Inspiration trip

Today I wanted to find some inspiration, so I took a trip over to The Mexican Shack. It's a wonderful store, just filled with handcrafted jewelry and Southwestern style goodies. It's a great place to buy jewelry, should you be in the market for unusual pieces; they have great prices and things you won't see in most stores. It's also a great place to jump start creativity, should you be in the market for that.

Which I was. It's no secret that I've been cranking lately; I'm so far behind on taking pictures and writing stories that I could suffer a huge dry spell and still have something new to put up every week for several months. But, in spite of my recent burst of production, I woke up feeling a little stale this morning.

I'm feeling very fresh now.

Fun, fun, fun

After yesterday's precision soldering headache, I decided to give myself a fun, melting metal morning. I made a fused and soldered clasp; It's funky, it's textured, and, best of all, it's my favorite way to work. Blast furnace time. Melt, hammer, melt some more. File and sand, tumble, polish. Woohoo!

The bracelet is Euro 4-in-1 with a fabulous focal bead by Donna Millard of Fyrebeadz. This bead makes me think of something found in an archaeological dig; it looks positively Roman. I made the maille very lacy and it just slinks around my wrist. The clasp echos the bead with its spirals and dots; I am so pleased with this one, and I had so much fun making it.

Nope, no photo yet; but in a few days, pop over to Jewelry Tales and I'm sure you'll know which one I'm talking about.

The little things

...are sometimes the most difficult. Today I made a pendant, a very simple design, but it sure did give me fits. It had to be soldered precisely, and precise isn't my strong suit. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants sort of solderer; I like to let my designs develop as they will; I like to be surprised by how things end up. I love the adventure and discovery of learning as I go and traveling without a map.

But not today. Nope, today I had a very strong idea of where I wanted to go, and I got there. It took a little filing, but I got there.

Too much information

Uh huh, that's what you're getting today!

I have to buy new jeans. Here's the good news: I've lost some weight, and the old ones are too big. I've been affecting the gangsta boy look with my pants falling down and it's not pretty. The bad news? I have again waited until my jeans have holes in embarrassing places, and I'm down to one functional pair.

Which needs washing.

So I will hie myself off to Wal-Mart today and see what evils lurk in the jeans department. I am sincerely hoping that low rise jeans are OUT (is it really sad that I don't already know this?) and I'll be able to find jeans with an actual waistband. I'd promise to keep you posted, but I'm quite sure this is more than you already want to know about my wardrobe!

Beads, glorious beads!

Hello, my name is Cindy and I'm a lampwork bead addict.

I've already got too many, and yes, I want even more. Every time I see new beauties from my favorite artists, I just want to hold them. I love the colors, the textures, the translucency; oh, my, they are even prettier than gems.

And more expensive, some of them.

Oh, not that they are not worth it; not that the artists who create them don't deserve to be compensated for their gorgeous work; no, it's just that I cannot afford to buy them all. I buy as many as I can, but oh, I covet even more. Keep making those pretty little things, all you wonderful glass artists; you add such joy and beauty to my world.