Strain's Asylum

This is the start of my blog, so this will be a learning experience. However, I DO learn fast, O Constant Reader ;) And Life can be one big asylum.

This blog will be a place to seek asylum...IN the Asylum ! LOL! Don't we love homonyms and homophones? Those are words that SOUND alike, but have different pronunciations and meanings. Like "peer" (a person who is your equal), "peer" (to look) or "pier" (dock, basically)!

This, like my jewelry and photography are refuges. Places to seek asylum, that is.

Jewelry, did I say? ooooh... Yup! I design and create jewelry - mostly with gems (jade, garnets, tourmaline, etc.) and minerals (like jasper, agate, etc.), with some organics (pearls, coral, wood) and man-made (goldstone, glass, crystal, blown glass and dichroics), along with the metals (sterling silver and copper, mostly). LOT of fun!

More tomorrow, I think. Kind of "late" and I'd rather be conscious at work, wouldn't you? It helps, in order to get paid. Which we LIKE to do, in order to support our REAL LIVES :) And our various "habits" (coffee, chocolate, Chinese food, BBQ ribs and...JEWELRY)

Oh, if you're curious... Check out http://berrypatchdesigns.etsy.com/ or http://undercurrent.etsy.com/. Those are my "shops" and contain some of my handmade jewelry. Still more "in the works".

And we have a big Autumn Challenge coming up VERY soon. Going to link to our blog for that tomorrow or next day, since it's really soon (October 15th) and we have a lot of great stuff listed. Can't wait to see how we do... "We", in this case, is EarthPath Artisan Street Team, a great bunch of gals and guys on Etsy. Terrific artisans, all!

This is the piece I designed for the EarthPath Artisans' Autumn Challenge. I'm pretty proud of it, since it's different from anything I've made before. It's purely convertible - a double strand necklace OR a SINGLE strand necklace AND a bracelet. The leaf drops are hand wired and are made of jasper (two kinds: ocean jasper or fancy jasper).

The strands are variously colored pearls, all in autumn colors: cranberry, bronze, champagne and olive green faceted potato shaped cultured pearls, with some dark purple "pearls" that I believe are glass "pearl" beads. I only used two of those, since I prefer real pearls :) (Besides, mixing man-made pearls with natural pearls is misleading, unless you make sure a note it and I am honest!...except about my weight or age :P )

So what do you think??