Getting ready for Waverly Walk

This weekend Jerry and I will be in Waverly Iowa this Sat. For the 10th annual Waverly Art Walk.  We haven't done this show every year -- but it's a great show and I'm looking forward to it.  And the weather should be perfect!

The first walk we did was the 2nd.  I love how it's grown and improved over the years-- and the venue is gorgeous and along the river.  

If you are in the area plan to stop by for a couple of hours.  The show runs 10-4pm.

Open letter to the evil thieving..... person

This is a open letter to the evil thieving .. person who stole this necklace, one of my one eye monsters.. one of the flightly sisters... I hope you rot in hell.  When you steal not only is it bad for your soul but you are materially and spiritually hurting another person.  Karma will catch up with you.  Hope it was worth it.

Junk Jubilee: when I win the lottery.......

These are the things I would buy:

 These Lamps are fab fab fab, and actually once we are firmly in the 2 income family group and are done buying off colleges, we could probably afford them!  So in 10 years....

 It's just as well this is out of my price range at $1295.00, because Jerry's like it won't fit in any of the doors except the garage... so If I want it for the garage.... ugh! I can daydream right? that it was possible to get it up in the attic.  I would kill for something like this up there... sigh.....

 I can't believe how clean these are.. I've seem stuff like this before but usually it's smelly (moldy/rusty) but this one is stellar clean and good shape!  If anyone in the DSM area can get it in their house, I think $1295.00 is pretty reasonable.  It's got to be 9-10 feet long.

Now this could fit in my house, but alack, it's almost $2400.00.  It's octagonal if you can't tell from the picture, and yes, it revolves.  Can you imagine this just right by your desk?????   each pyramid shaped drawer has 2 sections in it.    DROOOOLLLLLLLLL

Still someday I'll win that lottery !

come down to the Junk Jubilee and find your own treasures!

Junk Jubilee Starts Tomorrow!!!

I'm very excited, we are doing our first official show of the season starting Tomorrow (April 24th) at the Iowa State Fairgrounds... Junk Jubilee!    It's a three day show, it starts offically tomorrow at 10, runs til 6pm, same on Sat. and on Sunday it's 10-4pm.  It costs $6 at the door, but it's worth every penny -- some of the best midwestern anitque dealers and reclaim artists will be there.  I'm in good good company... Above are some of my elegant clock part bracelets ready for the show.

Since it's both a anitque and a art show, I"m also going to have a small selection of old bits we can't use in the business.  So if you are into steampunk creating yourself, it's worth a peek in my destash bins.  Clock parts, Watch and pocket watches, bits of typewriters, sewing machines, and adding machines already taken apart... so the hard part is done for you.  

Home to see you there! 

Tonight is Prom Night!

So, Tonight is the Night, and it's not just Jesscera and friends... she's going with a date. 

WOW.

So anyway, Jesscera for the first time ever requested jewelry for her prom, and she wanted armlets, bracelets for her arms, to go with the vague Greek theme of her dress.

I was delighted to help her with this, and I got to play with my hammers, which are pretty neglected of late. I used 14Ga  sterling silver round wire, carefully shaped and textured, and then bent into a bracelet.  I'm pretty pleased, I only had to refit it once to make it work for her.

Bree ( of the shopping fame) came over to help her get ready, which seemed to consist of lots of giggles and making Jesscera do things she normally doesn't do.  ( she's wearing a tiny, tiny tiny dab of make up... horrors!)

Here is Jesscera showing the whole ensemble off.

Here is a close up of the shoe.

Here is a close up of the armlet.  She has one for both arms.

And here is her Date!

I hope you have a good time sweetie, makes lots of memories!!

future jewelry........

Parts from 1940's Monroe Adding machine, 1950-51 typewriter, and not entirely sure but old stuff....
soon to be jewelry for Junk Jubilee  April 24th!

Mission impossible: to find the bay leaf........

I love the blues and green mixed together in this bracelet!

Jerry loves lasagna - course who doesn't love lasagna?   And I make a mean lasagna... but it's more on the sweet than savory side, and it's good to try new recipes.  The rule around here is follow the recipe exactly as presented, then tweak as needed.  

So Jerry picked out this recipe for a lasagna, and one of the ingredients was bay leaf.  I've never used bay leaf before, and the directions said to remove the bay leaf before making up the lasagna layers... so you used it for flavor but don't eat it.

That puzzled me, but I thought nothing of it.  It also had directions to add basil only after the sauce has simmered , just before you put it in the casserole pan.  That really puzzled me.. I've used basil for years, and I think it improves the longer it simmers in the sauce!   But again, in the spirit of things, I tried to follow the directions.  (and people who use basil have very strong feelings about it, so what the hey, I'll try it once) 

It called to mix cottage cheese and ricotta cheese together for the creamy cheese layer.  I'm good with that.. I love ricotta cheese, but Jerry is a fan of cottage cheese, and mixing it together works well, making the layer less runny ( cause no matter how much you drain the cottage cheese, it's always  runny in that layer)  that part of the lasagna had lovely texture.


It was only after the lasagna was in the oven and baking that I realized 2 things: 
     1.  I forgot to remove the bay leaf
     2.  I didn't add the basil

ARRRGH! 

Now I needed to know why you remove the bay leaf... is it poison?  that makes no sense, why would you cook with it at all???  buy why do you have to remove it then?

Thank goodness for the Internet... the reason is the leaf  itself has sharp edges and cans puncture the inside of a mouth or lodge in the throat, and in extreme cases slice up your stomach.  ouch! 

So Jerry and I have been carefully eating our lasagna.  so far 1/2 of the leaf was found.  There are 2 portions left in the fridge, so it's either in them or someone ate it.. but how you wouldn't be able to tell I don't know.  the 1/2 leaf was in my portion... it was like chewing sharp spiky leather. 

Honestly the lasagna wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't sweet! I missed the basil in it, and next time I'm gonna add it in with everything else. But frankly this supports my long term believe that while lasagna takes time to make, it's really a simple dish and hard to muck up.  

will I use the bay leaf again? honestly I want to make it without once to see if it's worth the effort.  The dish had a lovely savory mix of flavors, and much more complex herbal taste that my personal "sweeter" version of lasagna.  I don't know how much of that is from the bay leaf.  From reading about cooking with bay leaves it really can add under tones to your food.  I have a whole little jar full of them right now.....

I think experimenting with food is almost as much fun as playing in the studio!!  

Now, if only someone else did the dishes........

We now interrupt this jewelry blog with .... prom dress shopping??

Jesscera and Best Buddy Bree! (and the Mom is hiding behind them)

 Last weekend I did something I wasn't sure I would ever do.. shop for a prom dress.  I never went  I'm not sure I exactly regret not going to my proms, but I know that I probably wouldn't regret had I gone either.  It's sort of a rite of passage isn't it?

Next!

Jesscera isn't really a girly-girl, and she's not into dating at this stage of her life.  I think she's maybe worn 3-4 dresses since she was little, if that.  She loves to wear t-shirts and shorts and fake crocks and funny hats.  She's quite the character! 

If it was up to her she would probably just skip it, but her friends are going ( some with dates, some without) and they realllllly want her to go.

Aunt Karla, honorary 2nd mom, overcome with emotion....

color is good, but the sleeves are funky!

She asked my opinion, and I told her I couldn't conceive of her regretting going, but she might, down the line, regret not going.  It's very rarely the things we do that we regret, more than the things we don't do.

So dress shopping seemed to be in order.  I've only bought 1 fancy dress in my entire life, and that was years and years ago.  I really had no idea where to go or even where to start!

Fortunately her best buddy is a expert shopper, and proud of it! 
We ended up going to David's Bridal in West Des Moines and that was an excellent place to start -- we ended up buying everything we needed there. 

Finally the perfect dress, the perfect fit!

These are the shoes, aren't they darling?? We are getting them dyed to match her dress...

 And here is the really exciting thing for me, the Mom and independent jewelry designer!

Jesscera actually asked me to make her jewelry for the dress!! this is the first time she really wanted me to make her something!  ( seriously, she's not girly-girl) 

Happy and victorious shoppers! Time for Olive Garden!

I'm really excited, not only does she want me to make something, but it makes me even more involved in this part of her life.

So that's on the list for this coming weekend....

My Schedule is updated... lookie, 7 Downtown Des Moines Farmer Market Dates! woooo!

It's hard to see in the photo, but the drop crystal is spike shaped.  yummy!  The cutie dragonfly sniffin' a flower is pretty cute as well!

I'm so unbelievably jazzed... I got 7 (count them!) slots this year for Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market... woooo hoooo! Wooot! and all words that start with W that means Wow!


Anyway, finally having my dates for FM prompted me to get my schedule updated.... so take a look! I've got 13 dates upcoming so far. 

Happy Dance!

first show is just 4 weekends away.... eep!

I made this on girl's weekend.. I think I was inspired by all the companionship !!

My first show is sort of a different show for me, it's Junk Jubilee . (April 24-26)

I'm really looking forward to it-- It's sort of a antique / recycled art / everything including the kitchen sink show.  Jerry and I checked it out last year and had a blast... some of the art was amazing and of course wall to wall antiques.  Heaven!  Since my jewelry has shifted to mostly my Mechanical Romance line, I feel ( I hope! ) it's a good fit.  If it is they have a equally fab show in the fall..   and they will be service drinks at the show... Bloody Marys, Mimosas, & beer.  How classy is that?  So my fingers are crossed that this will end up being a great venue for us.

This is gonna be a strange strange year I think.  Due to graduations , and other family events this year, I have weekends crossed out that normally I would have 2-3 different shows to consider... I'm getting into some shows I wasn't expecting to and not getting into shows I was hoping for... It's driven me to consider other venues besides art shows, because with the travel limitations we have this year, I have to branch out.

Hopefully next year the hubby will be a full fledged teacher, and that's gonna change things as well... it will be even harder to schedule shows working around whatever his schedule will be.  On the other hand, next year might be a good year to slow down shows, and really catch my breath.. we have been doing 20-25 shows every summer for the last 5-6 years. I would like to maybe be in 10-15 shows and be in galleries again.  A slower show schedule would allow me to do a gallery or 2 full time I think...

Another type of show I've thought about, but haven't tried: steampunk convention.  We will be dipping our feet in that market in May, by doing Steampunk Mid-West in Boone IA.  Dates for that is May 16-17th, and  I will have more info in a future blog.

This weekend I'll be updating my website with the list of shows.  I'll all so be working like a mad woman trying to get more inventory done, shopping for a prom dress, and a 1000 other things that I can't get out of.
OK, I don't want to get out of some of them.... now dishes... :)