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Treat yourself to a sweet, healthy moment on the go with our dried apricot snack packs!
Incredibly juicy, plump and delicious without a single speck of added sugar. We couldn't ask for more perfect dried apricots.
Our pitted dates are ready for baking or just to pop in your mouth. An excellent source of fiber and potassium, these sweet and delicious dates also provide a generous health boost.
Organic raisins are plump, chewy, and naturally sweet. They're known as nature's candy because they're not only delicious, but also great for you. Raisins provide a rich source of fiber, vitamins & minerals.
Our whole dried cranberries are not your average dried cranberries! Why settle for cranberry halves when you can have whole ones? These plump and delicious cranberries might make you cry from their beauty.
Dried tart cherries are a sweet, tangy, and flavorful treat that is great for snacking, cooking, and baking. Our delicious sour cherries are rich in antioxidants and heart-healthy nutrients.
Dried apples, or apple rings, make a great light snack. Our dried apples are of the highest quality and are packed with natural sweetness, so we saw no need to sweeten them with added sugar of any kind.
These jumbo golden raisins are out of this world. They are huge, almost as big as a grape itself, and with double the deliciousness of ordinary golden raisins.
Our organic dried cranberries are deliciously tart and sweet. They are excellent for snacking, baking, tossing with salads, or mixing into yogurt and cereal. Packed with vitamins and antioxidants.
These delicious dried plums contains no pits and are ideal for cooking and snacking. Pitted prunes taste great, and are also very healthy - naturally sweet, fat free, and high in fiber and potassium!
Dried blueberries are packed with antioxidants and vitamins for a healthy treat. These dried Oregon blueberries are slightly sweetened and ideal for mixing in cereals, or adding to cakes and muffins.
Our delicious organic dried plums are a real treat without the pit and without any preservatives. Also called organic pitted prunes, these fruits are packed with vitamin A and fiber for a healthy snack.
We found the best organic goji berries on the highest plateau in the world! Grown in "Qinghai" province, our antioxidant-packed organic gojis are larger and sweeter than those grown in lower-laying provinces.
Currants, are much smaller than raisins and have a tart taste. These Zante currants are delicious in cakes, jams, and other dishes.
Organic pitted dates are an all natural dried fruit. These deglet noor dates without the pit are deliciously sweet and great for snacking or baking. They're packed with fiber and potassium.
These soft freeze-dried strawberries are so healthy and delicious. We do not add any sweeteners or preservatives. Just the natural sweet taste of fresh strawberries.
Organic dried apples are a healthy and delicious snack. They contain no additives or preservatives, and are certified by CCOF.
Our jumbo flame raisins are plump, moist, and delicious. Flame raisins are famous for their sweetness.
Our dried bing cherries are a fruit-lover's delight. These dried cherry morsels are bright-tasting and evoke summertime all year round.
Our freeze-dried fruit cocktail is a scrumptious and crunchy mix of freeze-dried diced apples, bananas, diced peaches, diced pears, strawberries, and grapes. It's 100% fruit and nothing else.
These plump raisins are giant, about two to three times the size of a regular raisin! Listen to your taste buds as they say, "Bring it on, gigantic raisins!"
Diced apricots are perfect for cooking, baking, mixes, or just snacking. Packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Organic dried oranges are simply wonderful to snack on or to add to beverages such as tea. They have a unique and pleasing citrus taste.
All natural organic pomegranate powder is perfect for mixing into smoothies or energy drinks. Get all of the great taste and nutrition of pomegranate in an easily mix.. Blend in drinks, yogurt, and cereal.
One word….wow. These sweet, dried red raspberries are well worth the price! They have that perfect freshly-picked raspberry flavor; a harmonious balance of sweet and tart.
Our freeze-dried raspberries are so healthy and delicious. They are simply raspberries. We do not add any sweeteners or preservatives. They have the natural tangy and sweet flavor of ripe raspberries.
Organic raw strawberry powder is loaded with flavor, vitamins and nutrients. Made from freeze-dried organic strawberries, it's packed with vitamin C. Mix 1-2 tbsp in any drink, smoothie, yogurt, or food.
These dried diced figs are perfect for baking, cooking, mixes, or just snacking on. They're a great source of fiber and potassium.
Sun dried tomatoes are great for cooking, but better watch out because you may eat all these moist and soft tomatoes as soon as you open up the package! They're packed with vitamins A & C.
Picked at their peak of flavor, these organic wild blueberries are absolutely delicious. A great source of fiber and vitamins, dried blueberries are excellent as a snack or added to oatmeal and baked goods.
Our freeze-dried blueberries are healthy and delicious. We do not add any sweeteners or preservatives. Just the natural sweet taste of freshly picked blueberries.
All-natural raw organic wild blueberry powder is loaded with vitamins and nutrients. For a health boost, use blueberry powder in smoothies, yogurt, baking, or any food or beverage.
Our all natural, raw organic VitaCherry powder is a highly concentrated source of antioxidants. Mix it in smoothies, beverages, yogurts, or use in any food for a huge boost of vitamins and antioxidants.
Our unsulphured diced apples are perfect as a snack for yourself or for the kids. Toss them in baked goods for a boost of fiber and vitamins.
These whole cherries are dried at optimal freshness have a naturally tart taste. Freeze- dried cherries are delectable any way you want to enjoy them.
These jumbo raisins could be the best tasting raisins EVER. Crimson raisins have a similar taste to golden raisins, but a little sweeter.
Autumn Royal raisins are a leading black grape raisin hailing from California notable for their premium size. Royals stand out for their seriously supreme size—they're now our single largest variety of raisin.
Our organic sun dried tomatoes are wholesomely grown without pesticides and are CCOF certified organic.
Deliciously all natural organic dried bing cherries. Certified by CCOF.
Our freeze-dried mango is simply diced mango with nothing added at all. It's sweet, crunchy and delicious as a snack or mixed in with your favorite yogurt or cereal. Naturally high in vitamins.
These freeze-dried pineapple chunks are so healthy and delicious. They are simply pineapple. We do not add any sweeteners or preservatives. Just the incredibly sweet taste and flavor of fresh pineapple.
Our deliciously sweet dark raisins are excellent for snacking or baking. These nutrient-dense dried grapes are an excellent source of fiber and iron.
Tomato powder is the perfect supplement to any dish needing tomato flavor. Add to eggs, soups, stews, sauces. Even blend into smoothies. Packed with lycopene and vitamin C.
These freeze-dried blackberries are so healthy and delicious. They are simply blackberries. We do not add any sweeteners or preservatives. Just the natural taste of blackberries.
Enjoy the simple, natural taste of bananas with our freeze-dried slices. Ripe bananas dried at the optimal freshness and with no added dyes, sugars or preservatives.
All natural lemon slices. A simply wonderful tart snack. You can also add to beverages such as tea or lemonade. A unique and great taste.
Our freeze-dried elderberries are crunchy, sweet, and all natural. These simple elderberries have no additives or sweeteners at all. They are extremely rich in antioxidants and minerals.
These freeze-dried cranberries contain no added sweeteners or preservatives. Just the natural tart taste of cranberries. Beautiful to look at and even better to eat!
Our crunchy organic freeze-dried apples are a delicious natural snack. Made from Granny Smith apples, they have a slightly sweet and tart flavor.
These dried Rainier cherries are sure to put a smile on your face. They're not too sweet and not too tart. Great for baking, in hot cereal or an all-natural snack.
Known as the "Queen of Fruits," the mangosteen is renowned for more than just its taste. Mangosteen powder contains dozens of xanthones, sometimes known as "super-antioxidants."
Organic yumberry powder is the new rage! It is packed both with antioxidants and a mouth-watering, tangy flavor. Blend in juices, smoothies, and yogurt.
Our freeze-dried grapes are simply sweet and delicious grapes. This crunchy fruit has nothing added at all. These grapes make the perfect healthy snack.
Sun dried tomatoes already julienned (cut into long strips). These rare julienne tomatoes are perfect for cooking, baking, or adding to salads.
A dried vegetable rather than a fruit, but it doesn't matter - sun dried peppers are magnificent looking and tasting! Eat raw or for use in cooking.
All natural diced freeze-dried pears make a delicious and healthy snack. There are no additives or preservatives in these simply pears.
Sun dried tomatoes in olive oil makes gourmet Italian-style cooking deliciously easy. Every package comes with a delicious recipe.
Enjoy on a yummy dose of vitamin C with our Organic Dried Sea Buckthorn Berries! They're naturally sweet and tart and ready to toss into cereal, yogurt and more!
These freeze-dried peaches are so healthy and delicious. Pure, 100% cling peaches with no sweeteners or preservatives added.
Organic acai powder is made from freeze-dried acai berries, super-fruits with tremendous health benefits. Acai has more antioxidants than almost any other fruit and contain high levels of amino acids and fiber.
Grown in the vast Himalayan Mountain region, these natural dried goji berries have long been known for their anti-aging and immunity-boosting benefits. Add these sweet non-GMO berries to teas, soups and more.
Looking for all the health benefits of goji berries? Look no further than our organic goji berry powder. For a boost of antioxidants and vitamins, mix this nutritious powder into juice, smoothies, and more.
Looking for all the health benefits of goji berries? Look no further than our all natural goji powder. Made from wild goji berries, you can mix this nutritious powder into juice, smoothies, drinks, and yogurt.


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Tywin Lannister
Lord Tywin Lannister was the head of House Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Hand of the King for three different kings, and Protector of the Realm. He was the father of Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion Lannister, and sole grandfather of the incest-born Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen Baratheon.
Tywin was the head of House Lannister, Savior of the City, the Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Lord of Harrenhal, Lord of Casterly Rock, Shield of Lannisport, Warden of the West, Protector of the Realm, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms and Hand of the King. Despite the several recent Kings in King's Landing, Tywin was the real power in King's Landing. Tywin was among the richest and most powerful people in Westeros. He is a widower with three children, Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion. Casterly Rock, the Lannisters' ancestral seat of power, is located over a group of highly productive goldmines, which have provided the Lannisters with immense wealth and power over the years and led to the joke that Tywin "shits gold."
Tywin is the beloved son of Tytos Lannister. His father presided over a period of decline for the house, frittering away much of their fortune on poor investments and allowing himself to be mocked at court, creating a perception of weakness. Their vassals House Reyne of Castamere rebelled against Lord Tytos, and Tywin put down the rebellion personally, extinguishing their house and re-establishing the fearsome reputation of House Lannister. His ruthless destruction of House Reyne was immortalised in the song "The Rains of Castamere" and gave darker meaning to the common phrase "A Lannister always pays his debts," which originally referred solely to the Lannisters' vast fortune.
Tywin married his cousin Joanna Lannister and their first children were the fraternal twins Cersei and Jaime. She died after giving birth to Tyrion, which Tywin has blamed his son for ever since. When Jaime was diagnosed with a learning difficulty by a Maester who predicted that he would never read, Tywin sat with his son for four hours a day until he overcame his problems with transposing letters in his mind, much to Jaime's resentment. Tywin despises his younger son, seeing him as misshapen and perverse. When Tyrion was very young, Jaime set him up with a whore. Jaime posed her as a common girl in distress that they rescued from bandits. Jaime chased the bandits off while Tyrion comforted the girl. They married, but when Tywin found out he was furious and made Jaime reveal the truth. Tywin paid her for every one of his guards to have sex with her and forced Tyrion to watch. Tyrion's hatred of Tywin has been reciprocated since. Nevertheless, all of Tywin's children are in awe of him and heed his counsel. He also took part in the War of the Nine penny Kings.
A highly capable administrator, Tywin served as Hand of the King to Aerys II Targaryen for twenty years until the Mad King, driven by envy and distrust, rejected Tywin's proposal to marry his daughter Cersei to Prince Rhaegar and made his son Jaime a member of the Kings guard. As members of the Kings guard are forbidden to marry, Aerys had effectively robbed Tywin of his heir, which Tywin perceived as a great insult and resigned. During Robert's Rebellion Tywin remained neutral, answering neither the summons of the King nor the calls from the rebels, until the Battle of the Trident, after which it became clear that the rebels would win. Tywin marched with the full power of Casterly Rock to the capital, feigning that he had come to defend it from the rebellion. Aerys' advisors urged the King not to trust Tywin, even Jaime Lannister, who knew his father would never back the losing side in a war.
Nevertheless, on Pycelle's advice, the gates were opened to the massive Lannister army of 10 000 soldiers and began killing hundreds, even thousands of people. Tywin and his army ordered the city to be taken and the royal family murdered in a ruthless and efficient manner; as a result the city was sacked and the royal family massacred by Ser Gregor Clegane. Upon seeing Tywin's betrayal, Aerys ordered Jaime to bring him Tywin's head and instructed his royal pyromancer to set King's Landing ablaze. Jaime responded by personally stabbing the Mad King in the back, then slitting his throat. When Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark reached the Red Keep, Tywin presented the bodies of the royal family as proof of his allegiance. After the rebellion, Robert Baratheon took the throne and married Tywin's daughter Cersei to cement the alliance between their houses.
Cersei gave birth to three children: Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen Baratheon. Unbeknownst to Tywin, all three children are the product of her incestuous relationship with Jaime. This was discovered by both Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark, albeit independently, and meant that Joffrey—the oldest of the Baratheon children and the heir apparent to the Iron Throne—had no actual claim to the throne. Tywin is close to his younger brother, Kevan, who is his chief advisor. Kevan's son Lancel was King Robert's squire; many secretly believe Lancel gave Robert too much wine during his fatal hunt on Cersei's orders.
Season 1
Tyrion is accused of the attempted murder of Bran Stark and taken prisoner by Catelyn Stark. Despite their mutual dislike, Tywin regards any affront to Tyrion as an affront to the honour of House Lannister as a whole and will not allow the action to go unpunished. Jaime confronts Catelyn's husband Eddard Stark who is the current Hand of the King to Robert. Eddard takes responsibility for Catelyn's actions. They fight, but the fight is prematurely ended when one of Jaime's guards intervenes, injuring Eddard. Jaime then leaves King's Landing.
Lord Tywin leads an army of sixty thousand men from the Westerlands to the borders of the Riverlands where he is met by Jaime. He commands Jaime to take half their men and besiege Riverrun, the childhood home of Catelyn. Tywin is incredulous that Jaime didn't capture or kill Eddard Stark when he had the chance on the basis that he didn't win their fight 'fairly' because a Lannister man-at-arms interfered. Robert dies after being injured by a boar while hunting and Joffrey claims the throne. Eddard challenges Joffrey's legitimacy and is arrested for treason in King's Landing.
Tywin moves his half of the force West to the banks of the Trident. Tyrion arrives at the Lannister army having won his freedom in a trial by combat. He is accompanied by the leaders of the hill tribes, Shagga, Timett and Chella, having won their allegiance with promises of supplies. Tywin agrees to the alliance, and is amused when the hill tribes say they will only fight if Tyrion is with them on the field. Learning that the Stark army is moving to meet him in battle, Tywin triumphantly predicts victory, since Robb Stark is an unproven, untested 'green' boy. Tyrion notes that Robb is belligerent and cleverer than he looks. Tyrion bemuses Tywin by suggesting that he would like Robb.
The Lannister armies prepare for battle. Tywin tells Tyrion that he will place the hill tribe forces in his vanguard and orders Tyrion to lead them from the front. Tyrion angrily accuses his father of trying to kill him but nevertheless survives the ensuing Battle of the Green Fork. The Lannister force wins a crushing victory but finds the Stark force much smaller than the scouts had reported; Robb had split his forces at the Twins and led the majority west, away from Tywin. He won a decisive victory of his own in the Battle of the Whispering Wood and captured Jaime, scattering his army. In King's Landing, Joffrey has Eddard executed for his crimes.
Lord Tywin and his banner men meet to discuss Jaime's defeat and capture. Kevan reports that both of Robert's brothers (Stannis and Renly Baratheon) have made their own claims on the Iron Throne and that the Stark and Tully armies have combined against the remaining Lannister army. Kevan suggests a truce with House Stark. Tyrion impresses his father by asserting that Joffrey has destroyed any hope for peace between the Starks and the Lannisters by executing Eddard. Impatient with his dithering subordinates, Tywin dismisses the others and orders Tyrion to go to King's Landing to act as Hand of the King in his place. He instructs Tyrion to keep Joffrey under control and to watch for treason among the small council. He forbids Tyrion to bring the prostitute Shae to court, but Tyrion defies him and has Shae follow him to King's Landing.
Season 2
As the head of House Lannister, Tywin is leading his forces in defence of his grandson King Joffrey Baratheon in the War of the Five Kings. He has suffered three significant defeats at the hands of newly declared King in the North Robb Stark and his son Jaime Lannister remains Robb's captive. His regrouped forces are raiding the Riverlands from their base at Harrenhal. Robb wins a further victory against Tywin's reinforcements in the Battle of Oxcross. Tywin returns to Harrenhal to find his courtyard full of prisoners and Ser Gregor Clegane and his men systematically torturing them to death. He orders a halt to the practice due to its waste of manpower. He notices a female prisoner posing as a boy. She says that it is safer to travel as a boy and recognising her intelligence he makes her his new cupbearer.
Tywin hosts a war council to discuss a new strategy to defeat Robb. He is frustrated at having underestimated his opponent. Realising that Arya, who initially claims to be from Maidenpool, is from the north he asks for her opinion of Robb. She relays rumours about his supernatural connection to his direwolf, Grey Wind, and supposed invulnerability. Tywin asks if she believes what she has heard and she says that anyone can be killed.
Tywin berates Ser Amory Lorch for misdirecting a communique into the hands of their enemies. He is surprised to discover that Arya reads better than his banner man. He later questions the source of her literacy. She is able to maintain her lie while Tywin recalls how he made Jaime overcome his reading difficulties. As Tywin reminisces about his father's weakness Arya steals the letter. She is caught carrying it by Amory. She orders Amory's death through her connection to the assassin Jaqen H'ghar. Tywin is shocked when Amory dies on the threshold of his chambers but does not know who was responsible; he believes he was the one being targeted. Tywin meets with Petyr Baelish who proposes an alliance with House Tyrell.
Tywin dedicates himself to finding the assassin, ordering the torture and execution of dozens of his own men. Gregor suggests that it was an infiltrator from the Brotherhood Without Banners. Arya serves him mutton, a meal he dislikes, Arya says she will go look for something else but he instead invites her to eat, and they talk about Harrenhal and how it came to ruin after Dragons attacked it. He is once again very impressed with her knowledge, and is amused by her will to defy him when he corrects her on how to refer to one's lord.
Robb continues to win victories in the Westerlands, taking captives at Yellow Fork, forcing the surrender of the Crag and closing on Casterly Rock itself. King Stannis Baratheon sails on King's Landing. With both the nations capital and his own seat under threat Tywin convenes a war council. He argues that Robb is a greater threat and decides to march immediately. He leaves Ser Gregor as castellan at Harrenhal and Arya to be his cupbearer. Unbeknownst to him, however, Arya manages to escape Harrenhal.
Tywin arrives in King's Landing towards the end of Battle of the Blackwater with a large force of Lannister-Tyrell soldiers (assisted by Loras Tyrell, who allied with Tywin after correctly guessing Stannis instigated his lover, Renly Baratheon's death), thus winning the battle. A wounded Tyrion sees them arrive, just before passing out. Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne with Tommen, when Tywin comes in to announce their victory.
At the ceremony to honour the heroes of the battle, Tywin Lannister rides his horse into the throne room and across to the throne, where Joffrey grants him the honourable title of "Saviour of the City" and reaffirms him as Hand of the King to the court. Tywin rides in on his horse to accept the honour and show off his power, but not before the beast defecates on the doorway of the throne room.
Season 3
Following the Battle of Blackwater, Tywin wastes no time in asserting his authority over King's Landing, shunning his grievously injured son; instead busying himself with his new position of Hand of the King. Eventually Tywin relents and grants Tyrion an audience, who walks in on his father authoring a letter to an unknown individual in which Tywin describes the North as being "ripe for the taking". Tyrion requests his father grant him Casterly Rock, as he is his only heir since Jaime took his Kings guard oath.
Though Tywin promises that he will reward Tyrion for his efforts during the Battle of Blackwater, he says that he will never make Tyrion heir to Casterly Rock, considering him an abomination and a curse who killed his own mother and would humiliate the family name and turn Casterly Rock into a brothel. As Tyrion leaves, Tywin warns him that if he finds another whore in his chamber he will hang her.
Tywin calls a Small Council meeting and has the meeting take place near his own chambers in the Tower of the Hand to assert his dominance. Tywin begins by chiding his fellow council members on their lack of progress to locating Jaime. Varys next informs Lord Tywin that Hoster Tully is dead and most of Robb Starks' forces are in Riverrun for his funeral. Roose Bolton has been left in charge of Harrenhal making him the de facto lord of the castle. Tywin argues that Baelish being lord of Harrenhal in name only serves his purposes just fine: courting Lysa Arryn. Tyrion brings up that this would leave the council without a Master of Coin and Tywin agrees with his son for once and promptly names Tyrion the new Master of Coin.
Tywin is later visited by Cersei in the Tower of the Hand. Cersei wants reassurance that all that can be done to locate her brother is being done. Tywin coldly states that if he went above and beyond to free Tyrion then it can be assumed that he would do even more to for his eldest son and heir. Cersei complains that he has always overlooked her in favour of her brothers despite heeding her father's advice and that she can contribute to the Lannister legacy. Tywin criticises her for failing to rein in Joffrey's excesses and dryly states that he will succeed in doing so.
Tywin summons Cersei and Tyrion for a meeting. Cersei has stumbled upon a Tyrell plot to wed Loras to Sansa, who Tywin now deems the key to Winterfell as Robb's army is disintegrating and his younger brothers are presumed dead. Thus the marriage would give the North to the Tyrells. Irked by their attempt to undermine him after he brought them into the royal family, Tywin counters with a scheme of his own. Instead, Sansa will marry Tyrion. Tyrion tries in vain to dissuade his father, but Tywin will not be swayed, noting that Sansa and Winterfell are a greater reward for his efforts during the Battle of Blackwater than Tyrion could have hoped for. Besides, he says, it is time Tyrion was married. Tyrion snarls that he was wed, and sarcastically asks his father if he doesn't remember. Gritting his teeth, Tywin growls back, "Only too well." Cersei's joy at Tyrion's discomfort is short-lived, as Tywin then decrees that she will marry Loras instead. Thus, his children will bind the Reach and the North to the Lannisters. He ignores her protests too, and lambastes his children for disgracing the Lannister name for far too long, remaining a political and diplomatic figure over any fatherly connections.
Tywin meets with Olenna Tyrell to discuss his marriage pact. Lady Olenna is not enthusiastic about the marriage, deeming Cersei too old to wed the heir to High garden. Tywin attempts to force Olenna's hand by mentioning Loras' homosexuality. Olenna bluntly acknowledges that Loras is a "sword swallower", but counters with a barb about the rumoured incest between Jaime and Cersei. Tywin claims that this is a vile rumour spread by their foes, but even if it were true then House Tyrell has already bound itself to the Lannister side. When Lady Olenna still won't relent, Tywin threatens to appoint Loras to the Kings guard, where his vows would mean that the Tyrells' last male heir would be unable to marry or inherit High garden. After this compelling argument Lady Olenna graciously admits that Tywin has bested her, and accepts the marriage proposal, snapping his quill in half.
Tywin is summoned to the throne room by Joffrey, who wants an update on small council business and demands to know why its meetings are now held in the Tower of the Hand. Tywin replies that the location is merely one of convenience, and informs Joffrey that he can attend small council meetings in person. Joffrey complains that this would entail climbing a lot of steps, and squirms as his grandfather approaches the throne and icily advises the King that, should he wish, it can be arranged for him to be carried up. Joffrey changes the subject to Daenerys Targaryen, surprising his grandfather by showing that he is even aware of her. Tywin is dismissive, pointing out that the last dragon died centuries ago, and that even if the rumours are true, Daenerys is on the far side of the world and no threat. This in mind, he manipulatively urges Joffrey to heed the advice of his counsellors on matters he does not understand. With a smirk, he reassures his grandson that he will advise him when he deems it necessary. This conversation leaves Joffrey somewhat stunned.
Tywin attends his son's wedding and he is not amused when Joffrey pulls a nasty prank on Tyrion. When others present also begin to snigger, Tywin quiets them with his standard icy glare. At the wedding feast Tywin chastises Tyrion for his drunkenness and tries to impart on his son the importance of putting a Lannister child in Sansa's womb. As the celebration is winding down Joffrey insists on starting the bedding ceremony to humiliate his aunt and uncle further. This leads to a very public and embarrassing row between the King and the Master of Coin. Tywin swiftly defuses the situation and glances at the Tyrell table, where Olenna is quietly smirking at her opponent's frustration.
At a Small Council Meeting, Tywin reports word from Lord Frey of the deaths of Robb and Catelyn Stark at the Red Wedding and of the annihilation of the remainder of the Northern army. Tyrion and Joffrey clash over the latter's intention to serve Robb's head to Sansa. When Tywin intervenes, Joffrey rashly accuses his grandfather of cowardice during Robert's Rebellion. An awkward silence follows before Tywin calmly orders for Joffrey to be taken to bed, despite the King's protests, and instructs Pycelle to sedate him, which further enrages Joffrey. Tywin merely smirks at his grandson's petulance. Once Tywin and Tyrion are alone in the chamber Tyrion dryly remarks that Tywin sent the most powerful man in Westeros to bed without supper. Tywin retorts "you're a fool if you believe he's the most powerful man in Westeros."
The conversation returns to the massacre of the Starks, and Tyrion correctly deduces that Tywin orchestrated it, which his father confirms, adding that Walder Frey was given "assurances" by him in return for carrying it out. Tyrion shrewdly observes that this means the Freys will get all the credit, but also all the blame, since the Northerners will never forget nor forgive such a terrible crime. Tywin senses that his son finds the action dishonourable but insists it was done to protect the family and end the war.
He also reminds Tyrion of his duty to impregnate Sansa because that child will gain them the North, explaining that a man who puts family first will always triumph. When Tyrion questions whether his father has ever put the family's interests ahead of his own, Tywin says he did just that when Tyrion was born: he wanted to throw his newborn son into the sea (out of rage and grief at the death of his wife) but instead let him live and raised him as his son, because he is a Lannister.
Season 4
With his family victorious over the Starks, Tywin has the Stark ancestral great sword, Ice, melted down and reforged into two smaller longswords, while he personally burns down the wolf pelt scabbard of Ned Stark's sword.
He offers the first to his son, Jaime, who has returned from his captivity after over two years of absence. He then tells Jaime that he is making plans to have him removed from the Kings Guard so that he can return to Casterly Rock and rule in his stead. However, Jaime adamantly refuses, believing that if he betrays his oath as a Kings guard, he will once again be scorned from breaking yet another oath. In anger, Tywin disowns Jaime as his heir and as a Lannister. He allows Jaime to keep the sword, warning him that as a man with no family he will need it.
During the breakfast of Joffrey and Margaery's wedding, Cersei identifies Shae to her father, who was spotted walking out of Tyrion's chambers by one of her spies. Tywin tells her to bring her to the Tower of the Hand after the wedding. Tywin brings Joffrey his wedding gift; one of the Valyrian steel swords that Tywin had re-forged from Ice, which is named by various shouts from the court. At the royal wedding, Tywin is confronted by Olenna Tyrell about the growing economic problems the Iron Throne is facing, especially with the Iron Bank of Braavos growing restless over their inability to repay the debt. He is later greeted by Oberyn Martell and his paramour, Ellaria Sand.
The conversation is filled with veiled threats between Oberyn and Tywin, and he reminds him that his granddaughter, Myrcella, is in Dorne, possibly hinting that he is planning to use her as a hostage against the Lannisters. When Joffrey is poisoned, Tywin covers Tommen's eyes to spare him from witnessing his brother's gruesome death. Along with everyone else present, he looks at Tyrion after the nearly dead king points accusingly at him. Even though many are shocked at the sight of the boy-king's sudden death, Tywin seems indifferent upon witnessing the scene.
While Tommen is paying his respects to Joffrey alongside his mother, Tywin strolls into the Great Sept of Baelor and begins to discuss kingship with his grandson. Tommen knows that he will become king but doesn't know what kind of ruler he will be. Tywin and Tommen discuss previous kings and their failing at length over Joffrey's corpse, ignoring (in Tywin's case) Cersei's angry glares. To Tywin's delight, Tommen gets to the point of the conversation – a king must be wise – relatively quickly. Tywin tells Tommen that a wise king listens to his advisors, even after he is old enough to have some wisdom himself. Tywin then walks Tommen out of the Sept, already prepping him on the duties of marriage.
Later on, Tywin walks in on Oberyn Martell's orgy with some of Little finger's whores and asks for a private audience. After discussing Oberyn's experience studying poisons at the Citadel, the Hand asks Oberyn to be the third judge at Tyrion's trial. Oberyn initially refuses, confirming that he blames Tywin for Elia's death, but he reconsiders when Tywin offers Oberyn in particular and Dorne in general a seat on the Small Council. Tywin explains that he wants to reunify the realms because he knows that one day, Daenerys Targaryen will turn her eyes to Westeros and seek to reclaim her family's throne, and the last time dragons assaulted Westeros, only Dorne stood against them.
Tywin is of course present during his grandson Tommen's coronation, he chants, "Long may he reign" along with everybody else, albeit rather unconvincingly. Later that day, Tywin and Cersei are discussing House Lannister's future. They both agree that after an appropriate mourning period Tommen must wed Margaery and that Cersei should marry Loras shortly thereafter to ensure House Tyrell's continued support. Tywin knows Cersei doesn't trust the Tyrells just as he disliked and mistrusted Robert who was too familiar with him.
However, because wars are costly, House Tyrell's gold is needed to ease the financial burden. Tywin then admits the truth: House Lannister is broke, the goldmines of the Westerlands were exhausted long before the War of the Five Kings. The crown has been borrowing excessively from the Iron Bank Of Braavos. When Cersei suggests attempting to appease them somehow Tywin explains that there is no bargaining with the bank; you pay up or suffer the consequences, which is where the Tyrells come in. Cersei understands that it's all about the future and legacy of their house and asserts again that her brothers have caused nothing but problems in this respect. Jaime continues to defy his father's orders as he refuses to believe that Tyrion poisoned Joffrey. Tywin is understanding of Cersei's ill will towards Tyrion, but refuses to discuss the trial with her.
Because of his son's trial that afternoon Tywin is forced to hold a rushed Small Council meeting. All present pay their respects to him except Oberyn Martell. Varys informs Tywin that Sandor Clegane was spotted in the Riverlands and killed five of the King's men. Tywin substantially increases the bounty on Clegane, hoping to tempt men to risk tackling him. Next item, Daenerys Targaryen's quick ascent to power. With three growing dragons, a formidable standing army and two experienced knights to advise her, she is fast becoming a problem. Varys adds that it appears Ser Jorah Mormont has stopped spying on her for them, and is now loyal to her cause. Tywin chides Cersei for allowing Joffrey to humiliate and dismiss Ser Barristan Selmy, who has also joined Daenerys. Tywin opts for subterfuge instead of a direct attack and commands Mace Tyrell to fetch him quill and paper.
Tommen recuses himself from his uncle's murder trial and appoints Tywin to preside in his stead, in conjunction with Lord Tyrell and Prince Oberyn. The prosecution calls several witnesses against Tyrion who do an excellent job of painting him as a vengeful monster who wanted to kill Joffrey, albeit nearly all the testimony is exaggerated and circumstantial. Tyrion protests and is quickly silenced by Tywin. During recess, Jaime approaches his father. He offers to once again break his oath and resume his place as heir to Casterly Rock if he spares his brother's life, which Tywin immediately agrees to do. He tells Jaime that once a guilty verdict is rendered, Tyrion will be allowed to join the Nights Watch.
In return, Jaime will do as he says and leave the Kings guard to resume his place as heir to Casterly Rock, and marry a suitable woman and father children named Lannister. Though Jaime can clearly see this was Tywin's plan all along, he agrees to the deal in order to keep Tyrion alive. When the trial resumes, the prosecution calls its last witness, who turns out to be Shae, much to Tyrion's horror. Seeing her humiliate and lie about him causes Tyrion to snap, cursing the crowd and raging that he is on trial not for regicide, but for being a dwarf. Tywin attempts to silence him but Tyrion, adamant that he will get no justice in court, demands a trial by combat, stunning Tywin into silence.
The day of his son's trial by combat, Tywin is helping himself to some wine in the pulvinus above the arena. Pycelle delivers a rather long-winded speech before the fight commences, during which Tywin eyes Tyrion nervously and then abruptly cuts the Grand Maester off. The two champions, Gregor Clegane for the Crown and Oberyn Martell for Tyrion, then commence battle. Despite the Mountain's size and strength, Oberyn initially gains the upper hand and proceeds to slowly cut The Mountain down, all the while taunting him and demanding he admit to the rape and murder of his sister Elia Martell and her children, chanting in an ever-rising voice, "You raped her! You murdered her! You killed her children!" Eventually, Oberyn has Gregor on his back and demands to know who ordered his sister's rape and murder and the death of her children, pointing directly at Tywin, who appears nervous. The crowd then watches in horror as the mortally wounded Gregor suddenly knocks the Red Viper off his feet and, after loudly confessing his crimes as Oberyn demanded, crushes his skull. After the shrieks of horror and disgust have abated, Tywin sentences his son to death.
Now that Tyrion is about to die, Cersei tries to back out of marrying Loras. Tywin refuses and threatens to drag his daughter kicking and screaming to the Sept of Baelor if needs be. Cersei then plays her trump card; she admits to sleeping with Jaime and that all her children are incestuous bastards. Tywin feigns ignorance, but Cersei sees through it. She knows Tywin wants her out of the way so he and Margaery can control Tommen. Cersei threatens to tell the world of her incestuous relationship, which would destroy her father's precious legacy. She then departs, leaving Tywin speechless. On the eve of his execution Tyrion is surreptitiously released from his cell by his brother. He heads to his father's chambers and is shocked to find Shae in Tywin's bed.
After strangling her, he takes Joffrey's crossbow and finds his father in his privy. Pointing the crossbow at him, Tyrion makes Tywin admit that he always wanted him dead, though Tywin insists that he grudgingly admired his resilience. He adds that he would never have allowed Tyrion to be executed, being his son, and was still intending to send him to the Wall. Tyrion whispers that he loved Shae, whom Tywin dismisses as a "whore". Tyrion warns him not to use that word again, though Tywin voices his confidence that Tyrion will not harm him.
He tearfully asks why Tywin sentenced his own son to death, when he knew that he did not kill Joffrey. When Tywin calls Shae a whore again, it is the final straw, and Tyrion shoots him in the stomach. Stunned and shocked, Tywin hisses "you're no son of mine". Tyrion replies that he is, and always has been, his son. He shoots his father in the heart, killing him. His body is found shortly thereafter, and the bells of King's Landing are tolled.
Season 5
Tywin is laid within the Great Sept of Baelor, where Jaime and Cersei pay their respects first. Cersei spends most of her time chastising Jaime about allowing Tyrion to murder Tywin by setting him free. She tells Jaime how much their father loved him and how he was always his favourite. Later, Kevan points out to Cersei that the Sparrows would have never dared come to King's Landing when Tywin was alive. Likewise, Loras Tyrell indicates to Margaery in confidence that, with Tywin dead, no one can make Cersei marry him, effectively dismantling the arranged marriage.
At the Wall, Stannis Baratheon tells Jon Snow that this is the time to take back the North from the Boltons, as Tywin can't protect them anymore. Indeed, Roose Bolton later tells his son Ramsay that with Tywin gone, their protection from a potential Northern rebellion is no longer guaranteed since the surviving Lannisters will not likely send their army so far North solely to aid the despised Boltons.
Season 6
In Braavos, a theatre troupe stages a play about the War of the Five Kings called The Bloody Hand. Tywin is portrayed by the troupe leader, Izembaro, who recreates Tywin's death on the privy, and mocks Tywin's legacy by portraying him as voiding his bowels just after being shot by Tyrion, to Arya Stark's amusement.
While meeting with Yara and Theon Greyjoy in Meereen, Queen Daenerys Targaryen mentions how the fathers of all present in the room – including Tyrion Lannister – were evil men who left the world in a worse state than when they were alive (although Tywin, for all his ruthlessness, was renowned throughout Westeros for maintaining peace through the Seven Kingdoms while serving Aerys II). Daenerys goes onto say how she hopes that they leave it in a better state before finalising a pact with Yara and Theon.
Tywin's body is burnt to ash when the Great Sept of Baelor explodes from wildfire in a plot orchestrated by his daughter Cersei. His last grandchild, King Tommen, later commits suicide after hearing that Margaery died in the blast and realising it was his own mother who did it. With House Baratheon extinct, Cersei ascends to the Iron Throne, thus beginning the Lannister dynasty, though her rule is widely opposed.
Season 7
When the Iron Bank visits King's Landing, Cersei announces to their envoy, Tycho Nestoris, that it will be paid in full, to which he responds she is truly Tywin's daughter.
Following the Sack of High Garden, Tycho is pleased to be promised the gold taken from High garden's vaults, to which he praises Cersei as being equal to or better than her father as a strategist.
When Randyll Tarly, his son Dickon, as well as a handful of men refuse to bend the knee to Daenerys after the Battle of the Goldroad, Tyrion points out that Cersei murdered Queen Margaery and destroyed House Tyrell for good. Randyll counters that Cersei is at least a true Westerosi, and that Tyrion is a kinslayer, having killed his father, as well as supporting a foreigner; bringing savages to their continent.
When Tyrion confronts Cersei in the Tower of the Hand (coincidentally, in the very office that both he and Tywin occupied during their tenures as Hand of the King) she once again blames him for their father's death, claiming that her children Myrcella and Tommen would not have lost their lives if Tywin had remained alive. Tyrion does not deny his killing of Tywin, adding that to some degree he hates himself for killing his own father, in spite of the cruelty Tywin showed him all his life.
Season 8
On the night of the White Walkers' imminent attack, Tyrion jokingly muses to Jaime that he would have liked to have seen Tywin's face, had he known both of his sons were about to die defending Winterfell.
Tywin is discussed between Jon and Tyrion after the Battle of Kings Landing, where Daenerys Targaryen apparently succumbed to the infamous Targaryen madness. Tyrion admits that Tywin was an evil man, along with his daughter Cersei, but says if they were to pile up all the bodies of all the people they killed during their lifetimes, it wouldn't be half as much as the fallen Daenerys was going to kill if she was allowed to "liberate" the entire world by killing all of those in power and rule over it all. This leads to Jon reluctantly assassinating Daenerys.
As the war over the Iron Throne ends, Tyrion becomes the Hand of the King to King Bran the Broken, as his father was Hand of the King before. Ironically, Tyrion gains everything that his father had denied him, including the claim to Casterly Rock, as the last living son of Tywin Lannister.
- "My father was an evil man."
- ―Tyrion Lannister to Jon Snow about Tywin's cruel nature.
Tywin is known for his stoic, tough as nails, pragmatic, cunning and calculating demeanour, but also his ruthless, cold, manipulative, power-hungry, and often unfettered attitude, even for his family. The only person he held any sentiment towards was his late wife Joanna (whom he loved dearly), having died giving birth to their son Tyrion. Since then he expressed disdain towards Tyrion for the death of his wife, as well as for shaming Tywin and their family by being born a misshapen dwarf.
Tywin insists that all he does is for the sake of his family. Tywin's own father Tytos was a nice, generous and caring man, whose bad investments and indecision made House Lannister a laughingstock. As a result, despite admitting to Arya Stark that Tytos was "a good man", Tywin viewed his father's kindness as a source of weakness that nearly destroyed the reputation of House Lannister. Tywin successfully rebuilt his family's fortunes almost singlehandedly, and this along with his total destruction of the rebellious House Reyne caused him to embrace ruthlessness as a principle of keeping one's family in power. This ruthlessness, combined with his shrewd, efficient, cunning, incredibly intelligent, bloodthirsty and power-hungry nature, caused the Mad King to appoint Tywin as his Hand, though Tywin later resigned due to insults by Aerys against his family. Tywin was one of the best-suited Hands in recent history, to his credit; many saw him, not Aerys, as the man who ensured peace and prosperity during the earlier part of the Mad King's reign.
Ironically, Tywin's harsh actions and unwillingness to serve as a caring father figure have resulted in severe emotional problems in all three of his children, who are all terrified of him. Jaime and Cersei have been having an incestuous sexual relationship since they were very young, partially due to the lack of any loving parental relationship either of them had. Tywin actually spent most of their lives away in King's Landing serving as Hand of the King, and with their mother dead, his children were functionally raised by servants. Tywin only sporadically visited his home at Casterly Rock, and on the occasions when he did return he would deal out severe punishment for any transgressions his children committed while he was away.
What little relationship Tywin may have had with Tyrion was destroyed when Tywin had his marriage to the commoner Tysha annulled, then forced Tyrion to watch as he had his guards gang-rape the girl. Tywin wanted to force all of his children into marriage-alliances to benefit House Lannister (as Cersei was later married off to King Robert), and he was offended that Tyrion risked such a future marriage alliance for himself by marrying a commoner for love. The hypocrisy in this is that Tywin himself married for love when he married his own first cousin Joanna, instead of entering into a marriage-alliance with another more powerful noble family. Over the years, Tywin seemed to develop an outright joy in inflicting petty humiliations on Tyrion, such as "rewarding" him on his sixteenth nameday by putting him in charge of the privies and sewers at Casterly Rock. Yet despite all this, Tywin is fully aware that Tyrion is the most intelligent, efficient, intellectual, sophisticated and politically cunning of all of his children. Though this has driven him to despise Tyrion more, given that Tyrion is his least favourite son as well as his most valuable, Tywin has occasionally recognised Tyrion's incredible intelligence by naming him acting Hand of the King and later Master of Coin, and betrothing him to Sansa Stark, all for the benefit of the family. When Tyrion is accused of murdering Joffrey, Tywin's reaction appears to show that he is not entirely convinced of Tyrion's guilt, knowing that Tyrion is much too smart to commit regicide in such an obvious manner, but rather than attempt to prove his son's innocence, he uses the opportunity to rid himself of Tyrion once and for all, either by execution or sending him to the Night's Watch. Though he seems to prefer the latter so as to avoid being branded a kinslayer, it is later implied that this was also part of a plan to push Jaime into renouncing his Kings guard vows and taking his place as Tywin's heir in return for Tyrion's life.
Meanwhile, Tywin possesses a very conservative, patrician set of social values, in which women are suited to securing marriage-alliances and little else, not wielding power on their own. Thus in contrast to House Tyrell, in which female members of the family are trained in ruling and court intrigue as much as the men are, Tywin never trained Cersei how to rule. Without instruction from her father, because Tywin always disregarded her as simply a means to an end, Cersei turned into a queen who actually isn't very skilled at the art of ruling but who based her reign on her personal vendettas with Tyrion and Margaery. However, on one occasion Tywin outright stated to her that he distrusted her not because of her gender, but because she was not as smart as she thought herself to be. This assessment appears quite accurate, as Cersei's attempts to increase her power following Tywin's death simply left her more and more isolated and despised by the people of Westeros.
Of his three children Tywin has the least shame and most empathy for Jaime, though not outright respect. Tywin feels disappointed that Jaime wants to continue to be a member of the Kings guard, as while it is the highest honour a knight can aspire to, it means that Jaime had to swear away his rights to marriage or inheritance, which would leave Tywin's hated son Tyrion as his heir. When Jaime was captured by the Starks, Tywin did absolutely nothing to bring him back. Tywin also attempted to do anything to convince Jaime to be his heir, even going on to promise sparing Tyrion's life, which was though ultimately foiled.
Tywin does have a generally good relationship with his younger brother Kevan, whom he shaped his whole life to serve as his faithful lieutenant. On the whole, however, for a man who claims to value family above all else, Tywin has hypocritically destroyed his relationships with his own children.
Tywin is also shown to have no regard for his grandson Joffrey, knowing fully well that he is incompetent at ruling the realm. He was shown as having no qualms with putting Joffrey in his place when necessary, normally being cold and blunt with the boy and exerting authority over him when need be. On one occasion when Joffrey defied Tywin about having to walk a long distance to council meetings, Tywin coldly suggested having Joffrey carried there; the second time, when Joffrey heatedly insulted Tywin as a coward, Tywin sent Joffrey to his chambers, even suggesting Essence of Nightshade to help him sleep. Beforehand, Tywin exercised his belief that "any man who must say I am the king is no true king", and that the crown and title of king didn't truly give a man absolute power. At Joffrey's funeral, Tywin was very cold and careless toward his grandson's body, and he openly tells his grandson Tommen that Joffrey was not a good king nor a wise king much to the chagrin of Cersei.
Tywin lacks, or at least overtly lacks, the sadistic and bloodthirsty nature of his grandson Joffrey. Tywin is intelligent enough to weigh political reality against a desire for personal, petty revenge. When Tywin arrived at Lannister-occupied Harrenhal, he put a stop to the pointless torture of captured small folk, simply because it would be a more efficient use of resources to put them to work. In contrast, during the Sack of King's Landing he allowed his army to murder, pillage and rape throughout the city, devastating its inhabitants. Underneath his calm exterior, Tywin can be seen to take personal satisfaction in crushing anyone who openly humiliates him (Tyrion, House Reyne of Castamere, Robb Stark, Aerys Targaryen etc.) though he only seeks this kind of vengeance when it is practical for House Lannister. Tywin treated his plans for the Red Wedding as a necessity of ending the war against the North, and he had the Stark family sword, Ice, melted down because it was made out of irreplaceable Valyrian steel which could be used to make other weapons. Privately, however, he bore a look of satisfaction as he personally threw Ice's wolf-pelt scabbard into a fire, symbolising his destruction of House Stark in the same way he had destroyed the Reynes when they humiliated his family.
Despite his ruthless and calculating nature, Tywin is shown to have a good side if he is impressed with someone, demonstrated when he treats his young servant and cupbearer (unaware that she is Arya Stark) with respect and kindness when she displays knowledge and the ability to read, speaks openly with her and even allows her to eat his dinner when he is not hungry and treat herself to whatever she likes in the kitchen (though considering an earlier "assassination" attempt on him, Tywin was probably also being cautious about poisoned food). He also demonstrates this constructive and caring side with his grandson Tommen, whom he knows will become a much better and wiser king than Joffrey, and shares his knowledge and wisdom concerning the duties and obligations of a king.
Although Tywin's skill at politics and administration cannot be denied, his military record is mixed. During Robert's Rebellion, Tywin participated in none of the battles except his infamous sacking of King's Landing, when it was already clear that Robert Baratheon would win the war. During the Greyjoy Rebellion, Tywin lost his entire fleet to a surprise attack by Euron Greyjoy, and in the War of the Five Kings he badly underestimated Robb Stark and was repeatedly outmanoeuvred on the battlefield (though on at least one occasion this was due to an incompetent subordinate). However, Tywin later turned the tables by winning a spectacular victory at the Battle of Blackwater (thanks in part to his new alliance with House Tyrell), and although his actions at the Red Wedding, the destruction of House Reyne, and the Sack of King's Landing were extremely brutal and heinous, they produced decisive military results. While Tywin might not be much of a field commander, he is certainly a good strategist: he always has the endgame in mind, and always knows how to best inspire fear in his enemies.
While not trusting even his own small council—telling Tyrion to execute Varys, Pycelle, or Baelish on "even a whiff of treason"—Tywin is also much more diplomatic than Cersei or Joffrey. While he doesn't trust any of the Great Houses apart from his own, Tywin recognises it as necessary to make some concessions to House Tyrell and House Martell in order to keep their valuable support. Following his death, however, Cersei spurns the Martells and re-ignites her previous rivalry with Margaery Tyrell, eventually destroying both alliances and undoing Tywin's careful work in securing House Lannister.
Tywin is a very efficient ruler, but has five flaws: first, he always seeks to promote the interests of his house, even at the expense of the realm (for instance, he wouldn't forgive the crown's debt to House Lannister); second, his methods are overly cruel: he employs extremely brutal warriors like the Mountain and Lorch, gives them a free hand in committing atrocities while fulfilling his orders, and has no qualms about killing small children, infants or even whole houses; third, despite that he believes that family is the most important thing to him, he mistreats his children and sees his legacy as more important to him than family, that his house needs as many heirs to build up House Lannister; fourth, even though Tywin was powerful and respected, his power was only built on fear, which made his house vulnerable after his death; fifth, Tywin's power, arrogance and stubbornness made himself to believe that he was more superior than anyone or anything, even the gods, old and new. Committing acts, like the Red Wedding, believing that no consequences would follow with his actions, even disregarding the words "The northerners will never forget.", never realising that his hold on the North would be lost and his house would be brought into a dangerous situation by his power-mad daughter.
In the end, his endless prioritising his family's name over his children ended up destroying his goal and killing him too: after many years of abuse, hate and disrespect, Tyrion killed him and this, thanks to Cersei's foolishness and selfishness, destroyed the rest of the family and, at the end, Cersei herself and Jaime. All this can be attributed again to Tywin's arrogance, because he never though that any of his children could truly oppose to him, or even killing him, and also he never truly understood how far Cersei was willing to go for power. Now the head of House Lannister, Lord Paramount of the Westerland and Lord of Castelry Rock is Tyrion, the son who Tywin never wanted to be his heir even though everyone, apart from Tywin himself and Cersei, acknowledged as the most suitable for the role, perhaps even better than Tywin himself would ever have been.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It took 16 debates, but on the 17th night Rick Santorum finally put the conservative case against Mitt Romney (and, to a lesser extent, Newt Gingrich's) healthcare histories into a complete package.
This argument has two prongs, which Santorum laid out neatly:
Prong 1, on the politics: "And [Romney]'s going to have to run against a president — he's going to have to run against a president who's going to say, 'well, look, look at what you did for Massachusetts, and you're the one criticizing me for what I've done? I used your model for it.'"
Prong 2, on what's right: "You're arguing for a plan; you're defending a plan that is top-down. It is not a free-market health care system. It is not bottom-up. It is prescriptive and government. It was the basis for Obamacare."
The full transcript follows, with Gov. Romney and Speaker Gingrich's remarks. Emphasis in bold by DCDecoder.
CNN's JOHN KING: Senator Santorum, you heard Governor Romney and you heard Speaker Gingrich. Do you trust them if one of them is the Republican party's nominee and potentially the next president of the United States to repeal this?
FORMER SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R-PA.), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The biggest — the biggest thing we have to do is elect a president. I think Newt's right. The problem is that two of the people up here would be very difficult to elect on, I think, the most important issue that this country is dealing with right now, which is the robbing of our freedom because of Obamacare.
Governor Romney tells a very nice story about what his plan is now. It wasn't his plan when he was in a position to do a plan. When he was governor of Massachusetts, he put forth Romneycare, which was not a bottom-up free market system. It was a government-run health care system that was the basis of Obamacare, and it has been an abject failure. And he has stood by it. He's stood by the fact that it's $8 billion more expensive…
… than under the current law. He stood by the fact that Massachusetts has the highest health insurance premiums of any state in the country. It is 27 percent more expensive than the average state in the country.
Doctors — if you're in the Massachusetts health care system, over 50 percent of the doctors now are not seeing new patients — primary care doctors are not seeing new patients. Those who do get to see a patient are waiting 44 days on average for the care. It is an abject disaster. He's standing by it. And he's going to have to run against a president — he's going to have to run against a president who's going to say, well, look, look at what you did for Massachusetts, and you're the one criticizing me for what I've done? I used your model for it. And then…
… then we have Speaker Gingrich, who has been — who has been for an individual mandate, not back when the time that just was — Heritage was floating around in the '90s, but as late as comments since 2008, just a few years ago.
He stood up and said that you should have an individual mandate or post $150,000 bond. How many $150,000 bond holders do we have here who can post a bond for their health insurance?
These are two folks who don't present the clear contrast that I do, who was the author of health savings accounts, which is the primary basis of every single conservative reform of health care.
I was the author of it back in 1991 and '92, 20 years ago. I've been fighting for health reform, private sector, bottom up, the way America works best, for 20 years, while these two guys were playing footise with the left.
KING: I want to bring Congressman Paul — bring you into the discussion in just a moment. But Senator Santorum directly challenged the governor and then the speaker. Governor, you first.
ROMNEY: Well, so much of what the senator said was wrong. Let me mention a few of the things. First of all, the system and my state is not a government-run system. Ninety-two percent of the people had their own insurance before the system was put in place and nothing changed for them. They still had the same private insurance. And the 8 percent of the uninsured, they brought private insurance, not government insurance.
And the people in the state still favor the plan 3-1. And it certainly doesn't work perfectly. Massachusetts, by the way, had the highest insurance costs before the plan was put in place and after. But fortunately, the rate of growth has slowed down a little less than the overall nation.
And one of the things I was proud of is that individuals who wanted to buy their own insurance saw their rates — when they were not part of a big group — saw their rates drop by some 40 percent with our plan.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But I do believe that having been there, having been in the front lines, showing that I have compassion for people that don't have insurance but that the Obama plan is a 2,700-page massive tax increase, Medicare-cutting monster. I know how to cut it. I'll eliminate it. I will repeal it. And I'll return to the — I'll return the power to the states, where the power for caring for the uninsured ought to reside constitutionally. Thank you.
KING: Senator Santorum, he says your facts are wrong.
SANTORUM: Well, they're simply not wrong. The fact is that, yes, you're right, Governor Romney. Ninety-two percent of people did have health insurance in — in Massachusetts. But that wasn't private- sector health insurance. A lot of those people were, as you know, on Medicare and Medicaid. So they're already on government insurance, and you just expanded.
In fact, over half the people that came on the rolls since you put Romneycare into effect are fully subsidized by the state of Massachusetts. And a lot of those are on the Medicaid program.
So the idea that you have created this marketplace in — with this government-run health care system, where you have very prescriptive programs about reimbursements rates. You have very prescriptive programs just like what President Obama is trying to put in place here.
You're arguing for a plan; you're defending a plan that is top-down. It is not a free-market health care system. It is not bottom-up. It is prescriptive and government. It was the basis for Obamacare.
And you do not draw a distinction that's going to be effective for us just because it was the state level, not the federal level.
KING: If you want, Governor, quickly?
ROMNEY: Sure, absolutely. First of all, as you probably know, Medicaid is not a state program.
SANTORUM: Of course it is. It's a state and federal program.
ROMNEY: Medicaid is as demanded by the federal government and it is — it's a mandate by the federal government and it's shared 50/50, state and federal.
The people of Massachusetts who are on Medicaid — I would like to end that program at the federal level, take the Medicaid dollars and return them to the states and allow states to craft their own plans. That would make the plan we had in Massachusetts a heck of a lot better.
My view is get the federal government out of Medicaid, get it out of health care. Return it to the states. And if you want to go be governor of Massachusetts, fine. But I want to be president and let states take responsibility for their own plans.
KING: Mr. Speaker — it may seem like a while ago, Mr. Speaker, but Senator Santorum made the point, in his view, you don't have credibility on this issue.
GINGRICH: No, what he said, which I found mildly amazing, was that he thought I would have a hard time debating Barack Obama over health care. Now, in fact, I — as Republican whip, I led the charge against Hillarycare in the House. As Speaker of the House, I helped preside over the conference which wrote into law his idea on health savings accounts. So I was delighted to help him get it to be a law.
And the fact is, I helped found the Center for Health Transformation. I wrote a book called "Saving Lives and Saving Money" in 2002. You can go to healthtransformation.net and you'll see hundreds of ideas, none of which resemble Barack Obama's programs.
So I'd be quite happy to have a three-hour Lincoln/Douglas style debate with Barack Obama. I'd let him use a teleprompter. I'll just rely on knowledge. We'll do fine.
KING: Senator, I want to bring Congressman Paul in. You're shaking your head. Quickly.
SANTORUM: The core of Obamacare is an individual mandate. It is what is being litigated in the Supreme Court right now. It is government, top-down, telling every business, every American what kind of health care you will have. That is the problem with Obamacare at the core of it, and the Speaker supported it repeatedly for a 10-year period.
So when he goes and says, I can, you know, run rings around President Obama in a Lincoln/Douglas debate, you can't run rings around the fact, Newt, that you supported the primary, core basis of what President Obama's put in place.
GINGRICH: Look, just one —
KING: Quickly, Mr. Speaker. The congressman's getting lonely down here. Let's go.
GINGRICH: Just one brief comment. Of course you can. I can say, you know, I was wrong and I figured it out. You were wrong and you didn't.
SANTORUM: Newt, you held that position for over 10 years. And, you know, it's not going to be the most attractive thing to go out there and say it took me 10 or 12 years to figure out I was wrong when guys like Rick Santorum knew it was wrong from the beginning.
Like your politics unscrambled? Bookmark DCDecoder.com


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Sunday, May 18, 2008
The search for bead shops in Barcelona16 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 6:56 AM
After I posted about my upcoming trip to Barcelona, I got a message from Daisy Chain Jewelry. Coincedentally, she'd just posted a list of Barcelona bead shops in her blog. She's from the UK and has been to Barcelona a number of times. (UK to Barcelona is just a hop, skip and a jump, compared to traveling from the Midwest.)
So with the info in her blog, a little googling, and Google Maps (gotta love them!), I mapped out some potential shopping sites during my visit!
The shops cluster in an area of town called the Gothic Quarter (Barr Gotic). Based on the map, I'd say this is less than 1 1/2 miles from my hotel.
Even with the bead shops being an incentive, I'm sure it's a place that I'll be visiting anyway. I understand that the Barri Gotic area is the area of the old town of Barcelona and it has lots of narrow cobbled streets with tall old buildings.
From what I've read about it, it seems like it's pretty typical with other "old towns" in major European cities - small squares surrounded with labyrinthine streets. From my experience, these kinds of areas are usually great places to wander around. (Most of the Barri Gotic is closed to regular traffic although open to service vehicles and taxis. )
I'm looking forward to getting lost in the many small streets and squares - hopefully filled with picturesque buildings, old shops, and newer boutiques.
(Museums, cathedrals and shopping - oh my!)
I'm looking forward to seeing a Barcelona as beautiful as pictures that I've seen. Here's one I found on flickr: A view of Barcelona from the terrace of the Park Güell, by the architect Antoni Gaudí, taken at dusk.
I've got my camera and laptop! Hopefully I'll have access to the internet and will be able to post some of my experiences while I'm there!
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Labels: travel
Friday, May 16, 2008
Friday Downloads: Crafts, Tutorials, and More!7 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 7:13 AM
Last week, I posted tutorials on how to make headpins. So I thought to myself, why not post some how-to's on earwires.
You can always buy your own, but to be honest, most of the time they're pretty expensive considering the amount of materials in them. But they can also be pretty generic. I tend to make my own because 1) I'm cheap 2) They're so easy to make 3) When they coordinate your earring design, they can be pretty darn impressive.
Of the earrings I make, hardly 2 of them ever use the exact same earwire! Here are some examples from my Etsy shop. As you can see, either the style is a bit different, or the diameter or length of the loop varies. I've used sharpies, pencils, markers, even a prescription pill bottle to make the loops. I might also hammer the earwires depending on whether I feel that style fits in the overall design (see the 3rd and 4th earrings from the left).
So I went out on the web and tried to find some really good tutorials. Well, there are a lot of them. But, to be honest with you, I didn't see very many that I liked. Either they used equipment that wasn't standard (i.e. rolling presses. I mean, who has rolling presses!) or I didn't like the final result.
In lieu of me doing my own tutorial, I put together some that I found and provide you with my opinions.
This one is quite good and it comes from Hazel & Honeysuckle. Nice basic handmade earwire using a tool everyone has: a sharpie.
Personally, I have a wire rounder and I find it pretty inefficient. Do you know what I like to use? A metal nail file that I bought at Meier's for 99 cents. It works, it's cheap, and if you lose it, so what. Buy another.
Wig Jig has a tutorial - but you have to buy their jig and a "super peg" . (Surprise, surprise.) The earwires (see left) actually look pretty nice but they look pretty similar to the ones you can make with a sharpie - without the little "flip" at the end. The best thing about using a jig is that your earwires will have a consistant size and shape.
Here's a downloadable pdf on how to make the basic French kidney earwire.
On the right is a variation of the kidney wire. I've incorporated pearls right onto the wire as part of the overall design. (I told you kidney wires could be fun!)
And what about the earwires that have little balls at the end of them like the ones on the left? Don't buy them! Just take the headpins that you made from last week's tutorials, and follow the basic earwire instructions above.
For centuries the peanut was revered for its peaceful nutritional properties and much loved by elephants. Looking back over the historical record, the only blemish on the peanut came when peanut rancher Jimmy Carter was elected president of the United States. Had Carter raised okra instead of getting rich off of peanuts, he never would have become president, and we wouldn't be in Iraq today. (It's a long story. We'll save it for another post.)
How peanuts suddenly became Public Enemy Legume No. 1 is unclear. Years ago, the millions of children who were raised on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches apparently simply "dodged the legume" forced upon them by uncaring parents.
Maybe kids suffering from "peanut envy" when they see other children enjoying a PB&J sandwich eventually will overcome their allergic reactions to the lowly legume. Or maybe a more people-friendly peanut can be invented. In the meantime, here's something that you can download and post in your school, office, or anywhere where you need to creat a nut-free zone.
(The above poster makes me want to run out and get myself a peanut butter sandwich. Hmmm....Skippy....yum!)
What "type" are you???
What's your type? What type do you click best with, and which types spell doom? In five quick questions, you'll find out about your identity. Plus, you'll have a chance to typecast that special someone, and see if you have a future.
Here's a bit of trivia for you Etsy folks out there. Did you know that the majority of shops use Papyrus font for their shop banner? I didn't believe it, so I started looking. Then I suddenly realized, even my shop banner is in Papyrus!
(Note to self: change shop banner.)
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Traveling for business again - Off to Barcelona!5 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 6:14 AM
When I was little, my father used to tell me stories about the many places he traveled to when he fought in World War II.
Orginally part of the Polish army, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Siberia, was released and fought in a tank for the British forces in Africa against Rommel. He also fought in Italy and in France and who knows where else.
He saw the pyramids, the deserts, religious sites in the middle east (now Israel), famous places in Europe.
If you want to see the rest of the places I've been to, or more details, here's a link to my google map.
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Labels: family life, travel
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Am I breaking child labor laws or running a sweatshop?6 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 6:37 AM
Probably not.
It's only a sweatshop if you coerce minors into working long hours. When they coerce you into letting them melt silver into tiny little balls with a propane torch, it's called being too easy.
This is how I spent my Mother's day. Playing in my workshop, making new jewelry, and having my youngest daughter help me. No laundry. Minor dinner prep. No cleaning. I was infinitely happy.
Here's my 12 yr-old, Emma, on the right, melting scraps of silver into liquid puddles of sterling. (Ever since Jerry showed her how to do this, she's been wanting to do this again.)
The silver is flamed on a charred piece of wood - I think the carbon helps it heat up faster and hotter, then melt all the faster. (But I'm not sure about this.) The silver starts to melt around the edges, then fuses, then turns into a red hot spinning ball! After you remove the flame and it cools a bit, it gets dunked into water to cool. No wonder Emma enjoys doing this!
We made a couple dozen silver balls of various sizes. Afterwards, I chose the largest ones and Emma chose the tiniest to make earrings. (She just got her ears pierced a couple of months ago.)
I soldered on some silver posts. (Yes,I finally got some soldering equipment which I'll write about in a future post. )
Those tiny earrings were such a pain to make. The balls kept rolling around every time I tried to put a bit of solder on them and every time I tried to hold the post next to them. It took me quite a few attempts. (They say practice makes perfect, but I think it's just makes for exasperation.)
But I finally got them done. You can see the larger ones (about 6 mm) and the smaller ones in the photo above.
The larger balls have a slightly pebbly surface which really reflects the light wonderfully. These post earrings are great for everyday wear and I think the tiny ones would be great for those extra ear piercings. I'm planning on making some more of these post earrings, and listing them in my Etsy shop.
And don't the tiny ones look cute on Emma!
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Labels: jewelry making
Friday, May 9, 2008
Friday download: Crafts, Tutorials, and More!5 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 6:17 AM
Crafts, Tutorials...
Making headpins.
I love the kind of headpins that have little round balls on them. Ther'e made by melting the end of your wire with a torch until the end forms a small ball. It's a little problematic when you don't own a torch. I tried sticking the end of my wire onto my stove burner, unfortunately it's electric so that didn't work too well. I did successfully make them using my outdoor gas grill, but it's best that my husband doesn't hear about that again. So I broke down and bought a propane torch.
But I digress. Silver River Jewelry has a great tutorial on how to make these lovely round-ended headpins. By either hand polishing or tumbling, you can make them nice and shiny, like you see above. But you also have the option of oxidizing them, which gives them a really different look. Depending on the design of the jewelry, they can appear either rustic or modern.
To make paddle headpins, all you need are a hammer and an anvil. The idea is to pound the end of your wire until the end is flat and paddle-shaped, which then becomes the end of your headpin.
These are pretty versatile; my turquoise wishbone earrings, on the right, use a variation of the paddle headpin as the earwire itself.
There's also this nifty article which doen't require anything except round nose pliers and a wire cutter: Quick Homemade Headpins. I tried this out...it works but I didn't like the look. So, instead of cutting off part of the loop, I then bent the end around again and made it look like a tiny flat spiral.
Creative Jewelry storage
I found a site that has some great ideas for jewelry storage . I especiallylike the look of the little bowls to keep your earrings and necklaces from becoming all tangles up. If you already have odd saucers and cups, this is a cost-free option.
I've seen these types of shadow boxes for sale on Etsy. But you could make your own to either hang on your wall or set on your cabinet. You can use small decorative bowls perched on the box's lower ledge to hold rings, pins, brooches, and other little things. Hey, the whole thing doubles as a work of art!
The above link gives instructions on how to make one for yourself.
Joyful Abode solved her jewerly storage in the way that I solved it. By making a jewelry board. Mine is a plain corkboard (I didn't over it with fabric like Joyful Abode). And instead of ribbon, I used a narrow line of linen cloth, the kind used for cross-stitching. What's good about it is that you can poke your earwires in the cross-stitch holes. You can even poke post earrings through it!
My jewelry board hangs on the inside of our linen closet, in our bathroom.
...and more!
Taking Folk Art to a Different Level
Above, my friends, are fine examples of redneck art. Behold the Assquatch, or the delicate art of shaping a deer's butt into a face of the monster.
Mastery of the art is attained, apparently, when you can shape the anus into lips. The artist who created the masterpiece on the right, has obviously taken butt-hole manipulation to a whole new level.
Many deer butt snobs will put their art outside, bragging on their good taste. For example, on the left, you can see the popular deer butt doorbells. Can you imagine the look on the faces of your company when they're greated by that tremendous piece of...uh, art.
But if you don't have any deer butt's handy, don't despair. Many creative folks will go on a scavenger hunt, searching for fresh road kill to use for their red neck art. Here is where the creative process is critical and you can let-loose with your artistic freedom to come up with a wealth of affordable fine art for your home. Even rodents can be sculptured into fine redneck art plaques. An example: the lovely squirrel butt coat hook.
But you don't have to limit yourself to hunting trophies or roadkill when you have a potential source of inspiration in your own home. Is your kitty getting a little old? Has he been missing the litter box lately? Coughing up a few too many hairballs? Well, maybe its time to convert him into a kitty cat butt refrigerator decoration! What better way to remember him forever!
You'll find instructions for making your own folk art here, including illustrated instructions for proper anus tying.
And remember, no matter how you slice them, creating animal butt art is a fun and educational experience for the whole family.
Cute Overload
I can't help it. Baby kittens just make me melt. LISTEN to the little purr engine on this one.
Sigh. That kitty is OBSCENELY adorable. Like, it should be against the law, to be that cute. So precious, I think my brain melted out my ears.
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Thursday, May 8, 2008
Adventures in Jewelry Making: The Lost Earring (Part 3)8 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 10:12 AM
(If you haven't been following the story you'll need to read Part 1 and Part 2 first.)
I couldn't wait till Saturday!
Emma, my 12 year old, was determined to go with me. (Sigh.) So we set off for Jerry's house.
We knocked on the door and Jerry opened it. I could see that my friend was inside already.
Jerry took one look at both me and Emma standing there and said, "I see you brought reinforcements. You must be worried that I might be a dirty old man!"
He took us to the dining room where he had place a slab of drywall on his table as a workstation (!) and started pulling out tools and silver. And boxes of polished stones for Emma to play with.
The first step was making the bezel. Using the fine silver, I got it into the right shape, soldered it, and then hammered the join to smooth it and stretch out the bezel to fit correctly.
Then Jerry pulled out different gauges of silver sheet. We decided that 26 gauge silver would be similar to the earring, and he handed me a pair of scissors ($1.00 at Harbour Freight !) to cut the sheet to a matching shape. It was a little difficult to estimate because the model earring has rounded edges and I had to do some guesswork.
Next I knew I would need to get the texture right and get the edges curved, so I asked if we were going to use a dapping block. No. Too elaborate I guess. Jerry goes to the corner of the dining room and pulls out a tree trunk with holes and circles drilled in it. He also had some bolts that he uses as punches!
It took me quite a while to get the silver shaped right. I was surprised that he suggested I use the round end of the ballpeen hammer. But it worked great and got the surface to look like the earring's.
While I was doing this, Jerry was entertaining Emma by showing her how to use a propane torch to melt scraps of silver into little balls on a piece of blackened wood. She loved it. She took to it like – well, like her mother!
I finished the curved base. I've learned that the edges would have to match perfectly for the solder to hold, so one side of the bezel had to be filed to match the curve perfectly.
Soldering the bezel to the base wasn't too bad. (Look! From the photo on the left you can see it's already starting to look like it's mate!) What was really a pain, was soldering on the earring post. I tried to melt the solder, then stick the post on, but it didn't want to stay. And in the middle of it, I knocked the earring off the soldering stand and it fell on the floor!
That's when I found out Jerry's carpet was a synthetic. Even though I quickly grabbed the piece with tweezers (yes, I had the wherewithal to NOT pick it up with my fingers), the hot metal melted the carpet and I had dribbles of melted fibers firmly welded onto the silver!
Yes, I was embarrassed, but it didn't seem to faze Jerry in the least. I guess any man who has a tree trunk in his dining room and solders on his dining room table, isn't going to be concerned about keeping his carpeting spotless – or even intact!
As you can see, it took both of us, a Third Hand, and a jar of marbles to finally get the post soldered in. Then I pickled the earring, cleaned it up, and put it in a tumbler for a final shine. (The melted carpet was still on the underside.) While it was tumbling, we had the treat of checking out his basement workshop.
It was exactly what you'd expect the basement of an old house to look like: a mess with boxes and boxes of rocks and junk. Which meant it was GREAT. We got to rummage through his rock boxes and he showed us molds that he was working on. Emma spent most of the time under his tables looking for scraps of silver and pewter so she could melt them in little balls with his torch.
Finally the tumbling time was up and it was time to set the stone.
It fit! I finished it up with a bezel roller and burninsher, then oxidized it to match the other earring. Now my friend now had two earrings that matched.
We thanked Jerry and asked him how much we owed him for all of this. He said," Oh, let's see… three hours of instruction…silver…turquoise…how about...$20?" He saw that we were speechless and said, "What? Too much?"
Can you believe it!
He also asked if I needed any soldering equipment and sold me a soldering stand with a screen (home made) for $5. Then he gave me a hemostat and a magnesim block. Emma walked away with a polished piece of fossilized dinosaur doo and a big chunk of pewter that she had melted down from scraps she'd found.
What a great day!
I spent a lot of time that weekend ordering soldering equipment and supplies - I can't wait till it comes. And my friend was so happy that she now has her favorite set of earrings to wear again.
These is what we ended up with (before the final oxidation step). The original is the one on the right:
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Adventures in Jewelry Making: The Lost Earring (Part 2)5 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 6:02 AM
(Continuation of yesterday's post.)
The next day I called the instructor to arrange for us to come over to make the earring. (For the sake of this story, let's call the instructor, Jerry, since that happens to be his real name anyway.) That's when I learned this was going to be a 2 step process: pick out a piece of turquoise first, then come back and do the metalwork.
So I drove over to his place with the lone earring to pick out the turquoise. I thoroughly expected that Jerry had pieces of turquoise already cut, and all I would have to do was pick one out that would match.
He brought out boxes and boxes of little chunks of turquoise that he'd saved from other projects throughout the years. I rummaged through them until I found one that I thought might be the right color and about the right size for cutting to match the stone in the earring.
He agreed that it was an OK choice, and then set off to his basement where his lapidary equipment is.
What a treat! He had tons of equipment that I'd read about but never seen. Saws! Kilns! Casting tools! And boxes of uncut stones! I could probably spend days down there exploring!
He cut the raw chunk of turquoise on a special saw and handed me the piece you see on the left. At this stage, it was still about 4 times bigger than the stone in the earring.
I was expecting that the next step was that he would shape it and polish it to match.
Wrong, again.
Jerry brought out a couple pieces of sandpaper of different grits and and told me I would need to sand the chunk of turquoise down to the right shape. I rubbed the stone against the sandpaper - and realized it didn't make much of an effect on the stone.
Then he got out a bottle of tin oxide and a piece of leather and said that after sanding the stone down to the right size and shape, I would use this polish it.
Now you're probably thinking the same thing that I was - this would take forever!
I told him that I would work on it and get back to him when the turquoise was ready. I took all this stuff home that night and looked at the turquoise, the sandpaper, leather, and tin oxide.
And that's when I took out my dremel.
Sandpaper? BAH! With the dremel and a grinding bit, it didn't take long to form that stone to the right size and shape. In fact, most of my time was spent hunting for the turquoise on the floor - it kept popping out of my hands and flying across the room when I was grinding it.
(Note to self: GET A VISE.)
When I got the turquoise ground to the approximate size I wanted (see photo on the left), I used the sandpaper to smooth out the rough edges. The tin oxide was next. It really made the stone shiny with very little effort. In fact, it was pretty impressive!
Overall, it only took me 20 minutes to make the cabachon. Not bad.
The next day, I called Jerry and we made arrangements to meet to do the metalwork to create the matching earring.
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Labels: jewelry making
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Adventures in Jewelry Making: The Lost Earring (Part 1)9 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 6:19 AM
A good friend of mine told me about a jewelry designer she knew in Minnesota. She' d purchased quite a few pieces for herself and for gifts, but he'd retired a while back and she never found anyone whose work she liked as much.
He's about 75, retired, and a real character. It would be really entertaining but I couldn't help being a little wary - you know how it is.
I went back and told my friend about it and made the following arrangement: she would pay for the costs for the materials and whatever the instructor would charge. I wouldn't charge her anything, BUT she would have to come with me.
She agreed! And I planned to call him the next day to arrange the date and time.
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Labels: commission, jewelry making
Friday, May 2, 2008
Friday Downloads: Crafts, Tutorials, and More!4 comments Posted by Contrariwise at 4:29 AM
Crafts, Tutorials...
Sliding knots are adjustable knots used to make all sorts of adjustable-length jewelry. No clasps, crimps, or jump loops are necessary. I have some pendants that would look great with a leather cord but hadn't figured out the best way of finishing it. This would be perfect.
Gypsy-woman has a tutorial with great photos. (She cleverly used 2 diffent colored cords to make the steps-by-step instructions much easier.)
Phoenix Sterling also has a downloadable pdf, with 2 variations of adjustable sliding knots.
I must be knotically challenged, because I still had a hard time figuring out how to replicate the technique until I found a You Tube video. So, if you're like me, this might help:
Pin Cushion Tutorials
There must be a lot of sewers out there because there are a ton of tutorials on how to make pincusions . All of these use repurposed materials and stuff you probably have hanging around your house.
Tin Can Pincushion
Your cat will be very happy if you make LOTS of these pincushions because they're made using the cans from wet cat food. (Remember, empty the food first. Also, you will find that washing the tin cans is not optional.) I'm sure you could also use tuna fish tin cans or even caps form spray paint.
Teeny Tiny Pincushions
I found these adorable tiny pincushions made from bottlecaps at How About Orange. The colors as so pretty, they look almost good enough to eat! (Probably a bit prickly going down, though.)
Canadian crafter has a variation on these. She adds an elastic so that you can wear your pincushion as you sew.
Flights of Pincushion Fancy
The queen of Pincushions has got to be Schmaltzy Craftsy. Her pincusions are like little artworks.
...and more!
Understanding the ups and downs of Presidential politics can be difficult in this confusing time, when super-delegates and inexplicable Florida re-votes are all the rage. Thankfully, Fold US Candidate has created easy-to-use finger puppet versions of Obama, Clinton and McCain.
Simply select your candidate, download. Cut and fold. Glue and stick on your finger! Hold your own presidential debates with family & friends - in the kitchen, the bathroom, the classroom! Email Adi, the creator, your photos and videos of your debates, she'll post them on her Flickr site. Brilliant!
The only problem I had with the downloads, was that Hillary didn't want to fold.
Cute Overload.
Not enough for you? How about this weiner dog race? So cute it'll make your teeth hurt.


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178 Get the latest and best information about online learning
Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor for Online Learning at UIS, is a prolific blogger who finds the latest sources every day about online learning and research and posts them in his Online Learning Update. Keeping up with this issue can be daunting, so Schroeder helps you find the best information quickly.
Related links:
Dr. Karen Swan also working to improve online learning
List of online degrees offered at UIS
History of online learning at UIS
Posted on September 8, 2013


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Click here to listen to the podcast.
In February 2007 the Practicing Anthropology Working Group (PAWG) launched a "Profiles in Practice" column in Anthropology News that highlighted anthropologists working outside of academia. PAWG soon transformed into the more permanent AAA Committee of Practicing, Applied and Public Interest Anthropology (CoPAPIA), which reimagined its Anthropology News column under the new title "Anthropology Works" in September 2008.
CoPAPIA is now building upon past Profiles in Practice columns with an online interview series geared towards students interested in anthropology but uncertain about career paths that await them after graduation. The series is hosted by Ruth Sando, owner of Sando and Associates, who is a practicing anthropologist and former board member of the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists. This week she interviews Cheryl Levine, a social science analyst at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
If you are interested in participating in this podcast series, please contact Brian Estes at bestes AT aaanet DOT org


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I'm not sure where exactly this Dodge Ram SRT10's depleting its rubber, but the lazy style of the rolling burnout reminds me of what people often refer to as a Central Texas Turn (or a Luckenbach Left).
For those unfamiliar with term, it refers to the habit of pickup drivers in Central Texas to start braking 200 feet before any turn and then, upon reaching the apex, slow to a near stop. Central Texas Turn meet the slow Central Texas Burnout, even if it's not happening in Central Texas.


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I'd counted -so- wrong as to when Blackie was due. The kit was born last night or something like that. She's soooo adorable.
*giggle* Though mum doesn't think so. Wonder why, just 'cause she has a head the size of her body...<P>D
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Minnesota's relaunch of a troubled campground reservations system for state parks went smoothly Thursday (March 22), officials said.
The system crashed shortly after launching March 1, when it was overwhelmed with 4,500 hits in its first hour. Officials had expected to take 4,500 reservations in the entire day, The Associated Press reported.
On Thursday, it averaged only about 100 to 130 visitors an hour for the first few hours, said Courtland Nelson, director of the Parks and Trails Division of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), who told reporters he was "quietly pleased."
Users created about 400 new accounts and made a little over 125 reservations by mid-afternoon, and the system never reached capacity, he said.
The system vendor, US eDirect, added capacity after the initial launch failed. Also, when it reaches its limit, users will get a message saying to try back in a few minutes to ensure that users already logged in won't be interrupted, said Sanjay Jain, CEO of US eDirect.
Under the DNR's phased relaunch plan, reservations were accepted Thursday for arrival dates through April 21. From Friday through Sunday, they will be accepted through May 12. A bigger test will come Monday when sites can be reserved through the Memorial Day weekend, Nelson said. More dates will be added through April 2, when system will start taking reservations for a year in advance.
Bill Anderson, the DNR's project manager, said he's confident the system will be able to handle the traffic.