Cake Adventure

Today has been exhausting. Work was slow, I had to go to two grocery stores before I could relax at home, and instead of actually relaxing, I decided to make a cake that I had been meaning to tackle. This is a Blackout cake without the frosting (since I'm the only one here to eat this I have to have some sort of constraint). It's sort of like a chocolate cake with coffee in the cake batter and pudding as the filler. I cheated and instead of making my own pudding I bought some super decadent Belgian chocolate pudding. It's also supposed to be FOUR layers, but I opted for just two right now. Thank god I have people coming over tomorrow to eat some of this.

Del Mar Fair continued . . .

So it looks like I can only post a certain number of pictures per entry. This is part two of the previous post, read the first one first if you haven't done so already!!!This was, by far, the most incredible entry we saw in the Gem and Mineral jewelry portion. The picture can't quite caption the staggering color change this opal has, but it was so gorgeous I swear that I saw it from across the room!

Now for the strange entries . . . and there were quite a few of them. Most don't need explanation, maybe except this one. This collection was titled "Trench Art" and was made up of items made from "war trash". This is a letter opener with bullet for a handle.A years worth of collie fur picked up by a brush and collected by the owner.

A collection of teeth necklaces from Borneo. From the top, porpoise, pig and dog. I think the sign says it all. Is there an award for the creepiest entry? Because if there was, it would be a tight race between cat whiskers and this entry . . .This is a chain mail (like armour) bikini. What makes this super creepy is that I know the guy who makes these. He used to come into the store and only show the youngest girls photos of his weird metal bikinis. To seal the deal, he had a super crazy eye. So, there you go. A full day at the fair, complete with fried food, awesome gardens, cat whiskers and metal bikinis.

Del Mar Fair!

Ryan and I went to the Del Mar Fair on Wednesday and had a blast! Here are the highlights . . . Against my better judgment, I ate fried fair food. Why does it always sound so awesome, and yet it never ends up a good idea? At least I used some good judgment, my fried food of choice consisted of garlic battered mushrooms drenched in ranch :) (shown). Yeah, they were pretty good, but after eating super healthy for 8 months, and having nearly zero fast food (grilled cheese from In and Out doesn't count!), my body decided that I would pay for my indulgence. And with that, I said bring it on. At one time this was a funnel cake with raspberry topping and whipped cream. Ryan and I ate the majority of it before I even realized that I wanted to take a picture of it. Every year Ryan and I go to the fair, and every year I document our food. This one is the first to slip (almost) by. More highlights . . . A flying pig on a giant mobile.The abominable snow chicken. My second favorite garden exhibit. Just big enough to be a tropical get away for Piggles. Complete with Piggle sized bridge. My very favorite garden exhibit! We talked to the owner and his wife for about 30 minutes . . . they were both beaming with pride because this venture (they had sunken every dime to their name in it) won EVERY top award in the fair. They explained that it is, in it's most basic form, a garden that consists of a close circuit self watering and fertilizing system. It starts at a fish tank that contains Tilapia, a type of large fish. Water from the tank (and fish waste) essentially go through the circuit of pipes and water and fertilize the plants. Since the planters are filled with gravel there is very little water evaporation and therefore little water loss. Not only can you eat the plants, but the inventor informed us that after 8 months you can eat the fish. It was by far the coolest thing we saw :).

Ring finished, Pendant Attempted

So, since you liked the top so much, I thought I'd do a better close up of that. The ring is finally finished. The top part of the ring needed to be re-enforced, and I actually like it better this way. It's got more of a woven look and less of a "birds nest" look. Not that there's anything wrong with a "birds nest" look, I just really wanted it to look a lot more intricate and a little less commercial.
Another view . . .

See? It looks a lot more woven now on the top.

I got so involved in the ring that when I was done fixing it I got inspired to make something else. After making all those woven earrings for that client at work I wanted to make something similar but on a smaller scale. This is what I came up with . . . (a few views of it of course :)Labradorite, blue topaz, blue tourmaline and white sapphire in sterling and fine silver.Shown with a dime for comparison . . . I like how compact it is :)
I needed to include the artsy shot because how awesome does that labradorite (dead center) look? It's hard to capture the rainbow ;). Insert your joke here.

So here's that new bowl I told you about . . . for some reason the picture won't flip the other way (the way I intended it to). Anyway, I LOVE this bowl. It's perfectly sized for my future projects or color combos that I may want to put together. The sections have high, smooth walls so it catches all those run away beads before they disappear into the carpet.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm going to go make dinner and watch the last two True Blood episodes . . .

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

A Ring Attempt

Alright, so I thought that this would be kind of fun, and it would also keep me busy. I need to stay busy.

Here's a ring project that I've been wanting to reproduce in wire and beads for a while . . .I really liked this ring, and after doing all those earrings I felt like I was up for this level of challenge. This is what I made tonight . . .


I'm happy with the way the band tuned out (although I could use some work on the overall consistency of the fine wire wrap), but not so thrilled with the way I had to attach the focal bead and tiny blue beads around it. It's much prettier in person, the focal bead is aquamarine and the rest are blue topaz. I initially made this for my mom's birthday, but I think I'm going to make another with a new technical idea that hit me after I finished the ring. It's so hard sometimes to translate fine jewelry into wire and beads, but I think those are the most fun :). Speaking of fun jewelry endeavors . . .Here is an unfinished (but now finished) example of the earrings I had to make for the client I was telling you about. Basically, the base is a broken chain link and I wrap and weave beads all the way around the frames. These were the most difficult because those teal beads were top drilled and therefore difficult to attach securely. Not to mention that the stone itself (apatite) is very, very soft and pretty expensive so I couldn't pull to hard when anchoring the bead or I'd snap the top right off. Here are the rest, minus one I didn't finish at the time this picture was taken . . .

When I get better pictures, I'll post. A $30 per pair change is certainly not enough of a labor charge.
And now, the most exciting part, a clean apartment.
And a new and improved work space :).I've got that new burl wood style bowl front and center on the table. It's sectioned in organic shapes and is just completely awesome. I love it!
That's it for now, hopefully I'll have more jewelry projects to post, and more to eventually go onto my Etsy.