End of Summer update

Well, it looks like Summer is winding down, despite my every effort to deny it. I love Summer and I'll miss it. Fall is another favorite of mine, though, so it's not all sad. In July we had a serious heatwave and I decided it probably wasn't in my best interest to sit out in 105 degree shadeless sun at Last Thursday. August saw my one street fair canceled due to too many jewelry vendors at the event, so that was disappointing. Thankfully, August also saw a few challenging and fun commission pieces to keep things interesting.

The first interesting piece was a shamanic ritual amulet using goldstone and feathers from a red shafted Northern flicker woodpecker. The brass around the amulet and a stylized hook clasp were shaped, hammered and then carefully antiqued to mach the warmth of the chain links. Other stones used were onyx, carnelian and yellow calcite. I am very pleased with how well it turned out. The necklace was actually slightly altered and I wasn't able to get pictures of the final version before it was delivered but this is a good representation.




The next piece, and possibly my favorite, was a piece of rainbow obsidian that is securely surrounded by antiqued brass wire sculpted into a unique windblown tree with a pentacle on the back. This one took a few attempts to get just right but I'm totally in love with it. I'm definitely going to look for more stones to do this with.



September will be busy with school starting, a street fair and an indoor craft fair among other things. I'm also going to be busy getting Halloween and Fall pieces made and up on the Etsy store. A couple of friends think I'm crazy but my favorite bit for Halloween are these insects/arachnids I found encased in lucite. I think they're awesome and I refuse to believe I'm the only one that these appeal to. I guess if I'm wrong I'll have a lot of bug jewelry to wear and keep all for myself. This is an idea of what I'm talking about -



You can't tell me that isn't cool!! Next up is the black scorpion. I can't wait!

I'll not be down at August's Last Thursday today since I have a serious backlog of photos to take and I really need to buckle down and get them done. The next vending date for me is the Belmont Street Fair on September 12th from 10 to 5. Friendly faces are always a welcome sight!

Hope you guys are enjoying these last days of summer as much as I am. :D