Whoops--Almost Missed This

So, it's 4:30AM and I'm feeding baby parrots when it hits me....Do I have a post due today for LMAJ????  Well, yes, I do.  Crap. 

I'm a bit distracted, we are entering into the busiest time of the year for us here at the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation, the organization my husband founded and where I work and live.  Our South Florida 30-acre breeding and research facility is home to some of the world's rarest and most endangered animals.  One of our many programs involves breeding endangered South American parrots, and right now we are hatching this year's crop of Red-browed Amazon parrots.  Native to Brazil, less than 500 of these beautiful birds remain in the wild, and we have the entire captive breeding population in North America.  So, every egg is incubated and every chick is hand-reared to ensure the species survival.  Right now I have three babies I'm feeding every 90 minutes around the clock, with several more eggs in the incubator ready to hatch.  A totally different take on Easter eggs...seriously.

They may not start out very pretty, but they sure do end up GORGEOUS!

 So, forgive me almost missing this post.  Sleep deprivation will do that to you.  THANK GOD FOR STARBUCKS DOUBLE SHOT EXPRESSO IN THE CAN.

I will say that baby season is sometimes my most productive design time as well.  I often create some of my best work while trying to stay awake between feedings through the night.  Last night I finished the ring you see here and LOVE IT.  Imperial Jasper, sterling silver, copper and a dot of 14K gold.  I'm not quite in the groove yet, these are only the first babies of the season.  In a couple weeks I should be really rocking the studio between midnight and 6:00AM!  Of course the rest of the day I am a scene from the Walking Dead, but...whatever.

So, in lieu of one of my usual fabulous posts (snort), I will instead share a FANTASTIC tutorial recently posted by one of my favorite artists, Kharisma Ryantori Sommers of Popnicute.  She is an AMAZING designer, I love her works, and she just recently started creating wonderful YouTube tutorials she posts for FREE.  This copper tube cuff tutorial rocks...and makes me, once again, long for a real torch so I can anneal with ease.  I am so appreciative for artists willing to share their techniques--so generous and her video is fun, detailed and easy to follow.  So, take a look and then go bang some metal.