catherines confessions

Today is Wednesday and once again it is time to play my two favourite alphabet-memes, Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's abc-Wednesday and Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. This week both memes have the letter "S". Similar to the letter "R", there are lots and lots of S-words to choose from. After so many R-words last week, I have decided to try to limit myself to S-words that are related to my main subject, jewellery-making. So my S-word is Silver , a precious metal that is widely used to make pieces of jewellery . Here we see a finger ring and a bangel that I made of sterling silver at a beginners' silver-smithing course that I took a year ago. Not very exciting? No. But I learned the basics of how to solder silver. Until that time when I can afford to invest in silver-smithing equipment there are already good silver smiths who can do the kind of jewellery that I would like to be able to do one day. Take a look at Trudie Davies' ring here. You c...

Today is Wednesday and once again it is time to play my two favourite alphabet-memes, Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's abc-Wednesday and Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. This week both memes have the letter "Q". These are my thoughts about Q: Is the letter Q a quiet letter? Or does it quack like a duck? Or quaver like a quail ? Let's dance a quadrille! Is it a quagga or a quagmire? What are its qualities? Is it quadratic or quarrelsome? Does it ask questions or queries? Or can it quench your thirst, make you feel queasy, or force you to stand and wait in a queue? Is Q quick-witted and the quintessense of how a letter should be? Or is it only a quirk among written signs? I am not quite finished yet. My Q-words are QUILT and QUARTZ . I even have quaint photos for you all to see! Look at these beautiful earrings that Karen Stahlecker of WillOaks Studio has made with QUARTZ drops! Click on the image or go to her page here. And here, Karen Stahlecker has made a be...

Today is already Thursday (well actually it's Friday) and once again I am wondering if I will be able to post anything for the two alphabet-memes that I have been playing the past ten weeks or so. This week, both abc-Wednesday, round 6, as well as Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, have the letter "O". I love the letter "O" and there are so many interesting O-words. In keeping with my ambition to choose jewellery-related words, my first O-word is " open squares ". This photo above shows s ome Czech pressed glass beads that I like very much. They are called "Open Squares". Here are some earrings that I made with some open squares: This is what is looks like when I plan my earrings. I simply put the beads on brass head pins to see if I like the combination before using real sterling silver wire. Sometimes the warm browns and reds of brass and copper look so nice with some colours that I use the brass or copper instead. My second O-wo...