Blooming

Crocheted yarn flower necklace.

More polymer clay moths.

Flutter By Butterfly

Misty sunrise.

Polymer clay with laser print transfers and glass beads.

Frida

Frida Kahlo

Laser print transfer on polymer clay, mint tin, glass beads, vintage button, pins.

Summer Diversions

Paris Flea Market Pendant

It's time for this month's Gallery Friday at Artisans in Downtown Columbia, Tennessee. This month we will have several new artisans.

The festivities are Friday, June 25, from 5:00 until 9:00.

3 Metal Swirls

Copper and Brass Dangles



My mind has been mostly on food and gardening. I've been getting inspiration from one of my favorite raw food websites, RawLife.com. Check it out.

Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Avocado, Sweet Peppers, and Kelp Powder

Totally Raw Chocolate Tarts for Father's Day

Totally Raw California Rolls

Prickly Soyu Cucumbers

Uncle David's Dessert Squash

Milo Smelling the Herbs

Winter's Beauty and Two Artsy Ladies

Winter is not my favorite time of year. All of the other seasons are more to my taste. Winter, however, does have its moments. The sunrises and sunsets rival any other season. The colors are so much more vibrant, and the silhouette of the bare trees makes a beautiful contrast.
And then of course, there is the beautiful starkness of the snow. We have gotten to enjoy that view this winter way more than any year that I can recall. We may usually see one snowfall if we are lucky, but this year we have had at least three separate occasions of measurable snow. The schools have used up all of their snow days legitimately. That is a rarity here.

This has given me a good excuse to stay cozy in the house and stitch away at my little projects. I have created a couple of cuffs and necklaces to honor two famous artsy ladies. The first one needs no introduction.

The second set is in honor of Frida Kahlo which inspired the bright colors. All of these are made from vintage and recycled fabrics and buttons.

Buried Dolls and Bottle Caps

I finally got to work with a couple of new things that I've been wanting to get my hands on. The first thing is a bisque doll body that was unearthed in Germany after being buried for almost a hundred years on the grounds of a doll factory. I bought the doll from my friend Julie (isthereashadow) in Australia and had first seen the dolls in the work of Nina Bagley. The history of the dolls intriqued me and I wanted to have one of my own to experiment with. I kept it around for about a month before I decided what to do with it. I had a vintage broach that reminded me of a wing, but I only had one, so as I pondered, the phrase, "a wing and a prayer" came to me. I stamped a silver rectangle with the word "prayer" and then I remembered a vintage silver plated cross that Steph (vladthebat) from Belgium had sent me, and so the piece started to come together. The parts came from all around the world and ended up in Tennesse to become this necklace.

The next new thing is that my hubby got me a doming block (did I spell that right? dome-ing) I had been wanting one for quite a while. I had seen jewelry made from domed bottle caps. I love using found objects for my art and I have a large collection of bottle caps. People save them for me and also I get many from a local country store that has a bottle opener on the door to the store with a container to catch the caps. They must think it is strange when I come in and ask to empty their caps. One day I'll have to show them what I make with them. The bracelets and necklace that inspired me were made by Ron Pascho and are seen in the Lark book: Fabulous Jewelry from Found Objects.
The book has inspired many of my pieces. I highly recommend it for technical, as well as creative inspiration. Here is my bottle cap necklace. The bottle cap pairs are tube riveted together.

Surprises In The Mail

Don't you just love to get surprises? I've gotten two lately. The first one was from Steph (aka Vladthebt) There was a lovely decorated box in my mailbox and I knew just who it was from when I saw it. The box was chock full of treasures large and small. There was a cool bracelet and lots of beads and a bag full of different kinds of crosses.I just noticed that the bracelet isn't in this picture because I immediately put it on my wrist. I had such fun looking at the present and planning what I would make with the items.This necklace was made using some of the beads that Steph sent in a previous gift, plus some of my own.The second surprise was from my cousin Sally. She called and said that she was mailing me a box of wool. She has two sheep, Moses and Pharaoh, so this wool was from them with some other types of wool mixed together. The colors are going to be fun to work with and there is some white for me to dye myself.
What a fun jump start that was to my creativity.

Candy and Sushi

My mind has apparently been on felt and food lately.
Here are a couple of my calorie free creations.

I got the idea from Felt Magazine.

New Stuff

Well the title isn't very inspired, but it pretty much says it all. Here are some of the new things that I made for the sale at Silo Studios.
The photo above is a button maille bracelet that I got the idea for from a jewelry magazine that I flipped through at the craft store. I've always wanted to try chain maille but the directions seemed confusing. This looked simple enough, and it was fun.

A variety of earrings.

This is Prince Albert, made from a tobacco tin, a tin can lid, some resistors for his medals, and a vintage rhinestone button.

Baby Name Necklace

This necklace was a commission for a lady that is getting ready to have her first baby. She wanted the necklace to have the baby's name. Even though the baby is a girl, I made the necklace in blues and greens, with dragonflies and leaves, for a nature theme. I think it's pretty cool that when Allie grows up she can wear a necklace that her mom wore while pregnant with her...an interesting keepsake.

Antique Store Inspirations

It's always so fun to go browsing through an antique mall. There's one near my house that I occasionally get to visit and last week I treated myself to an outing. I found several interesting odds and ends and when I got home I was inspired to make this necklace from an old change purse, several broken old necklaces, a vintage glass button, and some rusty keys. Every element came from that trip to the store, except the wire to put it together. On a brass tag, I stamped the words, "remember when." Inside the purse, I decided to add a little more history. It contains a 1941 wheat penny, a 1 1/2 cent postage stamp, bits of an old post card, two WWII food ration stamps, and an old photo of an anonymous couple.
One could make up one's own story to go along with the contents or put in personal mementos.
Another inspiration for me is Nina Bagley's jewelry.
I will be taking it to this month's sale at Silo Studio on Thursday.

Two New Necklaces

Here are the most recent necklaces of the week.

Fun Outing and New Jewelry

Every once in a while it is good to go on an art field trip. It kind of gets the creative juices flowing. That's what I did on Thursday. A local artist had bought some of my jewelry and emailed me and introduced herself. We sent several emails back and forth but had not met in person. She has an event at her house every second Thursday, called Studio Thursdays. I went to my first one last Thursday. Her business is called Silo Studios because their house is built around an old grain silo. It is the most beautiful and unique house that reminds me of a lighthouse. She makes wonderful, whimsical, colorful furniture, signs, and other cool stuff. I had a blast! She also asked me if I want to bring some jewelry to sell next time so I'd better get to work!
Two other new blogs are added to my links today. My daughter-in-law is launching a blog for her jewelry and my son is doing one just for fun.



I have been venturing back into soldering. I haven't done much of it since many years ago when I was doing stained glass so it is taking some practice to get proficient again. Here are some new necklaces that are collages under glass. A couple of them are sold already. Yay!

Ballet Necklace

Birthdays all around! This is a necklace that I made for my daughter-in-law who loves to dance. She took this photo for me because I didn't get to photograph it before I gave it to her. The pendant is made from a digital collage that I did, mounted on white brass, and covered with resin. I am including a separate image of the collage because all of the detail doesn't show up on the necklace photo.