Back in Town

Love this photo. I tried making it into the banner, just to have something there, but... it only made a bad situation worse.

Banner Woes

Still working them out, folks. *sigh*

New Banner

Look up there:
(new banner)
One day, I'll get the size right. I should really look at the specs for Blogger more closely one day, but that day ain't today, friends.

More Howlite

I have to say, I love these stones. I used 3 strands of them for this chunky necklace. You can wear them torsaded (twisted together) or a bit more loose.




I like that they're natural. Tumbled nuggets are awesome. That's all I have to say about that.



Apologies for the photo below. Too much sun. I wanted to show what the necklace would look like when worn. Maybe I should get one of those mannequin busts. But they're kinda creepy.



What do you think?

Howlite Necklace

Last week, I worked with howlite, a stone mostly found in California.






For months now, I've wanted to work more with the turquoise and red color combination. I paired turquoise howlite nuggets with similar howlite nuggests in red. Each stone measures approximately 15mm long by 10mm wide. Chunky.





A shot of the clasp; I used a pewter double heart interlocking clasp. This type of clasp wouldn't work for a light necklace or a braclet, but the weight of the howlite nuggets keep it securely fastened.

Smoky Quartz Faceted Briolettes

I just bought these smoky quartz beads. I'm going to mix them with head-drilled pearls in various autumnal shades and add a cool clasp. How awesome will that be? Let's hope the Arts League actually HAS a sale this year. Kitty needs a new pair of shoes (and she's got 4 feet to shod!). These look rather dark here, but individually, they are a nice medium brown-grey.



And fingers crossed today, all, as Kitty is undergoing still another surgery. Such a little trooper she is.

Tease

Just
a
tease.

More Blue, More Green

Can you tell that these earrings are hanging off of a glass pitcher rim?



Does it look weird? Like an old window?





I made these, and then sold these, at Flag Fest. Some woman wearing a green skirt the exact color of the coin beads bought them. Go you, lady, for wearing a skirt that color. You rocked it.

Sterling and Czech glass.

I need to put these up on Etsy, don't I?

Price: $10.

I Want This, Too

I've liked spessartite garnet for a while, now. Most people are used to seeing garnet in the red/purple color family, but there are actually many shades of garnet.

I'm drawn to spessartite (named after Spessart, Germany) because of its glowy orange color. That color comes from manganese (which is not present in other examples of garnet).

My preference would be mandarin spessartite garnet (a lighter, sometimes brighter orange) but the other shades are beautiful, too.


While it's not particularly expensive, burgeoning expenses have blown my budget of late, so I don't think it's likely I'll be buying any stones soon. But if I could, I'd buy a pair of matched stones, 6mm (rounds or trillions), and make a pair of earrings for myself.




Very pumpkin-y, for my favorite month, October.

My Pride and Joy

I normally snap photos of baubles, but I had to share these recent shots:



I've grown 3 peppers this year and I let this one turn red. I plan to eat it tonight.





And my new neighbor's adorable cat, checking out the action down on the street below.