Just cut and headed to the curing rack

I just cut up 4 logs of soap.

The first one is Christmas Tree. A blend of Fir Needle and Cedarwood essential oils. Green clay and green oxide color the soap, and I used deep gold mica to swirl. The swirl is a little more wispy than I wanted, but it's still good!

(click on any photo to enlarge)


Next, Sahara Sandalwood, a fragrance oil. I brushed some gold mica on top. Smells good, looks good.



This one is Cinnamon Stick, a fragrance oil. Bottom layer is uncolored, top layer is colored with red oxide. Pretty! I like that deep burnt red! Smells good, it's not an in-your-face cinnamon scent.



And finally, Orange Blossom, a mix of 2 fragrance oils - Fleurs D'Oranger and Orange Blossom. Traced really really fast, I was afraid it was going to rice on me. But I got it in the mold in time. No coloring, the swirl is the result of the fast trace. I knew these two fragrance would do that, so I made sure my soap mix was blended really well before I put them in.



So look for these in my shops in about 3 weeks!

Off the curing rack, into the shops!

A couple of soaps listed both in my Etsy shop, and on my website.

Psychedelic Patchouli

(click on any image to enlarge)


Golden Myrrh



Campfire



And have you seen these two?? Listed them a while ago, but I didn't blog them. :)

Orange and Clove



Dragon's Blood



And a gratuitous cat picture :)

The Desert Princess is listed !!

I have listed The Desert Princess in my Etsy jewelry shop, Jewelry From Tucson. Check it out!!

The Desert Princess

Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and great encouragement as I recorded the making of this beautiful necklace! :)

Crochet Projects

Here's a couple of small crochet projects I have completed.

This first one is a pair of ankle warmers I made for myself. These are snug around the ankles and flare out a bit at the calf and at the instep. I can either just slip them on, or unbutton them and wrap then around my ankles and button them back up. I just use one of the spaces between a double crochet as a button hole.

(click on any photo to enlarge)


Next, a small bag that I am using to keep my ball of yarn in while crocheting. I do most of my crocheting sitting in my computer chair, so I just hang the bag off the arm of my chair in an attempt to keep the cat from pawing through the bag as if it is her own private toy! :-D



This is a little open shoulder purse. Not sure what the heck it could be used for, but ....





A book bag, or project bag. I have this one for sale in my Etsy shop (Click *here* to see listing)





A little wallet, or business card holder which I felted (click *here* to see listing in my Etsy shop)



And a couple of cell phone or IPod cozies

The Desert Princess - Completed !!!!

I finally finished the embellishments I was working on, and The Desert Princess is a completed project !!!! :-D





I am happy with the results, and I will be listing it in my jewelry shop once I get a few more good pics.

The Desert Princess - A Work in Progress Oct. 26

I have pretty much completed the necklace except for some embellishments I would like to add to the connectors. I wanted to make sure it would hang ok before I did any extensive wire wrapping. With the last strands connecting to the clasp, I made the outside strand a bit shorter than the inside strand. Usually it's the other way around but I needed that outside strand to pull the bottom 4 strands up a bit.

(click on any photo to enlarge)


I invision this on someone much taller than me. When wearing a T-shirt, it hangs too low on me, but if I put on a blouse with a wide collar and wear the necklace on the outside, or if I wear a turtle neck sweater, it actually looks good! Here is a not very good pic, but just to show you



OK ! Now to go and add a few details!

(edited a few hours later)
Embellishments !!

Some Personalized Soap Examples

Island Coconut and White Sage small soaps for party favors.

Labeled and still unwrapped. First cigar wrap is plain white light weight card stock.

(click on any photo to enlarge)


Second cigar wrap is a heavier weighted ivory card stock with colored speckles



And here's both with a deli wrap

The Desert Princess - a Work in Progress Oct. 18th

OK, where did I leave off on the Desert Princess?? :) It's getting a little harder to find time to work on it as the soap is starting to demand more and more of my attention. Which, by the way, is a GOOD thing!

I added the last strand to the piece. I know I said I was going to add a couple of pieces of red coral, but I just love this blue blue turquoise too much !!

(Click on photos to enlarge)


Now I am at a point where I have to think outside the box a little, a bit outside my comfort zone. These 2 sections need to be braced apart, so they are not collapsing into each other. I do a little bit of wire wrapping, so I have plenty of sterling wire. So, using a 6 inch piece of 18 gauge half hard, and my little wigjig, I made a simple modified U shaped connector, with 2 loops on the ends which I will connect strands of sterling silver beads.



And here they are attached to the necklace





And this effectively holds the two sections apart! Kind of plain looking, don't you think? I have some 24 gauge soft wire that I will do some wire wrapping with turquoise embellishments to spiff them up a bit. THEN I can make the sterling bead strands that will connect to the clasp. I still haven't decided which clasp. These are my two choices:



I'm liking the hook, but the toggle will probably hold up better under the weight of the necklace.

And speaking of princesses .....

First Crochet Project Completed

I've started crocheting again, after years and years (about 25 or more!) of not picking up a crochet hook. I started again for 2 reasons ...

1 - I have a TON of yarn that I purchased when I was weaving. And I mean a ton! Look at all this yarn ...

(Click on photo to enlarge)


Most of it is gorgeous wool from Bartlett Yarns in Harmony, Maine.

2 - While watching TV, I realized I was wasting so much time! I LIKE watching TV in the evening, so I figured, instead of messing around on the computer while watching TV, I should do something a little more constructive.

I've been practicing my crocheting by making a few ipod/cell phone cozies. And I finally feel confident enough to start making items to sell. This is my first sellable ensemble .... a purse and a matching phone cozy. I just finished washing them and they are blocked out on a thick towel for drying.



Since I don't have buttons in the house, I crocheted the "buttons" for the flaps. Worked out good!





Opps, I see a little thread sticking out in the cozy above ... I'll have to weave that back in when it's dry.

The Desert Princess - A Work in Progress Sept. 30

More work done on The Desert Princess yesterday. I completed the bottom 4 strands.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)


This "unit" in of itself looks very nice together!

Now, started on the top 4 strands. First, the Nacozari turquoise



Then, the green Kingman heishi



And more green Kingman turquoise. This one, I removed the silver beads I had originally placed in the middle, and I exchanged the silver beads I had at the end with the same silver beads as the strand with the Nacozari Turquoise. Looks better.



I hope to work some more on it today, and at least get the last strand added.

Crocheting Some More

I've done a couple more fun little crochet projects, trying to make the perfect little droid/iphone/ipod cozy. I am finding I have forgotten a lot about crocheting, but it's slowly coming back!

Here's three little projects:

(Click on any photo to enlarge)


Starting from the left - This one looks ok from the front, but it's a bit messy in the back. My joining leaves a little to be desired at this point. I tried to think of a way to use some of my beads as buttons. Here I used a fancy jasper faceted tear drop. It works well for decoration, but when I strapped the cozy with the droid in it to my belt, I felt like it wouldn't hold very well. The Droid fits perfectly.









This next one I like! It's a little bunchy on the bottom, but not too bad. The "button" is a crocheted flower. I'm not sure how well it will hold up with being squashed in and out of the button hole. When I strapped the cozy with the Droid in it to my belt, it felt very secure. The back looks ok. The Droid fits snuggly on the sides, the cozy is a bit taller than the Droid. No big deal.









The last one is just too wide to be a cozy, so I just added a shoulder strap to it. Kind of cute, but again, a messy back.







So there you have it. And here's hoping that eventually, practice makes perfect! :-D