More Silver Shells

Today I decided to make a second shell of each type out of Precious Metal Clay..after all, if they turned out fine I would then have 2 pairs of silver shells suitable for earrings…and if they didn’t really match at the end of the day, I will have a collection of silver shell charms to hang on some of my charm bracelets or make summer themed cluster pendants from, with the addition of a few well chosen beads and pearls. I also cleaned up all the shells a little more and drilled tiny holes into the ends of them and embedded handmade jumprings on pegs into them, using PMC slip.

When all was dry I fired up the kiln and popped them in.

When I was making the shells I put a small ball of combustible material into the centre of each piece as I was casting them in the mould. This meant that when the pieces were in the kiln the combustible material would burn off leaving a hollow centre to the shells. This makes the shells look more authentic when they are fired because you can see into them rather than them being a solid lump.

This is a photo of the shells after they have been fired and given a quick brush with a brass brush. They need to be given a good polish up before I start to try and enamel them…but I don’t have time for that today.

I am very pleased with the way they have turned out…and, bearing in mind that this photo of them is HUGE in comparison to their actual size the little pock marks that you can see are hardly noticeable with the naked eye. That said – nothing in nature is perfectly flawless – so I can live with a few little marks!!

Hopefully tomorrow I will get some enamelling done!

Day 8 – Making Moulds for Precious Metal Clay casts.

I think I might have found a quick way for transferring my posts for Thing-a-Day from Posterous to here…I hope this works!!…

Day 8 – Making moulds for Precious Metal Clay casts.
Last week I received a commission to make a pair of silver earrings for a lady who wanted to have a pair of earrings featuring shells. She wasn’t 100% sure what she wanted – except that she didn’t want them to be very long and she wanted shells…preferably pink shells.

Well, I scoured the internet trying to find somewhere that I could get tiny pink shells that might work well for this particular commission – but to no avail. So I phoned the lady back and asked if she would be willing to let me experiment a bit with a few ideas before coming up with a final design. I also asked if she would consider having silver shells instead of real seashells. She seemed to be very happy to let me play! And so this commission is now officially part of ‘Thing-a-Day’.

It isn’t the first time that I have taken moulds from shells and cast precious metal clay silver shells from them – and they always work out pretty well – so I was quite confident to make the 2 piece moulds. I use a product called Siligum, manufactured by Pebeo to create the mould and as it dries to a flexible material there is no problem with having undercuts in the shape to be cast. It is really simple to do and the moulding material sets within 5 minutes.

I have cast 2 different shell types (so she can have a choice) and both of them are really quite small – measuring about 1.8cm (about 3/4″), but when the PMC silver has been fired in the kiln it will shrink by about 10% so making the shells a little smaller still. So I think these will ultimately be a good size for a pair of earrings.

I have cast one shell of each type today and after drying them have fettled down the inevitable seam line where the 2 halves of the mould joined but otherwise have left them unfinished.

Tomorrow, I will tidy them up a bit further and, if it is not too cold to work in my ‘Studio’ shed, I will fire them and possibly start experimenting with enamelling them to see if I can get a pink hue. I have a lot of blue and green enamels as these are my favourite colours and they are fairly consistent at producing good results…I tend to steer clear of red colours though, as they never work very well for me. So – although I don’t actually have a pink enamel, I believe that flux enamel has a bit of a peachy pink cast to it when fired onto fine silver..so I will give that a go!

I’m really quite excited! Roll on tomorrow!!

Gone Fishing…

I still haven’t quite sorted out how to directly post from Posterous (where Thing-a-Day 2010 is being hosted onto here  - but this will have to do for now…I hope it works!!  Just a day late – but better late than never!

Posted on Posterous February 6, 2010

Day 6 – Ideas for a ‘mobile’ project….and the answer to yesterday’s photo teaser!!

I have been asked to come up with an idea and prepare a workshop for a mixed group of adults with physical and mental challenges, to be delivered just before the group take their Easter Holiday – so I still have a while to prepare.  I have done a number of these workshops and find them quite challenging – but very rewarding, as every body is so friendly and they are all so excited about making something new.

There are usually between 15 and 20 people who attend these workshops and I try to prepare things to a point where everybody is given a ‘kit’ of partly prepared materials so that success is assured but they still get a chance to create their own work of art from a bag of what appears to be bits and pieces.

I have decided to help them each produce a mobile, with the main feature being colourful 3D fishes.  I wanted to steer clear of obvious Easter themes so that the mobiles can hang all year round without looking out of place, and I wanted something that would be suitable for both men and women to make without feeling awkward.  Fishes are fairly unisex – aren’t they??!!

So, I have been having a play today to see what I can come up with…

These fishes have been made from photographic paper printed with small, colourful, repeat patterns – which have been cut into strips and then shaped into balls – with other little additions to magically transform them into fun, fat fishes!

These are just prototypes but I’m sure you can get the idea from these.  Each mobile will have a number of these fishes of various sizes and colour combinations which will be able to freely ’swim’ around (when once I have devised the rest of the structure!)  And I have discovered accidently, that they throw brilliant patterns onto the wall when light is shone through them…so they will have added value!

I think it will be fairly easy to prepare ‘kits’ for these.  I will cut all the strips, fins, tails and ‘kissy’ lips for all the colours and sizes and start off each fish by pushing a ’split pin’ type of paper fastener through the lips and then through one end of each of the strips for that fish.  I will then fan the strips out evenly and glue them into place (photo 1) so that they can’t move out of place when being worked on.

Then each individual will be able to thread the other end of each (numbered) strip onto a second paper fastener to gather the shape into a ball (photo 2). And then the tail can be threaded on to hide the ends of the split pin (photo 3).  Then all the little fishy needs is his fins to finish him off (photo 4).

I will have to cut and prepare some sort of structure and nylon line to hang these fishes from…but I haven’t go that far yet!!  …That will be for another day – but I think this idea is worth developing.

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And for those of you who wanted to know what yesterday’s ‘thing’  from ‘Much Ado About…?’ was a photograph of…  here it is…a jar of mixed, shredded vegetables and red cabbage prepared and packed into a jar in preparation for me turning it into saurkraut!  It was so colourful and pretty – I just had to take some photos of it!

I really do have some very bizarre things in my inspirational photograph collection!!

Lost in Cyberspace…

I HAVE been posting ‘things’ for Thing-a-Day …honestly!!… but I have been struggling so much trying to get to grips with a new set-up on Posterous that I just couldn’t face trying to transfer stuff onto here as well.  It is supposed to be set up so that it is easy to transfer posts between different blogs and things – but I’m afraid I can’t understand it!!

So – for the time being I will post links to the things I have posted on Posterous so far…

Just to start you off…here is a picture…  but what is it a photograph of????  I’ll keep everyone guessing until tomorrow!!

Day 1 – First Day – First Gear

Day 2 – I’ve Got the Bottle!!

Day 3 – Hubble, Bubble – From start to Finish

Day 4 – Fragile and Delicate

Day 5 – Much Ado About…?

My ‘things’ have been rather varied so far this year…but I should get round to doing a bit more silver work as the month goes on… It is just too darned cold to do too much work in my ‘Studio’ shed at the moment…It is so much warmer doing cooking!!!

Thing-a-Day 2010

I found out about Thing-a-Day last year and was just in time to register for it before it started on the 1st day of February.  (You can see my 2009 entries via the toolbar on the right.)  Basically, what it is, is a collective of creative people (about 600 of us last year – I think!) who are willing to have a go at posting one creative thing they do for each day of the month of February.  It doesn’t matter what your skills are or what level you are at…it is just to promote those great activities of ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ and then sharing your experience with everyone else.

Although, ideally, everybody should post something new each day – in reality, only a proportion actually manage that…but the secret is…if you stumble…just to pick yourself up and get right back into the game!

I found last year’s Thing-a-Day was so stimulating creatively and I loved every minute of it.  It is great to see what other people do as well, as that stimulates even more thoughts and approaches to life.

As I have been rather down in the dumps and uncreative for the past couple of months I have been really looking forward to Thing-a-Day 2010 (the 4th edition!) starting in February….but boy!…have I had some trouble registering!!!

The Thing-a-Day website is not working for me – so I Googled all sorts of TaD keywords to try to find some information on how to register for this year’s Thing-a-Day….until I finally gleaned this information:

1. You have to create an account at www.posterous.com …all free and relatively easy to do.
2. Then you have to find a form to register with Thing-a-Day themselves, so they know you have set up an account at Posterous.  I finally found a form at  http://thing-a-day.net/tad_reg.html.  (New page as previous one has been deleted!!)
3. There was no indication that I had succeeded in signing up, however, so I waited until the next day and went back to my Posterous account to ‘look around’.  Having found a search facility in the My Subscriptions section of the toolbar I put in ‘Thing-a Day’ and found them!  I subscribed to them and went to a page that had all the other people who had subscribed… 19 at that time!

A little later I went back onto that page and lo and behold…there I was…and there were now 34 members!!  So – I think I am registered and subscribed for Thing-a-Day 2010, 4th edition!

This morning…in my email ‘in’ box – I found a ‘welcome’ email…giving me instructions on how to register..which seemed a bit backwards to me!  …but still…  I’m in and looking forward to getting creative again!!

I thought I would blog this information above…just in case other people are having trouble finding a way into Thing-a-Day for this year…If I can help someone out…that will be just grand!!

Look forward to seeing lots of you ready for the creative sprint on the first of February!!

I Never Laugh at Clowns

I’ve really not had a whole lot to laugh about over the past couple of months what with one thing and another – but I’m beginning to get myself back to a happier place now.

My lovely son sent me this link this morning…and not only did I laugh myself stupid until only a really high pitched squeak would come out  (causing everyone else in the room to dissolve into various fits of giggles) – but I have found myself suddenly bursting out laughing during the day at the most inopportune moments as I think of it again!  Thank heaven I haven’t had to use a bus or train today!…it has been embarrassing enough bursting out laughing while walking down the street.

It has rather added to my reputation for being a bit of a loon!!  But I don’t care…it has really lifted my spirits….I hope it has the same effect on you!

A Flash of Inspiration!

Well, my 3D craft workshop went down very well with the MENCAP group  on Monday and we were able to make a veritable army of ‘tatty tinsel fairy’ clones – 19 in all.  Everybody was really proud of themselves and what they had produced and were very excited that they were going to be able to put their creation in the ‘place of honour’ – on top of the Christmas tree at Christmas time.  There was a lot of laughter and more than a bit of chaos as fairy heads rolled onto the floor – and floaty skirts wouldn’t lay straight – but we got there eventually!

 

This photo shows the first batch that we made jostling for table space with their wide skirts!

So – another challenge is in store for them all next Monday!  We are going to make ‘Flickering Candle’ table decorations.  Last year I had thought about making something based on a candle with the group – but I couldn’t think of a way to make them look exciting without the risk of people trying to light the candle – with the obvious health and safety implications.

This year I got it sorted!  My son bought himself some tea-light candles from the place where he does week-end work.  But they were candles with a difference!  They were LED imitation candles…battery operated…and turned on and off with a switch on the base!  They were so neat!  Exactly the same size as a normal tea-light candle but battery operated!  I was sorted!

So – I began to work out how to do it.  It is all based on old and out of date or damaged DVDs, CDs and computer discs onto which I have mounted – with my trusty glue gun – a thin card tube just slightly smaller than the tea-light candle.  I then designed a holly pattern border and printed it out onto sheets of thin card which were then cut to size so that they were able to wrap fairly snugly round the candle, and these were then glued to make tubes.  These can then be slipped over the tube stuck to the disc and when the tea-light is inserted into the top the smaller tube on the inside prevents the candle from slipping down into the printed tube!  I hope you got all that!!  So this allows the tea-light to be lifted out in order to turn the switch on the base on and off.

I have been out for walks in the woods collecting fallen pine cones which I have sprayed with gold spray paint and have rediscovered tinsel from last year’s decorations – as well as some wire-edged tartan ribbon and some gold ribbon rosettes.  And I have been able to find in the local Pound Shop (Dollar Store) fabric poinsettia flowers, christmas tree coloured garlands and mini gold baubles!  I have inserted wire into all of these decorations so that all the members of the group need to do is wire the different decorations onto a piece of the deep green garland and when everything is secure, bend the garland into a tight circle and attach it to the disc with double-sided sticky tape so that the candle protrudes through he middle of it!

It is all so simple but that collection of odds and ends and woodland litter turns into this delightful little table centre!

I think they will all be thrilled to make this and I am sure those candles will be flashing on and off all through Monday morning – accompanied by much laughter and chatter!

My!  These Monday mornings are hard work – but so rewarding!

My last design for this year will be for Monday November 30th….and that still needs a bit of developing…but I’ll give you a sneak peek sometime next week!

 

Away with the Fairies

Last year I was given the opportunity to participate in some craft workshops for the local MENCAP group (a group of adults who have various physical and mental difficulties).  I was asked to design some Christmas themed activities that involved the creation of finished pieces of 3D craftwork and then demonstrate to and help the members of the group to make up the designs for themselves.  It was quite a feat – trying to think up ideas for interesting and worthwhile activities that were challenging – but not impossible for the members of the group to achieve – with a bit of help if necessary, but I came up with a few ideas and successfully delivered the workshops – and they must have liked what I did because they have invited me to do 3 more this year!

The group is run by volunteers and is funded by donations so there is very little spare money to be had.  Materials for activities have to be carefully sourced to get the best value and ‘reduce reuse and recycle’ is a bit of a mantra.

To get the best results for everybody in the group I make up ‘kits’ for each design – providing everything that is needed and where there is a particularly difficult technique or something too dangerous for the group to do individually I provide that piece ready constructed within the kit.

This year I have been asked to make enough kits for each member of the group and about 10 extra – which they hope to be able to make up and then sell to help to raise money for the group.  So I have gone into ‘mass production’ mode!!

I have only had a couple of days to come up with my 3 designs – and the first workshop is on Monday…so jewellery making has gone out of the window for now and I am into making a mess in a big way!  My first design is for  a Christmas Fairy….and it was influenced by the fact that I was given a huge bundle of fabric by a lovely lady called Clare.  I hope she will approve of the use to which I have put it.  Thank you Clare!!

The living room floor of my house is now the fabric cutting area and storage area for bags of purchased materials.

My kitchen work surface  doubles up as the workstation for messy and/or dangerous glueing and screwing type activities.  I have used loads of hot glue sticks in making the fairies’ wings, sticking wired tinsel to their skirts and giving them ‘tatty’ hairdos by sticking tinsel wigs to their heads.  And their heads have been made from plastic baubles which have had the hacksaw, drill and countersinker treatment to give them a point of attachment to the main body, which….wait for it….is a disposable plastic wineglass!!!!  Hah!  I am just so brilliant sometimes!!! Hahaha!

The dining table is now my main kit construction area.  Sorry everybody!  Dinner on laps for the next day or two!!

And the carpet of the entire ground floor of my house is scattered with flecks of tinsel and glitter!  Ahhhh!!  Pretty!!!!!  Hmmmm…I think that was what my dearly beloved muttered anyway!!!!

While the house is in such a mess I think it is a good idea to try to get the kits for week 2 and week 3 done as well…I really do have a long-suffering family!

But for the first workshop…this is what we will be creating…

The Tatty Tinsel Christmas Fairy (here sitting on top of my work lamp!)

She is designed to sit a-top the Christmas tree, as the plastic wine glass extends right down the stem of the glass giving a good 4 inches (10cm) of room to insert the top of the tree.  But she is equally as stable standing on a table – and I hope you will agree – she is beautiful enough to grace any area in which she is placed.

I hope we have loads of fun making her 25 cousins on Monday and that the 10 destined for sale make a nice little packet of money to fund some of next years activities!

I’ll post my week 2 design next week.

As usual – I would love your comments!

“Argentium Experimentium”

Is there anyone else out there that is trying to get to grips with Argentium silver and not exactly meeting with success??  I have tried to find information on other people’s experiences with it but have come up with very little success so far…but I will keep looking!!

I am a really recent convert to making jewellery with silver so I don’t have a lot of experience of working with the metal to really know what to expect when faced with Argentium!  But I have always been one to have a go and experiment!  I love working with pure ‘fine’ silver…it is just so clean and beautiful to work with….but it is not a very strong metal.  So although I make chunky, decorative chains from fine silver and use pmc with it as well, I am very aware of its limitations. That is why I was very excited when Argentium was finally available in the UK!

I have made earwires and catches with it since July with great success but I thought it was time to get more serious with it…and I especially wanted to see how compatible it is with pmc….so I have been having a play with it this week…  Can I just say that I am pretty new with pmc as well…and am reluctant to commit large pieces of it to experimentation!!

I have had a go at annealing the Argentium with a torch – using the Sharpie trick – and just watching for a very dull red colour change in a darkened studio but found it less than successful…so this time  – after initially trying to wind it round mandrels straight from the supplier and creating a very springy spring!  – I tried annealing it in the kiln…with the door ajar to allow lots of oxygen to circulate…

After allowing it to cool a bit and quenching it – it still looked rather springy…

Trying to get it tight round a mandrel was impossible – although I taped it into place!  See the gap that sprung open as I cut through the rings!!!

Anyway – I persevered…  I have already discovered that Argentium fuses really well…doesn’t even need a flux…and amazingly it goes silver again as it reaches fusing temperature!  Can you spot the difference between the fused and non fused rings here!!!

And here is the difference between the colour of the fused rings (right) and the smaller rings that I cleaned up in pickle…

So now we have my little pmc additions.  I have previously tried attaching stars and holly leaves to elongated Argentium  jumprings using pmc slip with some success and discovered that  if the attached area is too great it causes the Argentium to distort alarmingly!   So I have been very careful of the way I have attached them this time.  The rings were real experiments where I literally only attached the rings to the back with 3 or 4 little spots of pmc slip…just to see how strong a bond this would make!

Well – you can see by the results that the rings have distorted pretty dramatically  here so obviously the Argentium has adhered pretty well to the pmc even with a few dabs of slip!!  I am still pretty shocked by the extent of the blackening of the Argentium though – considering how bright it was after fusing it!  It is so thick it is actually pinging off the surface in little flakes!!

So I plopped them all into pickle after they had all cooled down a bit! and they came out looking lovely!

But as I gathered them all together I felt a horrible crunching noise in my hand and—– disaster!!  The ring from the ivy leaf – which had distorted so much in firing had snapped!  And as I manipulated it more I discovered that not only had it snapped but that I could break the rest of the Argentium off of the pmc leaf just using my fingers – and worse still…it snapped just like a piece of dry spaghetti!!

But I plodded on with my plans and popped a bit on enamel onto the pieces that were left…only to get distracted at the vital moment and ended up leaving them in the kiln for much too long…so that wasn’t much of a success either!!  A bit of a bad day all in all!!  (And it does get worse!!)  But look again!!  …why has the Argentium not blackened this time?  I fire my pmc and my enamel at the same temperature 820 degrees C – so why did it go black when fired with pmc but not when enamel firing and accidently leaving it in a hot kiln for the same sort of time??

Having messed these up I left them to cool in the kiln and had an evening with my grandchildren before looking at the pieces this morning….and yes…I couldn’t resist a fiddle!!  I could tell that the wire was just not feeling right…no where near as fragile as the ivy leaf ring was – but obviously not good…and there we go….  A pile of so much scrap!!

The broken wire I have discovered balls up beautifully – so perhaps that is not entirely wasted…but I can’t think how to salvage the pmc!!

I don’t know what I have learned from all this yet…and would welcome any comments!!  Perhaps Argentium isn’t compatible with pmc…not with a physical bond anyway.  I am thinking that the shrinking process with the pmc3 is disturbing the Argentium when it is at its weakest and most brittle state and causing it to shatter all through.  Perhaps it can only fire with pmc at its lowest firing temperature.   Perhaps it is only safe to use it with a mechanical attachment to pmc pieces….

Perhaps I will just go back to fine silver!!

As I have said above…I would really welcome any comments…and would love to have some information on how you have found Argentium to perform in the workshop…and with pmc if you have tried it!!

A Touch of Magic

Do you ever feel that your self image could do with a bit of positive imput??  Ever felt lost for positive ways to describe yourself?

I have found the most amazing list of words to make you feel totally brilliant!!

 

I just happened to put ‘gorgeous’ into an internet search (Don’t ask…It’s a long story!!!) and came up with a link to thesaurus.com which generated this fantastic list of related words.  Some of them are duplicated a few times…but why not??  Aren’t you doubly gorgeous, triply amazing, multiply pulchritudinous??  Of course you are!!  So have a browse of this list…pick out your words for today…stand in front of a mirror…look into your eyes and say….

Today I Am…..

Gorgeous, beautiful, magnificent attractive, beaut, bright, brilliant, centerfold, colorful, dazzling, delightful, dream,  easy on the eyes, elegant, enjoyable, exquisite, fine, flamboyant, foxy, glittering, glorious, good-looking, grand, handsome, imposing, impressive, knockout, lavish, lovely, luxuriant, luxurious, opulent, ostentatious, pleasing, plush, pulchritudinous, ravishing, resplendent,  splendid, splendiferous, stunning, sublime, sumptuous, superb aesthetic/esthetic, beautiful, artful, artistic, creative, gorgeous, inventive appealing, adorable, agreeable, alluring, beautiful, beckoning, bewitching, captivating, charming, comely, enchanting, engaging, enthralling, enticing, fair, fascinating, fetching, glamorous, good-looking, gorgeous, handsome, hunky, interesting, inviting, looker, lovely, luring, magnetic, mesmeric, pleasant, pleasing, prepossessing, pretty, provocative, seductive, stunning, taking, tantalizing, teasing, tempting, winning, winsome, beautiful, physically attractive, admirable, angelic, appealing, beauteous, bewitching, charming, classy, comely, cute, dazzling, delicate, delightful, divine, elegant, enticing, excellent, exquisite, fair, fascinating, fine,  good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, grand, handsome, ideal, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, nice, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, radiant, ravishing, refined, resplendent, shapely, sightly, splendid, statuesque, stunning, sublime, superb, symmetrical, taking, well-formed, wonderful, comely, beautiful, a ten, beauteous, becoming, blooming, buxom, fair, fine, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, handsome, nice, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, stunning, wholesome, winsome, priceless, gorgeous, inestimable, invaluable, lavish, luxurious, opulent, precious, rich, splendid, sumptuous, valuable, eye-catching, noticeable, beautiful, , conspicuous, gorgeous, manifest, obvious, showy, spectacular, striking, stunning, glorious, adored, idiolized, divine, august, beautiful, bright, brilliant, celebrated, dazzling, delightful, distinguished, effulgent, elevated, eminent, enjoyable, esteemed, exalted, excellent, famed, famous, fine, gorgeous, grand, gratifying, great, heavenly, heroic, honored, illustrious, immortal, magnificent, majestic, marvelous, memorable, noble, notable, noted, pleasurable, preeminent, radiant, remarkable, renowned, resplendent, shining, splendid, sublime, superb, time-honored, triumphant, venerable, well-known, wonderful, lavish, profuse, splendid, abundant, bountiful, copious, effusive, extravagant, exuberant, first-class,  generous, gorgeous, grand, impressive, inordinate, liberal, lush, luxuriant, luxurious, munificent, openhanded, opulent, plentiful, plush, posh, prodigal, profusive, prolific, riotous, ritzy, sumptuous, swanky,  unsparing,  wildly lovely, beautiful, charming, agreeable, admirable, adorable, alluring, amiable, attractive, beauteous, bewitching, captivating, comely, dainty, delectable, delicate, delicious, delightful, enchanting, engaging, enjoyable, exquisite, fair, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, gratifying, handsome, knockout, lovesome, nice, picture, pleasant, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, rare, scrumptious, splendid, stunning, sweet, winning, luxurious,  indulgent, comfortable,  deluxe,  elaborate, epicurean, expensive, extravagant, fancy, fit for a king/ queen, gorgeous, grand, grandiose, gratifying, imposing, impressive,  lavish, luscious, lush, magnificent, majestic, opulent,   pampered, pleasurable,  plush, plushy, posh, rich, ritzy, sensual, sensuous, splendid, stately, sumptuous, sybaritic,  voluptuous, well-appointed, magnificent, glorious, wonderful arresting, august, brilliant, chivalric, commanding, elegant, elevated, exalted, excellent, fine, glittering, gorgeous, grand, grandiose, imperial, imposing, impressive, lavish, lofty, luxurious, magnanimous, magnific, majestic, noble, opulent, outstanding, palatial, plush, pompous, posh, proud, radiant, regal, resplendent, rich, royal, smashing, splendid, standout, stately, striking, sublime, sumptuous, superb, superior, superlative, swanky, towering, transcendent, pleasing, appreciative, august, content, contented, dignified, eminent, fiery, fine, glad, glorious, gorgeous, grand, gratified, gratifying, great, great-hearted, honored, illustrious, imposing, impressive, magnificent, majestic, memorable, noble, red-letter, rewarding, satisfied, satisfying, self-respecting, spirited, splendid, stately, sublime, superb, valiant, vigorous, well-pleased, attractive, adorable, alluring, appealing, beautiful, bewitching, captivating, charming, dazzling, enchanting, enticing, glamorous, good-looking, gorgeous, handsome, inviting, lovely, luring, pleasing, pretty, radiant, seductive, stunning, tantalizing resplendent bright, radiant beaming, blazing, brilliant, dazzling, effulgent, flaming, gleaming, glittering, glorious, glossy, glowing, gorgeous, irradiant, luminous, lustrous, magnificent, proud, refulgent, shining, shiny, splendid, splendiferous, splendorous, sublime, superb rich abundant, well-supplied, abounding, ample, chic, classy, copious,  deluxe, elaborate, elegant, embellished, expensive, exquisite, extravagant, exuberant, fancy, fecund, fertile, fine, fruitful, full, gorgeous, grand, high-class, lavish, lush, luxurious, magnificent, ornate,  plenteous, plentiful, plush, posh, precious, priceless, productive, prolific, resplendent, ritzy, smart, snazzy, spiffy, splendid, stylish, sumptuous, superb, swank, swanky,  swell, valuable, well-endowed, splendid luxurious, expensive, baroque, beaming, beautiful, bright, brilliant,  dazzling, elegant, fab, flamboyant, glittering, glowing, gorgeous, grand, grandiose, imposing, impressive, lavish, lustrous, magnificent, magnifico, marvelous, ornate, plush, posh, radiant, refulgent, resplendent, rich, solid gold, splendiferous, splendrous, sumptuous, superb, swanky, splendid, excellent, illustrious admirable, brilliant, celebrated, distinguished, divine, eminent, exceptional, exquisite, fantastic, fine, first-class, glorious, gorgeous, grand, great, heroic, impressive, magnificent, marvelous, matchless, outstanding, peerless, premium, proud, rare, remarkable, renowned, resplendent, royal, splendiferous, splendorous, sterling, sublime, superb, superlative, supreme, transcendent, unparalleled, unsurpassed, very good, wonderful, stunning, beautiful, marvellous beauteous, bonny, brilliant, comely, dazzling, devastating, excellent, fair, famous, fine, first-class, first-rate, gorgeous, great, handsome, heavenly, impressive, lovely, number one, out of this world, pretty, ravishing, remarkable, royal, sensational, smashing, spectacular, striking, superior, top, wonderful, sublime, great, magnificent,  august, divine, dynamite, elevated, eminent, exalted, glorious, gorgeous, grand, heavenly, high, holy, ideal, imposing, lofty, majestic, noble, proud, resplendent, sacred, spiritual, splendiferous, splendorous, stately, super, superb, the most, transcendent, transcendental…

Now – don’t you feel so much better???

Off you go…have a good day….and really believe in yourself.  You are one of a kind and truly —– (insert word from above!)