Jeannie Ray Metal, Stone and Ramblings

This was the first ring I made where I stamped the feather then sawed and sodored it to the band,  which was 12 gauge wire. It was a big accomplishment for this newbie! I also textured the band. It was where I first saw that I just might be able to actually make jewelry if I was persistent.

This ring was difficult for me. It was the most complex piece I had done and my first (and so far only) inlay. It's not that it's difficult to make, but as with anything creative, things sometimes just don't work out too well some days! There are two bands of half round silver wire on the top and bottom and I just couldn't get them soldered, even though I had done the same simple ring many times before. Then I crushed a turquoise stone and a black stone I had laying around and along with some silver scrappings, filled the middle. I made it for my husbands birthday.

Well today, the saga of the barbecue wasp came to a sadly abrupt end. Here’s the story. In early June we uncovered and opened the barbecue that sits on our deck, to use for the summer. There in the lower righthand corner, stuck to the cover, was a honeycomb and 2 wasps. We obviously couldn’t cook with it there, so we decided to remove it. But, being the procrastinators we are, opted to put off the the task for another day. The summer heat wave hit quickly and mercilessly and the thought of grilling in 95+ degree heat- yeah it just wasn’t going to happen. I began to watch these wasps, who I decided were a couple. They worked feverishly on filling the honeycomb, which upon examination, I found to be a fascinating and complex structure. I couldn’t help but wonder how the hell these tiny creatures with tiny brains created it. As the weeks passed, Mr. and Mrs. Wasp recruited other wasps to fill the honeycomb and great progress was made after a dozen or more joined the now growing wasp ...

My first pendent. The stone is Thulite. Thulite, as I understand, is found mainly in volcano's in the Iceland area and has to be helicoptered out- though I have heard lately that it's been found in North Carolina as well, but that sounds much less exotic so we'll go with the Iceland story! I was very threatened by making pendants. It involves sawing an oval piece of metal (my sawing skills are..let's say, in development) making a bail which I couldn't find much on how to make them, and soldering very fine bezel wire without melting it. Once again, persistence finally paid off!