A Sleepy Kind of Sunday

When I am feeling like I want to make something but the old creative juices aren't up to 100%; I like to make " dog tags ". The base metals are silver, brass or copper with slightly folded edges. The edges allow me to pour resin over the pictures to preserve them and give them a glass like permanence. Images are little collages and of course, they can be stamped with metal stamps and then antiqued. Pretty cool. Fast, easy, fun, just the kind of craft I need on a sleepy day!


By the way, it is a gray, cold, wet day here in the Pacific Northwest with snow in the mountains. The temperature is warm enough down here though that everything and I mean everything green, is growing with wild abandon!

Friday Portrait Self

Do we really not care? I have heard newscasters and television personalities say that we, as Americans, as people, do not care about the oil leak in the gulf and the tragedy that it is. No one seems to know how to fix it. Not the president, not scientists not engineers, not it appears, even God. Have we come to this that we would allow so much to be destroyed, a destruction that will last for decades? I am sad and sick and frustrated in my impotence and angry that so many things are dying. A way of life, family run industry and jobs,marshes, wetlands, animals, fish, people. I am so, so, so angry. Aren't you?

Felted Vessel

I swear I love felting! This is a little crocheted bowl and top that has been felted and embellished with shell flowers, sequins, vintage lucite leaves and glass beads. I made it as a sample for B&B and to show off the flowers I will be selling. I am beginning to feel some excitement for B&B and seeing old friends, new beads and lots of inspiring bead work!






A closeup of the little shell flowers that I am so addicted to using in my bead embroidery. This is part of the display for the Bead & Button show. All the flowers are made of shell, abalone or amythest.

Banner Day!

The banner is finished that I made for Kabela. I have worked on it in starts and stops for most of the past year. I would get rolling on it and then end up off in another direction and the banner would be stashed. It is made of all wool and is sewn, embroidered, pieced and rubber stamped. I hope they like it and will be surprised when I deliver it in person at the Bead & Button show!

Sunday

All day long while at the shop, I would hear these deep, rumbling booms and think, " thunder ", but they were not thunder at all. The booms were from the cannons on the tall masted ships in the Port Townsend harbor. The Hawaiian Chieftan and the Lady Washington. Simulating a battle between the two; the cannons would fire and the resulting boom could be heard across town followed by a cloud of smoke if you were up close enough to see it.

This is Me

This is me after a small hike in the dessert in Tucson this past February. For this self portrait Friday, I am posting it because the dessert makes me happy. It is still difficult to post pictures of myself; I do not look like I want to appear and I certainly do not resemble the young woman I was so many years ago. This self portrait journey is not over yet. I want to be able to see myself in a picture and say, " yes, that is me " and accept myself and bring out the me that is in the inside. Journeys today that will make me a stronger person.

Possible Progress

Ho Ho - a new crow! I do love the crow and lately I have been spending much of my drawing time sketching these smart, ink black birds. I think this guy looks content and wise, keeper of treasures, holder of secrets, clever dancer in the sky. I am still working like a furious mad woman getting things ready for Bead & Button. I have so much new work! These last few months have been very creative for me! Maybe tomorrow I will get the pieces pictured and posted in my new metal.




Ancient details, ageless symbols of mankind's presence on earth decorate this resin frame. Spirals, a symbol that is as old as the history of man and as contemporary as today, symbolize the feminine in society. It is often the woman that holds the stories for her family so it became important to put this symbol on this piece. I am fascinated with spirals and see them everywhere and include them in all aspects of my art and craft works.




Heart frames. One of my favorite images over the years has been the heart. So much is kept in the heart, love, joy, family, friendship, life. When I began to think of making resin frames in sterling and bronze, I had to do a heart, to get to the heart of the matter, so to speak. This one is large enough to hold a whole love story or the embrace of a family. I thought someone could make this into a piece of jewelry or an ornament for the Christmas tree. A small place to keep a big treasured memory.





This is what a collection of my resin frames looks like, all polished up and priced; ready to be packed into baggies to ship to B&B. They make me sigh with all the possibilities they possess. All the things that someone can preserve in them from photos to memories. I would love to see the finished pieces, the little life stories someone captures and holds in a silver frame.

Oh no!

The camera is in the studio so I can not post today's " getting ready for Bead & Button " picture tonight! There is just no way I am going back out in this BIG windstorm to fetch the dang thing! I worked all day on getting the resin frames ready for the show and you should see the latest crow in silver! You will see - tomorrow after I post pictures.



This is one of my favorite, I have had it and things are crazy sayings. Perfect! What a way to describe not only large portions of my life but this dang cold that will not leave me alone! Grrrr.. good night everyone and blessings to Aunt Greta who passed away this morning.

To Toggle or Not to Toggle....

This is an abstract painting in the making. After I took the picture of my sterling toggles all assembled and laying in wait for the Bead & Button show; I realized they were an abstract painting! A mixture of texture, light, form and composition that says loudly, " paint me! ". I think I just might have to!






A close up of a leaf toggle. I like this piece, the leaves impressed into its border, the heart resting lightly at the bottom. Strong but delicate all at once. I formed each slight dome by hand to allow the toggle to lay so gently against the body as leaves lay about the ground when they have wafted from the trees in wind and autumn.

Up at Dawn

One of those early mornings, the house is all quiet except for the gentle snores of the dog, when something pops me from my sleep and makes me wake up. No, I am not ready to give in and be in the day but I make myself get up, splash a tea bag with hot water and honey, head to the studio and begin.

There is much to do, getting ready for the big Bead & Button show. Castings to finish, polishing, sorting, pricing, tagging, compiling and signing, it all waits for me to get it done. It is the best! I love it all, this day of full work. I will be posting pictures tomorrow. Until then a pleasant evening to you and a terrific tomorrow! xo, Lois

I LOVE a PARADE!

Today was Port Townsend's annual Rhododendron parade and what a great parade day it was! The weather was beautiful, the sun out and just the lightest of breezes! I found a nice big rock to sit on by city hall and enjoyed sunning myself and watching the parade march on by.



This is a picture of Jake and his friend Ben and fellow 4-H'ers marching in the parade. Their theme was Magic in the Air so Jake pulled out his wizard's hat, a bit floppy here and the cape I made him when he was 3. Very sparkly! He still loves that cape and I keep trying to give it away but he always says, " NO! "

Post parade, Jake, Phil and Ben having walked and carried the banner for just less than a mile.

Once Again - Self Portrait Friday

I don't know how much longer I will continue to post my self portraits. I am not my own muse when it comes to creating self portraits. This is Milagro, Jacob's lovely little boy kitty. He is not a cuddler, either Jake or Milagro but I love to scoop up the kitty, hold him close and run my nose on his soft fur. It's a real treat. So I guess this week's self portrait lesson is that I have always loved cats, love having them around me and the only sad thing I feel about cats is that I can not have them in the house because of Phil's allergies. I would love to sleep once again in a bed draped with a " cat blanket "!

Know what this is? It is a bead embroidery project on my desk at the moment. It is a felted rock, all soft and dressed in warm shades of gray and brown. My plan is to encrust it with beads and barnacles of crystal and glass. I want it to be the jeweled rock a mermaid would keep on her dressing table. I just need to work it in around other projects that must be done for Bead & Button. Stay tuned!

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I can not resist one more photo of beads. Lovely beads. Piled high on a tabletop at the PT bead show. Just seeing their luscious colors and bumply- smooth - cool textures makes me want to lay my cheek upon them and feel their gemstone coolness against my face.

A SuRpRiSe E Mail...

An email from Wendy Curtis featuring my charms in the event's banner! I am so excited each time I see some of my work out in " public "! Now, I am doubly anxious to display my newest designs at the Bead & Button show in June. New crows and raven pieces and a new metal line. Temptations to soothe a soul in a troubled, complicated world!

The Port Townsend Bead Market 2010

Still Drawing After All These Years!

A drawing in my small " living room " sketchbook, the one I keep by my TV viewing chair, recently finished. A family of birds frolicking in a spring like garden.

Busy weekend here with the bead show, volunteer work at the fairgrounds for Jake, Mother's Day ( my day ), dinners out with friends and a surprise trip to the movies to see Ironman! perfect escapism after a hectic day!

Self Portrait Friday

I have been laughing, mostly to myself this last day or two as my friend Lisa ( Zizzyzaza Beads ) is here for the weekend and when she saw my portrait from last Friday; she said I looked like Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin!!!! Can you imagine?! She said it's okay because he is interesting and intelligent, said wonderful things and liked to walk around naked. Now how does she think that description fits me? See - laughing here! Like Lisa says, " WWTTD? " ( What would Tina Turner do? )

We are having a great time laughing here, giggling and being 14 again!

Bead Show Weekend - here we go!

Yippee Kai Aye A - says Lisa who is watching me post this. I have been incommunicado all week due to this rotten and unexpected cold. I feel like I am awake from a long snooze and although I am not quite well yet, it is time for the Port Townsend Bead Market this weekend. We, Lisa and I, are holding it in a new location this year; the third floor of the old Elks building, above the Silverwater Cafe. The view from that room is spectacular! You can see as far as you dare and believe me, the view to the water and beyond is awesome! The show opens tomorrow at noon and runs through Sunday at 4. I hope to see everyone there to admire the view and the beads!



A charm bracelet I assembled with some of the new chain I have purchased for this weekend's show. I just used all the odds and ends floating on my desk but I think the color palette works well.