These three things

Sometimes life throws things at you to see if you are paying attention. Yesterday we took the puppy for a long walk around the block and through a forested park. I like to explore how nature looks during the different seasons. Lately I have been fascinated at the things that are lying around after all of the snow has melted. There is an enormous amount of trash and decomposing things. While walking I picked up these 3 things all in different places along our walk and did not think twice about them until I got home and set them down.

The wood was going to be a photography display for my beads:

This seed pod looks like an owl:

And this rusted metal was going to be used as a found object in a piece of jewelry:

But after I placed them all on the table, something compelled me to do this:

So, now I have to glue the pieces down, drill a hole in the wood for a hanger and find someplace to hang him.

Next time you are out walking around, see what nature wants you to have.

Photos by David Orr Photography

I had some of my pieces photographed by David Orr Photography and wanted to share them with you.
David lives in Arizona and is known for his jewelry photography, you can find him here: http://davidorrphotography.com/

Working away

Here are some of my latest finished pieces

Keeping this one!

And this one!!

Long treasure necklaces

Having so much fun riveting these disks to copper

Love

More love

Electroforming a giant bead

At one of the retreats I went to last year I had a chance to use one of the biggest mandrels I had ever used before, the thing was 1 1/2 inches!

This is Annie Shook holding the mandrel, we tag teamed it until it was finished-so much fun.

So as soon as I got home I placed an order for 2 mandrels, a 1 1/2" and 2". 

The first time I used these I was hooked! Here is the 2" in action

And here are the finished beads

What the heck am I going to do with beads that big you ask? Well, I am still pondering that but I have been having so much fun making them, it's kinda hard to stop.

Last week I decided to break out the electroforming kit that I purchased years ago and here is that process:

The kit

The bead after painting with the copper paint.

The bead in the solution

plating

My "go to" book 

And after 20 hours and some patina, here is the finished bead:

What do you think?

Busy working...

Here are the latest beads I have been working on. They will be going to the Stony Creek Bead Store in Ypsilanti, MI. If you see something you like let me know.

Our trip to the other side of the world

Way back in the 90's we lived in Oakland, CA while my husband was finishing up college at UC Berkeley. We loved living in the Bay Area and every year we plan a trip back to SanFrancisco to energize ourselves. This year I was able to spend some time with friends that I have not seen in a while, we ate lots of yummy food and walked around sight seeing. The city changes all the time and you never run out of things to do.

Downtown SF is full of all kinds of interesting things happening. This is the UC Berkeley Marching Band playing at the Powell St. Station.

It seems like I never really get into the holiday spirit until I see Union Square all decorated with the giant tree and the ice skating ring. 

This year we were lucky enough to see the Drag Queens on Ice show. 

Every year Macy's donates some of their windows to the SF SPCA and they are decorated with a pet friendly holiday scene along with displays containing pets for adoption. 

Check out these two cuties:

The weather was just beautiful while we were there.

The Bay Bridge

And this is what we returned home to:

Giant icicles