Mo loves visiting the greenhouse
Mr Mo often comes out to help me tend the vegetables in the greenhouse. There are some carrots, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, basil, beans and peas. Lemon verbena, dill, strawberries and cosmos complete the crew.
Mo follows me out there, flops on the cool concrete and enjoys the heat of the hothouse. Seattle has had a cool summer, so much more comfortable than the rest of the country, so the warmer greenhouse has pleased the plants. The radishes however, were too hot and had to go outside.
Chilling with the lettuce and cosmos
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Meanwhile, Miss Nimbus is locked indoors, wishing she could come out and play. There she is looking out the kitchen window.
Not until dark! As soon as she hears me shut the blinds she starts begging to be let out. Maybe when she is older she will lose interest in hunting birds.
I see birdies, please let me out!
a kiln full of beads
Here we have a kiln full of handmade beads ready for annealing. Annealing is a method for heat treating the beads to make them less likely to break. Annealing is also used in metallurgy to make metals less brittle.
After several hours in the hot kiln, the beads reach 960F and are then allowed to cool slowly. Now they are ready to release into the wild.
Glass is still glass, so a bead might break if dropped. It is also wise to avoid thermal shock to glass beads, so if you were wearing a glass bead while sunbathing and then jumped into a cold swimming pool it could have unhappy results.
Mo with buddy Heath
Mr Mo has his stuffed animal pal named Heath. They are pretty cute together. This week I was given a new toy for Miss Nims, a sweet little handmade wool mouse. This special mouse was from The Snow Leopard Trust. Handcrafted items are made in Central Asia, home to the Snow Leopard, and sold to support their global conservation efforts.
It must have had an interesting scent, as Miss Nims curled back her lips to enjoy the aroma. This grimace is called the flehmen response. She then chased it all around the kitchen.
Nims has a mouse by the tail
This week’s necklace is a wrap around style that can be worn in a variety of lengths. Crisp blues and white seed beads in a free form scalloped edge complement the three larger handmade Aura Sun Arts beads.
blue and white wrap style necklace
The entire strand is 19 inches, but it is shown here as a 16 inch choker. The lobster claw clasp in the front makes it easy to hook over the main strand where you like. I will be making some variations on this theme in other colors, and it will be fun to come up with matching earrings.
Click on the image for a closer view. The ruffle is best appreciated in person; the tiny seed beads woven in a peyote stitch create a flexible fabric. This style necklace will be in the $175.00 range.
With the long summer days, Miss Nimbus the expert bird hunter is trapped indoors until 9:30 now. Since the Anna’s hummingbird has become a regular visitor at the pond, protecting these avian jewels is even more important.
The handy cat door has a large concrete block in front of it, how frustrating! It is on a small magazine to protect the floor, and Nims has been scratching at the paper in a vain attempt to escape. I clean up the scrap paper and there is always more. She can see outside through the hole in the concrete block and get little whiffs of outdoor air, but it is too heavy to move.
darn obstacle
can she tunnel out?
She has gotten to where I think she can tell time, as soon as the hour approaches she is begging to go out. She knows the words “want to go out?” She knows a finger held up means no, and a finger pointed at the door means yes!
is it dark outside yet?
Both of them have alerted me to strangers in the yard by growling. They play fetch and go for walks with me. All these tricks that only dogs are supposed to know, what smart cats.
Years ago I worked in fine jewelry manufacturing, where I was responsible for creating new designs, mass producing some items, casting the waxes up in gold or silver, making rubber molds of prototypes, and so forth.
Here is a short promotional video from this manufacturer, Le Monde, that shows the process. Towards the end of the video you will see me treeing up a group of waxes prior to casting and a good demo of how the lost wax casting takes place.
measure off a slice of wax, mark the center
For a step by step demo of the process of carving a wax, I took these photos. First you cut the appropriately sized slice from a tube of hard carving wax. Then sketch the design on the wax, keeping your center lines clearly indicated.
draw your design on the wax tube
Cut away the excess with saws, Xacto knives and files, working from the inside out; make the finger size right before trimming the outside of the ring shank, make the area to set the stones the exact size needed before trimming excess back towards your central focus.
refine the shape with files and xacto knife
Refine the shape with files, sandpaper, and polish the wax with a cotton buff, and it is ready for the casting department. Click on any of these photos for an enlarged view.
polish the wax with a cotton disk
The secret for creating a beautiful original wax? Imagine the recipient gasping with delight when they open the gift, and work backwards from that gasp. You can see some of my original jewelry creations here, along with some larger sculptural work. (Mouseover the numbers to see them.)
The upstairs of my 1933 vintage house is a half story, so the side walls are half height knee walls. I have sliding panels there to allow access to the great storage area back in the eaves. This dusty and mysterious part of the house must be a library of old scents, memories of a half century of resident cats. They really enjoy being let back in there to explore. Mo always dips his normally curled-over-the-back tail so it won’t hit the fabric. Miss Nims looks so astonished, click for a larger view.
Instead of being let outdoors, they get to go exploring in the attic. Miss Nims is only allowed out after dark. With the longer daylight hours, now it will be 9:00. Sorry little girl, but I saw you chasing that hummingbird at 8:30 so you have to wait even longer tonight. She did capture and kill her first rat, I was sure to praise her for that.
The elephant batik on the wall has been donated for a quilting project, more on that to follow.
the portal opens
Mo vanishes but for tail
Today is Armed Forces Day, thank you to all who serve.
Land of the Free
My front porch has flown a flag for the past ten years, and now there is a bit of bunting on the railing as well. Sometimes the local school band practices marching on my street, not a real parade, just the flavor.
Spring is here, the days are getting warm enough to start making beads again. Glass prefers working temperatures above 65 degrees.
Here are the first new beads of the season, on the rod at the bottom of the photo. They are smaller than my usual beads shown at the top. In the center of the photo are some of the stock glass rods used to create the beads. I am needing smaller accent beads, and am also experimenting with a larger steel rod which results in a bead with a larger hole. Click on each photo for a closer view.
first beads of the year
whack! take that!
Miss Nimbus gets rather upset if she sees neighbor cat Jasper sitting on the outside windowsill. She will charge him and smack the glass with her paw, trying to bat him away.
I sometimes hear an odd thumping from the next room and come to investigate. She is often successful in chasing him away. The scratches in the tabletop bear testament to the vigor of her defense. She really gets indignant.
He doesn’t go to far, hanging out on the porch in the sun, that loud raspy voice greeting me if I go outside. Jasper seems pretty pleased with himself and life in general, just look at the picture below. He and Mo get along well, they are outdoors together during the day.
Miss Nimbus remains housebound during daylight hours to give the birds a chance, such as the hummingbird spotted at the waterfall this week. Keeping her on the night shift works better than bells on the collar. It would be super for wildlife if more cat owners followed this policy.
happy cat jasper
mayan style bracelet with jaguar carving
This season’s episodes of Survivor: Redemption Island are taking place in Nicaragua. The black and white spiral design called the Hunab Ku is featured on playing pieces in the game, such as tiles that were broken in a recent contest.
Many years ago I took a trip to Belize and read up about the Maya before the trip. I was able to visit Tikal and some of the barrier islands for snorkeling, sea kayaking and camping. The slate carving of the jaguar was a souvenir.
Later I created this peyote stitch bracelet with seed beads using that motif for the central design. The beads are slightly rectangular in shape so the design came out oval instead of perfectly round. Sorry, these are not for sale, but you can click for a closer view.
the mo report | mary | 
July 23, 2011 5:06 pm | 
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