I’ve been doing a dash of enameling here!  ‘Tis the season for it!  I find that enameling in the summertime is utterly intolerable in my un-airconditioned studio space, as I have shared before.  In these cold months, there’s nothing like hunkering down in the studio with a hot cup of tea while my kiln burns bright and my work space is merry and cozy.  In the winter, the days I enamel are the only days that my studio space is warm enough to work without a down vest or jacket and a thick set of fingerless gloves.  I can even go without long johns if the kiln is running!  Delightful!  This morning, when I sat down to finish the chain on one of these necklaces, the snow was falling thick and fast outside while a blustery wind was busy pulling the last of the leaves from the trees and grapevines.  I felt perfectly rosy looking out my big studio window and up into the snowy mountains.  Perfectly rosy.  I was playing soft, soulful music on the stereo and for the first time in a long while, my mind was as quiet as my hands while I worked.  I have a gentle, white dove on each shoulder and creative work has been simple, intuitive and murmuring these past few days.

Sometimes the rankled details of the world build a thick wall, as though with russet bricks, between the easy click and whir of the mind and the ability of our hands to plainly and gracefully reach for space.

This is the happy snapping of chains, fires enough to fuse glass to metal, the ever rising.

And before I go, a tune for you!