so i only made one thing today because i was a bit distracted by the NEW BABY CHICKENS!!!
a “be gentle with yourself” ring
with glorious prehnite with epidote
and a snippet of the desiderata on the back.
i couldn’t really concentrate on what i was doing because these girls have moved in to the shop:
they are red comets, known for being very docile and sweet and prolific layers.
they are so sweet. whatever one does, they all do…
so darn cute, i can hardly stand it. just peeping away at me all day while i worked.
hazel, like me, is smitten.
although they are quite difficult to tell apart at this point, we have come up with five names to be assigned when it is convenient. rosemarie, lucille, florence, doris, and penny.
they’re already eating out of her hand.
and then they all fell asleep in a sweet little huddle and i didn’t want to wake them up with my hammering, so i let them rest. i guess they’ll have to get used to it, but i’ll give them a few days. they will live in the shop (with the heater on and their little heat light) for about a month until they are ready to move outside.
when i wasn’t fawning over the sweeties, i was also experimenting with new, non-sterling silver, not outrageously expensive metals. this was intended to be a brass flower shape soldered to a nickel silver backplate with a sterling bezel on top. it didn’t work. but i will keep trying. with silver now at $47.65 an ounce, i have to start looking into alternatives. how do you feel about it? if i made one of my pieces and everything was exactly the same except i used nickel silver instead of sterling silver would you still love it? or would you feel like it was a cheap ripoff? i’m just not sure, i would love some feedback from you on the subject. i’ve also started a couple of projects with copper that i will share with you soon.
and i’ll just say it again, anyone with chicken advice, feel free to dispense!
