The Midas Touch....

Is it really April already???

   I can hardly believe how fast time is zooming by!  The children's Spring vacation has come and gone and its April now??? Really? Where the heck did March go to?  I have been working overtime making padded mirror cases for those who want them~ I only have so many clamps in my little shop, so things go a little s.l.o.w. there...but I want them to be perfect! They are all lovingly hand made, not machined and mass produced by the hundreds :)

  In between different steps, I squeeze in the Mommy things~ some milestones were had this vacation!  We are blessed to have the river run thru our property here on the Olde Madrid Plaza, so it is no secret that my children love the river! If they are not swimming in it...(which, yes, I did get that question of Mom~ Can we go swimming????  this past week) then they are fishing~ each has their own favorite spot.  I was outside antiquing mirrors when my son came running back all out of breath and holding out his hand....I was SURE there was a frog or something in there that would jump out at my face....which is what normally happens~ but nope! not this time!  He came running back home to show me the arrowhead he found~ a pretty little pink agate one, just the tip missing~ its the first one he has ever found.  He had dropped his sunflower seeds, bent over to pick them up and there it was, waiting for him!

   Yetti is most content to watch over his kiddos while they're fishing

  I love this picture~ doesn't Pip just look so proud of her fish!!!?  Well... there is much angst behind that smile let me tell you!  Earlier in the morning, she went fishing with her brother and sister....she had been getting little nibbles on her line, and her brother came over to help her cast...well you guessed it...he cast the fish hit the line as soon as it hit the water and Josh caught her fish! (letting her reel it in did not occur to him evidently) ....so up to the house she came, absolutely carrying on crying and devastated and I got the whole sobby story of how Josh stole her fish!  So I made them lunch, and back to the river we went to catch her another one~ it worked!

  Em did quite well too~ we had trout for supper that night. She loves crawfish so we had to take off a morning and go crawfishing, but she only caught 13, so we let them go and will try in a few weeks when its a bit warmer...

   Aside from a pair of Higgs Queen Anne dolls I am currently working on, and trying to get my china painting finished for the Convention in June, I did manage to squeek in a little work on my own padded mirror case, which was gilding the bun feet. It is so much fun!  After just one foot I could feel the urge setting in to gold leaf everything in sight.  I am so proud of these feet~ turned from solid maple from my own design which is not to skinny...not to round...just the right pot belly proportions!  Gilding is so easy~ 24k gold sheets are placed on over a sizing and carefully brushed out smooth

  One should technically use an agate burnisher to bring them to brilliant shine, but as I was gently massaging with my finger to get rid of the excess gold flake, which is saved,  I liked the look and decided to go no further. (You can see all sorts of stages of padded mirror cases in progress behind me..there's wood everywhere!)

 After a coat of clear UV protectant, these are ready to go on my case. I think I will gild the edges to match...perhaps~ must get it papered first!