Lena Rocks

Made a bunch of little mini’s as gifts and tried different colorings. They all contain little double terminated herkimer diamonds and some of them also have added garnet, peridot or tourmaline.

Lena

It is so wonderful to have enough sunshine to let pieces cure outside. Have been playing with layers of iron oxide and it turns out a shiny black surface and I’m going to just use it for layers from now on. Made a charging plate and just love the way it came out – funny how you can use the exact same ingredients for what you think is the same kind of piece and some of them just turn out so sweet

Been making lots of TB’s and helped with several CB’s and it’s been a good month for pouring.

Lena

Spent yesterday leisurely pouring and made about a hundred TB’s and four HHG’s.  The HHG’s are such fun to make and I’ve been going kinda crazy with the colors lately.  These have tips with carnelian, citrine, hematite and amethyst and one good size Tibetan DT in each along with kyanite, selenite and a nano orgonite dot.  Metals are steel, aluminum, brass, copper and titanium.  Working hard to get those bubble free tips and they don’t always come out but it’s a temperature issue and I’m getting better at it.

Have been using a lot more colors and symbols in my pieces this month.  I love the way the suns peep through the lens of the HHG and the way the pink tourmaline looks on the tip of the pink one.  I have one of those suns attached to my power box with a magnet.  I also have another one on a wall where we drilled a small hole into it to attach a string.

I got some grains for making water kefir and have discovered a beverage that I love so much that I want to share.  It’s such an easy thing to make and has all kinds of good probiotics that keeps the belly very happy. The grains also grow and multiply a lot so you have them to share with friends You can also use the kefir to mix with herbs or whatever you can come up with to make a very customized beverage.

I use one cup of water with one tablespoon of raw brown sugar with at least one tablespoon of kefir grains. The water needs to be non chlorinated since that can hurt the grains. You will need:

1. A wooden spoon (the grains do not like metal)
2. A strainer that is also not metal – plastic will work fine
3. A jar that is big enough to hold what you’re planning on making, some will use jars with lids but I like to cover it with cloth since I figure the grains can breathe better.
4. A couple of dried apricots, figs, raisins or other unsulphured dry fruit
5. Half a lemon gives a very nice taste to the final drink and putting some chopped ginger into the container before you refrigerate it gives it a very nice flavor.
6. Another jar to strain the finished drink into.

A 24 hour fermentation will give a sweeter drink, the grains convert the sugar and it becomes less sweet and more tangy the longer it is left to ferment. For me 48 hours is about right and then I bottle it up and leave it out for another 24 hours before refrigeration. I heard that you should not go over 72 hours since the grains can run out of food and starve

A couple of great websites where I learned a lot more about this can be found here:

http://www.weim.net/homeovet/Docs/water%20kefir.pdf

http://www.yemoos.com/waterkefir4tbs.html

If you want to try it for yourself I’ll be happy to send you some grains if I have extras – just email me and I’ll let you know. I’m looking into dehydrating them at the moment but they are still drying so I will have to experiment with that as well – seeing if they easily come back to life after being dried…  This has been some great fun since there are so many ways to use flavorings and different recipes along with intent…

Lena

My body does not like it when I eat white wheat and so I always look into alternatives. I would sometimes buy different kinds of healthy spouted breads until my dear friend Josh taught me how to make my own. It is so easy that I want to share the process. Lots of people who cannot tolerate white wheat seem to be able to digest this bread much easier, not to mention that it’s very high in many nutrients.

1. Start out with organic Kamut grains. I use about four cups dry for an 8×11 baking dish.

2. Soak the grains in water overnight and then drain. Rinse in cold water every 8-12 hours until they look done, when the spouts are out about 1/4″ to 3/8″. Doing mine on top or an orgonite plate it usually takes me about a day and a half…

3. Once the sprouts are done you want to add whatever spices or other flavors you want before you grind. I only use some Himalayan pink salt and that seems to be enough for me – I just sprinkle some on top of the grains.

4. Then you want to use a meat grinder and just grind up all the grains – they will turn into a very thick mush that you just drop into the baking dish that is prepared with some coconut oil to keep the bread from sticking. Blenders and mixers don’t work… I know cause I’ve tried… you need to have a grinder…

5. Flatten it all out to about 1/2′-1′ thickness and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-60 minutes. I like to bake mine a little longer since it gives it a nice texture and color.

Let cool down and cut into squares and enjoy! You can also use the same recipe with spelt or wheatberries or whatever grains you prefer. It freezes well so it’s easy to make a big batch and keep in the freezer.

Lena

There are so many additives one can try when making artsy looking orgonite and last year I got the sampler from this website:

http://www.earthpigments.com/products/mica-powders.cfm

You only need a small amount added to the resin and I think the results are beautiful since you get such a nice metallic sheen to the pieces. It’s affordable too – only $12 and you can make lots of pieces with that. I add the pigment before I add the hardener and that seems to work well with this kind.

The HHG’s are made with my usual metals, aluminum, brass, copper and titanium with added peridot, tourmaline, garnet, kyanite and selenite which I use in most of my decorative HHG’s.

Made a lot of TB’s this month… but they all look so much the same that I no longer take pictures of them though I did take a couple pics of a bucket that holds just about a hundred – I have filled quite a few of these buckets lately… cause it feels like things are speeding up and they are being deployed as fast as I can make them…

Did lots of mini’s to give away as gifts and also did some glow in the dark pieces for someone who was curious about them. I love the way they came out though I had a hard time photographing them in the dark. They all contain layers of brass, aluminum, copper and titanium along with plenty of garnet and peridot spicing up a Tibetan DT in the middle. I also put some pyrite in the bottom of the pyramid along with some tourmaline. Made HHG’s with clear resin and lots of glitter but only had one left by the time I got the camera out so the rest of them have already been given away and I’m sure they are working hard wherever they are

Enjoy!

The Blue Ridge parkway in North Carolina is well known for the amazing autumn colors when the leaves change in the fall. We had an amazing drive though it was raining and I managed to get some pictures of the trees looking like they are on fire. I was telling my friend Karen about how beautiful it was and she asked me to take pictures so I decided to share them with everybody