goodbye, sunshine...

We lost our Archie-dog on Thursday & as you can imagine, we're all heartbroken.

He was only three - it was sudden & unexpected & almost unbelievable.

Neither of us felt up to posting about this until today, but Kathryn has written a post on his blog, and in the next month or so, we're going to post some of our memories over there too.

develop { the teleidoscope }

Although I ended up going with a photo that better fit the original idea for week #4 of The Teleidoscope (Develop), the photo above is probably my favourite.

on flickr
the texture on the top photo is by les brumes

freshly fired...

a little update on the pieces that were in my workspace in this post.

here they are, fresh from the kiln, not even brushed or tumbled yet. (& by fresh, I mean after cooling in the kiln overnight).

the last of them are in the tumbler now, getting all shiny.

in the next few days, some of them will be getting a patina & the hooks & such they need to become finished jewellery.

wishlist wednesday...

a whisper of whimsy...

Laundry Day Print by atwhim

 Two Trees Brooch by ShereDesign

 Balloon Factory by PearsonMaron

 The Heart tenor ukulele by celentanowoodworks

 Needle Felted Pear Bowl by lauraleeburch

dreaming of rainy days { melbourne }

I would so love a cool, rainy day right about now...

work in progress...

I spent most of yesterday finishing off some silver clay pieces - sanding, refining, attaching bails...

Almost done - just a couple of pieces still to finish. Hopefully they'll all be ready to fire early next week.

& just in case you're wondering, that's the kitchen table, I'm working at - I generally do my clay work in the kitchen.

impact { the teleidoscope }

I have a fair number of these, so here are some extras from week #2 of The Teleidoscope - Impact

on Flickr

new perspective { the teleidoscope }

Some out-takes from my photo for week #1 of The Teleidoscope - New Perspective.

There is a theme for every week & while I don't know that I will have a photo every week,  if I have a decent idea & time to attempt it, I will.

my upload to the group

brown sugar spice cake

I baked a double batch of this cake yesterday - & they're already telling me to bake it again. The recipe is from Rachel's gorgeous blog elephantine.

It's really good - dense & moist, with a beautiful spicy taste. I haven't altered this recipe at all, just saved you the trouble of looking up how much butter a stick is. As I said, I made a double batch (adding an extra egg) & it worked really well.

I looked the recipe up on dad's ipad before I started. The photos on elephantine take you through the recipe step-by-step.
& I might have then used the ipad to play on pinterest while the cake was in the oven :)

Rachel baked her cake in mini-bundt pans, but as I (sadly) don't have any, I used our fluted (baba) tins. But you could use a plain round tin. I do want those mini-bundt pans though. & the nice light in her photos.

brown sugar spice cake

 from elephantine

1 ½ sticks butter (6 ounces / 169.5 grams)
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar (well packed)
¼ tsp nutmeg
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp ginger
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
¾ cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 180C & grease your pan.

Put the butter in a large mixing bowl (it should be very soft, but not completely melted). Add sugar, spices, salt & baking powder & mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.

Add the eggs one at a time & mix until smooth. Add the flour, alternating with the juice, a little bit at a time, mix until well combined.

Pour into prepared tin & bake for 1hr*, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove from oven & turn onto a wire rack to cool.

* the suggestion in the original recipe is 20min for small cakes, or 30min for a single cake, but mine took 1hr (with two cakes in the oven) & I left them in there for an extra 10min once I had turned the oven off. 
& I think 170g butter would work, no need to measure .5g!

enjoy :)

still to come...

Somehow the new year seems like the perfect time to plot & plan & set goals.

I have a whole list of goals & ideas for this year, but this is sort of the general outline:

~ keep creating & pushing myself to try new techniques & materials
~ better promote my etsy store (which is why I've signed up for this)
~ use my time better
~ do some fun stuff, just for me (like trying some embroidery & attempting to sew a skirt)
~ stay fit & healthy
~ be open to new opportunities & challenges, even (especially) if they're not on my list

...& hopefully I'll have lots of good things to post here :)

another view of the butterfly here.

that which has been...

2011 was a pretty good year, with lots of fun, happy times - getting featured in SA Life, seeing Wicked, finishing the City-to-Bay, taking photos, making some jewellery (including this necklace), spending nearly a week in Melbourne (still more posts to come!), attending Tim McCreight's workshop & catching up with some lovely fellow jewellers, getting some film developed (still have some other shots to share, too) - & some sadness too.

So, goodbye 2011 & hello 2012, I can't wait to see what this year brings.