Amulets

I found some extraordinary vintage rosaries last week - each one a treasure.

On the left is an old sterling silver one with glass pearls and the one on the right has gorgeous sky blue crystals.

The one  in the center is the fascinating - it is an infants christening rosary.

It's so sweet with the tiny, primary colored glass beads for amusing the baby. The back of the crucifix is stamped Italy.
I am not even a wee bit catholic but, as amulets, they really speak to me.
They're all up on etsy.

Awhile back - Stephanie of Vlad the Bats Attic - recommended this book to me. It is something of an obsession. My copy has become very dog-eared from frequent re-reads and raids for inspiration.

Every paragraph leads your mind off into some thoughtful reverie and a new idea for a necklace. And the artifacts pictured are so gorgeous. So, if you're into this sort of powerful thing - then this book is for you.

51 Big Ones

It's the first of July and that can mean only one thing - a slight hangover.
It's true, I turned 51 yesterday.

Every year is the same thing - the summertime thing I like to do the best - which is to gather up my husband and friends and go to Marge's Lakeside Inn to watch the sunset.

As you can see the sunset over Lake Ontario was appropriately spectacular.

This is Frank. He baked me a red velvet cake. My very, very favorite cake and the same confection that my Mom always made for me when my birthday was still a single digit affair.This was the 4th year in a row that Frank has undertaken the ritualistic task of whipping up a red velvet birthday cake for me. The candied pecan garnish are in an "L" for Lucinda.

What goes best with chocolate cake? Why a Genesee Cream Ale - my favorite local brew.

Marges from the water.

Damn, that was good cake.

Milkweed

It's that time of year again when the miracle of the milkweed happens.

I love my milkweed and never, ever pull it out - it's all over the edges of our yard and full of blossoms,.butterflies and all sorts of interesting wee bugs.

Summer is full blown, even over blown, here. Hot muggy days, birthday picnics, solstice on the beach, cloudbursts, bar-be-ques and bonfires. Drinking iced tea with fresh ginger and snacking on fist fulls of juicy over ripe mulberries. Going to concerts and too many garage sales.

As the young ones say "It's a no bummer summer."

Art Crimes - Owl Graffiti

Who says that vandalism can't be beautiful?

I snapped this owl during the jazz fest - he was hidden behind one of the venues.

Thank you for asking, I am recovering very nicely from the festival - it was 10 days of non-stop music and social madness. It's true that by the last day we were so tired and cranky that I had begun referring to it as the 'jazz fester.' 

I have new paintings and beads to share. And buttons - I have been having a ball with the button machine again. I cannot leave the thing alone.

Sketching Crows

Just got a shipment of glass - sigh. Heavy on the black so that I can make more, and more, crows.

Several huge ones were just hanging out in my yard, yarping at me to draw them.

Killing Him Didn't Make the Love Go Away

I got the double chance to see Amy Levere last night - the early show was so stunning we stayed for the second.

She wrote this eerie song after seeing a news report of a woman who killed her husband of 30 years - as the murderess was taken away from her home in handcuffs she kept wailing "killing him didn't make the love go away..."

Seeds

A sketchbook page of seed inspired earrings.

They came from a wonderful book that I just got called "Seeds."

It's a mind-boggling coffee table book - every seed looks like a potential bead. Well, to me, anyway. But just about anything makes me think of beads.

Here are some of my first attempts. These lentils, above, have a dot of Opalino Nile Green in the center, encased with Cims Cirrus and a ruffle of Cims Dusk around the edge.

This pair have dark transparent purple centers, wrapped in fine silver foil, encased in light transparent brown.

I cannot wait to get back at the torch this week and have at these sketches again.

Golden Raspberries

Summer rolls along and brings us one of my favorites.

Fresh picked this morning and served up, at the market, in little green cardboard berry boxes.

They're Miss Margaret's favorite too.

Blue Angel

Another new pendant.

This one has a hand faceted lozenge shaped quartz bead of some sort at the top, one of my glass beads in the middle and an exquisite raku wing made by Dorcas at Wondrous Strange Designs.

I cannot tell you how much I adore her beads. It was really fun to use one of them in a piece of jewelry because I tend to hoard them.  The poor dears just sit on my work table aching to be strung up - it seems that I would rather just play with them, selfishly keeping them all to myself.

Mercury Rising

I make a lot of big, complicated necklaces for the museum gift shop that sells my work but I rarely wear that sort of jewelry myself. I favor a simple 'bead on a rope' kind of thing. In an attempt to make a piece that is a bit of a show. but not at all difficult to wear everyday. I made this pendant.

It's just a gussied-up version of 'bead on a rope.'

At the top is a ceramic bead by my friend Nancy Valle. She makes the most exquisite sculptures and jewelry using clay. I urge you to check out her website.

In the middle is one of my winged-hearts. I love to make beads that look like they were just freshly dug out of the dirt. Nothing too perfect, or tidy, for me. I like things elemental.

The wings are dark ivory and the base is black with bits of ivory frit, silver foil and silvered ivory stringer.

At the bottom of the bead I have attached a lovely flea market gift from my husband - a flattened Mercury dime that came already drilled. A little wire and a black linen cord and it was good to go.

I wore it out this evening and got lots of ooo's.

Chatter

A page from my painting sketchbook.

After Audubon's Birds of North America - Yellow -breasted Chat. Ink and brush on paper.

A friend suggested that I make download friendly sheets of my paintings for use in resin bezels, buttons and such. Any thoughts? Anyone?

Yellow Bomb

My irises are rioting.

Golden Leaves & Little Birds

Lordy, I have been distracted this week - too much vacationing last weekend left me a husk. Several days of playing catch-up, and a dinner party last night, just got the best of me. But I sat down with my trusty, little camera this morning and took a mess of pictures and listed a pile of birds and a set of golden leaves on Etsy.

The leaves are Double Helix Aurae over light topaz. They look a lot like vintage carnival glass or Steuben Aurene. Man, I love that Double Helix.

There is also a mess of new new birds.

There's a little yellow bird (a la Bright Eyes), a robin, a pair of tiny crows that are perfect for earrings, a couple of other crows and a sort of Danish modern stylized robin a la Oiva Toikka.

I am going off to lampwork in a couple of hours - I cannot wait. It's time to make a plan, find my bead sketchbooks and gather up the glass I am going to need. I have to make lots of pairs for earrings and I want to make some more leaves. After that - who knows?

My baby is back from a couple of weeks of studying in Paris - it's good to have the house full of her noise again. Music, friends and general banging around. The dogs are especially glad to have her back. Her jet-lagged naps are good for snuggling - and dogs, well you know, they can nap 24/7.