oh I made stuff!

I took the day off today to prepare for the show on Friday/Saturday. I ALWAYS underestimate how much time it will take to get all of the little details sorted out for these things. Stuff like price tags. Earring cards. Setting the last few stones. Photographing everything.

Etc.

I probably spent a solid 10 hours doing various things - finishing the last bits of soldering on the last necklace, sanding, filing, oxidizing, taking photos...basically doing everything I mentioned above. I also may have gone to the local lapidary and picked up some stones. But I HAD to go because I needed hard solder and price tags. And it seemed like kind of a waste of a trip if I didn't even look through the drawers of cabochons.

Anyway, I'm still not done! More finishing, more stone setting, more pricing. More everything.

These are the things I HAVE finished, however. !! I'm really excited about what I'm making. I guess I'm always excited about what I'm making, but I can see such progression in every batch and I want everyone in the world to see it. Eeeee!

Onto the photos:

Amethyst bracelet with a wee little carnelian accent -
Raw diamond ring -
Garnet earrings -
Glass window earrings -
Spiny Oyster earrings -

Show Announcement

ATTENTION:

Cholula Jewelry will be CLOSED April 30th & May 1st for a show. Anything left over after the show will be relisted in the etsy shop on May 2nd.

Thanks for being awesome!

(photos of new work coming soon)

Cholula and the canter.

Some of you may know a lot about horses.

Some of you may know very little.

But I bet each and every one of you knows that horses have different gaits. They walk, they trot, they canter, they gallop.

Cholula is special in that her canter didn't come installed.

Ok, that's not entirely true, but it's what I feel like some days. She's a tank. When I say tank I mean she's built like a brick shithouse. I'd apologize for my mouth but frankly, I swear like a sailor. That's just the way it is. That's the best I can convey to you that my horse is a beast. She has been called "mama elephant" "rhinocerous" and "hippoponemus" before.

So anyway, she's a little taller than your average joe (sits right about 16hh) and weighs approximately 1500 pounds. Refer to phrase above.

She's not a draft horse, but she is built like one. Which is to say that her natural build is very well-suited to pulling with her front end. But I ride dressage, damnit, so horse - you are going to push with your hind end.

Anyway, my horse has all of the gaits she's supposed to, but it's hard for her to canter. It IS getting easier as she's worked properly and builds the muscle in her butt and strengthens her back to be able to sit and push. But it's a process. Without someone on her back, she's starting to look great at the canter - effortless, even. When you add a rider, however, she is not so keen on the canter.

I'm telling you all of this because we had our first schooling show of the season this past weekend. My sister rode Cholula in her first test with the canter.

The left lead went something like this: Cue canter, get super fast trot. Cue canter, reinforce with whip. Tail swish. Lift back end. Smack with whip. Buck. Smack again. Canter. Push to keep canter. Smack. Buck, break into trot. Smack with whip. Buck.

And so on and so forth. The right lead was more successful.

She is pretty adorable, no?

Cholula being a very good pony.

And again.

But then she's asked to canter...

That is Cholula's warning face. The ears go back, the tail swishes, she might kick out. Here she is saying "lay off, I'll do whatever I want! *tantrum*"

We say...dear Cholula, that is not an option.

And she essentially gives us the middle finger.

(she's even cute when she's bucking, isn't she?)

Sigh. Mares.

In between their tests and after expending a lot of energy on bucking instead of just cantering.

In conclusion, that is what I did this weekend. I'm working furiously to catch up in the shop so I can do a polish before the end of the week!

A little love on Friday

I bet you can't watch this video and listen to this song without smiling.

Seriously. Just click it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6HjT4SQKJI


(first horse show of the season tomorrow, + going away party for my brother who will be going to basic training at the end of the month, + sunday breakfast with my wonderful mother who will be in MN for a few weeks! busy weekend = jewelry updates...next week. love!)

A slew of new.

I have been absolutely terrible about keeping my shop updated with all that's new! I tend to do this everytime I get close to a show...I work away at the bench, photograph everything, and then never seem to list it on etsy unless it's not sold at the show.

I'm determined to get everything in there and updated throughout this week, though!

I have been working away, promise. Only 11? more pieces to go (not including the few customs I still have) until April 30th. I'm being FAR overly optimistic there, seeing as one of those is a rather complex bracelet.

But that's what caffeine and all-nighters are for, right?

(that's just how I roll) BLINGED.OUT.

Persimmon necklace:

(wire wrapped itty bitty persimmoney carnelian beads on an oxidized chain. Just a sweet lil everyday thang.)

Tile Earrings:
And then we have the customs. First, a twiggy ring with a Mexican fire opal:

The 2nd ring was a super special custom order being that it was for an old friend. Her dad used to make the coolest rings, and I was always super jealous of her jewelry. I was flattered when she asked me to make her a ring. The specifications? Um. Size 6. QUIRKY. And she told me a few of the stones she likes the most.

And this is what I made.

It goes back to a few different design elements that I've used on past pieces (mainly the ocean jasper 'submarine' necklace that I kept for myself), but it's also so completely crazy and original that I love it a ton and I hope she loves it just as much in person as she does the picture of it! I've been calling this one the zeppelin ring. It's a little seascapey, a little spacey, a little science fictiony. And it's officially my first piece with 2 different stones side by side!

The rings on my pinky up above are the new crocus stackers that I don't have more pictures of right this second.

After the complexity of the last few custom orders (which I love doing, don't get me wrong) I'm taking a more simple route for the next week or so. I have a raw diamond ring on my bench, some easy earrings, and will start working on the amethyst bracelet that is going to be a beast to finish. I guess that's not terribly simple, but each step by itself is pretty straight forward so I'm counting it. Big projects don't seem so daunting when you break them down into pieces!