Newport Aquarium

I spent the day yesterday at the Newport Aquarium (Newport, Kentucky) with my daughter and my mother. It was a long day, and a long drive, but my daughter loved it. When I came home and emptied my camera I saw that I had taken 955 photos! lol

Ok, so not all of the 955 photos turned out all that great, but about 253 were at least passably decent. Of course, that's still a bit too much to post here! I've narrowed it down to the best 25 shots. Hope you enjoy them.

The Carnival Pendant Tutorial is Finally Finished!

Available in my Tutorial Shop on Etsy:
http://gailaviratutorials.etsy.com

At certain angles, the pendants made in this style remind me of the tilt'a'whirl my friends and I used to ride at the fair every year when I was a kid. At other angles, for some strange reason, I just want to tie dye them. They make me remember all those times when I would burst out laughing for no reason at all, and keep laughing and laughing and laughing. For me, they evoke a feeling of sheltered innocence. The kind of freedom you feel as a child running through the county fair, looking for the next “thrill” to ride, or twirling round and round in circles until you become so dizzy you fall, laughing with glee.

So far I have not been able to duplicate, exactly, any of the designs I have made in this style. For that reason, please do not think of this tutorial as directions that are set in stone. They are really more of a set of techniques combined in a certain way to achieve a certain type of look. These pendants can end up elegant and graceful, fun and spirited, modern and industrial, or anything in between!

You will need the Basic Weaving Techniques tutorial (available free on here: http://www.gailavira.com/tutorials/basicweavingtechniques.pdf) as a reference for this lesson.

Skill Level:
Very Advanced

Material List:

* 25’ of 28g Round Dead Soft Wire
* 7” of 20g Half Round Half Hard Wire
* 54” of 20g Round Dead Soft Wire
* 1 25mm round cabochon

Tool List:

* Chain nose pliers
* Round nose pliers
* Wire cutters
* Flat nose pliers
* Bent nose pliers
* Ruler
* Marker
* Tape (optional)