Morning Glories, Sweet Potatoes, and a sale

   Morning Glories and Sweet Potatoes are very similar. Both have heart shaped leaves, similar looking flowers, and are (at least in my case) highly invasive. I planted few Morning Glory seeds last year and now I have them coming up in any pot that was near them last year (even ones I don't remember being near them) and in the yard. Most notably within one of my mother's Avocado planters, one of her pepper pots and the Plumeria's pot. There are two growing there. They are very pretty plants, and I like them despite their unruly growth habit, but Mom's getting rather sick of them.

  The Sweet Potatoes are another matter... We planted some bits of sweet potatoes that had grown sprouts the year before last and each year since we've had long woody vines threatening to take over the garden bed. Which I'd wouldn't mind as much if we could eat the potatoes the plants grew. But for some reason the tubers we dig up in the fall are stunted, shriveled monstrosities that have weird black spots on them and taste terrible. I don't know if there is some sort of grub in the garden that chews on the tubers or if there isn't something wrong with the soil itself that keeps them from growing right. We've tried pulling all the roots and tubers out but there are a lot of tinny ones that are very deep in and blend into the soil. Last year we didn't even think they would sprout because of how nasty the tubers were. But each year we find volunteers in that bed. This year we let a couple of vines grow in the hopes that between the egg shells (which are supposed to cut grubs) and the marigold I'd transplanted into that bed (they are said to get rid of nematodes.) we might get some potatoes out of it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

  This Friday 8/9/13 starts Texas' Sales Tax Holiday weekend.  Since jewelry is no longer tax free, the only item in my shop that currently qualifies is my Feather and Fan Stitch Cowl. But like most retailers I'm having a sale. From 8/9/13 to 8/13/13 use coupon code TAXFREE for 5% off any purchase over $1. You don't have to live in Texas to enjoy this sale.      


                Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!
    

Spider Earrings

These cute hand sculpted polymer clay spiders are 7/8" from longest leg tip to longest leg and 5/8" long from the top of the abdomen to the bottom of the head. The entire earring measures 1 1/2" from the top of the ear wire to the bottom of the head.  Each spider is signed with a small 'J' on the back.
*Because they are handmade there may be slight differences between spiders.
They are water proof, but please don't wear them in pool or while bathing. Not good for sleeping in.  Here is the listing:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/122983739/spider-earrings
  I haven't been able to find spider pendants I liked at my usual supply stores, but I figured it's just a oval with a circle and eight legs, I could probably make it out of polymer Clay. The hardest part is getting the legs to look right. It takes me about an hour to make one pair of earrings not counting baking time.  
  I'm currently working on making webs out of the clay. It's going better than I thought it would, but that's mostly because I didn't think I could make spider webs out of clay. (I was never very good at drawing webs as a kid.) My mom suggested I make a cotton spider earring. Most of the ones around here are black with white spots and have the same physic (fat butt) as my earrings. I should be able to add them to the listing soon.  

  I was originally just going to show these earrings in black and brown, but I love green and I've been wanting to see what this metallic green clay I have looks like when baked so I ended up making my own 'custom color'.  

           

Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Glow in the Dark Eye Earrings

 When I found glow in dark polymer clay I knew I had to make
these. I call the ones on the left Spooky Eyes and the ones on the right Cyclops Eyes. They were a great excuse to try out the rolling pin my mom found for me at the dollar store.

  There are two inspirations for these earrings. One is this great spooky eye Halloween t-shirt my mom has. Some of the eyes glow in the dark.  The other are these old strings of 'Spooky eye' Halloween lights we put up every year. The oldest strand looks like the "Spooky eyes" and glow green, orange, and red; the newer ones look like a single blood shot eye that glows yellow. But I didn't really like the blood shot look.
If you can't make out the dark pictures try tilting your screen.

   
 The Cyclops eyes measures 13/16" diagonally. Here is the listing:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/158113605/glow-in-the-dark-cyclops-eyes
   The Spooky Eyes measure 1 1/8" long from longest part to longest part, 5/8" tall from the bottom to the peak. Here is the listing: 
https://www.etsy.com/listing/158221996/glow-in-the-dark-spooky-eyes
Each earring is 3/16" thick, weights about .1 oz. (I say 'about' because my scale only has marks for ounces and half ounces), has surgical steel studs and earring backs, and a small 'J' carved into the
back.

           Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day.

Wasp Invasion

   There are wasps building nests everywhere this year. It's not unusual to find three nests in one day. Mostly they've been building in the barn which is awful because Mom and I go in there so often.

  They have nests in the worst places. I found a Yellow jacket's home in Mom's Rosemary plant when I was watering. That could have been bad; mom loves to walk up to the Rosemary plant and rub it to get the fragrance on her hands. I drowned them.
A couple of days ago Mom was waking along the fence line and found three different nests right next to each other.
  She got stung weeks ago when we were digging for metal pipes to use in the new chicken run and disturbed a large nest. It got her on the neck near her jugular while another went for her face. It's almost as if they know where to sting to cause the most pain. The one on her neck swelled up painfully. It took an application of Baking Soda mixed into a paste with water for it to go away.

I don't know how, but somehow my record of never being stung by a wasp still holds. Probably because I run away so fast. I don't know what's up, we've never had wasps around here this bad.

This is the last day for Bats Bizarre's Christmas In July sale. Use coupon code CHRISTMASINJULY for 15% off your entire purchase. Shipping cost is not included in discount.

                 Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!