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.

Tales from Planet Z: Volume 1 Now on Sale!!

After much hard work, switching publishers, and pulling of hair, I am pleased to announce that Tales from Planet Z: Volume 1 is finally on sale!

To directly buy your copy of the book, either click on the picture of the cover, or go here: https://www.createspace.com/Customer/EStore.do?id=3385212

Or, visit the website and pick up some t-shirts too: TalesfromPlanetZ.com!

After our mess getting the book ready to go, I'll have more updates and creations soon!

I'm Still Around

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that I am still around. I have been busy, and waiting on supplies to come in the mail. I'm currently only waiting on one more shipment.

I had a crazy weekend along with a horrible experience donating blood. Let's just say 45 minutes afterward I vomited and passed out, and they had to use smelling salts on me and it was horrible. I wanted to get some pictures taken and post a bottle yesterday, but I was still recuperating from my blood-donating experience Sunday. It's amazing how weak that can leave you.

The same night as my episode, my mother-in-law fell and hurt her knee badly. She now has stitches inside and staples outside and can't bend her knee for a full 10 days. She needs prayers for patience and healing; she HATES being confined.

Soon I will also be working on a redesign of my husband's website: Tales from Planet Z. He is almost ready to get started on issue 3! I'm so excited! I think everyone will just love it. More to come when we get a little farther into that.




Today's amazingly unique feature is a store I found on ArtFire called Spoon Bracelets. That's right; bracelets made out of spoons. Making bracelets out of spoons isn't my first thought when I think of a great way to recycle and re-purpose things. My first thought is something along the lines of "Oh, that sounds cheezy and kind of gross. Can't make for anything nice looking." Not only does this artist make spoon jewelry look good: it looks gorgeous! At first glance you would never say "That used to be a spoon!"


Looking through the shop, I also see that the artist makes spoon rings, too, though I'm still partial to the bracelets. Gorgeous jewelry and great conversation peices as well, one of these bracelets is definitely going on my wishlist.

Beach Bottle Beauty

I feel like having a beach theme today, perhaps because I like going to the beach so much, or because I recently made a beach-themed bottle pendant. Besides that, I like visiting the beach. It always amazes me just how BIG it is. You look out and the ocean is all you can see.

Meanwhile, the ocean is host to a whole other world! All of the different creatures living there, both teeny tiny and huge. Somehow they all survive.

When I was at the beach last (over Easter weekend) I made sure to pick up some sand and searched out some itty bitty shells that would fit into one of my bottles. Not an easy task! I also managed to find a couple of sea-urchin spines and pieces of sand dollar. They all make for a great bottle pendant:

Naturally, the bottle is for sale in my store: Oddments and Tweaks

In keeping with the beach theme of today's post, I did a search on ArtFire for the word "beach" and browsed until I found something that really caught my attention. In doing so, I came across Apple Blossom Designs 'Life's a Beach' charm.

This charm is really cute! I love the incorporation of the whole shell beads with teal crystals. It helps that one of my favorite types of shell is the spiral. I also really like the simplicity of the design, since many of the beach items I came across felt too cluttered.

Progress

As you probably noticed, I have taken the time to redesign my blog a bit. I liked the basic layout, but it needed to be more ME. I extended the content section. This may make some users have to scroll a little to see everything (not very much--I didn't extend it THAT far), but this allows for more room so that my pictures aren't constantly being cut-off. I also made the theme more green and put up a nice background picture with one of the symbols I use around my store.

Please let me know what you think.

Craftiness
I have received all of the Fabric ATCs from the swap I was involved in, so I figured this would be a good time to show off the ones that I made for my partners. Though the swap only required me to send one to each partner, I got a little over-zealous and made a set of 3 ATCs for each partner.

"Water Dragon"















"Kimono Koi"













"Castle of Dreams"













Participating in this swap was a great experience, and on top of that it got me hooked on making these little ATCs. I already have a new set in progress for no apparent reason.

I've also been working on some new bottles. One has been in progress for a good month now, and another is nearly finished; I just need to do the wire-wrapping and 'bead' dangle I have planned for it. I'll give you one hint as to what its theme is: SeaWeed.




Today's feature is an interesting store on Etsy called Flush, please. Such a neat and funny idea, the store owners create decals for your toilet bowl! Imagine your guest's surprise when they walk into your bathroom to see that you are "steeping" some tea in your toilet bowl. Or perhaps you should add a sign to the bathroom door to "Beware" of your pet tentacle monster you keep in the toilet bowl.

These decals are even removable! So when you're tired of the old design and want to get rid of it, or update it to a new design, you can easily take it off and apply a new one!

The designs offered are simplistic but well done. You can also customize the color of your design. Perhaps you want your tentacle monster to be related to the devil, so RED tentacles would fit better. Not a problem!

These items are so unique and interesting, go take a look and perhaps spice up your dull bathroom a bit with these great toilet-bowl decals.