Halloween Is Coming

I love all things Halloween.  I love the decorations, the jewelry and the atmosphere.

I can remember the old paper cut-out decorations at my house as a kid - I hope my mom still has those, I want them! Especially the big cat one! Similar to these.....

I would like to collect vintage Halloween stuff, but have you seen the prices in the antique shops?! can't afford that hobby.

Sad to say I am not much of a decorator anymore. Where I live now there are no trick-or-treaters.  Heck, we don't even have streetlights or sidewalks.

I found this really cool necklace I thought was quite unique that would be great for a Halloween party - 

And here's a great charm bracelet - 

Bats are great year round - 

Earlier this year I got a permanent Halloween decoration on my arm :)

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween and eats a bunch of candy!

Skydiving.....it's fun.

So this has nothing to do with beads or jewelry, but I feel like writing about skydiving.

I used to live in Lake Elsinore, CA and my backyard butted up against a large field where there happened to be a skydiving airstrip.  I would love to be standing outside when you can hear the whoops and hollers from the people jumping. It just sounded like they were having so much fun!  It didn't take me long to know that I wanted to jump and found a friend that would be willing to do it with me.  When I told my mom that I wanted to jump, it didn't take long for her to tell me she wanted to go also. Then when my dad got wind of it, of course he wanted to go also.

It was November 1999 and we all went to Skydive Elsinore to sign our life away. They sit you down and have you watch videos and sign papers that say - yes, you may die.  I think I remember my dad possibly having second thoughts, but we all continued anyway.

It was a little awkward sitting in the small plane, attached to another person waiting for this moment that may change my life.  When the moment came, we scooched our way to the open door and got in position. Here is where people tell me they would freeze and wouldn't be able to jump. The way it happens though, is that I just follow directions and it all happened so quickly, the next thing I knew, we were falling through the air and  I was laughing the whole way down!  The best way I can describe it to someone is that it is like going down a roller coaster hill and that first moment when you feel as though your stomach is in your throat - that is what it's like. But for longer, haha.  When it is time to pull the chute, it feels as though you are pulled up into the air and then it's floating all the way down.

Everyone landed safely and my friend Omar and I went the following year in November again.  For me it wasn't quite as exciting as the first time, but of course that makes sense.  Maybe someday I'll jump again...

Inspiration

I know I've been slacking in the blog department here....I'm still trying to get a handle on all this.
Looks like I'm just in time to get one posted for the month of August.

I wanted to talk a little about my history with books since they are an inspiration to my designs.

I started reading at about 3 years old and have never looked back. My dad had a huge book collection and  I remember taking some books off of his shelf and reading them. I remember an adult horror book called Came A Spider that I read at about 4th grade.

Yes, I still have the book. Through the years my dad has gotten rid of a lot of books so I have acquired a some of them.  I started Stephen King because of him. I remember seeing that silver shiny book called The Shining on the shelf.  (I have that now as well).
I'm not sure how people get into reading the genres that they do, but for myself I can say I started horror as far back as elementary school with unknowing help from dad.  This is my Stephen King bookshelf as it stands now.

The 2nd shelf has the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles but I am sure that will get booted sooner or later as I need room for more King!  All the rest of my books are scattered about the house and garage in cabinets and shelves.  I wanted to incorporate my love of books into my jewelry and this is what I am doing....

This is taken from Pet Sematary = Sometimes Dead Is Better

Also a Poe inspired piece,

Nevermore.

I hope you will continue to follow me on my journey of jewelry making and reading!

Any comments are welcome, I'd love to hear your own stories of books or anything, really :)

Working with Patina and Coins

Today I decided to try the patina on copper blanks with oven heat and my husband's plumbing torch.
The oven idea started out good enough.  The copper before it went in -

and then when they came out-

They came out a nice red color. Problem was, when I went to put the protective wax on it, it rubbed off a bit. but it still wasn't the original copper color, so I am okay with that.
I used up those blanks with making necklaces with coins -

Next I had my husband help by using his blowtorch and we got some really interesting colors on the copper.
Stay tuned for some pics of those and also I'm going to be trying the Ammonia patina this week.
I think Jon even had some fun helping me!

New Ideas

I woke up early this morning with a new idea about how to use my old foreign coins in a jewelry setting. After learning about home made patinas last week, I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but I must have had a dream revelation or something.  I searched my material websites and found what I needed. Now I must wait for the package in the mail.
I did more organizing of my coins -boy do I have a lot! I remember my dad giving me these old coins when I was little and have held on to them ever since. I have coins from all over the world and many are pre-1950.  I won't be changing the patina of the coin itself, but have an idea of how to showcase the coin without changing it. Except for drilling a hole in it, of course. ;)

Beginnings

Starting my first blog is a little intimidating here....Not sure what I am doing but hoping to figure it out. This page is started primarily for my jewelry business but will talk about other stuff too.