HOME!

We are home from the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee! It feels so good to be on the water and smell the heavy laden salted air. My lungs feel free again and the moisture from the ferry boat spray feels refreshing and rejuvenating on my skin.
The show was great fun, seeing old friends, making new friends and selling my work to rave reviews.  My new charms and designs were so well received that I came home with very little of them. Thanks to all who stopped by the booth and confirmed that the direction I am heading in is a good one. The doors of creativity have sprung wide open and I am heading through them with tons of new ideas!

I bought some lampwork beads and have new thoughts on how to combine them with silver to make interesting charms and focal pieces. I feel so incredibly inspired by all that I saw and by the day I spent at the art museum. Believe me, I took plenty of pictures ( 149 ! ) and will be posting some of them in the coming days.

My special treat while in Milwaukee? deep fried macaroni and cheese. Never heard of it so of course I had to give it a try. Pretty tasty stuff but you could feel the old arteries clogging as you ate it! What a memory - a FOOD memory! HaHa!

I have missed being in my shop so I am heading into town now for the afternoon. Come by and see me! Until later, Lois

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I am packed! The clothes are all wrinkly rolled in their suitcase, the jewelry I will wear at the show weighs more than my make up, the knitting is nestled in its zippered pouch and I am feeling at once excited and sad that I am leaving. The house sitter, a long time friend is here and I know that Jake, the kitties and the dogs will be well taken care of. The merchandise is shipped.
Seeing friends, laughing together and getting new ideas for jewelry are the side benefits of attending B&B. I will take tons of photos but I will not be on line until my return. I don't travel with a laptop and I am IPad free and my phone, is a simple one. There will be so much to share when I get home! I have exhibited at the Bead and Button show since it began in Portland, Oregon. It is Bead Mecca, I tell everyone. If there is one show you should save your pennies and attend, it is B&B! This year there is an exhibit of beadwork form the Ukraine. I saw a glimpse of it on line and it was amazing in its intricacy and detail. Inspiring - that's what this event is. Oh, a full of hugs and kisses as we all greet each other, many of us seeing one another for the first time since last year. Thank goodness for things like FB and blogs so I can keep in touch! I love them for the ability to bring long distance friends into my living room!

A piece of bead embroidery I am working on to display some of the new Czech shaped beads  I am selling.
Of course, I could not resist adding sequins, too! I am only sorry that the colors appear a bit faded here.

A close up of some of the embroidery with a couched piece of trim that I also will be selling.

New Port Townsend charms I made, front and back images. 

Have a great week and I will see you beady soon with lots of jaw dropping inspiring, idea triggering, awesome photos! xox, Lois

Daisy

She exasperates me and pulls my plants from their flower pots. She takes four foot long pieces of landscaping timbers and drags them all over the yard. She ate the beak off the wood crow on my porch and chewed the steeple from my church birdhouse. She walks all over my toes when I am wearing sandals and leaves bruises. She wants to eat anything and everything at all times.....

And then she goes and does the sweetest things! She lays next to the cats and lets them rub against her. She lays at my feet and gently snores while I make jewelry. She leaps to her feet if she thinks I am threatened. Approach the house and she will eat you.

And then to finish off the day, she brings me her new favorite toy, one of the seven dwarfs! What can you do but love a dog like that? So I won't plant any flowerpots until she grows up some more. I will pick up the timbers and put them back. I will rub my sore toes and throw my arms around this dog's neck and give and get kisses until we are both basking in each other's love!

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.