Fascinated . . .

. . . I am . . . with alligators. This attraction began with our move to Tampa, FL, and the knowledge that I could come upon a gator at just about any time. Not as often as our Midwestern squirrels, mind you, but enough to keep me always scanning my surroundings. This little guy lived in the pond behind our house.

Did I mention I also have a fondness for eyes? I've used them in jewelry before, a fox eye, a bobcat eye. Living in the "heartland" as we do now, I wanted to keep the gator mystique alive. Here are my pieces/parts in progress:

And my finished pendant.

The Fabulous Richard Salley!

Okay, so I said I was going to get back to blogging. That was six days ago. Unacceptable! Further unacceptable is not posting this earlier on. On June 5th I attended a class taught by the incomparable Richard Salley at Bead & Button in Milwaukee, WI. The class ran from 9 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. and I was busy every minute, including through lunch.

Richard taught many fine techniques including wirework, working with Faux Bone, copper enameling with a torch, etching and soft soldering. Great class. Here's the piece I made. It's a bit edgy and not for everyone but I love it! Thank you, Richard!

I ain't afraid . . .

. . . of no snakes! We recently had the pleasure of participating in the Snake Alley Art Fair held in Burlington, Iowa during their annual Steamboat Days celebration. Snake Alley is an actual street in Burlington, once recognized by Ripley's Believe it or Not as the "Crookedest Street in the World."

This lovely, historic community is located on the banks of the Mississippi River and is another of my favorite places to visit. The architecture is stately and the gardens are lush. It seems there's a beautiful view around every corner.

The place with, in my opinion, the best view is Martini's Grille. Don't miss it!

Camping with Denise at Lake Wissota, WI

Who says camping food isn't good? Mmm, spinach salad.

Camp

Forest trees

Forest flowers

Forest butterfly

Who has the time . . .

. . . to blog? I used to. Seems like facebook has ruined this for me. Not only don't I blog, but some of the other bloggers whose posts I enjoyed following have dropped out as well. Sad, because facebook is SO much less satisfying. A lame comment here, another one there, and I am certainly as guilty as anyone. Who cares that I'm doing laundry? Read my previous blog post and I'm sure you'll find it infinitely more interesting than anything I've ever posted on facebook.

Here's the part that really intrigues me: what the hell am I doing with my time? I don't have time to blog. I blame facebook. But what's really going on? As a jewelry artist wannabe, most of the blogs I've followed belong to, you guessed it, jewelry artists. Andrew Thornton, Jane Ann Wynn, Deryn Mentock, Melanie Brooks, Nina Bagley, to name a few. They're all on facebook and, consequently, none of them has time to blog anymore, right? WRONG. Not only do they create jewelry and/or components for sale, they teach. They travel. They have family obligations, pets to take care of. They sing, they dance, they eat, they sleep (probably not much). They post on facebook AND they BLOG! And they twitter! What am I doing wrong?

Here are links to the blogs of these fantastic artists. I hope you'll take a look. Maybe you'll be inspired to find time to do everything!

http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

http://www.wynnstudio.com/

http://somethingsublime.typepad.com/

http://www.earthenwoodstudio.com/blog

http://www.ornamental.typepad.com/

And did I mention that Deryn now teaches classes online? What a great value! She's a wonderful teacher and her online classes are both informative and fun. You don't have to travel, don't even have to get dressed. I'll be taking one soon and here's the link:

http://somethingsublime.typepad.com/jewelry_works/2011/05/boho-bliss-registration-its-on.html

Meanwhile, if you find yourself with extra time on your hands, could you please send it to me?