hope rising necklace

interesting, in an annoying way

these photos are poorly lit, and strangely colored (that's me reflected in a tumbled surface). but never mind that...

look at the size difference. they were exactly the same size before firing (at 1110 for 45 minutes). the difference was that one of each pair (the small ones) has my little logo in silver on the back. i fired those on vermiculite so the earring wouldn't drape over the thickness of the logo. the other(plain) ones i fired flat on the kiln shelf. apparently, the drag on the kiln shelf keeps them from shrinking as much. since this picture was taken, i have since fired the larger ones to 1650 for 10 minutes (not much change) and to 1110 for 45 minutes, resting on the vermiculite. they're quite a bit closer in size now. you can be sure i will choose 1 common surface to fire on in the future....
this pair is even worse. after all the extra firing, i'm going to have to SAW some of the top edge off.

that brushed surface is so much nicer....
this is my "hope rising" series of earrings. there is a necklace (pic to follow) in the series, too. it was made to donate to an auction to benefit a friend with cancer.

my beautiful little ghoul

her brother spiked a 102 fever on the afternoon of halloween. missed the party AND the trick-or-treating. poor kid.
on the subject of poor kids...some little stinker at my daughter's after-school program has started calling her a bu-girl. say it fast. it's half boy, half girl. it hurts her feelings. it's all i can do to NOT tell her to take him DOWN (because i know she can). it's very difficult for me to gather the energy to say "hmmmm...let's think of a way we can get little bobby to stop calling you that..."

election day results

disappointed by virginia and new jersey.
truly saddened by SOME mainers decision to repeal same-sex marriage legislation.

it's a sad day in maine.