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.

Crazy Snow . . .

 Crazy.  We don't usually get this kind of snow until January or February.

Eddie is all snug in his shop getting the BobKitty ready to push snow for us and our surrounding neighbors.

 The farmette - snow was just starting late in the afternoon.

My front porch!  There is an equal amount of snow on all four of the porches of this house, the wind is blowing so hard! Usually one side gets it all but this time, the snow is equal opportunity.

Yeah.  I need to shovel off the hot tub first, for sure.  I have a feeling it will come in handy by the end of day. 

Oh I really should not have opened that door . . . 

Copper love . . .

Okay, this was pure fun.  I started out not entirely sure where I was headed but with a 3"x6" piece of 20ga copper and lots of heat, I created this monster cuff that I love.  This sweet, edgy cuff is my very first attempt at fold.forming and I'm quite pleased with myself.

With a little more practice, more trials and more errors, and a lot more fire, this will translate nicely into sterling silver.  More.

Azurite Malachite . . .

Again, a stone that has been sitting on my bench and tossed around in my big box o' rocks for such a long time.  I'd get it out, play with it for a few days and put it back.  Not happy with any ideas and it wasn't speaking to me - in clear terms, anyway.  

My problem?  I judge myself by the work of others and think mine is too plain so I sometimes have a tendency to overwork pieces but this time, I resisted and let the beauty of the stone do its job.

Happy that the cutaway bezel worked to showcase the bubbly, rolling, drusy interior of  this beautiful stone.  Nothing could have been better.

Love this completely.

Simple.  Modern.

Trust me . . .

That giant owl was there a minute ago.

I swear.  Headed out to the barn this frosty cool Halloween morning when we heard the hoo-hoo-hoo, looked up and saw a HUGE owl on the peak of the barn roof.  Startled (as if you could startle something so huge), the owl spread his 747 wings and glided to the top of this tree.  We stood there open-mouthed for a minute all sizing each other up and I slowly moved back to the house to get my little point and click camera.

Too late.  He was as big as a fat cat, pointy ears and all and I swear, he was right there.  Maybe tomorrow.

*For tonight, my little goblins, Happy Halloweenie*

For a short time : Montana Agate . . .

Birds on a Wire

 Blessed with a handful of little slabs of Montana Agate this summer and I finally got the chance to sit down and polish a few and o.m.g.  Gorgeous stuff.  So gorgeous that it's hard to decide where to cut to maximize the beauty.

Love the minimalist designs in each slab - they really speak.  Above is 'Birds on a Wire' and below is 'Lightning Strike'.

Lightning Strike

Reaching

The little lozenge with a tube of Montana Agate swinging underneath is simply 'Reaching'.

These pieces are intended for a gallery show in late November but for a short time they will be on sale in my etsy shop beginning Sunday morning, 27 October and will be removed if not sold by 27 November.

I would love to see these little gems off to a good home where their beauty will be appreciated for the glowing goodness and worn each and every day.  They only get better with time.

I will be cutting and polishing more of the little slabs of Montana Agate but for now, I offer you these.

Bench cleaning . . .

This should look vaguely familiar to at least one of you out there.  Well, the fish fossil embedded in limestone should, anyway.

I've been so remiss in not posting anything here for, oh, I don't know . . . months? that it feels strange to post anything at all.  Like out of sight out of mind, helloooooooo, does anyone out there remember me?  (Well THAT sounds self-absorbed!)  So let's begin again.

Doing some serious bench-clearing by using the pieces I have laying on top of sketchbooks and miscellaneous pieces of paper with rough ideas drawn on them.  One of many projects trapped in my brain, now oozing out like Elmer's Glue.

This bit of limestone with the fishy fossil is something my friend Lisa sent me last winter (I think).  It was to be a test piece for a larger piece that I already finished and sent but when I came across this in a little box, it happened to fall out onto the piece of Picture Jasper that perfectly matched it.  Add to that that I wanted to try some wire backing and simple prong settings, copper in abundance on the bench and voila - a winter brooch.

Completely handformed, I cut the copper for a bezel strip, wire from a house project (I shouldn't tell you it was scrap) and a bit of Picture Jasper that I cut and polished some time ago.  This piece measures about 3" long, has wonderful movement and will look great on said friend's winter coat.  Sent Priority Mail on 24 October - can't wait for her to get the box.  (Please love it.)