New Items For the Shop

Good Morning,
It seems as though it has been forever since I last posted anything. Things have been really busy around here with all the family stuff going on. My grandmother is still in the hospital unfortunately. She is doing a little bit better though and I am thankful for that. We also got really great news concerning my dad's tests. Thank God it seems that the cancer is only on his vocal cords, both his chest x-ray and his neck CT were clear. I am very happy about that as well. We should hear something this week about what to do next. So anyway, in between running to the hospital and doctors appointments with my family, I have been trying to work on getting some new items made.

I finally finished a piece using the etching that I made in my tutorial on electrolytic etching (see the August 31, 2009 post). If you remember the final etched copper piece looked like this:


Well I decided to try etching other materials using this method so I tried a piece of nickel silver. I used the exact same technique as described in my blog tutorial EXCEPT I replaced the copper covered bolts that are attached to the negative terminal of the battery charger with a piece of scrap nickel silver sheet. I was very happy with the results.

My first piece, the copper etching, turned out a little too thin to work with by itself. I assume this is because the copper sheet I was working with was a 22 gauge so I would suggest to anyone who wants to try this technique that you start with at least a 20 gauge sheet or thicker of the metal that you want to etch. The nickel silver sheet was 20 gauge and remained quite sturdy after etching. So I decided to combine the two to make a single piece that would stand up to daily wear. Here is what I ended up with:

I hope to have this piece listed soon in my etsy shop. I have a few other new pieces completed as well. I will post pics as soon as I can get them. Well that's all for now. Hope you all have a great day. Catch ya later.

Thank You

Just wanted to make a quick post to thank all of you for your kind words or encouragement and for your well wishes and prayers. Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. Things are still a bit crazy around here. We are still waiting to hear the results of my dad's scans so everyone is still on edge there, and unfortunately we ended up taking my grandmother back to the hospital. They admitted her again so I have been going to and from the hospital all week. If all went well through the night last night she is supposed to get to come home today. I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone this am yet.

Anyway, I really appreciate your support and your willingness to stick with the blog during this slow period. I still have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head about where I want to go with this blog and I think it will be pretty good when I have a chance to really work at it. Please bear with me. Things will get better soon. In the meantime, please take a moment to check out all the awesome shops that are featured as etsy minis in my sidebars. You will find some really great artisans there. Also, I am working on new items, when time allows, and hope to have some of them listed in the shop this weekend so stop by and see what's new. I plan to post the piece that I made using the etching that I made in the tutorial a few posts ago. I finally got it completed and I think it turned out great. Depending on how things work out today I may post it later this evening.

Hope everyone has a great day. Thank you again.

I Am So Distracted

Hi everyone,

If you have been keeping up with any of my posts you may know that last Thursday I had some bad news concerning health issues with my grandmother and my dad. Well, I am very happy to report that my grandmother got to come home after spending 3 days in the hospital. So far she is doing a little better. However, the news concerning my dad was not as good.

Unfortunately, we found out Thursday that he has cancer. They found a tumor on his vocal cords and another in his neck. We are going to Winston Salem this Friday to see an oncology surgeon. I am so worried about him that I can't concentrate on anything it seems. I have never had ADD but I can imagine this is what it must feel like.

I am desperately trying to get new items made and listed in my etsy shop but I can't seem to get anything done. I also had a few more tutorials in mind but those will have to wait for a bit as well. I would like to thank all of my new followers and apologize for this slow period. I would also like to ask that you all keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers. Send as many prayers, good vibes, well wishes etc. his way that you can. We welcome them all. Please bear with me for a little while, hopefully I will be able to start posting some interesting things again soon. Thanks again and God Bless.

Check out my sidebars

After looking at some of my posts I realized that I tend to be what some may call "long winded", however I prefer to think of it as being thorough. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that some of my posts are quite long especially the tutorials. I noticed while looking over my blog earlier today that after a certain point the sidebars were completely empty and I thought to myself "that just won't do". It is a shame to waste all of that space so I put the word out that I was willing to post some other etsians etsy minis in my sidebars and I got a great response. Now you all have some beautiful things to look at while reading through my posts. So please take a little time to check out some of these wonderful shops while you peruse through my blog. These are some really great ETSY artists. Thanks a bunch.

P.S. If you would be interested in having your mini on my blog just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.