polymer beads

How cool! This is what luna2005 has done with the polymer beads she got from me. She did them for an exchange. I'm sure I'll be flirting with polymer again soon!

Labradorite. I used my saw!!! I slabbed up this big rock (softball sized) that I bought last year and has been sitting outside like any old rock in the garden, and it was this labradorite. It was so fun to see the slabs shine! Mostly golden, and flashes of blue and orange.

Then I slabbed my $$$ astrophylite rock that I got. This is from that. Pretty nice stuff! I'm not sure how well it would really sell, but I like it!

And although the color isn't too good in this pic, this is my newest love of a rock, and that's the Mexican Lace Agate. This is from a rough end cut that I got on ebay. How cool is that?? And the rock wanted to be cut in a classic oval. Huh?? But I conceded my freeform preference to it's wishes.

and a pendant from an ocho geode half I shaped from the Rock Shop. Titanium crystals too.

YES, I'm working on Sock Bugs! I have fabric for 4 large ones, and 6 Baby Bugs.

I'm thinking the pendants really sell best in person. Golden asked that I bring what I'd done to work because it was her last day as a student teacher, and I was thinking just she would buy, because I was still making them for everyone else, but I ended up selling 7 at lunch! I only had 4 left... and they really don't sell well online.

Interesting; Golden is a very hip, young person, and she said she'd never seen anything like them! I always though wire wrapping was EVERYWHERE, but I guess only at places more 'mature' people go to.

So I may just hope to sell them in person at the Davis Art Show next December if Margo and I get in!

Fun at the Rock Shop

So I've been having lapidary madness. Went back yesterday after work and picked up more tumbled rocks to play with! Here is what I've done...

Top left is Fluorite, below is blue lace agate.

Middle two are OJ

Right is a very dark 'goldstone' in green. It's actually glass with copper inclusions.

Then the next morning, I couldn't resist playing more! So the left are chalcedony, the top from a rock I picked up in the SMS rockyard, below is way cool, a tumbled $.50 rock, reshaped.

The the top middle is a small crystal formation I sawed in half (and getting entirely drenched in oil in the process on my new/old saw) and below is a chrysacolla reshaped tumbled rock. This has more color than the original, acrylic coated rock! And the right was a crystal fragment, in the $.50 basket.

You see, Lydia at work thought that Margot and I should have a 'jewelry show' at work, after we kept bringing our new finished pieces to lunch. In fact, she already bought this one!

So I'm doing a number of smaller, less expensive wraps, from my tumbled rock finds to bring to work, and then what remains to list on Etsy. It's fun! I'm doing very high cabbed, rounded stones. And playing with new stones, softer stones, and the like.

Here's the crystal nub, wrapped. I'd like to have 12 pendants to bring to work.

I know, I know, I need to sew!! I'm finished two Sock Bugs, then I need to make a bunch of Baby Bugs.

That's my plan.

Saw madness and Rock

First, some cabs I've wrapped since class:

I LOVED this cab - now a woman has purchased it in Castro Valley for a friend. What a good friend! I used Remy's tutorial, and it's a neat tutorial.

And my first gold wrapped. I thought the flash off the gold was cool! I like gold better than I thought I would. It's softer to work.

I've been going crazy with ebay and saws. I NEED a saw capable of cutting jasper and agates, so I'd been bidding on 10" saws, and I won one! An old Highland park monster of a saw, coming to me from Florida. About 1/10th of the cost of what new saws cost today, and these old aluminum cast ones last forever!!

Now there's a 16" saw for pick up only in Sac that I'm eyeing too. Good grief!! I've turned into a tool maven! The 'T' gene has rubbed off on me!

I came back from tennis at around 10:00pm last night, and went nuts on the Genie. Hours. It was fun! Here's the results:

The left is a recut Rainforest Jasper I wasn't happy with, the next is an Ocean Jasper, and the 3rd a red/black jasper from my stash. They'll be wrapped soon! Margot and I are now meeting every Tuesday to wrap together.