In The Studio

 This is my messy bead work bench this morning. I am determined to use up a bunch of odds and ends plus my charms in various metals to make interesting and industrial looking charm bracelets. I am going to take them to the Bead & Button show. I think that my desk must look like what the inside of my head looks like. Bits and pieces in a whirl of creative thought! Oh, and the television that I like to have on for background noise is kaput at least until a satellite technician shows up on Friday. Sigh --- no Kathy Lee and Hoda!

 Multi dangle earrings with sterling, copper and brass for the upcoming show. This is two days of work done between customers in the shop. I had a bunch of my cast circles and felt like making some swingy summer earrings. Of course, I will display them a  lot better at B&B!!

Finally, here is the first bracelet that has been assembled from the chaos on my desk today. I used brass, copper, gunmetal, glass, celluloid dice, handmade glass beads and my own charms. I even tucked in one of my Space Needle charms! After all, this summer is the 50th anniversary of our beloved Needle!

New Pieces for B&B

This is what my newest crosses look like after they leave the bowl of liver of sulphur. They are dark and rich looking, a nice flat gray-black. I hoped to catch more of the detail believing that when I show detail they will not look like PMC, because they are not. I am amazed that people look at my silver and think it is PMC ( precious metal clay ) rather than the traditional work that it is. Hours spent with a jeweler's saw cutting out tiny pieces to be soldered onto a surface. My brain leaping from design to design as everything constantly evolves as I work on it.  

These are the finished pieces all hand polished and slightly satin in their surface. These are maybe around 2 inches tall. To be truthful, I did not mean to cast them. The last package from my caster of restocks for the B&B show came and inside were these pieces all cast in sterling. Neither Phil or I remember sending the master. They were made awhile back and hung on the wall in the office in the " to be cast someday " pile. I  think it was divine influence that had them cast. Divine influence that had them sent to the caster and I like that. I love knowing that sometimes life is greater than its parts and that the DIVINE plays a role when it is least expected. Blessings to you on this day and may the divine protect the country form any more tragic tornadoes!

Evidence of Pollen

 My backyard is a carpet of lush low growing daisies. They are small, densely petaled and have fuschia tips around a sunny yellow center. Technically, I think they are classified as weeds and I should probably be like my neighbors and want to rip them out to achieve a lawn that could be featured in Sunset magazine. Instead, I am delighted with them! They are romantic and graceful, only opening their faces to full sun. If I were a tiny fairy living in my lawn, I would make my home among them. If I were to marry again, ever, I would want to walk down the aisle upon them in bare feet, of course.

 Everything looks prettier surrounded by these daisies, even Daisy the dog. Just look at how pretty everything in this photo appear!

A closeup view.

Rain is in the forecast for the next week so I may not get to see the flowers for awhile again. On the next day that the sun is out in force, the flowers will once again open their faces to the light and my little carpet of daisies will cheer my soul and I will be able to see how far they have expanded! 

Back to the studio, for an evening of sun catcher making. 

It is always a surprise to me to look at a picture of myself and see my mother! When did this happen? How is it that I have always tried to not be her and then find that virtually overnight I have become her in a physical sense? Is that a bad thing? She was an interesting woman, I know she loved me but she did make growing up a challenge and that's all I will say on this tender subject.

I have been getting used to seeing myself in pictures though and this from a woman who would run and hide when a camera came out! It is probably a sign that I am maturing ( nicely, thank you ) and that no longer do I need to not acknowledge myself. Yes, I am not 18 and my chin is no longer alone on my neck and my eyes might be lost on my face and the gray hairs outnumber the brown but it is just simply me. And I am not so bad.

Presents

My sweet hubby commissioned my favorite local sculptor to make this little collection of song birds for my mother's day gift. Gunther Remintz delivered them yesterday and now I have four fine feathered friends keeping me company in my studio. I have many pieces from Gunther, his crows, roosters, owls are scattered every where around our home. But songbirds hold a special place in my heart. Not just their music but their little jeweled bodies remind me of beads against the blue of the sky. Sometimes, in the early spring, even earlier in the morning while darkness still cloaks the neighborhood, a bird will burst into song for a brief moment reminding me the world is right and good for a bit longer.

This gift from my husband is perfect. Just perfect!

Studio Updates

Instead of doing all the things I should be doing to get ready for the Bead & Button show, I am fooling around rearranging the studio and finishing a painting. Not that I would ever call painting a waste of time! Sometimes, rearranging things makes order in my mind and I can get work done that should be done. All the rain we have been having just makes me want to go into hibernation mode, sleep and dream.

 Painting has been my savior. I love painting and often think I am working on my interior life when I paint. The images in my head, the colors that surround my thoughts, the music that only I hear while i paint. This piece is just rhythmic. The imagery bounces up and down between bird and song house and sun. It is mixed media and colored pencil on gessoed canvas paper.

 I had this vintage vinyl, wonderful yellow drop leaf table in the classroom above my shop in town. When i bought it, I had no use for it but I took the leap, made the purchase and figured I would find a use. The color makes me happy! It is all chrome, old chrome and it is on wheels. Awesome, I can move it around, too! The little table in front is an old telephone table from the 1940's, refinished and painted a purple orchid color. Love those rounded corners! How smart is that? No knocked shins!

Loads of colored pencils and a water jar! 

Something beginning to replace the finished piece. Can you tell I have a thing for stripes and barred patterns?

the early evening is calling to me to make a decision about what to do with the rest of my day: paint, bead, silversmith, sleep - better decide and get about it!

Bleck!

My Mother's Day gift from Jake. A handmade card and roses made from Hershey Kisses!
Although, it was the sickest, most miserable Mom day I think I have ever had!
Sweet gift though! I loved it!

I have had a flu like stomach thing for the last few days and I am just now feeling that there is light at the end of my misery tunnel. I am so irritated with the flu shot that I took for the first time in my life this past winter. In the last two months, I have had two colds and a flu! More than normal although some people are blaming all of it on the weather seeing as sun has been missing from our daily lives. Along with that missing sun, there is also no warmth. I feel it is around the corner. It being spring and I have heard the forecast and that by this afternoon, the sun is to make an appearance along with temps into the high 50's. It will be welcomed by all! The dogs will play, the cats bask about in it, the birds flit, the swallows build nests and catch the elusive bugs and me? I will sit in a warm sunny spot outside for however long the light lasts. I am not a heat lover. I just want a little sun and warmth. Bless those poor people along the mighty Mississippi! Here I am whining and they are losing everything! Need to send them prayers and a donation. Lots of prayer!

Sun?! What Sun?

It has been raining now for days and if I did not know that today was May 7th, I would swear it was a November day. Rain has been coming down all day, not big Missouri drops as Phil says but the kind of rain that just soaks everything hour after hour at the same rate. I love rain and gray days. It is good for business but I am longing for some sun! I do not want hot weather just some sun! I want to feel my cheeks redden in the light, feel the warmth through the blackness of my leggings, turn my whole body like a flowering plant to the sun.

Zip. Guess it is not happening anytime soon but I did take some pictures of a day not too long ago when the sun made an appearance and the day basked in its glory!

The new Maritime Center.

So for tonight feel the sun, love the sun, wish for it and enjoy PT in the sun through these pictures. Can you feel it? I want it!

p.s. We last saw the sun around lunch time on Tuesday! This is the Port Hudson Marina in town, five blocks from my shop.

I am in LOVE

For just the first time with a pair of shoes. Red, shiny patent leather, peep toe bow in front 5 inch heel shoes! I have never found anything that fit my big long feet so prettily and made me feel, birkenstock Lois feel, pretty! Like a girl! In girly shoes! How crazy could that be?

The Muse

Bottle cap work. 

Resin work.

Sketch in the book kept by the TV.

I think that maybe my muse has returned in the form of the ten zillion projects I have going in the studio. I am working like mad on things for June's Bead and Button show but I really feel like painting, knitting and embroidering. The sunshine we have had on and off ( mostly off ) since Friday has given me a burst of energy! Thank heavens, I was seriously getting worried about myself! Creativity is all around me and if I do not partake of it, I feel dry like a desert, lost like old hubcaps along a roadway.  So, even though a regular person might look at my mess and think I can not get order out of it, I see the potential of things being finished! I am having fun! I think I was missing the sun. Me,  who lives for gray and rainy days and lusts for long, cold, dark nights - was missing the light of the sun. Amazing!

p.s. I can never figure out how to add my pictures in where I want them unless I write the blog backwards and my brain just can not fathom that concept! So please excuse the order and if you have a hint for me - please let me know!

‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." --Martin Luther King, Jr.