Wednesday, December 31, 2008

And a Hippo Gnu Deer


I'd heard it said that what you'll be doing at Midnight is an accurate reflection of your year to come. Since I will be probably sacked out on the couch watching a movie and eating too many leftover Christmas cookies....there is probably far more truth in this than I would like. That said, pack yourself a New Years bags of dreams and wishes. If you want sparkle, throw in some sparkle. Add a journal to record your successes. Some spiritual nourishment (not cookies, Kristen!) Some empathy and warmth (Sunglasses!) I'll be adding a couple of keys, (of course) and a some kneaded rubber erasers. (Change and growth are possible, tenacity is the key.)

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Metal Art i Facts

When does trash become treasure? My mother (and many of her generation) simply LOATHE the chrome kitche of the 50's. Whereas I cannot find enough red and white canister sets. Lime Green fiestaware makes me swoon. And don't even get me started on the wonders pistachio and chrome trashcans.

I found a pop top today on my walk. The kind that aren't attached. Those that were going to litter the world if we didn't change our aluminum can ways immediately. I won't say I swooned, but hey...it was certainly more interesting trash than I usually see!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Monday's Child

I was getting all ready to complain about Monday. (Monday's, shudder!) But then Leo (the nephew) goes ahead and decides it's time to be born. He weighs in at a whopping 3 lbs 12 ounces. And despite his size, mom and babe are doing well.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

These are a Few of My Favorite Things.











Cocoa, my 4 Year old lab mix. Completely sacked out after plowing through the snow in front of the studio. (I took her Christmas ribbon off.)

--My Sun Retro bicycle. Gave me a new lease on life about 3 years ago when I discovered the absolute pleasure in "cruising."

--Music! My studio now has tunes. And the new William Least-Heat Moon Book.

--Rosemary Trees, Old mason jars, and my vintage thermometer.

Easy Earring Wires



The cost of sterling silver has gone up in the last year. While it's been steadily climbing down again, and will likely fall further, findings are still crazy expensive. The top picture is of a pair of sterling silver ear wires priced at 2.44 per pair. (Granted you can get a discount if you buy 100 pairs.) BUT TWO DOLLARS AND FORTY-FOUR CENTS???? For about 24 cents you can make the identical ear wires with 20g SS wire.

Cut about 1.5" of wire.

Make a tiny loop on one end.
Curve the other end around a ball point pen.

Trim and sand any rough edges. Half hard wires works better than dead soft...or you can tumble them afterwards.

Now maybe 2.44 won't break your bank account. But would you pay 20.00 for a loaf of bread? 10.00 for a Pepsi? 1,000,000 for your 100,000 dollar house? Something that takes about a minute seems worth doing to save a couple of dollars.
Happy New Ears!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Easy Earrings #30-River Rocks


30 pairs of easy earrings in 30 days ended up being 30 pairs in about 60 days. Despite falling welllll behind schedule this ended up being a really valuable experience. I made earrings for strangers and people I love. I made new friends (Nothing will invite conversation more than sitting down at Starbucks and playing with beads!) Right before Christmas, I sat with a young man (And coffee Maestro!) and helped him make a pair of earrings for his girlfriend.

What next? Hmmm. It's brewing right now!

Easy earrings number 30. Czech glass Jet Picasso ovals and sterling silver knots.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Rubbbbber Ducky, You're the one


Some beads are so insanely cute I just want to hoard them. Were you a Bert or an Ernie fan?

Holiday "ness"



1) Play with someone.

2) Make something.

3) Share.
(A few days ago I was a hero in my son's eyes. A cheeseburger and a man he said looked hungry. Hanging out with 10 year olds makes my heart grow.)

My middle sis is in the hospital. Preeclamptic, she's going through the battle of body wanting baby to be born NOW and baby Leo needing to bake a bit longer. 3 pounds, maybe, is he and a first baby she thought she couldn't have.
Blessings upon you and yours this week.
Kristen

Easy Earrings #29--If I Had a Hammer


Easy earrings #29. Hammered brass wire. Couldn't be simpler.

Easy Earrings #28-The Bee's Knees




Snow, wind, sleet, slush, mush---go figure, I'm thinking about Spring. Easy earrings #28--pewter bumble bees, brass wire, and Czech honey flowers.




Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Easy Earrings #27-Ephalumps and Weasels







The fisher is a North American marten, a medium-sized mustelid. The fisher is agile in trees and has a slender body that allows it to pursue prey into hollow trees or burrows in the ground. Despite its name, this animal seldom eats fish; the name may originate from the French word fichet, which referred to the pelt of a European polecat. In some regions the fisher is known as a pekan, derived from its name in the Abenaki language. In parts of New England it is often called a fisher cat.

Yes, Kristen has been busy surfing Wikipedia again. These easy earrings both contain a "fisher ring." A donut shaped, large hole in the center, Czech glass bead. I wasn't crazy with how either turned out, but I like this shape of bead. Anyone else have some better designs?

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Clothespins and Coolness


It turns out that among 11-13 year old girls I am now cool. 30 years ago, I wasn't even close. And how did my "hip" rating increase exponentially? I wore a bracelet I'd made today made from clothespins. Well, the wire part of wooden clothespins. Apparently it's Goth. Who knew. I need to clarify...that this is not my idea. I saw it done years ago by a far cooler 13 year old than I'll ever dream of being. And I've seen it on the web. But I'll freely admit. I did bask for a minute or two.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Easy Earrings #26-The Snowy Snowy Day


In North Carolina, where I had previously lived most of my life, snow was a civilized affair. For each inch of accumula-tion, everything shut down for a day. 7 inches meant a solid week of hibernation. Perfect Reason! Sure it meant children might well be in school through the entire month of June--but so what! It was SNOWING!!!!! Reno, Nevada has apparently never cultivated the same Snow Appreciation Policy. (SAP) 7 inches of snow means absolutely nothing! Last year Son Sam and I did the proper thing and took several snow days. This year apparently his 5Th grade teacher has instilled a sense of duty in him that his mother had not previously encouraged. Perfect attendance! (Shudder.) So he was taken to school and I pretended I had the day off. For several hours. And then a couple more. When I finally lumbered off the couch, I snapped the picture from my deck and made Easy Earrings #26. Moonstones, Pearls, and Sterling Silver. What else could be worn today except white!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Reconciled to Take the Bus




Keys show up when you reconcile yourself to the bus. --John Green




I've mentioned my fascination with vintage keys. Part of the appeal is their foreignness. They bear little resemblance to their predecessors. Another merit is their heft. Most of the vintage keys I've been purchasing in bulk are steel. They have a solidity to them that is reassuring. (100 year old keys did not break off in the lock.) Lastly--some of them have cryptic messages. One of them I won't be parting with has "Sparkle" written across it's face. Sparkle! Now this is a direction I plan to try and follow!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Interplanet Janet


Being somewhat (or er almost completely) process oriented, I am frequently surprised when I spend several hours on a piece and what comes out is horrid. It goes something like this:
Oh, cool, here's some brass tubing and a corrugated piece of mokume. Soldier. Soldier. hmmm...what if I close this end with a disk I've curved inward. K, cool. That works. ooh, a little garnet cab. Hmm, little weights soldiered to the bottom of the chain. Gotcha. Good plan!
An hour or so later...I have a capsule for storing the ashes of a particularly grouchy alien. (Just a tad phallic, eh?)
Now--an equal number of times this process will lead to something astonishing. I'm not knocking process, or jubilant soldiering. But here's where I miss school. Forced critique with other people engaging in the same creative process. Joiners, you know you're out there, will gather with creative people even after art school is longgggggg over. I am not a joiner.
So what do I do? I photograph...the good...the bad....the alien. And hope for comments!

Easy Earrings #25--Shell Shocked

Same curl. Different bead. (Hmmm... different colored wires.)

Easy Earrings #24-African Wedding Drops

2 Large African wedding beads-(love the stripes)and wire. A curl on the front, and one on the back. Simple.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Rocks in My Pocket

Spent most of my youth
Out hobo cruising.
And all I got for proof...
Is rocks in my pockets and dirt in my shoes.
So goodbye nonbeliever
Don’t you know that I hate to leave here.
So long babe, I got the flashback blues.
--John Prine

I've been picking up things lately...broken pieces of glass....rocks...car reflectors. Things I would never have touched in years past. My studio sits across the street from the railroad tracks and I walk about a quarter of a mile to the bus that brings me back to son and dog and dinner needing to be made. Domicile and Domesticity. It's a journey that takes about 45 minutes and somehow lends ease to the transition.

Sterling silver, rocks, pearls, Moonstones, and steel.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Key's to My Heart

The keys to my heart this Monday:

1)Sun dried tomato, artichoke heart, and Feta Cheese Pizza.

2) Sun Retro Cruisers.

3) Vintage Keys. (I'll be listing some next week.)

4) Fiesta Ware. (Especially Lime Green.)

5) Wool Scarves.

20 miles and I ROCK


Weekend with friend Cheryl was great. We tooled around Tahoe Thursday and Friday went for a 20 mile bike ride along the Truckee River. Yep, I RODE 20 miles on a bike. (That's like 100 miles in middle aged chubby woman world!) I won't describe the aftermath...there are parts of your anatomy that aren't supposed to HURT. But all in all the visit was really great. It's nice to know this friend as a grownup and be one (practically) my self.
I am no longer 42 and a half. 43 is my Renaissance year!




Easy Earrings #23-Washer Woman

Easy earrings #23--Simple Brass Washers (Go to East Asheville Hardware Before You Go to Lowes!) dangled with copper Bali style beads and a large fire polished donut.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Picasso


LikePicasso said in 1910
I'm gonna paint me a mandolin.
Could be cubes or could be curves,
I like to mix the paint with nerve.
I load my brush and fire away.
Paint me a hole in the light of day.
You can play it straight or play it from left field,
but you gotta play it just the way you feel.
C'mon boys, play it again.
Play it on Picasso's mandolin. Guy Clark

GuyClark. Singer/Songwriter. One of my long time favorites--a gift handed to me from an ancient relationship. I also got a dog, but that's another story. Anyway--connecting this post vaguely back to beads--all my favorite beads have Picasso finishes lately. I haven't always liked this finish on a bead. Thought it looked messy. But things change. Beads change. Kristen changes.

Pictures tomorrow of a day gallivanting in Lake Tahoe. I haven't gallivanted in a while, so I'm clearly out of practice and should document it.




Tuesday, December 2, 2008

A Story of Friendship and Terror


It's not likely this entry will live up to that title. (Currently a book on sale at Amazon about prisoner's of war...no I haven't read it.)

Friend Cheryl comes in tomorrow. All the way from Western NC. (A distinction made by residents of Western NC.) She lives about 3 miles from my older sons (21 and 18) and sees one of them frequently sucking down expensive caffeine in the local coffee shop. (Like mother like son.) We went to college together. (VERY small liberal arts hippie dippy--go figure.) Graduated (Both of us!) and reared Children (6 collectively...she all girls, me all boys.)

I am both THRILLED and appalled she is coming. I am not a very social person. Well, occasionally I am a social person. But I choose to not practice the art of sociality often enough. I will probably talk too much. She will be thin. I will be less thin. She will be TALL. I will be less tall. She is a nurse. The women in past generations of my family believed that nursing was the pinnacle of womanhood. Whether or not your husband left you, you could always be a nurse. (And it would connect you just a little more to Mary and Jesus.) This generation of women are slightly less crazy underachievers. Nurses scare us just a little.

I value this person beyond any quantifiable measure. She is flat out lovely. It's just the whole....10 years have gone by...will we still laugh our butts off thing. I suspect we will. I'll keep you posted.

Studio Space/Favorite Beads/A short Rant


As I mentioned yesterday, I have just rented a little studio. Very little. And hugely wonderful. It's given me a new found excitement for all facets of my work life. I listed merrily today and rediscovered two of my all time Czech glass bead favorites.
One disappointment with ebay...any thoughts on this? Ebay's new payment policy has removed the option of accepting payments via money order or personal check. I realize the benefits to ebay. They of course own Paypal. It increases their earnings...etc etc. Sure, most people do pay with Paypal. But I like options. The more you take away from me as a buyer and seller---the more squirmy I get. How about you?