Did you know that quartz is the single most abundant mineral on earth? Or that it makes up 12% of the earth's crust? I didn't until I went looking for the causes of Rutilated Quartz, which is the stone in these earrings.
Rutile are inclusions that form in long thin needles "frozen' inside stone such as quartz, but also known to cause the 'star' in sapphires and rubies. Huh, who knew? It is formed when rocks start to cool after being heated by high temperatures and pressure. The pressure eases and the stone separates creating rutile crystals trapped inside the quartz.
These rutile quartz earrings have a black inclusion, but I've seen others with deep green. Both black and green are tourmaline deposits within the crystal. I just love the patterns they make in the stones. That's what's on the bead table this week.
Sally's prompt this week was to focus on color. It is hard not to think about color when it comes to food. The deeper the color, the richer the flavor, the brighter the color the fresher the flavor. Or at least in my opinion.
One of my favorite salads is Caprese. Nothing tastes more like summer to me than fresh flavors. And what an amazing combination with fresh picked basil and tomatoes with locally made buffalo mozzarella. We have a local dairy that makes their own mozzarella, and it is wonderful. I slice up the tomato and cheese and break off fresh leaves of basil. You can smell the salad from across the room.
Last year I bought basil and made it through about half the bunch. And put the left over in a glass with water for about 2 weeks. Those stocks sprouted roots and I planted them in the backyard and had fresh basil from that one batch for the rest of the summer! YUM!
I've been meaning to show you all a set of custom glasses I asked Edi over at Memories for Life to make for me. My girls love pretty much anything mustache related, and if it is a joke; well then all the better. They are just silly that way.
I asked Edi to make me a set of 4 for my girls to giggle over with their favorite beverages.
Edi and I spent a few days trying to find our favorite 4 mustache jokes and decided on:
1. I "mustache" ask you a question
2. I'd love to stay and chat, but I really "mustache"
3. If you really "mustache" ... I'm thirsty
4. Let's shave it for later
Yes the girls giggled over each one. As you can see, mustache-related anything is a constant source of laughter with my girls. It is hard to choose between pointed ears and round ears being more silly.
Check out Edi's Etsy. She makes such fun wood and etched glass pieces, including a whole line of wood cards for anniversaries, weddings, birthdays ... and well, whatever else you can think up. Every piece is custom just for you.
Nothing says the renewal of spring quite like the tender green colors of the shoots coming up around the yard, or the leaves just starting to bud. And well, for me it is this color of light, spring green everywhere that gets me excited about what is about to burst open with color! My piece for this month's BBA Challenge is using a tone on tone color of pale, delicate green; in multiple sizes and shapes.
I've been having lots of fun lately with bead weaving. Practicing my two new favorites stitches over, and over again! You'll see ladder and brick in this piece, which my beady, bloggy friend Christine so generously (and might I add --- patiently) taught me. And it is showing up in all kinds of places! I finished off the closure with these two stitches along with a lotus green button.
The main portion of the bracelet is actually peyote (my go-to stitch), but I mixed it up a little by adding Czech tear-drop beads. I love the effect! It looks like bubbles across the surface of the bracelet. I was at a bead show in March and I noticed that spike beads are showing up in a lot of patterns. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to use something so pointy in my work, but these seem like a more feminine biker play on the pattern.
When Marlene and Shelley suggested a hop swap using the colors from your birthstone, no matter what time of year your birthday actually is ... I thought, well now this is an interesting one. And as luck would have it, I was paired up with a September birthday, mine being March, which means we were both creating with blues!
Marlene also suggested that we not get too crazy and try to use the actual birthstones given the cost of that! But I found trying to find the deep blue of sapphires pretty easy using apatite and topaz. Good thing I'd just been to a bead show because I had the chance to look for those beautiful blue stones in the earrings for a very reasonable price.
My partner, Sherry Baun, sent me the loveliest earrings in pale blues to match my birthday stones of aquamarine. I love these long sparkly dangles, and check out the polymer charms with lighthouses! How cool is that?! How did she know how much I LOVE lighthouses?
For me, there is nothing like a walk on the beach. I'm not your typical beachcomber. When is hot and sticky, I'm not going to be that person sitting in a beach chair. But when the wind is blowing sideways, I'll throw on a sweater and head for the beach. I love the smell of the saltwater and the fresh air whipping around my ears.
So when Sally asked us to talk a walk for inspiration this week, I knew I'd just head down to the beach; rain or shine. As you can see, there's a storm brewing. But made no difference to me.
I enjoyed watching this little boy and his grandfather. The grandfather very close behind to keep an eye on his little explorer. The boy so wanted his feet in the water. And each time the tide came up around his shoes, he giggled with an ear-to-ear grin. We should all be that carefree and able to laugh with life's simple pleasures.
My youngest absolutely loves to collect shells. She picked up as many as her hands could hold, and then recruited her sister to help out. When we got home I asked where she put all her new shells and with a proud smile she said she had already washed them and put them in her shell box. I of course asked the obvious question, "did you dry them?" The look on her face told me she didn't. Sigh.
I love the look of Art Deco whether that is in architecture or fashion (my Deco Pinterest board). And with the release of the Great Gatsby there has been renewed interest in the style of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. I would be remiss to not call out that it really is inspired by the book by Scott Fitzgerald
I stumbled across a fashion spread inspired by the movie release (left), and I noticed all those great hats! And it reminded me of a challenge coming up hosted by Bobbie over at Beadsong. I started a pinterest board for inspiration, and of course added a lot of examples from this time period. Click over to Bobbie's and sign up.
I recently had one of my pieces featured in Stringing magazine that was also inspired by this time period. You can see my design below, and all the others here.
I don't talk about my day job much on my blog, but one thing I do really love is that my office window looks out to the Chrysler Building. An amazing example of Art Deco style. And recently I've been noticing all the hood ornaments on the building. Yes you read that correctly. They really were designed to look like the designs used to adorn cars during the era.
Specifically I can see the wings, which is what my bracelet design is inspired by. It is that classic chevron pattern. You can also see the chevrons on the side of the building which are done in white and grey brickwork. I could just stare at this building all day long, but alas I'd get no work done!
Click over to the Chrysler Building history site and see the lobby details. Especially the elevator doors with the Egyptian Revival influence, which was the birth of Art Deco. The geometric shapes in design coincides with by the discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922 which heavily influenced the styles of the era.
A couple months back, Karen and Mandi challenged a few of us to a free form peyote hop. I think this is one of the stitches that I've been most scared to try, but glad I finally did. For so many reasons.
Not only is it fun (can you believe I'm saying that about a stitch I was so frightened of?) but it has opened a door for me.
I've been experimenting with all kinds of new stitches. And not getting so worked up if it isn't perfect, or the tension is a little off. Doesn't mean I don't need practice, but sometimes being too much of a perfectionist gets in the way of learning new things. So for that, I want to thank Karen and Mandi for getting me outside my comfort zone!
So take 2 of this bracelet was more of what I had in mind when I started this project. I wanted something that had the flow of water to it, that felt like tide pools and surf with the treasures you find when you go hunting for shells. It is by no means perfect, but then I'm not sure that freeform peyote is meant to be?
This week's challenge for Focusing on Life was to look for aged beauty in our lives and something that holds a deeper meaning.
Lots of things in the house could be called 'aged,' myself included. But few hold as much meaning as the hours spent at my piano. It is a loved piece, and something that feels like home to me.
I started playing the piano at age 5. I am by no means a concert pianist, but I can play. And it is less about my mastery of the piano and more about what it has taught me.
It is the same things I want to teach my children. First and foremost there is a love of music. Nothing soothes the soul quite like music. We play a lot of music in the house. It has a way of bringing us together.
Learning to play an instrument also gave me a love of many types of music. I studied classical piano, but then begged to play ragtime, then contemporary. Nothing like a 10 year old banging out the music of star wars on the piano. My kids now have an appreciation not only for what is popular with all their friends, but of rock, jazz, blues, classical... we play it all at our house.
There are other things that learning an instrument teaches. It teaches discipline. And that you can't expect to always be able to pick up a task on the first try. Practice is an important part of learning, and something that has been a more difficult thing for my kids to learn. But both have decided to play instruments, and both have grown to understand this notion of practice and a bit of 'stick-to-it-iveness' that I think helps in life.
My piano isn't a fancy one. But then neither am I. It's got a few dings here and there, but then I've had it since my childhood. It has been with me on a long journey. It has been with me in Oregon, California and now Connecticut. It is like an old friend that has aged beautifully. When I sit down to play, it just all comes back to me. It is the comfort of home.
Sometimes there is a pattern that just fits like an old shoe. One that is your fall back; that you can bead up effortlessly. This is that pattern for me. It's called Crystal Helix by Barbara Falkowitz.
I've made it in half a dozen colors, varying sizes of beads, and each giving it its own unique look and style. I've featured it in several posts (with amethyst, African opal and aventurine) in the past.
Lately I've been loving the look of matte beads, especially these hematite and onyx rounds. And so I pulled out my favorite pattern to see just how these might bead up. I even got the chance to show a bloggy friend, Christine, how to make my favorite 'go-to' bracelet.
This week's prompt from Sally for Focusing on Life is on getting in there on the macro shot. I've been shopping for a new camera, but haven't yet bought one. And as I've been doing that, I tried out a cool gadget for my iphone called a Macro Lens Band that you can buy for $20. Check out a site called Photojojo for all kinds of fun little camera gadgets.
Pretty cool. I was able to get right in there on flowers and take some decent macro pics. Perhaps not as close as I might with a 'real' camera, but not too bad. These are pictures from our trip to San Francisco a few weeks back, and the flowers were in bloom all over the place. I love that Spring comes so early there and I was soaking it up!
So as I continue to explore what camera I might want to buy (I've got it narrowed down to either Canon T series, or Nikon D series); do any of you have suggestions? A camera that can take a great macro of jewelry?
Just for a little fun, I'm including a little video that my youngest daughter made. I was showing her how when you pinch the back of a snap dragon it looks like a mouth opening and closing. The voice over is my daughter making the snap dragon talk.
When I signed up for the AJE Earring Challenge to make a pair of earrings a week (for 3 months) I thought it would be easy since I can sit down and make five or six pair in an afternoon.
But I was so excited to be working with artisan's beads and components that I wanted to try to find the best way to bring out it's color and texture. I wanted to make each one the star. So some of these sat on my bead table for weeks while I paired them up this way, and that way looking for the right fibers and beads to add to each one.
This is my gallery and you can find these all in my Etsy Shop. I've also listed each artist and their shop, blog or website:
1. Three Drops :: Lampworks Beads :: Patricia Dugmore of pj Beads (Website, Etsy)
2. Peacock Swing :: Lampworks Beads :: Patricia Dugmore of pj Beads (Website, Etsy)
3. Sea Urchins :: Polymer Clay Beads :: Patricia Dugmore of pj Beads (Website, Etsy)
4. The Talisman :: Bronze Headpins :: Lesley Watt of THEAtoo (Blog, Etsy)
5. Sea Grass :: Bronze Charms :: Lesley Watt of THEAtoo (Blog, Etsy)
6. Hint of Spring :: Polymer Clay Beads :: Pippa of Pips Jewellery (Blog, Etsy)
7. Four Seasons (Summer) :: Porcelain Charms :: Marsha Neil's Studio (Website, Blog, Etsy)
8. Four Seasons (Fall) :: Porcelain Charms :: Marsha Neil's Studio (Website, Blog, Etsy)
9. Four Seasons (Winter) :: Porcelain Charms :: Marsha Neil's Studio (Website, Blog, Etsy)
10. Four Seasons (Spring) :: Porcelain Charms :: Marsha Neil's Studio (Website, Blog, Etsy)
11. Waiting for Spring :: Porcelain Charms :: Diana of Suburban Girl Studio (Blog, Etsy)
12. A Day at the Beach :: Porcelain Charms :: Diana of Suburban Girl Studio (Blog, Etsy)
My final pair of artisan earrings use a pretty little polymer clay bead from Patricia Dugmore of pjBeads. I found Patricia's work at a bead show and spent quite a long time there just sifting through all the little bowls of beads. I was particularly taken with her polymer clay and their likeness to sea shells. These beads are her sea urchins, that I just love.
I also decided to make my own earwires. I have made one or two before, but not many. But I realized as I was making these that it really is pretty easy. And wonder why I don't make earwires more often? These earrings are available in my Etsy store.
I've really enjoyed the challenge put out by AJE this quarter, but it is time to pass the torch to a new set of participants. The team over there asked for 4 groups (one a quarter) to make a pair of earrings a week and post to their pinterest board. So if you're interested, hop over and sign up!
