Home for a little while -- Posted on December 8, 2010

I'm home from my job away from home. It seemed like such a very long time; it was over the Thanksgiving holiday and I wasn't very busy at the job. I had a lot of spare time to practice guitar and sew beads and read a book. I Skyped Charlie and Travis every day.
I was billeted in a B&B. It was very nice. An old restored house full of antiques and plastic flowers and reminders of how much God loves me. I managed to clear some of the stuff off of the tables and had a little work room. But by the end of the week the lady who ran the place started to decorate for Christmas because the first Holiday party was scheduled to be held there at the end of my last week.
The Christmas decorations got to me in a big way and I got infected with the Christmas Spirit way earlier than ever before. But the Christmas music being piped all over the town by City Hall never stopped bothering me.

So as I said, I'm home now for a while until my next gig. I managed to melt a little glass and also take some pictures! I know! How unusual!

This first picture is some bones, but very very fancy bones.

These are very high content silver glass, hence the high shine.



I couldn't resist trying a bent bead with the fancy glass:



The bones and the set were done using a tutorial written by Kim Neely, glass artist extraordinaire. I have struggled with the fancy glass, trying to get it to do the magic. Her tutorials really helped; worth every penny!

-- Posted on November 4, 2010

Looks like I got a little carried away with the PBHS pendants. I made some silver and then some bronze too. I'm liking both metals for these little Poplar Bluff charms.

Bracelets -- Posted on September 4, 2010

I've made some bracelets. The pictures are not too great, the background looks scratched. Have a look, Jan, and see whether you like them! They are all about the same length, I think they will fit you but if not, we can re-size later.
Its taken quite a while to put these together, I wanted to make beads that I thought you would like. You should see the reject pile! LOL It was great to get the glass flowing. The toggles are hand made by me too.

First, a group shot:

You said "neutral colors" but I was thinking you said "earth colors" but it was too late when I realized my mistake and I
thought you might like to see the earth colors one anyway:



Sorry for all the crazy glare. Here is another view:



This one has neutral color light ivory but it also has a pretty blue with murrinis:





This one started out with neutral colors but I gravitated towards the browns with silver. The big round medallion is also made by me. I liked how it looked in the bracelet.





All the bracelets are double-crimped which makes the construction strong. I think bracelets get more challenging stresses so I usually double crimp them.

Hello! -- Posted on May 20, 2010

I was having one of those perfect happy moments yesterday and I thought it would be good to share the moment. Pretty simple, really. Like most of those perfectly happy moments. I think its good to realize and appreciate those times. Mine was just that I was walking along our long secluded wooded driveway with Angel, our dog. I was listening to some great music on my Nano I pod music thingy. Wouldn't it be great if every day could contain such a perfectly happy interlude?

I can show some new work.
The first one is a commissioned necklace featuring one of my bent glass beads and fine silver findings. It is strung on a hand-dyed cord made by my friend, Lorri. Her website is:
http://www.lasfibers.com/
Here is the necklace:

Another newly finished piece. Its another one made with Kate McKinnon's "Bat-eyed Screwt" design. Kate's web page address:
http://www.katemckinnon.com/
I have been in an interesting purple phase these last couple of months.

Cupid's Gems again -- Posted on January 31, 2010

While I have the camera out, here is a shot of a pile of new stuff I'm bringing to the show;

<

Brrr! -- Posted on January 31, 2010

Charlie laughed at me when I went outside in my jammies to shoot this picture this morning. It is 4 degrees out there! How does the animal world survive this bitter cold? I know I couldn't make it for long even with winter gear.

The moon is pretty, don't you think?

/center>

Upcoming Jewelry Show -- Posted on January 25, 2010

I am so excited to be attending The Cupid's Gems jewelry show again this year. (Weather permitting-cross my fingers) It will be 3 years in a row for me and I'm proud to be invited back. I can't wait to see the beautiful jewelry that the other artists have been creating. For myself I'll have a lot of new pieces. I just used my last toggle clasp, so I have to hurry up and make some more because I still have lots of designs ricocheting around my noggin. I'm running out of time! Here is a shot of the show's flier telling date, time and location:

This is a one day show. My booth is usually located upstairs. There is an elevator too if you find you have bought too many things that you have to have a cart to get it out to your car. Or if you want to save your strength so as to be sure to see everything. I am expecting a big turnout this year; word of mouth is getting around Kansas City about our Gala One-of-a-Kind Artist Made Jewelry Show.

Merry Christmas! -- Posted on December 25, 2009

I can finally show this new bracelet. This one was a Christmas gift for my sister. I had really wanted to show this one sooner but I knew she would see it here and spoil the surprise! Thanks again, Kate McKinnon http://www.katemckinnon.com/ for a fabulous design! I'm going to do another one but the narrow width in these same colors. Hope I have enough of the silver-y seed beeds left!

Shaken Not Stirred -- Posted on September 3, 2009

Someone wanted a bead that looks like a stuffed olive a la Martini garnish. I bought a jar of stuffed olives (and they are yummy) so I could get the colors right. They are good on a salad.

Here it is:

I'll get it in the mail tomorrow.

We went on a road trip vacation last month. We went to Southern Colorado to a place called Trujillo Meadows Campground. We spent a couple of perfect days and nights there and we geo cached a bit. This a picture of one of the hikes to a cache. Beautiful scenery behind me which is looking south into New Mexico. You can't see it in this picture, but there is a railroad track down there. It is a old narrow gauge Steam engine which runs on a scenic ride between Chama New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway.We didn't ride the train, but we walked along the tracks for a little way to find the cache. I found a handful of super neato squished coin money that somebody had laid on the tracks and then forgot to come back and get. Perhaps Dad was honking the horn, "come on kids! We gotta go now!" It just made my day.

-- Posted on August 7, 2009

I just want to share this Janis Joplin jewel. It knocks me out.

Powered by Coranto