pink fairy necklace

i made the beads for this necklace & earring set months ago and then agonized over the construction.

i really am almost a complete novice at wire work. other than stringing beads on headpins for earrings and pendants i have no idea what i am doing.

the flameworked beads are silver leaf encased in transparent pink over a core of cim's rose quartz and gelly's sty pinks. the beads were repeatedly heated and faceted with the flat side of a cheese spreader.

all the wire work and findings are sterling silver.
there are lots of different stones and gems mixed into the necklace.

pink and white freshwater pearls...

carved leaves in moonstone & rose quartz...

rose quartz, moonstone and opal round beads...

and my favorite rock crystal chunks.

there are also earrings to match.

the view from the car on the way to alfred university. my daughter started her freshman year last week and her art classes this morning.

that's me in the rearview mirror. i like all the mysterious portraits people post on themselves in their blogs - so i here's my foray into oblique self portraiture.

a rainbow appeared on the drive home - no doubt a good omen.

waterlilies at night

we went to an outdoor concert last night at the george eastman house gardens.

afterwards, as the crowd thinned out, i took these snapshots of the lily pond.

the latest series of paintings, and drawings, is called 'night gardening'

i love these photos -

first there will be oil pastels on black paper.

then, maybe some acrylics on black paper

and finally, some new oil paintings - about time eh?

and, it's kind of hard to see, but there was a wee baby bunny in the yard when we got home. (the brightest white dot is the eye and directly below that the other white dot is the cottontail)

sorry for long gap between posts - i delivered my only child to college on wednesday. first i was crazy busy helping her get ready and then some empty nest malaise set in...

public market perfection

yesterday was one of those perfect days at the rochester public market.
the weather was sunny and glorious.

the company was excellent.
that's miss mango sporting the vintage diors and a basil boquet.

mystery squash.

there were homegrown field tomatoes by the thousands.
we bought a couple of rainbow heirloom tomatoes the size of kittens.

see that yellow cauliflower on the right? it went into my basket and we had cauliflower biryani for supper last night.

i have been so busy with preparing my freshman for college, including getting her wisdom teeth extracted, that i have not been at the torch in 2 weeks. i have my fingers crossed that tomorrow afternoon there will be torchtime.

a garage sale treasure

a stem of antique french hand beaded flowers.

i think they may be bachelor buttons or cornflowers.

look at that amazing beadwork - each wire and bead petal is perfect.

the leaves are made of zillions of hand strung beads.

every stem of the bouquet is wrapped in silk thread.

all this beauty for only one dollar...
and there was also a mess of beautiful snowy white mohair yarn at the same home.

i do so love a good garage sale.

kissing in the dark

first, something new - then something old

what's a girl to do? - bat for lashes

kissing in the dark - memphis minnie
* remember to support your local indie record store *

rusty beer caps

i have a thing for rusty bottle caps.
it's not everyday that you are given a perfect matching pair,
so i made them into charms.

i punched holes in them and then added some decorative scrapbooking rivets.

now what ever will i do with them -
i am thinking maybe they should be dangles on a pair of skull earrings?

simply charming

6 weeks ago miss mango gave me a box of 2part resin for my birthday.
every week or so i hear "mom have you used the resin yet?"
but, having never used the stuff before, i have to think (and rethink) it through...

today i started making some charms.

last week's diet rootbeer bottle caps from john's tex-mex on south ave.

flip them over and there are kiki and napoleon.

champagne cork 'coins'

turn them over and you have miss mango, j&j and a fat robin.

first i punched holes into the sides of the caps with an awl, them using my dremmel filed down the rough edges. then i made sterling silver bales from wire and tucked them thru the holes.

using acrylic molding paste i filled in each cap bottom, thus securing the bale, and plonked the photos in place. when the paste gets good and hard i will add some glitter around the photo edges and let that dry. lastly, the resin will be mixed and poured into the caps. wish me luck.

a gratutitous snapshot of snapshots at my studio.
i am feeling very sentimental about miss mango - in one week she starts college away from home.
things are going to be so dreadfully dull without her.

glad rags

gladiolus - neocolor II crayons on beige cotton paper

it's mid-august, gladiola season, buckets and buckets of gaudy, flamboyant stalks for sale at the farmer's market. everything outside is full of bees.
why, in the spring, do i never remember to plant gladiolus?

eggplants galore

more galore - this time eggplants instead of earrings.

just to be a bit difficult i planted 2 eggplant plants in a flower bed next to the side door.

one plant has two lovely slender purple eggplants on it.

the second plant is a freaky eggplant powerhouse and currently has 46 small green & white striped eggplants developing on it- and more blossoms coming on.

i have no idea what variety this is, or how large the mature eggplants will be.

in any case, it has been a very entertaining plant so far.

earrings galore - part II

more new earrings.

peaseblossom's earrings - flameworked beads, freshwater pearls, serpentine & sterling silver

these where designed for 'art bead scene's august challenge theme - a midsummer night's dream."

hermia's blossoms - flameworked beads, glass leaves, freshwater pearls, heishi & sterling silver

these earrings were also made for 'art bead scene's august challenge.

coral hills - flameworked beads, freshwater pearls, coral branch beads & sterling silver

moonflowers & flies - flameworked beads, carved soapstone flies, garnets, freshwater pearls & sterling silver

the twins: bambi & fawn - flameworked beads, antique carved ivory roses, freshwater pearls, heishi, hand carved bone skulls & sterling silver (these are my current favorites)

i know, yesterday i promised an eggplant update today. alas, this morning i procrastinated and never took the veggie snapshots and then it rained all afternoon...

earrings galore - part I

yesterday evening i sat down and assembled earrings for hours and hours.

there were pairs and pairs of my flameworked test beads ready to go, all they needed were to be tossed with some pearls, gemstones and sterling silver findings.

japanese blues - flameworked beads, freshwater pearls, moonstones. tiny opals & sterling silver.

watermelon mishap - flameworked beads, freshwater pearls, jade chips, garnets & sterling silver.

black swamp love - flameworked beads, tumbled onyx hearts, freshwater pearls & sterling silver.

butterscotch glitter - flameworked beads, aventurine beads & sterling silver.

blueberry twists - flameworked beads, glass seed beads, sodalite & sterling silver

black moonfruit - flameworked beads, carved onyx leaves & sterling silver

oily puddle baubles - flameworked beads, freshwater pearls, citrine chips, carved amethyst cube dangles & sterling silver

more earrings tomorrow, and an 'eggplants gone wild' photo update.

lace nighties

continuing on with this summer's queen anne's lace obsession.

i took these at night, without a flash, by campfire light.

can anyone tell me why these beautiful flowers are considered weeds?