New Jewelry Line Takes Shape

Sorry for the gap in posting but both Vickie and I have been fighting problems with our sciatic nerve and just now getting back to what passes for normal around here. As some might know, my wife, Vickie, is an accomplished "Process Painter"- someone focused more on the creative process than the outcome.
For some time we have toyed with the idea of bringing this idea to our stone jewelry, meaning that while we hoped to showcase and enhance the beauty of the stone, our focus would be more on the creative process involved.
We finished our first piece yesterday and here it is.

The stone is a piece of Brazilian crazy lace jasper and it is secured by copper wire to a copper back plate covered with a piece of snake skin Vickie found in her "stash". Pretty well all of this is hand made. The stone was finished by hand as was the copper plate. All connectors and eyelets were hand made from copper. The cord is leather and it is about 4.5 cm. high.
We felt it looked somewhat like a bird so we called it Rufous after the State Bird of Brazil which has a similar colouring.
Our objective is to create jewelry that, while being beautiful, is also interesting and we hope to have a few dozen pieces in the store by the spring.
I have to confess that we had a ball working out the logistics and it doesn't hurt that Vickie appears to have one of  everything!
So let us know how we did and if you get the chance, stop by to see it in person as I can honestly say that the photo doesn't really do it justice.

The Birds!

With everything else going on around here, we sometimes take the birds for granted. We have our resident "murder" of crows who keep us company all winter as long as we feed them after a blizzard. The gulls, too, are resident and it is wonderful waking up to their cries. The cormorants are fair weather friends but at least when they arrive you know the cold temperatures are finished.
This morning as I went down to make coffee for "She Who MUST Be Obeyed" I noticed that things were a little different. Usually the gulls and cormorants are duking it out for the best spot on what's left of the pier but not today!
The Big Kahuna was in town!

Couldn't get a very good shot of this guy but trust me, it's a bald eagle and it gets to perch wherever it wants.

In the marsh next door, I counted four Great Blue Herons catching their breakfast in the morning fog.

This guy had caught his limit and took off shortly after the picture was taken but the other three were there for some time.

We also have several species of hawks, songbirds and a family of ring necked pheasants who take great delight in scaring the crap out of you when you don't know they are there!

Digby Neck is truly a special place and I hope you get a chance to visit soon.
Cheers!