of Smoke and Mirrors and Missing Muses

Smoke and Mirrors

Every time I’ve sat down to write a blog post I’ve sat and stared at a blank page and it’s blinking cursor. Nothing, Nada, Zip
The world has gone crazy, my life is upside down, and Facebook seems to be in an awfully ugly political fight. Even Year of Jewelry can’t help this one, my poor Muse is sitting in the corner in tears, it’s all just too much.

*I’ve managed to hold on to my sanity because even though I’m not making a lot of new pieces, I am selling and making those pieces.

*I’ve been working on the house, mostly tape and texture work. Hoping to layout the tile for the Master bath this week, we shall see but I am hoping to.

*I have managed to make a couple new pieces for The Artisan Group, I’ve sent in submissions for Bones and the Originals, blog posts coming for those in the coming weeks. And I’m thinking I’ll send pieces for the Press gift bags for this years Emmys - but I still need an idea for that and the Muse is still over there, sigh. Hopefully we can coax her back out again.

*New Kitten, omg what a sweetie he is. He just appeared on the door step this last week and has just filled all our hearts with love and laughter - it was much needed. He answers to Boogie, so we call him that. Or Boog, or Boo, or BB. He’s one of those kitties that stares into your soul and is so chill about everything which makes me think he was dumped and not feral. And he’s also extremely gentle with his paws.

*I’ve been having some very interesting conversations with friends but I’m afraid they may be what triggered the ugliness to appear in my feed. The algorithm thinking since I had one conversation I want to see all the ugly there is on it - sigh. I really don’t need to, or want to for that matter, it puts me in a dark place that I don’t like.

*The Hay House group on Facebook is a life saver, the constant positive up lifting posts there are just amazing - best thing I’ve done for myself in a long time.

*I’ve just joined a copy writing group - when you stare at a blank page long enough you realize a little help every now and again is a good thing.  Once I was accepted into the group the first thing I saw was introduce yourself, use a graphic NOT yours, NOT of your product, or your art, or of yourself. Show what your aspirations are, who do you want to be? What inspires you?

I’m still working on my introduction, the above is the photo I’ve chosen. My tagline is Artisan Jewelry with a Touch of Boheme but the words that come to mind as I think on this and the photo are Sexy, Strong, Exotic, Sought After, Loved. Now we ….. well I …… need to decide how those fit into my aspirations and inspirations, some are easier than others.

So there you have it, what’s been going on in my world. Smoke and Mirrors and ha! more swords and daggers! Speaking of, I do have another stanza for the Nightmare poem/series. Yes, it has a name now. There may still be more to write but my Muse, in the corner, yup. Maybe look for the new stanza next week….. or a choker ….. or hey! why not do both!

Thanks for stopping by!
We’ll see you next time!
Dana

Junes Birthstone: Pearls

Can you believe it's June already? Me neither! Half the year has flown by, just that fast! For those  still hopping away (ahem like me albeit rather slowly at this point - sorry guys!) Bead Soup is HERE

Pearls are the featured birthstone this month.

But as our poem shows that wasn't always the case.......

Who comes with summer to this earth,
And owes to June her hour of birth,
With ring of agate on her hand
Can health, wealth, and long life command.

Cat's Eye, Turquoise and Agate were the accepted stones from the 15th through the 20th centuries. Not bad choices, they're all very pretty stones, and hey! Who wouldn't want to command a long, healthy and wealthy life?! However, come 1912 Pearl and Moonstone replaced the previous stones. Maybe as a nod to Wedding Whites, and a little romantic moon gazing?

As of 2013 Alexandrite has been added to the list, bringing the count back up to three.

I have two er three treasuries to share with you this month. As you may or may not know I am a member of Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design (SRAJD for short) I was featured in the second treasury along with a few of my fellow SRAJD artisans and their pearl creations and the third is one I created of my fellow SRAJD artisans.

June's Blush on Etsy

June's SRAJD Pearls

This is one birthstone I have used fairly often in my designs, in fresh water, glass and vintage faux varieties. Using Potato, Mostly Round, Mabe (including uncut blisters) and Button shapes. Nineteen listings in my Etsy shop might be a bit much to share with you here, since at least 10 of those listings have already been shared here on this blog for blog hop reveals and my woohoo moment with Bead & Button ( I need to start submitting again, I really enjoyed creating with a magazine in mind ) I think I'll just post one or two.......well maybe three you know to match three treasuries .....

Clustered Pearls, Moonstone, Smokey Quartz Earrings

Vintage Faux Pearls

Glass Pearl and Crystal Earrings

You can click here if you'd like to see ALL 19 PEARL LISTINGS Happy June!

January = Garnet

February = Amethyst

March = Aquamarine

April = Diamond

May = Emerald

June = Pearl

July = Ruby

August = Peridot

September = Sapphire

October = Opal

November = Topaz

December = Turquoise

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see you next time!

Bead Soup Blog Party #8 Reveal Beckoning Bohemian

Welcome to Bead Soup Blog Party number 8. The reveal date has finally rolled around and I am excited to show you all that I have made. This is my fourth time participating in the party and I have found it every bit as inspiring as the first, second and third times. This year my partner is Dana James, I wrote a quick blog post introducing her to you here.

She sent these wonderful soup ingredients that just called Bohemian to me, and when I say called I don’t mean whispered. My muse was very clear this was the direction we were taking, and then she went into creative overdrive…………

Together we made armloads of bracelets.

I had never played with memory wire, can you believe it? The stuff has been around for nearly as long as I have been playing with beads and I have never even touched the stuff. Not even once. I had in my mind’s eye stackers. armloads of pretty. I started with the teals, inspired by those gorgeous blues in the lampworked beads. Added those sweet sweet floral head pins and Hey, as long as we’re making stackers, let’s play! I grabbed up many feet of aluminum electrical ground wire riveting the ends together and wrapping the resulting o’s with yards of colorful threads and pearls, adding beads and bells for loads of super lightweight, super colorful, super happy bangles. Super right? We were going to town making these fun little things and it dawned on me, I hadn’t touched a single soup bead since bracelet number one - gasp! Never fear my dear, these are meant for stacking together!!

Returning to the memory wire this time I worked in earth tones picking up the subtler colors in those gorgeous lamp worked beads.

Ready to get in some metal work I made up some textured copper strips and wrapped up some leather fully intending to use one of the clasps Dana had sent. But when I was ready for it, the clasp just didn’t seem to work, sigh. Not one to argue with my muse I finished the clasp using a piece of the leftover copper and textured it so that it matched beautifully. 

I remembered I had this great little bracelet wire from the Bead n Button design challenge that I hadn’t gotten around to using and what better way to showcase one of those lamps than that? I added a stamped filigree, a little flower with crystal center, and a Czech picasso leaf. Just sweet!

Then I made some connectors and played with those cool little copper bars and beads Dana sent. They looked really good with the larger lampworked beads and bracelet number 14 was born. This time I did use one of the clasps Dana sent :)

I had sketched up a design for the focal and ordered the bits I needed from B’Sues. I finished out the detailing while waiting in the lobby at the Drs office while the hubs was getting his eyes dilated. I had planned on etching the mehndi style designs but all I managed to do was discolor the metal ;/ hmmm

While I contemplated discolored metal I formed and forged some frames then wrapped up a couple pair of earrings. I LOVE these earrings. The first pair have Cognac hydro quartz and matching crystals from the soup stash and the second feature those sweet peach pearls Dana sent.

Back to work on the focal I decided I would engrave it instead. Using a dremel and very slow speeds I did something I thought I could not do, I engraved a straight line. Seriously, I once answered a question about engraving with a no you can’t use a dremel, you need special tools……. ahem I stand corrected. ( I think I might really want those special tools now though - engraving is kinda fun!! )

So I engraved not just front but back. Riveted vintage opals and wired the brass lace into place. I added hand made flowers again with crystal centers and a short length of crystal beaded chain.

At this point I thought I was done. I had very little soup left, bullet casings, crystal points, a clasp, pearls and crystals. I so wanted to make one of those cool bullet casing points but the points are 1 mm too big ONE. The hubs says you just need to stretch the casing. LOL That’s all….. the muse leans over and says I have an idea…..

….. and a dragon was born. The focal piece was my favorite up until this point. Pun not intended! I wrapped the point in a strip of engraved brass, followed by a woven strip reaching up behind into wings. At least it did. I didn’t like the way the one wing was sitting. I thought it was too low. I’m using brass, brass is a fairly hard metal and is brittle when work hardened. I gave a slight bend to the wire, and snap! off came the wing. I had to take the whole thing apart and rework the game plan. This is one of those times when uh oh is truly to your advantage. I made a second pair of wings and sawed a new head added vining swirls to the end of the bale to make the back as interesting as the front and wow! Even my son loves this guy. And look….. the second clasp found its way in too!

At the time of this writing I still have several days until reveal……… I wouldn’t be surprised if another little something found its way into this post as my muse doesn’t think we’re quite finished yet :D

As I was saying with the delay I had several extra days to play! And play I did, I finished up two UFO's you can see that post here (fortunate I did too, as I needed a blog post lol)  AND look at that! Two more pair of earrings found their way into the blog party!

First pair is a simple forged pair of brass hoops wrapped with a peach pearl and the second woven and vined brass and copper with smokey quartz and crystal.

I still have quite a few ideas swimming, seriously inspiring this round, BUT it's only a few hours away until reveal. Yesterday was the hubs birthday and Mother's Day is this weekend. I think I'll play with my muse again in a couple days, right now I think I'll spend some quality time with my family and start hopping bright and early - or after I've had a couple sips of coffee  and can form coherent sentences!  :)

We have close to 500 participants again this year… wow! Make sure to visit Dana’s blog  to see what she made with the goodies I sent her (that’s where I’m headed first!! ) then head back to Lori’s blog Pretty Things    to catch the rest of the hop!

And if you'd like to peek at my past soups you can always visit these pages

Bead Soup 5
Bead Soup 6 
Bead Soup 7

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see ya next time!