This is one of the best pieces I believe I have ever made. It turned out amazing.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I started out with five 20 gauge base wires and 1 26 gauge weaving wire. I added peach seed beads along the top of the first wire.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I wrapped the weave around the stone and secured the stone in the setting by attaching two of the base wires across the back of the stone.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Next I did a figure eight weave around four of the base wires to create a bail. I pulled those bail wires around the front. On side one I did a two two weave and used it to circle the bail.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
After circling the bail, I took the wires down and created curls in front on the right side. On the left, I did an alternating 3x4 and a 2x4 weave to create a fluid swoosh down the side.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
This is the finished piece prior to applying Liver of Sulfur.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
This is the piece after Liver of Sulfur has been applied.
Overall it was average. I found there to be several distracting points in the video. First my copy has a copyright disclaimer right in the middle of the screen. I would recommend that if the studio wants to provide first release copies for reviewers they should move the notice to the bottom of the screen instead of right in the middle. That was a tough one to over come.
The next issue was that at times it seemed like the images didn't match the narrations. They were speaking about China in Confucius time yet showing the modern images. It just came off as strange and oddly placed. That is one example, but the video had several places/times where this occurred. There were times when I saw modern China and then a flash back to older times. While the imagery was very good and China is a beautiful place both historically and in modern times, still the imagery and story just didn't come together cohesively.
There were spots in the showing where we had two different narrators. I found that distracting. There were also spots where a guest was being interviewed and the translator was translating his words to English, yet the I could still hear the original voice almost over powering the translation. Again just a little thing that editing should have picked up and corrected.
The biggest issue I had with this, was what the title led me to expect from this and what it actually delivered. The title is "Secrets of the I Ching". I expected to see the I Ching explained or more information on the I Ching. What I got was a history of a man who translated the I Ching and ended up creating a school in China and his granddaughters journey to learn more about HIM, not about the I Ching. Based on the title, and what I saw this documentary just didn't deliver the goods. A simple title change from "Secrets of the I Ching" to "My Grandfather and the I Ching" and it would be a much more cohesive story.
Overall an average documentary. I have seen far worse and I have seen much better.
This is a fun book to read. The majority of the books I read are either for work (computer in nature) or for research on Hecate. This book is neither. It was fun to sit down and just read a book for the value of the book. The author gives us a historic yet tongue in cheek look at American Witches from the journey to the new world to the Blair Witch. The information is clear and presented in a humorous manner. This book covers not only the historic Salem witchery but also some references to Native American tribes which I never really took into account when someone mentions American Witches. This book is a great one to have around to spend some quality time with a good book without the need to grab a note pad to jot notes. I certainly need to find more time for these type of books. The center of the book has some historic photographs related to the stories which I found to add a bit more "realism" to the book. This was a really great read and I highly recommend giving it a read.
So to add a bit of excitement to this I'm going to giveaway 6 hardcover copies of this book. I've created a Rafflecopter giveaway . Once all the entries are in I'll make my selections via the random selector tool and notify the winners. The drawing begins at 12:00 AM September 1st.
Here are a few photos of my how to process working with copper and a lovely Larimar stone.
Here is the finished piece.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I started out with a simple chevron style stitch on five base wires, adding seed beads on one side of the point.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I repeated this until I had enough to wrap completely around the stone.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I then pulled the two sides together and wrapped four wires with a figure eight weave to complete the bail.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I took the remaining wires and did an assortment of two two stitches and a three three stitch to complete the access on the top and bottom as well as to encircle the bail to give it a finished look.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Finally a bath of Liver of Sulfur gives it a nice rich finish.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
All my jewelry is available for purchase on my website. If you cannot find what you're looking for just send me a message via the contact form on this blog or on message me on my Facebook page.
Over the last few months I've been starting to work out again. I started with the treadmill, which abruptly died in June. I then tried to do the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Micheals and that was a disaster. The last two weeks I have been getting up every morning and doing 20 minutes on the elliptical and an hour in the middle of the day on my under the desk peddle bike to try to get the weight off. We also switched our lunches to only salad for the last month. I haven't dropped a lot of weight but my size 20 pants are now able to be pulled down w/o unbuttoning them. So I am at least heading slowly but surely in the right direction.
Two weeks ago hubby picked up Penn Jillett's new book "Presto, How I made 100 Pounds Disappear." (AMAZON) - You can check out a podcast on the subject here. Hubby finished the book and went on to investigate the assorted methodologies around weight loss. After a ton of research he says to me, "Hey want to eat nothing but potatoes for the next 12 days?"
I was caught off guard. This idea of eating one thing for 12 days goes completely against every thing we had read up to this point. Working with Hubby's previous meal plans I went from 250 down to 168. After my mother moved in with me, I gave up being vegetarian and basically settled into the life of, "I don't give a shit." Over the 2 years that followed I put back on every single pound and then a bit more.
Today, I'm sitting here at 226 and hubby is at the same. His back is killing him and I am beginning to have trouble breathing. It is time for us to make a change. So we decided that not only are we going to go back to being vegetarian; we are going to kick it off with 12 days of eating nothing but potatoes. As many potatoes as we want to eat. We just have to only eat potatoes.
No salt, no butter; just potatoes. To my surprise, there is also no exercise. None at all. I will be returning to my elliptical after this 12 day fast is over. But for the next 2 weeks. I'll be sitting around - eating potatoes and I'll be documenting the entire process here.
For more information on the Metabolic Winter Hypothesis click here.
And just so no one freaks out and starts worrying about my health and my nutrition.
This is the process I chose to take on for myself. DO NOT take this as what YOU should do. Please consult with a physician before making any significant changes to your diet. I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.
This is what I did. Not what I'm telling you to do.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE: We can have as much black coffee, herbal tea and water as we would like. I will document it as best I can through out this process.
20oz bottle of water
1 bag (3 cups water) of Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea unsweetened
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE: The way food intake changes is that we now focus on eating when we're hungry and not at set times. So instead of breakfast, lunch and dinner, we're eating for the right reasons. Meaning we don't eat for fun, or for enjoyment. We eat to give ourselves energy.
(5) Skin on red potatoes - plain
(1) Small sweet potato
FEELINGS: So I'm a little nervous getting started on this today. I am concerned about eating the same thing for this long. Obviously historically people did this all the time and we lived. I have tried several other "fast" type dietary changes and always ended up going back to what I need. People who know me, know that cheese is a food group for me. The main reason I couldn't go strict vegetarian was due to my dairy dependency. I gave away all my butter and sour cream this weekend. I said good bye to coffee with milk/cream almost six months ago.
For the most part I feel pretty good about today. I'm not as tired as I thought I would be with only eating potatoes and I have never peed so much in my life. LOL
FEELINGS: Morning - When I got on the scale this morning and had lost 4 pounds I was blown away. How is that even possible. I didn't feel like I was missing anything and each time I felt hungry or when I wanted to eat I got up and ate a piece of potato. It was pretty easy. I'm also really REALLY thirsty.
Evening - We added the sprinkle season to our breakfast/lunch potatoes and it was pretty tasty. I was actually surprised. For our snack Hubby had to cook up two more potatoes, this time he added nutritional yeast to them. It actually does taste a bit like cheese so there ya go. LOL - I was skeptical but it actually tasted good. A little dry though.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
1 bag (3 cups water) of Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea unsweetened
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FEELINGS: Morning - Feeling pretty good as I get up this morning. Not sluggish at all. I really thought I would be tired by day 3. So far so good. I was also surprised to see another 2lbs gone on my scale. I expected maybe a pound but I'll take two. LOL I will note that yesterday I believe I peed more than I ever have in my entire life. I mean I feel great as far as my ankles and legs being swollen. If you remember I started taking the Tart Cherry Extract to deal with my feet and ankles swelling up. I had hubby double check today, the Tart Cherry is water soluble so no worries there. I'm starting to feel better about myself. I'm doing more for my personal well-being (appearance related) by putting on jewelry and getting "dressed" for work each day instead of lounging around in sweats. This morning I feel fantastic. I hope it keeps the entire day.
Evening -
I am totally surprised at my appetite. I thought for sure I would be starving by day 3. I'm not hungry at all. I feel snacky. Like when you go to the movies and you smell the popcorn. But not starving at all. I'm also surprised at how thirsty I am. I am constantly drinking. At first I was concerned about this but then I thought, well if I'm thirsty I'm thirsty. My ankle swelling is really down. I don't think they have been this thin in years. I'm pleased with my progress so far.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
1 bag (3 cups water) of Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea unsweetened
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FEELINGS:
Morning - I woke up to another pound of weight loss. That puts me at 7 pounds in four days. If I continue this pace at the end of my 12 day fast I will have lost 17 pounds. I have started doing more research on the potato and what type of nutrients you get from it. I think that after this I may suggest to Hubby that we keep some boiled potatoes on hand for snacks and stuff. I'm pretty pleased so far. I have to say however the nutritional yeast is flavorful but is a bit dry. I'd like to find a way to add some moisture to my potatoes without adding butter, sour cream or milk. Maybe some sodium free vegetable stock so something. In any event I'm feeling pretty good. We picked up three 3 pound bags of potatoes yesterday to finish our week out and we'll be heading to the store today to try to find some more organic sweet potatoes.
Evening - Well, they said day 4 would drag. Today I'm dragging. I'm not really tired, just sort of bored with most things. I was a bit cranky this morning too. I'm not sure where that is coming from. I'm still really hydrated and my feet have never looked better. We are already talking about what we're going to eat on day 13. I hope we make it all the way through this and don't give up. :)
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
1 bag (2 cups water) of Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea unsweetened
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(4) Potatos - Sliced and Baked with Herbs
FEELINGS:
Morning - So when I woke up this morning and stretched I got a muscle cramp in my calf. Hubby read up on and it said that we need to add some dill tea to our diet to help correct the potassium loss. We will be looking to add that. Today I don't fill hungry. I feel a little tired, but for the most part I'm good to go. :) Here's looking at a short weekend and a short next 7 days. LOL
Evening - Today I just couldn't take any more boiled potatoes. So Hubby and I thought, well, they don't have to be boiled. We tried a quick bake in the oven and make some baked potato chips. They were fantastic! Because it is so hot we decided to go pick up a toaster oven to make our chips in. That way we don't have to use the big oven. Our first attempt with the Yukon Gold potatoes was not good. They turned into like fruit leather in the toaster oven. Next we tried some red potatoes and those were much better. So YAY! I might make it through this after all.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(4) Potatoes - Sliced and Baked with Herbs
FEELINGS:
Morning - This morning I woke up full of energy. I rolled over on my back and pulled the covers back. I noticed that I could see my thighs. Not a huge deal for some people but for me it was success. I rolled to my side and rubbed my feet together. My feet are so soft. I could feel my heels rubbing against my legs and finally put my hand down there to check it out. It is pretty amazing what drinking the right amount of water does for your body. I need to be sure that I keep up with this. You should drink 1/2 your body weight (in ounces) each day. So if you weigh 220 pounds you should drink 110 ounces of water a day. I was concerned when I first started this fast that I was drinking too much water. But that is just not the case. So this check in I'm feeling super!!
Evening - Today was pretty busy. I worked on a custom order but didn't like how it turned out so I'll redo that tomorrow. Hubby "fried" up several of the potato slices in the toaster oven and they were pretty good. Tomorrow we're going to try to make "hash" out of the potatoes. Basically just water and diced potatoes in a skillet w/o butter. We're using more herbs now to try to pull more flavor from the food and not use any salt. Day 6 was pretty bland. :P Hopefully this next week goes pretty quickly.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(1) Potatoes - Sliced and Baked with Herbs
(1/2) Potato - Pan fried with water and Herbs
(5) Potatoes - Baked in foil - plain
FEELINGS:
Morning - I was a little disappointed that I didn't lose my pound. I was looking forward to saying 7 days - 10 pounds of weight loss, but it didn't happen. I think it was because I didn't eat as many potatoes yesterday. I can each as much as I want but generally I don't seem to want as much. I'm still thirsty but not like I was at the beginning of the week. I am still taking in about 100 ounces of water a day. I posted on Facebook about it and people started telling me I was drinking too much water and I needed to see a doctor. The one article I found from the Mayo Clinic said, if you're thirsty, you probably need more water. Was enough for me. I found another article referencing 1/2 the body weight in ounces in the water need for the day. So a 200 lb person would need 100 ounces of water for the day. I'm sticking with that one for now.
Evening - Today I did some gaming and some great discussions with the Hubby. We tried baking potatoes in the toaster oven. They worked out fantastic. They were really good too. I was surprised. I'm excited to have more of them actually, which seems like a weird thing to say after a week of only eating potatoes. Maybe if we do this again, next time we try corn.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(5) Potatoes - Baked in foil - plain
FEELINGS:
Morning - I woke up this morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. I'm ready for the day. I thought when I gave up coffee that I woke up in a great mood, but this is fantastic. I am not groggy at all. I haven't had sugar, or any animal product for 7 days. It is amazing. Today I lost another pound which puts me at 10 pounds lost on this fast which puts me at 30 pounds lost for the year. Hubby and I spent some time talking about our target weight loss. His back and feet are so much better with his 11 pound loss. His goal is to get back down to his size 36 pants. He asked me my goal and I actually stumbled. I really didn't think this fast would work. What do I want to weigh? What should I weigh? I checked out the NIN to see what they thought I should weigh. They have a BMI calculator on their page. You can find it here. Based on my height the highest I can weigh w/o being in the overweight category is 130 pounds. That would put me at a 24.6 BMI. I'm currently at 40.8. That means I will be 1/2 the size I am now. (WHAT??) In my mind I before starting this I was like, I just want to lose enough weight so I can stop huffing and puffing when I walk. (I noticed on our trip to DC that I was not in great shape and felt ill from all the walking) I really just thought I would need to get below 200 pounds. Now I'm shooting for 70 pounds below that?? Wow, I don't know if I'll make it. But I am going to just work on changing my relationship with food. We'll see how it goes.
Evening - Today was pretty good. I went to visit a friend. They told me I look tired. I was like Yeah, I'm tired. But I don't really feel tired. Guess I look tired. LOL - Tonight we gamed a bit and discussed going to Festival of Legends next year. It was a good evening. I'm still feeling really good. Looking forward to tomorrow.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(5) Potatoes - Baked in foil - plain
FEELINGS:
Morning - This morning was a bit challenging for me. I got up feeling really thin. You know that feeling I mean. My tummy looked flat and my arms felt skinny. Then I got on the scale. Another pound gone. I was thrilled. I sat down to start writing this post and documenting the weight and all of a sudden I realized, that says TWO HUNDRED pounds. Even though just a week ago I didn't give a rat's ass about my weight apparently I did. I do want to be healthier. I want to not huff and puff when I walk. I want to be able to help Hubby with the yard work and help load the truck when we do our vending. This morning I'm feeling a little "Mulan".
Evening - Today was a really good day. I got a lot done at work; Did some gaming with hubby and started work on a new wire piece. All and all good day. My energy level was good and I feel really good. I have noticed I'm starting to sleep through my alarm. Not sure what's up with that. Will reset and try again tomorrow.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(4) Potatoes - Baked in foil - plain
(1) Potato - Sliced and baked with herbs
FEELINGS:
Morning: Today I woke up about 6:30 am. I slept through my alarm again. Not sure if it isn't going off or if I'm just saying screw it I'm sleeping in. I know that we're fooling our bodies into thinking it is winter. I would think that we would sleep more in the winter to save energy. I'm so glad we got this toaster oven. Eating the potatoes boiled was old by like day 3. Here on day 10 I'm actually looking forward to my potato. Weird, eh? Hubby and I have started talking about what happens on day 13. Are we going to continue the fast for another week or are we going to do a mixture of vegan and potato meals. I am completely surprised at how good I feel. I have been on quite a few diets and this one is pretty easy to follow. (Well, now it is. :P ) We created our shopping list for the week. We're going to make a vegan summer roll (YUM) with a peanut sauce and some bibimbap. Part of me is excited about the new addition and part of me wants to get below 200lbs. We did a quick look at the calendar and if I continued to lose at my 1 pound a day rate, I would be at my target weight (130) before our Soul's Fest festival. That just blows my mind. We're still discussing it. I think the real decision will come on the morning of day 13. We get up and weigh one final time for this fast. I think if I'm just a few pounds away I may stay on it until I break that 200lb mark.
Evening: It has a been a long day. Work was crazy today. The end of my day turned out to be extremely busy. Did some gaming with the hubby and finished up a new pendant. I can't believe I'm only 3 days out from this fast being over. I have complete respect for anyone who can eat the same thing for so many days. It is insane. All I can do is just hang in there. :)
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(5) Potatoes - Baked in foil - plain
(1) Potato - Sliced and baked with herbs
FEELINGS:
Morning - Woke up feeling really good. Ready for my day. Noticed my waist is coming in a bit smaller. I can now put my fingers around my wrist completely. That's pretty cool. I haven't done that since my mother lived here. My pants are baggy and I can pull them down w/o unbuttoning them now. I think if the material didn't have spandex in it, I would probably be dropping them to the floor when I walk. Amazing what a difference 12 pounds makes. So even though I'm a little disappointed that I didn't lose more, I have to remember that I did lose 4.5 pounds this week so far. I will keep going.
Evening - Today was a pretty good day. I was a little hungry this evening but I skipped getting something else and it went away. I think sometimes I eat when I'm bored not when I'm really hungry. Real hunger doesn't "go away". Today I did some looking around on the web about BMI. I found out that a person my height and age should weigh 100 pounds. That's crazy, right? I don't think I have weighed that much since 10th grade. I thought about what I would want to weigh and I would be happy to get down to about 160, but that puts me at Obese I. Just in cause you're curious I am at Obese III right now. I know right?? Anyway, The more I think about it the more I wonder how much I am actually shortening my life by being this big. Yeah I ate organic and didn't eat fast food but the meat and dairy have so much fat in them. My DNA test said that I had to keep my fat down to 20% or face obesity. I want to be around a while. I want to be around healthy. I need to keep doing this for me.
Morning Supplements: B12, Rosehips, Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin
Evening Supplements: Tart Cherry Extract, Biotin, GABA
WATER INTAKE:
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
20oz bottle of water
FOOD INTAKE:
(6) Potatoes - Baked in foil - plain
(1/2) Fuji Apple
(20) Grapes
(1) Potato Curry with Cauliflower "Rice"
FEELINGS:
Morning - Feeling a bit disappointed today. We have noticed that our scale is a little wonky. It seems to get "stuck" at one weight and then we both weigh that amount each time we get on the scale. We haven't had this scale long but sheese. You would think it would last longer than this. According to this scale I didn't lose anything today. This is my last day and my goal of getting below 200 is not going to happen this time. I have to stay positive. Onward and upward.
Evening - Due to feeling a bit weak, we decide to ago ahead and add some veg to our meal tonight. I'll keep you abreast on how it goes. Well we had a lovely potato curry over cauliflower "rice" for dinner. It was super spicy and really good. We finished up with a serving of grapes. I'm excited to be back on real food now. Tomorrow morning will be my last weigh in. I'll wrap it up tomorrow.
12 Day Potato Fast - You may eat any style of potato, as much as you want for 12 days. Potato only. No Salt, no animal products, no sugar. Dry Herbs are fine to eat. Drink as much water/coffee as you like. No cream, no sugar.
Starting Weight: 226.4
Ending Weight: 213.4
Total weight loss: 13 pounds
So why did I do this? Basically I wanted to get all the nastiness out of my system before I started back on my plant based diet. My diet going forward will be a vegan diet. Yes, I said Vegan. That means no animal products at all. No butter, no milk, no eggs, no cheese. This 12 day cleanse was my way of showing my body that I don't have to eat cheese. (That's going to be the hard one for me) So far I'm doing ok and I really don't even miss it. In addition to the vegan diet, there will be no sugar, no flour and the only oils will be limited olive oil and sunflower oil. Let's see if we can make some changes in this life.
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