Luck and Halloween

Working on a number of new bottles lately. I have a few done, but have only managed to take pictures of one so far. Thus, I allow you to feast your eyes upon my new "Luck" themed bottle.

From my store description: This tiny little bottle is filled with chamomile for luck, flax seed for protection, smoky quartz for calm, and calcite for wisdom. The outside of the bottle is decorated with a gold triquetra, which is the celtic symbol for luck and the trinity.

Here's a sneak-peak at another bottle I'm working on:I really like the way the design on the outside of the bottle has turned out for this one. Check back next time for the completed version!

In other news, The Geekery Guild on ArtFire is having a Halloween challenge this month. I am very happy to be taking part in this challenge, so expect some Halloween-themed-geekery items soon. The contest ends on October 21st, so I've got to have my items done before then!





On the Halloween challenge note, I decided to feature ArchaicSculpture, who is the first guild member to already submit an entry.

Not only was I intrigued by these Rainbow Blight Buttons for the interesting concept, but I was hooked when I read the maker's awesome description:

"After three years of trembling at the havoc my children would cause me….I have set them loose. My zombie children have awakened to Kill, Mame, Destroy, and Hiss at the corporate beasts selling us old ideas and recycled thoughts their grotesque laziness has resurrected the 80’s. As have I, yet my children are hungry for flesh their rotting corpses Lear mockingly at those idealess corporations of old. This generation will rise with the fallen and clutch at the thrones, claw their way to the strongholds, creativity will flow again as the rot of my children infects and corrupts those obscene Goliaths. I present my children……"

Dying Crystals

After quite a long hiatus, I return. Recently getting back from a much-needed vacation has gotten me back on track and ready to get back into the swing of things.

Thus, I bring you one of my more recent experiments. Over the summer I visited a local crystal mine with my little brother and came home with a nice bucket full of crystals to play with.

One of the first things I wanted to do was to change the colors of some of them. All of the crystals from this mine are yellow-colored calcite crystals. But people dye quartz and other such crystals all the time. So why couldn't I? Needless to say, my experiment didn't work.

I first decided to try food coloring. Mind you, I didn't have very high hopes with the food coloring, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. So, I mixed some purple and pink coloring and put some of my crystals in it--then I let them dry for a good month. Today I finally decided to take them out. Just as I suspected! No go! As the food coloring came off, either by rubbing or water, I was left with still-yellow crystals.

A few of the crystals retained some coloring. Where there was a crack or fracture in the crystal, the coloring got into that and stayed. For those I'm currently soaking them in water.

I also tried heating the crystals with a heat gun. Rather than this helping or changing the color, it simply made the crystals even more fragile and broke them. So heat was a no-go as well. I'm guessing I'll need some sort of chemical dye in order to actually dye them. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Although the experience did allow me to get a really neat shot with my camera:

Today's feature is A.A.E. Artglass, a store that I've been wanting to feature for a long time now. I generally love glass art anyway, but this artist is simply amazing and unique in what she does.

The images she puts onto the glass (like in the picture I present here) are simply fantastically done. Not only are they interesting to look at because of the glass work, but also these images that she somehow gets onto them. The images are so crisp and clear--as I look back through her gallery I'm wondering why I still haven't bought any of her fantastic work? Yet, I see that as I write this she no longer has any of the dragon-fly pendants I had previously fallen in love with. Nonetheless, I would happily take and proudly wear any of her other work as well.

Definitely a store to check out.