Considering whether to continue blogging

Look, this stalactite used to look like this:

But I couldn't handle the eye-searing shimmer so I scrubbed at it with a toothbrush and oxidizer for hours, then I took contrasting colors to bring down the pink. Same below:

Exquisitely electroformed by Alessandra of  InLumina. Thank you so much girl, I love them.

You know why I haven't blogged in a while? It's become pain and I don't know if anyone's reading.

You know what's not a pain? Instagram.
I'm really active there. It's a lot easier and more rewarding.
So I'm considering saying adieu to blog land.

Right now, as you can see, I'm putting these pix in without links or descriptions cuz you know what?

You can find it all in my shop, descriptions in listings and you know this.

So if I make this easier on myself, duh.

You can't force yourself, I say this to other people all the time but only just remembered it for myself re: blogging.

I'm still in love with what I make I only want less time on the computer.

Also, I used to blog eagerly cuz it was the only way I felt connected to my artsy community but now I get that with instagram.

So yeah. If you like this stuff, go to the shop.

If it's not there, it sold.

You can find it in the sold section.

If you're curious about any of it, easy convo me.
I still love questions.

They still make me feel important.
And don't ever worry that you're infringing on one of my "artist's secrets".

I've had people ask how I make something and say, "It's ok if you don't want to tell me your secret though".

And I'm like are you kidding me?

"Sit yo ass down while I explain how I made this!"

It gives me a chance to show off something clever I figured out.





Ok, now lets get random with the kind of thing you can't necessarily share on Instagram. I guess I could but so far I've kept it strictly to jewelry and a few pix of the fur babies in my life.

You know what I haven't shared, maybe ever? All the fiction I read. Let me show you a thing. N. K .Jemisin. She's a super genius writer of sort of fantasy books though I hate most fantasy. She's so brilliant though and her work is so full of amazing ideas. Like chock full of the inventiveness that makes me so enraptured. Just like eye candy but for your head. I mean that exact same feeling you get. Ugh. I wish I was a better writer to explain in a way she deserves. So many levels.

While I'm sharing random things- I love my white noise maker, which Mr. Devices calls my Sleeping Machine. If you wake up at every tiny thing, this this is amazing. Though I wish it were even louder. But maybe the non-cheap variety has that option.


What's more, I've been using clove oil with my toothpaste and its awesome. Kinda makes your mouth numb and I've realized a bunch of the stuff my dentist uses has it too.


I also love my rice cooker and use it with every different type of grain. Whole grains, of course.

Another thing I love? Aldi. And the Mexican grocery next to it where I get my produce and nuts. Amazing.

Also watched People of Earth and it was the most consistently entertaining thing I've seen in a long time. It was light, imaginative and chock full of surprises and juicy plot. Like, the first episode had enough story for most show's whole seasons. I've found there's places on line to watch any and everything for free as long as you click around and shut down enough pop-ups.
This amazing wild orangutan using a saw after she observed people use it.


I know!
And this dog rescue:


Stop crying.

Check this out.

I hope you all had decent and unstressful holidays without any family conflict. I also hope you don't have any dumb old resolutions and just do the things you want to do whenever you want to do them.
Love at Night
There didn't used to be resolutions when I was little. Not to sound like a grumpy old ass by saying that, which I do. I just mean it's not like some ancient tradition, it's more of a trend. And since now people realize they don't work, it's the era of the funny resolution.


“If love be blind it, best agrees with night.”
—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

I got together with some friends and shared stories about New Year's when we were little.

John the Baptist
My friend's parents would put on the New York Times Square celebration on TV. Of course New York is an hour ahead of Chicago but the kids didn't know that. So they'd do the New York countdown all excited and then put them to bed.

This necklace is actually a remake of an earlier one that didn't sell but I think it really needed another more focal-y focal.

OK, this isn't a resolution but it's a good one:


Seeking Surrender
I featured two of my absolute favorites from my Broken Rainbows series here with these sterling silver hoops SacredCake gifted to me.

Which brings me to my other humbug point: Christmas presents are a sucky concept, unless they're for kids under 10. Adult gift-giving is ridiculous. Unless it's a gift certificate to a store you know they love. After you've seen a two-year-old freak out over a hunk of plastic, everything else is such a let down. Not to mention how I cringe every time I have to open another well-intentioned present.

Addendum
Those are my rants. The above are a pair of earrings that I switches the lever-backs for long sterling hooks and I think they look much better.

Esemplastic
Lots of remakes lately actually. Which I think is ok, you don't always need to get it right on the first try. Or ever. But this one was a necklace that is now a cluster brooch.

Naught but Love
Same with this one, which already sold so I'd call that a success. Unfortunately, I often consider success to be a sale. Not for the money but for the feeling that someone agrees with my vision, someone put their stamp of ownership on my work or something. Which is one reason why I always undercharge. But another is cuz the market seems to demand it oh well.

Self Love
“Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.”

—Shakespeare, Henry V
Ladies, heed the quote. Especially the voluptuous, as pictured.

I like how the beads are perfectly graduated but also have a thrown-together look.

Holy crap I listed this with the wrong name
Still using up my inviciti bezels. Here I put a shank through the top hole in one then a twirled ring through the shank. So clevah! (I say to myself in case no one else does.)

"Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in the way in which our visual field has no limits.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

I meant to call it Eternal Life or something. I love the quote.

Earthly Delights
It took me a while to create this post so meanwhile many of these have sold, sorry.

Double shrine lariat. I learned from this piece that Myrrh melts in high heat so no summertime dashboards for you.

I've been getting into Instagram much more. I'm getting addicted to the immediacy of it. The immediate little comments, as short as they are, are a nice reward. Getting to write a tiny snippet mixing maybe a description of the item with my general sarcastic nonsense.

Oops, only now realized I wrote "the black" and forgot to add "cords". Crap. And that's the bad side of immediacy. Sound just as dumb as you do talking. Plus for some reason iPad cameras are horrible, quite contrary to amazing iPhone ones. I'd do much more WIP posts if not for that. The above are in fact the best pix I've managed on it by far.

Beige Lover’s Eye 
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
~Pablo Picasso

Red Lips
“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
~Leonardo da Vinci

Red Lips Bracelet
“Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.”
― Bob Dylan

Orange bracelet inspiration kit
So yeah, as you can see a bunch more kits. Good lord it's nice to clean house!

Mother and Child
This has been helping me psychologically too. I haven't felt oversupply panic or oppressed by projects since I started making these. Yay!

Silver
Plus the ladies seem to like them.

Pink Lips 
What do you guys think of these asymmetrical lips? I think they'd look good like the doodle, right, but I only made one hole. But I already took the pics! Ugh life is hard.

earring pair
I made another altered MOP earring pair. with leetle nail decals.

I'm going to Uruguay in March so for cousin gifts I just took a bunch of my beads and made some bauble earrings. Easy peasy. Ugh I don't know maybe I should make then so each bead is at a different length so they're a bit less clustered. Crap. I might have to.

Look at all the goodies InLumina sent me!!! All her handmade work!! She used to be RomAntiqueSoul. That is a real pinecone she electroformed up there!!! Also does anyone have anything the exact shape of that wide down-pointing triangle bezel lower left? I'll think of something I'm sure but meanwhile. Just in case you have something.
Look at these enameled earring hoops! Eep! and the handmade and vintage glass pins. And here's a cut-out feather. I'm crazy about the handmade findings. The bar chain makes me drool.

And a bunch of labradorite that my little niece tried to get me to give her over christmas. And this seashell with these goodies glued in as some kind of ornament? I popped out the left pearl flower cuz it was way out and low, making the whole thing wonky. Re-glued it closer. I think I'll add a resin layer. When will I bring out the resin again? It'll be a while.

Oh and these! So she made them but they were a but plain. Maybe these smeary sides were supposed to be the front but they looked a bit rushed. So I took the side I liked and added- you guessed it- tiny nail decals. Which is why I had them out to play with the MOP connectors. I think they look awesome. Look at the tiny eyelets she added to the top pair- squeee!  I could make them into earrings for cousins?

Oh I finally took a picture of the gorgeous bits Suzy Frank sent me. Those drops are all double-side of course. Very dimensional and cool.
Right now I'm nursing my poor uterus. Bad month. I keep thinking that so short ago this was a taboo subject even though PMS runs my life. So now I will tell strangers on the street, "I have crazy PMS right now please pity me!!!!" whereas before, what? I'd just be a mess with no excuse? When I'm already such a mess? I'd say, "female troubles" even though my period hadn't started so I'd feel like I was lying? I guess they still are female troubles.
In Uruguay people say "I'm sick," as in, "I can't go swimming, I'm sick"- and it's fucking understood! Or at least they did when I was younger. I'd be like "But what do you have?" and they'd be like "I'm sick." And I'd be like "But what are you sick with?" and they'd be like "I'm sick!"
Ah, cross-cultural fun! Still is extremely taboo in Latin America. Pisses me off.
Palate cleanser. Here's the funniest panda you or anyone has ever seen.
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Wait for it.