather than the $250/night cost of a room at the hotel where the classes were being held. I learned more advanced techniques by actually doing them. The skills I brought home enabled me to come up with new designs and take my work to the next level. I was able to get into most of the juried art shows I applied to — the ones in Palm Springs remain elusive — and to sell my work at shows and in galleries.

Still, I continue to this day to take classes — I just signed up for one in Tucson this coming February — and to hone my skills with new designs.

Sharing My Knowledge

About two years ago, before COVID hit, I did some one-on-one and classroom training. In most cases, it was project based: I’d teach people how to make something I made, including wire-framed pendants, chain bracelets and necklaces, and a variety of metal formed earrings.

Understand that I’ve always been paid to share my knowledge with others. Whether I did one-on-one training at Pybus Market when I sold pendants there or taught small groups at a booth in Quartzsite, AZ in the winter or did classroom training at Gallery One in Ellensburg, I was compensated for my time and the materials I provided to class attendees.

The only exception is when one of my neighbors wanted a copper cuff bracelet like the ones I make out of copper pipe. I invited her over to my shop and the two of us hammered out a pair of bracelets. She is my friend and she takes care of my cats and chickens when I travel. It was a pleasure to be able to teach her how to make her own bracelet and I think she values it more than if I just gave her one. There’s something special about having a hand in making something you wear.

A Stranger Emails

In an effort to generate some off-season revenue before I head south for the winter — as I normally do — I placed a few Craig’s List ads offering my services as a jewelry maker to teach people how to make some of the things I make and sell. The ads go under the heading of “Learn to Make these Earrings!” etc. They basically show a photo or two of the project item and skills they’ll learn while making it. There’s a cost with a discount if more than one person attends. I’d link to them, but chances are they will have expired by the time most people read this. Here’s a screen shot of the start of one:

Learn to Make Earrings
This is the first pair of earrings I designed and made; ironically, they remain one of my most popular styles.

I also have an ad for general jewelry making where I offer to teach anything I know using any of my equipment for $50/hour/person with a 2-hour minimum. This is for someone who has an idea of what they want to learn but doesn’t necessarily want to do one of my projects.

On Thursday, I got an email forwarded by Craigs List, referring to one of my project-based ads:

Hi:

Saw your post on CL, and I watched your YT video, nice shop.

I am semi-retired and live in [redacted] and process roughs from a local source. I would like to learn how to make jewelry, and I also interested in perhaps contracting with you for some consulting.

In my garage/shop, I have a commercial grade vibratory tumbler, and 3 large rotary tumblers, a 6-inch Hi-Tech saw, and flat lap, a Gryphon router, and the necessary tools, and most of the supplies for making jewelry. Oh yeah, and about 400 lbs of roughs, and about 200 lbs of finished stones (I’ve been tumbling since 2016).

I also had a professional website built in January of 2021 but I have not really given it the focus it needs, in part because I want to add jewelry to the product line.
[redacted]

While I am a life-long (closet) artist, my devotion has been to pencil & paper, otherwise I was a [redacted] in [redacted] for [redacted].

I want help organizing my shop, so that I can make jewelry here in [redacted]. I have also been toying with the idea of hiring a part-time employee to make jewelry from my processed stones, and would enjoy a second opinion.

Best regards,

[redacted name and phone number]

(By the way, here’s the shop video he’s referring to. It gives you some idea of my investment in equipment.)

I have redacted some identifying information because it’s not my purpose to identify and/or shame this person. It doesn’t really matter who it is, does it? I’ll just point out here that, like me, his primary career was not in any way related to art or jewelry making. This is something pretty new for him.

I looked at his website. It was very pretty. It had a lot of pictures of tumbled stones and a lot of the usual nonsense about spirituality and vibrations and the meanings of rocks. It did not seem to actually sell anything.

I re-read his message. He is basically a rock tumbler — he polishes rough stones by putting them in a barrel with different grits and letting the barrel run for weeks on end. Anyone can tumble rocks — hell, Amazon sells a kit that’ll get a 10-year-old kid started in no time for just $59. The only thing that impressed me about his equipment was that he was set up to tumble a lot of rocks.

(Maybe I should mention here that you can buy tumbled rocks by the handful or little bagful from a lot of gift shops out west for $5. Here’s 2 pounds of the stuff with a book about rocks for $20.)

I don’t use tumbled rocks in my work. The only stones I use are cabochons, which require different equipment and a lot more time and effort to make. Cabochons have flat backs and domed fronts. They’re often in regular shapes, like ovals and teardrops, but can be more randomly shaped, depending on the skills and artistic ideas of the lapidary who makes them.

I thought for a while about how I would answer this guy’s message. I even toyed with the idea of hooking him up with someone who did the kind of wire wrap work I started with. But in the end I decided to give him what he seemed to be asking for: advice.

I’m sorry it took me so long to respond. I was busy this weekend selling my work at Art in the Park in Leavenworth.

I don’t think I can help you. I don’t use tumbled stones in my work at all. I use cabochons, which are best for the kind of stone setting I do.

As for an opinion: if you hired someone to make jewelry for you, the money you pay that person would have to be added to the cost of the jewelry, along with the materials used to make the jewelry.

You have to consider how much you could sell the jewelry for. Have you visited shops selling the kind of jewelry you want to make? Have you seen the prices on that jewelry? Can you discern whether it’s actually selling at those prices?

As you may have already surmised, having a “professional website” does not mean you’ll be able to sell a lot of product. Everyone has a website these days. You’d do better attending art or craft shows or setting up wholesale or consignment accounts. All that costs money, too. And, after spending a total of 30 hours in Leavenworth this weekend, with six hours of commuting and the cost of the booth fee, my tent, and display equipment to factor in, I can assure you that shows take a lot of time, energy, and money to sell at. Wholesale accounts expect to pay 50% of retail; consignment these days wants 35% to 40% of the selling price. Selling costs are real and need to be figured into any calculation.

Is the selling price minus cost of sales and cost of creation worthwhile for you?

These are the things you need to think objectively about. I hope this has been helpful to you.

Apparently, I misunderstood what he wanted. He didn’t want “a second opinion,” which I read as advice. He replied within 24 hours:

Thank you for your response. The business part I understand, the mechanics of jewelry making is my present interest.

Like yourself, I also do shows. I’ll be at the [redacted] Farmers Market this [redacted]. I do it because it’s a great chance to interact with the community, and I am test-marketing new products, some of which I purchase from Amazon, and resell.

I do have a rock saw, a sander and dop station, and can make cabochons myself.

However to speed things up, I’m in the process of determining whether I want a Cab King or a 6-inch Covington combo unit. I realize the lead times on these are significant but I am not deterred.

So, with that said, would consider teaching me how to make jewelry?

Regards,

[redacted]

Whoa. There was a lot to unpack there.

I bristled big time when I read, “like yourself, I do shows.” (And it wasn’t the grammar that got me.) He has no fucking idea what “doing shows” is all about if he’s limited to a 4-hour local farmer’s market. Has he carted a tent, leg weights, tables, table coverings, displays, etc. all over the southwest, spending hours to set up and tear down booths at venues in three (so far) different states? Has he dealt with trying to sell inside a tent in the cold or heat or rain? Having to go to the bathroom when there’s no one around to watch your merchandise while you wait in line at a port-a-potty? Has he even dealt with the jurying process, paying a fee just to see if his work is good enough to get into a show?

Okay, fine. But then there’s the farmers’ market itself. I’d been talking to a customer about that particular farmers’ market over the weekend. The customer suggested it to me. I tried to kindly explain why I wasn’t interested, focusing on the fact that setting up my booth for a 4-hour event was just not practical. The real reason was the fact that most farmers’ markets are not juried — that means there’s no assurance that I’d be showing my work with other people selling real art. You might think that’s a good thing, but when you’re trying to sell silver and gemstone pendants for $59 each and sterling silver earrings for $39 a pair, it really isn’t good to be among people selling junk jewelry for a lot less money.

And then there was his admission that he buys stuff on Amazon and sells it at the farmers’ market. Holy shit. That is a mortal sin in the world of art shows. I guess it’s okay if you just want to turn a few bucks, but if you want to be and represent yourself as an artist? My opinion of him dropped a few levels when I read that.

And I became very glad I didn’t waste my time at that farmers’ market.

As for buying a Cab King (which I own) or Covington Combo Unit and thinking you can make great cabochons cost effectively right out of the gate, I can tell you from experience that it just isn’t going to happen. When I make my own cabochons — which I occasionally do — I spend roughly an hour or more of time on every single one of them. I have come to realize that my time is worth a lot more than I could get for it by making cabochons, so I’ve decided to simply buy most of the cabochons I use. My collection is quite extensive at this point, with over 800 stones from all over the world, and I have no trouble selling them for considerably more than their cost on the rare instances when someone wants to buy one. My art is in the jewelry I make — not the raw materials I make it with.

Anyway, I was able to answer his request with a much shorter email. After all, it seemed that he wanted me to teach him how to make jewelry. Sure, I could do that:

Yes, I have a Craig’s List ad that offers that service.
https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/art/d/malaga-learn-to-make-fine-jewelry/7383971485.html

I can basically teach how to make almost anything that I make.

Maria

The link would take him to my ad about teaching jewelry making for $50/hour with a 2-hour minimum. If he wanted me to teach him how to make jewelry, he, like almost everyone else I’d taught over the past few years, would have to open his wallet and pay me for my time, knowledge, and equipment.

That was three days ago. I’m still waiting for his response.

Isn’t It Worth Something?

This is the same crap I’ve been dealing with for years in all of my freelance work: writing books and articles, flying helicopters, editing video, making jewelry. I have skills and equipment — sometimes very costly equipment — do you know what costs to buy and maintain a helicopter? — and someone expects me to share these things for free.

These are the tools I use to make a living. Any job I do requires my skills and equipment and the most valuable thing I have to offer: my time. Why the hell should I be expected to give this stuff away? To a stranger, no less?

In hindsight, I’m sorry I spent so much time answering his original email message. I gave him information based on my experience and I used my time to share it with him. What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn’t I realize from the get-go that he was just another person trying to squeeze something of value out of me, likely for free?

Anyway, I don’t expect to hear from him again, unless he’s going to try to trade me training time for some of his rocks.

I bet you can guess how that suggestion would go with me.

Glue? In a Silversmithing Video?

I vent a little about people who should know better showing junk jewelry shortcuts in their jewelry-making videos.

I watch a lot of videos about making jewelry. I must have seen hundreds of them by now. Most were on YouTube, but I’ve also purchased in depth jewelry making videos on DVD or streaming services. I learn a lot from these and they can inspire me.

My favorite jewelry makers on YouTube

Want a few suggestions for getting started? Here are my top 5 favorite jewelry makers on YouTube:

  • Soham Harrison. Soham makes no-nonsense videos that really teach techniques. His camera setup isn’t fancy but it does the job. Lots of his videos are great projects for beginners, but there’s some advanced stuff, too. Soham is based in Australia but his accent is American.
  • Online Jewelry Academy. This one uses a set to record videos on a wide range of topics. The host, Professor John Ahr, is knowledgeable and a little weird. Lots of great videos for beginners here.
  • Andrew Berry. Andrew Berry is another jeweler who teaches jewelry making. His videos cover a wide range of topics. I believe he’s based in the UK.
  • Estona Metalsmithing. I recently discovered this channel and have watched quite a few of her videos. She seems to be making an effort to build up her subscriber base with quality tutorials. There’s a great beginner’s series and a bunch of other videos that go beyond the basic. She’s based in the Netherlands and speaks with a heavy accent, but her English is perfect. Just be aware that her terminology doesn’t always match the terms we use here.
  • Rio Grande. Rio is a jewelry making supplier and they’ve got a bunch of videos that teach techniques, many of which are related to items they sell. While some are strictly marketing videos, there’s lot of good how-to material, too.

Before I go any further, however, I need to warn wannabe jewelry makers that there are a lot of crap videos out there. Videos that show you how to make junk jewelry or videos made by people who obviously don’t know what they’re doing and make videos out of their experiments. I also occasionally have trouble with the personalities (or voices, even) of some of the video makers. I have zero tolerance for people who spend more time talking about how smart they are than actually showing you how to make something great. And that woman who talks like Cindy Lauper? Sorry. I just can’t keep tuning in. So although I encourage you to watch videos to learn, be prepared to wade through a lot of crap to find gold.

All that said, yesterday I watched a video from Durango Silver, which is a well-known turquoise and jewelry seller seller based in Durango, CO. The video covered making a basic gemstone pendant and although I’ve seen dozens of videos on that topic and have made many of my own, I checked it out, hoping to learn a few new tricks.

The guy who was making the piece — John — definitely had experience and knowledge. His narration was better than average, but far from perfect — for example, he occasionally used the wrong word for something or left sentences unfinished as he was working. It amazed me when he started talking about how much he loved a particular pair of pliers, pointing out that they were made in Pakistan (like 75% of jewelry making tools) and struggling to get the name Wubbers out with a laugh. Why did that amaze me? Well, Wubbers is generally recognized as a quality brand of tool and I really think he should have been familiar with the name.

The camera work was excellent. Most videos are one-person affairs where the camera sits on a tripod that may or may not be in the best position; this video had a camera guy who did a great job staying focused (literally and figuratively) on what we needed to see.

The video was long — 50+ minutes — and I watched it on my new bedroom TV setup. That means I fell asleep before he was done. (I cannot read or watch TV in a horizontal position without falling asleep.) In the morning, however, I finished watching it on my iPad while I had breakfast. I did learn something — a new (to me) technique for attaching a bail — and, because of this, I consider watching the video time well spent.

Stick Soldering
Screen capture from the video showing John soldering the bezel and a jump ring to the back plate. One of the things I learned in this video was a new (to me) technique for using a jump ring to connect a pendant bail. He also demonstrated stick soldering, which I’ve seen a few times but haven’t tried yet.

That is, until I got to the end. You see, John was creating a bezel setting for a cabochon. A bezel is a strip of thin metal — silver, in this case — that is formed to fit the stone and soldered onto a back plate. When all the soldering and polishing is done, the very last step is to fit the stone into the prepared bezel and use a variety of tools to bend the top edge of the metal down around the stone to hold it in place. This is a standard bezel setting technique. Look it up, take a class, watch a bunch of bezel set videos and 99% of them will show you this correct way.

The video started going off the rails for me when John reached for a coffee mug full of sawdust and put some into the bottom of the finished piece, under where the stone would go. Sawdust. A wood product. In a piece of sterling silver jewelry.

Sawdust in a Bezel
Here’s another screen grab from the video. This one shows the layer of sawdust at the bottom of the bezel.

He then put the stone on top of it. The sawdust’s job was to raise the stone a bit so the bezel wouldn’t come up too high on the stone.

Let me take a moment to explain how getting the bezel the right height for the stone is usually done. There are two techniques to choose from:

  • Before shaping and soldering the bezel, cut it to the right height. This is the correct way to do this. It’s a pain in the ass because you’re normally only trimming off a millimeter or two and it’s important to make a good, level cut. If your cut is bad, you can level it out with sandpaper after soldering it closed.
  • Put something under the stone to raise it. Folks who do this normally use some sort of material that will not decay in any way. Tiny cut up pieces of credit cards are popular. I have, in the past, used copper sheet cut to size. (I once made a pair of earrings with bezel set cabochons and although the stones matched in appearance, one was definitely thicker than the other; I used copper under the thinner one to make it match its mate.) I’ve never seen anyone use a biodegradable product like sawdust.

Okay. So this guy used sawdust. He called it “jeweler’s sawdust.” I’ve never seen it before — and I’ve shopped at a lot of jewelry supply sites and stores. Maybe that’s acceptable in the business? I didn’t know but I also wasn’t going to switch.

What he did next, however, floored me. He pulled out a bottle of liquid glue and, using the needle-tip applicator, glued the stone into the bezel.

Glue
He called that stuff “superglue.”

I screamed at my iPad: “Not glue! Don’t fuck it up with glue!

Of course, he kept gluing. I turned it off. I couldn’t bear to watch him permanently affix, with “superglue,” a beautiful cabochon to a very nice sterling silver setting and the sawdust beneath it with glue.

(I later watched the end. He did use a bezel setting tool to close up the bezel over the stone. But why the glue? Ugh.)

Later, I went back to look at the comments people had left on the video. Everyone loved it. Half of them said that they’d been wanting to try something like this and now they thought they were ready to do it.

I was horrified. He was teaching new jewelry makers a lazy way to do a bezel setting. A way that allowed makers to rely on glue instead of design and skills to set the stone.

But what was worse was that he was showing me that the jewelry made and sold by Durango Silver is likely held together with glue rather than the skill of the jewelry artist.

I guess the moral of the story is this: don’t just watch one video about how to do something. Watch a bunch. Pay attention to the details. If there’s a technique that most of the video makers are using, maybe it’s the right technique.

With very few exceptions, glue has no place in fine jewelry.

Helicopter Flight Controls: The Collective

Another video from FlyingMAir’s YouTube Channel.

This is the second in my Helicopter Flight Control series covering the four flight controls in a helicopter. In this video, I show you the collective and how it controls main rotor blade pitch. Then I take you for a flight and demonstrate two landings and a takeoff, as well as how I can reduce/increase speed without descending/climbing. Although I don’t provide details about the cyclic, it does play a part in this video; hold your cyclic questions for that video, okay?

One thing I failed to make clear in this video: the collective controls the manifold pressure in a Robinson. It does this because the collective is tied to the throttle through the use of a correlator and electronic governor. So when I “pull pitch” — lift the collective — the throttle automatically increases to compensate for the additional drag of the blades at a higher pitch setting. When the throttle increases, the manifold pressure increases. Because of this, it’s common to use the manifold pressure setting to indicate the collective pitch setting even though manifold pressure is an engine indicator and not a main rotor blade indicator. I hope that makes sense to you; it should when you watch this entire video and listen to my manifold pressure references.

BIG DISCLAIMER: I am not nor have I ever been a flight instructor. The purpose of this video is not to teach you how to fly a helicopter. It’s simply to explain, mostly to non-pilots or fixed wing pilots, what the collective control does. If you want more information, I strongly urge you to consult the Helicopter Flying Handbook, which is FREE on the FAA Website: https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/helicopter_flying_handbook/ You’ll find Chapter 3 especially informative.

About Me and the Helicopter

  • I have been flying for about 20 years. My nearly 4,000 hours of flight time is in Robinson R44, Robinson R22, and Bell 206L (Long Ranger) helicopters.
  • The helicopter is a 2005 Robinson R44 Raven II — the same one that appears in the photo at the beginning of the video. You can learn more about them here: https://robinsonheli.com/r44-specifications/ I own this helicopter. It is the third helicopter I’ve owned since 2000.
  • My helicopter has ADS-B Out and is picked up by radar facilities. You can see my track for recent flights on Flightradar24: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n7534D This is a great site for tracking any almost any flight, including the airlines.

About the Video

  • The video was recorded with a pair of GoPro Hero 7 cameras (https://amzn.to/2Lxyzwl), one of which is connected to the helicopter’s intercom system with an NFlightCam audio cable (https://amzn.to/31syLTm). Both cameras record audio, but I dialed down the helicopter sound to about 25% of normal volume so it wouldn’t be annoying.
  • The camera mounts are MyPilotPro Spider Mounts (https://amzn.to/2BnbcQv” target=”_blank”>https://amzn.to/2BnbcQv and https://amzn.to/2Muou3N) which are made specifically for aircraft operations. Utilizing three suction cups, they make it possible to mount cameras on rounded surfaces. You can see one of the mounts in the video near my vertical compass. For more information about camera mounting options for aircraft, visit https://mypilotpro.com/; I will be reviewing these mounts in an upcoming video.
  • The video was edited on a Macintosh using Screenflow software. Learn more about it here: https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm
  • Additional audio in this video was recorded in Screeflow using a Røde Podcaster microphone (https://amzn.to/2IFnbNr).
  • The intro music is by Bob Levitus, famed “Dr. Mac.” You can find him here: http://www.boblevitus.com/

I try to drop cockpit POV videos every Sunday morning and “extras” with more info about owning and operating a helicopter midweek. (Some channel members get early access to some of these videos.) I also host occasional livestreams with Q&A chats. Subscribe and turn on the notification bell so you don’t miss anything new! And tell your friends. I’m trying hard to deliver good videos and grow my subscriber base.

Any Amazon links on my channel are affiliate links (https://amzn.to/32PLHTD). If you click one of them and buy something, Amazon sends me a few pennies. Enough pennies make a dollar. Enough dollars buy new equipment. It doesn’t cost you anything so I hope you’ll shop with one of those links. Thanks.

If you’re not a subscriber, please subscribe and click to turn the notification bell on. Then share the videos you really like with your friends and family so they can enjoy them, too.

Still reading? Thanks! Maybe you’ll consider buying something from my Etsy store to help support this channel? Start here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlyingMAir

Or better yet, to support this channel on an ongoing basis, consider becoming a member. This link will get you started: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLGD_GbGsS6YKK_Ekx0QMqQ/join