Hello, everyone! Hope everybody had a great holiday season — I know I
did. I spent the last couple of days attempting to consume my bodyweight in
roast beast and German Christmas goodies (lebkuchen, gugelhupf and
springerle) . I nearly succeeded, so it’s off to the gym for me!

In Vögelein news, however, there’s a lot more than eating going on. I’ve
completely revamped the Fiery Studios side of the website, so if you’ve
never visited there before, now’s a great time to
take a look around!
It’s not entirely done yet, but I hope to have the entire Illustration section done before
much longer.

The newest addition (coming soon!) will be all seventy-five illustrations
for the _Alice In Wonderland_ book I completed last year, along with the
original, uncut Lewis Carroll text (Thanks, Project Gutenberg!) so you can
read the entire book online! You’ll also be able to purchase any of the
remaining originals (a few have sold already). The hardbound version of
Alice will be released sometime in 2003 or 2004 from State Street Press, and
will be available through all Borders and Waldenbooks bookstores.

After I get Alice done, I hope to do the same with Jack London’s _Call of
the Wild_, which was the second title I illustrated for State Street Press.

And just to show that I’m not slacking off on Vögelein stuff while I work on
Fiery Studios website — I’ve finally got news on the Vögelein key-necklace
that everyone’s been asking about! I’ve found a silversmith that’s really
excited about the job, and she’s going to start working on the initial mold
very soon. As soon as I get an example cast, I’ll put it up on the website
and begin taking preorders.

Here’s the stats for the necklace: It’ll be approximately 3/4 of an inch
long, and about 1/2 inch wide, and will be fully three-dimensional. Cheryl
(the silversmith) will be casting them each by hand in solid sterling
silver using the lost-wax process. The pendants will sell for $25 each, and
will not come with a chain, at least until I can find someone who sells
cheap sterling silver chains. If I can get more than a dozen pre-orders, I
may be able to drop the price a little, or look into getting some chains.

Each casting is very laborious and time-consuming, and uses lots of fire.
(ARRH ARRH ARRH!) If you’ve never done it before, I highly recommend it.
Nothing like using an oxyacetaline torch to make you feel like a real
woman. I could do it myself, as I’ve taken a couple classes and have cast
lost-wax several times myself, but Cheryl’s work is really good and she has
her own studio, so if I get her to do it, we’ll actually see the necklaces
before the next millenium.