Saturday, July 7, 2012

Happy after 4th of July! I hope your night had sparkles and you enjoyed the day off of your crappy jobs...(lets not kid ourselves, jobs suck. Always.) Austin and I skipped town with the dogs and with out a plan. Hello, Sedona. When we hit cottonwood we saw the light... lights. Yup, you know the ones that make you feel like you might pee your pants and vomit at the same time? Exactly, we were getting pulled over.
HOW? Let it be known that Austin Kirby Kunse does NOT speed. Like ever. Like if my leg were falling off and we had five minutes to get to a hospital and we could get there in two... well, I wouldn't have a leg.  I refer to him as "the grandpa" when talking to my sister about coming down to Tucson.
So, pulled over. Austin driving my car... (sigh of relief).. but not speeding?... tint. Apparently, mine is illegal. I honestly 100% never knew it was. The cop said he believed me, but that he knew Austin knew, Austin did know..(jerk).  Long story short, amazing cop, no ticket, and advice on where to take the dogs for the day... yay!... on to Westfork.
I still swear we got away so easily due to the fact that we had a giant German Shepherd sticking her nose all over that cops business. That sounded bad. What I meant was, German Shepherd + Cop = Love.
Moving along- Westfork is now one of my most favorite places in Arizona. GASP! I said "one of" and "in," people... not my favorite place. You will not hear that from me about this state and you know that. Behave your mind.
It was a gorgeous winding trail through red rock and creek, beautiful plants and trees, tons of butterflies, and fun. A lot of fun. Like holy crap, I'm having a lot of fun, fun.
This picture kind of makes me laugh. It looks like I did a really terrible photoshop job around the mountains with that white sky.

So, as much as I love supporting my dear Mesa Art Center (great segway, right?), I signed up for a Keum Boo class that I am going to have to cancel. The reason: I taught myself, the money I spent for the workshop could easily buy me another sheet of gold, and I need the money...and I could just learn something else instead... and, well, a girls gotta eat.  No, that's not really why, I'm eating just fine, I promise. Please don't go sending cans of food and ramen noodles. Though I'd appreciate it, I will make it.


Here's my very first attempt. See the tiny bit of gold foil fused on the front of the pendant? Yes, that is the art of Keum Boo.  Heat, pickle. Heat, pickle. Heat, pickle... until the copper is burned off and the fine silver of the metal is brought to the surface (depletion gilding). You do this because your gold foil can only fuse to fine silver. Then you do just that, fuse them. Heat, agate burnisher, rub rub, whazam. I have to admit, mines a little light because I didn't have the gold 100% fused before I felt the need to rub all over it, but I just love the look. LOVE. Love. A lot.
Combine that sucker with some cool coral beads, one turquoise (for good measure), adjusting chain and some dangles. Complete-o cheeto.
Speaking of learning, my sisters neighbor, an awesome, professional jeweler and used-to-be teacher, has agreed to teach me some super stuff with prongs, stone setting, and a $40,000 laser welder. I am excited... to say the least.

Have a super wonderful weekend!

I love your weird.

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