Mid-Monthly Challenge and Hop REVEAL!

Update: I received an email from Judy, and she had a bit of a scheduling conflict, so she is going to share her piece tomorrow. :)

This was scheduled to auto-post at 8:30 this morning, and it did not. I'm hoping this is the last of my disappearing emails and no-show posts. XD

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If you remember, we started a challenge and my first blog hop. Well, today is the reveal day!

Here are the folks who have bravely chosen to participate:

Patty from My Life Under the Bus
Karen from BeadDelirium
Judy from ThreeRedBeads
Therese from Therese's Treasures
Jacinta from Jamberrysong's Creations

The challenge was to come up with a piece inspired by the song "Mystery" by the Indigo Girls. (You may choose to listen to it below as you look at these pieces!)

The challenge was a bit difficult for us because it was not visual. I chose to take the lyrics and interpret them literally for my piece with implied meaning and value. For this particular song, I chose an asymmetrical design because of the nature of the relationship described in the lyrics; it seemed very one-sided. Feel free to skip the written bits; I'll just be babbling about the process of making this. XD

 I went to my stash with a basic idea in mind and sort of got lucky. XD The tones I definitely wanted to make dark because of the dark, mysterious nature of the song. I chose antiqued and patina copper for the foundation of the necklace. These Miss Fickle Media links have been tucked away in my stash for a while; they're called "sea grass" and I really wanted to use them in this piece because sea grass reminds me of the beach, and the beach of course says "SUMMER!" all over it. I also picked the little wheat-shaped gold element to represent the harvest---"summer's beginning to give up her fight"---I thought of the harvest and when the grass is all sun-bleached by September; same, too, with the three yellow stone beads on the other side, which are also meant to balance that element.

The lyric I really chose to focus on, though, is my favorite part: 

"my heart the red sun, your heart the moon clouded."

The copper was perfect for a red sun, but my luck really held with these moss-colored howlite beads. Where the bits of white show it looks just like the moon shimmering behind some clouds! As soon as I ran across them in my stash, I knew they were the ones.

Don't forget to check out what everyone else made!!

If you didn't get in on this challenge, I'm going to be offering another one up next month. Let me know if you have any suggestions for music, films, books, or other media to inspire it!

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Monday Musings

It wasn't a terribly productive weekend for me. I did an overhaul of my family's farm blog, which I think only I am interested in, so it has become my adopted project. Hahah! Today there's a recipe (sort of) and yesterday there was a lovely quotation from Thoreau's Walden; if you scroll down a little, there are the pictures of baby turkeys and goats I promised last week! They are so freakin' adorable.

At any rate, I grabbed the newest copy of Belle Armoire Jewelry when we took my sister birthday shopping at the mall. It's as gorgeous as ever and there are some really nice project ideas in there. Hope over at Crafty Hope blog had the brilliant idea of writing thoughts and ideas in the pages of her magazines. Somehow, though, I can't bring myself to do it with the Stampington publications; they're just too darn pretty.

Magazines are not the only place I look to for inspiration. These recent finds on etsy had me ooo-ing and ahh-ing:

peeno123

therustytreehouse

RootsJewelry

GrandmasNook

I want to try my hand at making something similar to the bird's nest. There were some ideas floating around in my brain and I wondered if someone else out there had made something like a fake bird's nest. So I went to etsy and found that beauty. The whole shop is delightful. All of them are!

Here's to an inspired week. :)

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Oops! Margie and Me

Ah, I completely missed the reveal date for the Margie and Me Challenge over at La Bella Joya. Hahahaha! Oh, boy. :D What's really silly is that I had my pieces done two weeks before the deadline, and the pictures all taken and everything. I really need to set up a calendar or noteboard or something. At any rate, it's probably better late than never, so here we go!

This was my favorite of the two images, and I had a lot in my stash to work with for the color scheme, even though I don't usually use these colors together. I'm seriously considering keeping this bracelet for myself. XD

I challenged myself to make two bracelets because I don't have that many bracelets in my inventory and, if left to my own devices, would probably only ever make necklaces and earrings. This one, however, is not to my liking. I will probably take it apart and try again or make a necklace with the beads instead. Haven't decided yet.

Any plans for this weekend?


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Mid-Monthly Challenge Hop

Remember our announcement earlier this month about a music-themed challenge and blog hop? The reveal day, May 31st, is less than a week away!

Here are the fun brave folks who are participating!

Patty from My Life Under the Bus
Karen from BeadDelirium
Judy from ThreeRedBeads
Therese from Therese's Treasures
Jamberrysong's Creations


Because a lot of folks are more visual, I've thrown together this treasury of things I've found when plugging bits of lyrics into etsy's search engine. Some are intended to make you laugh, some are intended to offer suggestions for color palettes. :) If you're stuck, hopefully it will help get you back on track!

'Mystery' by jamberrysong

Mountain Meadow Road 8x10 Pr... WildWilderness... $30.00	Dogs - Giclee Print StacieSwift $20.00	winged heart blues SpiritedEarth $4.00
As The Sun Burst Opens......... TheModernistAr... $15.00	Travis the Timid Owl -- 8x10... Emmalynne $25.00	Crazy Quilt Pattern painted ... lazydayz $8.00
Vintage Arizona Postcard - T... VintagePlum $4.00	Vintage floral summer dress ... MaggieJoeVinta... $42.00	Couture Collage no 34 - NECK... sushipot $24.00
A girl looking through a fir... IroiroColors $285.00	Danger - 5x7 fine art photog... kylespears $20.00	Cocktail sugar rimming kit. ... dellcovespices $37.00
My First Daisy - Fine Art Ar... theotherjeanie $25.00	French Script Love Birds Pil... gatheredcomfor... $32.00	Vintage Syroco Bookends Faux... calloohcallay $36.00
CONCUBINE Perfume Sample Amp... SteamBathFacto... $1.50

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

(Yes, there's an owl in there... I couldn't resist!)


One more time, here are the lyrics:


Mystery

Each time you'd pull down the driveway
I wasn't sure when I would see you again
Cause yours was a twisted blind sided highway
No matter which road you took then
Oh you set up your place in my thoughts
Moved in and made my thinking crowded
Now we're out in the back with the barking dogs
My heart the red sun, your heart the moon clouded

I could go crazy on a night like tonight
When summer's beginning to give up her fight
And every thought's a possibility
And the voices are heard but nothing is seen
Why do you spend this time with me
Maybe an equal mystery

So what is love then is it dictated or chosen (handed down and made by hand)
Does it sing like the hymns of a thousand years
Or is it just pop emotion (handed down and made by hand)
And if it ever was there and it left
Does it mean it was never true
And to exist it must elude
Is that why I think these things of you?

I could go crazy on a night like tonight
When summer's beginning to give up her fight
And every thought's a possiblility
And the voices are heard but nothing is seen
Why do you spend this time with me
Maybe an equal mystery

But you like the taste of danger
It shines like sugar on your lips
And you like to stand in the line of fire
Just to show you can shoot straight from your hip
There must be a thousand things you would die for
I can hardly think of two
But not everything is better spoken aloud
Not when I'm talking to you

Oh the pirate gets the ship and the girl tonight
Breaks a bottle to Christen her
Basking in the exploits of her thief
She's a very good listener

Maybe that's all that we need is to meet in the middle of impossibility
We're standing at opposite poles equal partners in a mystery (handed down and made by hand)
We're standing at opposite poles equal partners in a mystery

--- Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia, 1994: Epic Records.



Remember, reveal day is May 31st! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. :D

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Tickle Me Tuesday

Nature is tickling me this Tuesday. I think it's because this place is so magnificent.

I already posted this on my family's farm blog, but it's just the cutest thing that's happened this week:

A fox family is living under this abandoned barn/shed not too far from my parents' farm; there are three babies and they are so flippin' cyoot, it hurts!!

And yesterday, we picked our first wildflower bouquet of the season:

I got a cheap-o DVD at Wal-mart over the weekend. It's a historical documentary on pirates. ...Yeah, I am that dorky.  Anyway, it was totally worth every penny! I put it in while I was working and it was great. :D So I'll have some pirate-inspired stuff to share later this week.

Speaking of stuff to share, I want to give a shout-out about my friend Patty's fabulous giveaway. She won a contest over at Cynthia Thornton's blog. The theme of the contest was to create a piece using the techniques in the first project of Cynthia's wonderful book, Enchanted Adornments. Here's what Patty came up with:

Can you believe she's giving away this gorgeous piece?? Just hop over to her blog and leave a comment to be entered in the drawing!

Memorial Day weekend is coming up. Be on the lookout for brass bullet casings at the parades and salutes---you can make great jewelry pieces with them!



What's tickling YOU this Tuesday? :D

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Book Review: Inspiritu!

A couple days ago I mentioned having a new book to share with you. I am now happy to reveal the book: Inspiritu Jewelry by Marie French.*

The premise of this book is a unique one; while doing a research project, Marie stumbles upon the dilapidated abode of a curadera---a medicine woman living in the southwest in the 1920s. This woman apparently made jewelry pieces for folks suffering from spiritual and mental ailments, including economic worries, alcoholism, low self-esteem, and so on. Taking a cue from this woman's practices, Marie shares jewelry projects interspersed with recipes for soothing teas and skin creams.

I am really enjoying the projects in this book. They are all unique and mix a mod-podge of techniques to achieve aged and mystical effects. It makes the jewelry about far more than just accessorizing one's outfits---something that speaks to my sensibilities both as an artist and as a spiritualist. Each piece has a story, each piece has a specific intention. You literally give the jewelry power and it comes back to you tenfold as you wear it. This book also teaches making jewelry with the intention of giving to others, an admirable gesture.

This is all around a great book. It has everything: easy-to-follow instructions, beautiful projects and photographs, stories to capture the imagination, traditions to share with friends and family, encouragement for positive lifestyle changes. I've only had this book a few days and already I feel it has left an indelible mark on my life and my work. I'm looking forward to using some of these recipes and making a project or two with my mother and sister.

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* Expressed are just this blogger's honest opinions; 

I was in no way compensated for this product review.

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New new new!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while here. We've just started the arduous process of moving... It's going to be a pain, but definitely worth it in the end. I've got my studio space set up already, and I can't tell you how nice it is to finally have a space to keep my beads nice and to work without all sorts of stuff in the way or having to worry about where I put something because it's all right here! Check it out:

 

We're eventually going to replace the folding tables with a single sturdy table, but for now, they are fine. There's so much light, I love it! I've still got a lot of organizing to do, but it's already a thousand times better than my previous setup...which was pretty much nonexistent. XD YAY! On the left (along with my business papers and such) is my burgeoning collection of beading magazines. I am going to be labeling them for easy browsing. Up on the top shelf I've got my tiny collection of beading books (including a new one I'm going to share with you soon!), some design books for color inspirations, and a few books of fairy tales for when I'm starting to get frustrated---nothing clears your mind like a delightful story!

We took a long walk today. The woods were beautiful! I forgot my camera so I'm going to have to describe in words as best I can... The sun was glinting off the river and the rush of water filled our ears. The air had that green smell that comes with spring; everywhere were blooms---trilliums, wild violets, forget-me-nots, tiny star-shaped blossoms that we did not know the name of, minuscule orange bulbs springing from the moss like a forest in miniature, white blooms of wild strawberries. Light breached the canopy and fell like golden coins on all the new leaves. Just spectacular.

I'm drifting along on this sunny day and am very happy.
Wherever you are today, I hope you are happy, too. :)


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Show Updates! Equine Advocates

The show went well yesterday; again, much of the proceeds went to help nationally acclaimed horse activist group, Equine Advocates. I was introduced to the two founders of the organization, incredible sisters Susan and Karen. They were two of the nicest people I've ever met and you could tell how passionate they are about what they're doing for these animals. They brought a heartbreaking video about their safe haven for horses, which you can learn about on their web site above. The before and after images of the creatures they rescued are just tear-jerking and I'm so happy that these horses were given a better life. Below are the pieces I made specifically for the show to donate proceeds to the Advocates.

I wish I had gotten a better photograph of this...

I donated these two hand-made, hand-painted ornaments to the Equine Advocates. I hope they sold! The show went much later into the evening than I could stay, so I'm not sure how the rest of it turned out. It was pretty quiet while I was there.


Again, the group is a wonderful one. Any donation is tax-deductible, of course, and it goes to help animals who have suffered cruelty at the hands of horrible people. Some of the animals that this organization has rescued were literally snatched off the butcher's block. Really terrible to think about.

Do you have a cause that is near and dear to your heart? I'd love to hear about it,

along with ways that I can help. Together, we can make a difference!

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Did I mention I'm a costume junky??

Oh, goodness. We all have our individual things, right? ...Well, ok, I have lots of them... but one of my favorites is costumes. I LOVE costumes! Historical costumes, movie costumes, fantasy costumes. I feel like what the person is wearing is simply an extension of her or his personality, just like with jewelry. It's more than just clothes or accessories for me. So, while I don't buy into New York's fashion week or Project Runway, I DO buy into the Queen of England's famous tiara collection and the exhibit of the First Ladies' dresses at the Smithsonian Institute museum in Washington D.C.

Often you will find source books (like the ones above) open where I bead; true, too, you will find internet windows open with information about my favorite costume designers to enlighten my methods.

 One of my favorite costume designers ever is Penny Rose.

Image copyright Chris Laverty 2010, used here with permission.

She is incredibly gifted; her costume work can be found in such historical-flavored blockbusters as Evita, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, and the film adaptation of The Prince of Persia.

She literally creates worlds (our recurring theme!) with her costumes. I've often looked to interviews with her for inspiration. Here's a fantastic interview she did with the site Clothes on Film about her work on Prince of Persia, in which she talks about creating character with specially chosen garments and materials. In this interview about her work on Evita, she explains that there are holes in history that must be filled, and so costume designers must have clever imaginations when seeking to create a solid picture of a historical figure.

You might be asking yourself, "Well, what does this have to do with jewelry-making?"

The simple answer is that jewelry-making can be about creating worlds and characters, too! The not-so-simple answer is that jewelry-making is a mind-blowingly open art. I've seen jewelry artists reach out to all sorts of media to find inspiration. Some look to nature, some look to other art (such as Calder, with his sculptural background), some look to music, some look to fashion, some look to architecture... it's practically infinite! This is something that I absolutely love about this art form.

How about you? Any deep, dark, secret geeky pleasures? Any stories to share about inspiring costumes or times when you or someone you met was just like the outfit or the jewelry you/they were wearing? Do tell!


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World Tour

This weekend was a busy one for me! Did everyone else have a productive couple of days?

My work had a number of diverse inspirations. I love living in this time period, having access to all of history and all of the world's cultures. In many ways, it feels like freedom. :)

First up, a commissioned set. A friend "gave" these beads to me in order to make her something with them. I really love how this set turned out. It reminded me of the ancient Minoans; the Minoan palace at Knossos is pictured above.


 Next is Buddha and ancient Asia.

Then we skip a few centuries and head to impressionist France.

And, while we're in France, let's step back a century or so to visit Marie Antoinette!

Finally, it's off to the Americas and to the Pacific Northwest, where the great sequoias grow.

What did you do this weekend? <3

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World Building - Story

I promised that there was more with the "building worlds" theme to share! This is a story by an extremely talented friend of mine, Steve R. Smith. Steve is a computer expert by trade and a writer by passion. He is one of the staff members at 365 Tomorrows, a site that offers a new science fiction short story every day of the year. The features are micro stories, to be exact. We call them "flash fiction"; they are only 1,000 words long at most. Many are even shorter than that. What's impressive is that talented writers like Steve can create fantastic, believable worlds in this short amount of words.

I am pleased to offer you one of his stories here. I'd also like to encourage you to check 365 Tomorrows out. It takes about five minutes apiece to read each story; the perfect break for your work day!

*republished here by permission from the author.
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To Sleep Alone
by Steve R. Smith*

Nathan hated fighting with Claire. It was inevitable; they'd been awake and otherwise alone with the ship, tending to its needs, granting their minds a temporary reprieve from the long sleep. If you spent a few months alone with only your partner hurtling through deep space, you'd find things to disagree on too.

He never meant to argue, she was just so pig-headed sometimes. Before he knew it a rolled eye and sharp comment became a tennis match of barked recriminations and rebuttals, and the inevitable storming off to opposite ends of the ship.

He watched her from his perch in the observation deck as she moved among the rows of plants in the greenery below. The outer hull plates were transparent now, the ship having rolled towards a star similar enough to Sol, so close as to provide light, yet distant enough not to scorch the delicate plant-life. He studied her as she stripped to the waist and soaked up the sun's rays herself.

It was his captivation with the sheer beauty of her that afforded him the best possible view as a cluster of meteoroids lacerated the hull, tearing through the weakened greenery hull-plates like hot knives through fresh snow.

Nathan screamed at Claire's upturned panicked face before the defense systems hardened the hull, opaquing his view and hers.

Nathan ran. He barely heard the warning messages describing the breach, and the steps being taken to contain it. He threw himself headfirst down the vertical shaft towards the core channel, grabbing the lower rungs of the ladder as he exited and with jarring force flipping himself to land feet first on the floor below. Sprinting to the greenery doors, he found them sealed tight.

He could only watch through the window of the door, pounding with flattened palms until his hands stung while mechanical spiders attached plate and injected alloy to repair the damaged hull inside.

On the ground, scant metres from where he stood helpless, a maintenance droid methodically held and sliced the scaffolding and shattered structure that had Claire pinned to the deck. Carefully removed pieces were set aside as it busied itself with freeing her. While it carved, a surgical droid scanned, glued and stitched the broken pieces of her body as they became accessible. It's hands flitting in and around the cutters and clenched claws of the much heavier machine towering over it.

By the time the atmosphere was stabilized, and the doors opened, Nathans hands were numb and Claire was fully exposed on the floor. Her body was a latticework of suture lines and micropore patches, and while her chest raised and lowered, he could see the labour of her breathing. The surgeon stood still, its chest a billboard of vitals, its work done save for the occasional jolting of Claire's heart back to motion. Nathan could see she was struggling, the muscle repaired but the shock to her system too great.

"You can't leave me here, you can't leave this all to me." His voice caught in his throat, tears rising unbidden.

"You can't quit, I need your help, I can't do this by myself." There was a too long moment of silence until the surgeon reminded her heart to keep beating.

Nathan felt his anger rising. "This is just like you, storming away from anything that seems too hard." He found himself yelling without meaning to.

In his mind he saw Claire at their last argument, balled up fists and the fire of purpose in her eyes.

Nathan dropped to his knees, gently placed his cheek against hers and whispered, "I don't want to live without you. I love you. Please don't go."

His tears fell warm against her skin, the only sound the now steady beating of her heart.


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Bead Table Wednesday

Is it Wednesday again already? Time comes and goes; sometimes I'm only vaguely aware of its passing because I'm too much involved with various things. But we all feel like that, don't we?

Not this weekend, but the next I will be in a show. It's the first of the year for me and very exciting because it is a jewelry-exclusive one and I'm just flattered to have been accepted into such fine company. I'm hoping it will be a great chance to meet other jewelry makers from my area and network. Maybe I'll even meet someone to bead with! That would be so fantastic. :)

Anyway, so my "bead table" has been a bit strained as of late while I try to scramble a bunch of stuff together. I didn't realize I had so many half-finished projects tucked into all my bags and boxes. At some point you have to tell yourself, "NO! You cannot start something new until you finish at least three of these already-started ones." So that's what I've been up to.

I found these old Scrabble tiles in a box inside my parents' garage last time I was home. We have a beautiful Scrabble set, so I'm not really sure where these came from, nor do I know what I want to do with them, yet. I also recovered that beautiful shell, which is used in Native American smudging rituals. We tuck bound sprigs of white sage in there to burn for cleansing. From the left: "Dream Walker" (was experimenting with different ways to wire-wrap tumbled stones; this is quartz and amethyst with an agate thrown in), "Slave Charm III" (inspired by amulets that pre-Civil War domestic slaves would carry to ward off evil spirits and later pray for freedom), and "Auberon" (I'm loving those little branch focals; this time with coral, green fire agate rounds, vintage filigree beads, and Vintaj bead caps).

These are the Pollyanna prisms (read: chandelier crystals) and antique key I mentioned in my Victorian inspiration post last week. I just took the old, nasty, rusted wire off the prisms and am looking forward to using these for something.

And now for something entirely different...

You could probably tell from my last giveaway that I've got ocean on the brain. The one on the right began with a complete accident. I was trying to make one of those wire cuff bracelets with the woven beads, but something went wrong with my design and I couldn't get the wire to work out properly. In exasperation, I set it down and stared at it for a few moments. To my surprise, a fish was staring back! So I took some of the Marsha Neal Studio silk and made some wavy, fin-like flowy loops and then found some suitable oceany-colored beads, and then a sorta-kinda-almost a fish-hook-like hook (does that even make sense?), and voila! It's artsy and chunky and I love it. :3 This is also the first time I've ever fashioned a clasp of my own! Yeah, I'm a bit late to the party...

The middle one is a focal that I don't know what to do with, yet. (Yes, another half-finished project...) It was made with a huge blue stone bead that I bought at a bead store back in my college town before we moved away (*sniffle*), so I've had it for a while. Don't you think it is the perfect match with that beautiful pewter Green Girl Studio pendant, though? It's like the mermaid is peacefully drifting in the depths of the sea. The one on the far left was made with (believe it or not!) leftover beads.

This one is the most recent finished piece. It fits in with Andrew Thornton's theme this week: "Flight."

This one is special. It takes me right back to childhood, when we would sit out on our porch at dusk on muggy summer nights. The fireflies would be just starting to twinkle their little green lights in the meadow at the edge of our yard. All the moonflowers would unfurl their white petals, gently fragrant in the moonlight. And, across the road where an old school house stood dilapidated for ages, hundreds of birds (mostly swallows and sparrows and pigeons) would make a nightly dance. They would circle and swoop and flitter around, sometimes swinging so low, they'd touch the tall grasses with their wingtips. Then, all at once, they would descend upon the school house and disappear into all the cracks and nooks and broken windows until dawn would find them again the next day. That is what this necklace is about---that unfettered night joy, after a long beautiful sunny day, of coming home again to rest.


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