Out of the Pink Sky

And now for my next giveaway...

 
I'm giving away, to one of my fabulous readers, the above pendant entitled "Sendai Garden."  I have not sold this design as a pendant yet, but I have sold it as earrings.  The description was as follows -  "What is more serene than a Japanese garden? Take a little bit of that tranquility with you by wearing these Asian inspired earrings. A lovely natural garden scene is carefully fully stamped on ceramic tile. The scene is stamped in black on the surface of a medium green tile.  The tiles are approx 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches. These earrings are medium weight."  A jump ring will be placed at the top to allow the pendant to be placed on a chain, ribbon, etc.

To enter, please leave a comment on this blog entry.  You may receive one extra entry into this contest by blogging about this contest on your own blog.  Just make sure to send me the link to your blog where I may see your entry about this giveaway.

The entry period will last for a month.  On October 12, I will randomly draw the name of the winner.  Her/his name will be posted here.  Your entry must be received by 11:59 Eastern Daylight Time on October 11, 2008.  Also, if you enter, please make sure I have your email address so that I may email you if you win.  If I do not receive a reply from the winner within one week, a new winner will be chosen.

I will ship internationally.  However, I can only track orders within the United States.

I Love Elephants

I absolutely love elephants.  They're such majestic and fabulous creatures.  They also have a lot of emotion.  They grieve when a member of their pack is killed.  As such, I often give donations to organizations that help keep the elephant populations safe from poachers.  Given my affinity for elephants, I couldn't resist the beads shown above.  I also like how the labradorite mimics elephant skin.

Anna Earrings - Labradorite

Bell peppers and catbutts and opalite - oh my!

I've decided to stop waiting for Etsy to fix the search button because it may be awhile before it's functioning properly given what their new computer guru said - although, at least, he does state that they are working on it.  I started listing again this weekend.  My first listing was another pair of earrings with the sterling silver herringbone weave.  The stones on these earrings, shown above, are opalite.  In addition, due to the cable, internet, and phone being out, I had plenty of time to make more catbutt earrings.  I'll be listing them over the next week or two.  The first pair I listed are dilute tortoiseshell catbutts, shown below.  I have lots of other colors on the way!  Lastly, I listed a pair that pays tribute to the beauty of the bell pepper.  While I generally don't enjoy their taste, I do think they are beautiful, and so I couldn't pass up the lampwork bell pepper bead.

 

A Week Ago...

The remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Columbus, Ohio, knocking down trees, powerlines, phone cables, and all sorts of other utilities.  A lot of people here are still without power.  We were lucky in that our power never went out, but our cable, telephone, and internet service is still spotty.  Anyway, this was the scene at Steak 'n' Shake that night due to the widespread power outages.  There wasn't an empty seat!  Obviously, the winds, which reached up to 75 miles per hour, also damaged the roof of our apartment as there are men working on it currently.  My parents, who live in Louisville, sustained damage to their garage door which bowed out due to the pressure the wind created.  However, I'm not complaining.  It could have certainly been worse, and, for many people, it was!

Sushi Annoying Xander

Save 20% in Participating EFA Stores

 

Save 20% from Sept 15-30 at participating Etsy For Animals team shops found here.  When checking out, please use the coupon code "OUTOF" to get the discount.  Type it in the "Notes to Seller" when you are checking out.  You will either receive an updated invoice or, if you pay right away, a refund for the 20% difference.  This coupon, of course, works in my shop!  So, if there's something in my shop you've been eyeing wantingly, now is the time!  Now is also a great time to shop for the holidays!

Adventures in Oxidizing

 

Another first for me!  I ordered some liver of sulpher through Monsterslayer so that I could try my hand at oxidizing silver.  I put a piece, a little bigger than a pea, in about 1.5 cups of hot water.  It made a saffron colored solution.  I heated my earrings in hot water for about a minute.  Then, I placed the earrings in the LOS solution and immediately tried to get them out with a spoon.  I'd say they were in there for 10 seconds before I put them in clean water.  The effect wasn't what I expected.  The silver had become brown.  I'm thinking that I did not leave them in long enough to get a gunmetal color.  However, I was scared to put them back in, and I worked for awhile, with a "magic" sponge and a toothbrush, to get the brown off the metal.  The color in the metal crevices was a dark gray, so it turned out well.  I think, in the future, I'll leave silver in longer and see what happens.  I tested it on a scrap piece of silver and was able to get a nice gunmetal color.  I also need to buy some silver polishing cloths! 

Pokeberries

Onyx Anomaly

Thanks to all of you who commented on my first three wirewrapped pendants in the past few days!  I haven't been getting many comments on flickr or hearts on Etsy for them, so, without the kind comments on here, I might be doubting myself quite a bit by now!  Pictured above is my more recent wirewrapped pendant.  My friend gave me this onyx cab for my birthday.  This one was particularly challenging because it is such an odd shape.  It's not symmetical at all.  However, I argued with it for awhile and managed to whip it into shape!