The Wigglebutt Blog

I may have mentioned before  that I pretty much suck at that thing known as social media☺ These last few weeks haven't seen any noticeable improvement  to that suck-age:~( And in my last post I kinda sorta promised to be a little more chatty this time around aaaaaaaaaannnndd....... I lied. This is all I have for you today. At least I made a couple of collages instead of inundating you with a hundred bazzillion pictures. Really just seven, but that can seem like a lot. No? If you want to see bigger individual pics you can go here . There are some really nice pieces by some very talented  jewelry artists in The Year of Jewelry Project I'm not making any promises this time but maybe I'll actually have something to chat about next time and maybe next time will be sooner than  2 months from now.

Been on Vaca :-) But still trying to get caught up Still trying to find a good online photo editing program  Tried a wire wrap tutorial Loved it, want to do a few more of these:-) Decided I wanted to accomplish something a little more substantial, and I''m pleased;-)

This is me slacking on blogging again~ but I'm gonna give myself a pass.   Just cuz;~) I actually posted all of these to the group    pretty close to when they were due, just not here☺ Some day I will remember to look for the tiny "hairs" from the  scrubby with the mag glass BEFORE I take the pictures. ~sigh~ They have since been removed☺ I'm seriously in love with this piece♥ I made it using a photo tutorial by Anacely Olmedo Hopefully you will be seeing a lot more of this style in the future, using my own designs of course☺ In other news, I planted my tomato seeds, and they were almost all up in the first week! SQUEE!! It's amazing how excited I get when I get to start growing things. I've already had to re-pot some of the pepper starts. But since peppers and tomatoes aren't really quick growers, I decided to plant some leaf lettuce just for the heck of it. January 27 February 13 ...

And I spent the weekend cleaning my work area and catching up on season 4 of  "The Walking Dead" on netflix. So my husband can now "walk" across the room to the window instead of tip-toeing.  ( I tend to spread (everything) out on the floor when I'm making stuff☺) So, I am feeling rather accomplished☺  I'm actually pretty pleased with all of these guys, but I really love this one. I kinda like these too☺  I was hoping to get some new stuff listed in the store over the weekend but the disaster that I call "my area" was just too HUGE!  Whatever time that wasn't spent on laundry, vacuuming,etc was spent "putting away". I am going to do a "shop update" soon. I'll keep ya posted☺

I can't even tell you  how much I love this cuff. The wrap is rustic (read: far from perfect☺) It's chunky A little wonky It looks like it would be really heavy But it's not It is seriously comfy ~ fits like a glove☺ Don't you just love that eyeball???!!! THAT my friends is a hand made lampwork cabochon made by the lovely and talented Juli Cannon of Studio Juls ♥ I used copper wire in several gauges: 10g, 16g, 20g and 24g A lot of heating and pounding went into this cuff and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.

Fall is definitely in the air. I will spend the next couple of weeks clearing out the remainder of the  "crops" from the garden, storing all of the planters and pots and trying to keep the greenhouse warm long enough for some more of the tomatoes to turn red. Over the last few weeks, we have had almost non-stop rain so I have had plenty of  'indoor time'. Time to get all caught up on The Year of Jewelry Project . I was determined that I would follow through when I signed on and I am happy that I am back on track after the busy summer months. In my last post I showed you Week 32. Well, we technically just started Week 36 (finished piece due by Sept 7) so I have weeks 33, 34 & 35 to show you today. I think I may have to keep these☺ The main pic shows what I meant to be the front of the pendant  but I almost like the back better. So it's reversible☺ Lampwork beads by Juls More viking knit ....and lampwork by Juls   ...

I've been so busy this summer with the new garden (who knew we would have record temps and more sunshine  than I have seen in any one summer I have spent in Alaska since moving here in 1992. Two hours of watering. Everything. Every. Single. Day. Not including the grass☺) that I haven't had nearly as much time to spend "making" as I would like. Now that the rainy season is here, I feel like I have a little more free time while I wait for "harvest time". With fall quickly approaching it will be time to start canning all of the  goodies I have been able to grow this year. I'll post more about that when the time comes. For now I hope to spend more of my time creating. Hopefully accomplishing more than 'just' the one piece of jewelry per week that I committed to for The Year of Jewelry Project . I am almost completely caught up on those postings though☺ Here is Week 32 I am seriously in love with viking knit! ...

I have fallen behind, I have hopped around, (I have done a TON of gardening) but I an almost caught up on this commitment I made at the beginning of the year. I am only two weeks off schedule in the group but I am several weeks behind on posting here, so this is a catch up post ......again☺ ****  Very picture heavy☺ **** On Topic ~ "Cuffs for All" On Topic ~ "Circles, Squares, Triangles" On Topic ~ "Twins" Off  Topic ~ (Trying a wire weave tutorial ~ I think I'm in LOVE) On Topic ~ "My Favorite Color" Yeah Baby, I love the color RED☺ On Topic ~ "Unusual Techniques" Not necessarily an unusual technique, but new to me ~Viking Knit~ and I love it! On Topic ~ "At the Beach" A very nice man gifted me some sea glass that he picked off a beach in Nome and I finally got around to making something with it♥

Got gutsy and ordered some sterling silver wire☺ I want to make about a hundred variations of this♥ This one, I think, needs a little tarnish☺ Got a ~free~ tutorial, which is also very, very entertaining and humorous from a lovely lady named Angelina Krell. Used it to make this Not liking the 'shiny' so I did a little heat patina in other words, I hit it with a torch☺ and got this. No.... your monitor is not screwed up... The bead is "dyed" howlite  (the tutorial called for a 12mm bead and there wasn't alot in my stash to choose from) and when I torched the piece, apparently it burned off the color. Who knew? But I like it much better! lol! I am almost finished with Week 29 & 30 and then I will be all caught up, for awhile☺

For week 19, I once again did not follow the prompt, which was "Your Favorite Flower". My favorite flower is the "Swingtime" fuchsia  This picture is from 2010 It is just so fluffy and happy looking☺ I still plan on trying my hand at making some polymer clay fuchsia but for week 19, I was busy with a custom order. A new customer of mine had a beach stone that she picked up while overseas many years ago.  It has special meaning to her and she asked if I could "do something" with it. I was a little nervous about whether or not she would like it,  but then again, I always am. She picked it up today and lets just say ~she's a hugger~ WHEW!☺ For Week 20, I did follow the prompt, which was "Made in 10 Minutes" Which was lucky cuz that's about how much time I had. I think I could have gotten one more pair done, but my area is so messed up it took FOREVER to find the copper ear wires, and I ran out o...

This weeks prompt was "Rescued from the Scrap Bin" I have had this teardrop-ish pendant? in my scrap basket for a couple of years. I had tried my hand at creating some mokume-gane and I was squishing up the left over scrap clay and thought Oh! That's kinda pretty.. so I shaped it a little and baked it. Then I thought it looked a little plain and kind of odd shaped and didn't have a clue what to do with it☺ So it went in the scrap basket. I actually pulled it out of that little basket yesterday and decided to practice my wire wrapping. (Nothing like waiting til the last minute) I figured if it turned out crappy it could go right back where it came from☺ I obviously have a long way to go with my 'skills' in wire wrapping But I don't think it has to back in the basket, but I still am not sure where to go with it from here☺ I'll come up with something eventually. lol! I am almost finished with my whole...