Friday, December 26, 2008

Spencer Opal Pendant



This is a sterling silver pendant with a opal from Spencer Idaho. The area is about an hour north of Idaho Falls near the Montana border. It's a commercial mine where they allow the public in a few times a year to go through their mining tailing's. Last time I was there it was a little disappointing at how little opal I found. But I guess that's why they call it mining. I cut the opal and made a triplet out of the stone. A triplet is a layer of opal sandwiched between some black obsidian and then topped with a clear quartz dome cap. The black backing and the quartz cap magnify the beauty of the opal. The piece of opal is too thin to thin to dome and that's why it made into a tripet.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Hapa

The music of Hapa is a great way to get past these cold, snowy days of winter. For you who haven't had the pleasure of hearing Hapa, YouTube has videos of some of their music. Barry Flanagan orginally from New York and Nathan Kawai Aweau from Hawaii are Hapa and perform their Hawaiiam /Pan-Polynesian music . Barry who moved to Maui in 1980, has mastered the art of Kiho Alu, or slack-key guitar and Nathan has an amazing voice. Give them a listen. Pretend you are sitting with your laptop on a beach in Hawaii. Aloha