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.