focus on life–week 43–in the shadows

Friday was the deadline for the art charms to arrive for the 2013 Art Charm Swap hosted by Jennifer Cameron of Glass Addictions.  I was relieved that my charms arrived early, almost a week before the deadline – go me! November 15th will bring a blog hop to show off the charms created and to kick off the auctions in support of Beads of Courage.  Last year, I also participated, and received some wonderful charms and more importantly the auction raised $600!
When I saw Sally’s prompt of “in the shadows” for this week I knew a teaser pic in silhouette would be perfect.  Then all week I forgot to take the picture!   So my iphone snap tonight is not exactly what I had in mind, it gives away even less. 



I have been distracted by another idea.  I think it started with the making of these very charms. During the creative process (which I’m trying not to give away yet) I somehow created these.



This got me to thinking that a tongue depressor just might make the perfect earring “card”.  Today I finally brought the idea to fruition with a little cutting and drilling.


This is a great start but not entirely what I had in mind.  I thought since I already had the holes drilled I would dip them in some paint and hang to dry, to look a little like paint stir sticks.  I looked around the room and thought, hmmm dangling sticks of paint where a kitten explores is probably not the best part of this idea.



I decided that alcohol ink and a toothbrush would provide just the right amount of decoration.  Here you see them in part of a cold air return that just happened to be on a clearance table next to the PVC pipe when I was picking some up to act as table risers.  It was a show display serendipity!  They also stand on edge quite nicely as the posts allow them to rest at a perfectly tilted angle.  For transport, they also arrange tidily in a cigar box.  I’m also very happy with how these studs are all coming together, this is a new product I will be featuring at Handmade Harvest next Sunday.



Now I suppose it’s time to start thinking of Halloween.  I wonder if the other “in the shadows” photos will help more with that eerie leaning.  Head on over to the studio sublime to see them all.