Summers Studio

I am not invincible

2012-01-27T09:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't been feeling all that well over the last couple of months. Nothing serious, just the occasional bout of dizziness and fatigue. It was easy to put this off to the holidays and all the busy that goes along with it. Nothing that you would think necessary to schedule a doctor visit. Then I had a birthday and it occured to me that I haven't actually been to the doctor in more than 3 years. Healthy as a horse. So off I went for one of those wellness checkups.

Cholesterol - pretty good
Blood pressure -excellent
Lung function - fine for an asthmatic
Liver function - excellent

Fasting blood glucose - not so great

I thought I was invincible when it came to the game of genetics roulette. The good news is that I have some answers to why I've been feeling a little off. The bad news is that I can't really change a lot in my diet (the usual first approach). More than 6 months ago I gave up sugar along with a lot of other unhealthy eating habits. Well except for the chocolates at Christmas. They were Lindt after all. A girl can only resist temptation for so long. And Lindt chocolate is an extreme temptation.

The good news. I've already conquered the diet issues, well except for the Lindt lapse. The point of all this? This blog is probably going to continue to have infrequent updates over the next few weeks as I sort through this medical issue and another that I don't even want to think about at all.

I'm still working. Just working quite slowly. I have some pretties that came out of the kiln a while ago. They'll probably land in the shop on Monday.

Meanwhile, I have always appreciated the support, kindness and friendship I've found out here in the land of blog. I thank you all for that. I just wanted you all to know that I'm actually still here, just in a much quieter, contemplative, and inconsistent version of me. I'm pretty sure that the other me will be back soon.

Full of Potential

2012-01-06T07:09:00.000-05:00

We are home now after being away for the holidays and I see the new year as full of potential. Just like I see this bowl of beads as full of potential. Who knows what they will become. In many ways I feel that way about this new start in 2012. What will 2012 become?

Last year was so full of change. We moved our daughter in law and grand daughter to Ft Campbell. My son came home after being away for a very long year. Our daughter moved to Dallas. We moved to North Carolina. My mother died. Peter started a new job. How does that stack up on one of the life stress scales?

But this year I am looking forward to feeling more settled. More able to see the potential in each day. I don't have grand plans or many goals for the year. I've set that aside and decided to concentrate more on each day as it unfolds.

I've cleared away some impending chaos in the studio and am back to work. It goes slowly. Sometimes for me it is hard to pick back up and go again after being away. But maybe I'm just not ready. My daughter flies in this afternoon. I don't want a lot of work hanging around in my studio. I haven't seen her in 6 months. I just want savor the time we have together.

Those beads are all glazed now and cooling in the kiln. I'll open it with my daughter this afternoon. We haven't opened a kiln together in years.

My last knitting project of the year....a wee little pair of baby booties just waiting to be filled. I've been holding this knowledge close to my heart for a while now. We'll have a new grand baby this summer. Tammy is just starting show a little bit of baby tummy. It's beautiful and she and my son are so in love with this baby already. We all are. What great potential the new year holds.

Have a wonderful weekend and a wonderful 2012!

2011-12-23T06:57:00.000-05:00

Happy holidays!

That gorgeous ornament up there came from my friend Izzy in a gift exchange we had over at LMAJ. It's a lovely etched copper tree with a sari ribbon hanger. I could not be more pleased to add this ornament to my tree and think of sweet Izzy every time I see it.

The gifts are wrapped and the stockings are ready to be stuffed. The turkey is thawing and the cranberry compote is marinating. The nuts are spiced and the cookies are baked. I think we are ready. I know we are ready. I love this magic time of year and feel blessed to be able to spend it with my son and his family. My daughter will join us later. I can hardly wait to pick her up at the airport and wrap my arms around her. Those daily phone calls just aren't the same as being able to hug her. I'll be spending the next couple of weeks just soaking up all of the family love. See you in the new year!

Wishing you a happy holiday and a new year filled with warmth and love and time shared with your very most special people.

The Recluse

2011-12-16T09:58:00.000-05:00

I like solitude. It's not that I'm antisocial. I just happen to be one of those people who has always enjoyed sitting quietly with my thoughts and working with my hands. It occurred to me that over the last couple of weeks I've become down right reclusive. Not many words on this blog lately. Not really very many words in general.

I think it is the time of year. For me I spend a lot more time in contemplation. I think about my children when they were young and the magic moment of opening up their stockings on Christmas morning. The absolute joy they had unwrapping small things like chocolates and match box cars. I think about Christmas this year with our grand daughter. I've been put in charge of the stockings. It's an awesome responsibility but it makes me smile because Santa must have done a pretty good job in the past to be given such a special job this year.

I think about our sons and daughters coming home from Iraq this month and feel joy that they will come home to their families. I am reminded of the 2 Christmases my son spent in Mosul. I think of the Christmas he spent in Afghanistan last year away from his new family. And that he will be in Afghanistan again next year at Christmas. It makes me mindful of the blessing we have of sharing Christmas with him this year.

I think about the order I just made and shipped off yesterday. It's one with a story that moves me to tears. I am grateful to have been a small part of something so special. I sit with that story and let it become part of me. I can't tell the story right now. It is too new. I need to absorb it.

And I knit. Four scarves, two hats, a pair of mittens, and one special tiny project that makes me smile deep inside my heart. Knitting gets me through the many thoughts and emotions that comes with the holidays. It is a little like meditation or using prayer beads. Each stitch quietly filled love for someone special.

I hope you all are feeling the joy of the holiday season and savoring the magic moments that the season brings.

Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop

2011-12-07T06:53:00.000-05:00

I was thinking of my childhood friend Connie when I made this ornament. She had this most fabulous set up for her mittens that her grandmother had made for her. Simple really...just a piece of elastic that ran through the sleeves of her jacket and clipped onto her mittens. Oh how I loved that. I think we were about 5 years old.

I made this ornament from a pair of my mini ceramic mittens and wire wrapped wood and ceramic beads left over from other projects. They are suspended from a hammered loop of 14 gauge copper meant to hang over the branch of the Christmas tree.

It has been our tradition since the children were young, to give each of them an ornament when we decorate ouR tree. Our children are all grown with families of their own. Those childhood ornaments now decorate their own Christmas trees. Last year we had the blessing of welcoming into our family our now 4 year old grand daughter. She's just spent the last couple of weeks here with us and helped to set up our tree this year. This is the first year where she really understands Christmas. She knows who Santa is and that he's coming soon. Each morning we have a ritual of turning on the tree lights before we set down to breakfast. Each evening we turn on the holiday lights on the front porch and marvel over the lights on the neighbors porches. This beautiful 4 year old brings such a renewed sense of holiday magic into my life.

I've secretly wrapped up the mitten ornaments and sent them home with my grand daughter and her mother. Next week when her daddy gets home, she'll get to open them when they decorate their own Christmas tree. This Nanna is so happy to be able to pass on the tradition.

Please stop by to see the ornaments that others have created for the ornament blog hop.

First Annual Virtual Craft Fair Starts Today

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

From November 26 - December 3, Lori Anderson is hosting an online craft show featuring 70 artists/crafts people. Each day during this time, Lori will be listing all the shops and sales going on which you can view by going to her site.

I've got a bronze dragonfly bead to giveaway. You can find out how to enter to win this and other lovely prizes over on Lori's blog, Pretty Things . Be sure to stop back everyday to see what's up for prizes!

Psst, I'll update my Etsy shop on Monday morning and you can use the code CRAFT10 for a 10% discount when you check out!

It's almost time!

2011-11-21T06:54:00.000-05:00

7 days, 70 artists, 70 give aways and it all starts this Saturday, November 26th. Lori Anderson of Pretty Things is hosting her First Annual Virtual Craft Show.

On the days of the Virtual Craft Show, Lori's blog will be dedicated to the show. Each day will be filled with designers and crafters and you'll be able take at advantage of any discounts they may be offering. You'll also have numerous ways to enter to win some fabulous giveaways. You may even discover some new artists.

Yeppers, some of my work will be up there as well. But I'm sworn to secrecy until the day that the prize is revealed. And not even I know what day that will be. So I do hope you'll mark your calendars and stop by Lori's blog each day of the Craft Show. I'm really looking forward to this.

I want to extend a huge thanks to Lori for organizing yet another great event. She rocks, she really does.

We are excited!

2011-11-18T06:49:00.000-05:00

It's only two days now and this little girl will be here to visit Nana and PaPa. Her Daddy is off in Texas doing some training for two months and she's decided to come visit us in the middle while he's away. Oh, and she's bringing her Mummy too. We can't wait to see her and her Mummy. We have big plans. The studio will be operating at full capacity making Christmas presents. Think squishy finger pots and hand print ornaments....all decorated in the gaudiest, ummm, I mean the brightest glazes, we can conjure up. They will be the finest things ever to come out of Summers Studio. I am certain of this.

We'll have a pretty full house for Thanksgiving. My son, aka Daddy, will be flying in on Wednesday night for a couple of days. My daughter won't be able to make it home. That sweet girl bought her brother a plane ticket instead so he could be here with his family. It brings tears to my eyes to think of what a loving and generous soul she's grown up to be.

My son's visit will be a short stay but action packed. We've two birthdays to celebrate on top of Thanksgiving. We've a tree to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. We've got a turkey to brine and a ham to glaze. We've got pies and cakes to bake. Did I mention how excited I am?

I'm off now to finish the grocery shopping list. Turkey, animal crackers, sweet potatoes, crackers, cheese, pumpkin, chocolate chips......Really, did I tell you how excited I am.

Have a lovely weekend!

BTW - Naked

2011-11-16T08:30:00.001-05:00

Fresh out of the kiln, a piles of naked stoneware beads just waiting for me to dress them up in glaze. Guess what I'll be doing for the next couple of days.

I am listening now

2011-11-11T07:28:00.000-05:00

Why is it that I have a hard time listening to my body? On Wednesday I started aching in my neck. Just thought it was from sitting in one position too long pressing out clay pendants. So I move on to something else. And keep working. Then my body starts aching all over. And I move onto another thing despite the fact that I am now tired as well as aching. Then I wake up with the snuffles and chills and I try to push through to meet a self imposed deadline. It is too early for the cold and flu season. Hermits aren't exposed to enough germs to get a cold anyway. But by late morning, I started listening and went to bed. Sleep felt good. Reading a book and dozing felt good. It was a rainy day and what could be better than dozing with book snuggled up in the comfort of my bed?

I feel a bit better today. But I wonder if I am in the only person that just ignores the signals our bodies give us. I suspect not. When I get sick my mind seems to travel on all sorts of philosophical journeys. I wonder about things like what it really means to forgive someone. Do I truly know the definition of compassion? And I wonder why everything I make reminds me of those lovely Dutch windmill ginger cookies. Is my body telling me something again?

Have a lovely weekend all. Don't think too much, listen to your body, and go get some cookies.

Meanwhile listen to this. Did Nirvana ever sound this good? See? Weighty philosophical meanderings. I love these guys.

BTW

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted a Bead Table Wednesday. I think that mostly has to do with the thoroughly disreputable state of each and every work surface in my studio. There is actually a reason why you only get to see this tiny little snippet of my table. Can you guess? That's right the rest of it is in pure chaos.

I've had lots of little scraps of paper accumulating with drawings and scribbles and even some fairly good ideas. Or at least at this stage they've seemed like good ideas. So yesterday I started inking some of them up to turn them into molds. This is absolutely not at all what was on my list of things to do yesterday. But sometimes I just have to go with what holds my interest the longest. Can you guess what that drawing is? It's not finished. Think spring. I know it's not even winter yet but we have a secret here at Summers Studio that it is too early to talk about. And it makes me think of spring and happiness and all sorts of warm thoughts. So I'm not actually going to tell you what that is. In a month I will though. Promise.

Here's some more drawings. Some of them are just a whisper of an idea. The bottom one is pretty much ready to go. I have some deadlines looming that I want some new designs for. I think these designs will all end up as ceramic pendants. I'm working on some new techniques so these are all quite different from how I usually work.

Today I'll make these drawings into molds like these photo polymer plates. No clean work table needed. When nobody is looking I make them on my kitchen bench. There are many many off label uses of our kitchen. If you want to know how these are made you can go here where I showed some of the process.

So what's on your bead table? Is it messy? Come on you can tell me if its messy. I won't tell anyone, not even your mother.

Alchemy

2011-11-04T07:30:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when I work with metal clay I feel a little like an alchemist. I do love this process of taking a lump of moist clay, shaping it, then putting it into the magical black box and coming out with a solid metal.

I've been making a lot of drawings lately. I haven't turned all of them into molds yet. Some of them aren't really ready and some of them just aren't go to make the cut. But, there is just something so satisfying about taking a drawing and turning it into metal.

Those little bronze snowflakes are a new design. I had a snowflake pattern in the past but I was never satisfied with it. That particular pair of snowflakes is going some place special next week.

This stage before I fire the pieces is one of favorites in the process. Not in this picture, but in person you can see tiny bright specks of metal. It's so fragile that it's hard to believe that it will become solid and substantial.

Then there is that moment of truth stage after the pieces have been fired. I packed this last load a little differently and wasn't sure if the pieces would survive. Bronze can be a bit finicky when it comes to firing. But I think I've got it down for most pieces now. It's pretty ugly fresh out of it's charcoal bed. All kind of crusty and rough.

But the tumbler takes care of the ugly part. It's like another black box. I put those pieces in there and let them go for an hour, sometimes more. If something is going to break it's probably going to be in that stage of the process. It's always exciting to dump those pieces out and dig for the shiny treasure among the steel shot.

Then there is the next ugly stage. These bright shiny pieces get bathed in chemicals and made all sort of black and nasty looking. This is actually my least favorite part of the process. It's kind of smelly. It makes a mess on my work bench. If I don't wear gloves then my hand turn orange. And I don't like wearing the gloves. Don't know why. Just don't like it.

Alchemy! Transformation complete. Now if I could only figure out how to transform bronze into gold. Heck, I'd be happy with silver given today's market prices.

Have a great weekend, all!

Clearing out the skeletons from the closet

2011-11-01T07:30:00.000-04:00

We love Halloween. Have loved it since we were kids. Loved it even more when the children were young and we went with them around in the neighborhood to 'Trick or Treat.' Each year Peter dons his skeleton gloves, black turtle neck, and has about as much fun as the children. He's quite the hit with the young ones.

Every once in a while I get my deep thinking hat on and question this whole business of Halloween. Because there is absolutely no question in my mind that Halloween in the USA, is one of those big marketing holidays that we are all encouraged to buy up. But does it have any meaning at all? Don't get me wrong. I love seeing all of the children in their costumes. I love hearing their awe of Peter's skeleton hands. I love how much Peter loves this couple of hours of doling out treats. I love the pageantry. We do love this holiday.

But is there anything more? Well, I rarely, go into the philosophical on this blog, let alone anything that even approaches the spiritual.

Recently, we had the opportunity to hear a Wiccan perspective on Halloween, or Samhain. Among other things, it is a celebration of bringing the light forth from the dark. In the northern hemisphere we are approaching the days of the least sunshine. It's harvest time and we bring in from the fields those things that will sustain us until the spring ushers in the bounty of the growing season. It's a time when we can put to rest the darkness in our lives and celebrate the light that will come with spring. The things that will nurture us through the through the dark months ahead.

So my thinking is, that, it doesn't really matter what your faith path is. In this quite commercial holiday, there is room to clean out the skeletons and cobwebs in your closet. Bats and zombies, too. They can be banished as well. It's a time to become aligned with the change of season and look towards the light.

Save the Date!

2011-10-27T16:08:00.000-04:00

She's done it again. Lori at Pretty Things has come up with yet another great idea. She's hosting a Virtual Craft Show on her blog. Seventy people are giving away 70 fabulous prizes. That means 70 fabulous people will win. So mark you calendars. This will be fun!

Yep, I'm giving something away. But I'm not telling you what. You'll just have to wait and see. I love suspense. Don't you?

pssst, etsy shop update tonight starting at 8pm EST

New Stuff, An Invitation, and Thank You

2011-10-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

There haven't been nearly enough beads on this blog lately. Well, really since we moved to North Carolina there haven't been enough beads. Settling in and all has distracted me. I've been working away on some new things. Like the little bronze acorn and pine cone. The oak leaf is a re-work of an old design. It's modeled on the pin oak that line the street I live in. They are protected in my street because I live in a historic preservation neighborhood and these pin oaks were part of the original landscape design. Thank goodness! Pin oaks are one of the most beautiful of all the oaks, at least I've always thought so. I'm so happy you can't chop them down willy nilly.

I've been working on setting little gemstones into some of my bronze pieces. A bit fiddly, but I love the sparkle that these add to designs that feel so comfortable and familiar to me.

Since we moved here, I've changed the porcelain that I use. I'm using one by High Water Clay which is in Asheville. It's almost local. Well it's only a couple hours away and it's oh so nice to have an excuse to go to Asheville. I'm quite smitten with the glaze on these pieces. It's a formerly poopy glaze on the old porcelain. Unfortuntely, two really spectacular glazes on the old porcelain are now poopy. But I'm working on it.

Now for the invitation. I've thought about this for some time and am just now getting around to doing it. I've opened up a Facebook page to let you all know when I've got new things available. Because I recognize that I am frankly quite dreadful about letting anyone know when things become available. Some of you have even asked if I have an email list or some such thing so that you could know about shop updates. No email list (yet). So here's a link to my Facebook Page, Summers Studio Beads.

There are even some previews of work that's going to be available this week. I'll let you know when I list things in my shop. There's a bunch of stuff ready to go and I like being able to just list it all at once. Sometime this week, at an undisclosed time, I will be listing a bunch of stuff. Undisclosed because not even I know when that will be. I'm still working on getting things ready.

And thank you all for your very generous support regarding my mother's passing. It's been an emotional upheaval but we are all coping in our own ways. I haven't been able to get back to each of you. But please know that I feel deep gratitude to each of you for your warmth and oh, so generous caring.

She was 84

2011-10-21T07:27:00.001-04:00

D Sharon Pruitt via Flickr Commons

I had things I wanted to say today. But they aren't important now. My mother passed early yesterday morning. She was very ill and in quite a lot of pain from the cancer that had spread everywhere in her body. She hasn't been able to speak for a long time because her brain had betrayed her thoughts. That would have been awful for her. I know how much she dreaded the idea of it. She was a very bright woman and valued learning more than anything I can think of. Reading and puzzles of all kinds were what she did to keep her mind strong. In the end she could do none of those things. It is sweet relief that she no longer suffers.

I won't be able to go up to say a final good bye. There isn't time for the travel it requires. It's a long ways and it's all quite complicated in so many ways. My dear friend had the idea to let a balloon drift upwards and away to mark her passing. I like this idea. I will do this instead and wish her the peace that she did not have in her last months.

Please follow the highlighted route and a bit of awesomeness

2011-10-19T16:51:00.000-04:00

That's what Steve-o the garman says when we use him to guide us to destinations not yet travelled. Oh that life could be so simple. Please follow the highlighted route. Yes, I want a garman for life. Or maybe not. Maybe I actually like not having a pre-determined path. Maybe I like making twists and turns, taking off in direction that I didn't anticipate.

Anyways, we headed up to the mountains on Monday for a day trip, dogs in tow. Steve-o the garman was not on. We were heading for Mount Mitchell State Park and we needed nothing of "please follow ...." we had the Innate Male Sense of Direction on hand to guide us. Well, enough said, really, as I'm sure most folks know that the innate male sense of direction is not, clearly not, infallible.

But all is well that ends well.

It's stunningly beautiful up in the mountains. The mountains feel so ancient. And they are, really. We were lucky enough to be able to get up there in the peak of fall colour. Blazing with oranges, reds, and yellows. Then at the top of Mount Mitchel you are in a spruce forest. The smell is incredible. I wish I could bottle it up and post the smell here on my blog. I love these mountains that roll away in ridges of smoky blues.

It was what I needed. The Blue Funk Fairy has been having an extended holiday in my studio. I tell her to go away, you are not welcome here. But she hasn't been listening. Until now. I think I needed to go away for a day. She apparently does not like not having company. I've actually been quite productive this week. There's a load of bronze pieces in the tumbler right now. There are even some new designs.

I feel some of my work changing. Not all of it. But being surrounded by so much beauty here has me wanting to try new things. Things that are more muted and earth bound. Look at that lichen up there. I can't remember what kind it is. But I find the ruffled edges and the grays and pale green breath taking. Another ancient thing, lichen have been living peacefully with the spruce on Mount Mitchell for millenium. See there really isn't room for you Blue Funk Fairy. There are too many other things competing for my attention.

In a bit of awesomeness, I got to meet Kelley on Sunday. She and her mother were on their way home to Atlanta from Chapel Hill. So it was just good luck that we could meet in Greensboro for coffee. I felt like I had known her forever. So much laughter so much fun. I hope will be able to laugh together again and soon. I wish I could meet all of you as well. So if you are ever in the Triad give me a shout. For that matter if you ever in the mountains give me a shout. Any excuse to get over there :-)

I started this blog post on Monday night and here it is Wednesday already. Where did the time go? I need Steve-o to highlight my route for me. So much is happening right now. My mum's taken a turn for the worse and it could be hours it could be days. Who knows? It's been nearly a year since her cancer returned with metastases in her liver, lungs, and everywhere. She's been very ill for months. I'm not entirely sure how to feel. Maybe numbness is a good thing.

So I think I will just meditate on the circle of life and ancient things.

Winner!

2011-10-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Congratulations! The winner of the bronze branch and aqua birdie is KayzKreationz! Thank you all for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Torched Fired Enamel Jewelry by Barbara Lewis. Be sure to check out Jen Judd Velasquez post today. She's going to show you how she set up a torch fired enamel studio in her apartment. I can't wait to see this!

Wings of A Dove and Give Away

2011-10-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

The last project in Barbara Lewis new book, Torch-Fired Enamel Jewelry uses one of my bronze branches and a bitty porcelain bird. The birds are actually quite special to me. I think most of us have memories of awkward, lonely, or even painful moments in our childhoods. I know I do, mostly of those lonely times where I just didn't seem to fit very well in the world. I started making these birds at a time when I was missing my Nana a lot, even though she's been gone for a very long time. You see, my Nana was always there for me and I was like the little bird with ruffled feathers that she would smooth and make right. I always feel peaceful when I make these birds and it reminds me of those times when my quiet soft spoken Nana had just the right words to make the sun shine in a little girl's world.

I was so pleased when I first saw a photo of how Barbara used the bird in her project, Wings of a Dove. It's a lovely happy piece, full bright cheer and sunshine. But best of all she gave the little bird it's own etched and enameled home.

One of the things I love most about torch-fired enameled pieces is how versatile they are. They combine so well with many other mediums from bronze to porcelain, jewels to pearls. I think the only limit is your imagination. The other thing I love about this technique is how you can either use a commercial component or create your own as a base for the enamel. And then there are the colour options, again only limited by your imagination.

Barbara's book is beautifully illustrated and everything you need to know to get started is there, including 22 projects that take you through her innovative techniques step by step. I feel quite confident that everything I need to learn this technique is right here in this beautiful book. It is so much more than a project book. It is a spring board for your imagination.

To celebrate Barbara's new book I'm giving away a bronze branch and aqua birdy like those in Wings of a Dove. At the end of the day, 10 pm EST, a winner will be randomly choosen from comments on this blog post.

But there is more!

Here's a list of the other hosts on this virtual book tour:

October 6, Mary Jane Dodd, www.mairedodd.blogspot.com

October 7, Gaea Cannaday, www.gaeabeads.blogspot.com

October 8, Linda Larsen, www.objectsandelements.typepad.com

October 10, Andrew Thornton, www.andrew-thornton.blogspot.com

October 11, Lori Plyler, www.waterstonejewelry.blogspot.com

October 12, Diane Cook, www.rosa-josies.blogspot.com

October 13, Lori Anderson, http://www.prettythingsblog.com

October 14, LeAnn Weih, www.summersstudio.blogspot.com

October 15, Jen Judd Velasquez, www.jenjuddrocks.blogspot.com

October 17, Melissa Meman, www.melissameman.blogspot.com

October 18, Lisa Crone, www.abeadaday.blogspot.com

October 19, Shannon LeVart, www.missficklemediacom.blogspot.com

October 20, Cindy Wimmer, www.sweetbeadstudio.com

October 21, Laura Twiford, www.souvenirsfromlife.blogspot.com

October 22, Erin Prais-Hintz, www.treasures-found.blogspot.com
October 24, Jennifer Cameron, www.glassaddictions.com
October 25, Sharilyn Miller, http://sharilynmiller.blogspot.com/

And there are more prizes!

This is what Barbara has set up for you:

"We'll have prizes throughout the book tour plus a grand prize at the end! The more you spread the excitement, the more chances you have to win some of the goodies our bloggers are giving away!

Leave a comment at your host's blog and become a follower = 1 chance.

Tweet, facebook or blog about the giveaway and leave a comment at this post (the original Virtual Book Tour post) = 1 additional chance.

While you're at my blog (Barbara's), if you become a follower or say that you're already a follower in your comment = 1 additional chance.

So, you can earn up to three chances per giveaway. A winner will be selected by 10 p.m. eastern time and be announced the following day. You can check back at my(Barbara's) blog for the name of the winner or at any other of the participating blogs.

To thank you for following along, we will have a BONUS PRIZE at the end of the book tour! All of the entries will be included in the drawing for a kit containing all the elements of "Floral Cascade," one of the projects in the book! You'll receive everything you need to make the necklace, including the chain, jump rings, clasp, enamel beads, and head pins!

But that's not all!

For a chance to win the Grand Prize - a Torch-Firing Kit (or $110 shopping experience at www.paintingwithfireartwear.com) - please leave a review at Amazon.com by November 24. Remember, leave an honest review... the book must stand on its own.

Thanks for playing along!

P.S. Unfortunately, we have to restrict the giveaways to U.S. residents. Winners should contact me with their name and address through my author website:

www.torchfiredenameljewelry.com so that you can receive your prizes!"

Painting with Fire Book Tour!

2011-10-06T09:17:00.000-04:00

I am so so pleased to have been asked by Barbara Lewis to be part the virtual tour for her new book. I've got a copy in my hot little hands and it is a wonderful book, just chockers full of everything you need to know. But I'll come back on the 14th and let you know more about it.

Throughout the month, starting today with Mary Jane Dodd, you'll be able to see projects and inspiration from Barbara's book. She's lined up some amazing artists, all with unique perspectives.

Here's the list of hosts for you to follow:

October 6, Mary Jane Dodd, www.mairedodd.blogspot.com

October 7, Gaea Cannaday, www.gaeabeads.blogspot.com

October 8, Linda Larsen, www.objectsandelements.typepad.com

October 10, Andrew Thornton, www.andrew-thornton.blogspot.com

October 11, Lori Plyler, www.waterstonejewelry.blogspot.com

October 12, Diane Cook, www.rosa-josies.blogspot.com

October 13, Lori Anderson, http://www.prettythingsblog.com

October 14, LeAnn Weih, www.summersstudio.blogspot.com

October 15, Jen Judd Velasquez, www.jenjuddrocks.blogspot.com

October 17, Melissa Meman, www.melissameman.blogspot.com

October 18, Lisa Crone, www.abeadaday.blogspot.com

October 19, Shannon LeVart, www.missficklemediacom.blogspot.com

October 20, Cindy Wimmer, www.sweetbeadstudio.com

October 21, Laura Twiford, www.souvenirsfromlife.blogspot.com

October 22, Erin Prais-Hintz, www.treasures-found.blogspot.com

October 24, Jennifer Cameron, www.glassaddictions.com

Did I mention the give aways? Lots of them throughout the tour and you are in for some real treats. Want to know more? You can find out more details on Barbara's blog here.

And there's even a GRAND PRIZE - a Torch-Firing Kit (or $110 shopping experience at www.paintingwithfireartwear.com) - please leave a review at Amazon.com by November 24. Remember, leave an honest review... the book must stand on its own.

Are You Relevant? Am I?

2011-09-21T06:30:00.011-04:00

These beads are not relevant to this blog post. They are a gratuitous splash of colour and texture.

Of course we are all relevant just because of the beautiful, lovely people we are. But are you Etsy relevant? This is a new concept to me. I kind of stumbled across this when I noticed all of the changes to how you list items. Thought it might be time to do a little investigation of what that was all about.

Now I will be the first to admit that I am not all au courant Etsy. I spend zero time over there except to mind my own business, so to speak. I am not an Etsy team player. I dislike the forums and all things SEO make me yawn. In fact I am so so Etsy lazy that I didn't even know they had changed the way searches are made until a month later. But if you sell online and on Etsy in particular, you do need to pay the tiniest bit of attention to what is happening.

Remember all of that re-listing to get to the top of a search? Not anymore. Which is really good for me, since I didn't do all of that re-listing anyway, lazy, slothful, Etsian that I am. Remember trying to come up with arty, witty, eye catching titles? Nope, not anymore. Which is also good for me because I tend to be completely uninspired when it comes to titles. In fact my titles are down right boring. Bronze Dragonfly Pendant ---boring.

Now you may know all of this already. It would not be the first time that I was the last to pick up on something worthwhile knowing. But if you didn't know, in essence, Etsy has changed the way items come up when shoppers search so as to provide the best match to their keywords. They've aligned it more with how other search engines like Google work. Nifty. Personally, I think this is a great idea and think that it ultimately will make everybody happier. Because, really, who likes wading through all of that other stuff when all you really want is to choose from a selection, of say Bronze Dragonfly Pendants. And if you are selling stuff do you really want your shoppers wading through masses of Etsy items?

But its a bit of a mind shift when it comes to how you list your Etsy items and all of that old Etsy listing wisdom. I'm not going to go into all of that. Others have done that for you. If you google Etsy Relevancy, you will find a mind boggling list of links to discussions, strategies, rants, raves, and that sort of thing. Fascinating that this change could generate so many ways to spend your time on the internet.

Anyhoo, just in case you haven't whiled away the hours browsing all of the links out there, here's a list of three that I found to be pretty good. ( I whiled away some hours for you :-)

1) First up there's the Etsy Blog link. Good to go to the source first, right?

Make Your Shop More Relevant

2) Over at Handmadeology, they've got a nice 12 page PDF explaining the changes to Etsy's search engine and some pretty good suggestions for how to change up your listings so that your shop items have a better chance of being found among the gazillion sellers on Etsy. Warning though, you'll be asked to give up your email and this might get you subscribed to Handmadeology. I don't actualy now if that's what happens. If that's not your thing, you can easily unsubscribe if you get more emails from them. They are also selling stuff here like an Etsy Relevancy Strategy e-book. Good purchase? Don't know. But the free PDF is a good summary. BTW, they have all sorts of quite good information and you can spend quite a lot of time there absorbing all sorts of stuff related to selling online and on Etsy in particular.

The Etsy Relevancy Breakdown (free)

3) Saving the best for last, my favourite link of all from Sparrow Salvage. Read this one if for no other reason than you would like a bit of wit and humour. It's also got some really useful advice in it.

Relevancy-Taming the Savage Beast

So are you relevant?

Have you looked into the flutter around the Etsy search changes?

Am I truly the last one to know about any of this? (I'm OK with that)

The things you will do for love

2011-09-19T08:18:00.003-04:00

Do you know what that is? Come on, I specifically know of one of you who knows what it is.

Here's another one. Yep, they are unisex. Probably a fashion crime as well. Actually, I am certain they are a fashion crime.

Yep, they are cheese heads. That is my sweetie there wearing his Green Bay Packers T-shirt. I should actually say one of his numerous Packers Tees. He is a die hard, deep in the blood, Packer's fan. It's a genetic condition. His parents were born and raised in Wisconsin. Although he did tell me that there are in fact people from Wisconsin who are Bears and Vikings fans. Not many, but a few. In fact there are even football atheists in Wisconsin. Gasp.

As it turns out, the Packers were playing the Panthers in Charlotte yesterday. These are things that ordinarily do not excite me in the least little bit. You see, I am in the football atheist camp. I have never been to a football game. I have never watched a football game. I do not understand football. Except for Aussie rules footie. Then I am all over it. Brisbane Lions, if you must know. I know, Melbourne girl should have been barricking for Carlton but we in North Fitzroy held a rather fierce loyalty to the Lions. But I digress.

So late Saturday night, Peter says the Packers are playing in Charlotte. I'm like, yeah? That's interesting. Have you ever seen the Packers play? Nope, I've never been to an NFL game.

So here's where the things you do for love comes in. I have never ever wanted to go to a football game in any league or city or whatever. Except of course for Aussie rules. And that I preferred in the local with a pint watching it on the telly. I do not understand grid iron. I like basketball. I can even take a lovely nap to baseball. But grid iron? I just don't get it. These huge guys out there knocking each other around? I just don't get it.

So much to my surprise, I said, honey, can you still get tickets? I'll go with you.

Yesterday, I find myself on the road to Charlotte. I find myself in the Bank of America Stadium. I walk up a series of ramps that are like hiking out of the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel trail (which I enjoyed much more than the stadium). I find myself in a huge crowd of people. I loathe crowds. I actually have panic attacks in crowds. I am surrounded by cheese heads and panthers on all sides. Not a pretty picture. Early on there was a testosterone induced battle for space supremacy. I hate that. I hate guys shouting at each other and threatening each other. I question, why am I here? I just lost a week of studio time last week to massive headaches and now I am here?

But tell you what, this was a great day. Peter was over the moon going to an NFL game and getting to see the Packers play. He hooted and shouted and whooped it up. It was fantastic to see him really enjoy this. It was fantstic to see the camradery of the fans (both teams). Complete strangers but just enjoying the game together. Doing all this shouting and high fiving with each other. Granted, I felt like I was in a foreign country and didn't speak the language. Peter is a pretty good interpreter though.

Even more surprising though is that I actually enjoyed the game. I made some little whoops of my own. I'm a quiet person and public whoops are not something you might expect out of me. So I think that maybe this opening yourself up to do something different is a very good thing.

Nope probably not going to become a big football fan anytime soon. But I am so happy to have opened myself up to an experience that I would never expected to have done. Not in my wildest dreams. And to share it with Peter was the best. I think sometimes the things you set out to do for love end up being the things that are best for you.

BTW, the Packers won. Go Pack Go.

The Bead Muse is Asleep

2011-09-08T16:16:00.002-04:00

But the Garden Muse is wide awake. Thank you, Tropical Storm Lee. It poured down buckets of rain on Monday and Tuesday. At times it rained so hard I couldn't see the street from the front door. There is water seeping in the cellar and the down spouts are still draining. But after the storm came the most delicious cool weather.

I know that is just a common weed morning glory. But it is just so beautiful that I couldn't pull it off the fence. I know I will pay for that next spring when it reseeds itself all over my perenial bed.

When the weather turns cool like this I can't keep myself indoors. It is just too nice to spend a minute of it inside. See that brussel sprout. It shot out lots of new leaves after the rain. I can water all I like but I can not do the same job as mother nature. If I had been inside working in my studio, I would have missed the drops of dew on its leaves.

There will be no studio time this weekend either. I have leeks and bunching onions that need to be planted. They have no home yet. Peter and I will build another raised bed on Saturday. The lumber is here just waiting to be put together. I think I can already taste leek soup this spring. I love leeks.

I've spent the last two days planting spinach, lettuce, radishes, turnips, rutabagas, and more beets. Salad and soup is in our future this autumn. I've spent even more time weeding. This house has not been looked after for more than three years. I have years of weeding ahead of me. But there is something so rewarding about clearing up a mess and stepping back to see an instant change.

The last fig of the season. I am certain that on Saturday it was half that size. It just swelled up overnight with all of the rain. Yes, those are skeleton flamingos in the back ground. I can't really explain them. But I do like them quite a lot.

I'm off to Charlotte tomorrow. Peter has some sort of TV thing and I'm tagging along. Of all of the wonderful things to do in Charlotte, I am most looking forward to going to IKEA. I haven't been to an IKEA in years. I know that is kind of sad, really that my first trip to Charlotte is going to be spent wandering the aisles and whole room layouts of IKEA. But I need tea towels and I'm sure there are heaps of other things I need too. I'm sure none of those things that I deparately need are available locally.

Have a great weekend everyone!

We like Pink

2011-09-06T17:21:00.001-04:00

And we like pink applied very heavily. My grand daughter was here over the weekend. It was the first time I've seen her since April and it was the first time she's come to visit Nana and PaPa in North Carolina. I am always amazed by how intense she is about her side walk chalk. Always pink first and only one color at a time. The pink does not last long. It gets used up. The other colors we move through quite quickly. But seriously, only one at a time. I love watching this thought process. I'd love to know how a four year old makes these choices. But those are mysteries that are known only to children. It's a secret world.

Play dough with PaPa is a pretty intense too. Again only one colour at a time. And only with PaPa. There are strict rules about lining up the shapes in just the right order. Only PaPa is able to do it. Old Bob is allowed to watch but his help is not appreciated.

Daddy made an awesome ladder for the play house which I learned is actually a castle. That little porch up there is where Rapunzel lets down her hair. It's an elaborate affair to get that hair all unwound and to the ground so we can head off to see the floating lights. I know this because I watched Tangled quite a few times over the weekend and recognized the ritual.

I always feel priviledged to be allowed into a child's world. It is a whole new way of looking at things. There aren't the adult rules and view points. Life is full of mysteries to be explored and explained in your own way. The special Nana activity is the flash light. Each night before stories we go out into the back yard with the flash light and find things. Do you know how different everything looks when you find it with a flash light? It's magic out there. A leaf becomes embued with power that it just does not have in daylight.

It's so quiet today. The side walk chalk is all washed away by the rain. Alice is so tired. She is my grand daughter's special dog friend. They are inseperable. Nana is tired too. But looking forward to the next time. Looking forward to the night time exploration. Anticipating seeing the world a little differently.

Almost like Christmas

2011-09-01T07:12:00.003-04:00

Opening a kiln after it has fired for more than 9 hours and then cooled for 12, is a little like gifts on Christmas morning. There's all that anticipation. You remember when you were a kid looking at the bounty under the tree, all wrapped up with its mysteries inside? Even when you've rattled and poked you never know exactly what might be in there. Unless of course you are one of those naughty children who've peeked before things got all wrapped up. I've only heard about this. I've never actually done the peeking :-)

There's no peeking when it comes to firing ceramic goodies. You just have to wait it out till things are cooked and cool enough to look at. This is what I looked at yesterday morning as I opened the lid of the kiln. For the most part, the kiln gods smiled on this firing. Which is a really good thing because this was a totally mixed up firing. New clay, new glaze, no testing. Just kind of went for it. Liberating!

And just like Christmas, there are those gifts that maybe aren't just what you expected. See that up there? Two beads perfectly and forever fused together. And then there are the truly hideous that went straight to the bin without ever making it into the studio. Nope, you are not seeing those. I've spared you the sight of them. It happens and I am totally over them. Mostly.

And I think I can let those failures pass me by because I've got so much more to look forward to. That cheeky monkey is coming to visit Nana and PaPa this weekend. Oh, and she's even bringing her daddy and mama. She's so special and not just because she loves to go fishing and will even bait her own hook. Wowser, I won't even do that. Actually, I don't go fishing.

Miss Alyssa is turning 4 at the end of the month. We'll be partying away here at Summers Studio. We've got bubbles, we've got side walk chalk. We've even got beads! I haven't seen her for a few months. I haven't seen her and Mama and Daddy together since Daddy got back from Afghanistan.

So we'll be taking a bit of a blog siesta over the weekend to eat cake and make merry.

Happy weekend all!

Is it worth it?

2011-08-30T16:36:00.001-04:00

6 jars of cinnamon peach jam

12 quarts of tomato sauce

10 pints of chopped tomatoes

8 pints of tomato soup

20 pints of corn

8 pints of green beans

And I've only just started.

I like preserving my own food. The peach jam is even sugar free just sweetened with apple juice and honey. It tastes so fresh. Yes, it is time consuming and no, I'm pretty sure there is no money saved doing this. But I find it satisfying to know exactly what's in my food and where it came from. Pretty much all of our food comes from the local farmers market directly from the people who grow it. Of, course there is tomatozilla out in the back garden so a few of those tomatoes were grown by us.

But is it worth it to put up your own food? I seriously question this sometimes. Especially when I've spent hours on my feet over a hot kettle of water. But then I think that if I had a choice between Mac Donalds or a really fine restaraunt

(somebody else is paying for this :-), I'd probably choose the fine restaraunt. That's kind of how I feel about store bought canned tomatoes. They are the Maccers of my world.

But the really, very most special worthwhile of this is sharing this food with my family. My son and his family will be here this weekend and I know absolutely that homemade peach jam will be a hit and that jars of preserves will go home with them. I know my son will recall counting of "pops" as jar lids seal. The licking of spoons when jam is finished. Preserving food is family tradition and it is full of wonderful memories. Pretty worthwhile just for that.

Oh you were wondering about beads? There is a kiln chockers full of beads firing right now.

39 beads

20 acorns

23 owls

25 birds

32 pendants

I like counting things.

Plentiful Sunshine

2011-08-23T16:51:00.002-04:00

That's what the weather report for today said. We're not having just any old ordinary sunny day. We are having plentiful sunshine. That makes me smile. A day abundant and plentiful with sunshine.

What also makes me smile is that autumn seems just around the corner. When I went out with the dogs early this morning it was a mere 62F degrees. I actually shivered and thought about putting on a hoody. I love autumn. And over the last few days I have been making beads like a squirrel gathering nuts for winter. Hundreds of beads. I am not entirely sure what got into me.

There are beads in sassy new shapes and textures. I can't wait to glaze these up. I am seeing corals, and pumpkin, and toasty rust colours. Maybe some blues too because I still like blue even in autumn.

And there old familiar beads. Lots of birds. I love making birds. I feel peaceful when I make them.

Now I think I will head out and enjoy some more of that plentiful sunshine before Hurricaine Irene heads into the Carolinas. Because when that happens it will be plentiful rain and wind.

The secret of the absurd tomato

2011-08-19T07:57:00.005-04:00

Folks, that up there is my one and only tomato plant this year. It is an absurd size. Ludicrous, absurd, ridiculous. I have never ever grown a tomato this size. Peter (looking a bit ridiculous himself) is 5'11" tall, that gives a little idea how big this tomato is. And it's actually tipping over right now because not even the fence post we put in to hold it up is keeping it upright. It's the godzilla of tomato plants. This tomato is taking over, marching out into the yard bit by bit.

Just two months ago, that tomato was this size. Tiny really and I wondered whether I would ever see a ripe tomato off this wee little plant. Peter has now stopped counting how many maters have set. He stopped counting at 42. It seemed absurd to keep counting. Clearly this tomato is producing fruit.We've even had some ripen. Just this week in fact. I'd show you a picture, but, well, we ate them. Yummy.

I am pretty certain this is the secret ingredient to growing tomato plants to an absurd size. Yep, that's right. Cow poop, lots of cow poop. Miracles are made of cow poop. I am totally convinced.

Have a great weekend. Go get yourself some cow poop and see what wonders you can grow.

Shhhh, don't tell Peter

2011-08-17T16:36:00.001-04:00

But I am secretly delighted that he's gone back to work. The first semester of the university started on Monday and I've had 3 entire days all to myself. Now don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed having Peter around this summer. But, sheesh, three months?

Look at that table full of bronze pieces up there. I've gotten so much done. It feels good to be able to just work away in my studio with no distractions. It's almost like a guilty pleasure. It's almost as good as chocolate. OK, chocolate is much better.

I love the way these beads look like a small army marching away in a sort of confused disorganized way.

These beads look a little like ginger snaps to me. I'd like to have a ginger snap right now. But I've sworn off sugar and I am nearly certain that ginger snaps are full of sugar.

And then I had a bead cap binge today. There is no easily understood rationale for having a bead cap binge. Except maybe that swearing off sugar, which unfortunately includes chocolate and giner snaps, has forced me into binging in other ways.

I think maybe having all of this time to myself is making me delirious. Or seriously hungry. Or both.

The Art of Happiness

2011-08-09T16:35:00.004-04:00

" I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…" the Dalai Lama

One of the things I do each day, and often several times, is to give gratitude for the things in my life that bring me happiness. Sometimes those are large things but quite often they are small things. Little things that might go unnoticed if I let them pass me by.

I finished this necklace as part of the LMAJ Art Spark this month. I started it quite a while ago. The challenge this month is to create something that expresses what makes you happy. As I thought about it, I realized that at the core of my happiness are these small pauses I take in my day to acknowledge those things around that I am grateful to have in my life.

This bead has been sitting on my work table for months. I've always loved this bead and just could never commit to putting in any one piece. It was a gift from Kelley several years ago. I've never met Kelley except through our blogs but I've shared friendship with Kelley through our blogs just as I've shared friendship with you. This bead has found a home as a reminder of the gratitude I feel for friendship and its place in my own happiness.

I'm not sure why, but lately the small details in life are the things that give me the most happiness. Itty bitty things like noticing a finch at my feeder or the look on my old dog Bob's face when I give him a deep rub on his stiff neck, the song of the cicada, the taste of fresh figs. All small things that might pass me by.

The focal for this necklace is a bronze medalion with the mantra "om mani padme hum." I often chant this mantra as it centers me. Lord, knows, there are lots of times when I need to center myself. I don't actually do a formal meditation each day. The truth is that I'm actually rather bad at that. I do sort of spread my meditation out through the day in small pauses. I'm not sure that it matters if you call it prayer, meditation, or sauntering through the woods like Thoreau, but pausing to give gratitude has been the greatest source of happiness in my life.

This necklace is a gift to myself, it' a reminder to pause, to experience, to feel the source of my own happiness.

And speaking of happiness, we are making some progress on resolving the kiln issue. In fact that makes me enourmously happy. Thank you all for the support you've given me when I had my little rant the other day. I've heard from lots of you and I'll give you an update soon. I've also had quite a few inquiries about selecting a kiln and avoiding this problem. I'll write something up soon, promise. Meanwhile feel free to contact me.

Slaying Dragons

2011-08-04T06:54:00.008-04:00

It's been a long, tough week. But looking up at those bronze pieces all ready to get polished up makes me happy. Makes me feel like something good got done besides dealing with dragons.

I made myself another bracelet this week. The bronze button on it was one I made a while ago for no particular reason. I'm really liking leather these days. I think it's bringing out the Xena Warrior Princess in me but minus the leather corset. I really don't have the figure for it and besides it seems much too hot a garment for the summer weather.

It's a pretty simple bracelet. Just a double strand of leather, button, lampwork bead, wrapped three times.It's a simple piece. I think I needed a little simple.

Did you ever wonder if I might make any cermaic pieces again? Me too. That's where the slaying dragons comes in. I have this wonderful new stoneware clay. It's quite a departure from what I might normally use in my designs. I've been wanting to try out some new ideas and a few months ago decided to buy a new small kiln. A smaller kiln would allow me to do some testing and have a quicker turn around on results. I could do special orders more easily. Lots of reasons really why I wanted this.

I carefully researched kilns, firing specifications, wiring specifications, even did testing on the wiring in my studio to be sure that it met the specifications of the kiln. I decided on a model from a manufacturer who has a very good reputation. I have one of their kilns and it's been a good kiln. One that I like very much. I bought from a ceramics supplier that I use much of the time. I trusted these people.

I've lost most of two loads in my brand new kiln. It works but it does not actually fire to the temperatures that are specified by the manufacturer and the supplier. It comes close but not close enough. It's been a week of back and forth between the supplier, manufacturer, and myself. It's been pretty awful with both the manufacturer and the supplier indicating that the problem is mine. That I do not have the optimum electrical supply that this kiln would require. By the way, no one else in the US does either. It's summer, voltage drops, etc, I won't get into the specifics. The kiln does not reliably operate in the range that it should and even the manufacturer sort of admits this.

We may or may not be making some progress on this. It's been exhausting. There's been this niggling feeling that being a woman is not helping out here. Ceramics for many years was dominated by men, especially when it came to the technical side of thing like kilns. I thought we'd gone past that. But no, only when I put my husband on the phone did we begin to take even a tiny shuffle in any direction like progress. That's quite depressing. But the problem has still not been resolved. I feel like I am slaying dragons and desperately wishing that Xena might show up to give me a hand.

I could go on at length in this mini rant of mine. I don't usually rant on this blog. But just this once it feels quite good let some of this out. So thank you for taking the time to listen just a little bit.

Do you see that little bird up there on our feeder? It's a cardinal. They visit me every day. Today I'll be in my studio getting out some clay and watching for these little fellows to come by and pay a visit. They make me happy. They help me to keep life in perspective.

Easy Peasy

2011-07-27T17:26:00.002-04:00

Erin Siegel recently shared a tutorial on bracelets made with a bead closure, waxed linen, and a link. You can find it here. I loved the idea. So simple and fun and really quite elegant in its simplicity.

And easy, except for the part where I tied knots in two strands of leather and had to force the leather through the beautiful glass beads by Julianna, and I didn't have a bead that was right for the closure. But really all together too easy once I worked things out.

After several minutes (maybe 30 or so) of frustration trying to fit the round peg in the square hole, a light bulb went on. Probably all of you have had this particular light bulb on for several years. So you can go ahead and snicker if you like. But do it quietly OK :-) Yep, that's it. A pair of sissors and a couple of deft clips and that leather slid right through the bead holes. My knotting technique still needs some serious improvement.

I'm feeling pretty pleased with the closure on this. It's one of my bronze bead caps that I dapped a little too vigorously and bad things happened to the hole in it and the edges went a little wonky. I love when I can save something that was destined for the rubbish bin. I really like how the leather loop kind snugs up under the bead cap. I've had this bracelet on all day. I am never taking it off. Well maybe I'll take it off to shower. But otherwise, never ever.

Thanks, Erin for this great idea. I'm making another one for a special person. Mostly because when that special person comes to visit this fall, I know for sure that if I don't, she will be wearing this one on her way home.

My Bronze Garden

2011-07-25T18:34:00.002-04:00

A little while ago I talked about how the garden and all the green and growing things has rather captured my soul since we moved here to North Carolina. I've had little bits and bobs of drawings and doodles of those garden things that take my fancy. Things like new leaves on plants, tomato blossoms, and coreopsis seed heads. Just this last week some of those ideas have taken root and come out in the studio work. I'm rather pleased :-). I like it a lot when things come together in my little world.

Head pins and bead caps in bronze. Small things. Until very recently I wouldn't have thought to venture down this path. But it seemed right and a perfect way to express the tiny little wonders growing out there.

Some things won't make the cut. Others will stay. The head pins all have fired in bronze wire. I'm used to working with brass. Brass is kind of a stiff and sometimes challenging metal to work with in wire wrapping. Bronze wire is all together different. Much softer and a much softer colour. I made really long wires because I really hate when you are working with a head pin and you have to work so hard to get that last bit of wrapping done. Oh and I love the size of the ball ends. I can't draw a bead with a torch that size and they stay bronze colour rather than coppery red.

Totally unrelated and very important is the happy dance we are doing about our old boy Bob. We just got news this evening that his congestive heart failure has been resolved. No evidence at all on his Xrays that he's got heart problems. This is the vey best news!

That look on his face is ecstacy. Peter is giving him a bit of a neck and shoulder massage. He's still got terrible arthritis down his spine but manages pretty well. Now please someone, nearly anyone, come give me a massage.

Alice is a naughty girl

2011-07-22T18:29:00.001-04:00

These bronze pieces have nothing to do with naughty Alice. She begged to have a cameo on my blog and we'll get to that later.

I've been working with bronze nearly everyday this week and decided that I might just make myself something. It started with the pendant which has the first mantra I learned on it. Om Mani Padme Hum in Tibetan script. I've taken some liberties with the script and placed the parts vertically.

Sometimes this mantra gets translated as Behold the Jewel in the Lotus. But when I learned it, it wasn't translated at all. It's just a beautiful set of sounds that I find very centering. I can hear it in my head and it is amazing when chanted as a group.

It will be a necklace someday. But I keep adding parts to it. I've found this really soft but strong goat skin leather that I think I'll use in it. I've got more beads for it in the kiln right now. Who knows what will get added next. This necklace seems something like meditation for me. It's a process, it's where ever I am at the moment. It's become quite centering all by itself.

Even though the heat has kept me mostly inside this week, I've still been making a few forays into the garden. The one and only tomato plant is making me smile. I can almost taste the fruit that is still weeks away from ripening. There are 16 tomatoes on this plant in various stages.

I know this because Peter has been out there counting them. Amazing. I've never experienced him being this interested in what's happening out there in the garden. But when you've only got one tomato plant it's pretty easy to indulge yourself in monitoring it with the vigilence of a parent and a new born baby.

Just a few short weeks ago this tomato plant was a tiny little thing. It's grown about a foot a week. Makes me wonder what's in the soil. Or makes me think of this story I heard in primary school, only it's kind of a hazy memory. Something about atomic seeds and plants that grow into the sky. Maybe I'm making that up. I just asked Peter and he has no clue what I'm talking about. He thinks I'm maybe embellishing on Jack in the Bean Stalk. Anyway, maybe I have atomic soil?

This is Alice. Does she look naughty? Some of you may recall the Mystery of the Missing Glove in which she played a star role. Well she is once again on my bad list. This morning she took a romp through my tiny little garden and wiped out half of the carrots and all of the rutabaga. Naughty, naughty girl, and I was even going to share carrots with her. She loves carrots. How could she do this. BAD DOG!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

I'm going to get up early tomorrow and plant more carrots.

Hoooo knew it was Wednesday?

2011-07-20T18:52:00.001-04:00

Very lame title, I know. In fact I was going to tell you all about my germination of ideas from the many hours I've spent out there padding around in my bare feet in my garden at the break of dawn. I'm kind of excited about some of the new things and was going to give you a little tour of the studio goings on. But the battery in my camera died. This happens frequently. And every time it happens I say a bunch of curse words and vow to get a back up battery. Then the day turns to night, I sleep, I forget about it until the next time. (repeat cursing and vowing ritual).

Anyhoooo, (can't help myself) this little owl is brand new and I would love to say he was inspired by the barred owls I hear calling from the woods near my home. But actually, I have this pair of flip flops that have this gorgeous little owl printed in the heel. He's oval and perky and just right. I'd show you a photo but those flip flops have been to heck and back and they are disgusting and dirty and shameful. My little bronze owl doesn't look a thing like that owl in the heel of my flip flops. Somehow, my owls always turn out round and plump. Kind of like me.

The week has kind of gotten away from me. Last I knew it was Monday. I've spent heaps of time in the studio this past week. It's been stinking hot the last couple of days. There is nothing but maintenance work going on out there in my garden. All of the heavy work is going to wait till autumn. So the studio is a really great place to hang out in the AC. Plus, I've got all of those garden inspired ideas bubbling away.

I've been put on notice by my Dallas daughter that complaints about the heat are quite unnecessary. When I was chatting with her last night, she told me they were in their 17th day of temps over 100F. Whew, that's hot. That's a lot of hot. I think about Texas often and how this year is the worst ever recorded for heat and drought. I've been through 6 summers of Texas heat and several of them drought years. I really can not imagine how much the drought conditions have worsened since we left in June. My Texas friends, I do think of you and wish that I could send a little rain (or a lot). You are just going to have to wait a while for cooler weather. You are Texas and it is supposed to be hot in summer. OK, maybe not quite this hot.

Enough rambling. I hope that where ever you are, you are enjoying your summer!

Down the Rabbit Hole

2011-07-13T16:56:00.001-04:00

A little pile of bronze potential, the first studio work I've done in I don't know how long. Seriously, I feel a bit like Alice (the wonderland one, not my dog). I've slipped into the rabbit hole and everything is different. Life here could not be more different than night and day. For one thing, it is summer and it is green and it rains. Six years in West Texas and I got used to thinking that summer was brown and dry.

view from my perch on the back stoop

I am finding a rythm to the day now. I've been getting up just before dawn. (This is a total surprise to me. I love to sleep late.) But there is just something so nice about witnessing the world come to life with the new day. I sit out on my back stoop with a cup of coffee and wait for the cicadas to sing and the owls to call good night to each other. Yes, we have owls here. I love hearing the soft voice of the owls.

There are so many distractions. When the day gets light I pad around my garden in my bare feet, feeling the dew on the grass squish between my toes. A little bit of heaven. I inspect all of my garden beds. Yesterday I found this one little tomato. This morning I found a beet just beginning to push its red stem out of the soil. Who knows what wonders tomorrow will bring. Carrots?

Growing vegies makes me feel connected. Not just to the food we eat or even to the earth. But to my past. Some of my earliest memories are of my family's vegie gardens. We grew most of our own food. Everyone did. I didn't know until I moved away that tomatos came in tins from the supermarket. Truth.

Sweet memories of sitting on the back porch shelling peas with my grandmother. Oma was one the very best things in my childhood. I think next spring I will grow peas.

It's starting to spill over into my studio work. There are all sorts of doodles of sprouts and buds on scraps of paper. Those doodles are waiting to come to life. I'm patient. Those designs will happen when they are ready.

This beautiful necklace by Patty Lakensmith pretty much sums up my experience of the garden. You can read her inspiration for this necklace here on Love My Art Jewelry. While we're on the garden theme, you should check out the nature inspired Art Spark theme for this month. Izzy will tell you all about it here on LMAJ.

The thunder is cracking and it's starting to rain. I think I'll go out on the front porch and watch the storm roll in. It's another thing on my long list of distractions.

Swimming in a sea of boxes

2011-06-29T16:41:00.002-04:00

The studio is up and running but not necessarily tidy. There is a plan in place but I keep getting distracted by the things I find in boxes. Like that fish. I haven't seen that fish in a long time. I made her eons ago in a time before the creation of dirt. And then packed it up in one of the seemingly endless moves we've made.

I've got oodles of space in this new studio. A full 16 feet of table top. Woo Hoo! And light, glorious light.

I wonder how long it will take to cover those tables in projects (err untidness)? Actually, there is a fair bit of untidyness happening already. It feels like home that way. I think maybe I will just adhere to the motto that "a messy desk is the sign of an uncluttered mind." I love rationalisation.

This is my secret weapon for coralling the mess. I've got one big tall utility shelf. I've got tubs and containers that each contain the things I need to do a particular type of thing. Like etchant and stamps and stuff for etching all neatly organised in one container that can be pulled out, used, packed up and put away when done. I started this plan in my old studio. It didn't work there either. But ever the optimist, I just know that I can make it work here.

Then there is this. This is the office end of the studio. Rather sad looking, isn't it? It's the boring stuff to unpack and organise. It has the left over furniture, the table that I wish was something else. The packing boxes, paper, bubble mailers, printer.

And this. A totally unrelated to studio work enterprise. They are little news print seed starter pots filled with my very own special blend of seed starter soil. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts. Yes, brussel sprouts. I know it's a very unpopular vegetable. I know that Peter doesn't like brussel sprouts. But he will once he's tasted it home grown in autumn, picked after the first light frost, cooked and smothered in butter.

So how do you do it? How do you create order out of chaos? Or do you just close the door and hope the fairies will come in and sprinkle a bit of magic organising dust during the night?

Progress in the Studio

2011-06-22T06:40:00.001-04:00

Just so you know. I have not become a peculiar old lady, wearing a stylish but out dated straw sunbonnet and floral patterned garden gloves while muttering to her flowers and sipping mint julips. I do like the idea of becoming a peculiar old lady and I do have garden gloves (practical not stylish).

The new studio is in progress. It's a big project. I'm pretty danged excited about it. But there's a hurdle to overcome. Two actually, but one is done.

That big boy up there is Bob. He's patroling for squirrels. He may be old, somewhat deaf, with not quite perfect vision, but he can still spot a squirrel. We will never, ever, be overun by a marauding band of squirrels. He's at the back door of the new house which also happens to be my studio door. See what he's standing on?

Carpet. The bane of my studio existence. I am messy. What I do is messy. I need to mop things up, even though I do not like to mop. We were really hoping that under this brand new carpet was old lino. Just like we were hoping that the water heater would heat water and that the fridge would not sigh its last breathe on the day we moved here.

But nope. Under that carpet was old adhesive, really, really old adhesive from the lino floor we were hoping might be buried under the new carpet.

Looks kinda like a wood floor, eh? We took out all the carpet strips and 2, 438 staples (seriously, I counted them) and put down our faux wood floor. Actually, this is a 'deluxe vinyl plank' floor and almost all of the 260 square feet of it are done. It was the least expensive flooring we could put in ourselves and I think the 'deluxe' descriptor was put there just so we wouldn't feel bad about being thrifty. We'll finish it off this morning and then head off to the home improvement store for some finishing bits. Even if we didn't need to go, we'd need to check in. It's been a few days since we've made a major purchase and I'm sure the staff are worrying about us.

BTW, Alice and Bob are not posing on the new floor to provide interest and scale. Peter is behind me somewhere with treats. Treats are such a great motivator. I'm pretty motivated by treats. In fact, this whole flooring adventure has been motivated by treats, like, iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Yum.

Death of the Killer Tree

2011-06-20T06:59:00.003-04:00

This lovely, serene Snowberry Coreopsis now lives in the home of the Killer Tree. The Snowberry does not mourne its loss and neither do I. It was an awful spiteful tree and deserved its fate.

The Killer Tree was lurking here disguised as a trellis for about a million different types of vines that call this fence line home. We did not know it was there until we started taking out the vines that were threatening to take over the garden, march across the lawn, and consume our house. The Killer Tree bit me badly each time I tried to pull vines away from the fence. Who knew that gardening could be so dangerous? I am scarred for life.

See? Huge, deadly thorns on this tree. Not only did they cover every branch, and there were a lot of branches, they went right down to the base of the tree. Awful, horrible, malicious tree. Quite pretty bark and leaves, but still, who needs a tree that is so evil in their garden.

Just as a small diversion from this tale of the battle between good and evil, I think the Killer Tree is a hawthorn. It derives its name from the old English 'haw' for hedge and translates literally to throny hedge. Brilliant. The internet is chockers full of interesting information. Like this little nugget:

" After the British General Enclosures Act of 1845 hawthorn was used extensively as hedgerow because of its thorny nature and quick growth, angering peasants who no longer could enter the lands they previously roamed at will. " GardenGuides.com

Totally useless information for this particular garden battle and since we have very few angry roaming peasants in the neighborhood, the Killer Tree had to go.

It was a pretty fierce and dangerous battle involving saws, axes, bare hands, sweat, blood, tears and many harsh words. But in the end good triumphed over evil.

Voila!

Re-stacked stone wall, top soil and compost, a few perenials. Good triumphs over evil, and the universe is saved from certain destruction.

Early Sunrise Coreopsis

Hunting for buried treasure

2011-06-13T08:19:00.001-04:00

We are here! Three days of travel, one night of air mattress bed, many boxes unpacked, and on the sixth day there was internet. We are feeling very at home here in North Carolina. We have fantastic neighbors, one who even came over with his chain saw to help us liberate the gardens. This house we are in was empty for three years and nothing was touched in the gardens.

That daylily up there was a surprise yesterday morning. A beautiful house warming gift.

But finding these little garden gifts is truly like hunting for buried treasure. The good news about living here is that it is lush and green and the soil is beautiful. The bad news is that the vines and weeds and all of the not so lovely things thrive in this environment just as well as the garden treasures. That lovely daylily bloom was just peeking out of that mass of vines and grasses when I first spied it.

The side garden at the front of the house looked like this when we first got here. Completely overgrown and very hard to see what was in it. We knew from neighbors that the previous owner loved her garden. So we had high hopes that there would be a lovely garden lurking somewhere beneath it all.

A few hours later and lots of sweat and only just the tiniest bit of cursing, I found these beautiful hostas, a viburnum, iris, a hydrangea. I hope that I can help this garden to be happy again.

Setting up the studio is in progress. But for now there is nothing like getting my hands in the soil to make me feel connected to my new home. And I feel that given enough sun, water, and tender loving care that the work of the studio will flow from the work in the garden.

Life is good.

Universal Truth and the Zen of Moving

2011-06-06T08:17:00.001-04:00

I feel like this.

The Truth

* Using harsh language with the packing tape dispenser is not effective.

* Using harsh language with your partner is even less effective.

* Dogs go on hunger strikes to protest change. But only for breakfast.

* The cleaning you did a month ago does not last for a month.

* It’s nice to be on a first name basis with the clerk that you buy boxes from at UHaul. But it won’t get you a discount.

* Packing boxes after 5 pm goes better with a gin and tonic. But only one.

* The important papers that you did not sort 6 years ago are still not sorted and maybe not so important.

* Sleeping on an air mattress is not more comfortable if you pretend you are camping with air conditioning.

* You really only need one bowl, one glass, and a spoon for each member of your household. You can throw the rest away.

* Pizza is a complete food and you can eat it everyday for at least a week. And pairs nicely with gin and tonic.

* It is lovely to see someone else load your things onto a truck.

* It is not so lovely to see that your movers need larger jeans and a belt.

The Zen

There is no zen in moving. This is probably a universal truth.

The End.

Remember Us

2011-05-30T08:30:00.005-04:00

The young dead soldiers do not speak.

Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:

who has not heard them?

They have a silence that speaks for them at night and when the clock counts.

They say: We were young. We have died.

Remember us.

They say: We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.

They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.

They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours, they will mean what you make them.

They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for

peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,

it is you who must say this.

We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.

We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.

Archibald MacLeish

My son is only back from Afghanistan for less that a month. We feel blessed. Many he served with did not return. I feel torn because I am a lucky Mum. For just a moment, please, set aside a space in your heart to honour our sons and daughters who have fallen for us, in this war and the so many wars that have come before.

Remember them.

Sifting through time

2011-05-24T18:30:00.001-04:00

It's getting very close to the time when this home will no longer be our home. As I pack I find myself sifting through twenty five years of our lives together. Like this bowl. I remember so well the day we brought it home to our very first home together. It's an old Fiesta serving bowl with a tiny chip in the rim. The little chip in the rim is what made it affordable. We were students at the time and scarcely had enough to feed two young children, let alone splurge on something like vintage Fiesta. I love that bowl. It has been so many places with us.

Days seem to slide into each other as the house fills with boxes. Grandma's china took an entire afternoon. Not so much because there is a lot of it. Each piece needed to be packed with care. I feel extravagent using so much paper to wrap it. But I don't want to lose one precious piece. I try to visualize it in our new home. The picture isn't very clear. There is so much to do.

The studio sits untouched. I just can not bring myself to go in to pack it all away. But Friday week, it will all be loaded onto a truck.

There are moments of humour. I find Peter crawling into a very tall box to arrange the padding in the bottom just so. The tall box is a temporary home to 2 pieces of sculpture that came back with us from Australia. The living room feels empty now. For many years, those pieces of sculpture, a Cambodian spirit house and a Thai dragon have been there to greet me each moning.

I don't remember feeling so nostalgic with any other move we've made. And there have been so so many of them.

The dogs have retreated to a corner. They are not happy, things are not where they should be. They are stuck in a rut and do not like change. Part of me is not ready for this change either. But I know that once we get going, once we are on the road, I'll be excited. There are so many things to look forward to especially being much closer to our grand daughter. But right now I am so very very tired.

So good bye for now my friends. I'll catch up with you when we reach North Carolina in a couple of weeks.

Good Bye Old Friends

2011-05-16T17:46:00.001-04:00

We like books. We have a lot of books, 64 feet of book shelves full of books and that doesn't even count any of those that are stacked on bedside, coffee, and end tables. We don't just like books, we love books. I have anxiety attacks when I get close to the end of a book if I don't have a new one to take its place. Late night emergency runs have been made to the grocery store to find another book if it looks like I might finish one just before I go to bed.

We spent a good part of the day culling books. We just can not justify moving that many books to North Carolina. I am certain there are more books in High Point. The library is only a few blocks from our new home. It has over 40,000 books in it. There will be reading material. But is so so hard to part with my books.

Many books are saved. Old friends like the Pigs in Heaven, The Chimney Sweeps Son, the Dune Series, and the Doomsday Book make the cut. Margaret Attwood, Maya Angelou, daily readings with Rumi, Mary Oliver, and Tich Nhat Hahn, all stay. An eclectic mix of books. I need these friends to go with me because I need the continuity of these books always being there for me. I need their familiar faces. They are like old friends. I have visited their pages over and over again and will visit them again.

Others books are bagged and ready to go. They are off to Goodwill. Actually many of them are returning to Goodwill. I hope they make new friends.

My children all have Kindles or things like that. I even read several chapters of a book on my daughter's Kindle not long ago. I liked it and it would certainly save on those emergency book runs. But I still love the feel of turning a paper page. I love the look of the spines of books all lined up on the shelf. I love poking through a book shelf to find a book, maybe something I've never read, maybe an old friend that I would like to visit again.

I wonder, am I the only one who has this strange and deep attachement to books?

Shhh, I'm going to say the S word

2011-05-11T08:14:00.002-04:00

Nope, not the other S word. I've said plenty of those and some colourful variations over the last few weeks.

So it is time. We're moving 1500 miles in a few weeks and some of the bead goodies have just got to go. I spent yesterday taking stock, putting stuff up on Etsy, and I am ready to bid it all good bye until June.

So here's your chance. A SALE! I never do sales but I am now. Everything listed in my Etsy shop is 25% off. You just need to use the "Take25" promotion code at checkout and your order will be discounted by 25%. I've put a flat rate shipping of $2.50 for all orders to the USA and Canada and $3 everywhere else on this lovely planet of ours.

My goodness, I feel so much like a game show host right now. But the bottom line is this little Etsy shop is closing next week until sometime in June. There won't be any relisting. This is it. I gotta start packing the studio up.

BTW, that little daisy pendant on the beige background up there is my favourite. I've hung onto it for months :-)

BTW- bead cheater episode

2011-05-04T09:21:00.001-04:00

I'm having a minor (umm, major) obsession with making bronze beads these days. And I really never get tired of dragonflies.

So what about that cheating thing? Well, I made these beads thinking about the bracelet that I made with a bronze flower bead. Only when I got them done I thought oh my, wouldn't they look nice as pendants? That tube shaped one on the upper left especially. I just wanted it to be a very simple pendant with a heavy bail. I can make ball end head pins but I really didn't want to see a little knobby thing at the bottom. I could have made a flat end head pin sort of rivet style out of heavy gauge wire. But all of that tedious working it out with my hammer was not meeting the needs of my miss imapatient, gotta do it now self.

So here's my cheater solution to a heavy gauge flat end head pin.

With an 18 gauge piece of wire, I made a very gentle little bend in about a quarter of the way from the end. The wire is probably about 8 inches long. I started a little spiral of wire with the shorter end of the wire.

On the flip side, longer wire section, I went back in with a round nose pliers and centered up the piece of wire that will go up through the bead. In the second photo you can see the top side of the head pin.

I put the whole thing into my cheapo vise from Harbor Freight and and hammered the spiral flat.

The bottom of the bead.

Notice how I actually cheated twice? You didn't really get to see much of my bead table at all. It's very messy. Lots of little snippets of wire lying about.

I'd love to see what's on your bead table. Even if it is piled high and even if you cheat too and just show me the pretties :-)

You can do it too!

2011-05-02T11:52:00.001-04:00

This pile of pendants just went off today to Camp Summersault in Los Angeles. I first heard about this over at Gaea's blog. Camp Summersault is sponsored by the American Cancer Society and is free to kids with cancer and their siblings. I have a little soft spot in my heart for projects like this. I spent a lot of years working in a cancer hospital and have seen how opportunities like this can make a world of difference in the life of child. I especially like that it gets the siblings involved as they often get lost in the whole scary cancer world of a the brother or sister with cancer.

Karen Braverman teaches a beading class each year and she'd love to have you donate beads for the class.I just think this is such a wonderful idea that I had to pass this opportunity along to you. You can read more about it below. I think you can click that photo and it should enlarge to a more readable size.

You can do this too! You don't need to be a bead maker. You just need to dig into that bead stash of yours and send them on their merry way. You can email Karen at Designerkaren2@aol.com for more information.

BTW

2011-04-27T14:38:00.001-04:00

Yeah! I cleared a little spot off on my very messy bead table!!!! And I made some bronze things.

In fact I made a couple of kiln loads of bronze things. I even have some new ideas. To tell the honest truth, I was starting to feel like I might never have a creative impulse again.

What's on your bead table? I'll be around shortly to have a look. But first I've got to get some of these goodies into the kiln.

Homeward Bound

2011-04-25T14:28:00.001-04:00

This boy is on his way home. Late Friday night we got a text message from our son that he was a couple hours from getting on the plane. There are no words to really describe how happy we all are. Except for 2 weeks mid tour, he's been gone for nearly a year now. It's been a very rough deployment in the moutains in the eastern part of Afghanistan on the border of Pakistan. We don't any us talk about it much. We've just been looking to that day when we hear that he'll be home safe and sound.

The other emotion I feel deeply is relief. His last mission was brutal. They lost 6 soldiers and had 15 medevaced out with injuries. He's a medic and I know how this effects him deep in the core of his being. But I also know how strong he is and that time heals when you have the strength to face your memories.

Sometimes, I feel shame at my happiness. My son is coming home. Other sons and daughters are not. I know this is a normal feeling. I know other mother's who have felt it. The feeling will pass.

I feel enormous pride in this son of mine. He's chosen a path that I would not have chosen for him. But it is his path and he has walked it with pride doing a job that not many would do. He's done it well. He's good medic and a good soldier.

I feel blessed.

Mostly, I feel this almost overwhelming love.

Home Sweet Home

2011-04-22T08:26:00.001-04:00

This is it. The new house. We got word this week that our offer was accepted. I fell in love with this house the moment I walked up the front walk. On the left there is a dog wood blooming and in front of the house is a red bud tree. My absolute favourite trees because they are among the first signs that spring is here. It was like they were welcoming us home.

This is the newest house we'll have ever lived in. She was built in 1939 and is on the historic regester in a street of houses all in a historic district. She started life as a parsonage and is pretty good sized with 4 bedrooms. I rather like that the cultural significance of the district is that it was built as a middle class housing alternative. Most of the homes in this street were built in the 1920's and 1930's and they are all different from each other. Some rather grand and others more modest, like ours.

Let me show you around. The front door opens into a small foyer with an original light fixture overhead. You can see the fourth bedroom at the back. The rest are upstairs. I'm not sure how well the dogs will like the stairs but I love having the bedrooms upstairs. The carpet on the stairs is going. It is ugly, worn out, and just too hard to clean. Those shelves you see in the fourth bedroom are going too. Have pry bar, will wreck.

At last, another working fireplace in the living room. I've missed the fireplace in our Melbourne house. We spent so many cold winter nights gathered around the open fire. It's nice to think that we'll be able to that again.

Yes, those are powder blue bench tops in the kitchen. They have got to go. But for now we have made a promise to each other that there will be no renovation for a year. Except for those shelves in the bedroom. They have to go right now because they are in the way of anything we might put in that room.

We are serial renovators and we are tired. We'll live with the house for a while. Get to know her a little better and let her tell us what she needs. I know that sounds weird but I do think that houses can speak to you if you open up to listening.

This is probably my favourite part of the house. The studio! I walked into this room and said, 'this is mine.' It's a great huge back porch that's been enclosed and had heating and cooling added to it. There are windows on three sides. So much light. The carpet will go. We have no idea what's under there but carpet just isn't going to work for me.

I'm not sure how I will deal with the distraction of the view from the studio. This is the back garden. It's so green out there. If you've ever been to West Texas, you'll know just how distracting all that green might be. It's calling to me. Come plant flowers here. Why not some tomatoes here?

Have a great weekend! I'll be dreaming of the new studio while I start to pack up the old one.

BTW

2011-04-20T16:44:00.001-04:00

The last time I posted a Bead Table Wednesday, oh so long ago, I showed you that bronze bead in the center of this bangle. Maybe it wasn't a BTW but it may well have been the last time you saw anything from my studio. In fact today was the first time I've actually seen my studio in weeks. Each day this week I've gotten up full of energy to get in there and do something. Each day another more immediate need related to the whole moving, renting the house, other stuff has pushed me off course. So that bangle up there is still waiting for me to finish the patina on the wire. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow.

Sadly, this is the actual state of my bead table. It's a tiny portion of it. The rest is worse. The bangle is sitting there in a little tray of to do later things. Tomorrow. Absolutely nothing can interfere tomorrow. Right?

Thanks so much for all of your well wishes about the upcoming move. And especially, a big thanks about the old Bob dog. Yesterday, he actually hopped into the car in a very spritely way so that he could go visit his good friend Dianne at the vet's office. He loves the vet and all of those many new meds he's on seem to be making a difference.

2 countries, 5 cities, 9 houses

2011-04-18T13:15:00.001-04:00

That's the number of moves Peter and I have made over the last 24 years. It's a lot. It seems like such a short time. And, we are about to do it again. While I was away last month, Peter accepted a position at High Point University. So it's off to North Carolina in June.

So if you were wondering just where I had disapeared to, let me give you a little recap of the last couple of weeks.

Painted 2 bedrooms
Painted front door
Caulked crown molding in 3 rooms
Regrouted the tile in one bathroom
Cleared the garage
Spruced up the back yard
Had the exterior trim repaired and painted
Packed books
Put house under management with a real estate company
Cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned again

Did zero studio work and that makes me a little cranky. But in fact I am a little too exhausted to be very cranky.

Oh, and we made a house hunting trip to North Carolina. Offer is in on one and now I am holding my breath waiting to see what happens.

And I've spent a little time feeling sad. My old boy Bob has just been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and pretty advanced arthritis in his spine. He's been spending a lot of time on the deck watching spring unfold in the back garden. But all in all, he's doing pretty well for an 11 year old. He still loves snuggles and ear scratches and he still chases his ball. He just does it all a little more slowly these days.

Looking Up

2011-03-31T09:07:00.001-04:00

Thank you all for your support and words of comfort. The story is not mine to tell but all is well. I've just come back from nearly 3 weeks with my daughter in law and grand daughter. We spent two days packing, two days travelling, and another two days unpacking in the big move to Ft Campbell.

It was my absolute pleasure and delight to see the world through the eyes of a 3 year old. Lying on your back looking up through an oak tree with the promise of spring in its green leaf buds takes on a whole new meaning when you do that with a toddler. Life is good. Life holds magic.

Being 3 years old is serious business when you get out the side walk chalk. There is no thought of colouring outside the lines. You just make your mark. You do it with no preconceived notion of how it is supposed to be.

Kicking a ball is an experience of wild abandon. Your whole body is involved, your arms pin wheel, you jump, you fly!

Going down the twisty slide is sometimes best in the arms of your mother. Life is absolutely packed with newness and beauty. I hope I can hold onto this. Because being three is magic.

We've got the 'girls' settled into their new home. All that's missing now is Daddy. He should be home from Afghanistan in a month. Me? I feel so priviliged to be part of this lovely family. I miss them so much and it has only been a little more than a day since I left.

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things here at home. Many ideas, many changes of our own on the horizon.

Thank you all for being there! I'll be catching up with you over the next couple of days.

Sometimes the best thing for your heart is a break

2011-03-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

Sometimes our hearts can only accomodate so much and we need to focus on the things that are most important for our emotional and spiritual health. Our family is going through something of a crisis right now. Things that will work out in time, things will be good when we sail through these rough seas. For me that means taking time away from this blog for a couple of weeks while I hold onto the people I love the most in this world.

We've circled ourselves in love, this small family of mine. We will be all right. We just don't know how things will unfold. So for now, the most important thing for me is to focus all of my heart on my family.

Thank you all for being with me on this blog. I do so hope you will join me again when I am back.

Kindness and hugs

BTW - A nearly clean slate!

2011-03-02T09:56:00.001-05:00

Heather Powers of Humble Beads, created this wonderful idea of showing what's on your bead table on Wednesdays. These are bronze pieces I just pulled out of the kiln late last night. They've been tumbled and are patiently waiting for me to come in and put patina and other goodness on them to make them all shiny and pretty.

Often late to the party, this is my first time posting my bead table. But I have a very good excuse. Until Sunday night I couldn't actually see my bead table because it was shockingly buried in piles of things that the chaos creator in me refused to acknowledge as an unsightly disgraceful mess.

I spent much of Saturday and all day Sunday sorting, organizing, cleaning and generally grumbling to myself that I should do this more often. Like clean up after myself every day. Look at that would you. Vast expanses of useable space! A virtual paradise of tidiness. It's a clean slate and I vow to keep it this way. I've even picked up after myself 2 days in a row. Mum would be so proud.

This is the piece that came out of the kiln that I am most pleased about. (Never mind the carbon buried under my thumb nail) It's a bead that did not collapse. Yeah! Now if I could just get the shot from the tumbler out of it so it's more of bead than a rattle, life would be nearly complete.

Happy Wednesday!

What's on your bead table?

Bead Soup Blog Party - The Reveal!

2011-02-26T07:43:00.013-05:00

Welcome to the 3rd Bead Soup Blog Party!

What is a Bead Soup Blog Party?

Each beader was paired up with another jewelry designer and tasked with sending the following:
~ A focal
~ A special clasp (not just a lobster claw)
~ Some coordinating spacers or beads

Using the focal and the clasp was mandatory, but we could use anything from our own stash to round out the rest, and choose to use the coordinating beads or not.

This is my first time doing the Bead Soup Blog Party and I am mighty pleased to be here. But I just gotta say, as primarily a jewelry component designer and mostly put a focal on a chain kinda girl, this was challenging. In a good way, mind you.

My partner is Melissa Meman and here's the beautiful bead soup she sent me. There are faceted amazonite and white howlite, amethyst nuggets, and czech glass beads. And then there are the goodies she made herself.... A fabulous copper toggle clasp, 2 enameled beads, and not one, but two focals. Melissa couldn't decide which focal to send me and I couldn't decide which one to use. Both are beautiful. So I had to come up with a solution.

In fact if you think about it long enough, those enameled beads are bit like focals as well. So now I have not one, not two, but four focals to work with. So this is what I did. I added my own handmade copper bead caps to the enameled beads and then suspended the pendants Melissa made from those beads.

Here's my solution. I had a lentel that I'd fabricated out of etched copper sheet some time ago. It was sitting there waiting for me to make others so I could let this one go. So I made a copper hook at the bottom of it so I could slide either pendant onto the necklace.

I chose to work with the amethyst nuggets and added copper links and czech glass coins to make a chain for the necklace. This is a long long neclace. It's about 22 inches and then add the focals at about 4 inches, we are talking very long!

Here's a close up of the clasp that Melissa made. It is a thing of beauty and I knew from the start that I didn't want to hide this at the back. So now we are talking five focals and for a hang it from a chain kinda girl this was challenging!

I'm calling this necklace "Have it my way" because I can wear it like this.

And if I'm in more of a teal mood, I can wear it this way.

Thanks Melissa for sending me such a fantastic bead soup!

There's a lot of people attending this party. I do hope you get a chance to hop around to see what these many talented designers are up to.

Many thanks to our party host, Lori, and the countless hours she's put into organizing this wonderful event.

Come see what the rest of us made!

1. Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

2. Kitty Durmaj, Perles and Life

3. Michelle Heim, Life In the Bead Lane

4. Lisa Petrillo, Lucid Moon Studio

5. Anitra Gordy, Leelu Creations

6. Paige Maxim, Paige Maxim Designs

7. Marianna Boylan, Pretty Shiny Things

8. Cheryl Roe, BeadRoe

9. Heidi Post, Ex Post Facto

10. Cindy Wimmer, Sweet Bead Studio

11. Terri Gauthier, Blooming Ideas

12. Rachel Walsh, Balanced Crafts

13. Marian Hertzog, M's Place

14. Mary McGraw, MK's Musings

15. Sarabeth Burke, Chronicles of Sarita

16. Deci Worland, Gem Trails

17. Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found

18. Laura Zeiner, Stick Lizard Designs

19. Kristin Latimer, MJM Jewelry Designs

20. Cathryn Brooks-Williams, Chile Cats

21. Holly Westfall, Silver Rose Designs

22. Janna Harttgen, Palima-Lim

23. Libby Leuchtman, Libby Leu

24. Rebecca Anderson, Songbeads

25. Deb Hunter, Living On Air

26. Diana Ptaszynski, Suburban Girl Studio

27. Jennifer VanBenschoten, VanBeads

28. Margot Potter, The Impatient Crafter

29. Cyndi Lavin, Beading Arts

30. Courtney Breul, Beads by Breul

31. Stefanie Teufel, Stefanie's Sammelsurium

32. Patricia Gasparino, My Life Under the Bus

33. Tari Khars, Pearl and Pebble

34. Kristi Bowman-Gruel, Kristi Bowman Design

35. Jayne Capps, Mama's Got to Doodle

36. Becky Fairclough, Chameleons Designs

37. Evie and Beth McCord, EB Bead & Metal Works

38. Lynne Bowland, Islandgirl's Insights

39. Barbara Lewis, Painting With Fire

40. Lorelei Eurto, Inside the Studio

41. Stacy Hartis, Sissy & Jack's

42. Jennifer Cameron, Glass Addictions

43. Marcie Abney, La Bella Joya

44. Johanna Rhodes, Fire Phoenix Creations

45. Nan Emmett, Spirit Rattles

46. Melissa Mesara, One Eared Pig

47. Amanda Davie, Articulations

48. Cherin Poovey, Lanyard Lady

49. Virginia Joste, ViviBijoux

50. Andrew Thornton, The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
51. Lori Dorrington, Lori's Glassworks

52. Melanie Brooks, Earthenwood Studio Chronicles

53. Kate Gardenghi, Tropical Blonde

54. Serena Trent, PinkIce Jewel's Blog

55. Malin de Koning, Beading by Malin de Koning

56. Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings

57. Francy Inman, 8 Second Studio

58. Amy Freeland, Copper Diem

59. Lisa Liddy, Joolz By Lisa

60. Sandi Lee James, Do Be Do Bead Do

61. Mary Harding, Mary Harding Bead Blog

62. Stacey Curry, Star Hitched Wagon

63. Leslie Gidden, Mad Maggie Designs

64. Elisabeth Auld, Beads For Busy Gals

65. Niky Sayers, Silver Nik Nats

66. Linda Djokic, Lutka and Co.

67. Tracy Bell, Copper, Glass, and Recycled Trash

68. Laurel Steven, Rue's Daftique

69. Ingrid McCue, Wrapped In Silver

70. Birgitta Lejonklou, Create With Spirit

71. Diana Hawkey, Diana Hawkey

72. Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas

73. Jeanette Ryan, Jeanette Blix

74. Jackie Ryan, Silver Lodge Gems

75. Jean Yates, Snap Out of it Jean, There's Beading to Be Done!

76. Debbie Goering, Prairie Emporium

77. Valerie Norton, Hot Art

78. Jana Trupovniece, Stories of the Secret Garden

79. Amy Severino, Amy Beads

80. Emma Thomas, Fred Beans Nook

81. Karen Zanco, Everyday Gypsy

82. Suzann Sladcik Wilson, Beadphoria

83. Janet McDonald, Singing Woods

84. Dana James, Dana's Jewelry Designs

85. Kristina Johansson, Wild Roses and Blackberries

86. CJ Bauschka, CJ Bauschka

87. Angela Barribea, Re: Angela Rae

88. Marcy Lamberson, Studio Marcy

89. Tanya Floyd, Glass Migrations

90. Lisa Kavanaugh, Beading Bliss

91. Sue Hodgkinson, Hello Gorgeous

92. Jenni Connolly, Jenni's Bead

93. Nally Parfyonova, Nally's Creations

94. Karyn White, Releases By Rufydoof

95. Emanda Johnson, Artemisia Studio

96. Sandy Richardson, Sandy's Coloring Box

97. Cindy Dolezal, Cindy Dolezal Designs

98. Stacie Stamper, Park Avenue

99. Mallory Hoffman, For the Love of Beads

100. Linda Landig, Linda's Bead Blog and Meanderings

101. Nicole Valentine-Rimmer, N. Valentine Studio

102. Jacinta Meyers, Jamberrysong's Creations

103. Charlene Gary, Gray Girl Studios

104. Rubiee Hayes, Glitter and Keys Galore

105. Marge Beebe, Rock Creek Creations

106. Elizabeth Freeman, Turquoise Sky

107. Shelby Foxwell, Sundown Bead Designs Rhetoric

108. Lynda Moseley, Diva Designs

109. Grace Danel, Grace Beading

110. Lois Moon, Que Onda Quitman

111. Agnes Shapiro, Beader Bubbe

112. Terry Carter, Tapping Flamingo

113. Judy Glende, Judith B. Designs

114. Mary Ellen Parker, Bee Tree By Me

115. Barbara Bechtel, Second Surf

116. Charlene Sevier, The Bead Dreamer

117. Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles

118. Cory Celaya, Art With Moxie

119. Ronda Adams, The Ravished Heart

120. Sandi Volpe, Sandi Volpe Designs

121. Anna Lear, The Laughing Raven

122. Susie Hibdon, Vintagesusie & Wings

123. Amanda Austin, Sea Shore Glass

124. Jennifer Velasquez, Jen Judd Rocks

125. Hazel Ward, All Those Things

126. Brenda Salzano, Salzanos

127. Dee Gordon, Runako Designs by Dee

128. Anna Denisova, Anita-M

129. Margaret Saari, Mags-Jewelry

130. Genea Crivello-Knable, Genea Beads

131. Penny Neville, Copper Penny

132. Angela Blasingame, Hopemore

133. Helena Fritz, Beadwork by H's Blog

134. Stephanie LaRose, Confessions of a Bead Hoarder

135. Stephanie Haussler, PixyBug Designs

136. Diane Cook, Rosa & Josies

137. Maryse Thillens, Glass Bead Art

138. Jennifer Pride, Jewelry by J.P.

139. Shannon Chomanczuk, For My Sweet Daughter

140. Lisa Godfrey, Bead Happy

141. Heather Pyle, Welcome to My Muse

142. Regina Santerre, Regina's Writings

143. Liz DeLuca, Creative Arty Facts

144. Sig Wynne-Evans, Beaded Bear's Nonsense

145. Loretta Carstensen, Loretta's Boutique

146. Raida Disbrow, Havana Beads

147. Amber Dawn, Inventive Soul

148. Shelly Graves, Stars Dance With Me

149. Jess Italia Lincoln, Vintaj Blog

150. JJ Jacobs, Coming Abstractions

151. Carrie Tahquechi, Carrie T

152. Staci Smith, Staci Louise Originals

153. Katarzyna Kwiatkowska, Quiet Area

154. Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

155. Magdalena Sikora, Poranna Gazeta

156. Nicole Keller, Nicki's Reef

157. Ann Rishell, My Critical Eye

158. Noemi Baena, Fire, Metal, and Color

159. Christa Murphy, Adventures of One Beady Woman

160. Barbara Blaszczyk, Labotorium Flory

161. Collette Collins, Firefly Myst

162. Carola Greiser, Polymer Clay Shed

163. Joanna Kopijczuk, Bizuteria z Filcu

164. LeAnn Weih, Summers Studio <<<-----------------You are here

165. Cassandra Watsham, Design by Cassandra

166. Anna Motz, Stunning

167. Shea Zukowski, Gr8findings

168. Susan Kennedy, Sue Beads

169. Lisa Boucher, Lisa's Clay Happenings

170. Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope

171. Alison Crenshaw, Beads by Earth Tones

172. Dorcas Midkiff, Wondrous Strange Designs

173. Melissa Rediger, Sea of Glass

174. Marina Dobrynina, Savon Feutre

175. Julie Nordine, Julie Nordine | Credit River Art Glass

176. Menka Gupta, Menka's Blog

177. Patsy Evins, Patsy Evins Studio

178. Cherrie Fick, En La Lumie're

179. Suzette Bentley, Ellie's Bijoux

180. Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

181. Lyn Foley, Lyn Foley Wearable Art

182. Tara Plote, The Newbie Beader's Blog

183. Natalie Schuetz, Natalie S Perlen

184. Kim Hutchinson, Running on Ink

185. Haley Frank, Wide Eyed Smilin

186. Grace Caputo, Suddenly Last Summer

187. Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp, Skye Jewels

188. Erin Siegel, Erin Siegel Jewelry

189. Janea McDonald, Organized Chaos

190. Kristi Evenson, Colie Bug & Co.

191. Linda Inhelder, Must Haves Jewelry

192. Hilary Frye, FryeStyle

193. Whitney Lassini, Whitney Lassini

194. Nancy Schindler, The Rabbit Muse

195. Pam Brisse, The Blue Between

196. Beth Bricker, Vintage Sweets

197. Ruthie Stickney, Rose Works Jewelry and Gifts

198. Rose Noble, Lady Noble Designs

199. Karen Williams, Baublicious

200. Claire Maunsell, The Next Bend

201. Christine Damm, Stories They Tell

202. Kerry Bogert, Kab's Creative Concepts

203. Wendy Blum, Sand & Sea Designs

204. Juli Cannon, Julsbeads

205. Jenny Robledo, La Dona Boutique

206. Krista French, French Elegant Jewelry

207. Pam Krinski, Ewa Beads

208. Melissa Meman, Melissa Meman, Art, Life, Love

209. Dana Jones, Dana's Jewelry

210. Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Bead Soup Sneak Peek and an Award!

2011-02-25T08:18:00.001-05:00

The time is near, very near, and more than 200 fabulous people will be posting their bead soup creations on Saturday, 26 February. I even have mine done! Photographed and ready to go!!! I am ahead of the schedule, at least for me. So plan for a leisurely Saturday of visiting these wonderful people who've turned out for this wonderful event organized by the oh so lovely Lori at Pretty Things. You can find a link to every thing in the world, OK, everhing in the world related to the Bead Soup Blog Party right here. And on Saturday, an unusual blogging day for me, you will find links to all 200 plus participants right here on my very own blog. Yes, and my very own Bead Soup reveal.

(Shhh, my finished piece is a lot more done looking that that teaser photo up there. It even has a surprise thrown to me by Bead Soup partner Melissa Meman. Challenged I was by a bounty of goodies to choose from! So do come back and see how I solved the riddle.)

I got doubly blessed with a blog award today, by my friends Gunilla and Mary Ann. Gosh, golly, am I loved or what? Sooo part of this award is to reveal 7 things about me that you may not know and presumably might find interesting, if not amusing. So here we go....

1. I don't like breakfast. I eat left overs from the night before. I like soup for breakfast.

2. I like breakfast for dinner, cereal, pancakes, scrambled eggs are all fair game at supper time.

3. I love my dogs just as much as I love my children. My children are happy with that because they love my dogs just as much as they love me.

4. I am short, really short, like not all that much over 5 feet tall but not quite that wide. I do have a tall attitude and feel like I am about 5 foot 10 inches tall.

5. I don't much care for brocolli even though I know it is good for me.

6. I really, seriously really, like the combination of purple and green.

7. All of my dogs and cats have been named for family members.

Now, this is probably much more information than you probably wanted to know about me. But it is all true! (Sadly). I am supposed to pass this on to 15 people. Seriously, there are so many bloggers that I admire. I know this is a total and complete cheat but I'm just leaving it all to you. Yes, broken chain, I know and I'll suffer those consequences silently.

But do go give some blog love to my friends, Mary Ann and Gunilla.

Elvis is alive, well, and 8 feet tall

2011-02-22T12:46:00.001-05:00

It's true! I have seen Elvis. I've just come back from my daughter and son in law's wedding reception. They were married by Elvis in Las Vegas on Valentines Day. I've seen the video and Elvis was wearing a very form fitting black outfit, covered in sequins, playing the guitar, singing, and walking my daughter down the aisle. My daughter may be tiny at about 5 feet tall but I swear to you Elvis lookied to be about 8 feet tall. Maybe it was the platform shoes?

Doesn't she look pretty? Derek isn't too bad either. Yes, I know, I may be slightly biased. That's them on the way to their wedding in a pretty swanky car the make of which I don't know. But I do know a swanky car when I see one.

They got married here at Graceland Wedding Chapel in a small ceremony with just them and their best friends as witnesses. I figure if Graceland was good enough for Bon Jovi, it might just be good enough for my daughter. No photos yet of the actual ceremony. They are on order and I promised not to link to the video. The truth is I wouldn't know how to do that but I felt pretty virtuous making that promise that I knew I was a shoe in to keep.

This is my favourite photo of them taken back at their hotel just after the ceremony. It's their favourite photo too. I actually liked it slightly better before they cropped it down. Up there on the top left of the original photo is a neon sign, yellow letters on deep blue background, "Peep Show" with fairly tame graphics. However, they didn't feel that the sign was in keeping with the spirit of the occasion, so snap, out it went.

We are so pleased to welcome Derek to our family. In less than 6 months I've gone from having a son and daughter to adding a son in law, daughter in law, and grand daughter. I couldn't be happier!

Blessings, Sarah and Derek!

Iteration and Intersection

2011-02-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

Recently, Deryn at Something Sublime, wrote a post, What Not to Do, something she had told herself she would never do. It's about copyright and making things your own and it is a wonderful post. It's a prickly topic which I think Deryn has done a lovely job of addressing. It's a very supportive and positive post and definitely worth reading and giving some thought.

As it turns out, I was in the middle of making drawings for a new design. I was definitely inspired by a zen tangle tile I had seen done by another artist. I thought it might be interesting to take you through my design process, at least the on paper part, and then show you where the inspiration came from.

Rarely, maybe never, does a design spring from my pen to paper to a model in one step. It's an interative process for me. I draw out what I see in my mind. Make little adjustments. Start over. Redraw, refine. Each time I put pen to paper it seems that I see something new. A little tweak that might feel better to me.

This is the final drawing from which I made my mold that I used in ceramic and metal clay.

This is the tile that I loved, drawn by Christina Vandervlist shown here on her blog. See there that flower pattern in her tile? I love that. I'd thought about doing something as a texture plate and then as I was working on that concept when the idea to just do a flower seemed to work for me.

The intersection part of this whole thing is that when I contacted Christina to ask if I could post her tile, I found out that she is a bead weaver. I only knew her from the zen tangle community. She's been a bead weaver for 37 years, taught at Bead & Button and Bead Fest. Her work is published and her Traveling Spirits have been featured on the cover of Beadwork. I love and admire all things bead weaving and seed beads. How extraordinary is it that I would be inspired to make a jewelry component by a drawing made by a jewelry maker that I've never met?

In Deryn's post she references a published letter by Heather Wheaton, editor of Art Jewelry magazine. Apparently, there are all sorts of rules of thumb for how much of an alteration makes something your own, 10%, 20%, 30%..... One of Deryn's DO's is to "Allow that transformation to take place and release the original artistic voice within." Good advice!

As visual people we aborb images from everywhere. I think it's important to recognize and acknowledge that . For me, iteration is a process that allows me to absorb those images and let them come out as my own. In that process, I have time to reflect on what I am saying, what resonates with me. And I'll tell you with absolute certainty, that with the bitter cold we've been having, flowers and blossoms definitely resonate with me.

Thanks Christina for your lovely field of flowers and the inspiration.

The miracle of Walter

2011-02-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

Walter is a cat. Walter used to be our cat. When we left Melbourne 7 years ago we faced a very hard decision. This dear sweet boy, all curled up in a perfect circle had a health condition, cardiomyopathy. He would not survive a 24 hour journey from Australia to our new home in the United States. In fact, it was unlikely that he would live much more that 6 months.

I remember well when Walter came into our lives. I was sick in bed with bronchitis. Our neigbor came to the door wondering if we would take in a kitten that got hung up in their shrubs. It was mewling and their puppy was having nothing of this intruder. Sweet Peter said, ah umm, and me, from what felt like my death bed, called out, 'yes, of course, we'll have that kitten.' Oh, so very long ago.

Walter went to live with friends that were generous enough to take in a cat that maybe had no much time left. They loved him, he got to watch cartoons every day with their wee little toddler. We lost touch and I've often wondered about Walter and of course our friends.

Just a little while ago, we got photos of Walter from our friends. See those ears up there? We had to have Walter's ears amputated because he had sun cancer on the tips. This is a recent photo of Walter. He is now 17 years old, 7 years older than anyone thought he would be. An absolute miracle that this old boy has made it to this grand old age.

Thanks Em, Rob, and William! We still love Walter and feel oh, so, blessed that he has a loving home with you.

Happy weekend!

Balance

2011-02-09T08:06:00.001-05:00

It's taken me years to come to terms with making a buddha piece. I've made a few in porcelain that have been given away to friends. They were pressed from a mold I made of amulets that I brought back from Thailand a long time ago. That was when we were still living in Melbourne and it was just as easy (and no more expensive) to fly around the world with a stop over in Europe and Asia as it was to fly home to the US and back to Australia. I know that might sound a bit glamorous, but 15 hour flights aren't really a picnic and having to spend that much time away from home is draining. But I did love the opportunity to visit Bangkok.

I bought these amulets from an amulet vendor outside a wat (temple). They, like most amulets, are thought of as giving one protection. They also serve as a reminder of the Buddha's teaching. In Thailand all images of the Buddha are considered sacred. You see, 90% of Thais are practicing Buddhists and it is a very religious country. You see monks in safron robes every where. It is quite beautiful.

So my dilemma in making these pieces was the sacred part of the image and respect for where these amulets came from. The amulets I have are not by any means precious in any way other than their significance in a deeply religious culture. Amulet vendors are a common sight and people do in fact buy them as travel souveniers. I have a deep respect for these amulets and their role in Thai life. It just did not feel right to make a cast of them.

The absolute calm of these amulets speaks to me. So I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about them and what was in them that was doing the talking, doing the calming, making me think, making me let go. I made drawing after drawing. Finally I finished with what said to me most, the essence of these amulets. This buddha has hands in his lap, right resting on the left. The meditation mudra, the final meditation and balance. It seems to me to be the essence of what we all strive for in life.

Amulet Market, photo by mimolag on Flickr

Soups On!

2011-02-07T08:39:00.001-05:00

The Bead Soup Blog Party package from Melissa Meman arrived on Saturday. Oh, I am over the moon happy with what Melissa sent. Totally different from what I might normally work with but so completely beautiful and inspiring. For beads there is amazonite, howlite, amethyst, and Czech glass in beautiful colours.

And then there are the pieces she made herself, starting with this gorgeous toggle clasp in copper. I love hammered copper and the washer part of this clasp is beautiful. But then there is the really lovely spiral toggle bar. I've been looking and looking at it and just admiring the beautiful wire work that went into making this clasp. I'm thinking this clasp needs a special spot in whatever I end up making.

And I got not one but two enameled focals handmade by Melissa and two beautiful enameled beads that she made. Choices, choices. I want to use them both. In fact, I have a little idea simmering on the back burner of just how I might use them both in one piece.

Thanks Melissa! I love it all and just how did you know that purple and teal are my favourite colours?

Bead Soup Blog Party

Saturday, February 26th

Over 200 participants and heaps of fun, inspiration, and beauty.

Mark your calenders!

Winners!

2011-02-04T12:06:00.001-05:00

I let the random generator pick winners this time. Alice just wasn't up to it. It's the cold. It's got her a little down. The snow has covered up all of the pecans that she loves to eat and it gets into the pads of her feet. Well she's a little miserable with it, fair weather southern dog that she is.

Oh, yes, the winners! Counting up comments from here and here, and making this a much more difficult task than entirely necessary, the random generator pick number 5 and 8. Congratualations Lorelei and Judy!

Just in case you are wondering. The good karma thing kinda sorta worked. We now have running hot water in our kitchen. We stood around watching it start to unfreeze drip by drip last night, 36 hours after putting the heater in the sink. It was a little like watching paint dry but oh so rewarding. The cold water is still frozen but the pipe is not burst. Life could be worse.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay warm and toasty!

Brrrrrrrr, It's cold even here in Texas

2011-02-02T18:06:00.002-05:00

This is all I've done today. Put the finish on a handful of bronze pieces. I had planned on doing some work with clay. But guess what? The clay is frozen out in my garage, sitting next to the kilns that aren't working because they are confused about the sudden drop in temperature here.

Yesterday, I woke up to some of this. Yes, I know, this is nothing compared to most parts of the country. Just a mere dusting of snow. But there's very little snow removal equipment here, the wind has been blowing, and it was a mere 1 degree out this morning when I got up. This kind of 'severe' weather brings things to a stand still here.

And this is one of the things that came to a stand still. That would be the underneath of my kitchen sink with the pipes that are frozen. That odd looking white panel in there is the heating panel from the garage that is used to keep the clay and the kilns from freezing.

I am not happy with this situation. And I really hope that the fairies will come in during the night and clean up the cabinet under the sink.

But I am so happy you all stopped by on Monday and liked my hearts even with their little flaws. So happy that I'm going to give one of them away. I thought I'd just combine it the give away of the bronze heart. You've still got until tomorrow night to enter for that and you can do that here. In fact, I am going to let you enter another comment so you get two chances. I figure when you have frozen pipes in your kitchen that's just a sweet bit of good karma I can spread around in the hope that maybe my pipes won't actually burst.

A woe filled tale of two hearts

2011-01-31T08:16:00.002-05:00

Ok, this is the tale of many hearts that came out of my last firing. But a tale of two hearts just sounded so much better. Kind of like the title of some gothic romance novel.

But not these hearts up there in the sweet circle. I am perfectly happy with these. They are made of a chocolately stone ware clay that I found in my studio the other day. The clay is lots of years old and left over from an ancient tile project. I pressed and cut these hearts from a scaled up version of the photo polymer plates that I showed you here.

But these hearts in porcelain? I am not so happy. Love the glaze. It's actually a very ugly glaze that I've given a little twist. But that twist is entirely off topic and I like to be on track. See those arrows up there? There are flaws in the porcelain. Teeny, tiny little surface cracks. Nothing structural. Doesn't show up until after final kiln firing. I don't like them.

But I can fix it (I think :-). Not these hearts. They are done. They are toast. It all has to do with how these hearts get made. And I kinda stuffed up. There's another step that needs to happen in making these. I say this with great confidence but it's really just another step in the process of working with a new method of making. It's entirely possible the whole thing could get scrapped. But if I can fix this up I will be mighty happy because I really like the impressions these photopolymer plates make.

And here is a totally unrelated error in the porcelain hearts. It's a little tiny blister in the glaze. These reds are so prone to it. It annoys me because I really, really like this colour. Which is weird because I am not a red/pink kind of girl. If you look very closely I think you will find some of those tiny little cracks in these hearts too.

And this one too, has those bitty cracks. This is like having the gauntlet thrown down. There's a problem here. How do I fix that? It's a challenge. How do I solve this problem. It's a bit of what keeps me coming back to the studio. If it were all easy and worked out perfectly each time, I'd get sooooo bored.

I'm curious. What do you do when you have a set back when you try something new?

Bead Soup Sneak Peek and a Give Away

2011-01-28T08:02:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty sure there is a definite kind of theme going on in the bead soup going out to Melissa. Here's a little peak at what went out to the post yesterday.

This is my first time ever participating in the Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by Lori Anderson. There are so many many talented people involved. My partner Melissa Meman makes beautiful things and I love her use of metal and wire. No, I did not send her any wire.

To tell you the truth, I am just a little intimidated by all of this. Yes, you've seen some jewelry on my blog. But I really don't make all that much jewelry. So this is definitely a challenge for me. But a really good one. I love the idea of working outside of my comfort zone.

There is just a whole lot of love going around with the blog party so I thought maybe I'd celebrate that with a little give away. What better way to do that than with a bronze heart pendant? Tis the season after all with Valentines Day just around the corner.

All you have to do is leave me a comment by Thursday at midnight, February 3rd and this heart could be yours. I'll announce the winner on Friday. Please leave me a way to contact you if I can't do it through your blog profile. Or just be sure to check back on Friday, OK?

It's not necessaary to spread the word about this give away. But if you do, then come back and let me know and I'll give you another entry. This heart will ship anywhere in the world that USPS goes.

Happy weekend!

Dead skunk in the overhead or under the seat?

2011-01-26T07:55:00.005-05:00

I had a birthday last week. I have had soooo many of them that I really didn't think that this one was anything particularly special. But it was. And what on earth does that have to do with dead skunks? Well I got this card from my sweetie.

"That's just great. Hear that, Harold? One carrion per person." read the card from my sweetie. Now that may not sound sentimental and it sure didn't come with a 'fly first class on your birthday ticket.' But it came with this great appreciation of my love for a good play on words. Yes, it's a bit quirky and slightly twisted and, now, you too have a little insight to my quirky sense of humor. I loved it.

My daughter in law called at a the crack of dawn because she wanted to be the first to wish me a happy birthday. My daughter called from work to ask if I would be home for a few hours. Yes, of course, I am usually home. The flowers arrived not much later. My son phoned from Afghanistan and the orchids he sent arrived at the same time as we were talking, half a world away from each other. So special to open them while we chatted.

All of these experiences were surprises. I felt absolutely wrapped in the arms of my little family's love.

I've spent a week reflecting on how much little things in life mean to the everyday. I am grateful for this life that I have been given. Ups, downs, it's a good life.

Tuesday Tangle

2011-01-25T08:56:00.003-05:00

This is the sad tale of a tangle gone wrong. This weeks challenge over at I am the Diva, uses a tangle pattern from the Zentangle Newsletter called IXORUS. It's kind of a complicated tangle but pretty cool. Laura did say that sometimes she needs get comfortable with a new tangle pattern by having a few goes at it. That makes a lot of sense.

So I made this little practice tangle. I'm not even sure that I got this right. But I do sort of like the way it looks. Then I got this brilliant idea. Which turns out not to be so brilliant and in many ways defeats the whole purpose of doing a tangle.

You see I've been having owls on my mind lately. So I thought to myself that this new pattern might look kind of cool on an owl wing. So I made myself a little pencil sketch of a pretty funky looking owl. In zen tangle terms, he's my string. Yes, I am nearly certain that the gender of this owl is male.

And then I proceeded to put patterns into the sketch, starting with IXORUS on the wing. Oops, there are some lines missing. It's a tangle gone wrong. Not horribly wrong. But a little wrong. But once again, I come away from doing this feeling just fine because it really isn't about making a perfect owl or even a perfect IXORUS. It's a little play time and this was a bit like colouring outside the lines. And look. I even managed to leave some white space.

You should head over to Laura's blog and see her IXORUS. There are links there to see what other people have done as well. Even if you don't want to see her IXORUS, you should go look at the tangles she did on her babies leg casts. He's got a foot condition that has required a couple surgeries and he's in his last set of casts. These casts are incredibly smart looking. In fact I wouldn't mind having some leggins that look just like this. But I'm not really as cute and adorable as this little guy is so maybe that's not a great idea.

Yes, by golly, I think I am in love

2011-01-24T08:30:00.002-05:00

I have had not one, not two, but three dates with my new bronze clay. Now I know three dates may not be enough to declare love but....I really, really do think I love this new material. Not as much as I love Peter or my children, but maybe almost as much as I love the dogs. Oh, wait, that can't be, the dogs are the center of my universe. Well, at least they think they are. Anyway, I digress.

I started using BronzClay brand a couple of years ago when it was just fresh out on the market. It was a tough task master. It was sticky. It warped. It went off in a bad way and wouldn't fire properly. But I loved the colour.

Now there are heaps of metal clay suppliers out there. But I like to stick with what and who I know. Loyal, I guess, just like my dogs. So I hung in there. I bought a packet of the new Fast Fire BronzClay. It sat in my fridge for months. Until I had a bit of time. The difference is night and day in terms of handling. It is just lovely.

But the fired colour? Well not really to my liking. Fresh out of the kiln it's got a greyish cast that is kind of icky. See that up there. Those are tumbled pieces and to me they are just not at all nice in terms of colour.

Patina has been a bit of a challenge. I've put together a little two step process that I'm happy with. The dragonfly on the right is fresh out of the tumbler. No dress up. Kind of like having gotten up in the morning. You know, still not quite ready for the day and gotta get the lippy on before you can step out. The piece on the right has got it's makeup on. Two two different patinas and I am pretty happy with this.

What I love most of all is the detail that I can get with this bronze. See that wee little heart right down at the bottom of the key up there. I love that I can add almost secret little detail to a piece.

The best part of all is that when this bronze is fired it rings like a bell. It's got a weight and density to it that, really, you just have to feel to appreciate it. I am in love. Or at least in infatuation. The only thing that could be better is if they could fix up the formula for CopprClay to make it so beautiful as the bronze.

The New Tool and I am in Love

2011-01-20T17:07:00.002-05:00

Today, I made all of these pieces using the new tool. I know, they look a little like cookies but they are not. They are bronze clay pieces that are tucked away in the kiln right now. It's the new fast fire bronze and I am hoping they will fire fine. I've never used it before and it's a lot different from what I'm used to.

Yes, I know you are impatient. I know you are tired of the suspense of waiting to hear about the new tool. So without further ado, here it is.

Cool, right? All sort of high tech and sci fi looking. It's a UV exposure lamp just like the jobs they use for acrylic finger nails. You are not supposed to look at the light. And I didn't, just my camera was looking. If you did look at the light all sorts of nasty things can happen to your eyes and things will look strange when you look away. But I have no personal experience of blue halos and blurry vision from looking at the light.

It's an off label use for this type of lamp and I'm using it to develop photopolymer plates. I've been wanting to this for a long time. These photopolymer plates were first used in the printing industry and the technology has been picked up by metal clay artists for use in making texture plates and shallow relief molds. I thought it would be way too complicated and expensive for me. But as it turns out it is neither.

Let me show you how it works.

You start with a drawing that you make into a transparency (top left). Then you make a photo negative from the transparency (top right). There's a special word for this negative but I can't remember what it is. I'm visual you know and words tend to slip out of my head pretty quickly. This all gets developed in the ubeaut new tool. Then you use the negative to develop the photopolymer plate (bottom). There are some scrubbing steps in here too. But you get the idea. Tonya Davidson made a video of the process for Whole Lotta Whimsey. You can see that here and it's a lot more iteresting than me describing it to you. This is just the nutshell version.

Oh and guess what? You can even get everything you need at Whole Lotta Whimsey. Or you can build your own equipment. But I am an instant gratification kinda girl and didn't want to fiddle around with that. But if you did want to do that, you can find some information here at Silver Clay art in an article written by Maggie Bergman.

Here's a close up of my new key design. Look at that fine detail. I am in looooove! I may also be in love with the new fast fire bronze clay. But we've only had our first date and I think it's way too early to declare undying love after the first date.

And, hey, if none this works out in the long run, I think I will open a small, exclusive nail salon. You've seen my hands and nails. I'd be good at this.

Tuesday Tangle

2011-01-18T17:55:00.001-05:00

This weeks zen tangle over at I am the diva was to start with circles. I like circles. My circles came out all sort of lumpy. But I'm OK with that. I don't think the point of this is to have preconceived notions of how things will come out. I did notice that I seem to have an aversion to white space when I do one of these. Which is strange given that I actually like lots of white space and simple paired down things. But not with a zen tangle, no siree Bob, I am going to keep adding until the whole thing is chockers with patterns.

I did notice that I seemed to have needed to add a lot of black lines and boundaries around things in this one. I'm OK with that too. Because when I look at this I think that maybe I am trying to tell myself something. I've been having one of those weeks where there are so many ideas going around in my head that I am having a hard time settling into doing anything at all. Maybe my little tangle exercise is telling me to corral some of those things and put them into some organized compartments. Who knows?

But then maybe this means nothing at all. Doesn't really matter as I quite enjoy the mental break of just sitting down with a nice black marker and drawing without any purpose at all.

I have actually gotten a few things done and promise I will show you some studio things soon. I've got a new tool. It's exciting. It's still in the box. I'm getting it out now. This is building suspense, isn't it.

It's pretty, sort of, kinda

2011-01-12T13:15:00.001-05:00

But I am glad that I am home and snuggled up in my nice warm house. And that I'm just seeing this snow in the photos my daughter sent. I got off the phone with my her a little while ago. She's in Hartford, Connecticut watching the snow come down. She can't really do a lot else as they've got 30 inches right now and it's still coming down. I grew up with snow, lots of snow, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

Sarah is not going to work today. At least not in her own car. This is her parking lot at 20 inches of snow this morning. The hospital has sent out 4 wheel drive vehicles to pick up nurses for their shifts. Sarah's been waiting 6 hours. She's pretty sure that she won't be going in at all. In fact as I was talking to her, she heard that a state of emergency has been declared.

There are technical difficulties you might never even have thought of when there is this much snow. This is Chester. He's about 15" tall. His bathroom is out in the snow and he's had a little difficulty balancing. Poor little guy fell face first and is embarrased.

Kramer, who is 10" tall and has the same bathroom arrangements as Chester, refuses to go out. But really, can you blame him? The snow is 3 times deeper than he is tall. Just in case you're wondering, they've cleared a little space on the balcony for him.

I hope all of you who are living out there in this terrible weather are snuggled up warm and toasty with a nice cup of hot chocolate. I'm thinking nice warm no snow thoughts for you.

View From The Road

2011-01-10T19:45:00.002-05:00

We've just come back from a few days in Denver, Colorado. Peter had a conference and the dogs and I went along to keep him company. I was going to get all sorts of things done while I was there. I actually managed to get through 2 murder mysteries, dark psycho thriller works with deep meaning and great literary value. My taxes and plans for the year did not see their way out of their carefully packed files. There's always tomorrow for that. Those novels needed to be read.

Saturday we drove up to Central City, not so much for the destination but more for the drive. Central City is more or less completely filled with casinos which could be fun if you like that sort of thing. The drive is beautiful and a very short little day trip out of Denver. We used to take this same drive when I was a child when we'd come out to visit my Auntie and cousins.

We left on Sunday morning. It was snowing. I have no photos leaving Denver. I was busy helping Peter drive. You know, braking, holding my breath, praying we would drive out of the snow before hitting Colorado Springs or at least New Mexico.

I like the view from the window in New Mexico. I like that there are these low eroded mountains in the distance. I like topographic relief. I would have liked some on our drive up to Denver through the Texas panhandle and eastern Colorado. I have no photos of the drive up. One photo would have served to represent the entire 9 hour drive. Grass, nothing but brown grass, on some of the flattest land I have ever seen. And that is saying a lot given I live in West Texas and I thought this was flat. I was so excited when we would see the occasional herd of cows or gathering of antelopes. But I could have used a hill or just a little turn or twist in the road. It was very much like driving for hours but not really going anywhere. I think surreal with a bit of Texas Chain Saw Masacre imagery thrown in pretty much sums up where my mind was during this part of the trip.

Aw, but even in New Mexico the landscape flattens out, really flattens out. But then there is the occasional extinct volcano to provide a little variety.

Are we there yet, Mum? Just about darling. Just a few more miles.

Tangled

2011-01-05T08:10:00.001-05:00

Tangled as in ZenTangle, not as in the movie, which I did see over the holidays. Fantastic movie, highly recomend it. I even cried at during the scene of the floating lights. It was just so so beautiful. Disney and it has me crying. Who would have thought.

Anyways, on to the tangles. I came across this yesterday when I was over at Marsha Neil's blog. I was just so intrigued by this whole concept that I spent a delightful hour just looking around the web at zen tangles and doodles. I used to spend countless hours doing doodles during boring meetings making aimless patterns just to distract myself from the tedium. I had no idea that this whole practice had been legitimized. OK, this concept is a little more purpose driven than my scribbles at inappropriate times.

I can't even pretend to know much about this practice but you can find out more by searching the web or flickr for zen tangles. There is a website zentangles.com that can give you some background. It's something of an art form 'where anyone can create beautiful images using repetitive patterns.' Marsha had a link to a blog by Laura Harms where she's hosting a weekly zen tangle challange. This week is the 'Eyes Wide Shut' challange where you start by drawing on your tile (paper) with your eyes closed. So in my full on procrastinating mode, I decided this was absolutely the thing I needed to do right now! That photo up there is just a snippet of the final 4 inch by 4 inch 'drawing' I ended up with.

This photo is my starting point. I'm telling you when I had my eyes closed, I felt like I had this squiggle out to edges of the paper. I looked at it completely baffled. Where do I start? What do I do? How do I make this into something? Oh wait, that's not really the point is it?

Curiously, when I just let my mind empty, the pattern just flowed from my pen. I can't even see where the starting point is in this final drawing. There is no beginning, no end, it just is. And this was like a vacation from the everyday.

This was fun. It was like a little bit of meditation with a pen.