Color . . .

Trial and error.

The 'trial' is the scan. My poor printer is not a high-quality piece and trying to get color and detail just right is probably not in the stars for this machine. I guess that makes this the 'error', as well.

Still.

A little colored pencil piece that I'm pretty proud of. A red 1957 Chevrolet front fender and bumper drawing that measures 2.5"x3.5" as in "ACEO size". The scan comes into play as I'd like to scan and print a limited run of all of my hotrod drawings for summer shows. A departure from jewelry for me. Labors of love, these little "jewels" are.

Love.

Bubbling Blue Agate . . .

Yep, delish.

This was a little bit of leftover agate from a previous cut - typical of my lapidary, there are all kinds and sizes of leftovers.  Piles, actually.  Baggies full.

(I think the crossword puzzle word for leftover is ort so I call these gems Orts.  I'm a word freak.)

The little thing had no flash and barely color and I came just this close to cleaning the bench and tossing it but, long story longer, Ed was in the workspace we share in the garage shop and it was warm and I was in the mood to share and play nicely so I picked up an Ort and started polishing.

Oh baby, what a sweet piece it turned out to be!

Simply set and accented with twisted and vined sterling bails, a dyed Soocho Jade bead that picks up tiny flashes of burned red.  The necklace is a go-to piece for that blue jean and white tee outfit.

Buy me here.

Prudent Man Agate . . .

I'll admit it right now, this is going to be a hit and run.  

I wanted to quickly post this pic I just took of the lovely pendant I made yesterday (I've got to finish the laundry and you know the litany of other stuff that goes by the name of housework, doggone it).

However, here we have a sweet little piece of Prudent Man Agate - not the best piece of Prudent Man I've seen but I wanted to work with the material and this one has wonderful depth.  Now I'm on the lookout for a slab that I can cut and polish to my own specifications.  

Great stuff, yes?

How lucky am I?

I have all my friends trained! I put the word out that I like unique, old wood boxes, preferring those with advertising and such and now I'm reaping the rewards. Seriously lucky.

A friend found these two red boxes as he was cleaning his barn. No idea where they came from but clearly one came from 'MIKE JONES'. They both have silver painted interiors, one with a tray and the other with slots along the inside for (I'm assuming) files and narrow tools. And the bonus? A pair of old welding goggles! O. M. G. Seriously. Lucky.

Not only did I get these two great boxes, I also got this incredible red wood well bucket. I'm just over the top. I'm so pleased with myself that I'm trembling like it's Christmas morning. You couldn't stand to be around me in this moment. NK.

I'm putting these two boxes and the uber-cool well bucket on my front porch and I'll be smiling every time I drive in and get a hankering for a glass of iced tea and a trashy book.

I'm in heaven.

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 now for something complete different . . .

. . . a few of my drawings.

I have a 'thing' for drawing reflections and shiny metal not to mention a love affair with old cars. When we hit the car shows and cruise nights, I am constantly on the lookout for interesting shots. I take my own photos and crop and manipulate them until I come up with something 'pencil-worthy'. I use Prismacolor colored pencils on Arches paper.

These are a '55 Chevrolet BelAir and a '60 Ford Thunderbird. I sometimes get requests to draw the entire car but that's not my 'thang'. I prefer to get the angle that I think tells the most about the car. All the better if there is a reflection of another car!

Look closely - I also make sure when I take a picture that my own reflection is in each car somewhere. A nice contrast to the hard metals I usually work with.