As promised, some before & WIP (work in progress) photos

None of these are listed yet, though the triple (which you can see will be steampunk -- well, they probably all will be -- & another originally like it are I think finished, as is the "African" one.

This is the raw material for a Valentiney set -- displayed locally, but not yet sold.

 

 I've been working on this one for awhile, and it's almost done -- really just needs more chain & a clasp. But I can't get the pendant to hang the way I want it, so probably need to remove and try again.
Notice the clock parts incorporated in the chain -- plenty of steampunk elements, but subtle.

Shortly, 2 rather elegant non-steampunk pieces -- one a carved face strung with real emeralds & pearls, the other a gorgeous purple titanium druzy wire wrapped by Chase Arevalo & strung with some stunning purple beads.  Plus, if I can photograph them, 2 wild pieces incorporating sari silk, chain, souvenir spoons, gem donuts, and a number of other interesting items. Fun!

WIP -- obsidian and ammonities

I've actually managed to acquire some obsidian needles -- these are longish, thinnish, more or less pointed naturally formed pieces of obsidian that apparently are found in only a few  places. I absolutely love them--they're obviously natural/raw/primitive, but lend themselves nicely to at least some of my ideas about use.

Here are some pics of the raw stuff along with a few becoming something else:the last one is some less pointy pieces I'm thinking of offering for sale -- among other things, they make lovely-sounding windchimes. Will the sound keep the walking dead away from your house?  I don't know, but it can't hurt.

In addition, I've been working on some of the arrowheads seen in the last post, plus some ammonites I've acquired recently--these pics (and some of the pieces) aren't ready to list yet, but I thought some of you might like to see what I'm up to.  The pics also include one pair of steampunk earrings with fairies--not quite so new, but I think not previously   photographed. So here goes:

As always, comments, questions, etc. are welcome, even encouraged--let me know someone's actually looking!

Pics of Chloe in new leather dress, etc.

More WIP

Got some wonderful watchparts from Israel. Got some perfume bottle pendants--from India?--I think Fire Mtn or Shipwreck used to carry these, but I no longer had any & got them as a destash.  Also got some old cameos/cabachons. 
Some of these may just need cords. Some others (I'm thinking the bug, esp.) may need something added.

WIP--ear gages

Several young friends and a couple of customers have suggested that some of my work would go well in ear gages, those larger-than-earring-sized objects that have been appearing in a lot of lobes (at least around here).
Our friend/sometimes roommate/partner of Chase Carolne has 00gages in opal or opalite that look really good, so I recruited her as a consultant and bought some gages for experimenting. I also bought some Easy Cast, which I can now recommend - it sets fairly quickly and perfectly clear, unlike the Diamond Glaze that was giving me problems.  It's a bit harder to use--a 2  part resin that requires measuring and mixing-- but I think it's worth it.
We stuck the tubes to fac-up packing tape to hold the resin in. Relatively successful. though next time I think we'll use a see-through surface.
I set some of the gages up with things I thought might work & ranthem past Caroline and Chase. Then last night, while Caroline was at school, Chase and I mixed the stuff up, sort of layered it and added things, and the pics below are what we have now.
Measurung: Each batch of 6 oz. or less requires 3 plastic vessels and 2 plastic or wood stirrers, all of which have to be tossed after use. So. I bought 100 small thin white plastic cups , which we marked (on the outside) with a permanent marker line at the same level. We could see the mark fromthe inside (THIN plastic cup) so just poured each part to the mark. Then we poured them together & stirred (we were using washed popsicle sticks, but I'm hoping to get something next time we go to the restaurant supply place--till then we have some thickish skewers, but I don't think round is the ideal shape) for the required 2 min, then moved to another cup and stirred with a clean stick for another 2 min. It worked really well.

Anyway, so there we were with a cup of goop and quite a few gages, in silcone, wood, ad horn. We also have one metal one, but we were only doing tubes and it's closed.   Preliminary results suggest that
1. we need more research on glue to hold anything to silicone.
2. silicone gages work nicely filled with resin, but may work even better as molds.
3. wooden gages can have things glued on, and are dynamite with resin and inclusions.
Silicone and horn (red flowers) are also great.
4. Diamond Glaze, which we tried using to hold a few things that didn't require transparency, stays runny in silicone & is a poor choice for this project.
5. We used 2or 3 different Beacon glues--experiment, remember--and all worked well with wood but not silicone. I triend some Flexible, Stretchable with the silicone, but it was old and runny. I'll give it another shot with a new jar--the problem is that the silicone tubes flex off the glue, so that seems like one way to go. Another may be to use some sort of caulk, but we're not going there yet. If anyone's had any success with a adhesive for silicone, do please let us know.

So this is what we have--final cleanup, any sanding, etc. still to be done. A little more pouring to top things up, too, but you can at least get an idea of where this is going.