Here they are! All finished now, the Green Goddess Earrings! I had fun combining the cabachons together and am really pleased with the results. I think it will be fun to combine some more together.

This pair and the other three I showed yesterday are now for sale in my ArtFire Studio. I managed to get them all listed today.

I went to my favorite local bead store, Azillion Beads and purchased some gold filled spacer beads and bead caps to play with tonight. Now I just want to get busy and play with them and make some more fun little earrings out of those little cabs.

P.S. I was thinking those little cabs were 6mm, I was wrong they are 8mm!

Finished Little Cabs

Here's a picture of the earrings I've created from my little, 6mm dichroic fused glass cabochons. I think they are fabulous.

I love the red ones with beads and crystals and I like the champagne/peach ones with small bead caps, the pinks ones are clean and simple. I had fun with the green ones wrapping them with some other small cabs I had set aside for earrings. Once they were finished I looked at them and saw a simple goddess figure shape so "Green Goddess Earrings" they will be.

Please comment on your favorites!

I'm so excited by all the possibilities that these little gems open up. So many different styles for wire wrapped earrings or combining them with other cabs. Or maybe several dangling off wire wrapped findings chandelier style. My brain is afire with all the possibilities! Not to mention the possibilities of combining them in pendants and with other pendant cabs. It took me a while to decide what to do with these with all the options I thought of.

Dopping My Little Cabs

These little gems are about 6mm across. These cabochons are dichroic fused glass. I finally got a chance to dop these little beauties and channel them for wire wrapping.

A little over a week ago I made the trip form Bend through Madras to the community of Willowdale to visit Richardson's Rock Ranch and pick up a compound called "Starbond" (gel) and Accelerator which they recommended to me for use in dopping. I have never dopped a stone before and found it to work quickly and easily!

Clean the top of the cabochon, apply a drop of Starbond gel, put dopping stick on (dowel) and spray with the accelerator to make the glue set quickly. Wait a few minutes and I was ready to channel the cab. Afterwards I put it in the freezer. Once chilled the glue becomes brittle and the cab can be snapped off the stick and any remaining residue scraped off.

I managed to do these four pairs of cabs before I had to teach class. They are in the kiln getting firepolished as I write. Come morning they will be ready to wrap with wire. This definitely appears to be a wonderful, simple way to channel these little gems for wire wrapping eliminating the need to glue on findings. This helps me to upgrade the quality of my products as I have wanting to do.

As we were leaving Winter Bend this was a gorgeous view of Pine Mountain. I love how the sun breaks through to illuminate the valley golden and makes the clouds glow.

Winter Bend or the Horse Ridge Rendezvous is a annual event put on by the Grizzly Mountain Longrifles, a black powder gun club. For more information check out the this video. http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/videos/view/259-Mountain-Man-Rendezvous

My ex and I have been rendevousing off and on for eighteen years. We have been off on and on due to lack of funds, raising kids and my working retail. While I was working retail as a cashier I usually worked weekends making it difficult to camp on the weekends.

We had a decent time and got to see and visit with some of our rondy friends. Unfortunately several that we had hoped to see were not present although I did get to see one good friend for a few minutes that I didn't even know was around. All in all it was a good, albeit dull rondy for my ex and I as we were exhausted by eight and that's when the visiting fun is just getting going. Evenings is when one goes "tipi creeping", going from camp to camp visiting, catching up with friends and making new ones. The boys had a great time of course and so did the dogs.

Next year will be better, we didn't know until the last minute if we were camping or visiting. Next time we will set up camp earlier and be prepared and have money to spend on trader's row. With a little planning and foresight one can have a wonderful time.

Busy Week

I haven't blogged for the past week because I have been so busy and I've had company. One of my best friends was here for three days. It was so great to catch up and we had a lot of fun. She is also into making wire wrapped jewelry. If we can squeeze in some time we discuss techniques and ideas.

My ex brought home his little blond bundle of fur last Sunday. She is so cute and everybody adores her except my dog, Brutus. He's starting to warm up to her though. Speaking of new family members we now also have a cat. A handsome orange, male tabby cat. He is very thin. We hope that good food, time and love will fatten him up. He is an older cat-eight to ten years I'm guessing. My son has named him Felix.

This weekend I'm off for a weekend of camping at black powder shoot or rendezvous. I should stay fairly warm as I have a large canvas wall tent and a wood stove to keep it warm! Last I heard is snow on Saturday. It would be nice if it stayed dry though. Won't be my first time camping in the snow.

Worked on my bedroom/living area again today. It is really starting to open my area (back) up. I so look forward to when it is done. It will be a really nice place to be. A large room with one part my bedroom and the other as my sitting room along with a large closet/storage area. I look forward to a place for everything and everything in it's place. I will be able to sit, work and watch T.V. I'll also know where everything is AND be able to get to it. This time I will get it ALL done. Third times' a charm! I have attempted this several times before and had it almost done when events beyond my control nixed all my efforts.

Cute Little Blond

My ex fell for a cute little blond this past week. He says that she picked him. She is an adorable little bundle of golden fluff. She is one of a litter of twelve. When one opens the door for them to go outside it is a literal mini flood of golden retriever puppies! The first time he picked her up she cuddled up to him, laid her head on his shoulder and had this look on her face that seemed to say "I got my Daddy". Needless to say she will be coming home to live with him as soon as he pays the pet deposit on his apartment.

On a more solemn note my father-in-law lost his bulldog, Buddy yesterday. So all of us "kids" went over to mom and dad's (my in-laws) and the grandsons dug a grave for him. Not the easiest task when one must go through a layer of icy snow and frozen ground. But with three strong, fifteen year olds it was accomplished. While the "men" were out doing that my sister-in-law washed the dishes and I dried. Later after the guys were done I cooked dinner for all. We all enjoyed a family dinner and had a good visit.

The gold netted, champagne dichroic pendant that I posted about previously has found a new home with my mother-in-law and she put it on a lovely rope chain and was wearing it when we left. What a wonderful compliment, I feel very honored that she loves it so much.

(I divorced my huband but kept my in-laws!)

I had a really nice day yesterday. I worked on my room with a dear friend and we reclaimed the "closet". I now have my clothes back in it and a place for my shoes! I was also able to move the clothes rack I was using out of my room too. I have some open space up here now. It is so amazing. It seems kinda strange to have a room all to myself after sharing for almost twenty years. I have decided to embrace the fact. I will finally have a place all to myself, an organized nest all to myself! It will be so nice when it is all done.

After all that my son, the ex and I headed over to his younger brother's house to visit and go watch my nephew wrestle. He won his match and pinned his opponent. It was also a team match and his team won. This was my first wrestling match. I had fun rooting for my nephew and his team.

I may have divorced my ex but I'm keeping his family! My brother and sister-in-law have a pair of goldens, Max and Molly. Molly had a large litter of twelve pups soon after Thanksgiving. Looking into the pen was like looking at a extra large family of Air Buddies! They are all so cute. My ex went and lost his heart to a cute little blondie! He says she picked him. Hopefully he gets permission from his landlord to have her. As soon as he picked her up she cuddled right into him and laid her head on her shoulder with a look that seemed to say "I got my daddy".

Today is the first day of the ArtFire Jewelry Design & Jewelry Supply Shops Guild's first promotion!!!

Please check out all the lovely offerings from these shops! http://artfireguildmemberpromotions.ning.com/

There are many other member's also participating besides the ones on this list!

Some members are offering sale prices, others free shipping and more depending upon the artist and studio. Look for this sale banner and Valentine's Day categories in participating member's studios! Be sure to order quickly to allow time for shipping!

I've enjoyed twitting about this all day and have had the pleasure of seeing lots of beautiful jewelry and more from all the talented members here at AJDJSS.