Ugh

Don't mind me... I am just being grumpy. I woke up this morning with a doozie of a cold. My head is congested, my teeth have a constant film of phlegm, and my throat hurts from trying to cough out all this nastiness. I have say, I have been lucky! I have had a pretty long run of great health. Hopefully this will clear itself up in a few days.

Even feeling lousy, I preserver though. While my girlfriend Kelley recounted her night at work to me via phone this morning, I listened and wired at the same time. The result was this fantastic piece! I made these beads over the weekend. I was kept awake one night last week with the sudden revelation that I had never mixed raku and plaids. I made a few and was only so so about the beads. But that was until now. Actually seeing them in a finished piece has sparked my interest in the raku color reactions I got. You can't really see it in the "pretty shot" up top, but below, you can see I got a lot of warm browns and deep purples.

The wire work is my "Hip To Be Square" design that will be coming out in the Dec 2007 issue of Bead&Button magazine. I took a few extra minutes to oxidize this one and I think it really makes the finished piece. I love the depth that oxidizing gives some pieces. It makes them so earthy too.

It is funny... this is only the second "Hip To Be Square" link bracelet I have ever made. I designed the first one specifically for publication, made the bracelet for the tutorial, then haven't come back to it since. I am not sure why I did that... it is a cool link and it is easy to make. It makes me wonder what other links I have done that with. Hmmm... I better go check on that!