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... :)

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!"

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

Gus and her Halo

This bracelet can be seen at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14381353
Byzantine chainmaille bracelet woven with black Anodized Alum. rings, BA or Bright Aluminum

is also used for the dangles and the hook clasp.

BA looks very similar to Silver, but does not have the tarnish problems, there can be some slight greying over time but a quick wash and rinse brings it back up to Top Sparkle.

The beads are agate and jaspers in greens, mauves and pinks with gorgeous 8 mm or larger freshwater pearls.

The painted rock is of my beloved kitty who passed on last year... her name was Gus. She sits on my work bench and keeps me company while I make jewelry. The bracelet is for sale at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14381353 My Etsy shop AtabbycatArts

Unknown Stone Pendant

I really don't know what the stone is in this pendant. It's a creamy white color with fine brownish coppery lines and smudges.. the polish is not great so it has a soft sheen rather then a high gloss. I have observed a pair of beautiful drop earrings with a very similar stone, the maker said that her stones were a rare white turquoise that is highly valued by Native Americans. All I know is that I have never seen anything close to this before, if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear from you...?

The copper wire setting has a huge woven wire bail suitable for just about anything. I am currently mulling over necklace designs to hang this pendant from. And thinking of adding a pearl or two in the top two swirls.. (I am Goofy for pearls!) Not sure yet but this is a work in progress... :)

French Revival

A small black river pebble painted with an Autum leaf, 14k goldfill 21 ga square wire on a necklace that I made with glass and handcrafted paper beads.

Kitty, Kitty, kitty!

I opened up this blogger account several months ago and have done absolutely nothing with it... I seem to find blank pages daunting and I get "cat got your tongue syndrome" when I have to write anything LOL. Funny, 'cause I sure can talk allot... it just seems to get scrambled twixt the brain and the fingers when it bypasses the mouth! And I have arthritis which can make it difficult to type... extremely time consuming.. but, I have stuff to show you! So this is my first foray into Cyber Space Bloggo World... and if you are interested, a peek into my world.

I am an artist, I have drawn, painted and created since I was very young. I have tried many different medias, but the one I have been compelled to work in the last few years has been wire art jewelry.

The Grey Kitten was painted by me using acrylic paints and sealed on a flat small stone and wire wrapped in sterling silver. A beautiful pink natural color pearl is wired in the swirl on the top.