Present and Past

Coinage

Some more of my torch fired enamel

These sold before I could get a decent picture.

 I was making double headed baubles for awhile last year.

I suppose I ought to take it up again. I made them on copper so they were more bendy.

Some of the Ukrainian relic bits from CoolVintage.

Simple design. I decided to keep them for myself

These deserved more than a scanner photo.

Some of the vintage tin from Sushipot

All about the crustage

Some more simple designs for the farmers market.

I got those amber cubes at the gem show many years ago

So much fun using my own Kim-ponents

Way to broaden ones stash... make it yourself.

I made these back in AZ

Time to highlight them on Etsy now that I got some better photos of them.

That hindered me for the longest time with Etsy.

I didn't feel that my photos were enough up to snuff.

A little bit of Maine mussel inspiration.

Those are my roots you know.

I was born on an island called Mt. Desert Island

Now I live in both the mountains and the desert far from any ocean.

Etsy bound as well

My newest necklace. That focal bead lingered in my shop for way too long. I took it out and etched it.

ha ha... so there!

That turquoise one was from a necklace that belonged to my mother. I didn't realize it wasn't center drilled until I went to use it.

Anyone care to help me name this one?

So I wait for a sunny, not windy window of time in which to photograph my stuff.

I set up on the deck of the Garaj Mahal.

As I'm photographing these squished crystal shaped raku frit beads I have to take them off of the wire for this shot

Then one bounces out of my hand and slips through the deck to the gravel down below.

Why did it have to be the most gravel colored bead of the whole photo shoot?

Ah, I spotted it!

Always the blogger I have to document this for you all.

On my way back up the stairs I trip banging my knee so badly that I see stars.

My camera goes flying out of my hand and bangs against the stairs as well.

Limping and yowling I hobble back to the kitchen to get an ice pack.

A bewildered husband that is weed-whacking doesn't understand what's going on.

I'm still nearly fainting and feeling like I may puke.

I explain..."hit knee... camera got banged up .... feel faint"

He decided to see if the camera still is operational.

I'm not near as pathetic as I look here, it's just that the grass felt good and I wanted to lie down for a spell. See the icepack on my knee.

I might have a small bruise that's all.

OK, I'm a bit of a pain wimp.

Back to the photo shoot.

I guess it's OK for me to do shiny sometimes, right?

Oohh, looky looky, how about those colors, hmmmm?

See how they match the rock?

So what do you think of this idea? kind of bead caps or bead cloaks or domes.

You can see how I used one in the mussel necklace

I have a few of these that I'm ready to list.

The drops were torched onto the crude  steel filigree after I shaped it.

These are admittedly kind of weird colors.

I was looking at this plant in my flower basket that had reddish brown leaves and yellow flowers.

I like to try some unusual combinations sometimes. Yellow is so hard for me.

But I used to not like orange either... remember?

I think I may have showed you this before...

but not against this stone

I haven't made many headpins in awhile.

This is some new glass and it's just one color!

It's call Lichen.

this is also just one color called Calico.

Did you know headpins with out a 'd' is heapins?

I need to make heapins more

Shiny shiny lentil sets.

 These will turn into my more classic simple "just the lampwork bead ma'am"

earrings most likely.

Not everyone is crazy about doodads and assemblage earrings.

Some folks just can't wear long earrings either.

( where's the fun in that, I ask you?)

And to balance out my aforementioned wimpeydom

I'll give you  some shots from "back in the day"

This is the Jones Homestead before it got all "blowed up"

Mind you this photo was taken 30 years after I lived there.

I did have a dog once... along time ago

but I relinquished her in a breakup.

She went with the truck.

Puna was a golden retriever/sled dog mix with blue eyes

I had upgraded to a rental by the time this pic was taken in '78

It had propane lights and a propane cookstove.

Moving up!

And these were the boys I was hanging out with. 

We never seen the like back in New England where I was from.

Yeah, badass uh huh!

More badassedness here if you like these kind of stories from my past.

Tinacious~ NuministaChic Earrings

Remember all that vintage tin I got from Suzanna at Sushipotparts?

Well I've been workin' it in between orders for crusty rusty bits in my Etsy shop.

You guys are keeping me hopping with the orders. This is a first for me I'll have you know.

Somehow it doesn't matter how many orders I get in the vintage and supply shop it just isn't the same glory as selling my own stuff to you all. Many thanks, I know that there will be some more torch days coming up.

So this is what I've been doing with the tin.

I am discovering something about designing assemblage style pieces...

that they don't necessarily hang the way they look all nice and flat on your work table.

In fact they tend to flip around quite a bit.

I decided to solve the problem on the previous earrings by adding a bit of bling to the back side so they won't be just one sided earrings ( especially with the big blank white space on these.)

Wouldn't you know I just happened to have some of my beads that matched the tin, already made and waiting on my work table?

I have lots more tin left and some pieces cut out in the queue waiting for me.

I had a mishap the other night which involved rescuing an elderly man on the roof.

We were enjoying a warm night on the patio with our friends when one of us heard someone crying "help me!"

In house downhill from us lives a man that has obviously suffered a stroke before.

It's dark and I try to find where the voice is coming from and he's on the roof! ...and it's dark out!

Well I basically had to run around the block while I was on 911 so I could determine his house number.

Meanwhile the guys were trying to find access to his yard which was quite a heap of obstacles.

I went through his house to get to the backyard while my other neighbor climbed up to help get the man down. Meanwhile I was directing the cops to  his location and they were having a time of it getting up the steep ladder. One had to take off his bullet proof vest because it was getting snagged on boards and nails. I went to assist holding the ladder and didn't realize there was a ditch between me and the ladder and fell snagging my ring on some wire that was holding the ladder to the was. It practically yanked it out of the socket. The old man got down and we ascertained that he had been up there for a half hour and presumably was fixing his antenna. ( he has speech problems from his stroke) He was uninjured just stuck and I have a numb ring finger that doesn't seem to be keeping me from making stuff so all is well.

It was an exciting night though.