Do this-

1 ripe pear
½ large Vidalia onion
1 large can of chunk chicken in water
1 box pasta of your choice
Several handfuls each: dried cranberries or mixed raisins, pine nuts
Mayo
Sweet honey mustard

Note: Don’t get all uptight about the ratios. It’s not rocket surgery, it’s chicken salad. Just throw some stuff on in!

Set the pasta to boil. Toast a single layer of pine nuts in a pan over medium heat. Flip to turn, don’t stir! Peel and chop your pear and onion, and chuck them in a large bowl with several handfuls of dried fruits and your toasted nuts, and the drained chicken.* Dollop in a generous amount (more than you think you’ll need- the pasta will stretch it out) of mayo and honey mustard. Stir to distribute.

When the pasta is finished, rinse with cold water to stop it cooking. Drain thoroughly.  Add it to the other stuff and stir until combined. Salt to taste, and pepper too, if you’re that way.

*I like to drain the canned chicken over my cooled, drained pasta to get a little more flavor bang for my chicken buck.

Tuesday Tipnique – Alicia Faith

One of the wire wrapping techniques I never tried my hand at was bezel-wrapping stones. Don’t misunderstand- I think skilled hands can do absolutely lovely wrapped stones, but it’s a tricky thing to do well. And if I can’t do it well, well, I don’t do it!

Also, I’m scared of square wire.

Alicia Faith has those skilled hands! She shared some tips with me that elucidate just how exacting you must be to get a quality result. Look at this piece:

She writes:

This pendant was rather tricky to wrap because of the shape. I had to measure really carefully, bend the wires little by little, and check the fit every single time I tweaked the setting. This is because the odd, angled shape of the stone means the setting has to fit precisely or it will be loose.

One thing I find really useful is a quilter’s rule (a little ruler with a sliding guide at a right angle to the ruler), which I use to help me mark the bundle of wires my pendants start out as evenly.

So, she clearly takes her time and doesn’t hesitate to measure twice! Your attention to detail is evident in your work, Alicia!

See more of her designs in her Etsy shop.

Cranberry Bog – not as gross as it sounds!

Actually, it’s beautiful. Like, kingdom of fairies beautiful. Much more beautiful than my photography can show!

Here, tree roots have a proclivity for growing out across the surface rather than down into the ground.

Bog Lavender looks like its fragrant namesake, but doesn't smell like it. It's an endangered species, so I didn't test that out.

The bottom of the bog is 57 feet down, so this boardwalk floats. The state National Guard flew prefabricated sections of it in by helicopter.

The pitcher plant is one of several carnivorous plants in the bog. It's not the best photo, but the red plant in the center is a pitcher.

A thick layer of sphagnum forms the surface of the bog, and gives other plants a foothold. Here, our guide Darryl is pointing out another carnivorous plant, the sundew.

The bog's surface rolls and wrinkles due to tree roots spreading across the surface, as well as the fact that the whole thing is fluid.

The boardwalk comes to an end at Cranberry Creek, which runs through the middle of the bog. Otters often visit the boardwalk.

Yes, that's exactly what it looks like. Otter poop.

Our guide said this type of fungus is often found carved, painted and varnished in souvenir shops. I think it must be more attractive on the tree.

This immature red salamander breathes through its skin! As bright red as it is, it was actually hard to see on the forest floor among all the decaying leaves.

The tour of the bog was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. It actually rained on and off throughout our time there, but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all.

Adam was pretty engaged with peoplewatching, and David thought the facts about the local flora were really interesting. I’m always fascinated by local geology. So, the whole family was entertained.

New (old) stuff

I finished this ring a while ago, but I really dragged my heels on listing it because I like it a lot! So, it’s not really new stuff. Plus, it’s made from a vintage button, so again, not new!

I wasn’t sure I wanted to let it go. But I decided in the end that I’d rather see it go to someone who loves it when I can always make myself something else.

I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to work on this scale since cut stones of this size are pricey. I liked trying out the larger design with such a pretty piece of glass. I think I’d like to work on some more pieces with larger settings.

Accidental crystal ring

I left a simple, thin silver ring in my pickle pot days ago. Not only that, but I also forgot to put lid back on! At least I didn’t leave it plugged in, so I have that going for me. But look what I found in it today:

I love it. It’s just salt crystals tinted blue with copper, and so it’s totally impermanent and impractical. But if I were set up to do casting, that would be what I was doing right now instead of posting to my blog! I’d make a mold, clean up the inside and back and sides of the ring, and cast that sucker in silver!

Casting has definitely been on my list of things to learn, so I might just put this little accident away somewhere cool and dry, and see if it doesn’t hold up until I’m ready to try it out.

Wouldn’t it make a neat silver ring? I think so.

Tuesday Tipnique with Susie of Lynwood Jewellry

I have a great affinity for the art of wire wrapping. I started out by designing wire-wrapped jewelry and so it’ll always be of great interest to me. Unfortunately I haven’t done much since I started metal smithing, as that’s taken up all my creative energies. I miss it!

Susie of Lynwood Jewellry is a really talented designer who incorporates wrapping and smithing in her pieces.  She recently posted on her blog about a wrapping technique that she uses to great effect in this piece:

Susie writes:

The technique is pretty simple and you should have a go, as it does make any bead look just gorgeous and a little bit different.

Yes, you should have a go! It’s a really fun look and if you follow Susie’s directions, you’ll agree it’s simple too. Several months ago I came up with my own way of achieving a similar effect, but if I’d had Susie’s description of her process, I’d have enjoyed doing it much more! I had broke a vintage bead and got sore fingers for my trouble.

See more of Lynwood Jewellery at Susie’s Etsy Shop and read more about her process on her blog.

The luckiest

We dined al fresco last night, with grilled burgers and potato salad. The weather was really perfect. Cooler than it’s been in days, and not too windy.

I played with a toy camera emulator that I find endlessly entertaining. It gives photos a nostalgic effect that I think is really cute. It makes things that happened yesterday look half a lifetime old.

One of my favorite things about living here is how easy it is to spend time outside. The backyard is just the right size, and the patio is just private enough.

My parents found Adam a little lawn chair just his size. He’s thrilled to have his very own, just like the big folks.

He’s getting so good at mirroring things we show him. He shakes out clothing fresh from the dryer, “brushes” his teeth, combs his hair, blows on his food, and more new skills crop up every day.

He looks like such a big kid so often to me now. Especially after haircuts! He seems to age about 6 months with every trim. I made a deal with my mom, and the new policy is No More Haircuts. She didn’t have to twist my arm. He’s growing too fast.

But he’s still our baby.

Still doin’ baby things.

Our third anniversary is coming up. The time has passed so quickly! I think it’s because we’ve had such a great time together. We’ve moved twice, had a baby, career changes for both of us, and we’ve each grown up a lot in the process. But I still have a huge crush on him. How could I not? Look at him.

I live for the weekends. The three of us have so much fun together. It sustains me through the whole week. Or really, I guess until about Thursday afternoon. I’m a happy, lucky lady.

Swap meet?

I’m thinking of organizing a skills exchange group. I don’t really know how to start, or even have a good sketch outline of what I want to do. I know I want to get together with creative types on a regular basis, and I know I want to share information and teach and learn.

I’m thinking it could be a monthly thing, or every other week, most likely in the evenings, and the host would rotate.

I could teach simple things like making ball headpins, making and closing bezels, basic torch enameling, wire-wrapping, etc. And I’d love to learn just about any crafty skills. Really, I just think it sounds like a fun way to organize a social event around something I love to do.

Anyone in eastern PA interested?

Holiday in the hemlock valley

We had a really nice long weekend together, just the three of us. We slept in, grilled out, and bought sunglasses. It was a perfect Memorial Day weekend.

I’d been wanting to take David to Dingman’s Falls for weeks and we finally got the chance to go together. The falls are part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. When you enter the park, you actually come to another waterfall first- Silverthread Falls.

Tuesday Tipnique – Elizabeth’s Exclusives

One of the more difficult parts of metal smithing, for me, is heat control. Different metals conduct heat differently. Even differently-shaped or -sized pieces of the same metal will heat and cool at different rates. But for good solder joins and quality fusing, you must heat each joining piece to the same temperature, often at the same rate.

My team mate Elizabeth has shared with me a little of what she did to make these awesome earrings. I was especially interested in her comments on heat control:

Textured copper and smoky quartz

She says-

My favorite item at the moment are these copper earrings.  Materials included copper, fine silver gallery wire, smokey quartz gemstones, solder, and flux.  I hammered the copper face down on concrete steps to achieve the varied texture.  Holes were drilled with my Dremel behind the spot where the bezels would lie to let in extra light to give the Smokey Quartz gemstones more sparkle.  After hammered I soldered fine silver gallery wire to create the bezel.  The hardest part by far was soldering the bezel to the copper.  I had to heat the silver and copper at just the right rate to avoid melting the silver.  I’d apply the heat, take it away and bring it back at different intervals to keep an even temperature.  Once the flux bubbled up the solder started to flow and I moved the torch around to evenly distribute the solder.  The quartz were popped in and then I folded down the tips of the wire to hold the stone snugly.  Due to the stones being cut high I had to really squeeze in the sides to hold them in place.

Plus, I loved how she was so inventive with the texturing. It reminds me to be freer about identifying ways to use what I have around me. Read more about her creative process on her blog, and visit her Etsy store, Elizabeth’s Exclusives.