Exciting and new things

I've made a bunch of stuff lately that I'm proud of! Hooray! I had a bit of a lull, but I feel like I've gotten my mojo back now, which is always good.

Firebird pendant:

The idea for this all came to me in a flash on Saturday, and I ended up making all of the pendant part right away. Made the cord last night and tonight.


Something purple and shiny for myself:

I've since re-hung this from a purple silk cord, since the neckwire was a bit small for me and the silk looks nicer. This is using that new-to-me style of stonesetting. I only wish I'd cut the border of the copper circle with some kind of interesting pattern or something.

Some silver pendants:

These are notable because I made some things in silver without freaking out about OMG, using SILVER. It was good to just plan them out and execute them. Setting 6mm stones is not my favorite thing, though. I'm hoping to set some bigger stones this upcoming week.

Tried a new-to-me technique involving molten metal!

You put some scrap silver into a hollowed-out chunk of charred wood, and pour it onto salt. Texture ensues. I tried to solder it onto a ring, but it desoldered the ring in the process :( Maybe I can convince someone it's supposed to be split like this? (In reality I'll likely try to resolder it together..)

All of these things are destined for my table at StrowlerCon, with about a 50/50 chance of going in the Quincy store or in my etsy shop if they don't sell at the con.

A part of me wants to do even more elaborate, expensive things between now and then... and part of me is like "dude, you know nobody wants to spend more than like $10 on anything, ever, make tons and tons of the cheapest things possible from your current materials". I hope I have the time and energy to do some of both. I'll probably dig into my bead stash and make some quick things using techniques that are fairly boring to me but should make nice results--and then set some of my magnificent cabochons (rainbow obsidian! labradorite! amethyst!).