Between clearing the kitchen of panning equipment and getting it set up out under the carport is this thing... Carving.  Yes... Back to carving.  

The joys of panning (other than the obvious gold that is involved), I get to play with rocks.  Yes.  Rocks.  The sort of rocks most over look as being ugly but once all shined up are worth a pretty penny.  

So where does the pearl shells come into the mix?

I went to Michael's a few weeks back and like any magpie, I was attracted to these bags of pearl shell bits.  Not small bits but honking big enough to actually carve.  Long story short, I had to have them... 4 or 5 bags... Maybe 6. My brain gets soft and muddled at the sight of shiny things I want to have.  

I came home with my new found treasure and dumped it into a sweater box and wallowed through it.  That stuff is *dusty* coming right out of the bag.... Blegh.   But in my happy rung fingers through shell bits, I pulled some pretty nice chunks.  Blister pearls, thick chunks of shell, pieces with killer color and texture galore.

Then I started carving... Ok so it's simple stuff.  Whale tails.  Meh... Dime a dozen.  Sure, but I sell a few at $5 and $10, I paid the bags off and I can do something else...  Like meet a few obligations that need desperate attention.  I have 3 and they will be taken care of handsomely for their patience.  2 are in the U.S.  The third *needs* to be in the U.S.  That is a hint to the person it's directed to.

It all gets back to carving.  Carving is good and I need to be outside to carve.  I'm not worried about the mess carving makes if it's outside.  I worry about it when it's inside the house.

I hope the weather stays real nice over the next week so I can get outside and get to doing what I needed to do over the last year.  Carve!

I'll post the Etsy links as they get posted.