Bails

Last week I practiced both basic soldering and mass production:



My mom asked for some bails for her glass work projects. The first 15 were kind of tough and rather annoying, but the next 20+ were easy peasy.

Sock monsters

I found an amusing book and decided to make sock monsters an activity for an art night. Here are the ones I made:



now what do I do with them?
I don't even really like stuffed animals...
Hmmmmmmm.

The Inspector

This is what I see every time I get in to my car and it makes me smile! I've had my car for just over 2 years and it's never had a name, but suddenly I'm inclined to call it "The Inspector".....

Ghetto buffing station

I found a small grinder for $2 at a garage sale last year that I just couldn't pass up. Earlier this spring, I got the parts to make my grinder in to a buffer for jewelry and now I am using it wherever I find room. Hence "the ghetto buffer". Usually I'm on this chair in my kitchen. It doesn't work so well, though, since it bounces around and I end up using one hand to hold the machine in place while the other hand is holding and buffing the jewelry.



That's not so safe. So. Today I will be mounting this .... somewhere sturdy. And possibly making a backsplash type shield to stop the flying bits from escaping all over the room.

Blue Comet Pendant

Here's another new pendant finished during last weekend's efforts:



I'm definitely excited to take more of my doodles from work notebooks and turn them in to something I can hold in my hand. (or rather, wear as jewelry!)

Small Green Pendant

I finally sat down to play with metal and fire this weekend and here's what came out!



Very plain. Very simple. But still pretty. AND confidence boosting. I finished it in far less time than I'd expected AND now i have several more studio-type things set up and ready to use! (most notably: my buffer is up and running!)

Rhubarb mimosas

Pretty drinks this morning at brunch (before the sparkling part was added):



I made rhubarb syrup earlier this month and this was its first public debut. It turns out I like it better with a lemon-lime soda than with champagne, but there is still much room for more experimentation!

Iridescent glass plate

My mother's nifty glasswork (I love iridescent stuff):

New lino project!

I have been experimenting with printing on different surfaces. At the moment, the favorite result is the one where I print on book paper and turn it in to a card:




I am hoping to get some old Latvian books to use for this in the future, since I think printing these on Latvian text (instead of English) would just be much neater - eh?

Strawberry Lemon Cake

Last weekend it was a dear friend's brithday. We planned a semi-surprise party and I was in charge of CAKE! Here's what I made. A lemony strawberry cake. This involved making cake, lemon curd and lemon mousse. YUM!

Asparagus hunting!

I've gone asparagus hunting a couple times now this year. I've only found a few stalks, but it's really nice to spend time walking with a purpose outside. Here's the most interesting asparagus that I've come across. I wonder what made it grow this way?