Independence

A friend of mine sent me an email. She always forwards funny things but this one was different. It said that there is a rock in Iowa on HWY 25 that kids have painted for years. Graffiti, names, stuff that kids would do. Always changing as the next kid makes his mark. But a teenager painted over it months ago & nobody has touched it. I thought it was perfect to share with you today. The artist's name is Ray "Bubba" Sorenson II & I understand that he's a teenager. Check this out:












We need more teens like this one! Happy 4th & thank you to all the men & women that made & keep us independent.

Etsy Gift Guide & Free US Shipping

Who knew that even a "not so great" photo can be picked for a gift guide? LOL. This weekend there is a Free Shipping promo going on at Etsy. My shop, Azoho, is participating in the promotion. Etsy put up the gift guide/ limited time promotions & I was happy to see that my Bloom ring is in the guide. Sure wish I had a better photo to put into that listing. ;-)





I wanted to share this with you. Last Sunday I woke up with a nasty sore throat, still sore so I'm going to go have some nice warm liquid. Stop by the store & take advantage of the free shipping promotion!

Bloom...The Ring

I know I'm just dropping quick photos & running....life's been that way. But I wanted to post a pic of a new ring. I haven't been able to get a great photo to post it in Azoho yet, but I'm close. It's a "bloom" ring. I love it. Wearing it on my pinky right now. Earrings are close to finished. And a ring with a little bezel set stone is finished except for some patina & polishing (& setting the stone). Hopefully some time in the metals studio tomorrow morning & I'll get it all done. Then photographs. The last part is still the tricky part for me.
The kids are almost finished with school for the year. At this point I'm usually thinking that I'll have more time....but this year I'm not kidding myself. My time will have to be stolen moments here & there. Unless I can work out some sort of schedule. Hmmm....will have to give that a try!

Class Ring

I wanted to show you a photo of a ring I made in my fabrication class.




I like it because it's rustic & organic. I picked a stone that has a higher profile on one side- almost looks like it cracked while it was being cabbed & they went ahead & polished it anyway. It's got character! For my metal head friends...The tricky part was the braid. It's 24g twisted wire that I had to solder before it was soldered on next to the bezel. The challenge was NOT to melt it- heating it up twice with a #3 tip on the torch. Anyway...I love this ring & wanted to share it with you.

Need a name

These are cute little studs. I was going to add them to the shop tonite, but then realized that I can't seem to think of a proper name for them. LOL. Any ideas? They are smaller than the nuggets. And I've got some in colors also. A bit of air dry enamel on the end adds a little splash of color. So....if you can think of a name for these- I'd appreciate your comments or tweets! And I thank you in advance!

Choices....

A couple pairs of hoops, larger than the ones currently in the shop.

What goes around....

I snagged another treasury this weekend. This time I featured the fantastic talents of the SATeam. Here's a snapshot:






It seems that everything I was working on this week had some sort of circle in it, so with circles on the brain I just went with it. But they're nice circles aren't they?

Was going to post a link but the treasury expires tomorrow. So instead- I'll just post a link to a team search instead! Almost 5000 items of handmade goodness. Nice.

PS- Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mamas out there!