Just for a Moment

I know everyone's been talking about / thinking about Boston, and I didn't feel like I had anything to say that hadn't already been said, but then I found this: 

I was reading about how the Teamsters shut out the Westboro Baptist Church for the funeral of Krystle Campbell, one of the three killed in the bombings, and  I came across the remembrance of her, written by her father. It is, perhaps, the sweetest thing I have EVER read:

I know it's small; if you can't really see it, here's the link.

It made me tear up and I wanted to share.

Also, GO Teamsters.

Busy Girl

Hi there...I'm still here, just not here on the blog lately. March was a bit of a crazy month and with three art shows in April, time hasn't slowed one bit. My last show this month is next weekend and I'm busily working on inventory for it. Then I get a big break in May before June heats up again. I'm kind of looking forward to May.  :)

I went to Arizona at the beginning of the month, then dashed back home to exhibit in Georgia last weekend. In the meantime, I made a bunch of one-of-a-kind pieces, and they nearly all sold. Which is WONDERFUL but I'm having a hard time keeping up!

I've been playing with a LOT of saturated color this spring:

Turquoise

more turquoise

and still more...this set (above and below) had some of the loveliest matrix:

I"m really loving the silver work on top of all these, for a couple of reasons: it's good practice for making rimless bezels (no extra sheet around the stone; which allows me to teach myself stick soldering (a very scary process for me!)), and it's also good practice for my joining two items together (I make the silver toppers separately, and then solder them to the bezels). This is one of the hardest soldering practices for me, so I'm really trying to improve at it.

The other nice thing about these is that they are a good bit less labor-intensive than my signature mosaic pieces, like this one:

labradorite

I enjoy the mosaic work, but it's time consuming. And the designs on the newer pieces are light and happy. Lots of curves and swoops, which I love. I also played with some bee-yoo-ti-ful chrysocolla stones:

Nuance necklace

And my favorite so far (I'm sorely tempted to keep them...):

Radiance Earrings

There's more, but I won't bore you with them all. But I'm really feeling good about my fabrication skills developing, and I'm itching to play with the Roystons, and that crazy bloom-y turquoise I bought in Feburary. Remember these?  Yeah....they're on my mind lately.  :)

Anyhoo, it's been a whirlwind and so many things are changing in my life right now, some good, some bad, some...undetermined at the moment. But I'm loving the new jewelry and hope you do too. 

I'll be back as soon as I can!  :)