Time is a-fleeting and calla lilies are blooming the in studio

The days are flying by! Fandango is coming up fast and the remodel on the house on Lincoln is moving even faster. The sheet rock is up, taped and textured. The trim carpenter (son Vincent) has started the built-ins. Whew!


The inro to the left is another one that will hold a credit card and money. It is more useful than smaller ones and was a great deal more involved to make. This was the first time I tried a transfer on an inro and I accidently blurred the artwork while assembling it so after baking, I used oil pencils and a Pitt pen to restore the depth and detail of the artwork. I like it better than the transfer alone. The Calla Lily is a favorite of mine so repeating the calla lily theme through out the inro was more fun than work.

As fast as the remodel is going, the days to Fandango are going even faster! All of the molds for the kits are complete, as well as the molds for the auction donations and tutorials. Tiny paper clay forms are drying on my desk; when dry, they will need a bit of finishing.
For now, I am making more pretties for the boutique. These two projects were finished today. I love them both and would rather keep them than sell them. :-)


The calla lily jewelry/hair set is my favorite I think. It's amazing how strong the clay is. I use Kato mostly, sometimes mixed with Premo. After baking, it has a nice sheen to it.

This last week at home will be busy and exciting. Soon we will be loading up the rig and heading south for a time of teaching and some R&R.

Gettin' ready for the Fandango!

For the last few days, my focus has been divided between two important projects. The first is the Fandango Retreat starting on March 12th. I will be teaching an inro class at this event. In preparation for the class, I've been focusing on inro designs. This is the one I made yesterday afternoon. I found a finished gold liner just begging for a beautiful outer shell. Here it is. Inros are a bit like peanuts, in that one is just not enough.

To make the design interesting, the back is plain and the heart bead has a different heart pattern on it. This photo of the open design shows the bright liner that inspired the piece.

Inro designs are only limited by imagination. They can look like any thing, any style, plain, fancy, outrageous or reverent. Tomorrow, I plan to try to emulate an ancient design that I found on the web, a leaf covered inro with tiny frogs and ivory acorns.

The second project that we are involved in is a complete remodel of a house that we will be moving into after returning from Florida. It is a huge and demanding task that will result in a lovely, Mediterranean style home with graceful arches and the warm, inviting colors of Tuscany.

A deeply sad event in our family's life

One week ago, all our children were here to visit their father Don Jonas Sr. who was dying of lung cancer. He had hung on for over 7 months after the cancer was discovered, he had fought a good fight, but the struggle had worn him out. He could no longer respond easily to his visitors, including Don's only sister Anne and husband Dennis from Kansas City, but let us know he knew we were there.

Don and I were married for nearly 34 years. We had a peaceful divorce and he remained a friend. After my marriage to Joe, he was a frequent visitor in our home for whenever we hosted a family event, he was included, either for birthdays, holidays or other events when our children would be in town.

On Wednesday morning, he quietly went home to his eternal rest. The family came again from Kansas City, Yale Oklahoma and other parts to say good bye. The funeral was Saturday at 6:00 PM. A light meal was served for the many travelers. His ashes will be interred in the family plot in Pittsburg Kansas in the near future.


This yellow rose is a photograph of one of the many yellow roses that were in an arrangement from his children, Don Jonas Jr, Philip Vincent Jonas and Angela Viktoria Hart.

He was a good and gentle man who touched the lives of all who knew him. He will be sorely missed.