Winners, Chicken Dinners, Chunky Neckwear for my Sinners.

Hello ladyfriends. I want to give you all everything, but I had to pick just three. 

You know how you're supposed to pick giveaway winners randomly for fairness' sake? Yeah fuck that. I'm an artist I fuck shit up.

OK, so 1st 13 aka Marcia won these because someone else voted for you and that's just special. And your big b-day and your newly pierced ears. Thank you martinisfor2 for the recommendation. All winners need to convo me! 

Norma Conway won these for this reason- "I refer to you as my 'jewellery gal' when I talk about you which I do often." I mean. Come on. OK, yeah I try to be self-deprecating when y'all pile on the compliments but how am I supposed to resist that? Could you?

Betsi Goutal along with Norma wrote one of the longer comments which I also find hard to resist as the they're always filled with extraneous info about the commenter. Who can resist an over-sharer? AND she included this bit of redonk that spells out my name:

My heavens, she's an

Alchemist of

Rust and stone!

Ingeniously blending

Nonsense and beauty to create

Artworks of adornment.

 I guess the message I'm sending is flattery will get you earrings and I know that's wrong somehow....

 I'm having an impossible time photographing this particular piece. It's good though just take my word for it.

4ophelia's Georji sent me this crazy walnut with coral and quartz resined within.

 I love this! Numinosity gave me this pendant for my birthday and I used these awesome vintage baroque glass beads in thick wrapped steel.

 I soldered that connection to the nail head. The knotted cord came with a Patroness strand of carved grubby stones.

 But most of this stuff is from Kathyhaul and I just can't thank her enough.

 Like this needle case and these amethyst chunks. I wanted them to lay flat but the holes were through the middle so I did whatever this is with some actual sterling wire I had from forever ago.

 Is sterling strong? Is this going to hold? Should I cover it all with solder to re-enforce it? 

 Here is some hot pink for you. Glittery, blingy kuchi hot pink.

 I made this chain here for an unexpected industrial touch.

 Here's some more hot pink magenta silliness.

 This starburst stone I set in some cut and filed filigree.

OK, so this is a factory made locket but I antiqued it interestingly an added some unexpected cool stuff.

 Like this Kathyhaul sweater clip in conjunction with a ScorchedEarth bit for the closure!

 And this pewter re-cast of an ancient coin which is this giant man's head coming out of a bull's body.

And these amazing naturally drilled beach stones after a lovely lampwork.

 These stones and this stamping were Kathyhaul as well.

To end on a more dramatic note than just a picture of a cuff, I shall now share some tumblr gold wit'ch'all:

jacobtheloofah:
no but the best part is how he got the name:
his name was originally “potatoes,” and his owner, willoughby bertie, told the stable lad who helped him to write the horse’s name on a feed bin. the boy misheard it as, literally “pot-eight-o’s” and wrote it with 8 o’s. bertie found it so funny that he kept that as the horses name.

And if that doesn't make you happy I don't know what's wrong with you. Also, this gif blew my mind:

And someone called awwww-cute wrote "Rabbits are not very good at trust exercises," to go with this gif:

You're welcome.

Gratitude

The Sky Full of Signs. 

Thank you guys for all your lovely comments. I really appreciate the time you take out to leave them. Every single one of them is a little treasure to my heart.
Mr. Devices said reading the Gordita post over and over again has made him feel better and he's apparently sent the link to every person he works with. My mom was also comforted by it and that made me so happy.
The Desire to Weep.
I've been making away, inspired by the simple act of putting a ton of things on the floor from my formidable stash and diving in.
Here, bits of antique bookplate moon shots under, like, an inch of resin. I used the backs of these octagonal bezels and they almost look like little old fashioned TVs. (And it came out a perfect 7.5 inches- woo-hoo!)

The Curse.
This was a celluloid container lid from Kathystash I leafed and resined. Smokey quartz cluster in archeological find metal...

Do you see that long peach bead? It was made by 4ophelia who is taking her first steps into lampwork and sent me a bunch of gorgeous wonky bits. Hats off to her bravery. Hats off to all the ladies who make magic with fire. (I'm looking at you Numinosity.)
The following piece creeps Mr. Devices out but I frackin' love it.
Singing Praise and Jubilation.
And I put a shit ton of work into it. I put a shit ton of work into all of these. I have so much amazing stuff, I have to do it justice. And yeah that means higher prices and necklaces that will never sell oh well.

This little face was given to me ages ago by SacredCake and I adore him.
Delight in Solitude.
Here we have a teacup from Kathystash and an antique amulet from Patroness. It's a show stopper. 
Well, I think so but what do I know? I don't go around stopping shows as a general rule. I don't even wear this stuff. (I'm working on a choppy, layered mohawk and lobe-stretching coil plugs. Because I'm a 20 year old boy, apparently.)

Also I really love the quotes I found for this batch. Go look if you like deep dark words and their etherial evocations. If not just go here for redonk tumblr goofiness.
(P.S. I'll do the giveaway winners next, I promise! You can still comment here to enter.)

RIP Gordita

Two years ago there was a death in the family and my parents found themselves with two little cats. Well, one little cat and one big fat cat, so we called them Chiquita and Gordita.  It was a pleasure to see my folks fall in love with them, especially Mom who had thought cats were like having a reptile or hamster or something. It was wonderful too to see these neglected cats learn to be pets, to communicate their wants and interact so gently, so unlike my boisterous dog.

My favorite was always Gordita. She wasn't just fat, she was also really dumb- like they have two litter boxes next to each other and she'd poop in one then go into the other one to bury the poop. She was also easily scared so she'd roll around on the rug for pets but continuously get up and step, like, two feet out of reach then start rolling around asking for pets some more. And she stank and would randomly have little clumps of poo stuck in her butt. Sometimes she'd meow and no sound would come out. Plus her sister would pick on her. Basically I loved her more cuz she needed more love. Since before she learned to ask for pets I'd always give her lots of love and would be so happy when I got a purr going. So when she saw me she'd instantly start rolling around on the carpet for pets, it was automatic and it always made us laugh.
As she got used to life in Chicago she learned she could get cuddles all night sleeping with Mom, and mom would wake up to Gordita touching her gently on her face over and over with her paw. She loved being in the patio and watching all the exciting goings-on, she could spend the whole day there. She caught a few birds too, and last summer we called her the serial killer.
Mom and Dad are in Uruguay for two weeks and Mr. Devices and I are taking care of the cats, but last Friday night, Gordita started vomiting. She wasn't eating drinking/peeing/pooping. Then on Monday I thought I saw her eating and on Tuesday I saw her pee, so I thought she was fine. On Wednesday she was yowling, sort of a yelled out Meow of despair. I thought maybe she was just upset about Mom and Dad being gone but that night she lost all co-ordination and was wobbling around. We found a pet ER, thank God for Google and Yelp, and I drove through a frigid night with her in a cloth bag against my belly, reeking of feces.
Long story short, the Doc couldn't believe she was still alive when they got her blood work back. We were with her in her last moments and poor Mr. Devices was inconsolable.
Since Mom and Dad were gone, hubs would take lots of pictures to text them and he got this great series of action shots of Gordita making biscuits. She always had that spaced out expression in her eyes.
I'm so grateful to think we gave her such a happy second half of her life, that we got to know her, that we took so many pictures and have so many sweet and funny memories. I'm grateful we went to the vet who let us know there was nothing we could do and not to blame ourselves. I'm grateful her sister is the more independent one who now doesn't have to worry about Gordita eating all her food. I loved seeing how they made my parents laugh and just sit there with big goofy smiles, even my Dad who's not very expressive. I have nothing but gratitude and happy feelings about my time with Gordita.

Giveaway!

Haven't given away free shit in a long time. Plus I wanna get rid of some earrings.

You know when there's stuff that hasn't sold in ages and you feel like a huge douche for having thought it worthwhile...

 then you offer it for free and suddenly you're the prettiest girl at the ball?

 That. And also because you guys leave comments that generally fend off feelings of worthlessness. (We're artists and chicks, I think self-doubt is our milieu.) If you want to be entered to win any of the above, just drop a comment. The more comments I get, the sexier I'll feel:

So help me feel like less of a menstrual shlub, comment you dummies!

(Along with the giveaway, I lowered a bunch of prices for the rest of the earrings. If there's something you've been eyeing, now's the time to, you know, eye it again. )

Here's a couple new bangle stacks with very waxed silk and some fancy stones.

 And the second:

Also a bracelet with sections of antique moon photo under much resin:

I finished some necklaces and stuff but this snowy Chicago day did not want to help with photos. Also I've been very busy taking care of my parents' kitties while the folks are in Uruguay. One cat in particular is apparently in mourning and we almost had to take her to the vet. (Me leave the house? Heaven forfend!) She started pooping again- and thus eating/drinking peeing as well- after I forced some butter into her mouth. Thanks Yahoo Answers! Now she just sits there and wails every so often.

(P.S. Dawn, you were the 1st to ask for those tube earrings from last post. You have to etsy convo me tho cuz I don't know how to get in touch.)