While they say a rolling stone gathers no moss, I would say that in Ireland the wind blows too hard to stand still. I took a short video (at the end of this blog post) standing along the coast of the Dingle Peninsula, and as you can see I had quite a bit of difficulty trying to stand still (with 60-70 mph winds) for any length of time. We did find an abandoned bike seat walking around Dublin covered in moss. Given the rain, it probably didn't take that long to grow.
We started our trip to Ireland by renting a car and driving down to Dingle. I think driving in Ireland rates as one of the more adventurous things we've done. But we didn't realize it until we were there. Before our trip we checked with our car insurance, to see if we had coverage in Ireland. Nope. Huh, really? We've never had any issue before, so we were very curious as to why. We discovered why driving in Dingle.
The road narrows like I've never seen before. There is no shoulder, and the gnarled shrubs are trimmed back just to the painted edge lines of the road. No joke. At one point they seem to have given up on a center line, so that on-coming traffic buzzed past you on the one-lane road, including around blind corners. Add to that the speed limit was 100 kilometers (that translates to roughly 60 mph). A 'white-knuckle' experience! When we returned our car I noticed a smashed rental that had exploded from a crash, and only the burnt shell of the car remained. Ok, now I understand why insurance is outrageous in Ireland. One of the Dublin cab drivers asked us where we had been so far in Ireland and when we said we'd been to the Dingle Peninsula and had driven ourselves, his only response to my husband was "brave man."
I've missed our last two posts, for a good reason. We've just returned from our family trip to Ireland for Christmas. I'll come back later and post about some of our trip later, but for now I'll give you a few pictures of the holidays.
For us, this time of year is not just Christmas and New Years, but it is our anniversary and both of our daughter's birthdays. Suffice it to say that December is a crazy month typically for us. This year we spent Kate's birthday in Dublin, and she and Anne shared a local favorite from a cupcake shop to celebrate. So for my 'togetherness' prompt from Sally I have a birthday celebration in Ireland.
As for saying goodbye, I will say that I am not much for big goodbyes, or send offs. I'd rather think about it as a continuum and what comes next. So as we started the year with the holidays, we end this part of the journey with the holidays. This is a view from the top of a popular shopping center in the heart of Dublin. They really do this time of year in style! But I really don't feel like this is goodbye. We have been on a journey together for a year and I've met many new friends along the way that I hope to continue to blog with in the future. So to you I say Happy New year and see you soon!
Last week I found out that I won a pair of Patti's earrings! I confess, I have been coveting her work for awhile. What's not to love? her metal work is gorgeous! Check out her Etsy site and her blog to see her work.
I saw a pair of her earrings up close a few months back and can tell you they were as beautiful up close as I had imagined. And when these arrived in the mail ... seriously beautiful.
This is exactly the kind of wire work I'd like to do some day. Maybe we can get Patti to teach a class?
Thank you Patti for my new favorite earrings! I put them on and haven't taken them off since. They are fantastic!
We have an annual family tradition of decorating the tree together adding each item and recounting the story behind it. When we travel the one souvenir we all vote on and pick up from each destination is an ornament. Some years we pick up several, other years it might be only one. But there is usually at least one new story to add to the collection each year. I did a pinterest board if anyone is interested in seeing some of the ornaments and the destination they represent.
So far this year we've added only one ... but there is still time, and we're hoping to add just one more. But I'll save that story for a later post.
As we wrap up the year of Sally's Focusing on Life photo hop, my last few pictures to share are of the holidays and family. This time of year is always very special for me. Both my daughters were born during the holidays (one at Thanksgiving time, and the other between Christmas and New Years), and our wedding anniversary is in December.
I need to play a bit of catch up with Sally's hop as I've missed the last two weeks. So let's begin with Giving Thanks, which is an easy one for me. My girls. I cannot imagine, nor would I want to, my life without them. Nothing can prepare you for how much your life will change by being a parent. My life is forever altered in the most amazing way. Something that I am thankful for everyday.
The next prompt was to focus on a little sparkle, which is also an easy one as you can see. Our tree provides plenty of that both literally and figuratively with all the glorious memories of our travels together through life. You can see this one from the Cayman Islands is a bit worse for wear, but still has a wonderful story to tell.
And now for this week; provide a little pop of red. Yep, also easy. This past Wednesday was our 20th Wedding Anniversary, and my travel partner gave me roses. So very sweet of him. I got up crazy early (as I always do) to go into the office. Followed by an important morning meeting, and then back home by lunch to celebrate our special day --- only to see he'd made it out to pick up flowers for me. They are on the pink-red side, but then I've been channeling my inner pink lately as you can see from my post earlier in the week!
A few weeks back I showed you all a bracelet that my friend Christine taught me called "Gallery." It has become a favorite of mine to wear as it is so comfortable and easy to slip on. I have to admit that it surprised me just a bit since pink is simply not my color. But I am finding that I can wear the bracelet with much more than I thought it would match up with.
At the time that Christine showed me how to make the Gallery pattern (a square stitch), she showed me another one called "Something Fine" that uses simple ladder stitch to anchor rows of stringing (right). One more comfy bracelet, and I used exactly the same beads. But this time the dominant color is the multi-brown/ pinkish beads. It gives the look a deep, rich color tone for Fall. The other thing I added was a large vintage pink button, also gifted by Christine. She is bringing out my inner pink I had no idea was there!
Last summer I was shopping around over on BluMudd and came across this cool bracelet bar. It jumped out at me, probably because it has such wonderful Viking tones to the pattern. Yep, total love for this one.
It sat on the bead table for quite a few months simply because I was hording it. But this piece is just too cool to not put it to work.
I did want to create a somewhat rustic looking beaded bracelet, albeit it isn't in brown tones. But who says the Vikings didn't sometimes wear green? The stitch is a square stitch. A sturdy stitch and one you could image used in Medieval times. I wanted to create a belt buckle look to the bracelet, and a little twisting to the edges to create a braided look. The closure wraps around to button in the back with braided hemp finishing with a hammered copper button.
Ok, and now for the fun part. I went looking for some antiquity eye candy and discovered a great blog called Viking Metal. It's written by a woman in the UK who is doing post doctoral research on .... yep, the Vikings. She had a piece posted that probably would have been used at the end of a waist belt to keep the ends from fraying. The time period is likely the late 9th or early 10th century. It is a standard interlace pattern of the time, and reminded me of the bracelet bar from BluMudd.
Each month my Esty Blogging team does a challenge, and this month the theme is to look to nature for inspiration and Fall colors. Well that's easy enough, so what took me until the end of the month?!
I decided to create a simple choker using a gorgeous jasper focal, some copper detail, leather and a little black to draw out the veining in the stone.
I love japser; it is one of my favorite stones. Of any of the stones I have built up in my stash, jasper is absolutely top 5. I never get tired of it as there are so many varieties to choose from. Half the fun is trying to figure out exactly which one it is. I thought this one was red poppy jasper, but my friend Therese is guessing leopard skin jasper. Let us know if you have a better guess!
I've been trying to figure out a little history on turn of the century folk art toys, some call them "Prim Dolls."
I just had this picture in my head of homemade, sewn rag dolls. But, there really is very little information on them. Plenty of pictures, but next to no background or history.
This necklace just seemed to have that same touch of handmade, folk art, rag doll flare. A bit of whimsy and a lot of swing when you wear it. The large grey rounds are matte hematite (LOVE this bead) and have a good weight to them, so it adds to the swing of the fringe. Oh yes, there is fringe. Fringe seems to be on my mind lately. And I used the zig zag stitch for the necklace as I wanted a chain with a more rustic feel to add to the folk art look. I am really enjoying playing around with this look lately.
Several of you asked about how to do the zig zag stitch. It really is very simple; using 3 beads to shape a triangle. I like using metal colored beads as it does create a chain look and feel to the stitch. Below is a step-by-step to explain:
I've had a lot going on lately and haven't been able to get out and snap pics for Sally's hop. I am hoping to catch up today since I took the day off to celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday.
Sally asked us 3 weeks ago to focus on an industrial photo. I confess that I had some trouble trying to think about how to capture that in a photo. Yes I work in New York, but a single photo? When I think of industry it makes me think of the turn of the last century when machines made life easier, which made me think of the old sewing machines. I learned how to sew on an old Singer with the crank wheel. And when I bought my first machine I wanted one just like it, so I bought this one. It only goes backwards and forwards. Nothing fancy, but it is what I prefer.
The next thing Sally asked us to think about was to reflect. This time of year I do reflect on all the things to organize as the kids go back to school, the days become shorter, and the rains come --- soon to be snow. I actually enjoy the cooler weather, and don't mind the rain. But that is probably because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
Ok, so one more photo to share with you all. Today is my youngest's birthday, and my centerpiece. She is very excited as we are having several of her friends over for pizza, cake and then off to the opening night of the Hunger Games. It just happened to coincide with her exact birthday. She's just a tad giddy today as she awaits the arrival of all her friends showing up to help her celebrate. So I might be a little delayed in getting around to everyone's blog posts tonight!
I know I said I'd be back in a week, but Christine's Rolling Blog Hop is, well... hopp'n! I posted two of my spools 2 weeks ago, and I was waiting for a lull to post my third spool reveal. But looks like I'm going to need to squeeze back in.
The posts are just roll'n in, and we've seen some fantastic designs! I have all the links to everyone's reveals so far at the end of this post so you can check them all out.
For my third design, I was working with this large, more irregular shaped spool. I did struggle just a bit with it trying to figure out what direction I wanted the design of the spool to be until I remembered an image I saw of a young Native American girl. She had beautiful dark hair tied up on either side in what is called a "Squash Blossom" style. The hairstyle is a Hopi custom which represents the sign of a girl's marriageability. The young girl will twist her hair in the shape of squash blossoms, which is the sign of fertility for an unmarried girl in the tribe.
I wanted natural colors and fibers in this piece, so I used a linen colored silk from Darn Good Yarn, a mix of seed beads, Czech beads and howlite. I am loving this howlite stone with native designs. It has subtle tan-cream veining throughout the stone, which gives it a natural look. I also stained the spool so it had a deep color. The focal is long (6 inches!) and has a good weight to it. I envision it being worn waist length.
Ok, I know this is an irreverent move on my part, but once I started putting this blog post together I simply could not get an image out of my head. Is it just me? or do those squash blossom twists remind you of Princess Leia in Star Wars... I always thought of her hair as more of a Danish pastry swirl, but maybe that is just the recollection from the Ross and Rachel scene in Friends. Once I started googling images, both the Native American girl and Princess Leia kept coming up together. It was all over for me; the image stuck. The one I can't get out of my head is Nicolas Cage dressed like Princess Leia ... that is one that cannot be unseen... Gah!
We're almost through the rolling blog hop! Check out all the links and projects already revealed. Our host: Christine (Christine's post), and all the rest of the rolling bloggers:
Janet (Janet's post), Hope (Hope's post), Bobbie (Bobbie's post), Tanya (Tanya's post), Maryanne (Maryanne's post), Cynthia (my first post), Liz (Liz's post), Lisa (Lisa's post), Kim (Kim's post), and the bloggers still to post: Therese (Therese's post), Karin (Karin's post) and Erin (Erin's post)
Last Spring I was working on a series using these wood focals gifted to me by Christine. It was love at first sight when I saw these babies. They are rustic, boho, tribal ... all wrapped up into one.
I had two designs done quickly (right) with plenty of fringe, and I revealed these for the last A Time to Stitch Blog Hop (#3). And just a shout out that we're now all working on our #4 ATTS with reveals coming in January. Check the link if you're interested in a little bead weaving.
This third wood focal was giving me pause. I knew pretty quickly I wanted to pair it up with a ceramic piece gifted to me by Melinda Orr (yes, I am one lucky girl getting all these wonderful beady items gifted to me!). The issue was what in the world was I going to do with necklace? I tried suede (too chunky and hung all wonky), I tried leather (thin and kinda meh?), so I set it aside and my UFO sat there on my bead table a loooooong, long time.
But then I remembered these lovely seed beads with a copper finish to them (also gifted to me from Christine, yep lucky girl I am). And I remembered this great stitch that Christine showed me called a zig-zag. The metal colored beads with this stitch almost resemble chain. Very cool effect. I kinda love how it looks. And so did one of my friends. This one lasted about a day in my shop inventory before my friend took it home.
I'm not exactly sure how this all started, but I seem to be in a fringe state of mind lately. I feel like every time I look at a piece, that could potentially be 'finished' .... I think, so could I add a little fringe to this side here?
A few weeks back my friend Christine met me in NYC and we walked The High Line. If you are ever in New York, check it out. It is an oasis in a noisy city. Christine and I were threatening to come back and bring our beads and lounge for the afternoon on their roller chairs! (Below) they are plank lounges that roll on the old rail tracks. Seriously cool!
Spending time with Christine is like two sisters that haven't seen each other in awhile and stay up ridiculously late talking into the wee hours of the night. The High Line was a bonus as we took in all this amazing scenery, and art, and NY views. A glorious day! We stopped into the Chelsea Market to snoop the shops, and wandered into the Anthropologie there. I do love their eclectic, bohemian style. But I don't like their prices!
I always have to take a peek at the jewelry, and I noticed that they were putting out tassel earrings this Fall. I grabbed a few examples (above right) off their website ... the green tassels are $198 -- yikes! The ones I found in the store were a little more reasonable, more along the lines of $50, but still they are tassels? You know the ones you cut off the ends when you buy semi-precious gems.
The ones I looked at in the store had a bit of chain wrapped around them with a glass bead? I showed Christine, and said "we could do so much better than this!" Ok, was that a challenge? Yeah, you all know where this is heading. Now I had to try it. These bead up quickly, and of course there is beaded fringe on my fringe. Because I'm just in that state of mind lately.
Today we're celebrating Therese's Birthday (of Therese's Treasures), and she does it in such a unique way. She sends out gifts to all of us! How nice is that? This year Therese decided to apprentice with a local glass artist. As her first lesson she learned fusing glass, and she created a series of cabs, which is what she has shared with us! She told us that her birthday present was to see what we make with her cabs.
In this first lesson she learned how to cut glass, score and break it, then the fun begins with fusing shapes and 'sandwiching' pieces of glass. You can see Therese (top left) shaping the glass in the picture I grabbed from her blog, along with her collection of cabs she made! You can read more about her process here.
The cab Therese sent me is on the lower right of the picture. It is really a beautiful piece! I am pretty new to working with cabs, in fact this is now my second bead bezel piece, so I kept it simple to let the cab really take center stage. Then I did some simple stringing for the rest of the bracelet, again because I did want to fight with the dominant colors of the cab. I added just a little bit of gold beading to pull out the gold in the glass. The end result kinda reminds me of a modern piece of art ... almost Kandinsky! Happy Birthday Therese, and thanks for hosting a great birthday blog hop! Here are all the other birthday hoppers: Alicia, Amy, Bobbie, Christine, Cynthia (that's me), Kristen, Lola, Marla, Maryanne, Shirley, Therese and Crystie
It is exciting to see something that you created and put a lot of effort into, get published. I feel that way whether it is in a printed magazine, or in the pages of the eMagazine I work on called Bead Chat Magazine.
This month we did a tribute to Bead Trends Magazine. I think a lot of us were quite sad to see the end of it's publication. The magazine was always beautifully done. And I think a lot of felt it was more accessible to the broader bead community than some publications. That is one thing that the team at Bead Chat Magazine has tried to do; to make a publication that is accessible, and one that celebrates all the wonderful artists in our midst.
I was one of the many people who submitted to Bead Trends, had one of my pieces selected only to find out weeks later that it would not be published. And that they were ceasing the magazine. What! Really? It sent ripples through the bead community. Our team decided to asked Tatia Meyer, the publisher, if she'd be willing to do a tribute issue with us. You'll see a letter that she wrote (Pgs 9-10) to thank all those who contributed through the years.
I was so bummed when I heard my piece wasn't going to be published, as this was a piece that I had been dying to share with people. I made it early last Spring, shipped it off to Bead Trends, and then found out it was back logged as one of the many that needed to be returned.
I was excited about our Bead Trends Tribute, because I was going to be able to show you all my necklace, along with pieces from several other artists. Mine uses an irregular netting pattern. The beads are from my Turkish friend who brought them back from a visit. Their odd shapes contribute to the old world feel of the piece. I added wing oyster shells (I brought back from a trip to New Zealand) as the fringe. I wanted to give some substance to the edging, but also have a little sound from the movement of the piece. The shells were just the thing. It sits up on the collar bone and looks fantastic with a scoop neck top. Be sure to check out all the other unpublished pieces, plus an interview with Jess Italia Lincoln from Vintaj, and Erin Siegel who talks about her thoughts on being published. It's another packed issue!
Last time I was up at our camp in the Adirondacks I asked my mother-in-law about a large string of shells hanging on the wall. They had clearly been there a very long time, but no one seemed to know why or where they came from. She said that they had come back with my husband's older brother from one of his many, many adventures. Exactly which location? Hard to say ... Thailand, India, Mexico ... she couldn't remember.
She said that they had no sentimental value and perhaps I could use the shells in my designs. Oh she knows how to sweet talk me! That took about 3 seconds, as I had to climb the stairs to reach the string of shells. They have a beautiful orange and off white pattern to them. Those were in my bag before she could finish the sentence.
And then a few weeks back I met up with my friend Christine and she gave me a shell her brother found in Florida from a beach combing excursion. She had drilled a hole in the top which made it perfect for a focal. She also gifted me this really cool banana fiber, which adds the best rustic boho feel to the piece. Funny how bits and pieces just fall together like they were always meant to be.
What's a trip to Ireland without seeing a castle? You'll have to put up with my dark photography for this post as it was a bit tough to get the right lighting this time of year even with a few momentary spots of blue sky. The castle here is Bunratty (c. 1250), one of the better preserved examples of what it was like to live in a castle. The link will give you a little tour (if you're thinking about a trip to Ireland this was one to see).
We wondered around the grounds first. Through what was the local village surrounding the castle including a beautiful little church. I was surprised when we got to the castle and saw that the drawbridge was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be wider ... for horses, carts and the like. But we found this one to be the size of a normal door. Right above the door (within the castle) was a hole called the "murder hole" where enemies who ventured in during a raid would be doused with boiling hot oil. Ouch!
I didn't take pictures of the village. Apparently the castle is turned into Santa's Grotto during the holidays. So weird to see fake, felt snow on the thatch roofs with Snow White and her dwarfs out in the yard? I just have to ask ... what is it with people and their Christmas sweaters? We saw them everywhere, in their ridiculous glory. And what says Christmas better than a gigantic blow up sweater (the size of a house!)? Yes, right in the middle of Santa's Grotto.
