Bracelets, Week Three, Plus Some Ideas About "Victory Gardens"

Hello again,

Granted there is a lot more to life than bracelets, and I'll be adding a wide variety of comments/essays/topics to this blog as time goes on. Please jump on any topics you find interesting. Your comments are always welcome.

Week three of the Bracelet-A-Day Project

This has been a whacky week for the project. I decided to see if I could make some really different items. Day 15 was a low-key effort to add some pizzazz to the wire bracelets I love making. I wove some colored ribbon through it. Had trouble keeping it from "clotting up", but I think the idea has potential.

The setup for the next bracelet is in the pic below - a big glass bowl with Dawn soap suds and the same peacock blue ink that many of us used back in the fountain pen years. Painting the ink on the suds was challenging, as was immersing my wrist without destroying the ink ring.

It only lasted a couple of minutes, but the effect isn't too bad.

This one was loads of fun - three Mandevilla blossoms from my yard, with a small circlet of wire to hold them in place. Like the one above, it was ephemeral, but it lasted an hour or so.

 Back to "normal" - with a Viking Knit bracelet.

 First try at a masculine design - electrical wire wrapped around heavy-gage craft wire. Execution failed, but concept seems to have potential.

 This is one of my favorites - multi-colored, over-sized jump rings in a wave pattern. (Have to wind the bracelet on itself to actually see the wave.)

 Flat copper wire wrapped around a triple band of the heavy gage craft wire.

Not sure what week four will bring, but we will see.

Meanwhile - about Victory Gardens

It seems to me that it is time for the return of what was called, during World War II, a victory garden...a small plot for growing family favorite veggies, fruit and, of course, flowers.

The onslaught of genetically modified foods, the growing cost of groceries, and the need to get healthy have combined to lead me to back to gardening. Confession time, though. I am a very lazy gardener. I've opted for the square-foot mode of gardening. An amazing friend built two frames for me, one with 12 squares and one with eight.

Four Cucumbers do not a Garden Make

I've opted for the square-foot mode of gardening. An amazing friend built two frames for me, one with 12 squares and one with eight. I didn't get started till late in the summer. My plot included yellow squash, sweet bell peppers, cukes, and watermelon.

Total harvest: four cucumbers. Argh!

Getting ready to plant for fall/winter: spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, collards, and not sure yet what else. Wish me luck - and give a little thought to your own potential as a gardener. I'm betting all of us have a green thumb somewhere deep inside.