Saturday

My hydrangea is in full bloom.

How did it get to be Saturday again already? The older I get the more I'm amazed at how fast time goes by. The weather is truly summer-like and everything is blooming and gorgeous. I know some people are sweltering and dry, but we seem to have had just the right amount of rain. I've only had to hand water a couple of times,  but now that all the potted flowers are root bound I'll have to water today if it doesn't rain.

My ribs/back are feeling much better. I'm still sore and get a twinge if I move in a certain direction, but the horrendous muscle spasms have stopped. Thank the gods. And good Chiropractors!

 Above is a photo of the experiment that Debbie and I did. (Click here to read that post.) We mixed enamels with wet silver clay and applied it as an accent, according to the instructions I got from Barbara Becker Simon at the conference last month. We made some blue and some green and I put it on a scrap of silver clay.

Well, you can see that it turned out terrible. Both colors turned muddy (and the word "muddy" is a nice word. It actually looks like something out of the cat litter box.) and you can't even tell the blue from the green. Oh well. More silver for the scrap pile.

I made a few pieces recently. Above is one that I made using a pattern that I made with scratch foam. Scratch foam is a thin foam sheet - a little thinner than a tray that meat is packaged on in the grocery store. You score the foam with a pen or a scribe, then roll your clay out onto the design. I'm really happy with how this turned out. 

Above is a ring that I made out of a thick slab of clay. It has cubic zirconias on both sides. 

Next week I'll be going to the big gem and mineral show in Franklin, NC. I have a list of things that I need, but it's always fun to find things that are not on the list, just inspirational. I'll come home with even more ideas! I'll let you know what I find.

And, I had one charm left over from the conference and I hung it from a hand forged sterling chain.