Saturday evening

I have been so determined. I started on my housework early this morning and things went well. I even cleaned up my infamous nightstand drawer a bit. Don't tell anybody I did that because I was desperate looking for one of my knitting spools which later proved to be where it should be, ON the nightstand, buried by wire spools however. Do you think knitting and wire spools can breed and I'll find little knitting spools with the wire already on them? Oops, sorry. Digressing.

Then things went downhill fast, and loyal as I am, I went down with them. To be precise, I let myself hit by a vicious nap. I am talking one of those two and a half hour, "where am I?", "who am I?" and "why am I holding on to a crochet hook as if I am trying to fend off a monster with it?", off-to-a-parallel-dimension naps.

(For Deb, in case she'll read this, I do NOT blame Otto of Habsburg.)

I am happy to announce, however, that I am determined again now. Not only did I list a piece, but I also successfully charged the batteries to the motion sensors along the stairs. Tonight my walk downstairs will be a lot safer than it has been for the last two weeks. It's pure luck that Greebo and I didn't make the earth move when I tripped over him that one night. And no, of course it wasn't a cold-blooded attempt to kill me ... was it?

Nah, look at this sweet face, how could he?

I can't think

Maybe I'll start an auction. Or a giveaway. I don't care how, but would please someone take that heat away from here? I'm sure there are people out there who would love to have it. In fact I already promised 10° C to someone, but he didn't pick them up yet and so I am sitting here, over me just an old roof and lots of heat pressing on my brain. Heck, I even stuck to my blanket and you know how I hate glue of all sorts.

Ok, enough whining for now. What have I been up to?

I played with the needle lace technique a lot again. Give me your rocks, world, and I'll put them in a net and on a rope. You don't believe me? Look here. Oh, the endless possibilities. I feel like swooning from the mere thought.

Or here. I'll have to find more stones like this one. I really love how it turned out. Isn't it amazing how a simple tumbled piece of rose quartz can change just by using some copper wire and one Swarovski crystal? Ok, and some of my time, too. Of course it also gave me more ideas. One of them is #10 on my to-do list. It's #9 now because #6 is already done.

Charlotte's rose pendant

Hey, what? Told you I can't think! Maybe it'll be better tomorrow. If I can sleep and don't have weird dreams, that is. Like being stuck in a town in India, not finding back to my hotel room, but instead walk through the kitchen there a lot. Or chasing spies in Wales while Ponder is running around with feral cats (all of them black) and Esme is following me making squeaking sounds.

Now isn't that a real cliffhanger? ;-)

P.S. For "you know who you are", I ran out of the blue/turquoise wire and have to order it first *blush* I haven't forgotten!

Vacation update

Well, yeah ... I knew it wouldn't work out. I still haven't written the e-mails, two of the challenge pieces are not finished yet, but to my defense I have to say that I wasn't home longer than a day.

I went to a, let's say, sort of private movie festival. Who knows maybe one or the other quote will turn up eventually.

That doesn't mean I haven't gotten anything done.

Let's see.

- one challenge item done, one almost done, the last one prepared (not sure if that one will work out), laundry done and chest cleaned out

- feet put up thoroughly, DVDs watched in abundance

- social media and e-mails ... ehm ... *cough cough* you get it

- grocery shopping done, but not by me, pile of books reduced a little bit

- playing with cats done, photos not really

- clay is still on my list, but calls to friends and family are done

- visit family ... done

- I didn't really believe I'd write a letter by hand. That's good because I didn't do it

- online gaming ... nope ... nap one, today

- relaxation ... oh yes, it was a very relaxing week. Can I have another one now?

And I dreamed, not about my to-do list, but about someone who shall stay unnamed pushing Ponder around in a shopping cart at work. I do dream weird.

If you want to see proof of something I have done, here it is - yes, I'm still obsessed with Deronda's gorgeous lampwork beads.
This necklace makes me think of a painting of spring in the countryside.
It's in my ArtFire studio now.

It was about time!

Yes, it has been a long time, I know. It had different reasons, but here I am. I even brought stuff, ok, pictures of stuff.

Today I went into a listing frenzy, taking pictures of pieces who had silently and sadly been waiting on top of my light tent for their debutant photo shoot, editing those pictures and actually listing things. I don't know when I'll get the chance again, between work and laundry (omg, almost forgot the shirts in the washer!). Ok, I am back.

Not even Ponder could distract me from my task although he looked pretty scary (even scarier if you turn that picture around ...).

The pieces I'll show you now are pretty different from each other although most of them are wire crochet. I think I haven't reached the end of what I can do in this technique yet, especially now that I can combine it with the needle lace technique. Viking knit is still on my list and more spool knitting with beads. I need more time. If you have any you don't need, please e-mail it to me. I promise I won't waste it on naps. I'll take those on my own time ;-)

Enough now, let's get to the items instead of rambling on.

Caught in my heart isn't all new, it's one of my rejuvenation items. The amethyst bead in its cage has been one of my very first pieces, but somehow I felt it was missing something. This something turned out to be a heart. I like it much better now.

You know I'm hopelessly addicted with Deronda O'Neil's lampwork beads. It's hard to use them in a design, not because I don't want to see them go (beautiful lampies shouldn't live in a drawer), but because I am determined to do them justice. This design was approved by her which made me very happy.

Copper cage is a mix of needle lace and wire crochet (ah, you remember what I said before, huh?). The bubble lampwork beads in a stunning red are caught in a cage of pure copper wire which is held by wire crochet tubes.

Once again I decided to use up some of my stash before ordering new supplies. So far it has worked pretty well.

This colorful wire is twisted from four differently colors of wire, blue, violet, gunmetal and hot pink. I never had an idea for it, but I decided those grey bubble beads (guess who made them ...) could live with a little color. The name Glass floats comes from a forum friend of mine and means the glass floats that were used on fishing nets in former times.

This bangle called Mélange for obvious reasons is from the same wire, just an everyday lightweight comfortable bangle for that bit of color in your life.

Silver and amber - a classic combination which also works well on this blossom pendant. For those who don't like it too big and flashy, this is the perfect always matching little pendant.

I like it shiny, but hard-working friends of mine have done their best to convince me of the fun of oxidation. They succeeded, at least partly, as the next two items will show you.

Remember my clef pendants? While the other two I made stayed shiny, this one was a great candidate for a little darkening. I think it worked out well. The color gives this piece a vintage look, like something you could find in an old jewelry box. The pearl and the tiny peridot beads I added work as a small, but nice contrast.

My favorite piece today is the next one, though. You know, the last but not least thing.

For deviantArt I even wrote a little story for it, about the knight leaving his love alone, clutching his last gift. The lovely maiden in the tower, that is, not the knight.

Although I had never heard of Septarian nodules before I got them from a friend (hope the vibes make his ears tingle), I totally fell in love with them. It took me quite long to finish this necklace. The bezel was the easy part, but I couldn't decide on a bail. After several attempts I finally added a wire crochet tube and finally I was happy. The piece then struck me so much as medieval looking that I HAD to oxidize it. I'm so happy I did.

I love this piece so much that I will take the one stone that I kept for myself and turn it into a similar necklace.

If you made it to this point, you are pretty good! Thank you :-D

Got chocolate?

I have been bitten by the needle lace bug, no doubt. And even if you might think, this is getting boring, it's another shell I caught in my net.

The difference is this shell is made from polymer clay and it was not planned. In fact I was working on a clay idea. The first attempt turned out a little too big, so I went for a second one. Suddenly I was hit by a wave of impatience. I grabbed the clay in sight and mixed it all up, then just as suddenly I pressed it on the shell in front of me (now you know the other project incorporates a shell, but that's all I'm telling you in case it doesn't work out ;-)). Carefully I turned my clay to get the pattern on the right side and cut it to the right shape.

I don't know about you, but it definitely reminded me of those chocolate shells ... cravings welled up inside of me. The only chance to take my mind off chocolate was to start netting, so that is what I did. The pink freshwater pearls fit the colors of the shell perfectly.

This month's challenge of the Polymer Clay Smooshers is "Nature". I guess I got my first entry :-) It's listed in my ArtFire studio now.

Guiltfree chocolate necklace