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.