Summertime Shiny Things!

Summertime is all about color and sparkle for me.  The word 'summer' conjures up images of gloriously colored flower gardens and green, leafy foliage!  I think about the wildflowers in the meadows,  wild irises on creekbanks,  brightly colored rocks that I find during my rockhunting adventures,  the earthy hues of the sands and dunes in the desert that surrounds our rural community.  And I think of the myriad blues and greens which define the mountain lakes,  glacial ponds,  and melt-fed streams.

And these days,  I think about JEWELRY!!!  Especially charm-style bracelets.  I love the bright,  shiny kaleidoscope of colors and the dangly little charms that make such a delightful sound whenever I move my write.

The materials thrill me!  Glass beads of all sizes, shapes, and colors.  Gemstone beads,  faceted crystal pieces,  crackle glass - shiny with the bubbles inside them.  There are metal beads and even "stardust" beads!!!!  And the metalwork...ah,  yes,  wire wrap.

The twists and swirls,  wire-wrapped charms remind me of gloriously green vines of the clematis, ivy, and wisteria.  Sometimes I throw in little polymer clay beads that I've made and use their palettes to guide my inspiration.

Othertimes,  I am inspired by a combination of stone and wire.  Moonglow,  to the left,  was borne out of moonstone and gold.  Moonstone chips,  rounds,  and tiny faceted rondelles with glass and freshwater pearls coupled with bright gold-plated wire look so beautiful and elegant together!

Do you like the little heart charms?  I LOVE them!!!!

Glittery fireworks,  ripe cherries,  apples on the tree,  red is a gorgeous color,  especially when combined with delicate silver and curly wire work.  I call this one 'Cherry Fizz'.  It's one of my favorites.

'Punk Rock Love' is a necklace I designed for a friend of mine.  Super chunky,  colorful,  and a little edgy.  I really wanted to wrap the heart pendant with barbed wire.  I'm going to have to learn how to make some...

I haven't been doing this for very long...nor have I made much money at it yet (yet,  lol),  but I have had some pieces comissioned,  which is a huge confidence booster!  Jewelry making has become my passion.  Some days I am just so full of inspiration that I make piece after piece,  all day long!!!

The biggest bummer is when I get low on materials!!!!!

One last piece,  for the road.  I call it Kobalt with a K...as in Kristina,   with a K!!!!  LOL.  I love this blue!!!!

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Rock Hunting - An Obsession

Growing up in Southern California along the coast,  I spent much of my time at the beach.  One of my favorite things was to find seashells as I built sandcastles along the shore.  Each one was a unique little treasure,  designed as a habitat,  left behind as a thing of beauty.
As I grew older,  I grew away from the beaches and into the city.  As an adult,  I came to Yakima,  a rural area of central Eastern Washington.  This is the farthest I have ever lived from the beach.  No more seashells!
But there are different kinds of treasures here!  They are harder to find than seashells,  and research must be done in order to locate them.  They abound in a vast array of colors and compositions.  Agates,  chalcedony,  thundereggs,  crystals,  carnelian,  jaspers,  garnets,  opals,  sunstones,  geodes,  gold!
I live in a mineral-rich area with a diverse terrain.  During warm weather weekends I can be found knee deep in some river searching for water-tumbled agates that look like giant ice cubes.  During the spring I comb the flat, rocky fields just outside of Ellensburg searching for the rare Ellensburg blue agate.  If I am lucky,  I will make the trip to a prehistoric wilderness in northern Oregon where the views are just as fantastic as the vast array of minerals that are found there.  Fabulous moss agates,  thunder eggs with vugs lined with minute glistening crystals,  painted jasper, flame jasper, rainbow jasper,  blue opals with vibrant pink fire,  and huge hunks of icy chalcedony.  Someday,  I will make it deeper into Oregon to dig for baseball size garnets the color of pomegranates and sunstone shillers that glisten like the flesh of a ripe orange.  Perhaps I'll even get to that place in Nevada where opals abound.I have buckets and bins and display cases full of treasure. 
I have a rough time letting any beautiful stone pass through my fingers.  The size of my collection astonishes visitors to my home who have never experienced the adventure of rock hunting.  Some are intrigued,  others are dismayed.  Sometimes even I am perplexed.  Why this obsession?  What am I ever going to do with all of these stones?Recently,  I have begun to make jewelry with them.  Perhaps now I can justify my obsession.
PS:  I am planning to visit Red Top Mountain this year.  On top of this mountain there is a path that scales the side of a decaying wall of basalt on its route to the top.  On the peak there are craters the size of a Volkswagen bus where other "miners" have dug for the treasured thunderegg that Red Top is famous for.  One must only scratch the side of a crater to unearth a plethora of tiny egg-shaped treasures.  It's an amazing place.  I can't wait to make the trip!