Not a Toy

A customer recently brought in these "Synthetic Aged Bone Discs," a product of the Tandy Leather Company, for me to incorporate into a necklace I was stringing for her.

Note the small print, where Tandy apparently tries heroically to comply with local and/or Federal Laws, by stating that these beads are "NOT A TOY: Not indented for children 14 or under."


I guess that means they are indented only for those over 14.

Enamel Bracelet and Earrings

This is the enamel bracelet I made in the Cold Connections Workshop at the end of March -



I really, really love cold connections!






I joined the links with copper jump rings, and threw in some size 8 round and hex seed beads as accents.











These are the matching earrings.

Plus I have one enamelled square left over, so I am going to figure out a way to feature it in a Cold Connections pendant.

Woohoo! Now I just have to wait for all my supplies to arrive..............................

Cold Connections

My friend Kathy came down from William Holland Lapidary School, and taught a fantastic, intense, 2-day seminar on Cold Connections at my shop. Everyone had a great time, and made some gorgeous creations.

I am just thrilled with Cold Connections - it is the process of connecting metal without heat - so no soldering. You rivet, grommet, lash, etc - and there are just endless creative possibilities.

I will show a couple of my projects here, and post more later - otherwise, this will be a HUGE post.

Kathy stayed at my house with me and Bailey, and everyone had such fun - we laughed so hard for 4 days straight. Plus poor, neglected (NOT!) Bailey got tons of attention and treats!

This is one pair of earrings I made - I combined copper with sterling - I am still absolutely crazy about mixing metals and textures!

This is one of my pendants - I combined sterling and copper again, and while it is hard to see, there are holes punched all along the bottom edge, where I am either going to beadweave some fringe, or hang some dangles via wrapped loops, or maybe a combination of both - haven't decided yet.

Plus, with the way my schedule has been, it may be weeks before I even get to work on this one again - but busy is good!

I have temporarily closed my Etsy and Artfire Shops, due to the unexpected and early death of my computer's motherboard. I hope to be up and running again in 7-10 days.