Winter's Comfort Food

I'm going to start with the animal pictures today.

So this is what I see looking out my living room window.

A cow moose and her calf  noshing on what's left of our puny garden.

All that munching must have made them tired... 

Because they laid down and took a rest directly after the snacking.

How do you like my little raven bird? My husband HAD to get it for me at one of the local shows for my birthday

Alaska doll maker Mariska Wright of Mariska's Creations made these. You really ought to check out her page

So while the moosey's are getting their winter comfort food I decided to make some caramel and marshmallow candy.

This is my beater right before one of the whisks broke off. It said to whip it for 15 minutes until stiff.

This was about minute 7 so I thought it had to be good enough.

I was mesmerized by the gooey snail shape as it whipped.

Then I had to fish the whisk out of the marshmallow fluff.

It's always a mess no matter what I'm creating!

Not bad but it must have taken me over an hour to just cut and wrap these.

Back to the studio now. 

Here is my Pipnmolly talisman against the crystalized frosty window near my computer.

Don't put your tongue on it!

Let's talk about "product"

I happened to be perusing the Afro hair aisle when I spotted this can.

Ingredients: Petrolatum, microcrystalline wax and fragrance.

I'm thinking that it smells a hell of a lot better than Johnson's Paste Wax and might serve the same purpose for an application on metal like we do with our steel wire work and the like.

The smell was imperceptible the next day and seemed to absorb nicely too. The price was right as well for under $4

Cool can isn't it? So retro it could pass for vintage (except for the bar code on the bottom)

Then there was this  Australian Beeswax with petrolatum, iron oxides, mica titanium dioxide and fragrance. Smells pretty much like plain wax to me and it's black!

So there are cheaper options to experiment with.

You know how long it's been since I made any focal beads?

Long time. Things were hopping so much with my supplies there for awhile that I didn't take the time. It used to be all I did and I never made sets of anything. Things change and flip flop ebb and flow with this biz.. We're talking ebb currently but that's OK. I was losing my attention span for  the small stuff for a bit. 

I was spending most of my time making earrings for local shows and it seems like the newest ones are first to go. I didn't even get to document some of them. There's a really cool set on my phone that I clicked before I bagged them up. Now I need to figure how to get them  to my computer. Just send them right? Except we have no reception out here so I have to remember to do it when I'm away from home...which is like never during the week.

Oh yeah I did find some leeks at the local market and made some super potato leek soup.

Mmmm,  more comfort food!

Here's some  Alaskan inspired aurora beads that I used to make back in the 90's.

Wow, that feels funny to say that. I used to sell lots of these and then I got kind of tired of them.

Maybe I need to ressurrect the design, I don't know. I can't even figure out how to spell resurrect now. Oh must have got it because there's no red dotted line under it now.

Used to be a good speller too...and remembered names with a steel trap acuity.

So I was reading about double headpins over at Art jewelry Elements blog.

She gives a tutorial on  how to make double headpin connectors with copper. 

I took it a step further and did it with glass instead of just balling up  the copper.

So you can take this

And turn it into this ...so you don't get that flippy floppy business of a single headpin when you're trying to connect it. Think of the possibilities! I plan on making some more of these to sell but my lil ol' studio is on it's way to shutting down soon until I get south and then I can put some time into making and listing some new components then.

I left this one shiny because I used a good bit of silvered glass ( Double Helix for those of you lampworkers in the know) and it seems to lose it's ethereal effect when I apply the crustification.

You'll be seeing these beads popping up in the shop varreh sooon.

Now would you believe I thought I was using the same base glass for these beads?

I was using up ends and they looked awfully similar starting out.

They still make a good limpet set don't you think?

Some more double headpins but these are on heavier copper wire - 18 gauge

Here I'm showing you their belly buttons. It was a natural birth.

More  crusty "oobers"

Shiny stripy Double Helix... See now you know what 'm talking about.

Lookit that gorgeous ethereal metallicnessosity!

These ended up with a plethora of multicolored speckles against that fossily base.

S'nother focal bead. I actually did crustify the double helix here just to be daring and all that. It does tend to take it down a notch and with the silvered glass being upwards of $100 a pound you don't want to squander it,  knowwhatimean?

Ah yes, another stab at this style. I'm holding back on selling these cuz you know... I need to make more and then maybe one day I can aspire to get them in a magazine or something. It's on my list of to do and join the club with all of you's published types out there. You know who you are.

I have a mighty stack of the rusted metal tiles waiting for me down in Arizona.

Did I mention it's less than three weeks till we leave!!

I'm paying a small portion of my winter dues to get out of here with this subzero and wind and all. 

But there's so much beauty to the winter here too it really is astounding.

I leave you with a peek at the undersides of these limpets.

If that doesn't get you excited I don't know what will.

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.