Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Meet Bubbles




Meet Bubbles the baby groundhog. Bubbles is an orphan. Her (at least her rehabilitator thinks she's a her) mother was hit by a car and she was picked up by a nice lady and turned over to my friend. I never thought I liked groundhogs. They've burrowed underneath my pump house and created a big mess with their excavations. But this little critter is so friendly and just loves to cuddle. My dogs, as usual, were fascinated by this little thing. I once read that dogs can identify an infant of any species by their smell due to differences in blood chemistry. I don't know if that's true but they're always very gentle with these babies.

Bronze Decorative Wirewrap Bracelet



This bracelet is based on a tutorial by Arja, a talented jewelry artist from Finland. This one is made from bronze wire with blue quartz beads. She has a very clever way of creating the loops and a hidden clasp. Nice tutorial, Arja!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Week 19-Snidely Whiplash Owl Pendant


The theme for this week is "Round and round". This is something I was playing around with the other day and it comes closest to fitting the theme with it’s round belly and round eyes. It’s an inexpensive glass cabochon that I wrapped with square copper wire. Then I wired a piece of brass wire under his body to represent a branch and some feet. Where I got stumped was trying to give him a beak and some cheeks to close the gap between his body and eyeballs. I’m not happy with that part. I think he looks more diabolical than whimsical-hence the name Snidely Whiplash. LOL If anyone has a better solution, email me a sketch!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Week 18-Victorian Key in Bronze



This was made on request from my Victorian Key Pendant tutorial only with bronze wire and silver beads with amethyst gems. It's been so long since I made one I had to get out my own tutorial to do it. :D Since the bronze oxidizes a lot faster than silver, it got very dark in the crevices. I wish I knew of way to remove some of the patina from the bronze without removing it from the silver.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Company today



I had a class at my house this afternoon and you never know what kind of cuteness one of my students, who is a wildlife rehabilitator, is going to show up with. This afternoon it was a darling little orphan red fox, about 6 weeks old. It took a while for my four Boston Terriers to get the nerve to check her out. They were more afraid of her than she was of them.