Ring Repair

I had a request to fix a ring that had gotten squashed in a move. I was about 50% sure I could fix it, and if not I figured I could re make it.

WELL it was simple thanks to my Jim Moore press!

Here is the poor little spinner ring, fairly well squashed.

I popped it into the bead press with my smallest die, ran the die through the ring. Moved up to a bigger die, repeat until rounded out!

Voila!! Fixed spinner ring!

Excuse the grainy photos, my point & shoot camera is not the best.

What................

What is your favorite craft project you've tackled lately? Care to share a link? Winter is here and there will be some dark nights perfect for crafting.

New beads and Tucson!

I've got a great little mixed set of floral beads in my Etsy! Lots of colors, tons of design options!

I've also got some exciting news!

I am doing Tucson Whole Bead Show!!!

I'll be sharing a table with Andrea Guarino Slemmons we'll be the first booth on the right as you walk in. It's sure to be a booth you will NOT want to miss!

I'm looking forward to finally getting to d the bead show, and sight seeing! Andrea promised we'd do a couple days of it, I've wanted to see the desert area for a very long time now and cannot wait!! I know we'll be tired after the show and SO appreciate her humoring my wanderlust wants!

Fears

We all have fears, some logical. Some not so much. I have a fairly large fear of heights, and have for as long as I can remember. I have many not so fond memories of hanging Christmas lights, cleaning the archway we have over our driveway, bridges ............ I could go on and on.

When I was in Turkey a friend convinced me to go on a hot air ballon ride, I'll admit it was one of the most terrifying things I've ever done. But it was also one of the more special things. It was something she really wanted to do and I knew she wouldn't do it on her own. So along with a few tranquilizers up we went. How different everything looks from up in the sky, how quiet and peaceful. While I was terrified for a lot of it I did get a chance to appreciate the beauty. I think it's also helped me come to grips a bit with my fear of heights. I don't panic quite so much over bridges anymore and the thought of Christmas lights doesn't send me into a cold sweat!

What are your fears, rational or not.

Large Animal Rescue Course

Last weekend I participated in a large animal rescue course. It was hosted by Metchosin Firehall. There were firefights from Metchosin, Sooke and some members of the Metchosin Emergency Operations Center. The instructor was Jennifer Woods a pretty amazing lady I might add. She's worked with Temple Grandin and she sets up emergency response programs for large animals, pretty much all over the world.

Saturday was all classroom, it was a lot of information to take in. Lots of theory, pictures and video. I felt a bit overwhelmed at the end of the day but it was totally worth it.

Sunday was practical and HO boy was it a day!

We started out at Perry Bay Sheep Farm learning to handle (herd) sheep. I had no idea the little buggers were so fast! Nor did I know they jumped like they do! We were split into teams of 3 to try and herd and separate sheep, not an easy task!

We went to another farm to look at alpaca's and goats, sorry I didn't get pictures from that farm. Alpaca's have always made me a bit nervous, they move a bit odd and the whole "spitting at you when angry" thing just grosses me out! The goats were adorable!

Then we moved on to trailers, we looked at a straight haul and two angle hauls and it really made me think about my trailers and how easy or hard they'd be to remove an animal from in an accident.

Then onto horse handling.

First they wanted to learn to catch loose horses, I really thought my guys would just mill about making it easy for everyone. I don't know if it was the weather or what but they TOOK OFF and gave everyone a small challenge to catch them.

Then we did some knot tying, blindfolds and strapping systems. Who'd have thought a bra would make an awesome blindfold!

They wanted to try strapping and lifting a horse and I figured if they could do that with anyone it'd be Indy and he handled it really well. The backhoe couldn't get high enough to actually lift him but they got to work through how to attach strapping and the process of it all. I was really impressed with how they handled it, I stayed out of the way as it wouldn't be me strapping and lifting! It'd be a fire crew so they needed to work through it, and I think they did a great job. I was impressed with their skill and how concerned they were for Indy. Indy wasn't concerned at all and spent most of it asleep with one back leg resting. We had one spooky moment when the straps got dropped but everyone handled it really well and Indy settled down immediately and they strapped him up again!

All in all a pretty cool way to spend a weekend. I want to thank the firehall for letting me attend the course.

Studio Goodness

This set of ceramic bells is one of my favorite things in my metal studio. The wind almost always blows out here in Metchosin and these are often making a pretty noise in the window.

My inspiration board is one of my favorite things in the glass studio. The clock would be a close second. I have two large inspiration boards that need to go up in the metal studio. I'm always printing, clipping and glueing things up to go on the boards. I have a large collection waiting for the metal studio.

Do you have a studio? If so what's your favorite bits of goodness in it?

Black Cat Halloween

Negative views of cats originated in the middle ages. In this period, people were more likely to believe in myths, fables, and legends about any subject. But much of the folklore surrounding black cats associated them with witches. Black cats were thought to be the "familiars" of witches, which means that they were the spirits of witches in animal form. Some people even thought these cats were reincarnations of witches from past lives.

I think black cats are magical, they often seem to be looking at you like they know what you are thinking.

I've got a few black cat penny charms in my etsy shop!

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Halloween Penny Charms

I've added some great Halloween penny charms to me Etsy Shop!

Color

Color. As a glass artist I am blessed by color. The color palette to choose from in glass is endless. If you can find the exact color you want you can always mix it!

Purple has always been one of my favorite colors, I even painted the metal studio walls a rich violet.

What's your favorite color, why? Does it make you smile, sigh, laugh?

Cashmere and Camo

I'm Cashmere and Camo's accessory crush of the week!

It's a great blog, I've really started to look forward to her posts. It's always something interesting! I'm thrilled to be featured on her blog, check it out!

Cashmere and Camo

14 K on my 42 nd birthday!

Today I ran 14K and it's my 42 birthday!!

I am fitter than I've ever been and it's a milestone event for me. I'd never in a million years had thought I could do it. 2 days left in my 10 weeks to 10 K running program and I'm already over 10K!! Never underestimate yourself!!!

Abundance

Abundance is not something you acquire, it's something you tune into. Wayne Dwyer.