Back with pics

Whew, that was a long 15 days without my laptop.  I was able to limp along with my Droid but still couldn't upload and tweak pics to any great degree.

But I've bought a few more days with my old laptop and will probably buy a new one soon depending on how irritated I get with this old one's sticky keys and general lack of speed.  I want it right NOW dammit, not in 30 seconds, ha!

The weather is glorious if a bit dry, my life is pretty freaking fine too.  I'm feeling sassy and ready for some summer fun.  My road trip is put on hold for now but there are satisfying travel plans in the future.

Here are a some pics of the newest earrings out of my studio using some of the huge batch of bronze pieces  made in my last bronze clay frenzy.

These are bronze and copper.

 Bronze and carnelian.

Bronze and turquoise.

Bronze and turquoise.

Most of the turquoise I use is from a Kingman mine in Arizona.  This is stabilized turquoise, as is about 97 percent of turquoise available today.  The process drives resin into the stone at high pressure and does make the color richer but no color is actually added.  A truly natural gem quality piece of turquoise will cost several hundred dollars.

Peace

Happy Birthday Baby!

My darling baby girl is 24 today. 
I remember almost melting during the unusually hot and humid May and longing for her to be born.
Watching this child grow up has been one of the greatest things in my life.  She's filled my days with smiles and my heart with joy.  She's helped me prove that you can overcome a painful past and move on to a rich and loving future.  I've been privileged to watch her use her tenacity to succeed in many things.
I wanted to post a few baby pics but I'm limping along without my laptop so that will have to wait.
A joyful and loving life to you, my daughter.

House Firsts - Mothers Day

My first bouquet from my own garden.
The day itself was busy and I was fiercely missing my two babies.
Oh well, maybe next year. I can't be in Texas every week.
Peace

House Firsts - May

First time I trimmed the Boxwood hedges.
Peace

First place

My Masters level team placed first in the winter hand gun league!
It's a lot of fun to see us improve individually and as a team.  For the first time I'm enjoying a competitive atmosphere, fostered by good natured and humorous people.
It's definitely a group of people you'd want on your side as they not only shoot straight but excell in their daily lives as dentists, painters, carpenters, nurses and real estate agents to name just a few.
Well, time to get going.  It's sunny and the boys are waiting.
Peace

Magical cottage

I cannot believe how beautiful it is in my front yard.
Azaleas, rhododendrons and the flowering dogwoods are bursting.  I sit in my front porch rocker and enjoy the view and the birds singing and the cool mountain air.
But now I'm off to the Range for practice and then to the studio to work.
Life is good.

New Jewelry

I love these new mixed media earrings, mostly sterling silver and hand formed bronze.  A couple have the new ear wires I'm developing, they are larger and set off the earring a bit more.

These are from my personal collection, the little pine cone medallions are sweet.

These are sterling that has been flame darkened, along with unpolished bronze.

Bright sterling and bronze.

Again, bright sterling and bronze, can you tell I used an "o" stamp to texture the silver?

Sterling and bronze.

These are the biggest, very striking earrings of sterling and bright bronze.  I think they are almost three inches long.

Enjoy, lots more coming soon.

Peace

Sweet Home California

Left Austin at 7:00 am yesterday and landed in Phoenix at 7:30 am after a two hour flight.  Flying can be so surreal, it just doesn't seem real to jump time zones like that.

But I'm home and loving every minute of it.  We're in the middle of the glorious sunny and 70's which makes my heart sing along with the birdies.  The flowering dogwoods, rhododendrons and azaleas are in full bloom, my front yard is a paradise.

Just doing the usual home things.

I managed to lose most of the pics I took, gone in the phone ether, but found this image of the Owl building in downtown Austin.  The legend is that this bank building was designed by a Rice University alum (their mascot is the owl) which now looks grandly over the U of T Longhorns.  I don't know if it's true but the building is spectacular.

Being with my family in Texas was heavenly, watching each of them grow up in their own particular way is so much fun.  There is nothing better than long armed hugs from my tall handsome son and having my daughter lay her head on my shoulder.

Life is good, ever changing, frequently challenging, but good nonetheless.

Austin Dining

After a busy day running around in the Texas heat we escaped to The County Line for some pretty good BBQ.  While we waited for a table we sat outside by the river and watched little kids feed the turtles and dance to the live music.

Peace

Jet plane...

Only a few more days until I leave for Austin.  Little Radar is having a CD release party this next weekend which means I get to see my boy play live, woot!  And his darling GF will be playing that night too, with her band, The Couch.  And I get to see my daughter, what a great weekend all around.

There are so many beautiful things popping up in my yard, it's like a big treasure hunt.  A whole row of peonies are popping, with grape hyacinths and pink dutchmen's breeches tucked in here and there.  The flowering dogwoods are starting to open up and this amazing plant, which I think is a Rhododendron.

It's really exciting to experience unfamiliar flowers and plants.  Plants were quite limited in the extreme Midwest temps, this is more tropical and very fun.

The birds are bathing in my fountain, plans for the backyard renovation are underway, lots of beautiful jewelry is coming out of my shop and warm hugs keep me smiling.

Life is good.

North Star Growers Market

Last weekend we had snow, this weekend it's 80 degrees and rising.

I loaded up with flowers, artisan bread, sugar peas and kale, free range eggs and dried fruit from the valley fruit growers.

The North Star house is a beautiful place.

Tonight the fountain is burbling away in my back yard.  I've had the doors and windows open almost all day and "oh my gosh" a bug or two has gotten in, oh well.  A couple of nights ago I heard a coyote pack singing way out in the mine property.  This is the best season, ripe with promises of hot days, cool nights, plenty of water to play in, baskets full of fresh produce to eat and preserve, garden projects, decks to build, plants to plant and lots of fun to experience.

Life is good.

Pretty

I met a really interesting man who teaches blacksmithing.  He's also been doing some experimentation with foldforming metal.  He gave me a pretty copper piece and I turned it into a piece of jewelry for his wife.  It's got a bit of the sacred feminine influence which some may appreciate and some may not.  I framed his copper piece in fine silver with bronze rivets and then added the cultured freshwater pearls.  I love the luminous quality the fine silver exhibits which is matched by the pearls.

Now you can find me in my studio happily banging away on various pieces of copper, foldforming is really fun. Except now I want a bigger anvil and some bigger hammers, of course.  I'll never have enough tools.

So we've talked about some collaborative learning which I find completely fabulous.  I might also have a place to set up my serious torch and be able to use that safely.

I've been working on a very simple technique to make some leaf earrings and there are a few pendants in process on my bench.  The copper picks up some beautiful patina under flame.

This passion keeps me going through some very wet weather as well as the SAD light I keep in my studio.  I'm also sustained and kept laughing by a very sweet man.

Peaceful dreams to you.

Big Dog, Small Car

 He was waiting patiently for Thai food leftovers.

Peace

Bronze

Bronzclay is fun, messy, sometimes aggravating and delightful all at the same time.  I set up my kiln in the kitchen and have run at least four batches of bronze pieces in the last week or so.  Now I have piles of beautiful bronze pieces ready to make mixed media earrings.

These pieces were sintered in a coal based charcoal which yields some really varied and interesting patina on the bronze.  They will get a little brass brushing to bring out the shine.

Bronzclay is one of the many precious metal clay products on the jewelry market.  It's made up of microscopic metal particles mixed with an organic binder and water.  You can shape, mold and texture the clay, then dry it, refine it and cook it in a kiln at 1550 degrees for almost nine hours.  In the end (usually) you end up with some really nice bronze, copper or silver pieces (depending on the clay you use) that are uniquely yours.

It can be tricky, sometimes the clay doesn't sinter well and the metal pieces are brittle and useless.  When it works the pieces are fabulous.  

I'm very happy with these.  The little hearts are my favorite.

Peace

Studio Work - Jumprings

Making jump rings is like housekeeping, not the most fun but totally necessary.

My bench ready.

Coils of sterling already wound and ready to cut.

The coil goes into the  holder and  coated with a lubricant to prolong the blade's life.  The top with the cutting slot is screwed over the coil.

This is the housing that fits over the cutting blade.

The blade is drawn down the cutting slot.

Here the coils are cut and have been joined with wire to keep them all together in the tumbling/polishing process.

All polished and ready to make something beautiful.

Starting to put together a Byzantine chain.

A good days work.

Peace

Happy!

It's raining again, long and steady and refreshing.  I can feel the trees drinking it up happily.

Yesterday was a great day to play with bronzclay with two very fine women artists, both of them are extraordinary people, talented and creative. We happily rolled and textured and talked about problems in our small world and the greater world.

I'm going to drag the kiln home to fire some of my creations, see if it works.  Bronzclay can be rather tricky, and if nothing else it takes forever (9 hours) to ramp up, hold and then cool.  There are new formulations but I haven't bothered to try them yet.

And just as I cleared my mind and heart of the dregs of sadness he came walking in, tall and bearded, forthright and honest, life is good.

This is the song of the day, it's so beautiful.

.Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

Peace

Mental house cleaning...

I woke up this morning (after a shower and coffee) feeling fresh faced and new.  It's a grand and glorious feeling.

I got to do a post mortem on a liaison I've been involved in.  At one time I would have called it a relationship but evidently that wasn't true.  It was fun, frisky, a little bit bad and occasionally loving but it's over.  I feel good about getting a chance to really talk about how each of us felt, turns out I've got lots to learn about communication and being sensitive to feelings.

Everyone talks about getting through the walls we've built up and how difficult that is, unfortunately, that's so true.  It's a vicious circle of protecting yourself until you can no longer relate to another's feelings.  In my case it's being cavalier about other people, sort of a preemptive strike against anyone who could hurt me.

Holding others at arms length and warning them that they are expendable eventually erodes the connection between us.  But here's the not so funny part, in the meantime I get attached and then the break-up occurs and once again I'm scorched by the flames.  Yeah, ouch.

I accept that I've got things to work on.
I accept that it's worth the effort to get to know these amazing people.
I accept the good and the bad, the hurtful and the loving.
I accept that I can be a better person, that sometimes I'm all too human.

I will continue to live with strength and honor.
I will not accept less than that in the people I allow into my heart.
I will continue to look to the skies for an Eagle, avoiding the snakes and the jackals under my feet.

I will, I can.

Peace
and if not peace
then
Justice.

Funk

Major, deep blue, negative altitude, chocolate can't fix sort of funk, that's me.

Maybe it's the weather, since we've only seen a glimmer of sun here and there for the last 8 days.

This seems to be my tough time of year, the weather sucks, relationships falter and fail.  I don't have the extra energy to try to save them, I just crawl under my fluffy comforter and give up.

Shit.

I know it will get better, only a couple more months before spring hits for real.

And then I'll start again.

In the meantime the boys sleep close to me, sending their sweet love to me while they breathe.  I keep busy with studio housekeeping.  Even though my creativity is low I'm able to put together some interesting pieces.  Like this Byzantine link necklace with a stunning Nancy Tobey lampwork bead set.

Peace

Snowy Sunday

This is GREAT!

My snowy little cottage this morning.  I went out and shook the snow out of the dogwood trees.  And the boys think this is the best thing ever.  Dandy was born in December, so he loves snow.  He and my old girl Star played and played.  He was light enough to run on top of the snow banks, while she ran in the paths I had shoveled.

GET ME!

All tuckered out.

And today's play:

Peace

Happy March 17th!

I love Maxine, she's my kind of cranky.

AND, the rain has quit for the first time in five days.  We are heading out for a nice long walk.

Peace

Clearing Out!

I'm sifting through inventory, trying to make sense of a huge pile of "stuff".  I'm going to try to pare out a little bit, which is to your advantage.  I'm feeling generous and want to find out if anyone is actually paying attention.

This matching set is the first thing up for grabs.  It's all sterling silver metal, the beads are african trade beads in colors that are great for spring.

I'm going to have a give away, this set will go next Monday the 19th.  There really isn't an exact hour on Monday, just whenever I feel like it.  You must leave me a comment on this blog telling me which of my jewelry pieces on my www.riverwomandesign.com website you like the best.  I'll do some random thing with those who comment and the winner gets this exact set.  (This is just for my friends in the US, shipping overseas is too much.)

Have fun!

Peace

Little Radar

I love these pics of the band, well mostly my boy Grant Himmler, but I think I'm entitled to adore him.

I'm surfing for plane flights now, heading out to Austin, Texas to see them perform and to help celebrate their CD release.

Mostly I just want to see Grant performing and playing music, something he was born to do.

Thanks to Pens and Lens for taking these great shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pens-lens/

Peace

Walkies

The boys are always up for a walk and a little water.
Here's Dandy having a very loud conversation with Bode.

Here's Bode doing his thing.  He never quite swims but will happily wade around.  I think if he had a Corgi buddy who actually swam he would follow.  This will be a nice swimming hole this summer.

We're at Stocking Flat down at Deer Creek, the rocks are really smooth and beautiful.

And some great old manzanita on the hike back up.

We're heading into a few rainy days which means muddy floors and stinky wet dogs, but happy forests.  All the flowering trees are in full bloom so it's worrisome, will the fruit make it or not?

I have some great shots of my son performing with Little Radar, will post those later.  Still hoping we can get some higher resolution copies to have some printed.

Little Radar will be having a CD release show and party in Austin on April 29th.  I'm going to be there, can't wait!

Peace

Merry Monday

What a fine day!  This time last week we were preparing for a snow storm, today it's 63 and sunny, my kind of weather.

We went walking on the Champion Mine Road Trail again today, but this time we took the trail down to Deer Creek, ate lunch, cooled our feet and then headed back up again.

It was great!  Here's a view of a little tributary creek on our way.

There are robins splashing around in my fountain and a pretty little daffodil is blooming by my back steps.  I can see the tiny buds of the flowering dogwood in the front yard.  There must be about a million of them, should be gorgeous this spring.

I'm getting my hair trimmed soon and then will get ready for pistol league tonight,  hopefully will be better than last week.

Enjoy your day, wherever you happen to be.

Peace