I came across a really fun blog called "Design Sponge" (www.designspongeonline.com) , and saw this adorable pillow made from vintage hankies. If I had a sewing machine I would definately make a few, since I have quite a few vintage hankies currently listed on Etsy. (www.WhenLifeHandsULemons.Etsy.com) She even gives you directions on how to make it at:

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/09/made-with-love-vintage-hankie-pillow.html

If you make one, be sure to send me a photo! Have a great day!

Etsy Artist

I love Etsy.com, and spend a lot, too much actually, time admiring all the creative and well crafted art for sale. This particular artist struck my fancy the other day - I love her use of color and whimsy without looking like a 3rd grader painted it. Her shop is www.reniebritenbucher.etsy.com . One of these days, one of Renie's works will be gracing a wall in my house! Enjoy

North Carolina

Noel, his sister Laura and I took a roadtrip last week with our camper to Asheville, N. Carolina. We've never been there, but it is listed in several books and magazines as one of the best places in the U.S. to retire. Since we are looking for a place we both agree on to grow old (not that we aren't already old!) we thought we'd see what the area was like. We both liked it, in spite of the rain and fog that enveloped us the whole time we were there. We did some hiking, we spent one day in Asheville checking out all the art shops and galleries, where I passed out a lot of business cards. We checked out neighboring town Black Mountain, which we really liked, and spent some time driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in absolute zero visibility fog.

I also found a place where for $65 they actually drive you up to a real aquamarine mining site and give you a bucket and a pick axe and let you look for yourself, keeping whatever you find. I found several big pieces of aquamarine (one nice and clear that I am having cut and faceted), dozens of large garnets, lots of mica, lots of black tourmaline, 2 pieces of morganite, and 2 pieces of yellow beryl, which are fairly rare and which I will also have cut and faceted! It was hard work since I'm not that agile and my back won't let me bend over, so I scooted around on my butt most of the time! (as you can tell by the picture Noel took of my backside!) I also, of course, hit the local bead and rock shops, finding a few treasures there as well, a few of which I've already wrapped and are gorgeous!




The triplets are well and growing fast, and Noel's check-up yesterday went well. The doctor says the spot on his tongue is just radiation damage; they took a routine chest x-ray, which we will hear about in a few days.

I have a home party this weekend, as well as a "Scrap Pink" all day scrapbooking day on Saturday. I'll be at market on October 3rd - its not too early to be planning for holiday gifts, so be sure to come to market and see all the new pretties I've made!

Fine Silver Creations

So I spent one day last week working with Precious Metal Clay making some fun and beautiful new pieces. I have one corner of my studio dedicated to just metal clay; it has to be kept clean to work on the clay, and then it makes a real mess with the dust that results from filing. Here are a few pictures of my work space, me filing some pieces - note how gray the mask is just from a few minutes of filing - and then the pieces getting ready to be fired in the kiln.

Precious Metal Clay is just that - it is 99% pure silver, not sterling but pure silver, mixed with an organic binder and water to make it the consistency of play-doh. You manipulate the clay just like you would clay or play-doh, and you have to work fast because the clay dries out quickly and is way too expensive to waste even a morsel. Once it dries to a "leather hard" stage, you can file and use different grades of fine sandpaper to perfect the piece. Then once it is fired at high temperatures in the kiln, it burns out the water and binder and you are left with a fine silver piece of jewelry. They also make the clay in gold, copper and bronze. The piece taken out of the kiln is almost white. The piece then has to be filed and burnished, or tumbled in a tumbler, to bring out the shine of the silver. Today I will finish the pieces by adding liver of sulfter to blacken parts of the metal to bring out the details I've imprinted into the silver, and finish setting the stones I've added to a few. I'll take pictures of today's process and post pictures of the finished pieces. Stay tuned.....

So here are the pieces fired and out of the tumbler. They are shiny and pretty, but not quite ready. I have to set the stones, and then I want to add some liver of sulfer to blacken the silver, and bring out the details of the pieces.

So now they are blackened, and from there I have to hand polish using fine grit sandpaper, a dremel tool with a felt bit and rouge and/or a polishing cloth until I get the piece looking just the way I want it to.

So now they are 99% done - on some I need to drill holes to make earring charms out of them, and on a few I need to add bails, the part that your chain goes through.

On this one I set a ruby (created) cabachon

and this one was made using a real wentletrap shell as a mold. Leave me a message if you are interested in purchasing any of the above, or watch for them in my Etsy shop.

A fitting tribute, and a triplet update

It was a fitting tribute to my uncle, as well as my mom, yesterday. There was a good turnout, as my uncle had many friends who loved him dearly. We sang the Hungarian National Anthem, read one of his poems as well as a favorite he told me over a year ago he wanted read at his funeral, and several people spoke of their memories of him. It brought laughter and tears - he would be very pleased with the tribute his kids made sure he had. My cousins were kind enough to make sure my mother was mentioned, knowing that she had no service or memorial, which touched me deeply and is a kindness I will never forget. In a frenzy of hurry yesterday, I accidently deleted the last message my mother had left on my cell phone, and I am so distraught over it. It was such a good message too, telling me to "havva goo-d fun on da rrrroad" and "mama love you so much". I'm kicking myself in the butt and just cried and cried knowing that message is gone for good. Here are a few pictures from the funeral yesterday:

I also get asked a lot about how the triplet girls are doing - and they are growing and thriving by leaps and bounds and will soon be 6 weeks old already!! Their stroller cracks me up - the three seats makes it look like a stretch limo! The boys just love their little sisters, and I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with them this week!

I was at the market today and it was great to see my old friends and customers; it makes me miss not being there full time anymore! I got some great feedback and passed out a few cards, so hopefully it will bring about some new customers and a few home party bookings! Well - its nap time - market wipes me out!!

photo tribute to my uncle

I am posting these mostly so my cousins in Sweden and Hungary can see them - these are tje photo poster collages I made for my uncle's funeral, which will be Friday, September 4th. If you click on each one, you should get a larger picture and better view. RIP Victor Dome!