Week 24-Status Link Bracelet

I'm two weeks behind but I've had four shows in the last five weeks so I've been restocking but haven't had much time to create anything new. Last weekend was a three day show in Northville. It was beastly hot and humid but Northville is a pretty town and the people were extremely nice. Sunday was shaping up to be a really good day until the tornado sirens went off and many vendors started frantically packing up their wares. Since there is no way I can tear down in under an hour anyway, I decided to hang in for a while. No tornado materialized but we did get thunderstorms. By then most of the vendors were closed so I had to admit it was over. That's Michigan for you.

Anyway last week I decided to do extreme housekeeping, for a change. While sorting through old magazines, I ran across a picture of a Prada handbag in a 2008 issue of Elle. The strap on that bag was the inspiration for this bracelet.

Week 23-Silver Flower Necklaces

In working on a prototype for a new key tutorial, I ended up with several of these flower motifs in various sizes. The flower shape itself was inspired by Lisa Racine of Julida Designs, an artist whose work I really enjoy. I was trying to achieve one that was about an inch in diameter. Because the size of the flower is dependent on the diameter of the plier jaws where you form them, and there is no way to know in advance exactly how big they're going to turn out, I had to do some experimenting to get one the right size. Rather than consign the extras to the scrap box, I added beads and coiling and chains and ended up with two pretty cool necklaces. Even though I'm still not anywhere close to getting my key prototype done, at least I consider it was a productive day.

World's Largest Underpants

I did the art and craft show at the Alma Highland Festival this weekend. My dad, age 87, was the oldest veteran marching in the parade. You rock, Dad! It was very hot but there was a great crowd and I did almost double what I did last year which was very encouraging. I hope the rest of the summer follows the same trend for all of us. My next door neighbor was Crystal Wilson, a talented tie-dye artist. I'm old enough to remember doing tie-dye back in the sixties but Crystal has taken tie-dye to a whole new level. The most fun I had all weekend was hearing people's reactions to her size 100 tie-dyed underpants. If you can't live without a pair of these giant undies, you can contact Crystal at (989) 875-6175.

Week 22-Pink Opal and Tourmaline Earrings

These I'm pretty happy with even if I don't wear pink. I still think it's a beautiful, feminine color. The drops are some large pink opals that I got when Rodene and I road tripped to Munro's last week. I added rose quartz, moonstone, pink tourmaline and some creamy gold keishi pearls (also from Munro's). I like the way the coiled earwires turned out and they're closed at the top so nothing can work it's way off. I'm caught up for now. I'm leaving tomorrow for Alma and the Highland Festival. My whole family will be there for the weekend so I should have lots of help at the art fair even if I don't get to see any of the festival. Wishing everyone a safe and great holiday weekend.

Week 21-Garnet Bracelet

This is another piece that I'm not too sure about. The clasp began life as a failed earring compoment and ended up in my spare parts box. The string of garnet beads definately needed something ornate with it so I pulled out the earring and turned it into a clasp. I like the idea but I'm not sure I like the shape.

Week 20-Lots of Viking Knit

I Viking knitted this week until I ran out of wire. The first one has a beaded bead focal-the only beading I know how to do. The second one uses Greek Mykonos ceramic beads, and the third one has a giant heavy Bali bead that I picked up somewhere in my travels and could never figure out what to do with.

Week 19-So I Made Another One

I felt the need to make another citrine bracelet after last week's didn't turn out as expected. I bought these citrines from Beadifferent in Oxford, MI, and I ran them through the tumbler for a long time and they came out perfectly. These were too dark to use with the pale aquamarine beads so I paired them with sunny yellow 14mm shell pearls.