Slowly learning that lesson . . .

Oh yes.  When last we visited I had taken an awful, absolutely horrible group shot of a collection of pieces going to a local gallery for sale there.  I take these pictures for reference only so that when something sells, I have that visual reminder.  My lesson?  Take better pictures.  One sold that I had not reeaaalllly planned on letting go of right yet.  My bad.

This time before it heads to Omaha - I present the Jasper I cut and polished Monday evening.  Set in sterling with a copper bail and copper ball chain.  The true name of the stone escapes me so I named the pendant "Unusual Attitude".

About me - I fly.  I judge competition aerobatics.  Unusual attitudes is typically anything 45 degrees bank angle, 25 degrees pitch up or 10 degrees pitch down.  As you can see in this stone, the ground is slightly banked, not quite to those degrees, but no matter.  The green earth is tilted and the purple skies are easing into sundown, a low bank of clouds on the horizon.  It's a gorgeous weighty stone and it will soon be for sale at the Dundee Gallery in Omaha.

Love it.

Off to Omaha.

I should take a lesson . . .

I need to work smarter.

Here is the one and only and obviously the best picture I have of a piece I finished last week and decided at the last minute to take to a one evening trunk show at a local gallery.  

A gorgeous slice of Rocky Butte Jasper that I cut and polished and a stone I thought had a beautiful plains scene in it - grassy foreground, low Western Nebraska sandy buttes and a brooding spring sky.  I set it simply in sterling silver and accented it with a copper set loop and two copper rings, and finally pierced the Big Dipper on the back.  No picture of that because what happened was a surprise to me although my friends will tell you that it was no surprise to them.

It sold.

First buyer in the door made a bee line.
And hardly an inexpensive piece.

Lesson #1 - take better pictures of everything

Lesson #2 - I should be working on lapidary and more impressive pieces

I know.

duh.

How how how . . .

Persistence paid off for a lovely lady in South Wales who searched thru my flickr pictures until she found just the right bracelet.  I made a number of these linked Orbit Bangles five years ago when sterling silver was cheap(er) and I could make a whole armful of them for shows and galleries but I moved on after that armful and went in another direction.

Lo and behold, this darling woman emails me that she wants one special made for her Silver Anniversary!  Who am I to say no?  No, I never say no and this one is shipped off today.  I'm just glad I still had the materials to work with.

I am still a bit confused that she took time to go through all of my (MY!!!) flicker photos until she found what she wanted.  I mean, with all of the metalsmiths out there and all of the incredibly talented folks posting on flickr, ME!  Maybe it's the New Year but I'm still shaking my head that she found ME.

Enough.  To the post office.