gingko leaves

ginkgo also gingko - A widely planted Chinese shade tree, with fan-shaped leaves and yellowish fruit. WARNING: Fire ants often reside nearby.

I added that last warning sentence to the definition of gingko. Let me tell you about my little adventure.

This weekend I was obsessing about ginkgo leaves. They are so pretty and intriguing. Their shape is just a wonderful example of mother nature's talent. I decided I wanted to make some ginkgo leaf earrings. I already knew what a ginkgo leaf looked like, but I still wanted to hold one in my hand. There's a gas station locally that has a number of ginkgo trees surrounding it. Last night as I was coming back home from my parents house, I decided I was going to stop at this gas station and grab a couple of leaves of one of the ginkgo trees. As I was finishing my assault on the ginkgo tree and about to get back in the car, that's when I felt the fire! My right foot had about 8-10 fire ants on it. I guess I should be happy there weren't more! I swatted at them as furiously as I could. That's when the fire started. Now I know why they call them fire ants! Not long after the fire started to cool off a little, that's when the mad itch started. I'm not sure which was worse. After a couple of hours I was pretty much back to normal. Thanks goodness.

So the earrings were a lot of fun to make. The shape is wonderful and not that difficult to cut with the jeweler's saw. After looking at the texture of the leaves, I decided a straight line texture would be the best. So I hammered away with my secret tool from Lowes. My next purchase is going to be a chasing tool set. After texturizing, I soldered the sterling silver wire for the earwires to the backs of the ginkgos, oxidized them and then buffed them up to a shiny, smooth finish. I think they turned out rather well. The next pair I make will be for myself. I think I deserve a pair after the fire ant encounter.