New beads: Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose

Okay, now that you have James Taylor singing in your head, here are some new beads to look at...

I have a number of requests for fish. I'll have more up on etsy soon. And a new product, the result of what I may soon think of as a "happy accident."  For now you'll just get a sneak preview...

New items: Buttons

Don't know why it took me so long to make buttons. They're the perfect thing to make with scrap clay! Some of them are big -- about 2" in diameter.

Necklace: Number Doughnut

I kept this doughnut for myself because it matches a favorite jacket. I figured out a different way to hang it...very easy. I may still shorten the bottom loop but it hangs very nice as is, so maybe I'll leave it. I used the soft glass tubing from PolymerClayExpress in the amber color and two bronze-colored loop crimps (what is the proper name of these things?) on each end of a short length of the tubing and hooked both ends to metal ring.

Earthquake

The videos from Japan were terribly scary. All the cars, trees, boards and debris that were floating in the water...how many people were in those vehicles or structures and didn't have time to get out of the path of destruction? I saw one car going over the wall of water with its rear wiper going...some poor person was in that car. I can't imagine the fear of being in that situation. Rescuers picked up a man this evening floating on the roof of his house 9 miles out in the ocean among a bunch of debris.
Go look at these satellite images that show the damage. You can slide a bar across the pictures to show the exact same area before and after. A sample of one of them is below:

Look at the photo below...a box of square pastels? No...cargo containers! Each one is 40 feet long and weighs about 6,000 lbs. or more empty. The power of nature is awesome, and I don't mean that in a good way.

And now the nuclear reactor problems, as if the nature stuff wasn't bad enough. It's going to take a long time to rebuild. I can't do anything physically to help but I can donate so that's what I do, whenever there's a natural disaster somewhere.

Beads: Weekend fun

I'm working on season 4 of Mad Men now. Betty Draper gets the Coldest Mother of the Year prize.

New variations on old beads...

 

And new items using old themes...

...a button. I can't vouch for the washability of this. I"ll make samples, stitch them to cloth, and see how many wash and dry cycles they can take! Anyone have experience with this?

...and a brooch, or a "pin," as I always called them. (Brooch was the word my grandmother used!)

I see that people make brooches all the time, but I haven't seen anyone actually wearing one for decades, except maybe on their winter coat. I had quite a pin collection back in college and into the 80's but for some reason, gave it up. Not every outfit has a great neckline for a necklace so perhaps it's time to start again.

Poll: How about you...do you wear brooches?

This black fish was a test. The black is too dark...it looks okay in the photo, but in real life his details and face get lost. Next one will be in my usual gold.

Beads: Fun at the Circus!

These beads are fun little things!

Sunset Bongos!

Beads: The studio is halfway in order, so time to play!

After I spent a few hours creating semi-order out of the chaos in my studio, I rewarded myself with a few hours of beading. These will be on etsy in the next few days.

Fishies: Ready, Set, Show!

UPDATE   March 6, 2011...
Last night was opening night for the show. The whole stringer of fish had been purchased by a single buyer before I even arrived! Yay!
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I put a bunch of fishies on a stringer, currently hanging on the wall at the Saxonburg Area Artists Cooperative.
Show opens on Saturday, March 5.