Skip to main content

Eye of the Dragon

When I am not seeing the beauty or humor in the world, I know it is time to make something. I have found that I am a much happier person when I take time to create. Making things has been a part of my life since I was tiny and playing with my grandmother's button box.

Last semester, I brought only paper craft materials with me to school. Over the winter break, I spent days making chain maille. I took that as a sign that perhaps I should bring my supplies back for this semester.

Because the school had us take a Contract Negotiation course this past weekend (woohoo-1 credit in a weekend!), we have been going for almost two weeks without a day free from school. Last night, I was studied out and decided to take a break. I rummaged through my rings and found that I had the supplies to make this pendant called Dragon's Eye by Lisa Smeltzer. I bought the tutorial from Blue Buddha Boutique ages ago, so it was fun to finally tackle it.

The finished pendant is fairly chunky--about 2" in diameter with a 1" cross-section. I left out the "eye" on one side because that gives a second look, and I agree with Alton Brown's philosophy on uni-taskers. Not familiar? Click the hyperlink for  a quick video that will show an example of his scorn. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the web. I look forward to reading what you have to say!

Popular posts from this blog

Can we Talk about Packaging?

     Today, many people (myself included) use ancient chain maille armor techniques to create jewelry. Basically, artisans take small rings made of wire and weave them together in intricate designs. In this way, the ancient weaves are re-imagined for a modern audience. Samples of my work Zili Kit      Although some people take raw wire and create their own rings, many rely on retailers for their needs. From that need, a growing cottage industry has sprung up to supply makers with kits that include all of the rings and instructions for a design. Most of these businesses use very simple packaging for their products. Zipper seal bags with simple printed labels are very common. HyperLynks kit      For companies that are a little larger, heat seal plastic tubing becomes the most common form of packaging. There is one operation that packages per order so that the rings come in a long, unlabeled, sausage-like strip of tubing with a heat seal between each type of ring. Customers
Post a Comment
Read more

Ferret Friday #5-Rice box

Ferrets are curious creatures that need a variety of toys and activities.    Our ferret loves to dig, and one of his favorite activities is digging in a plastic tub filled with rice.  We make sure it is not available at all times so that it remains a special treat. As much as he loves the rice, if given a choice, he would choose to dig in the dirt of my ficus or citrus tree.  He also loves to "tunnel" under the covers of our bed.  He is not normally a biter, but for some reason, he will bite any toes under sheets.  My theory is that since ferrets are tunnelers and are carnivorous, then he must have some instinct to eat what he finds while tunneling.  Maybe the toes are "earthworms" to him. When my kids were small, they also loved to play in their rice box.  Their rice was multi-colored though. We have added a few PVC pipes (we smoothed all rough edges with sandpaper).  Occasionally, we add some cardboard mailing tubes as well.
Post a Comment
Read more

Queen of the Dairy

Did you know that the Dairy Queen Blizzard turned 25 last year?  I remember when the Blizzard was introduced which makes me officially...old.  Anyway, there was no Dairy Queen in the town where I grew up but there was one where my great grandfather lived.  Do you remember when a trip longer than 15 minutes lasted fuh evah?  When I was little, the 65 minute drive to my great grandfather's small town felt like an eternity.  Maybe it felt so long  because  I was hoping for that extremely rare occurrence of a stop at the Dairy Queen.  My parents were teachers  and the budget was always tight, but occasionally we would stop at DQ and we could get a small cone.  We never got to choose--it was always just that small vanilla cone, but it was a treat nonetheless. Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house.  I probably tried something different each time--a Peanut Buster Parfait, this time, a Mr. Misty,
2 comments
Read more