Photography and magnesite

Christmas is over for another year, in fact another year is almost over - only hours to go until 2009 shows its face!

Our christmas was very family oriented and the children had a wonderful time, as they always do. Did you receive anything you just LOVE? I did! I received an autographed copy of the wonderful book A Grain of Sand by Dr Gary Greenberg. I've mentioned it on my blog before as a wonderful look into something so mundane yet so startingly beautiful that you will never look at sand the same way, ever again! Not just a gorgeous coffee table book, there is wonderful information on both Dr. Greenberg's microphotography and on sand itself.

I was contacted by a fellow who saw my admiration of macrophotography and sent me a link to his photos on flickr. He has taken some wonderful shots of stones that would make great wall art.

Bright blue-greens are always popular in summer and I found a great strand of treated magnesite (pictured above made into a necklace) that gives that wonderful aegean green colour. I haven't dealt with magnesite before and was interested to learn more about it. It is commonly found in a massive form (more rarely as crystals) in white/grey/yellow-brown. Fairly soft at 3.5-4 it has been used for sculpture for thousands of years. (A small Mesopetamian lioness sculpture made of magnesite c. 3000-2800 BC was sold by Sothebys in 2007 for over US$57 million!)

Metaphysically it is said to bring deep peace to meditation. It promotes a positive attitude, stimulates ideas yet has a calming effect on emotions. Said to detoxify the body it acts as a muscle relaxant, treats bone and teeth disorders, speeds up fat metabolism and helps deal with fevers and chills. Sounds like I should save a piece for the medicine cabinet! ;)

My family (and I imagine half of Australia) are off to a New Years Eve celebration tonight. If you have such a gathering to attend I hope you have a wonderful time and I look forward to catching up with you in 2009 ;)

Happy New Year!

Ho Ho Ho - less than a week to go!

Less than a week to go to Christmas! My children have finished school for their christmas/summer holidays and they're almost jumping out of their skins. (When they had to go to school of course, they were dragging their feet and telling me how tired they were. Good to see that hasn't carried over to the holidays ;) ).

The dancing concert went beautifully - the choreography was brilliant and the story clearly relayed. The girls were lovely little white doves in the opening act and my son was a shiny diamond dancing in the mine during the hip-hop segment. I must say he has finally got his dancing together - it has taken two and a half years but he looked great!

We've also had the christmas carnival, christmas pageant and end of school presentation in the last week. So it's been all stations go, go, go.

I have been able to get into the final handmade market of the year in Tamworth, so tomorrow will be a very early start for the 2 1/2 hour drive. Hubby is coming with me this time to help me set up and pull down and has grand plans of buying a newspaper and sitting in a coffee shop for most of the morning!

I have the Christmas letter written and will attempt to write out some cards today in the hope that I can get them all in the mail on Monday. I must be genetically programmed to do the cards late LOL.

The piece pictured today has gone to a new home already - in fact it was purchased as a Christmas gift. The most wonderful druzy chalcedony (little baby crystals that have naturally grown on a chalcedony base) pendant has been matched with peacock pearls of a wonderful lustre and colour and the smallest highlight of sterling silver.

I may not post before Christmas, so if I don't - all the best of the season to you and yours!

Countdown to Christmas

Can you believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!? I have (finally, after a dash or two to some favourite online stores) finished my Christmas shopping. (I do still have a couple of gifts to make, but they're achievable!) I've even bought wrapping paper... in fact I'm feeling pretty organised in the pressie department.

This organisation is actually rare for me, so if you find yourself still going "uh-oh" (and you're downunder!) then check out My New Shiny Shoes - a site that specialises in online shopping sites in Australia.

I received lots of wonderful commments about my 'shop' for a day as pictured last week. I also love seeing other people's displays and work and I found that the TiLT Creations blog has posted a great story on a recent handmade show they attended. I wish I would have been there to have a look (and probably buy) some of the wonderful things pictured there!

I have a busy weekend with my children's dancing concert. They're doing a production of Snow White. The twins are doves (classical ballet) in the opening act and my son is part of the diamond mine (hip-hop). The dancing teacher is a wonderful young lady who has much talent and vision and she is taking all her students on an amazing journey through dance. We have dress rehearsal tomorrow and official photos and then two performances on Sunday. I'll post some pics when I get them, although that may not be until next year.

Oh my, that statement has just made me realise that 2009 starts in less than 3 weeks! Eeek. Does that mean I have to think of some new year resolutions too...

Hmmm, might just ignore that for the moment and concentrate on today's picture LOL. I have a large photo that I take to shows that is of a purple bracelet - a lady at Tamworth was so taken with the picture that she requested a bracelet inspired by it and this is it. It's just so rich and lush - amethyst nuggets and big freshwater pearls in imperial purple and a peacock-blue, all on argentinium sterling silver.

Coolah open day

My open day(s) in Coolah went really well - the weather was fairly uncomfortable - it was boiling hot on the Thursday with storms in the afternoon and Friday was pleasant to start with, then hot and humid then storms with HAIL! But, many turned out despite the weather and I had a great time all in all.

I was in town on Thursday this week and some people asked if I was open again that day...

Anyway, here is a pic of my 'shopfront' for the two days - looks pretty doesn't it!



I'm in wind down mode at the moment - I even went Christmas shopping today. Mind you I have bought quite a bit on line, with more to go. And I had better get organised as it is only three weeks to Christmas - eek!

I have to spruce up the house this week and get it ready for the decorations :) Oh yes, I'm getting very much in the 'mood'. Mind you this is regardless of the heat we are currently experiencing. It was high 30s today (celsius) - and what was it - two weeks ago we were huddling around the fire!

I really have to do my Christmas cards soon too. I've already received an indecent number of them. Really, some people are SO organised! If you're running late (like me!) do check out Macaroni & Glue - Kelly has some beaut cards - very different from the run of the mill cards you get at this time of the year. She is also running specials for another week, so hop along and grab a unique bargain!

I haven't had time to load new stock onto the site - but the ring above will be one of them put up soon. Made with peridot (one of my all time favourite stones) and 12ct goldfill. Do you like it?