My favorite Gift Guide for the Holidays

No one - absolutely no one! - says Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Season's Cheer like Dave Barry.  And his gift guides are generally guaranteed to make you pee in your pants laughing.  Every once in a while there's something that I might actually want, but I'd never admit to admiring.

See it here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/05/1957997/dave-barrys-guide-to-holiday-gifts.html

and enjoy!

Ammonite Madness

Ammonites were sea creatures that floated in our world's oceans about 75 million years ago, give or take 25 million years. They were mostly around during the Jurassic period, along with good ol' T-Rex.

Today ammonite fossils can be found in many countries. Some have set them aside as a protected resource (for example, Israel) while others allow them to be harvested and sold (for example, Madagascar).

I love putting ammonites into my work for a very showy accent. I buy them halved and polished to show off their chambers. You can use ammonites, too, if you remember some simple guidelines:


Tips for glass artists

Be sure to buy from a respectable seller, or you might be buying something that was illegally harvested. You don't want to encourage crime.

If you're planning on edging your fossil with copper foil, use raw or polished ammonites. All the opalescent ammonites I purchased cracked when I applied solder.

• When planning your design, remember that you'll want to put the ammonite in from the back, flat side down, so it will be flush with the front of your work.

Let you hair down... or pin it up, as you prefer!

Hair clips - can you really ever have enough? Well, I suppose if you are as bald as Yule Brenner, even one is too much.

But for those of us with long locks, barrettes can be a fashion statement, even for the over-5 set. (That's over 5 years old, not over 5 feet tall.) I might not notice if my tennis shoes have small holes in the toes (I'll probably notice but not worry too much about it - after all, are you looking at my feet? No! Don't look!) but I'll take some time to pick out a clip that looks good with my clothes. I think that's what girls with fashion sense are supposed to do. My fashion sense is that inner voice that says "put on clean underwear in case you're hit by a truck!" and "don't wear that, it's missing too many buttons." Other than that, I'm a pretty casual dresser - and these clips look great with casual clothes.

I create all my hair clips using metal clips and art glass. Sometimes I thrown in other goodies like precious stones or crystal dangles. Then I post them in Jester Jewelry for sale.

Are you holding on to some glass with sentimental value? I bet you're wondering what do with it. You're in luck! You can commission a hair clip with it from me, too, like Penny from UK did. She collects sea glass and had me put some into a clip for her. You don't need much for a clip, and it's a lovely and original way to wear your special glass. (Photo is not of Penny's clip, sorry)

A word about boxes.... glass boxes, of course!

I love making stained glass boxes, and just finished up a new one today. I don't have photos of it yet so I'm posting photos of a boxes from last year that I also love. Every box I make is special - they're often created as personal commissions, with a unique design based on input from my clients. Sometimes people have me sandwich invitations, photos or poems between glass in the lid or base.

The box I finished today has a wooden floor, cut from a wine crate, clear sides and tops and a really cool design in the lid with a lot of smooth curves. The lid has 2 doors that open from the center. I did it in clear glass so we can see the winery's logo burned into the wood. I treated it all with a nice copper patina.

After I finish a box, I shred the pattern in my handy-dandy office shredder. Not only does this guarantee that I'll never make an identical box but it also provides me with filler when I package my art for shipping!