happy halloween!

i adore halloween.
costumes, evil merriment, death and tiny chocolate bars.

odilion redon - the crying spider (1881 charcoal on paper)


one of the all time greatest estate sale finds - my clown shoes.

five years ago i nearly peed my pants when i unearthed them in the back of a dusty suburban closet at the home of a recently deceased clown. they are not some lame costume shop shoes, these are the real thing. hand constructed by a shoemaker around/over a pair of men's black leather dress shoes. they fit me perfectly - physically and sometimes mentally.

little wrens

happy (almost) halloween

odilion redon - the cyclops (1914)

a necklace

sterling silver hand hammered links with freshwater pearls,

flameworked bird beads,

and gemstones.

meadowlarks & long hearts

fleet foxes - one of my favorite albums from this year.

fleet foxes - meadowlark

a new necklace

my flame worked glass beads with a hand hammered sterling silver and taupe freshwater pearl chain. there's also a big smoky topaz rondelle, some wee garnets & opals and a lovely cloud shaped white pearl mixed in.

sorry about the blurry pics, the necklace is already gone so there is no chance to re-photograph it. when will i learn to check before shipping off the work?


it's truly snowing here, the sloppy wet flakes are melting as they reach the grass and the sun is shining through a big hole in the heavy clouds.

i changed out the bed linens this morning. at halloween it's time to take off the linen duvet cover and get ready to snuggle under the heavy velvet one. the satin and cotton bed pillows went in the box and the raggedy tapestry and victorian velvet ones came out. the big long brown faux fur shams are back, much to the dogs napping delight. yes, i let the poodles crash on the bed, it's a battle i cannot win.

blackbird necklace

today was a nasty autumn tuesday with a wickedly cold and wet icy wind and clouds that were dark and heavy - an unpleasant but yet weirdly beautiful day.

it's starting to look like halloween.

a new necklace.
a little iridescent black bird perched on a pearl branch with a dangling greenish black egg. i made a simple sterling chain of oil slick colored baroque pearls for the pendant - it's long enough to slip easily over your head.


i almost kept it, but took it to the museum's gift shop instead. i need some $$$ to buy a big bag of those insidious tiny trick-or-treat candy bars.

it's late and the wind is whipping and making the window panes rattle. i can see the last of the wet leaves waving around wildly on branches that are backlit by the street lights. it's very low budget horror movie weather tonight.

wrought iron ferns in the back yard.

for deb

happy birthday.


yes, she liked it.

& like a bow on her present - a little lee scratch perry - soul fire

iris orange

the raku mania that swept the bead world missed me. i hadn't even started flameworking when the fad was really rolling.

but i am all about raku glass now.

these little birds and the spacer beads were made with raku (iris orange) rods. i mistakenly ordered a 1/4lb of 96 coe rods - i use moretti which would be incompatible. so i tried making a few beads that are pure raku.

the pictures do not do them justice, they have an eerie swampy glow.

long hearts

call me trite, but i adore making heart beads.

each of these elongated heart focals measures about 2" in length.
yes, they were a bitch to get off their mandrels.

these little 5 bead sets are for necklaces, the hearts will be big dangling pendants.

i am not a big fan of the color blue - but i had a bunch of little blue bits that i wanted to use up. i love that in the center of the pendant there is an end of a hand pulled twisted cane tucked into the glass.

gemmy goodness

a stand of cold wet sumac.

what could be more fun on a rainy saturday than going to a gem show?

lots of nubby black freshwater pearls, some sort of weird brownish pink moonstones, garnets, carnelian, gold, pear green & forest green freshwater pearls and (of course) some labradorite.

there are some pressing projects in my life. my painting studio is almost up and running after a complete teardown and move. the easels are up and working, boxes are being unpacked. stuff is coming in and going out of what was essentially our unused living room. i actually had the oils out and underpainted a canvas yesterday. more on that opera later.

also, i have been working on a completely new etsy store. i really want etsy to be a viable venue for me and so far it's been a near bust. so, with lots of input from some successful sellers i have come up with a new concept for a shop, more on that later too.

raku wrens

the beginnings of another bird necklace.

hammered sterling silver links

with flameworked birds of encased raku glass on black centers.
the little beads are garnets.

the holidays are coming - don't want to think about them yet?
well, i am - i have a lot of jewelry to make. this old gray elf has some serious hammering, stringing, torching & all around loot making to do before thanksgiving. my first show is the friday following turkey day.

oh no! at this very second - i am looking across my jewelry table and out my bedroom window at this season's first snow flurries.

coral birds

a bird necklace.

lots of egg shaped freshwater pearls,

my flameworded coral colored glass birds

and sterling silver.

i absolutely cannot take a good photograph of a long necklace.

fall flames

by the time you read this all these leaves will be on the ground.

a blustery cold front blew in early this evening and wiped the leaves off the trees. winter is creeping nearer and nearer - i loathe the cold.

the evening breeze caress the trees tenderly.

nat king cole - tenderly (1957)

i had a few minutes to torch today and played with my new blowpipe. it was my first attempt to make shards. it's going to take some practice to make everything even and round - but it did work and i made some shards.

soldier boys

take one skein of garage sale 1970's acrylic camouflage variegated yarn and add some beige italian mohair, army green slubby silk and tiny weenie plastic army men and you have the makings for another stupid hat.


a 25 cent bag of soldiers.


the hat so far. if you look closely up near the needles you can see the first two rows of soldiers.

blue & gold

&

i am not a lawn ornament

we were so close to this deer that i thought it was a cement statue - until it moved.


a leaf that would make a good looking bead -
just some tan glass, brown hair thin stringers & simple clear dots.
wait and see.

a good day for clouds

beautiful cloudscapes this morning.

i love taking pics of clouds with little bits of my urban landscape at the edges.


more tiny bird beads - silvered ivory stringer on black.



behind the public market.

tomatillo mantilla

a weird close-up photograph of a decomposing tomatillo.

it's papery husk has decayed down to a lacy covering around the partially formed fruit.

pressed beans

new beads & a new bracelet.

generally i don't like making beads with presses. don't get me wrong i have nothing against presses - i just don't enjoy using them. but for every silly self-imposed rule, i will always make an exception.

6 fava bean sized beads made with a pair of stainless steel ice tongs.
i found the tongs in the kitchen drawer of an estate sale and instantly thought "bead tool." after pressing the beads i re-heated them and let them slump a little to one side so they would have a nice beany shape.

the glass is a combination of raku frit on a base of red tile roof light with little trails of black added - a few are raku on a black base with scribbles of red tile roof. thankyou nancy (the queen of scribbles) for showing me this technique.

the bean bracelet finished - the 6 glass beans, with topaz, freshwater pearls, faceted garnet seed beads, a big chunk of amber, one antique carved cinnabar bead and a sterling silver toggle.

yes, this is definitely an autumn bracelet. our leaves are peaking and the nights are very chilly. you can be sure fall is winding down when the dogs try to sneak under the covers with you.