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.

Chalcedony pendant with Iza style woven bead cap. The cap does not fit like I would have liked. I must remember to leave enough space for the weaving wire so that it will sit down on the stone like I want.

Square link bracelet with pearl hearts and crosses and cat's eye beads made with copper wire. My greatest problem was that the wire was too soft and wouldn't really hold the shape that I gave it. Possibly the wire was also too small for the job I wanted it to do.

Very large topaz colored crystal set in copper bezeled pendant. I acquired this pendant on last year's bead cruise from Sharon Hessoun. She said she thought I would do something nice with it. I hope she is pleased. I learned from this exercise that I must leave extra room in the bezel wires to allow for the wrapping done in various places.

Valentine swap earrings made for Vickie Gould. I hope she likes them. They are sterling silver with sugilite beads and amethyst colored Swars.

Let's all say thanks!

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