January sunset . . .

Skinny gold orange sliver of the barely-set sun, darkening evening grey January sky, striped bands of layering clouds and jet contrails.

All at once in this banded agate.

I'm committed to getting back to what I love working on most of all : lapidary and setting the stones I cut and polish.  I have so many delicious cabs on my bench and I have spent the weeks leading up to Christmas working on the 'quick work'.  Not particularly satisfying for me but results oriented work.
With this new year : new work
Simple
Direct
Clean
Fresh
Oh, and my New Year's Resolution every year is to make contact with at least one old friend who has dropped off my radar screen.  This has been my Resolution every year for at least a decade and it has been so rewarding.
Completely doable.  
So if you've dropped off my radar, expect a call.

Corn crib gazebo . . .

I have large plans for Spring.  Seriously large.  I've been on the lookout for an old corn crib since, oh, forever and I've had a hard time describing what I envision.  Lo and behold!  I came across this picture on a website - The Mustard Seed - and here is my vision in the flesh!

We have two pads here on the farmette that both held old silos for many years.  I removed the old auger from one and it will hold my Purple Martin house later this Spring.  The dryer and blower portion is still covered with a vented steel cover that is about 6' square and my plan is for that to become a firepit.  Ed still cocks his head and raises one eyebrow when I talk about these plans so let's just keep it to ourselves, shall we?

I picture the corn crib with a couple of adirondack chairs and maybe a table for my ever-present Diet Coke, vertical garden panels, Passion Flower and tangerine colored Trumpetvine, surrounded by my ever-growing collection of daylilies.  From here I can see for miles and miles and miles - maybe just watch the storms blossoming on the horizon.  Dream.  Draw.  Nap.

Be honest, isn't this the sweetest thing ever?

Loose ends . . .

The Cricket Cage

I'll admit it - a lot of stuff (a LOT) has gotten pushed to the back of my bench for far too long and getting caught up in the rush of the Christmas with the looooong to-do list is just claustrophobic for me.  Now that things are getting back to some semblance of normal, I'm trying to take each project that got set aside and give the attention to those things that really satisfy my creative itch and not simply fill a spot on my show display.

Last Fall, my friend Linda gave me a little silk bag with old rings and pieces that held jade beads and cabs and she gave me free reign to create whatever I saw in them.  Removing them from their settings really freed them up and these are the pieces I'm sending her.

These little beads of jade were post-drilled and needed to be free yet somehow constrained so I created a Cricket Cage for them from wire and a hand-forged half-dome cap.  Now they can move freely inside their little cage pendant.

Lily Pads

The two jade cabochons are just a millimeter or two different in size so they really couldn't be matching earrings, I thought.  Earlier in the season, I had created a Peace Jade necklace for her to give her 11 year old granddaughter and I thought that perhaps down the road a ways, she might like to have matching charms.  So here you have two Lily Pad charms with watery, reflective, textured and curled edges.  What is wonderful about charms is that they don't necessarily belong on a necklace or a bracelet.  They are sweet accents on a watch, a little bag or anywhere that some color and flash is needed.  Love these.

I'm so satisfied.  Why again don't I do this more often?