Kalaya Steede

Oh I think summer is on its way.  Those days of hot and humid and feeling like you are swimming in sweat.  So I took advantage of it not being quite here yet by swinging on the hammock, reading a lovely book, and feeling the breeze sweep across my face and hair.  What a lovely start to Friday, huh?   Our Auntie and Uncle are back home here in New Orleans from their new home in California.  I tell you this because on my bench lies a piece of copper with a hummingbird cut out of it and it has been sitting there since last summer.  My intention was to mail it out to her...A Year Ago! Hehe! I was kind of paralyzed with the piece.  Thinking it had to be perfect and my skills were not up to the task.   I wanted her to have this piece today.   It must of been the fastest piece I have ever made EVER (~2hrs)!  Remember the humming bird was already pierced ahead of time and has been aging on my jewelers bench for months. ...

This morning I read a blog about sharing a part of your nature that you feel you have lost. I must admit that this post moved something in me. It gave me another perspective that I never considered. I suppose that the post might mean different things to each one of us but you be the judge. Just click Tea and Honey Bread to go to her blog. It was such a lovely post. I leave you with this... "The old skin has to shed before the new one can come." ~Joseph Campbell Enjoy the rest of today. NAMASTE Kalaya

A little something for the spirit. Namaste Kalaya

Ohhhh...the luck of the Irish!  Would this bracelet count as green? I was inspired to make a bracelet with a gypsy flare.  What a perfect opportunity to use the Om end beads I made earlier.  At first I designed it with the coral mixed in with the turquoise but it looked too southwestern.  So I started channeling the gypsy spirit and came up with this. I decided to place the coral and brass on the leather to give it a sense of flow. The bracelet was a birthday gift for a friend of mine.  The gypsy feeling came to her mind immediately.  Yay!  Gypsy love. Happy Birthday Friend! And this was a gift to me. It is so much fun to receive a gift from someone who is having a birthday.  It is a piece of antique German glass.  My mission is to make a bezel for it.  Wow!  I have so much to do!  So I better go. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Namaste Kalaya

The sound of the universe. Serenity in threes. Back side of charms. Close up of the etch. Namaste Kalaya

This weekend I set up my etching station.   I guess I am doing this old school because there is a lot of chatter about using copper sulfate instead of ferric chloride, which is what I used.  What I did not do was change out my etching solution (an attempt to not waste) and it has been there FOREVER!   I used two different types of pens, fine Sharpie black paint pen (oil based) and black Sharpie (regular old black Sharpie) as a resist (the part that etching solution will not eat away) on brass.   I got great results with the paint pen Sharpie but not the regular old Sharpie.  The regular Sharpie washed off in the enchant solution.  However, the paint pen was too thick for me to draw with so I ran out and got an EXTRA FINE paint Sharpie. I decided that the enchant solution was too old so I neutralized with baking soda and replaced with fresh enchant before proceeding. Here we go: 1.  Stamp an image...