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.

New work for Art & Soup Show in Omaha . . .

I've been pretty busy in the shop getting major work stockpiled for an upcoming show in Omaha, Art & Soup, as well as several galleries. The cat animal help really isn't so much help but they are good company.

I finally feel like my work has a cohesive look to it and I've found my artist's hand so I'm pleased with what I'm turning out. Of course, time will tell if anyone else is as pleased but it was a good holiday season and i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Spring look and feel to these pieces will do well.

I look at some of my work from years past and think it has a rather hodge-podge look and laying all of this out on the worktable to inventory makes me smile.

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.

Earring-alicious

So I found these wonderful gemstone beads on limabeads.com - a little bit of Rainbow Soocho Jade and a little bit of Agate. I'm in an earring mode this week and I need to spend a little time hibernating in my studio. These two little guys were turned out yesterday.

Time to 'git bizzy for Spring' and these will certainly get me started in the right direction.