New Jewelry: Swedish Blue Slag Ring

Another cabochon from my Russian dealer!

This one caught my eye immediately and I had no idea what the stone could possibly be. An incredibly bright blue, but not quite the right shade to be turquoise. I was told that it was "Swedish Slag" and came from foundries in Sweden. I bought it (and I should have bought more!) and did a little research on it.

The blue stone is actually 500-year old glass from Sweden. But it didn’t start that way. It began its life in the 1400's when metal smiths would dump the waste product from iron they were smelting. This sludge or slag which they dumped outside their shops would accumulate in piles which got buried for centuries. During that time it changed into this glass-like stone which is now being mined. Different minerals or metals would make the slag different colors. This one was probably contaminated with cobalt, creating this lovely blue color.

So wearing this ring means wearing the ultimate in recycling. 14th century sludge on your finger!

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Excuse me while I kiss the sky

I know a dealer who sells gemstones that come from all around the world, but especially Russia. He comes to Indianapolis a couple of times a year and I've bought some amazing cabochons from him.

During his last visit, I picked up way too much stuff (again!) and I'm going to have the pleasure of working with the beautiful stones for quite a while.

Among the items I picked up were some intensely purple charoite.

I've seen charoite before and for a while I assumed it might be synthetic because of the incredible color, luster, and swirly patterns in the stone. Charoite can be so incredibly purple that it’s almost hard to believe that this stone occurs naturally.

But they're real and they're only found in Russia.

If you've seen my silver jewelry, you know that I like to incorporate swirls. But I haven't done so in a ring until know.

This design almost seemed to create itself - I guess the swirly patterns in the stone inspired me. There are swirls on either side of the stone and little graduated spheres of silver to balance the pattern.

Rather than using a plain half round wire to make the band, I cut out heavy silver sheet to create a wide band and then accented it with spirals and stampings. Then everything was oxidized and polished to bring out the details.

I really love how the band turned out and think I have to make a band (sans stone) just for me!

(Did you get the reference in this post's title? If not, maybe the name of my ring will help. Click here to see it.)

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Plume Agate Cabochon

To me, gemstone cabochons are very inspiring. Each one is unique and each one holds some promise. Sometimes I get a stone and know exactly what I want to do with it. But sometimes I fall in love with a stone not knowing what it's destined for.

This one is one of the latter.

I picked up this plume agate from an Etsy shop called StonesInMotion. Ed has some wonderful pieces and this one caught my eye. I bet you can see why. It was collected at the Woodward Ranch in West Texas which is world famous for these gorgeous plume agates. Apparently, they're getting harder to find at the ranch these days so I feel lucky to have picked up such a gorgeous speciman.

While I loved the stone, it didn't speak to me right away. It took several months before I decided to highlight it in a ring. But I think it was worth the wait.

I didn't want the setting to destract the stone, so I decided on a simple setting. Here's the stone, set in silver, with just a little extra border that I hand stamped. Then everything was oxidized and polished to give the ring a little bit of a rustic feel which I think matches the feel of the stone.
More pictures of this ring can be found here.

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Mooshu Monday - Sharing a bone with a friend

It's guess about time I started posting again! Let's begin again with Mooshu, who's now about 9 months old.

This morning, our black lab mix, Indy, dragged out an old soupbone of hers and started gnawing away. Mooshu was very interested but possession is 9/10ths of the law. And Indy's growls let Mooshu know it was her bone.


Mooshu hasn't shown any interest in his own chew bone for a while, but I gave it to him anyway. Well of course he was interested! The funny thing was that Mooshu sat right next to Indy, and both of them lay there and chewed away, best of pals.

Of course, dogs are very like people. Sometimes the other bone will always seems better.

(By the way, if you noticed the fluff on the carpet, it's from one of Mooshu's dog toys. He's been happily eviscerating a stuffed bunny for the past week and there's always new fluff around!)

Mooshu Monday! Our first chew bone.

Although he's still not teething, we thought Mooshu might enjoy a chew toy.
Rawhide is not supposed to be good for toy breeds; it can get stuck in their tiny digestive track and swell up. This little bone is totally digestible and Mooshu has been chewing on it for several days. He's probably nubbed off a couple of millimeters! (Let's just say that Indy, our black lab mix, would have chewed it up like a piece of popcorn!)

It's important to make sure that tiny puppies eat throughout the day. They have so little muscle mass that they can get hypoglycemic. So we've been coaxing him to eat, sometimes to the point of feeding him with a spoon. (Now can you understand why these little dogs as sometimes so spoiled!)

He's been eating well and we thought he grew a bit. That is, until we weighed him. After a few weeks with us, guess what!? He put on 2 ounces! Up to a chunky one and a half pounds!

Here's one more shot of Mooshu. See, he's standing my the computer mouse and helping me write this Mooshu Monday post!

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Suburban hawks and small animals

Yesterday, as I was walking by my window in my kitchen, I look out and stop dead in my tracks. What the heck is on my deck railing!?
I can hardly believe it! There's a hawk placidly sitting there!

I run and grab my camera to take pictures. When I aim the camera the bird turns his head in my direction. He sees me through the kitchen window and calmly looks me in the eye, allowing me to snap a few photos.

I've seen hawks overhead before, but never this close. I'm not sure what kind of hawk this is. (Red-tailed? Any guesses?) But what is it doing in my suburban yard?!

We live in Indianapolis but in a heavily wooded area near water. There's all sorts of wildlife co-existing with us. Groundhogs, foxes, and deer are regular visitors and neighbors claim to have seen a coyote. I can hear owls in the early morning and know that there is a nest of horned owls across the street. (They haven't been so polite as to pose for me though. They seem to take off every time I run for my camera.)

I never worried about them before. There is no way my 55+ lb black lab mix will ever be mistaken for a snack. But now that I have a 1 1/2 lb furball of a puppy, this puts a whole new perspective on things.

I've heard that a large hawk can lift up to 8 lbs. and sometimes more, so it could be dangerous to small pets. Hawks have fantastic eye sight and small animals are just prey to them. Mooshu could appear to be a rabbit, squirrel, etc., to them and they'll swoop. Even if a hawk can't successfully lift a small dog or cat it can leave some nasty punctures and tears in the skin which could require stitches.

We have never Mooshu unattended, not even once. Not even to answer the phone.

Seeing the hawk on our deck and having the photos to show to my kids, has really reinforced this.