Wild Working Weekend

Last weekend I did all things enamel jewelry as I'm gearing up for the upcoming busy holiday shopping season and thought I'd share some of it with you. Sometimes I can become overwhelmed with the thought of the work I need to so but other times I get energized by it and I jump right in. I'm very happy to say that the latter is what happened last weekend. (And we hope it continues this weekend too!) And it's coming just in time because as of now I am set to participate in three craft shows and I'm also in stores and of course there is the Etsy shop to fill. Lots to do!

(At some point I want to do a proper post on my torch fire enamel jewelry making process but for right now I'll just show you the main points.)

Firing station with torch and exhaust fan. (Taking a break with Cooper).

All the fired pieces go here while they wait for finally assembly such as ear wires and chains for pendant necklaces.

Of course everything is organized! Half of the fun of making jewelry is the organizational system I need for it! :P

Cooper oversees the entire production and gets me back to work when I want to slack off. 

So it was a productive weekend getting lots of pieces underway and I'm hoping to continue it this weekend (and several more to come, of course). I hope you have a nice and productive weekend doing that which you do that you enjoy. :)

Rocking the Red River Gorge

Geared up for the next adventure.

It's been a while, I know, but the impact of this the second trip of my summer hasn't left me. This trip was to (of all places) Kentucky -- and it was fantastic! I went to a place called Red River Gorge. I went with my backpacking group. We had a veteran among us who knew the place, but for the rest of us it was new.

That's me, heading off into the wild green yonder.

I've been told that Red River Gorge has the most natural arch formations after Arches National Park (one of my favorites!).

It also has lots of rocks to climb and scramble up:

I'm happy to be near the top.

Scoping out the task at hand. (Okay, I didn't tackle that one but next time I will!)

Scrambling up Indian Staircase:

And scrambling back down Indian Staircase:

And other sides of caves:

Group shot!

Need to rest every so often...

Lovely flora.

Amazing rock jumping!! (that's not me jumping but I *did* jump -- twice!)

Vista.

Don't know specifically where I was but I loved being there.

Cool fauna.

Group shot.

We were able to do what every backpacker loves -- Cowboy Camping!

Camping without a tent -- under the stars.

So incredible to wake up to this view.

I have one more trip planned for this year (somehow didn't get in as many as I wanted!) which may be interesting since it will be in late fall when that white-stuff-that-will-go-unnamed could happen....