DollsArtCats

This is a sphere of onyx with a geode-like internal tunnel from the top to the side facing the camera--that is a blue flashlight balanced on top, trying to illuminate the inside. I was having a lot of trouble with the low light and the close focus, so this one is blurry. Here is a slightly better one: If you get your face close to the hole, the lit inside of the black sphere is "full of stars". It's so cool and it was less than 20.00 from Etsy, which means I probably could have gotten something similar for less on Ebay, but I still think it was a good deal. Squirrels are back! They get scarcer in summer, I have no idea why. The rain continues, but drizzly, which is livable and makes nice patterns on the spiderwebs, which are everywhere: The big spider over my window has vanished (I suspect a woodpecker) But I did get a chance to photograph it's web before it disappeared: I won't miss the wrapped bug lunch packages or spider droppings, t...

I made Ashley a necklace today--I always forget just how small these dolls really are, so maybe this should be a belt instead. I still have dolls to paint, but it rained much of today and the temperature has dropped, so I will have to wait for my chance to spray. Meanwhile lots of people need clothes, and here I am making things for Ashley, who has an entire giant box of clothing and shoes :D I also found a piece of polished jasper (at least I think it is jasper) that is the same color and style as the weird volcanic rock I have, but much much smoother. Here they are together: This was the last bit of sunshine all day, too! I did look out the kitchen window this morning and discovered that I have one more hanging ornament, but this one is on the outside of the window: This ornament has legs! :o It's one of those gold banded garden spiders; it's made an elegant web across most of the window so I need to start getting up early and see if I can catch it covered w...

I've been looking at rocks on Ebay, and then remembered there was an interesting rock that had lived for the first two years that I was here..in the fishpond. I had always assumed it was just a lava rock, and it is--a lava rock STUFFED WITH CRYSTALS. I found this out by putting on a pair of polycarbonate goggles and smacking it with a hammer and a mortar chisel; and had I been better at rock cutting I could have made less of a hash of the stone. But now I have several very large and fine geode specimens and one of the pieces goes to Akutenshi, though I might have to let her choose which one. This gives you an idea of the size. This is a small piece but one of the best ones: There is a sister rock to this one, but I am not sure there is anything as interesting in that one, it's got far more holes in it. I do have a lot of nice quartz pebbles though, and I am tempted to look for a rock tumbler. We had one when I was a kid and it was fun to see the stones go from litt...

I have been rooting around looking for the few rocks I brought from New Jersey (almost none, it turns out, because it seems silly to ship rocks when one is being charged by the pound for one's household goods. But Akutenshi came over last Sunday with some other rocks for me to photograph and paint, and they were awesome. The first rock below belongs to her jeweler friend Megan: I have no idea what it is... besides amazing! This is a larimar geode (Akutenshi's) Citrine with a tunnel! And Akutenshi brough me some specimens to keep! A perfect agate geode, both halves (this is one half) A beautiful green stone neither of us could identify--the color was in layers, almost like mica: Aaand (drumroll) a good sized opal boulder.  SQUEE!! I am just guessing it is a Koroit boulder? I have seen You Tube videos of people digging out boulders just like this from holes in Koroit. I kind of want to go and dig in the dirt myself ;) Side view: They are so co...

I was poking around Etsy and I found a store in Chatsworth, Calif that sells rough and tumbled stones--nothing super exotic, but the prices are good, the photos are clear, and they have most of the usual suspects (amethyst, quartz, labradorite, etc), and some nice jewelry pieces too: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RockParadise?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=553579514&page=16#items I once had a pretty nice collection of colored rocks, but when you are moving across the country and in a hurry, the rocks tend to be left behind. I probably should have just packed them anyway.