the brooches march on...

Brooch #16 in the etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge was a last minute affair. The week sped by sooooo fast that come the deadline day, I was shocked I tell you, to find myself standing in Sunday without a brooch of an idea, and an empty oxygen tank.

 You know how dog emergencies mostly happen on weekends when your vet's office is closed, and you have to pay the big bucks at the emergency vet's office? And the plumbing goes haywire on weekends, that's overtime for the plumber... Well my oxygen tank seems to run out after noon on Saturdays when the welding supply closes for the weekend. In my business, there's not much I can accomplish if I can't solder.

So instead of taping a safety pin onto a toilet paper roll, (I figured I could save that one for a real emergency, like late on a Sunday night...) I looked around my bench and found these sweet little handmade glass beads I had purchased a while back from PaulBead on etsy and  a little sterling leaf I'd done ages ago and some of the stainless steel wire I use for my pin stems.  A little targeted work with the pliers, and voila! I have a little something to wear on my jacket. No soldering required.

brooch 16

Brooch #17 began on Saturday and finished up on Sunday. It features a really fantastic druzy agate. I've set it in sterling and added 14kt gold round prongs.

brooch 17

Today is Thursday. I'm counting on myself to start the next brooch tomorrow.

We'll see if that actually happens. Currently I haven't a clue as to what I'll do...