Time on Treadmill: 30 minutes.
Irritation level: Eyeing bladed weapons in library.

There are times that test a woman’s soul, and the last thirty-six hours have been one of those times. I’m not going to go into detail because there’s no reason to do so, but I’m honestly surprised I still have a tongue in my head, I’ve bitten it so many times to stop myself from verbally or textually filleting various people.

So, yeah, this is not a good time to poke the bear. Haven’t done a damn bit of writing today and I don’t care. I did get some granulation made and a set of earrings done for an Etsy sale, so I’ve got that going for me, and I finished a pendant that wasn’t so much an art project as it was a way to use up a bunch of pretty but really small cabochons I had (citrine, amethyst, peridot, garnet, and white topaz) and some scrap sterling silver that was too nice to toss into the recycling pouch.

Oh hell yes I recycle my sterling — no way I’m tossing those scraps in the garbage when I can send them to Rio Grande for refining and get a nice little store credit for 85% of what I sent in. My last recycling batch wound up buying me a new pair of flat pliers, a burr assortment, a set of German dividers, and an AdvantEdge silicone polisher kit. Booyah.

Anyway, the pendant turned out like something from a Tuscan summer, so I’m calling it Tuscan Summer. Original, I know, but I’m not in a mood to search for evocative names. Someone on a FB metalsmithing group pointed out that this design would be amazing for mother’s pendants where you could put the birthstone cabs of her kids into it. That’s something I may be pursuing in the near future, but I think I’ll use commercial bezel cups for those. Making all of those teeny tiny bezel cups was a royal pain in the ass, and I still can’t feel the tips of my left index finger and thumb from the callus that built up on them from holding all those tiny elements for sawing/filing/polishing/et al.