I'm Done.

I've been spending the last few days finishing up some custom orders, so that they're done in time for Christmas, and I don't feel right firing my kiln with just a couple of things in it. Seems like such a waste of electricity. So I made some new pieces and some to take to the Little Art Gallery in Raleigh. Plus, look at the gorgeous photos I took with my new camera! I'm thrilled to have some decent shots to send off for show applications, too.

This one broke, so I improvised by putting the drop at the bottom.

This one has a nice Rhodolite Garnet. It was one of the "sparkly" ones from the previous post. I un-sparkled it.

I love working with pearls!

So now I think I'll take the rest of the year off. I'll be headed "off the mountain" this weekend to attend my Sister's Christmas party and to have a holiday celebration with my Step-daughter and her family, since they're going on a cruise this year. Then two weeks after that is the big day and I'll be going back to spend time with the rest of the family.

The weather has been raw, rainy and cold (even a little freezing rain today) and it's time to hunker down with a good book, or bake cookies, or visit with friends. No more work this year, unless more orders come in. There's still a few things in the sale category in my Etsy store, so Artwear bargains are available. The last day to ship is December 19.

Sparkly!

Sometimes when you fire metal clay you get the "Sparkly Effect" when it comes out of the kiln. I fired the above pieces today and they're REALLY sparkly. This is an effect of the silver particles fusing together and forming crystals on the surface. It's random and I don't think anyone really knows for sure how and when it will happen. And no one knows how to make this happen on purpose. These were not all the pieces in the kiln. The rest of them came out white, like they usually do. Vickie Hallmark wrote a blog post about this recently and went in to great detail about why this might happen. You can read it here, if you want a scientific hypothesis of why this might be.

My question to you, dear readers, is do I polish these to a  shiny surface and then put on a patina, like I usually do, or leave them rough and sparkly? Polishing esentially flattens down the crystals and light doesn't reflect off of the peaks any more.  I'm not sure I like it and I don't know how it will wear over time. What's your opinion?

And the winner is.....

The BIG, BIG, BIRTHDAY SALE is over and was a successful event for me. Many people took advantage of reduced prices on some lovely pieces. This morning I drew a name from all people who ordered in November and Gayle Tsipis has won these beautiful earrings! Congratulations!

A little secret to those of you who read this blog: All the items that are left in the sale will stay marked down through the holiday season, so bargains are still available. Just no extra discounts or give-aways. Now let's get going on that Holiday shopping!

Not much happening, but here's a treat anyway...

I don't have a lot going on right now. I stayed home for Thanksgiving because I had to work in the gallery on Friday, and will be there again on Sunday. I'm working on a few orders for Christmas and shipping out things from my Etsy Store. The BIG, BIG BIRTHDAY SALE is winding down and a lot of people have gotten themselves some really good deals. The drawing for the free earrings will be done on Tuesday. Since there's not a lot going on, I thought I'd give you this to ponder, because who doesn't like Johnny Depp? He is, after all, the sexiest man alive.

Off the road for a little while

I went to Charlotte on Friday for the annual Charlotte Trunk Show. It was previously held at my friend Patty's house, but since she moved to Maggie Valley I've been doing it at Hospitality House of Charlotte as a benefit for that wonderful organization. They provide low-cost housing for people who have loved ones in the hospital. A portion of my sales from this event are always donated to their cause. Plus, my good friend Kimberly is their Executive Director and I get to spend quality time with her and her family while I'm there. It was a pretty lousy turnout this year, blamed on the economy as usual, but they'll still get a nice donation from me. We went out for a fantastic dinner last night - I'm still celebrating my birthday!

I designed a charm with the Hospitality House logo on it that we were going to raffle, but since there were only two customers who entered the drawing we decided that it wasn't really fair. I ended up just donating the charm to them to raffle at another time. I decided that I will take orders for this charm and a portion of the price will also be donated. I already have orders for two of them. Here's a picture of it:

I'll be listing it on my Etsy site soon. You can have one of your very own for only $25.00.

I like to listen to audio books while I'm driving. I've had Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo checked out of the library for a long time. It's on a "Playaway" (a book loaded on an MP3 player and you only have to provide your own ear phones). I didn't realize how long this book is, (25 hours, I finally found out) so on the way home today the battery died. I got out my iPod, but it was dead, too. There was a football game on my favorite radio station. So, for the last 45 minutes I drove in complete silence. I can't remember the last time I did that! I let my mind wander and came up with several good ideas. Some about how to re-design my show display and a couple of new jewelry ideas. I'd forgotten how good a little quiet time can be!

I don't have to go out of town again until December 11 - a family thing in Raleigh - and I'm glad to be out of the car. My back is sore and I'm looking forward to a little down time. Maybe I can clean up my house and pay some attention to my poor neglected cat.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yesterday was my birthday, and, wow! It was a great day. My best friend wanted to take me to lunch and said we could go wherever I wanted. I told her that I wanted to go to Olive Garden because their television commercials always make my mouth water. She reminded me that we don't have an Olive Garden here in Boone. I said "well, that's where I would go if we had one." So, after deciding that we didn't have anything better to do, we drove to Hickory (about an hour away) and went to Olive Garden for lunch. It was delicious and I'm so grateful to her for making the trip. A special treat, indeed.

Because they're working on widening the highway that comes up the mountain (they've been working on it forever) the DOT closes the road from 12:00 to 2:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays so they can dynamite rocks off the sides of the road. Therefore, after we finished our lunch we had to kill some time by shopping until we could get back home. We went to Michaels and she was amazed by the amount of jewelry stuff for sale. It's all made in China and people can purchase bits and parts and put together their own jewelry. I was a little amazed, too, and now understand even more when people think that my work is too expensive. But, the debate over "junk jewelry" or "costume jewelry" versus "art jewelry" is a topic for another day. Over all, it was a lovely, leisurely day.

This also means, of course, that there are only 13 days left for the BIG, BIG BIRTHDAY SALE in my Etsy shop. Sales have been brisk, so go look before everything's gone. If you make a purchase this month your name will be entered in the drawing for a free pair of earrings. I'll draw the name on December 1st, and announce it here.

I'll be spending the rest of the week getting ready for the Trunk Show at Hospitality House of Charlotte on Friday afternoon and evening. If you're in the area (across from Carolinas Medical Center), please stop by and shop because a portion of the sales will be donated to this wonderful organization.

Lost the bid, but got the camera anyway

I lost out on the Ebay bid -- someone must have had one of those automatic bidding programs on this one because every time I increased my bid during the last minute I was out-bid within seconds. It eventually sold for $85.00. Then, I got the idea to go directly to the Olympus site and order one and got it (without the hassle of bidding on Ebay) for $70.99!! Fancy new pictures will be up here soon.