Finally!

I finally have some new stuff! And lots of gold and mixed metals - my favorite! The above is rose gold hoops, also available in yellow gold. Below is one of the mixed metals that features sterling silver, yellow gold and rose or pink gold.

I wanted to have more then just earrings so below is a tri-colored 'flower' with sterling silver, yellow gold, rose gold.

I have these available in sterling silver but the picture below is the yellow gold version. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this gold soldering stuff! I love working with it!

A French hook version of the post tri-colored metals dangles from above. I think these in the post version are my favorites!

And last but not least I've got a new personalized pendant to show you. It has 4 sides so you can personalized it however you want. Below are just some examples. Okay wait maybe this one is my favorite, well I do like making them!

Thanks for stopping by! All of these are or will be soon available in my shop. I hope you are all having a good week.

H

Celebrating 50 years of statehood

Hawaii is celebrating 50 years of statehood today. There are celebrations all over the islands! I will be there in less then a month and I am so looking forward to it!

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, lots going on here and hopefully I can share with you all soon. Have a wonderful weekend. Here are a few sets of pictures that are all about Hawaii: pre-statehood, before it was hot, surfing and Hawaii 5-0.
Enjoy!

H

Desert Botanical Gardens is for the birds

Okay so not really but there are a lot of birds. Above is a Cactus Wren and below I think its a woodpecker. I got there as early as they open, 7AM to get these. There are lots of little creatures out and about that early on a Saturday morning. Some of the little creatures didn't want to stop and pose for me. Like the rabbits and quail. Maybe next time.






I hope you all had a good weekend. Bailey officially starts school in the morning, not just the jump start to kindergarten that she's been doing for the last 2 weeks. She is very excited! I'll post pictures sometime this week. Have a good week with whatever you have planned.

H

Full Moon

We had a full moon last night and I photographed it. Well I tried anyway. I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and took a class on photographing the moon. We didn't get a chance to photograph any of the night blooming flowers. We did a little painting with light. The following photographs were done on a long exposure and then I took a flashlight and 'painted' the cactus with the light as the shutter was open. I so need some work but I think I'm going to have fun try this new technique out.










We had a few clouds last night but I love the way it looked as it lit up the clouds around. These we're also taken on a long exposure so the picture is still pretty dark but I like the effect.


And one last shot of the moon. I wish it hadn't been so hot that is my only complaint! It was still over 100 degrees at 9PM last night. I am so looking forward to the cooler weather. Well the weekend is coming. I hope I have time for some more enamel and maybe some more pictures of the desert!

H

Enamel time

Okay I've been meaning to post this for a while so here it is. (And because Wendy was being pushy!) I took an enamel class about how to enamel on shapes not just a flat surface.






I took a class on enamel recently and the instructor is just amazing! This bracelet is her work. I love it! We used copper mesh and 26 gauge sheet. The 26 gauge sheet was run through a corrugater (blogger doesn't like that word but I don't know how else to spell it!) The metal gets work hardened as you put it thorough the little machine and then you get texture under the enamel.









The picture above has been enameled yet, its the kind of shapes we were working with. I haven't had a chance to play since the class but as soon as I do I'll post more pictures for you. I have taken other enamel classes and knew I loved it but this class reminded me how much I love it! I will be putting more enamel in my work because I love the color and I love the technique. When I took before I didn't have a kiln but I do now so there should be nothing to stop me, right? I hope you're having a good week!

H