More enameling fun - from wire to hoop!

I'm part of the Painting with Fire Ning ring where a lot of torch fired enamel artists share information, pictures, ...  I saw some cool hoops made with steel wire and decided to give that a try.  I was never sure what my style was but my hubby told me - circles!  I tend toward round, circular, oval and I really like organic looking designs.  These steel hoops fit both my love for circular designs and organic looks.  I started out with something like this:

I just wrapped the steel wire around a wine bottle neck - so simple - well not totally because this is 16G wire so it's pretty beefy and a bit stiff.  I had to maneuver it to get the rings as close together as possible and have to make sure the ends tuck in close to all the loops.  Once I get the wire doing what I want I start the enameling process.  I heat the wire, dip in enamel, heat more wire dip, and on and on.  I usually start with clear or white and then add color over that.  This time I used clear, iris and a few dips in transparent raspberry.  Here are the results:

Those look a little better than the original don't you think?  Now to turn them into some fun earrings!

Find my at the Bichon Bash on 10/26!

I'll be selling at the Bichon Fur Kids Fall Bash on Saturday, October 26.  20% of the proceeds from my sales will go to BFK.  I'm working on new dog theme designs just for this event.  Here is a peak at some of them.

"A Bichon stole my heart" with copper, leather, ruby and glass

Crazy lace agate,  glass dog bones and gold fill

Black and pale blue lampwork, glass dog bones and sterling silver

If you're in the neighborhood stop on by!

Here are some recent creations - I've having fun with acorns!

Smoky quartz and gold filled acorn earrings

AA teal tourmaline and gold filled earrings

I'll be selling these (and more) at the Senior Classic Women's soccer tournament this weekend in Mira Mesa.  I'll be playing and selling again this year.  Fortunately my wonderful mom will be helping out and we can only hope things cool down!

We'll be at Hourglass Field in Mira Mesa (just south of Miramar College).  You can park in the Miramar College parking lot or in the field parking lot (back near the pool). We'll be there from 8-4 on Saturday and 8-2'ish on Sunday.  Here's a mapquest link if you need it: Hourglass Field. Hope to see some of you there!

Pretties for the September Babies!

I am thinking a little bit ahead this year!  I have some earrings ready for all those born in September and for those who just love blue sapphires and pearls.  Sapphire is the September birthstone.  You can ready some interesting historical and factual information about the sapphire gemstone on the AGTA website.  I will work on some designs without pearls - but I love the contrast of the beautiful, creamy white of pearls with the translucent blue of sapphires!

AAA freshwater pearls, AA natural sapphires and long sterling drop earrings

AAA freshwater pearls, AA natural sapphires and sterling silver earrings

Good and not-so-good food places on our Hawaii trip

We had a blast visiting Oahu and the Big Island on our recent Hawaii trip.  I wanted to give a quick run down of the places we LOVED for food and those that were not so loved.  On Oahu - we LOVED Lulu's in Waikiki for breakfast. We went there on our last day after having a VERY disappointing breakfast buffet at Jimmy Buffett's @ the Beachcomber the day before.  Lulu's was right next door to our hotel so it was a much more pleasant walk in the humid morning sun than the somewhat lengthy walk to Jimmy Buffett's.  If you have a BIG appetite then you might be better off going to the buffet - just be ready for very generic food and the WORST pineapple we had on the islands.  I expect to get GREAT pineapple while in Hawaii and always have before.  The pineapple at Jimmy Buffett's was somewhat sour and not too tasty.  The servers at Lulu's are much more friendly as well - but you don't get a lot of service at a buffet.  I have to say the fellow making omelets at Jimmy Buffett's was talkative and interesting - but I just wasn't wanting a hot omelette after working up a sweat walking to the restaurant - LOL!

We had great luck finding excellent places to eat in Hilo.  We were pretty tired when we finally got to the B&B and they had a restaurant delivery service available so we gave it a try.  We ordered from New Star Restaurant and were pretty disappointed with what we got.  I assume they have a brick and mortar restaurant as well and we'll pass it on by if we ever see it at some point in the future.  On the other hand we went driving around one night just looking for some place to eat and decided to give Osaka's a try.  It is right on 11 as you head towards the bay.  It doesn't look like much on the outside (or the inside for that matter) - but it is family owned and run, the servers are incredibly polite and we thoroughly enjoyed the food!  I finally got some excellent teriyaki chicken!  I absolutely LOVED the teriyaki steak kabobs that Duke's used to have on their menu.  They no longer serve them and so I've been looking for good teriyaki in the islands ever since - LOL!  The miso soup was hot and quite tasty, I loved the vinegar cabbage salad (I cannot remember what it is called) and my teriyaki chicken serving was huge (2x what I expected for the chicken) so Tony had yummy teriyaki chicken for breakfast the next day - LOL! 

We also went looking for a farmer's market (other than the one in downtown Hilo).  The gal who prepared breakfast at the B&B told us about one but we didn't quite understand the directions she gave us.  Since they didn't get their coffee delivered over the weekend and I needed a coffee fix we stopped at the Starbuck's in Hilo.

And we had a GREAT view of Mauna Kea and the observatories from the parking lot!

And when I asked one of the Baristas about another farmer's market in the area she said her "Auntie" was just walking in and she would know.  Sure enough - she did!  She gave us directions to the Maku'u Farmer's Market so we headed down the road to find it.  We did indeed find it (you can't miss it on 130) and had another wonderful food find.  Mister D's BBQ!  I had the teriyaki meatballs, Tony had the chicken and both were delicious!  Here's Mister D and his sign in case you're in the vicinity...

During "Flossie" (which was just a bit of rain and wind and nothing worth writing about) we were eating lunch at a wonderful restaurant right along the highway and bay called Cafe Pesto.  I had the Oriental al Pesto
pizza and it was absolutely TDF!  The garlic was so sweet (and from the island!). Tony had the Linguine al Pesto which was also quite good.

Those are the standouts in my memory right now - and it's time to hit the sack so I can be awake for my cousin Adelyn's Surf Cup soccer game tomorrow morning!

But wait!  I can't forget Ken's Pancake House!  After our very tiring hike out to see the lava flowing we asked our guides where we could eat at 9:30PM at night.  They said if we wanted to try some local food go to Ken's or Verna's.  Ken's was first on the road so we dragged sore bodies in and plopped down.  Our server was fun - his recommendation of the spaghetti was spot on (no it would not compare to Tony's Italian mom's spaghetti, but it was pretty good for restaurant spaghetti).  I wanted pasta badly and this hit the spot - even Tony would have ordered it if we went to Ken's again.  The little dinner salad had some nice lettuces other than iceberg, they had REAL Italian dressing (none of that lo-cal garbage that tastes awful) and the garlic bread was decent (but it did need more garlic - LOL!).  I honestly can't recall what Tony had - I was too tired for it to register - but we both left the restaurant with satisfied mouths and stomachs!

Aloha!