Happy Halloween!

Ray Villafane, America's favorite carver .Two-Time Winner of Food Network's Outrageous Pumpkins Challenge Show....

If you would like a tutorial on how to carve these pumpkins, Ray Villafane has one you will never be able to follow, but it is fun to look at anyway:http://www.villafanestudios.com/pumpkins.htm

Bruno Bohrer inspects a Trojan Horse made entirely of pumpkins and gourds on his farm in the German district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. Each fall, he commissions a series of harvest-themed sculptures to attract diners to a restaurant on his farm.

The AOHA State Championship Show has costume lead-line class with amazing costumes. Here are a few pictures I found from it:

John Deere Tractor and the Farmer's Daughter
Cinderella

Amazing Breyer horse costume!

Here are a few other cute costumes:

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Rainy day creations

The weather hasn't been too good for riding lately, very wet and rainy. So I've been making some jewelry instead. Last night a message from the National Weather service came out: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...
"DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!"
Really? Hmmm, the big storms must have missed my area, we just got some rain.

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." Jerry Chin

Gold Good Luck Horseshoe Necklace

The Chocolate Blues Bracelet

Verdigris Equestrian Necklace

Kindred Spirit Horse Necklace

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Microworlds

I am fascinated by what people do with miniatures only millimeters tall....

MINIMIAM: Pierre Javelle, Akiko Ida

Cracks in, what would appear to us as, a basic Eclair, turn into a hazardous fault line and peas become weights lifted by an Oldtime Strongman. Slinkachu
In his street art/photography campaign, The Little People Project, his miniature figures from train sets or architect models are photographed and then left to fend for themselves in the bustling city, for those with keen eyes to stumble upon. "When you are a kid, you are always looking at the ground picking up bugs and things. As you get older you stop doing it, so I thought about what surprising little things I could leave for people to find" he said.

The one above had a speaker hidden in the drain that played sounds of screaming kids and splashing.

Commuting - Metro goes micro...

Unnoticed by cleaners and most of the working population, a five millimeter tall man could be found patiently waiting for a lift outside the Whaf's DLF station on North Colonnade (UK).

Miniature art of Kendal Murray

"Family Recruit Fruit Pursuit" Kendal Murray 14.5 x 18.5 x 14 cm
"Dog Awash Backyard Splosh" Kendal Murray 10.5 x 10 x 10.5 cm

Audrey Heller composes delightful photographs of miniature people engaged in herculean tasks, many involving food.
This is taking it to the extreme....
Micro-sculptor Willard Wigan, known all around the world for his miniature sculptures that are invisible to the naked eye. Willard uses tiny homemade tools and paints with a hair plucked from a housefly's back (the fly has to have died from natural causes, as he refuses to kill them for his art) and carves microscopic figures from grains of rice or sand or sugar. The sculptures, which often take months to complete, are then mounted on pin heads or needles.
Another extremist: Nikolai Aldunin works between the beats of his heart, in order to keep his hands perfectly still. Using superglue, syringes and toothpicks, he creates works of art so tiny, a microscope is needed to see them.

Aldunin's work naturally leads to some frustration. It took Aldunin six months to create this gold AK-47 (yes, that is a matchstick it is on!). It consists of 34 individual parts. Aldunin's work naturally leads to some frustration. While crafting the miniature rifle, he lost the weapon's butt after having worked on it for two weeks. I would want to shoot myself with that tiny gun!
Seven camels in the eye of a needle

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Catch Up

I know I have not been very good at keeping up with my blog lately. Time just seems to get away from me these days. I want to make things more efficient, I want to be more productive, but there just aren't enough hours in the day sometimes. Work consumes most of my day and then its an hour and a half drive to ride and take care of my horses. I try and spend some time with my wonderfully understanding husband on the nights he is home, and work on my jewelry on the other nights. Household duties...I'm not even going to go there.

The weather here has been crazy!!! We had record breaking temperatures in the 100's two weeks ago (113 degrees on 9/27!!!). Kylie had already grown a 2 inch long winter coat, so she got body clipped. Last week it rained and dropped into the 50's, so I had to put a sheet on her. Now it is back to about 80 degrees and low 60's at night.

Mazzy's coat isn't nearly as thick as Kylie's, so she hasn't needed a body clip yet. It sure is shiny and dappaly (is that a word?), must be all the good stuff they are feeding her. She gets a hot lunch everyday. I can start riding her again at the end of the month, and I know we are both going to miss all the pampering she gets at the place she is at now!!!

A new equestrian mixed media necklace creation. It has a fox hunting theme. I'll be posting it in my etsy shop soon.

Here are some new goodies I just got with a verdigris patina that I can't wait to create with.

We saw Berlin at the Brixton this past weekend. Our friend Carlton is the guitarist in the band, so we got to go back stage! They played a great show including "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun, “Sex (I'm A...),” “The Metro,” “You Don't Know,” “No More Words”. Carlton just released a solo project, Shades of Scar "The Hollow Season", available through itunes. If you are into Electronic/Synth/Industrial/Darkwave music, you should check it out.

Terri Nunn

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