CC7A :: Blue Skies

We are wrapping to a close on our second year of our CC7A group hop, the Creative Continuum of Seven Artists created and hosted by Alicia of All The Pretty Things blog. Each one of us have co-hosted a month by sending around a photo to the team to inspire our creative thinking. 

This final month is hosted by Christine. She sent around such a cool inspiration as we head into winter. A view of an open blue sky that can consume the landscape once the trees are bare. It makes me think of seeing the migrating birds heading South for the winter. It is a dramatic sight in an empty sky.

That is why my piece for this month is of a bird in flight. That is exactly where my mind went when I saw Christine's photo. I think we all struggle with finding that bit of breezy blue sky inspiration once the days turn short, and often the skies are grey and heavy with snow. But on those rare days when the sky just opens up with a burst of blue on a cold day it makes you want to breathe in deeply and enjoy the short bit of warmth on your face. Thanks for this photo Christine. It is that warm blanket on a cold winter's day.

I also decided to add a pair of earrings. They match the necklace, but only with the agate rondelle accent beads I have included in both. The skeleton of the leaves reminds me of what is left behind after they fall. That delicate, decaying lace stretching between the skeleton of the leaf that was. Ok, one last turn about the rest of the blogs for our group hop: Christine, Therese, Sally, Alicia and Monique. Be sure to check them all out!

ATTS 8 :: What's Your Bag?

I think ATTS (or A Time To Stitch) is my favorite blog hop series. My friends Christine and Therese have managed to create a hop that is constantly reinventing itself and getting us all to try a new technique. And I love to try new things. 

This time the challenge was to try making a bag using beadwork. Now that could be an amulet bag, or a beaded bag or whatever else you decide you want to try your hand at. That is the best part of this hop --- it has pretty easy going rules. I was going to try an amulet bag, but instead I decided to make myself a jewelry travel pouch. 

What's that? Well the one I had, I'd had for years. It is still in very good shape, in fact almost new. It has all these little zipper pockets in it to stuff your various earrings or bracelets in. Then you roll it up and you pull a cord around it to secure it. (Here is a similar one) So why did I need a new one? Well, the one I had was from my mom, and when my sister came to visit I sent her home with it. I made quite a few pieces of jewelry for her to take home for herself and several of her friends. I tucked them all into the jewelry travel pouch from mom. She lives so far away from the family and has so few things from our mom that whenever she mentions that she likes something from mom I tuck it in her suitcase.

I actually ended up shipping her some green glass bowls that my grandmother used to use for desserts but my sister said "oh those are awesome champagne glasses!" Huh, yea I guess they are. But I had been using them for pudding or jello for the girls. She had a much better idea of what they were. So I shipped those to her. I would bet that my grandmother spent less than $5 for the set of 8, and I paid nearly $130 to ship them to her (New Zealand is not cheep to ship to!). 

Ok, officially down a rabbit hole. Back to the topic here. My travel pouch. I love this rusty copper color. I cut a swatch of raw silk and assembled it by beading the sides together with peyote. I used some suede for reinforcement of the magnet closure and added a bit of beaded design around the top of the closure. Pretty simple actually, but will be just the perfect thing to keep my bits of jewelry in when I'm traveling.

Don't forget to check out all the other bloggers for the hop: Christine, Therese, Bobbie, Amy, Alicia, Dagi, Jasvanti, Karin S, Debbie, Liz E, Lori F, Maryanne, Paula, Samantha, Jenny, Ana, Motidana, Becky

Selling on Amazon Handmade

Like many of my fellow handmade artisan friends, I've opened a shop over on Amazon's new Handmade Marketplace. There are a growing number of us discouraged by Etsy's new policy that redefine what they consider to be handmade. They have let a number of low-cost manufacturers join the ranks of Etsy from countries where labor is cheep and 'hand assembled' can bend the rules of what the rest of us would consider artisan made. Etsy says that it is strict about who they allow to use "outside manufacturing help to support their increasing volume needs."  

Sadly, many of us artisans selling on Etsy are feeling this shift directly in traffic to our shops and reduction in our sales. The pages of Etsy are now flooded with page after page of low-cost options from overseas. There was an interesting article on this from the Huffington Post from the buyer's perspective. I, like so many of my fellow artisans on Etsy, are seeing massive drops in traffic to our shops. I have regularly seen conversations about whether people should consider closing their Etsy shops for good. Sigh. 

What it has done is encourage many of us to try other options including joining Amazon's new Handmade Marketplace this holiday season. I am starting out slowly to see how it goes over on Amazon. So I have only a few pieces listed in my shop. This necklace I am showing on the post today is listed and uses beads from Sue Kennedy. These are some of my favorite artisan beads from Sue as I love the soft sand color and overlay of silver. I've used a combination of pyrite and hematite beads to accent the design.

As with quite a few of my posts lately, the bead girl is modeling this piece. We've been having lots of fun together this Fall, and she is helping me by modeling in several of my pictures so I can photograph them and get them listed in my shops. If you have the time to stop by my new Amazon shop, please do click over!

They Are Watching

Karlovy Vary Spa, Czech Republic

Vienna City Center Skyline

Today is Friday the 13th, and a great date to post on this theme on 'the watchers.' Here is a fun fact, my mom was born on Friday the 13th, not in November, but in January. I actually never knew that until after she passed. Not sure why? But she never mentioned it. It was my dad that said something a few years ago with just a hint of a raised eyebrow as if to say 'well you know why she wouldn't want to talk about it.' Hmmm, actually I'm not in the least bit superstitious. I find the concept to be a complete waste of time. One of my girlfriends growing up had a habit of not wanting to walk on either side of a pole. So if for some reason we got out of the car and I was on one side of the parking meter with her on the other, she'd come around to my side and say 'bread and butter." Can someone please explain what exactly that corrects in the world of superstition?

So the watchers. We found statues everywhere we went in Europe, but one of the most curious places was on top of buildings? They appeared to be teetering on the edge of the roof, as though they might take one more step and come tumbling down? We saw them all throughout our trip. We saw them in every country we were in. We saw them on top of buildings, on the front of them, above the doorways, on the sides, between windows. They seem to be a very common architectural design.

Vienna

Austrian Parliament Building

I went in search of why exactly they would be so popular. The best answer I got was that during the Middle Ages as churches were being built statuary became a popular architectural design element. They used the buildings themselves as a canvas for a range of subjects from complex theological ideas to biblical tales to whimsical creatures. And I would say we saw all of this from the building in Rothenburg with the seven deadly sins in the facade, the castles of Bavaria, many of the buildings in the old center of Vienna, to the spa in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. They were simply everywhere.

The one in Rothenburg took over the entire front of the building called Baumeisterhaus or the Master-Builder's House. The facade includes the seven virtues (kindheartedness, motherliness, gentleness, temperance, courage, justice and wisdom - yes I had to look that up) as well as the seven deadly sins (gluttony, deception, falsehood, greed, lust, sloth and vanity - yes also looked this up). Gotta love a good medieval statue series to play out a few biblical stories. Particularly when it is now on the front of a restaurant to remind you of the sin of gluttony before you walk in the front door?

Baumeisterhaus

You can see the influence of Romans and Greeks in many of the statues, particularly in Vienna. Ah, Vienna. I believe it was my favorite city of the trip. It has such style, elegance and beauty. Dave and I absolutely fell in love with this city. I captured just a small sample of all the statues like this random blue Greek God (perhaps Hercules?) on a corner building, or like the Caryatid Pillars on a side entrance of the Austrian Parliament building. Vienna is a city of statues, and they were stunning.

The picture at the top of the post is one of the 12 statues representing the months of the year, which sit on top of the Mill Colonnade in central Karlovy Vary. You can read more background on the town in one of my previous posts. So why 12 statues representing months? I have no idea. None of the history to the town told me why the architect (Josef Zitek who also designed Prague's National Theater) decided to include them. Zitek was known for his Neo-Renaissance style; popular in the 19th Century throughout Europe for important public buildings like opera houses, theaters and palaces. Sometimes my study of history gives me the answers I'm looking for, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't think I really got a straight answer on all these watchers, but I did really love seeing and photographing them.

The Missing Egg

I guess I sent people on an egg hunt today, quite unintentionally. 

I know you all know that my day job gets in the way of my bloggy life, so I don't usually remind everyone. But this is an instance where it was more apparent than usual. 

I did the blog post last weekend before taking off on yet another week on the road. I scheduled it to post today, but completely forgot that I meant to get a picture of the hand-painted egg up on my Pinterest board. Doh!

I meant to. Honestly. It just got pushed to the bottom of the 'to do' list. 

So if you are just reading this post and have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about? Read the previous post (and perhaps a few comments from 'egg hunters'). And if you were looking for it? Well, here it is. Or it is over here, on Pinterest.

Slovakia :: Visiting Family

Bratislavský hrad (Bratislava Castle)

One of the places that we were anxious to visit was Slovakia. My husband's father was Slovak, and so Dave grew up with stories of 'the old country.'  Above our fireplace is a hand carved panel of the Bratislava Castle that was given to him by his father. 

When Dave was in high school he toured Europe one summer with a group called People to People. They visited Slovakia that summer, and at the time the country was still communist. It was rather bleak and he was looking forward to seeing how much it had changed since the 80s.

After spending 8-9 days in Germany and then Austria, there was a very distinct difference as we drove to Bratislava. Only an hour away from Vienna mind you, but a world apart. I talked a bit about it a few posts back, how people in Vienna believe it is a waste of time to head East out of town. You could feel it on the roads. Driving in to Vienna (from Munich) the roads were packed and over run, but driving East to Bratislava the roads were nearly empty. And most of the license plates shifted to Romania, Hungry, Poland, Czech Republic and of course Slovakia. It quickly shifted from a feel of Western Europe to Eastern by driving that 1 hour East of Austria.

Bratislava, Slovak National Theatre

We absolutely loved our short time in Slovakia. Probably the best hotel we stayed at for the entire trip was in Bratislava. At a place called Marrol's. It was a beautiful old boutique hotel right in the heart of the old town. We stepped out onto the narrow, old cobble-stone streets, and it was like we had stepped back in time. It had such a different feel to it. Lots of cafes with street-side seating where locals were simply hanging out watching the day go by. It didn't have that Western tourism rush to buy every tsotski you could find. That was the other thing we realized once we were home that we had bought next to no souvenirs on our trip. Which I am completely good with --- my house is full enough. 

There was a wonderful local craftmans' area set up in stalls just in front of the National Theatre in Hlavne Namestie (or the main square). It is one of the only places I did buy something to bring home. I picked up a beautiful hand painted egg to hang on the Christmas tree and remember our trip. 

Family Plot Borský Svätý Jur, Slovakia

After our stay in Bratislava we headed North toward Prague. But stopped off in a small, very small little town along the main highway. The town of Borský Svätý Jur. A small village where my father-in-law's family is from. Thank God for GPS, or we would never have found this place. The village dates back to the 1300s, established around a church built in the main square. 

Borský Svätý Jur Medieval Cross

It was in disrepair, and a new one has replaced it. A highlight (as strange as this sounds) was the graveyard. You can see the medieval influences in the gravestones and statuary. It is central to town, just off the main square. And holds the stories of the families who lived in Borsky Svaty Jur through the ages. My husband was wandering through the rows, and stumbled upon the family plot. There was much excitement and snapping of pictures. The headstone is actually the plural of the family name (the ending "ovi") since husband and wife are buried here. 

I think one of the coolest things was hearing locals pronounce our last name. It has been anglicized through the generations and is no longer pronounced in the Slovak way. And while my brother-in-laws will swear it is pronounce in a guttural way (saying that is the 'old country' pronunciation), they are wrong. It actually has a much softer sound when pronounced by a local. And it was fun to see their face light up when they saw our last name on the registry, asking "oh, you are a Slovak?" You just don't get asked that every day in the US. All the rest of the Slovakia pictures are over on Pinterest including the hand painted egg.