Scottish Games 2013

Scottish Games!  Pleasanton, California.  Labor Day weekend.  Every year my husband and his son and brother volunteer, along with many other dedicated souls, to help set up stages and misters and benches and lots of stuff for the Games.

 I make jewelry.  :-)  This year, I wanted to wear something that looked a bit tribal and honored my husband's family name.  So I had a piece of etched copper I'd set aside a couple of years ago.  The etching was of the Kerr family association crest.  

I patinaed it and then colored it in a bit with Gilder's Paste, which was an experience of messiness! lol  I can be a bit sloppy.

Next, I added some dimples with my favorite dimple pliers that I bought from Richard Salley.  LOVE them.  

Then, I riveted it to some stamped and hammered nickel.  Added a crystal drop, hung it on wire with embellishments and was happy with my new piece~

Is my husband darling??? Yep, he's mine, all mine!  

We had a fun time.  Saw LOTS of vendors and fun items for sale.  Exercised lots of self control and bought very little.  

Rocked out to the Celtic bands and droning bagpipes.  Saw every type of kilt and crazy outfit possible.  :-D

Wonderful time.  Another year gone by so fast!

October getting so close~~may this fall season be full of blessings for you all, my friends.  

"Sing Praise" Stamped Pendant

Had a front bottom tooth pulled yesterday....ugh.  I look like snaggle-toothed granny right now.  The braces will even everything out in the future, but it was a shock when I first spied myself in the mirror!

Anyway, I spent all afternoon playing at my workbench.  I used metal shears and mostly simple stamps and basic wireworking to make this "Sing Praise" pendant.  I was engaged, happy, "in the zone".  I love that feeling!

A new week~may you all feel renewed and grateful for small blessings.  Sending you a hug~ 

"Copper Reverie"~

The process:

The idea of quartz crystals wired to copper kept bumping around in my head.  My first attempt to bring my dream to reality resulted in the first "rough draft" above.  I love primitive, but this was too primitive for me.  Sooooo I gave it another go.

My second "rough draft".  This gave me a chance to tweak the idea and see how practical it was.  After this, I could saw my copper shapes, punch holes, smooth the edges, stamp and brush salt water on it to float over ammonia.  Then came sealing, wiring and ta-da (!)

~~picture-taking!

I love how they turned out.  I'm calling them "Copper Reverie".   First pieces of 2012.

Now it's time to return to reality.  Time to finish the laundry, make my lunch for tomorrow's work day, and wash my hair.  And maybe I should get out of my jammies?  It's only 2:20 in the afternoon!  :-)

Road Trip

Annual Anniversary Road trip with my sweetie!  We traditionally celebrate our September anniversary in October.  Why?  It just always seems busy busy busy in September.  Anyway, we always get away for a day or two.

We tooled up to the California Gold Country.

Jackson! 

This darling shop holds treasures galore.  "Tinker O'Brien" Vintage & Uncommon Goods.  22 Main Street, Jackson, CA.  The owner is the friendliest darlingest gal!

This piece is for sale in that wonderful shop~~hope it finds a nice home with someone who needs to be encouraged!

Resin~Fill your mind with thoughts of faith, hope & courage

 Finished a pendant today.  Been plugging away for a few weeks, a bit at a time.  Resin is a medium that still holds challenges for me, but the ability to encase a message is wonderful!  This piece consists of resin, paper, copper, brass, nickel, a quartz bead, silk ribbon and steel wire. 

 I don't know if you can read the back easily.  It says, "your life will be filled with joy". 

The side view shows more stamping and how I connected the piece.  All cold-connections, all pondered and slowly assembled.  Lots of humming, smiling to myself, listening to Christian music and an old chick flick or two.  Don't think I ever get enough of "You've Got Mail"~~lol!  Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are such a fun combination. 

It's Wednesday, and June is almost gone.  Astonishing how fast the time rushes by.   May the rest of your week be blessed and joyfully start the new month. 

New Earrings: Copper & Brass, Etched & Hammered, Quartz & Onyx

Pair of earrings ready for Studio 41 in Benicia.  Etching brass or copper is such a satisfying process.  You write on your metal with a Sharpie, suspend it in ferric chloride and tah dah!  Etched & textured to your specifications.  My kind of fun!

Women of Faith conference in Sacramento.  Could only attend Friday...but wow!  Sheila Walsh's story and encouragement brought me to tears of joy, tears of breaking open to God's love.   Amazin' day.   Effects still lingering in my heart and thoughts.

Saturday~fun family day when my newest nephew Kevin was baptized.  Lots of laughs and too much delicious Mexican food.  We are a blessed family!

Monday tomorrow....may we all sail smoothly into our weekly duties.  I'm prayin'!  Hugs to you all~~~

Copper Etched Labradorite Pendant Pics for Rina

 Rina, jewelry-making friend, asked me to post pics of the back of the piece I just posted...so here you go Rina!   This is the back of the top plate (I call this the "bead plate")

 Here is the front of the brass plate.  After I wire the quartz crystal onto the bead plate, I'm going to rivet that bead  plate onto this brass plate.

This is kinda how it will look~~then I'll curl the strip on top to make a bail.  Voila!!! tah dah!!!  There will be 5 rivets, so that may take some time.  Gotta work a little at a time so my gimpy wrist doesn't ache.   AND so I get some laundry and other things done on my day off~~~or we will live in clutter and dog hair.  :-)

Have a super Wednesday!

Etched Copper and Labradorite Work In Progress~WIP

Just wired the labradorite onto the etched copper.  Slowly and surely this encouragement pendant is coming together!   Second time I wired the labradorite.  First time I attached it then carefully cut the wire in the wrong place!   Said a semi-bad word and put it down.   Waited 2 days.   Today~~~success!  Next I must wire on the quartz crystal.

It's pretty this morning in Vallejo, CA.  Northern California is going to be cool-ish and clear.  I took a great pic of the morning sky from my backyard, but I can't upload it for some reason....hmmmmm....computers and I don't always live in perfect harmony~~

For Monika

Monika owned a wonderful gallery in Sonoma. She sold more pieces of my jewelry than anyone simply because she believed in me! She told me over and over how fabulous my work was. She made me a better artist and continues to influence my belief in my abilities. This pendant is for her, to show her my love and encouragement. How wonderful that God brought her into my life! And I wish her the best future~~~

Brazilian Occo Geode...yum!

About 3 weeks ago I visited my LBS (Local Bead Store). Beading Around the Bush in Benicia, CA...I LOVE this shop! Anyway, there in a little tray on a low table, I saw them....Brazilian Occo Geode slices...I fell in love immediately. I caressed them and admired their beautiful sparkles. Three made their way into my clutches. I also bought some amethyst points. I had a vision of a pendant. I wanted to explore the idea of a "hidden blessing", a gift from God in an unexpected place.

After sawing the brass, sanding all the rough spots, stamping it a bit, drilling two inner holes for the point, I set the occo into the brass and wired the point into the middle. Then I sawed out the copper shape, stamped the words, etched the copper and riveted the brass to the copper. This took me two weeks! I worked here and there after my day job. And thought about it many random moments. Jewelry making is so engrossing, with challenges and triumphs. ( And occasionally the agony of defeat! lol!)


The rest of the necklace was pretty easy. I love stringing and this one really went together easily.


Earrings to go with the necklace.

Well, it is Mother's Day tomorrow. I have an amazing Mom and I respect and honor her. Hopefully I do this every day, not just a Sunday in May! :-) I hope you all remember your Mom tomorrow and find a hidden blessing from her guidance. Bless you all!

More work~! And a visit from Spain

"Trapped Bezel" pendant inspired by Richard Salley's technique. Amazonite, copper, brass. First time I made my own bead caps~~ They were inspired by Candie Cooper's new book "Metalworking 101 for Beaders".


Copper and brass and fine silver bezel strips. Dangles of quartz crystal.


Copper and brass and fine silver bezel strips stamped with "Smile" and "Shine". Fluorite dangles.

Well, I don't get to participate in the artist day at Studio 41...rats! But my work will be there without me. Hope it inspires and encourages. Love to sell a few pieces too .

My beautiful stepdaughter is here from Spain! She and her novio will be here for lunch today. Which means that DH and I are going to bless this house with some cleaning~~~ When you have two big black dogs and two orange marmalade cats, you have some serious animal fur at all times. And the left-over clutter from a crazy work week...it'll be fun to clear this all out and feel clean and fresh~~

Bless you all...may your weekend be joyful!

Earrings~Heliador and Copper...yum!

My babies...my first pair of earrings I've made since April 2009. Created patiently, bit by bit, 5 minutes here and there, carefully in order to protect my wrists. I love them!
They sat at home for a while, as I enjoyed the fruits of creativity, the first in so very long. And today they went to Studio 41 Gallery in Benicia. Lovely day~~

My wrists are so-slowly improving. The pain flared up for a while, but now seems to be subsiding---knock on my wooden head! :-D And now I must be patient and do my best to rest them to allow them to heal completely. I'm not very patient. Really. My physical therapist Linda theorized that patience is the lesson I'm to learn from this experience...rats! C'mon, God, why can't You just assign a book on Patience and give me a multiple-choice quiz? lol!

So may you have a blessed rest of your week, all my blog friends. And pray for me to gain patience! Thank you so much! Also, keep praying for our world, especially the people of Haiti. I have such trivial things to complain about when compared to their tragedy. May God and His people give them comfort and aid. Amen~