Native copper and copper collar with amazonite and turquoise beads

Ruby Zoisite heart pendant.

Ruby in zoisite wrapped in sterling silver.

A lovely piece of butterscotch amber.  I am pretty happy about how this piece turned out.  It may be my first successful sculpted piece.  I just wish I had done it in gold fill! lol

Resin cameo and sterling ring, sculpted and coiled.

Recent work

Baltic Amber sculpted in sterling fill wire.

 Baltic amber sculpted in sterling silver with sterling and Bali silver beads.

Ammolite sculpted in gold fill wire.

Ammolite wrapped in gold fill wire.

Crystal and copper wave bracelet.

Dichroic glass wrapped in sterling fill wire.

Idaho Spencer opal wrapped in sterling wire with accents of pearls, lapis, garnet and peridot beads and a sterling charm.  

Huge agate slab with smaller agate slabs.  Wrapped/sculpted in copper wire.  The slab is 14 inches across and 36 inches around.  This was quite a challange!

Glass beads and copper bracelet.

Glass beads and copper earrings

Amazonite, sterling and sterling bead bracelet.

Crystal and silver fill earrings

Bead crochet with size 11 seed beads.

Malachite and copper spider.  If this showed up in my house alive, I would probably run!

When I was in Egypt, I fell in love with camels.  They look like they were designed by a committee.  As this article shows, a lot of thought went into creating this ship of the desert.

to bcc: me

The Creator's Camel

This is the most fascinating, awesome thing I’ve ever read about an animal,


You will be utterly amazed at it. I hope you take the time to read it.



The Amazing Camel and Its Creator
(From Moody Press)

If you ever doubted that God exists,
Meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered, Dromedary Camel.



When I'm hungry, I'll eat almost anything-
A leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master's tent,
Or a pair of shoes.

My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn't bother it.
I love to chow down grass and other plants
That grow here on the Arabian desert

I'm a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind
That lives on hot deserts in the Middle East .
My hump, all eighty pounds of it,
Is filled with fat-my body fuel -- not water as some people believe.
My Mighty Maker gave it to me because
He knew I wouldn't always be able to find food

As I travel across the hot sands.
When I don't find any chow, my body automatically
Takes fat from the hump, feeds my system,
And keeps me going strong.
This is my emergency food supply.




If I can't find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump.
When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side.
But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again,
My hump soon builds back to normal.


I've been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes.
My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that
In a matter of minutes all the water I've swallowed
Travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.




Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach.
There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body.
Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty
Ten minutes after I've drunk twenty gallons.
In an eight hour day, I can carry a four hundred pound load
A hundred miles across a hot, dry desert
And not stop once for a drink or something to eat.

In fact, I've been known to go eight days without a drink,
But then I look like a wreck.
I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin,
And I look terribly skinny.

But I feel great!
I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water.
They're no longer fat.
They're flat.




Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours.
But when I can't find any water to drink,
The heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood.
Scientists have found that
My blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water,
And I'm still healthy.
Doctor's say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water.
If you lose 5 percent of it, you can't see anymore;
10 percent, you can't hear and you go insane;
12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses
And your heart can't pump the thick stuff.
It stops, and you're dead.

But that's not true with me.
Why?
Scientists say my blood is different.
My red cells are elongated.
Yours are round.
Maybe that's what makes the difference

This proves I'm designed for the desert,
Or the desert is designed for me.
Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?


After I find a water hole,
I'll drink for about ten minutes
And my skinny body starts to change almost immediately.
In that short time my body fills out nicely,
I don't look skinny anymore,
And I gain back the 227 pounds I lost.





Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert,
My body conserves it too.
Way in the beginning when my Intelligent Engineer made me,
He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water.
When I exhale, I don't lose much.
My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs
And absorbs it in my nasal membranes.




Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood.
How's that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn't it.
It works because my nose is cool.
My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air
From my lungs into water.

But how does my nose get cool?
I breath in hot dry desert air,
And it goes through my wet nasal passages.
This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as
18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.

I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes.
It's really quite easy, because
My Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet.
My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them.
Each foot has two long, bony toes
with tough, leathery skin between my soles,
My feet are a little like webbed feet.




They won't let me sink into the soft, drifting sand.
This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him
one hundred miles across the desert in just one day.
(I troop about ten miles per hour.)

Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere,
bringing flying sand with it.
My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils
that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose
but still allowing me enough air to breathe.

My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens,
keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly.
If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye,
the Creator took care of that too.
He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically
wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper.


Some people think I'm conceited because I always walk around
with my head held high and my nose in the air.

But that's just because of the way I'm made.
My eyebrows are so thick and bushy
I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them.
I'm glad I have them though.
They shade my eyes from the bright sun.




Desert people depend on me for many things.
Not only am I their best form of transportation,
but I'm also their grocery store.

Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk
that people make into butter and cheese.

I shed my thick fur coat once a year,
and that can be woven into cloth.

A few young camels are used for beef,
but I don't like to talk about that.

For a long time we camels have been called
the "ships of the desert" because of the way
we sway from side to side when we trot.
Some of our riders get seasick.
I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work.
Both legs on one side move forward at the same time,
elevating that side.
My "left, right left, right" motion makes my rider feel like
he is in a rocking chair going sideways.





When I was six months old,
Special knee pads started to grow on my front legs.
The Intelligent Creator knew I had to have them.
They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground.




If I didn't have them,
My knees would soon become sore and infected,
And I could never lie down.
I'd die of exhaustion.



By the way,
I don't get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees.
I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads.
Someone very Great thought of me and knew I needed them.
He designed them into my genes.
It's real difficult for me to understand . . .
How some people say I evolved into what I now am.

I’m a very technical, highly engineered, dromedary camel.

Things like me don't just happen--

I've been very well planned out!!! This description came in  my email today.

My daughter, Ruby and my grandson, Ethan taken during my recent vacation there. My preemie grandson has become quite a fine young man. Kudos to his mother for a job well done. I used to be taller than Ruby. Boy do I miss those 3 vertical inches! Ethan has just finished his training to fly the drone airplanes for the army. Ruby said she guessed the video games were not a total loss.

This is Madison, my granddog. She doesn't like having her picture taken. This was the only successful attempt out of many! She likes to watch television and goes nuts when a ad for dogfood with dogs in it comes on. She is very intelligent and has been trained well. She is much loved by her family.

Monsters fron my garden when I returned from my vacation. Zucchini pizza crust here we come!

I obtained these unusual malachite cabochons at a long ago bead show. If I recall correctly, they came from a fellow who was selling vintage material. I bought them with the intent of incorporating tham into beadwork. It is only since I attended Dale Cougar Armstrong's workshop that I felt able to incorporate them in wirework.

Items constructed in the past week. Gee, I have actually done some wire work!

The rings are based on designs by Dale Cougar Armstrong and the pendents aree based on designs featured on Preston Reuther's Wire Bootcamp. Thanks to both for being such great teachers and such generous souls.

Moth on outside of House
The first day there were a few. Next day more and there were more than 30 there this morning.

It has been a long time since I posted! I continue to try to master working with wire. I attended a great workshop with Dale Cougar Armstrong in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was an intense 3 days!  Her designs are fabulous and her teaching was wonderful.  I think my skills took a dramatic jump in the right direction!

Thnk you, Dale!

Necklace fit for royalty

Picture Jasper pendant in sterling with pearls

Bangle Bracelet in gold fill and sterling wire with lizard jasper stone.

Spring winds broke off a large Colorado Blue Spruce in my back yard. It fell in my neighbor's yard with branches poking through the roof and ceiling of their enclosed back porch. Nobody was hurt, and for that we give thanks! I decided once in a lifetime was enough and had two other old blue spruce removed from my yard. The tree also took out my fence and the hand rail to my back steps.

Then, the air conditioner went out on my car. I tried having it recharged. That did not take care of the problem. I priced having it repaired and estimates ranged from $250 to $4500, depending on what the problem was. I opted for a new air conditioner. It came wrapped in a 2007 Hundai Elantra with less than 9,000 miles on it. I love my new air conditioner!

BUTTERFLY BEAUTY

These gorgeous fluorite butterfly wings came from Szarka. Amethyst was used to represent wing spots. The Dragonfly Collection Tutorial by Abby Hook was the inspiration for many details on the butterfly anatomy. This was a challenge and a delight to work on. It took several starts to accomplish what I wanted. I think it is telling me that it wants to be a necklace.

Sterling silver wire, 18 g round and 28 g round, sterling silver beads, amethyst beads and garnets were used. The garnets were used for the eyes.

Here is a new wire artist friend's site.  She has some intriguing work.  I hope you enjoy it.
http://justgodincharge.com/

Calsilica cabochon and beads made into a pendant and earrings.




I used 22g square copper wire and 22 g half round wire to wrap the cab. I used
copper earwires and copper Bali Style csps for the earrings

Rose of Sharon pendants done ala Perri, Shaktipaj. Left stone is smokey quartz oval and the right one is amethyst colored cubic zirconia. Both are made of sterling silver. I made 6 of these for Christmas gifts. They were well received!






When I bought this stone in a set of earrings and ring, I was told it was moonstone. It is opalite. I love the pagoda carved into the back of the stone. This is the ring reborn as a pendant. Sterling wire was used for the bezel and frame. Some day i will be able to get the twists and turns uniform. In the meantime, you can see they are unique, one of a kind products!.





I have been in heart mode. These are wire framed lampwork beads. Sterling and glass. They were sort of a preliminary for the Valentines earring swap on Creative wire jewelry.








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Cage Pendant made in the manner of Bobbi Wired. The stone in the middle is a pink chalcedony nugget. I added a large, multistrand jump ring which can easily be opened to allow the cage to be opened and the contents changed. This was a fun project. Thanks, Bobbi, for the great tutorial.

This sold my first day of having items in the Two Degrees Northwest Gallery here in Moscow!







Sterling silver and amethyst wire wrapped pendant. This was from a tutorial by Joan

Next are some quickie craft wire Christmas trees decorated with fringe beads.

Valentines day was also noted with heart within a heart earrings.