60in60 Day Five

I spent a couple of hours with the hummingbirds this morning before getting down to work in my studio.

This isn't a perfect photo but it's pretty cool nonetheless.  I caught this one as it was dive bombing another hummingbird that was infringing on its territory.

Back in the studio, I made some sterling silver earrings out of an old bracelet that my sister found in some junk jewelry.  After annealing the bracelet to soften the silver, I rolled it through the mill and then cut out the earrings.  They are textured with a hammer.  On one pair I used vintage beads that I bought several years ago from a seller on Etsy.

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Both are listed in my Etsy shop.  My goal was to have 100 listings in my shop by May 31st but I only made it to 42.  I tend to set lofty goals for myself that I have no hope of meeting.  Maybe by the time I reach 60 I'll know better!

60in60 Day Four

What a beautiful sunny afternoon to come home to on the start of my weekend!  I spent about 4 hours out on my beach trying out different settings on my camera, taking photos of hummingbirds.  I wanted to stop the wing action but the really fast shutter speed also made the photos grainy.  I'll have to work on finding the right balance.  I should probably get out the tripod, too.  And some good bug repellant.  The black flies were beastly!

 

60in60 Day Two and Three

Yes, I know, behind already!  I had the day at home yesterday due to a temporary closure at my work place so I spent the day in the yard doing hard labour.  While I was doing some tidying up, I spotted some ficus branches that I had pruned from my plant and thrown off the deck in the winter.   I noticed that a good amount of fibre was showing under the bark and it had just the perfect amount of moisture to come off easily so I stopped to strip all the branches for papermaking.  Now my live plant is in danger of severe pruning!

Day 2 Creative Act - stripped fibre from Ficus branches for papermaking

Today, I made some Boho style earrings.  I hammered these copper pennies to flatten them and then used a brass embossing template from my scrapbooking days and the ball end of my hammer to create the hearts.  The patina is from a gas torch.  Banded Agate, Tiger's Eye and copper beads on sterling silver wire and sterling silver ear wires complete the pair. 

Day 3 - copper earrings with sterling silver wire

These will show up in my Etsy shop in the next day or two.

Counting Down - 60 in 60 Day One

In 60 days (as of yesterday but I ran out of time to post), I will be 60.  On the one hand, I'm really pleased that I'm getting older cause you know what they say about the alternative!  On the other hand, I'm feeling very aware that I don't have a lot of time to waste, which is bad news for a born procrastinator.

Fellow artist and friend who I have never met in person but greatly admire, Violette Naranjo Clark, recently started a personal challenge of creating 60 cartoons (which she calls 'uptoons' for their uplifting messages) in 60 days in honour of her upcoming 60th birthday.  She invited other friends to join her for their special milestones.  This seemed like a good challenge to conquer my own procrastination challenges and celebrate who I am, turning 60.

My personal challenge for 60 in 60 is to do one creative thing each day, and to post about it on my blog, for the next 60 days until my 60th birthday on July 26 .

Day one (which was yesterday):  A triple wrap adjustable leather and bead bracelet with vintage button.