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.

New Designs

I've been working for a few weeks on a number of different bottle designs. I have finally finished two of them, though five more are still in progress. Yesterday I finally listed a set that I had finished. Thus, I present to you my newest designs for my Fairy Dust bottle set:

One of my viewers on SheezyArt noted to me that the first set I made didn't match up all that well. The forest and fire fairy bottles looked good together, but the other three didn't seem to fit. I agreed with her, and in fact it nagged at me so that I went ahead and redesigned the labels for all of them except the fire fairy dust bottle. I think they look much better now.

I listed each of the bottles singly and also as a set for a discounted price. You can buy the entire set of Fairy Dust Bottles for one price, essentially getting one bottle free! I also still have listed the older dust bottle designs, in case you liked those more.

I will be listing another new bottle either later today or tomorrow as well. I'll talk about that bottle in my next blog entry--I'm quite excited about it. It took a LOT of work to get this one done.

I also have some Artist Trading Cards in progress as well. One is completely finished, another is 98% finished, and all the others are in various stages of beginning and completion. However, I realized I haven't posted any of the previous ATCs I do have finished, so here are a couple:

These two kitty-loaf ATCs are done in primarily felt. Their mouths are hand-stitched. Both are available for trade if you're interested.




My feature today is Galaxy Glass Studios. Glass is a weakness of mine; I love the look of it. The vibrancy of the colors as the sun passes through them. How some glass can be translucent, and yet you can't see anything through it. I love it.

Galaxy Glass Studios really tempts me. Jerry and Laura (store owners and glass artists) create beautiful and unique pieces of jewelry out of glass. I was particularly drawn to a pair of green earrings. The two-tone color caught my eye, it helps that green is my favorite color, and the center is all sparkly. The way they are twisted makes them look so delicate and beautiful.

Jerry and Laura's store is also filled with other types of earrings and gorgeous pendants made of dichroic glass. You won't be dissapointed when you "step into" this store.