It's Almost Yule!!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... I've had that song as an earbug for the last few days.. As we have had some really record breaking weather here!! Here in Portland OR we normally have rain in the winter and lots of it, but for the last week we have had SNOW!! And today into tomorrow we will be getting a huge surge of a moisture laden storm right form the Hawaiian Islands on what is called the Pineapple Express.. and it will slam into a frigid flow of heavy cold air streaming in from Eastern OR , Snow and wind and freezing rain is in the works!!

We have most of our Holiday things ready so not going to worry about it. Here are a couple of pictures from this morning that I took out my back yard, now at almost 8 in the evening we have a lot more snow and the temperature has dipped here in my neighborhood to 17 degrees... Yi Yi Yi that is cold.. for us that is END OF THE WORLD cold.. hehehe

I spent the day making soup and working on some Viking Knit for a chain and pendant I am doing, and trying to stay warm!

ATTACK of the FAIRY FLIES!!!!

Yes I know it has been awhile since I "blogged" (one of these days I am going to set my ongoing spell checker to accept the word Blog, without beeping at me!) and, well I get busy, and actually typing is not the easiest thing in the world for me to do...so I tend to look at a LARGE blank screen with misgivings, but I endure, I endure. The other day though I was going thru my pretty darn large cache of completed jewelry pieces and I spied some tumbled gemstone material and got totally inspired to create, though I *had* sat down at my workbench on the pretense of Cleaning it up!! I have often told people that even on a good day my bench area looks like a bomb went off and then a troop of rabid drunken squirrels had an impromptu orgy amidst the rubble. So, the need to create was probably more of a procrastinatory gambit on my part, and it certainly worked because said area still looks uhhhm, well lived in! I will get back to straightening and rearranging .. hopefully :) What I saw that interested me was a tumble stone of Rhodonite that I had picked up probably in a little bagged collection parcel. Looking at it I saw a tiny little gnat or bug perched on it.. it was one of the very small house plant gnats that a lot of people call "Fairy Flies" as I brushed my hand quickly near it, trying to drive it away, it just sat there on the stone.. calmly cleaning his antenna. I blew on him ( just a guess here on it's gender) and he decided the winds of change had come and he was gone.

Picking up my wire and stone, falling into the zone of creating for a few minutes I became aware that the little Fairy Fly was back, running back and forth across my overhead adjustable light shade. In little zig zaggy patterns he seemed to be watching what I was doing. So I stopped and watched him.. all of a sudden he flies and then lands back on the Rhodonite stone that was partially set in the wires.. Little Bugger! Be Off with ya! For the next hour he showed up and flitted off several times, even landing on my finger and dancing his way down to the stone and back up and then away. I have no idea why this little thing was attracted to this particular stone, it looked clean, there was nothing I could smell or see on it.. Eventually I just ignored him and finished the initial wire sculpted wrap and wove the bail. Cleaning and tumbling it to work harden and polish, then antiquing it and the last step wiring in the one small pearl in the top swirl. At last, the photography. I set up my light box and lights, tripod and got ready.. set my stage and,, there he was again!! Sitting in the middle of the stone as it lay on the White Board. I NOW wanted to get this little critters Picture!! He had been dogging me for at least 4 hours.. zoooming in the viewfinder ... and poof he was gone. I waited and waited and after 1/2 hour just took the picures.. and I have not seen him since. Very strange. And here is what he was so obsessed with. Rhodonite free form flatish tumble stone, antiqued and darkened copper wire and a pearl. Listed at my Etsy store www.atabbycatarts.etsy.com

My First ATC Art Card

I have to say, I have a lot of interests in life.. and I love to learn about new things.. in some ways I wish I was *not* like this, because life can get pretty chaotic when you have many projects and interests going all at the same time. But Art has always been at the top, drawing, painting and other artistic expressions. Unfortunately I have always felt very intimidated by that old Nemesis of many artists. The BLANK canvas. But, I have found a new area that is interesting and quite wonderful, Altered art and altered books, Mixed media, and collage. Especially the format of ATC cards, or artist trading cards. The only stipulation for an ATC is that it be 2.5 by 3.5 inches. Other than that it can be made in any medium.

I have seen so many very very beautiful and inspired cards and art in the last few months.. I am absolutely blown away by the diversity and how wonderfully varied these little pieces of art can be made. So I finished my first card the other day, and it's very simple.. but it made me giggle... I incorpereated a hand drawn little robot that I found on Etsy.. There is a shop by a lady who goes by Spidercamp, who makes the most Hilarious "bunnies that swear" very cute soft fleece little stuffed bunny ornaments, some of which have naughty words embroidered on their tummies! She also makes some "Bunnies of purity" and great cat toys. Her wonderful creations can be found at http://www.spidercamp.etsy.com/ She also has another shop http://www.jessicapierce.etsy.com/ in which she stocks odd and ends of various items, sewing things, fabrics (I found some nice fabric for my quilting ) and bits and bobs good for art and Collage and mixed media, in her own words some "weird things" I love to peruse her shop as I never know what neat or strange odd little item I might see. Last month she had a listing for some of her hand drawn little robots on kraft paper, various sizes, I had to get them , they just made me laugh. And when I received them I had to fight for my little treasures as my daughter spied them and she thought they were grand! She has this thing about Robots.. they kind of scare her and fascinate her at the same time. She has Down Syndrome and is borderline mild autistic so she gets fixated on certain things. So With that I post for your consideration my Very First (albeit quite simple) ATC! Which deals with MY very ** real terror** of Flying Stingy things! I am going to be creating a series using Jessicas Robots that I will list in my shop but the first one I am keeping forever!

Oooooo Scary?? Not to me!!!!

Ahhh!!! This BEAUTIFUL beautiful fellow, has graced my front porch for almost 6 months and this morning he.,, (I am assuming a he as it looks as he has the large pedipalps maybe?... ) made a Huge web right between the top of the porch posts directly above my front steps. And this is a big big guy.. a good three or more inches with legs outstretched. I LOVE spiders.. I know.. ladies are going to get the willies here,, but I have always been utterly fascinated with Arachnids ..I used to live in what was considered one of the number one spots in the world for Black Widows and as kids my siblings and I would play with them all the time.., Well I did. They were All over the place. My dad built us a very nice little club/ play house from old 4 x 4 posts and power poles, and it was not uncommon to have to go in and clear a spider out before we could go in and play. Anyway this one is just a plain old garden spider.. but what a lovely one ... so HAPPY HALLOWEEN and Don't be scared.. this little (huge) feller does more GOOD in controlling unwanted pest then in being a pest himself!

I wanted to do some handpainted Spider pendants for Halloween but time slipped away from me and maybe I will get some done for next year. I did though Actually get a few new items listed in the Etsy shop... I have been trying to do that for a week!!

http://www.atabbycatarts.etsy.com/

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! and don't be scared of spiders... :)

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Today was my daughters scheduled day for her community inclusion outing with her provider, which is great for my little pill as she gets to see and do fun things without old stick in the mud "mom". And it provides me a few hours of time where I can have quiet time to work on projects or just do simply nothing! One day I actually lay down for a few hours and read and napped!!

Well this morning the Kid was sick, she was really quite bummed as she knew her trip to the Pumpkin Patch was not going to happen as planned.. hopefully she will be feeling better on Thursday and make it out there, she has plans on getting 2 small sugar pumpkins for carving on Halloween eve, and then we will turn them into something good to eat the day after Halloween. Like pie or Pumpkin custards. So instead of getting some jewelry done, I have been heating soup and doing other "mom" things that we all do to comfort kids who are feeling under the weather. I also took a picture of some luscious figs that we got from our nice neighbors tree that hangs over the fence between our properties. This year the figs have been very beautiful and there seem to be more of them, I adore figs in baking quick breads. I made some really delicious Green Tomato Bread about a week ago and put some cooked and finely chopped figs in. The tiny fig seeds give a nice little crunch to this scrumptious moist dense cake. Here is a picture of probably the last of the figs for this year. I will cook, chop and freeze them to add to breads or cookies later. The fabric the plate of figs is sitting on is a UFO that I am working on, a string quilt top that is about half done... (I had a boo boo with it the other day and had to fix it so it was at hand to stand in for a background for the figs)

I also heated the last of the soup I made a few days ago and it is so true that a soup gets better the next day, the flavors have a chance to meld and marry. Split the last with the kid when I convinced her to eat a little. Then I put a big pot of water and frozen chicken carcasses on to make some homemade stock, to make another big batch of this.

Ummm! I have to admit that cooking is not my major forte in life, though I do consider myself a good and proficient cook, I just don't really enjoy it as much as some. But I LOVE making soup and stews. I once made an odd ball soup from Lettuce and other salad leftovers that my brother said was one of the best soups he had ever had. :) High praise as he is a very good cook and makes a chili, and Barbecue that are incredible. Well now on to other things that need attending to.. I keep hoping to get back to my workbench and get a few more items made and listed in the Etsy shop. http://www.atabbycatarts.etsy.com/ But today is snuggling with the Kid, reading stories to her, eating soup and listening to Bluegrass on the XM Radio what can be better then that. :)

Blades Repurposed Material Earrings

In the spirit of Re cycle, and Re purpose I came up with these earrings that use small discarded industrial cutting disks as an "out there" and on the Edge design element. Steel disks, copper wire and freshwater pearls.. the feel is Post Apocalypse and a Beyond Thunderdome style... the disks are a matching pair that fit together and work in a scissor fashion rather then being a sharp edged blade... My Dad, who passed quite a while ago worked for a comapny that designed and machined Industrial blades like these and all kinds from Humongous ones used in the rubber and paper making and baking industries to tiny blades for precision work in surgery.

The silver colored steel wheels were antiqued and then wrapped and embellished with wire stones and pearls. I then brushed and buffed the high points to bring out depth and contrast. A beautiful pewter like luster with a nice oxidized mottling on the steel give a lot of visual texture and interest to these Indie Punk, Post Apocalypse Goth style earrings.

The edges aren't sharp and they can't cut you if you run a finger along the edge.. they have a nice almost coin edge on them. The pointy "tips" are,, pointy! But not very sharp so they Look Dangerously Daring without being hazardous to you... I have 3 pair all different in my Etsy shop

at www.AtabbycatArts@etsy.com and I have lots of different ideas on varying the themes and style and look. I wore the pair I made for myself to meet 2 new members of my family last night and I got a "Whoa Those are Cool!" from the 20 to 30 year olds in the mash of family.

I think Aunty Entity would more then likely approve!

Dyed magnesite square beads and wrapped freshwater pearls. Pink "puka" shells and wrapped freshwater pearls.

Saki Sox She really Rocky Rocks!!!

The other day I finally got some decent pictures of the feral cat that we have sort of supported over the last few years. We recently discovered that He was in fact a She...though we have never seen evidence of her having kittens so she is either fixed or sterile.. I don't think she is fixed as every so often we have male cats that come around and spray all over our porch to mark territory... so Mr. Socky Sox is now just Saki Sox. Saki as in Sake the Japanese wine.. I just boo booed the spelling. This cat is very adorable, and has obviously been socialized at some point in the past, but she is a little wild and very reactive. She has nipped me on three occasions the little bugger.,., I want to paint a couple of jewelry pebble pendant rocks of her and sell them on my Etsy shop.. maybe doing a sale to give to a cat rescue group.. Anyway here are a couple of pictures of Miss Saki Sox.






Note in the first picture the coy look and her darling little feet!!! She is quite the Cutie :)




Saki says "I am Sooooo Adorable!"

Peach Carrot Banana Bread!

I realize it has been awhile since I "blogged" anything... I'm an imperfect person in an imperfect world (lol) Anyway today I was perusing the Etsy forums boards and saw a posting in the ECT category that piqued my interest, it was Foods you HATE... well there are not to many foods I really hate, but I do have a few that get the old gag reflex going.. one is cumin the ground herb. Don't care for it.. urg.. but the worst offenders for me, starting at the bottom of the list and going up to the most hideous.... I Hate liver, of any kind ... organ meats in general are gross. I do like beef heart every once in awhile. But it has to be cooked properly to make it tender. But the ultimate grossest food on the planet for me is Fruit Cocktail. Yes this innocuous canned staple in many households is for me.. utter poison. One of my earliest memories is the huge looming head of my mother coming at me with a big spoon of fruit cocktail and a maniacal smile on her face... and there is just something insidiously icky about super sweet syrupy mushy canned fruit that chills me literally *to* *the* *bone.* And the WORST possible way to eat fruit cocktail is in Jell-o ... I cringe people, I have gooseflesh as I type, the stomach is churning even at the thought. BUT the KING of all time bad ideas for fruit cocktail and gelatin type side dishes or desserts ... Lime green jello with the fruit cocktail encased within,, some added crushed canned pineapple,, and WHY for the love of ALL that is Sacred.. COTTAGE CHEESE! My Mother used to make this.. a lot.. in fact it was kind of a delicacy in our household as I was growing up.. and everyone loved this abomination of so called foodstuff .. except me. sigh.. My Mother who by her own admission is not a fan of cooking, raised four kids and a husband on very strange concoctions ... her "Stew" was in reality a thin greasy soup afloat with half cooked carrots and mealy potatoes. Her soup, always had a grey cast to it, plus for some reason she would throw a few tablespoons of lentils into the pot and after the soup was done the empty lentil skins would float on top resembling baleful little eyes staring up at us.. We nick named this soup, Frogs Eye Soup which ticked Mother off greatly. Another of her signature dishes was a casserole that was basically boiled "baking" potatoes mixed with chunks of hot dogs ( the turkey and or chicken kind) doused with half a bottle of catsup. Ummmmm.. (not)

Now one dish she made that I did like was Meatloaf in bread... yes IN bread. She would get a huge loaf of Italian bread and carefully cut out a large oval from the top and scoop out the soft white bread leaving a large hollow. She would then mix hamburger, eggs, chopped onions and the few herbs and spices she used with the extracted bread crumbs and stuff it back in the hollowed out loaf.. baked in the oven for about an hour, replacing the "top" the last 15 minutes. Surprisingly this *IS* very delicious. Mom would let it cool for a few minutes and then sliced it. The outside bread is crisp and the meatloaf is moist.. slathered in catsup.. Now that was Good! And she made good deviled eggs.. So it's not like she didn't know how to cook at all.

This morning my dear daughter and I made Peach Banana Carrot Bread,, with lots of ginger and cinnamon.. oh it smelled so good baking! Still does,, and I took pictures... Enjoy!

My New Etsy Shop AtabbycatArts

I have recently made the step and opened up an Etsy Store, I have so much stuff that I make and I have to create things... I seriously am compelled to not remain idle.. lol. My Etsy shop is

http://www.atabbycatarts.etsy.com/

I will be putting scads of things in there over the coming weeks,, but the main focus I have been undertaking is getting lots of new pictures of all my jewelry that I will be offering and of my painted rock critters... so far I have about 18 items of jewelry in the shop and want to add some painted rocks soon.. I know times are hard and the economy has not made it easy on handcrafters .. but Please in the up coming Holiday season,, Won't you think about buying local handcrafted items for gifts this year... The big outlet stores are great for bargains but most of the items in these mega stores and you *know* who I am talking about.. are imported and that takes away jobs and income from Americans. Make a pledge to support the citizens in our country and buy local and or Handmade items... Good for our economy and our Country.

Above is a picture of a Viking Knit chain and pendant that I am offering for sale on http://www.atabbycatarts.etsy.com/

The chain is handmade from copper wire in 24 ga the Pendant in copper 20ga wire is a piece of beach glass I found and a little blue bead in the top swirl, I did a wire woven bail and the whole piece is meticulously handcrafted from start to finish... I even took the brass end cones and turned the edges over to make them smooth rounded and pokey free!

Please feel free to take a peek at my shop and convo me if you have any questions about anything I offer.

Regards :)

Summer

Gosh it's been quite awhile since I posted, one thing after another and life in general... I have been working a few pieces of jewelry and a quilt, the jewelry I'm pretty pleased with! The quilting less so..


A pair of copper wire hammer textured spiral heart earrings with pearls. The inspiration for them was Sherry Dancing Feather who is probably my all time favorite jewelry Heros. I wish wish wish I could someday take a class from her but until I get rich (hystercal laughter) so I can travel to TX. I will have to merely be wistful and emulate her genius.

Another piece I completed was this copper wire sculpture pendent with a pretty dyed howlite or magnesite free form cab like nugget... my dear husband brought this back to me from a trip to the Oregon coast when he went with his mom and siblings on a family outing several years ago, I loved the color and just had it laying around until early one morning I picked it up and started wrapping it, it flowed into shape almost unconciously and I think it might be one of my better creations. I wove the bale with 24gauge copper and then tumble hardened, and applied a patina.
I hope that I can someday find other nuggets of this, I would love to make some earrings that could go with it. You can buy this piece at www. AtabbycatArts.Etsy.com

Finished Whacky Squares Pillow

Whoooo Hooo! I got my first real "Quilted" project done, I learned allot with this, and now I feel very confident to go on to the next project which will be one of my new Great Nephews baby quilts.

The pillow is made of free hand rotary cut angled strings and pieced in a string block method, I used knit fabric which worked out but I can see where it would have been much easier to use woven fabrics... but I do have lots of knits and even though it can be tricky I am going to use some of what I have and make some awesome functional and pretty quilts. I had joined a really great quilting group on Yahoo Groups and I love it! Wonderful people and really good information. I am in this strange juxtaposition of working with metal and then working with fabrics... my hands are so worn and rough from callus and using my files and such that I can snag and have fabric scraps hanging from my fingers.. lol.. lots of hand lotion for me I guess.

Leo Handpainted Wireworked Pendant

This is the first post in a bit for me, lots to do and not enough time to get things done, just like the majority of folks out there I assume.. :) This pendant I have been working at on and for some time. The lion is painted in acrylics on a flattish stone.. I did this way back in 2003, had it on a necklace with a glued bail and one day I noticed the bail was loose. So I carefully pried it off and then kept looking at the loose stone for months.. started a Toodles wire weave wrap on it and made some mistakes in measurement so had to start it over again not once but twice!

Everyone I am sure has heard The Lion, King of the Jungle! well lions are really animals of the savannas.. preferring flat grasslands to jungles in most cases... but the term has been so ingrained that I thought a good way to display Leo was to have him peeking through some foliage ... A friend of mine saw this yesterday and did get the concept,,, "Oh it's like he is coming through jungle vines!" YES!!!!! I did manage to convey my concept... HURRAH!!! Whew!

Leo, or The Lion is now available for purchase in my Etsy shop at www.atabbycatarts.com
I will have him listed for 100.00 dollars, he is wearable art and the combined time to create not just the painting but the pendant setting was over 12 hours. The Lion can also be displayed as a small miniature painting or is of a good size to display in a vintage pocket watch stand. An interesting gift idea for a loved one who may be a Leo. :)

Moms Birthday Present

On Sunday, we went to be with my Mom, who turned... well... I don't think she would like her age known.. so I am over 50 and she was close to 30 when I was adopted, hehehe do some math. (octogenarian) I had thought and thought about what to get, procure and or make her as she has in my view way to much stuff anyway, and as I make jewelry... it kind of follows that that is what she got, .. I wasn't sure she was going to like what I finally came up with as she is a Platinum, Gold and Diamonds type lady, very traditional in her jewelry wardrobe while I am a little Hippieish, Goth, maybe Bohemian in my style. But she genuinely loved both the bracelet and the pendant I made for her,,, and my mother does not say she likes something just because I am her daughter, nnnooooooo.. LOL.. so I was pleased and so was she.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I called this piece, The Living Heart. Copper wire formed into a heart with a baroque pearl and a turquoise rondell in a spiral vining pattern.

Whacky Square Quilt Block

Well, I just completed my first "String" Quilt block, this is not the first quilting project I have done. I have made several baby quilts before, about 18 years ago, for a couple of my nephews.. but they were appliqued and not pieced quilts, so I am off on a new endeavour for the "new" crop of offspring in my family.. This block I will put with 3 more as a Pillow top as it is a learning piece.. a Scrappy type, I used old knit medium weight polo shirts for the strings. I cut free hand long angles and then machine stitched to a backing and put 4 little blocks together, I choose the ugliest shirts I had, and I actually Like the way it came out! I was pleased that without pinning I managed to make the points meet exactly in the center.. When I get the other three made and made up I will post it... String quilting and Scrap quilts made from old clothing are a Great way to recycle and re purpose items and keep them OUT of our landfills. We need to make small changes in our rampant consumerism in this country and live every day like it is Earth Day.

Happy Day "After" Earthday!

I tried to get a post up last night but I had just to many irons in the fire,, so in Honor of Earth day I am going to make it Earth Week and post for a few days on how there are some good things that we all can do for our HOME Planet Earth.

Yesterday I got a bunny up my fanny, and went through a big "catch all" laundry basket that sits in a place of comfort on top of my dryer, I was looking for any reusable fabrics to recycle into a few baby quilts for 2 new Nephews and a 4 year old niece, and I found to my delight 3 forgotten Tee Shirts that have probably been in that basket for years. Heavy duty and relatively stain free,,, I was gazing at them thinking they would not be very good choices for quilts but... ahhhh somewhere in the back of my mind I seemed to have read something about making reusable grocery bags from tee shirts... What better way of spending Earth Day then making something that is good for the environment! And then the Search began, found lots of links via Google on the subject, which led me to Martha Stewart.com and there was a Tute and a video of how to turn a Tee shirt into a nifty Grocery tote,,, I rousted my lazy ol' sewing machine from it's slumber and had to "re learn" how to thread and bobbin the thing... yeah it's been awhile since I used it... insert chagrined embarrassed sheepish look. I used to love to sew ... fairly simple things but I have been feeling this urge to get back to some fiber arts and do something with fabric... as if I didn't have enough on my agenda... Anyway I whipped up 3 bags in less then 2 hours.. and it would have taken me allot less if I had not had to tinker with getting used to the machine ... simple and these will be truly useful! Hubs was really impressed as he is the one that does the shopping and is always hating bringing home those awful plastic bags... ahhh Domestic bliss.

Quick tute here... turn tee, inside out.. sew across bottom... smooth and cut off arms, leaving the seam on the soon to be bag for added strength.. I left a small bit of fabric and turned a small hem to make a more finished look, but not actually needed.. smooth neck line flat and without wrinkles.. place a 9in plate of bowl centered around neck line and mark with pencil, cut out .. in effect you have removed the knitted collar, I then used a zig zag stitch and went around the edge about 1/2 inch in, maybe this is not needed either, but I feel this may allow adequate stretch but not over stretch.. Turn right side out and you have a very sturdy washable reusable item that will do a small bit in your effort to be Green.

I had a great time making them and the viddy you can find on Martha Stewart's website, find the search and put in reusable grocery bags from tee shirts.

Happy Day "After" Earth Day...

Mr. Socky Sox

This is not a great picture, it was taken thru my kitchen window that is covered with storm plastic. This handsome feller is a feral cat we were worried about and ended up feeding him and another who we think is his mother or litter mate... He has gotten to the point of stepping into the house and he sometimes makes a quick circuit to check things out, but he is way not an indoor cat and prefers the outdoors. Somebody else must be feeding him also as he is getting quite plump, and sometimes he turns his little nose up at the brand of food we get,, little bugger... he is fairly friendly, though he prefers my husband over me. My husband takes the time to baby talk him, and get some petting time in . My daughter is dead set against any cats as pets.. she has Down Syndrome and is mildly autistic .. and has always had a difficult time being comfortable with animals.. I think it is that animals can be unpredictable, especially kittens.. sharp sticky little paws and claws.. We have had a few dogs and one she was very fond of as Sheba was a very sweet and gentle creature, that my daughter felt very safe with. But at this time we are just not ready for any more pets other then the strays that know where a free meal can be had..
We call Socky, Mr. Orange Guy, Mr. Orangecickle.. Le Orange Master Ninja of the Cat World, Mr. O.. Mr. Orange pants... and "Hey you picky Orange thing" my daughter just says "NO Kitty inside, The End! "
I am going to try and get a better picture of him and paint a flat stone and do a pendant of him.

OOOOpsy Corrected!

Ahhh... the mistake corrected!


Beads in the right places and all shined up..


I took out 2 brass nut beads to snug up the fit a little.

.

OppppSy!

And here is why you should not work on a piece of jewelry when you are tired or distracted! LOL... I was quite pleased with this bracelet, as the tube coils noodles are made of recycled brass wire that I very patiently salvaged from several other items that were practice or didn't come out right... I straightened out the wire and twisted it and then coiled it. I am really gung ho! on recycling items to keep useful things out of our landfill and I belong to the local Portland Freecycle group, so I was feeling all warm fuzzy and pleased when I noticed I neglected to put 1 spacer bead on between the rose quartz rondell and the end lampwork focal bead! Slaps self in head... Thwack! So now I get to do it over again... ROFLMAO! Well live and definitely learn to Double Check before I make the end eye hook, .

Snowflake Obsidian and Goldfill Wire

SOLD

And another pendant from several years ago, a snowflake obsidian cabochon in a wire sculpture gold fill setting... Gold fill wire is very very durable and a lot more gold then plated gold wire.. a inner core of base metal, of an alloy, usually fine grade brass, it bonded with heat and pressure to an outside skin of 14 kt Gold... the skin is 100 times thicker then electroplated gold wire which is just microns thick... many items that were made 100 year ago from Gold fill wire survive to this day in fine shape. This is a smallish pendant and would look nice either on a cord or a gold chain. Swirly and twisted wire! I have quite a few of these, smallish cabochon pendants in different stones. SOLD

Green Steel

Ah yes another "noodle coil" bracelet, I love making them.. there is something so satisfying about taking wire and making a bracelet.. I love all jewelry but bracelets other than earrings are probably what I wear the most... which is kind of odd as I hardly ever go out.. I wear my jewelry for my enjoyment only I guess... Today I found an old bracelet that I had bought years and years ago,, it was hand made in Inda of brass but was sterling silver plated, I wore it so much that almost all of the silver was worn off, so I used steel wool and took all the remaining silver off and really loved the brass finish... I found it discolored and forgotten upstairs in my daughters room in a box of odds and ends that I was going thru to find stuff for our local freecycle. I almost cried when I saw it, it was like seeing the face of an old friend... I cleaned and polished it and now am wondering what to do with it... even though I love it, it is kind of clunky and large for everyday wear. But I was thinking of somehow making it into a focal point of a necklace with some additions and decorative wire work... I don't know I will get a picture and post it, it should be a good challenge to recycle it into something new... but I have gotten off the topic. the bracelet here is a large sagey green potato pearl , gosh it is a lovely color.. with 4 golden rondell pearls and copper spacer beads the coils are mild steel twisted tubes and the copper S clasp has a steel swirly doo hicky decoration... this is a larger bracelet easily fitting an 8" wrist, I love how this one turned out and I am going to make one for me, I have another Sage green pearl all picked out to redrill just for me! I like the look of steel and copper together .. if you are interested in this one email me ccase491@msn.com 25.00

Royal Blue Pearl Noodle Bracelet

SOLD

Three big Royal blue baroque freshwater pearls are the splash of color in this noodle bracelet. Copper noodles and accents really go well with the deep beautiful blue on these big, I mean big dyed pearls.. the center pearl is 15mm by 9mm the side pearls are around 11mm.. One of the problems that pearls pose is they are tough but fragile at the same time, pearl necklaces have knots between each one to cushion and keep them from abrading and wearing away the nacre layers,, which is damage to the pearl and over time be unattractive, so when I use pearls strung on large wire as this I use very tiny gaskets between the pearl and the metal bead caps/spacer beads... this not only cushions the pearl but helps reduce the turning of the pearl on the wire which helps retain not only the beauty but decreases damage to the pearls.. This one fits 7" and under... A great look with jeans and casual!

Painted White Kitten aka Little Miss Blue Eyes

It has been such a long time since I have done really anything with this blog, one I really dislike to type,, Geee I think I have said that before.. similar to the phrase my Husband hears from me alot.. "Have I ever told you I really dislike cooking?" LOL... anyhoo.. in getting the spring cleaning bug I have been going through many of my things that were done awhile ago and assesing them and I will be including some of them in the blog along with new pieces I have been working on,.. this pendant is a hand painted stone, which I had used my sweet kitty as inspiration for, she has been gone for several years now. Wiresculpted goldfill wire with white freshwater pearls and hematite rice beads... NFS. I love painting animals and I am going to get back into it I think.

Wire Sculpted Copper and Shell Button Cameo

I did this one several years ago, I mounted a small resin fashion cameo on an old antique shell button and then worked a copper 20 ga wire sculpted setting for it. She has been sitting in a drawer for a very long time... but I just recently oxidized the wire, I like the way it came out, softly polishing the wire took off some of the darker color and gave this pendant a nice antique feel to it.

Glass "Faux" Lapis Cabachon Pendent

I got some neat faux Lapis Lazuli glass cabochons a few years ago and used 19 gauge sterling silver round wire to make a wire sculpted setting I call Fandango, reminded me of a Flaminco Dancer flipping her skirt!

Twisted Steel Coil Bracelet

This is one of my favorite twisted coil "noodle" bracelets that I have made, it is mild steel or black wire as I call it, with copper accents and dark green and orange glass beads, hand hammered S clasp with a copper doo hickey decoration on the clasp.. this wire gets Hard with working it... but I do love the steel wire, coils have been buffed to remove some of the dark layer and expose the wire color underneath. It looks very much like a Hematite sheen, Very Goth looking... and as I am kinda Goth I really like it! This fits perfectly on my 6.5" wrist and might fit a 7" if you would like it, 20.00 plus 2.50 shipping (bubble mailer) and insurance is you want it.

Sea Opal Glass Bead and Copper Bracelet

SOLD
This is a "Noodle" bracelet, copper noodles and beads with 3 "sea opal" glass beads... I love the look of the opaline type glass beads, these are showing more violet in the image but are actually more blueish, this is one of the first noodle bracelets I have done. I had heard of them for a few years but as I rarely buy any components other then beads and wire I had never been interested in them, but I espyed these at my fave bead merchants and bought a few... I really like them! I used 16ga copper wire through the noodles which was interesting as most wire used is 20ga, but I wanted a good sturdy bracelet. Fits my 6.5" wrist but would be comfortable up to a 7" I had to gently ream out the bead holes a bit to fit also. Hand hammered S clasp. Wearing copper is reputed to be good for aches and pains, and I wear a tri metal copper bracelet for my arthritis. and truthfully I do think it helps! SOLD

Ginger Cat

This is one of my newer pieces, the cat picture was painted on a flattish river rock in 2003, but I didn't use it as I didn't like the way the cat ears came out, but I like the eyes so I just stuffed it in a drawer and found it a few weeks ago, I usually will scratch the "offending" painting off and reuse the rock. But this one was perfect for what I wanted to practice which is a style of woven bezel, taught by a cool Lady, Sherry Dancingfether... the woven bezel style called the Toodles Weave which was published in a Step by Step wire jewelry magazine last year.. the technique can be time consuming to do but it is wonderful for fragile stones or items that need a little more protection versus regular wire wrapping.