Not your grandpa's keychain part 2: Earrings!
I'm still recovering from my hip replacement re-do. I'm not sure what is going on with it, I just know it continues to hurt enough to keep me housebound and seated! I got a hankering to design some new jewelry after a couple of friends stopped by to purchase some pieces. Now I am eager to make some watery transparent beads. Today looks like a perfect day to fire up my torch!
Press preview...
Susan came to help me organize my workspace for Orlando Arts Magazine. I will be their featured artist for the November/December issue. Here's what we came up with. The photographer did a great job as I am beyond camera shy. His wife is an artist who makes amazing children's hats. Here is a link to her etsy store and my favorite hat. Apparently, she is in New York at millenary school! She has a company called Ma Belle Mademoiselle and is a fellow former French teacher, though she taught at the college level and I taught and speak seulement French I. 
Ad hoc studio, taking it to the beach...
Actually, I'm takin' it to the back porch, but 'beach' sounded more like 'streets' as in "Takin' it to the Streets." I am feeling cooped up, so I moved my beads and bottles out onto the porch to create an ad hoc studio, as though I haven't taken up enough of the house already. I'm guessing the only thing I will get accomplished is a tan. 
Birdie day spa and mother-of-the-bride...
I felt like Snow White today. I almost have the wild birds ready to eat out of my hand. They circle around, buzz me, and chirp at me angrily. I sat very still holding sunflower seeds and they eventually settled down . I looked up in the trees and I was in the middle of a circle that included wrens, cardinals, nuthatch, finches, chickadees, and titmice. It was like they were holding a tribal council. I think I passed.
I made my mother-of-the bride necklace last night. I wanted something airy and neutral in color.
Almost finished with the trees so it looks like I might be able to come home early!
One for the sand and two for the sea...
I made two beachy necklaces today, one for the sun and sand, and the other for the sea...
Back to glass...
I finally got a little time to work on jewelry. Liked this one so much I put it on and headed down to the pier.
Being a little less Eeyore...
Every year Danielle and Wes sew felt Christmas ornaments. The first year they had a pile of narwhals, owls, and forest animals but there were no hooks from which to hang them. Wes didn't have the heart to sew through their backs (one of many reasons we love him) so he configured little harnesses out of embroidery thread. This dangling vintage Swarovski donkey reminds me of all the little animals hanging precariously from our tree that year.
While the donkey is a political mascot, the colors are neutral! I like to think of this little guy as the antidote to being Eeyore (as is my inclination.)
$175 Add to Basket
See more pictures at my esty shop.
Your not so basic black...
There is nothing boring about this basic black. I love the dotted dichroic additions to the greenish gold beads. They remind me of the licorice mix my mom and I crave. Black is so easy to wear, especially when it is done up for fun like this piece.
For more images visit my etsy shop! $275 Add to Basket
Say it with flowers...
When my bride-to-be Danielle was a baby she would crawl across the room to grab only the yellow blocks and bring them back to us. She and James were working on songs she wants played at her reception and I suggested a list of songs with the word 'yellow' in them, mainly because I love that Coldplay song "and it was all yellow..." The idea fell flat though John came up with "Yellow Polka-dot Bikini, Mellow Yellow, Folow the Yellwo Brick Road, Yellow Submarine," and we cut him off after he suggested "Old Yeller" but before he could think of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon."
I am still obsessed with the Target Alouette commercial and really want to be the girl in the yellow swing coat and pencil legged pants who jumps into the hot air balloon after she and her cohorts have popped color everywhere they touched. This necklace is in her honor. I love the unifying element of the roses. I went to photograph it and realized that three more charms would make a dozen roses. What a way to say it with flowers.
For more images visit my Etsy page.
Newest addition... getting naked.
Well nude anyway. I love colors in ranges of ambers, pinks, and peaches. They seem to look good on everybody.
I'm calling it "Fly me to the Moon." ($300 Add to Basket)
More images on my etsy page.
Alouette, Monet, and the dalmatian may lose her spots...
I read somewhere that Scandinavians varnish their window sills in the spring. The comment was made in reference to spring cleaning and it made me feel woefully inadequate as my spring cleaning usually amounts to putting away the winter clothes. This year, however, I find myself ruthlessly de-cluttering and I dyeing and painting everything in my path. I just finished dyeing a bedspread turquoise after successfully changing a boring crocheted ivory tablecloth to chartreuse. My dark imposing china cabinet is now sunny yellow, a smaller armoire is light blue, inspired by images from Claude Monet's house. I painted a Victorian chair black and spray dyed the upholstery to match. Pardon my francais, but it is bad-derriere. (Only after the fact did it occur to me that Zuzu sheds her white hair. Spray dye anyone?)
James says I watch too much TV and he is right, but I was further inspired by the new 'Alouette' Target ads. Here's what I made whilst humming the tune! That's all for now. My favorite show is on.
Purchase Alouette in Red Necklace, $325
Dale and the magic necklace...
My knee is still a work in progress, or maybe regress. I decided to go to the doctor, but was in no mood to put on make-up. The visit did, however, require I put on clothes. I randomly pinned my unruly hair into not exactly a chignon, more like a dozen little chignons all over the back of my head. I had already put on a stained long sleeved white t-shirt and straight-leg cords in hopes of working in my studio, but the cords had to go since I can't roll them above my knee for the doctor.
I grabbed a dress/skirt/ wrap thing I bought on the spur of the moment from a television pitch. The first time I wore it required a visit to the internet and zeroing in on the simplest way to twist and knot the stretchy mass of black into a dress. I am easily disoriented, so following such directions is stressful, similar to an experience I had 25 years ago with a baby carrier for which I had to lay out the directions, line myself up facing the same way as the paper, and painstakingly adjusting belts and buckles. With regard to the dress/skirt/wrap (skrap?), after the first wearing I can't be bothered, and just wear the big tube of fabric as a skirt. It's kind of like getting a printer/scanner/copier versus just a printer. It does many jobs, but none of them well.
As I headed out the door, (or I should say 'clamored' because limping sounds too elegant), and recalled a friend telling me how she plans her wardrobes around my jewelry. She claims that regardless of what she is wearing, one of my necklaces makes it an outfit. It was a stretch, but I had a stain on my shirt I needed to cover, so I put on the necklace in the photo which I have come to call "the magic necklace."
I am not very adept at walking in the best of circumstances. I bump into someone almost daily, but only just recently realized it most likely has something to do with the ambiguous nature of my stride which is on the order of Jacques Tati's halting lope in the movie Mon Oncle. Put me on crutches and I take on the random movement found in insects and studied by robotic experts.
I hobbled through the sliding glass doors that open into the lobby of the doctor's office, checking to make sure I hadn't tucked the handkerchief hem of my 'skrap' into my panties. A lady seated next to the elevator looked up at me as I pushed the button and said "I love your outfit!" There is only one explanation, well, maybe two: 1. The asymmetrical handkerchief hem of the skrap 2.The spell cast by my magic necklace.
Today I am off to the dentist for my 2nd crown in as many weeks. I am currently wearing garish mustard yellow corduroys and a black tank top (am I trying to look tacky?). I retain the flower child make-upless face of my youth sans the youth, and I've got the same quirky hairstyle going on. I don't know what I'll do to make myself presentable to the public, only that it will involve a magic necklace. To be continued...
When the going gets tough, the tough need...
Enough said, right? The tiny mason jar has an emergency stash of my holographic hexagonal glitter chunks.
PURCHASE: $35
Add to BasketThe Giant Despair, Dancing on Crutches, and Pretty Maids all in a Row...
My bride-to-be daughter was wanting something kicky for her bridesmaids to wear and we came up with these octagonal crystal earrings. The bead chain slides through the middle, so they are sort of 'kinetic', going cutely wonky the more you dance the night away. I love designing for special occasions. It nudges my creativity in new directions, like the architectural look of these earrings. Danielle insisted they be short, not chandelier, giving them a throw-back to the '40s vibe.
I had knee surgery shortly before the holidays, expecting to be up and about in a couple of days. Now in my fifth week of 'no weight bearing' I have new sympathy for anyone confined to a wheelchair. Thankfully I only have one week left after which I should pick up a paintbrush to repair all of my banged up walls. I have broken glasses, a rice cooker, spilled innumerable food items, knocked over a lamp and water glass onto a power strip, and almost fallen a hundred times. I am clumsy at best. Put me on crutches and I am a deadly weapon.
All of this has made me quite cranky, but my friends and family are bearing with me. I think they will be as happy as I when I can put one foot in front of the other again. I am reminded of a character in Pilgrim's Progress that I fell in love with as I plowed through Bunyan's work many years ago in seminary. Ready-to-Halt my kindred spirit, joins the journey on crutches. After a great victory against The Giant Despair, he and Feeble-mind celebrate with Christiana:
"Now Christiana, if need was, could play upon the viol, and her daughter Mercy upon the lute: so, since they were so merry disposed, she played them a lesson, and Ready-to-halt would dance. So he took Despondency's daughter, Much-afraid, by the hand, and to dancing they went in the road. True, he could not dance without one crutch in his hand, but I promise you he footed it well: also the girl was to be commended, for she answered the music handsomely."
Here's to a New Year of dancing, dancing, dancing even if it's on one crutch.
Accidental pearls, healing crystals, Ta-da!
I was playing with some new materials and have fallen obsessively in love. Above is a 30 inch necklace made of pyrite and vermeil chain. The large gems are worn to one side for a cool asymmetric yet balanced look. I don't understand why it works but it does. It works so my twenty something daughters each snagged one the minute they laid eyes on them. I am really excited with this new direction in my designs and am hoping to get them up on my site for sale soon ($65). I am reopening my Etsy store too in order to facilitate shopping for everyone.
The necklace features a rough cut pyrite chunk juxtaposed (there I go again) next to a Keshi pearl. While most Keshi pearls today are intentionally formed, originally they happened by accident or mishap when a pearl formed without a nucleus. I love the concept of beauty emerging, as it so often does, when things go wrong.
The third element in the necklace is a 'Herkimer diamond' or double terminated quartz crystal. I love how it is drilled right through the middle causing it to hang in unlikely horizontal surprise.
James chides me that I should not include that both pyrite and the crystal are thought to have beneficial metaphysical properties, and while debunked by science copper is thought to have healing properties as well. I joked with him that I felt so much better after photographing the necklace he might want to consider holding it for a while. Regardless of whether minerals can radiate good karma, I believe beauty does the job all by itself.
Einstein, romantic ambiguity, and un-brushed teeth...
I've been working in my studio to come up with a line of jewelry in the $35-$75 range. I'm really happy with the bracelet in this photo. It's sterling with onyx and sterling chain. I love the chunk of pyrite on the end of the chain. I always add a charm at the end of bracelets so you can clasp it wherever you want for a comfy fit, then the rest just dangles gorgeously.
It's been a challenge juggling my projects and making the transition to jewelry. My open house is this weekend so that is a good motivator. I get on a roll but then I wander... I made more home-made laundry soap and was musing about how I love to make my own bread, yogurt, and granola. I like to garden. I thought to myself "I would have made a great pioneer, but I would need someone to clean the house." But I'm guessing that those pioneers lived with dirt, kind of like I do. It reminded me of taking my gaggle of children to a farm for Danielle to purchase a lovebird. Along with walls of outdoor aviaries, the owner had chickens, ducks, and miniature goats. I actually said "Oh,kids, how fun. It's just like a farm. Don't touch anything!" It is this ambiguity in which I live, the push and pull of being a hopeless romantic in a world of germs. Maybe I could be like Marie Antoinette with her miniature farmhouse, cute peasant outfits, and perfumed sheep, but that didn't work out so well for her in the end.
I've been filling internet orders and received one for a "v
I have a great new hairstylist and when I make an effort I am going for the Midnight in Paris look. I've even experimented with finger waves in my hair but I run my fingers through my hair too much so I end up looking a bit more like Einstein if I'm not careful. I wonder if dear Albert started out with finger waves in the morning but he scratched his head all day while figuring out the universe.
The Oh-so-Orange stopper. Not a bad gift for under $25!
What's a lanyard and how do you spell it?
I have been so busy working on my ArtPrize recycled plastic installation that I haven't had much time to play in my studio. My god-daughter just started teaching at a school that requires her to wear a nametag at all times so she asked if I could make her something. I love what I came up with. It's so assymetrical and has just the slightest edgy vibe. I made a mold of a vintage cameo, cast it in copper, then incorporated it into the chain. The key is for knowledge of course, and the bird for free flying children. I am imagining students taking a tour of the lanyard, making up their own meanings to the charms.