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Have just finished three new pieces of jewelry. The first is a khaki colored turquoise bracelet with pearls. I made it a couple of weeks ago but wasn’t happy with the clasp which was one of my twisted toggle variations. It took part Saturday to make the new clasp and loop which also shortens the bracelet to 7 5/8″ long, it was almost 8″. I showed it to Molly at Metalliferous, she said it was “Earth Princess Meets L A “, a title I will keep.

The next piece is a pendant, I made it to test a new type of joining, a tube and a ring type of link between the two pieces. I will show it with a wire instead of a chain.

The last piece was put together with a stock sterling cuff that I bought at Metalliferous a long time ago and hadn’t decided what to do with it. These stones came together  when I started to put colors together for contrast instead of trying to find matches, I like the colorful effect and think I may keep this one for myself ( it is a little dainty, so maybe not). It’s about a half inch wide at the widest part by the blue stone.

Spent part of the weekend getting a bracelet made. I finished it today by setting the stones. Have been trying to finish other projects including painting papers for New York Central. Have already delivered over twenty sheets and there’s still a number of colors to paint through before I complete the beginning inventory.

Gennady helped me regain the diameter of the base of my copper test piece. I also started two more, if all goes well tomorrow, I will try and get a round or two of raising done after I paint papers.

I have finished 5 new bracelets. Two were the cast pieces shown in an earlier post, a large stone turquoise and pearl bracelet that I haven’t photographed yet because I think I want to change the clasp, this pearl and two color turquoise piece

and today’s turquoise and jasper bracelet.

Yesterday a neighbor called and said that he’d caught the kittens that he’d told me about a few weeks ago. He, Ed, showed up about ten minutes later with a cat carrier loaded with two kittens, a male and a female. We took the male, a nice stripey little thing about the size of a soft ball. I am very happy to have a cat again. Colman took this shot of us on the deck this afternoon. He seems to be adjusting, he’s very vocal. We think we’ll call him Henry.

Last night Colman went to the annual auction at the Staten Island Orchid Society.  He came home with a number of plants, this cattleya is particularly striking. 

I’ve just finished a few new pieces of jewelry. Purchasing the tumbling mill last week has given me the ability to finish, polish and harden metal at home so I don’t have to go into the studios at FIT to use their machines. The tumbler uses steel shot instead of the steel pins in the magnetic polishers at school. The pins shined and hardened the pieces but left a finely marked surface that wasn’t always appropriate, the steel shot takes a lot longer but gives the pieces a brighter, burnished surface that I like better. the pendants were pieces that I made a long time ago but never finished for one reason or another. The bracelet is all new, made with cast bezels and finished with a forged toggle of my own design. I’ll be putting these pieces up on my Etsy store in a day or two. Here are the pendants. This ‘Moon and Earth’ pendant is about 2 inches wide. 

The oval is large,  about 3 x 4 inches.

All the stones in the bracelet are 10 x 12 mm, marbled khaki turquoise alternating with oval Jade cabochons. It’s about 7.75 inches long 

I made several stops in the Diamond District before heading downtown, here’s a progress shot of the foundation for the new Diamond Building. Since I’m in the area about once a week I’ll take progress shots as the building goes up, I haven’t heard how tall it will be yet and am not sure I will like having all the dealers in a vertical arrangement. It’s so much more convenient to walk the street like a Mall to see all the dealers displays, it will change the street dramatically if they are all contained in a tower. 

After delivering and shopping at to New York Central Art Supply I decided it would be easier to walk up to 20th street to see Marge at Talas and then on to visit Weldon Design.  As I approached Union Square from Fourth Avenue the skies darkened as a storm was passing threateningly overhead. Sunlight was still getting through and it lit the New York Life Tower as if it were set in an opera. I took these shots just before crossing 14th street and entering the park.  

Crossing into Union Square I was surprised to see that the market has expanded to practically encompass the park, it was teeming with shoppers and all kinds of fresh produce, baked goods, art, plants and peoples pets.