Er, more non-eyecandy.

I've heard from a couple folks about a bangle challenge blog hop. Y'all should join with your gypsy stacks! It would be great exposure for your blogs to a whole other group of bloggers and she had 75 participants last I heard. Plus it enters you in a giveaway for a tutorial on a kind of reverse knotting (?) tutorial. Anywho, it's from this blog which is actually called "Make Bracelets," of all things. It's totally dedicated to just making your own skydiving equipment. Yeah. There's plenty of time to join as the reveal is on the 21st.
Go to it!
Meanwhile, my sister and her 2 little goblins are over. Just spent the last hour washing dog poo out of some "princess shoes." Then trying to get said princess to put her undies back on. Did I mention she watered the dog poo? In any case, more delays on the eye candy.
No, Lori, I don't miss the food cuz I grew up here. They call me gringa there. It's bizarre.
In my parent's house it was unanimously agreed that the cleverest comment we've seen in a long time has been Numinosity's "The prez is adorable. I like the Clint in his eye."
Get it?

But I love all your comments. They warm the dark depths of my shriveled black heart.

I feel like I've been derelict with the eye-candy-providing, what with making tutes, being sick, applying for Art & Soul. And then stopping to sleep or eat, pee and such.

  So I thought I'd do some more previews.

I got things and I made them, yup.

But see those long square wood things? They're antique Japanese stamps. I couldn't resist them. But they were too perfect, so I chipped off the edges with my wire cutter, hammered and sanded and poked at it with an awl a zillion times....

Anyways,  I'll let these be all mysterious so you're, I dunno, anticipating?

Anywho, I wanted to share some gorgeous bangles by readbetweenlines.
 Of course, all these sold already. She's including a lot of macrame and nautical knotting, which looks amazing.Everyone should consider what they already have in their bag of tricks that they can combine with this (and any other) project. Clearly she didn't need my tute to teach her anything! So there's fifteen of her hard-earned dollars down the drain...

Beatnheart said "ok, so you have a pendant, then what?"

That really is the question. Ideally you imagine what you might do with it before you get it. Or, look through inspiring jewelry (such as this pintrest collection) and think about what you have in your stash which could follow that pattern or ape those colors or something. Also, when you see interesting connections on line, you can take a minute to doodle them in an inspiration memo pad or just on your hand, or put that pic for later studying in an inspiration file you keep next to your keyboard or stapled to your forehead or whatever.Little by little you build up a repetoire of techniques as well as others you want to try, so when you go to your workspace and lay out all the odds and ends which you are lately interested in- next to your pad of doodles- something will pop out. 

For example, I recently saw these:

And they led me to making these:

I also saw these by Kathy VanKleek:

And believe it or not they led to this:

But the process of struggling and feeling stuck is a huge part of being an artist, too. I had to go through it, everyone does.

While I'm at it, ages ago someone mentioned the way I always double over my jump rings.

 
 I don't know if you can see... so just in case I thought I'd show 50 examples.  Well the reason is I just can't believe a jump ring won't come open at the slightest pressure. So I press them down to overlap, then twist to flip them so each end is putting a little pressure on the other. Did that make any sense? Ok, there's where a video would come in handy.
But I'm not saying this is the right way to do it! In fact, it certainly isn't according to everyone that talks like they know. But by not paying attention to anyone but me (which is to say, 'assuming I know more than the experts') I've found my own right and wrong way to do things. So nanny-nanny boo-boo.

This horse is studying to be a chiropractor. How many
American horses get secondary educations?

Next topic: the horse! That is one clean, well-fell, healthy horse! All that leather-work is seriously expensive- that guy dotes on his horse. Now, these are working horses. They're not papered pets but they are seen in public. Any cruelty would be instantly exposed, see? Unlike oh, I dunno, the U.S. meat industry where millions and millions of animals are bred in stalls and boxes. Or the U.S. milk industry, where the majority of cows live with permanent udder infections. In fact, in Uruguay they don't have words like "free-range" because they couldn't imagine any other way. And you can taste it. The milk has layers of flavor- even the skim. It, like, takes longer to swallow because your mouth is going through an experience. The meat is like- have you ever tasted crazy expensive wine? Like how it tastes one way the first second then keeps changing and developing even after you swallow? It's like that! Cuz cows are allowed to graze on grass- not grain- and roam freely. (The flavorfulness also means you feel more satisfied with less food. Tons less obesity in Uruguay.) And no animal that's sick and in pain is kept alive just because of cost benefits. Because the public would see it. They are not coddled like pets. They do endure branding and having their testicles chopped off, hot summers and cool(ish) winters. But, like, horses- that are super smart? They have a serious sense of purpose and love to go out everyday. The blinders keep them from getting startled when they see things out of the corners of their eyes. Horses are very high strung so just seeing forward keeps them really calm. Also, the more leather and straps you see on them, the more distributed the weight of the cart they're pulling. Notice the straps around their necks are always padded.
Phew. Ok, lecture over. As you were.

From. You're welcome for the seizure.

Ok, VirginiaBeach ArtnSoul is, like April 28. So early April is fine. and one of us can do march 25-April 5 (she told me via convo).

The rambla...

Dad, get off my blog! lol. We are not going to go layout on the beach. Anything that I'm the boss of will not involve me having to shave my legs. We will walk along the rambla... But I doubt all us shut-ins want to have to go bathing suit shopping. Or carnival. (It's not like Brazil, it's not what you think.)  I can hardly understand what they're on about, and I actually speak Spanish. Sheesh!

...where youngsters scope out the hotties.

ANYWAYS, you all have to forgive my dad, he's very excited about people wanting to go to Uruguay. He thinks the country is the height of culture and the perfection of awesomeness on earth. When we saw the guys on the little horse carts that pick through the garbage for cardboard to trade in for a few pesos, he called them "recyclers." Not garbage pickers, not semi-homeless slum inhabitants- recyclers! Soon, hubs and I were calling them "administrative executives in the environmental arts of recycling."

 <--This administrator was disappointed when he realized I wanted a picture of the horse and not him so much. Usually they strip the horses of their last shreds of dignity by putting them in straw hats with holes for the ears and a bunch of plastic flowers on top or whatever hat-like thing they find in the trash. So when the horses trot along, the hats flap up and down and it's completely ridiculous.

OK, Lori- your homework is to make us a facebook account for this then send over the link. Cuz I've got more such ramblings to share. Like how Sean Penn went to meet our president last week. (Our prez is an ex-freedom fighter and a big ol' lefty is why.) At one point the translator left and the prez, being Uruguayan, kept trying to make small talk in his best Spanglish. Apparently, he kept calling him "Clint" or "Mr. Eastwood"... cuz you know, Sean Penn/Clint Eastwood. Practically the same guy.
<--Our very dignified president, Jose Mujica. People call him "Pepe." He complained because when he was elected it meant he had to actually install electricity in his farmhouse (where he still lives) for the secret service guys.
Maybe this is why I'm so goofy. It's part of my national identity.
Oh, a beach house would be way far from the flea marketing. Someone at some point asked if a hubs was allowed? Allowed and encouraged. We could use a few wranglers to keep us together while I zone out looking at theeeengs. My hubs will be there for that purpose but he usually has his hands full with just me.
So- beatnheart is in charge of looking for a centrally located hotel, lori will make us a facebook place... 2 hubs for wrangling... What else can I delegate?

(juliette- it's from here.  Just a hook pendant, nothing salvaged or whatever. Took me forever to figure out what to do with it. Still have another one if you want it...)

I post stuff. You look at it.

When Stars Explode.
Here's the stuff. Look at it.
Social Order.
Ok, I don't want to do January-March because those are the hot months there. So who can do April? Who can do May? Somebody just tell me a month when everyone can go so I can go nap.

My Soul from Elsewhere. Look at this bold baby. Numinositybeads- she made this little bottle and the one below.



The Strange Self.
I made the stopper out of a bead and a length of pink leather cord. Then I sanded down the bottle's little hole into a concave scoop so that the bead would sit in it all cozy...



How to End an Era.
Unusual- a simple cluster pendant. But I like it!

Lots of unusually simple pieces for me... Lots of unusually simple-for-me pieces? lots of pieces that for me are unusually simple... for me, lots of simple pieces are unusual.... For me, pieces lots unusual of simple....



The Lost Self. 

Check these out- they're posts.

He Looks Out Through All Other Eyes.
And then this mass o' crazy. That's foiling over agate and then utee over that... Cuz as-was they were boring. And another numinosity thang.

And now to bed.
I love you guys, you're the very bestest.