What I did last week

This weeks post will be mostly pictures.  I don't know if I mentioned or not, but my friend and trainer, Samantha, has accepted a position at Broward College in Ft. Lauderdale and is going to pack up and move to The Sunshine State.  I met Sam when she taught adult swimming lessons in October of 2010 and we have become good friends. She is a good kid.

When not at the gym, I make time for hobbies and crafty things and last week I realized that if I'm going to be wearing my hair up this summer, I needed new earrings.  So I got busy and came up with a few pieces.

This first set is aventurine and sterling silver wire that I created using some simple wire wrapping techniques. The bracelet is so comfy that I have to keep looking at my arm to make sure it's still there.  I am almost out of good wire, but I had just enough to play with last week.

I had enough to make a simple coil ring.  I wrapped the wire around a metal ring sizer, using it as a mandrel, leaving about two inches of wire to make the coils. Very easy project and if you use a heavy gauge wire, it will be very durable.  I think this is 16 gauge, sterling silver round wire in dead soft. I hammered lightly it to strengthen it. Simple and easy.

Using one of my many books on jewelry design and technique, I created these little bits of sparkle.  I've always been able to wear long earrings and when I'm having a bad hair day, hopefully no one will see anything except my shimmery earbobs.

More dangles. Ceramic beads on the left and a natural stone, resembling turquoise on the right. The ones on the right are threaded onto a sterling silver eye pin that already had a coral stone as part of the design. They came from Fire Mountain Gems, and worked well.

Sometimes the perfect color bead is already part of a necklace that you don't wear much.  These rose quartz beads were components in just such a piece.  I have no qualms about deconstructing a pre-made necklace, even if it was vintage Napier. I needed those beads.

Last but not least, I call these my Bea Benaderet earrings.  If you don't already know why, read the Wikipedia and see if you can figure it out.

Actually, these beads were also part of the vintage necklace that I mentioned.  They look so nice on. 

I am really surprised that any of my pictures came out at all.  I took them out on the deck and my camera is one of the older digitals that the display seems to disappear in the sunlight.  I never know if it's my eyes or the camera, but fortunately, these turned out OK.

Speaking of my eyes, I went for my consultation last week regarding eye surgery for my cataracts and for some reason my lower peripheral vision has changed since September to a degree that the ophthalmologist wants me to do a field test, to judge exactly how much it has changed and determine why.  Perhaps, then we can talk about the surgery. I'll let you know.

Well, that's it for me for today.  Take care.  Have fun and stay safe.