I'm out of words today . . .

 Honest.  Do you ever just run out of words?

I'm busy getting ready for a show in Omaha next weekend and I'm cranking out the juicy stuff and loving every minute of it.  Reminds me that what I really love is cutting and polishing my own stones and hand-fabrication - metalwork - fire - hammers.

So here you go.  A little bit of lavender color chalcedony cut from a band of blue agate, translucent and glorious.  Set in sterling silver and accented with a little drop bead of sunset color carnelian.  For my money, nothing is more satisfying than taking a little bit of pretty stone and making it prettier.

The end.

Oh, for sale.

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.

Loading up the shop . . .

It's an experiment.  I am sending out six gift certificates over six consecutive weekends in giveaway bags.  These bags are going out as prizes at a local racetrack and as a 'thank you' to fans and supporters and will, of course, contain more than just my gift certificates.  In fact, people will be encouraged to pass along what they don't intend to use and I'm hoping these certificates will eventually get into the right hands.  So today was spent taking new pictures and listing listing after listing on etsy.  Fingers crossed.  We'll see what happens next. 

And sometimes it's all about me . . .

I've been really, really busy working on new pieces for two upcoming shows and galleries and replenishing things ever since the beginning of January. Quite honestly with all of the snow and ice we've gotten recently, staying inside in my cozy little shop has been pretty easy. However, I find that working on production stock is not always artistically satisfying so creating something for myself today was all about lynn.

I've wanted to make a 3-d piece for some time, a box shape or a bead - I wasn't quite sure what. So today I got out my 26ga sheet and punched two 5/8 disks then punched two disks out of those making little doughnuts (mmmm . . . doughnuts) I cut a strip of heavy gauge bezel wire and made a ring a bit smaller than the disks, soldered the three pieces together so that I had my little open bead and I drilled two holes in the top and the bottom of the sides. I oxidized the doughnut (mmmm . . . doughnuts), brush-finished it with an old emery board and hung an imperfect smoky bead of Aquamarine that I had cracked earlier this week.

I really like the whole aspect of this pendant and I think it will only get better with age and wearing against my skin. It's an everyday piece just for me.

And even more chalcedony . . . . .

Is there really more to say since I believe I've already outted myself as a Chalcedony Addict and who can blame me?

Swingy. Simple. Modern.

Glowing. Juicy.

Chalcedony addiction . . .

Hi. My name is Lynn and I'm a chalcedony addict.

The translucency of this material, no matter the color, is something I cannot resist. It has a warm, waxy, soft feel in your hand and is generally creamy to brown in color - the sweet colors like aqua, pink, blue and green are dyed, but who cares? They're gorgeous.

While I'm not nearly educated enough to understand the geological makeup of chalcedony, I do know that agate is a form of chalcedony as well as carnelian and chrysoprase. Purists, paleontologists and real lapidarists will debate the fine points until our eyes roll back in our heads so I don't even go there. I just love the stuff and do what little I can to make it pretty.

This itty bitty collection is what I whipped out last night. Had so much fun that I'm considering a trip back to the bead store today to see what's come in since my last expensive trip. I wish this was the sort of material I could buy online but, sadly - no. Gotta hold the beads in my hand and feel the weight and warmth.

Love the stuff. It's a wonderful problem to have.