Taste the Rainbow!

Rainbow Chainmaille Bracelet

Lately I have been noticing a recurring theme popping up in some of the jewelry in the Jewelry Creators Unite In Numbers (JCUIN) guild:  rainbow colors!  With all the storms and tornadoes lately, we could probably all use some rainbows. So here are a few rainbows:





Here is a chainmaille bracelet by Meant 2B Cherished.  I also like the look of the silver on the edge -- just like a silver lining!

Rainbow Chakra Necklace

This dangly rainbow chakra necklace can be found at Maggies Jewelry.  It is made with real gemstones and sterling silver.

Floating Mushroom Rainbows Dreamcatcher

Stimulate your imagination with the Floating Mushroom Rainbows Dreamcatcher, cutsom made by Dream Catcher Man.  Don't you just love that title?  Dreamcatchers are to catch the bad dreams, but I'm guessing this one lets the mushrooms and rainbows through!

Chakra Rainbow Earrings

You can find these colorful Chakra Rainbow Earrings at Shadow Dog Designs.  The seven colors of Swarovski Crystal represent the seven major chakras, attached to sterling silver ear wires.

Wooden Rainbow Puzzle

Kids of all ages will have fun with this wooden rainbow puzzle by Artistic Creatons by Rose.  (Hint:  When you take the inside out, it's a tunnel!)

Rainbow Fused Glass Bracelet

This rainbow bracelet by Shanghai Tai (me) is made of bright colored glass cabs.  Each piece of fused glass is individually handmade, and has the colors of the rainbow flag.












Here's wishing you lots of rainbows!

The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

In my last post I mentioned why I chose the stone I did for the pendant that I made.  It had a particular sentimental value to me.  Catherine Waterhouse mentioned that she would like to see the pictures, so here are a few.

 It was July 2009 the first time we drove out to Taos.  There are a lot of artists here and we thought it would be a good place to hang out for a couple of days.  I fell in love with this town.  Above is our hotel room.  I like the fact it is very "New Mexico".

 Someone told us that it was worth it to drive west of town to see the Rio Grande Gorge bridge.  In addition, the "earth ships" are only a mile or two further, but that's a story for another time.  Taos seems to have mountains everywhere, and a storm was coming over the mountains from the east.

Above was my first view of the bridge.  Near this spot there were a few vendors selling things.  There was this guy (some would call him a hippie) selling some cabochons, most of which he had cut himself.  I bought a few stones off of him, including the stone that I put in the pendant shown in my previous post.

I started out on the bridge, but it was really scary.  There was just this little railing and when you looked down it was SO far down!  Every time a truck would come by the whole bridge would shake.  It didn't feel very sturdy at all.  The wind was starting to pick up because the storm we had seen was getting close.  I snapped three pictures from the bridge and then turned around and went back.  I did not want to be on that bridge when the storm hit.

 At left is the view looking back towards the vendors and the storm.  You can see how close the storm was getting. 

Here is the view to the north as we left the gorge behind.  You can see some of Taos at the end of the rainbow!

As we got closer to Taos, the sun came out and we kept seeing a brilliant double rainbow.

And then we saw the other end of the rainbow.  If you look closely, you will see it's still a double.


I want to leave you with a shot that I took when we revisited the bridge on a nice day in 2012.  The bridge had been totally redone.  It no longer shook when vehicles went over it (confirms my suspicions it wasn't safe in 2009!) and they had added some bumpouts for pedestrians to stop and enjoy the views.  By the way, the guy I bought the stones from was married to a photographer who took a drop-dead gorgeous shot of the gorge from the bridge.  Last I knew it was being used by the Taos department of tourism.