Materials: Stones

 oooh!  Look at the new stones Lock got us!  I believe this a not so subtle hint that I need to learn how to solder properly and make bezels?  I am so in love with the iron pyrite cabochons...and the stone up top is an opal!!!

8 Stones

8 days, 8 stones

Lichen and Stone

 We visited an old, old cemetery in White Plains this weekend. I love the lichen growing on all the headstones. Some of them were so old that the text was completely illegible, and there were some that dated back to the late 1700's.  The text was very interesting; sometimes it was hard to read the weird ligatures, but the text and decoration was beautiful.

French Stones

My sister spent some time in France this summer and brought me back some beautiful marble and banded stones from a beach on the Mediterranean.  I wish you all could touch them--they are so smooth!

How To: Acorn Cap Cups

I though I'd share a discovery from this weekend.  In Delaware, I found a plethora of acorn caps on the ground, but none of them had any actual acorns.  A light bulb went off in my head because I've been thinking about egg cups lately:  How could I figure out a way to make these acorn caps into egg cups?  Below are the very simple steps:

The grocery store nearby sells quail eggs, which I've always been slightly too creeped out to buy, and of course when I finally decide that I want them, they are out.  So I used stones instead, which I think may have turned out better.

All you need are acorn caps and a glue gun.

I started by picking three caps that were roughly the same height.  Then I just glued them together in a triangle shape, and added more until I liked the final shape.

I eyeballed the placement of the glue by holding it in place before I gunned it.

Then, while the glue was still hot, I stuck them in place.  I learned that it's better to try to have your excess glue on the stem side of your caps so it doesn't show, but it's fairly easy to pick off if you mess one up.

See? Simple as pie.

I'm thinking of them more as spring decorations than easter decorations, so enjoy!

Fools' Gold

I've been having a love affair with iron pyrite for quite a while.  It's one of my favorite stones and I love the muted metallic tone it has.  We made some new pyrite cluster necklaces that came about very serendipitously. You can check them out below:

We also have a prototype globe necklace in the works.  It may be popping up again soon, but you can catch a sneak peak here:

It reminds me of a globe.  The stone beads were a gift and I love them.

Buttons!

So people tend to really love the neck cowls that we make.  In all honesty, they are a very simple knitting pattern; but what makes them exciting and unique are the handmade copper and brass buttons.  I love buttons, and I am especially partial to metal  and shell buttons--perhaps it is their relative rarity in relation to plastic buttons, or maybe the natural materials just feel more substantial.  Regardless, I got really excited when I realized that I could make them myself and set about making buttons with any material I could.  We've added an handmade button section to our shop, and have been stocking it with all these cool buttons--check it out!