Something Sublime

What's Up?

As I look around my disheveled studio, I realize that I've hardly had time to come up for air since returning from vacation.  Honestly, the mess is quickly growing to epic proportions.

Amidst article deadlines and working on jewelry, I've been working on class proposals.

 

I'm really looking forward to "Adorn Me" in March of next year.  Put on by Linda Young of Art Unraveled, this will be a fantastic, all jewelry event...right here in Houston.  I can't even say how excited I am about that!

 

Despite the fact that Houston is a very large city, the fourth largest in the country, there hasn't been a large scale event of this type here...at least not in a long time.  Right now, Linda is still taking teaching submissions and, I believe, registration is to start in September.  Visit the Art Unraveled site and click on the "Yahoo Groups-Join Now" button at the bottom of the page.  If you join the group, you'll receive updates about Art Unraveled and Adorn Me.

 

Someone tagged me on Facebook with a list of questions.  One of them was "What 3 things are you looking forward to?"  Teaching at Art & Soul in Portland this October is one of those things.  I'll be teaching my "Wingkeeper" necklace in a two day workshop that's loaded with jewelry technique.  I love teaching multiple day workshops as it gives me the chance to get to know my students a little better.  Here's what we'll be creating...

 

 

In November, I'll have the pleasure of vending at the Houston Bead Society show.  Finding props for my display is half the fun and I've picked up a three foot, metal Eiffel Tower to hang necklaces from.  I also got a length of vintage velvet, the really heavy stuff, in a gorgeous wine color (red, not white!)  In Wyo, I found a big, beautiful scarf in a purpley/mauve color...velvet on one side and silk on the other.  I don't know whether to wear it or use it to display my jewelry!  You can see the silk side here...

 

...and the velvet side...

 

...really luscious!

 

Oh, and I'm still busy with that wonderful recycled sari silk from Objects and Elements.  Right now, O&E designer Barbe Saint John has a terrific post on the O&E blog discussing the use of ICE resin.  She's written lots of tips for using resin successfully...take a look here.

 

Back to work!  Tell me, what's up with you?

Something I Picked Up

Lucky me, I got to add a few pieces to my turquoise jewelry collection while vacationing in Wyoming.  I usually stop in and visit with Greg Koschtial while I'm in Cody.  Greg owns a small jewelry shop there and carries lots of gorgeous southwestern/native american pieces.  He's a terrific jeweler in his own right, specializing in elk ivories, but I ended up getting a few other pieces from him.  For those of you not familiar with elk ivories they're elk teeth...a common jewelry material, at least in the West!

 

 

These Les Baker pieces jumped out at me.  Les Baker is well known for his hand-fabricated, southwestern style pieces.  Finely done swirls, flowers and rosettes are a distinguishing feature of many of his designs.  If you like jewelry at all, you have to admire his craftsmanship and sense of style.

 

Greg knows how to treat his customers and he steered me right on this beautiful boulder turquoise ring.  Boulder turquoise is sometimes called "ribbon turquoise" and usually consists of a large part of host rock with thin ribbons of turquoise running through.  I love the asymmetrical bezel setting of this ring by P. Sanchez.

 

I picked up this lovely dead pawn bracelet in Sheridan.  Dead pawn, or old pawn, is jewelry that was, at some time, pawned for cash but never redeemed.  It's usually old or vintage and unique in design.

 

Last, but certainly not least, is this stunning piece created with Fox turquoise.  It's called "Carico Lake Dots" and I found it at the Bradford Brinton ranch.  The ranch lies just outside Big Horn, Wyoming, in the most idyllic setting, and has a long, rich history.  When we arrived there, the first thing I saw was an adorable airedale dog laying on the porch.  His fox terrier friend soon joined him and I was in love.  Eventually, we moved inside the house where some of the Brinton's incredible art collection is found including paintings by Russell, Remington, Gollings and many more.  One of the rooms is adorned with hand-painted wallpaper and in the bedroom is a wonderful quilt collection along with several pieces of amazing jewelry.  The art collection was very large and one of the employees told me that, when the time came to retrieve and organize it, there was artwork stashed in every nook and cranny of the house.  In fact, there is now a separate building which houses much of the collection, including quite a few pieces of spectacular Indian beadwork and dress and, of course, the gift shop.  Which is where I found this.  The perfect memento of a wonderful afternoon and a wonderful trip.

Vedauwoo Blooms

"Vedauwoo Blooms"

available in my Etsy store

My friend, Christine Damm, makes the most incredible polymer beads.  Quite a while ago, she sent me some to play with and I fell in love with her "Planetary" beads.  You can see similar in her etsy store.

 Christine is always particularly mindful of the colorways she uses in her creations.  This one is especially appealing to me, of course, because of the blues and greens.  She's thrown in a touch of complimentary orange for good measure.

 

This color scheme, and the divine texture of these beads, was the perfect match for one of my favorite stones...turquoise.  I really wanted to make Christine's beads stand out so, instead of stringing them alongside the chunky turquoise, I gave them an organic,  pod/flower  look by adding large, vintage brass bead caps and my "signature" leaves and vines in copper.

 

 

The clasp is one of my favorite things about this necklace.  I created it from copper and it's large without being clunky.  I hear that copper and turquoise are a hot combination right now and I really like the look.  The copper beads on either side of the clasp are African.

 Oh, about the name...  I've got Wyoming on the brain, I guess.  Vedauwoo (locally pronounced VeedaVoo) is an area in Wyoming, near Laramie.  It's an outcropping of huge rock formations and boulders and is known by the Arapaho Indians as "Land of the Earthborn Spirit."  It's a beautiful place (more photos here)...legendary for camping, bouldering, climbing and, well, partying (the college is right there).  Many stories circulate about Vedauwoo and there's almost an air of mystery surrounding it.  My thought was that maybe, if you visit at the right time of year, and really search, you might find some secret, exotic blooms like this...never before discovered...

The Antique Palette-Bench Pillows

The fabulous Susie Land, of  The Antique Palette, has kindly supplied me with a few more incredibly useful and sort of hard to find...bench pillows.

 

I noticed, on her etsy site, that she's now making pillows filled with bb's and wanted to try one.

 

I have an extra big, extra heavy, steel block that my dad made for me and it tends to slide around a bit too much for my taste, on my sand filled bag.  I'm more than thrilled with Susie's bb filled bag.  It really stays in place!

 

I also have some teeny, tiny, very handy, steel blocks for traveling (it's hard to tell in the photo but this little block is only about 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2).  They're great for my students to borrow when I teach.  So, I asked Susie if she could custom make a travel pillow for me.

 

Susie's such a gracious merchant, she immediately agreed to whip up a special, small pillow for me.  Unfortunately, I confused her with my less than stellar measuring skills.  Susie didn't miss a beat.  She kindly stitched another size for me and I now have several little pillows to go with my little blocks.  They're just perfect!  Susie's quality can't be beat and, I was happy to see that she's added a tag to all her pillows so everyone can see who makes these treasures.   Be sure to check out her travel size (message her if she's out) if you need one for your next art adventure away from home!

Objects And Elements Guest Blogger

"Prayers For The Girl Who Washed Away" earrings

by Deryn Mentock

I admit it...I'm in love with the beautiful Objects and Elements recycled sari silks.  If you're interested in a few tips for using this fabulous material, take a look at the O&E blog where I'm guest blogging while Jen is on maternity leave.

 

recycled sari silk yarn from Objects and Elements

Let Them Eat Cake

"Let Them Eat Cake"

available on Etsy

Some of you may remember this Marie Antoinette inspired piece that I did for Stampington's publication, "Marie."

 

Well, I finally, finally....finally, got around to putting it in my Etsy shop.  Life is busy and I just didn't get a chance to offer it until now.  Since it's been awhile since I originally posted about it, I thought I'd post the photos again.  If you've already heard all of this, just plug your ears and hum a tune!

 

The research I did before creating this piece showed me that much of Queen Marie's jewelry was worn close to the face.  Choker's and short necklaces seemed to be the style along with fabric, flowers, bows and gems.  I knew the piece had to be in pale colors, as was the fashion.

The focal for this piece is a lovely, vintage, rhinestone crown brooch.  I kept the integrity of the brooch by pinning it to the choker, which is made from pale green and cream colored, gathered silk and tulle.  I hand-stitched small, freshwater pearls to the silk.

 

I wanted the drop to be dramatic, falling from the throat to the decollete (don't you love that word?).  I created it with strands of freshwater pearls, sterling chain, aurora borealis crystals (some new, some vintage), many faceted pale green garnets and one large, vintage cotton pearl. 

Cotton pearls are scarce these days and somewhat expensive.  They were made with tightly spun cotton inside and coated with a hard, pearl coating making them very lightweight and luminous.

 

The back of the piece is really lovely.  I used vintage brass to anchor the back of the choker, which is fastened with long, silk ties.

 

The silk ties are finished with sterling, aurora borealis crystals, freshwater pearls and more green garnets.  The brass tags are hand-stamped with Marie's infamous quote, "Let them eat cake."

 

Many hours of researching, designing, wire twisting, forming and stitching later...my interpretation of the Queen's jewels was finished.

But, no Queen worth her desserts would be seen without matching earrings!  Again, I used the vintage cotton pearls (making these earrings so lightweight and comfortable) along with vintage crystals and crystal roundelles, hung on hand-made, sterling ear wires.

 

Cake anyone??

Wonderful Wyoming

Did you miss me?  I bet you didn't even know I was gone!  We just returned from vacationing in the land where the deer and the antelope play.  Wow...Wyoming was unusually green and really beautiful.  It's where my heart lives and I miss it dearly when I'm away.

 

We flew to Denver and got this sweet ride for the rest of the trip...

 

What the Hummer didn't get in gas mileage more than made up for it's fun factor.  Oh...and it's coolness factor.

 

Of course, we spent time at the cabin...

 

...playing games...

 

...fishing...

 

...and watching the locals.

 

We visited a few old haunts...

 

...and stopped by my dream spot.  This clearing in the Big Horn mountains is one of my very favorite places in the whole world.  I want to build a house here and plant myself.  This is the backyard:

 

Last year, we saw a moose and her calf here, this year it was mama and Bambi.

 

We celebrated our nation's independence, small town style...

...and didn't make it to the Park this time but saw lots of pretty scenery in the Big Horns and got a chance to cool off from the 103 degree Houston temps we'd been having.  In fact, one eventing, we spotted a huge herd of elk, a herd of about 25 deer...all big bucks...and 8 moose.  No good photos of those as the animals like to come out at dusk and it's very difficult to get good pictures then.

On the way out of town, we spotted these guys alongside the road in the Wind River Canyon:

It's pretty rare to see big horn sheep, especially right alongside the road.  Of course, the battery in Wife Whisperer's camera had given out so I had to take this with my cell phone, which explains the wonkiness of this shot.  There were five sheep...you can see one off to the left, heading for the rocks.

It's good to be home but I miss my family, and this...

...already!

Pet Posts-Buried Treasure

Seth is at it again.  He comes up with the best ideas.  He has a penchant for putting on collaborative projects and today is "buried treasure day".  As a self-proclaimed blog addict, Seth's invitation is for bloggers to re-post one or more of their favorite blog posts from the past...hidden gems.  Sheesh...this was really hard!  Over the years, I've made a lot of  posts but I've linked a few of my very favorites here...one from each year.

2009

 

Treasure Hunting Birmingham Style

This was a walk to remember!

2008

My Little Pony Gallops Cross Country

I love this post because this was such a great trip.  Looking back over this post is like looking through a scrapbook.  Plus, I ended up with a way cool ride!

2007

 

Deck The Halls

Oh, how I love Christmas!  This post contains a few of my favorite Christmas photos.

2006

 

My Summer Vacation...

Wyoming is one of my favorite places on earth.  When you see these photos, you'll see why.

2005

 

Christmas Card 2005

This one is a favorite for obvious reasons...Number One mini man created this beautiful drawing when he was 17.  We used it for our 2005 Christmas card.  He's gifted!

Thanks for joining me on my little stroll down memory lane...

Visual Poetry

You may have noticed that I've ditched my usual etsy widget in favor of this new, beautiful button, custom made for me by my friend, Susan Tuttle.  I've been having trouble with Etsy's mini widget so...if you click on this new, prettier button in my upper right sidebar, it will take you right to my etsy shop.  Thank you, Susan!

And, here's something exciting that you should know about:  Susan is offering online classes in digital photo manipulation, using Photoshop, this September.  In Susan's words, she "will teach you how to give your photos a retro/vintage feel, create diffused light effects, convert your images to black and white and sepia tones, apply textural layers for a grungy effect, and more..."  If you're like me and have been putting off learning Photoshop techniques, you should consider Susan's classes.  Have you seen her photos and her work?  I've long wanted to learn how she does what she does.  Now, I can find out!

Adorn Me!

I've been very busy, writing class proposals for a brand new venue and, I'm so excited about it!  It's called "Adorn Me" and is being put on by Linda Young, of  Art Unraveled fame.  And, guess what...it's all about jewelry.  Even better...it will be held at a spanking new Embassy Suites...right here in Houston!  Right now, Linda is looking for teachers (proposals are due very soon) and, once the Adorn Me website is up, she'll be looking for students, as well.  This is going to be an incredible event so, mark your calendars for March, 2010.