Variscite Sucker Brooch

I'm finally happy that this little 'sucker' is finished!

The circles, dots and spots remind me of octopus tentacles - hence the name.

The gemstone featured in this is Variscite in shades of soft seafoam green from one of my favourite suppliers Heart Of Stone Studio (in the USA). This artistic bit of rock is from Australia and is very unusual in that it has the Variscite running like a river through interesting shades of matrix.

Other materials used (all cold connections):

copper (patina using liver of sulphur and then with prismacolor and gloss on top);

pearls stitched through holes in the copper - in light pink, cream and chocolate brown;

merino wool in shades of purple, mauve & turquoise (needle felted);

beads and thread.

There is a brooch pin stitched to the back.
Approx size: 7cm x 8cm / 2.75 inches x 3 inches

She is headed off to be judged for the Regal Castings Contemporary Jewellery Awards, which is part of the New Zealand Jewellery Show.  This will be held at SkyCity, Auckland on 1-4 July 2010. So fingers crossed!

Ginga Alpaca Yarn Dreads...

Been having quite alot of fun with my kiddies and a bag of locally grown ginga alapaca.

First I spun the alpaca on my Majacraft Pioneer with some green & orange locks, pieces of sari scarf and turquoise sari silk (as modelled below).  The sari silks I bought from YarnTraders here in New Zealand - a great online resource for exotic and unusual yarns, fibers, felt and fabrics.

It was made a little trickier as the ginga alapaca (kindly and lovingly carded by Sharon at Jumbuck Carding) had been sitting squished in the bottom of my cupboard for a few months and was all matted together.

I think I am going to keep hold of this ginga yarn in case I want to wear it to a party (not that I ever go out these days unless its before 7pm) or I may knit it into a Ginga Hat.

By the way, the lack of Lanolin in alpaca fiber (such as is often found in yarn made from sheep’s wool) also makes natural alpaca yarn hypoallergenic in nature or very unlikely to cause any allergic reactions.

Knitting Handspun Frenzy.....

I'm in a bit of a knitting frenzy at the moment, which has been great for using up some of my handspun yarns. I can now nearly shut my cupboard!

Some of my better knits go to The Little Gallery Of Fine Arts in Tairua and these ones are all headed there. Its a fabulous tourist destination on the Coromandel run by the talented artist Paula McNeill.

The Coromandel is one of New Zealand's favourite tourist destinations - you can even dig your own hot water spa pool in the sand at Hot Water Beach.

The above is a crochet scarf - I love crochet as its difficult to drop a stitch by mistake as there is only one on the crochet hook anyway! The gorgeous commercial green heather merino wool is Cascade Magnum in Moss colour (100% Peruvian Highland Wool). Its 2 stitches per inch - love it! Nice and quick!