Sunday, March 30, 2008

My New Earrings




I've been subbing long term for a teacher since the 31st of January. The job will finish the 9th of April. During this time I haven't been able to get much jewelry done, but I did do these earrings. Above are pearls dangling from textured copper rings with sterling silver wire. The rings started their life as washers and I pounded them with a hammer to texture them. These and the opal glass ones below are inspired by Sharilyn Miller. The opal glass ones have been antiqued. The antiquing gives the copper a nice rose gold look.


These are clear sparkling CZ drops with sterling silver in a twisted bird nest wrap. I love these cubic zirconia and have them in several colors.



Lava is kind of a new bead on the market. I imagine it is hard to polish it. Here I've made a spiral for the front.




These are wrapped in sterling silver wire.



Thursday, March 6, 2008

43 Degrees



Thirty degree temperature swings in a single day are pretty common in Texas. Snow in March in our area and 43 degree swings aren't so common. If you extend the timeline to 36 hours there was a 46 degree variation.

The ground was warmed up from a couple of days in the 70's so the snow didn't last long. We had some more 70 degree weather and now it's cold and very, very rainy, and it's supposed to snow again.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Taking Pictures of Cats



I've decided taking pictures of cats is much like pilling them. It's a very hit-or-miss operation. Of course, since someone invented pill poppers (a tool with a plunger for holding the pill and popping it down the cat's throat for those of you who don't own cats) pilling is at least possible. Except for Maizie. Pilling Maizie = pilling buzz saw.

I decided to take pictures of the cats. The cats decided not to pose. They did what they usually do. They see the camera and almost invariably walk up to it and press their wet little noses on it. Then they turn around and and point their hairy little behinds right at the lens. I thought of taking hairy little cat behind photos but the cats wouldn't care. Maybe next time. I did manage to get Sugar Baby (above), with an only slightly perturbed look. I got a more perturbed look out of her but decided to post this one. Then I got Jazz with her slightly perturbed look. I know the second photo is blurred. She did the other thing the cats do, which is to walk off in the middle of the shot. I like it though so I've decided it's "artistically" blurred.





And here is Scrappy, who is demonstrating the putting the nose on the camera part. He never looks perturbed. Hopefully my next camera will focus at one or two inches and I'll get better shots of the cats putting their noses up to the camera.



Hey, maybe I could sell a coffee table book--"Cats and Their Hairy Behinds."