Wait, She Said to Her Son

Jade, golden chain, and a goddess pendant. Because it just needed to happen. $35

Because the light of indian summer shines differently

Autumn - Because the light of Indian summer shines differently

Despite the fact that I can't get a decent picture of the aurora borealis/oxidation effects, I keep using leaves and beads that are covered in them. These leafs are bronzed with hints of crimison, gold, and green. They make me happy. (obviously. Spring has similar but subtler effects on the white/blue/purple side of things, On a Still Pond in Summer is all ab leaves, and whenever I see a string of them I *have* to pick them up. SHINY!) Also, I can't manage to make this look even and get any of the color. My camera and I have been having discussions.

Anyway, Seed beads, bronze, glass - $55

The rustling silence?

Winter - The Rustling Silence

chain, sterling wire, and glass. This is the adorned chain piece of the series and so far, my favorite. It feels like ice and the bones of leaves. Yes, there are matching earrings, though I can't get a good photograph of them

$55

For to feel the breath of new life

Spring- "For to feel the breath of new life"

In the Liquid Silver style that means I don't really need to deal with chain- I like working in this for the delicate, airy style that it conveys, as if the beads are suspended on nothing.

silver, crystal, and pressed glass- $55

Sky Winds Her Pleasure

One of the very first pieces that I worked on, and just delivered after several "but you forgot it at my house *again*"- Sky Winds Her Pleasure. Liquid silver, glass and pearls, $40

Seasons still forthcoming

I wonder if Michael's is still open...

I have three of my four "portfolio in seasons" necklaces done. Summer is not coming together nearly as nicely. Part of it is a time issue- I've been cleaning a friend's house from "disaster zone" to "lived in" (they have 2 small children, 1 teenager, 3 cats, and 1 dog...and another exchange student/teen who arrived yesterday). Part of it is the fact I wanted to do wrapped links and I'm not nearly good enough to do them in the 20 gauge half-hard gold wire that is the last of my gold supply, so I gave that up. Part of it may be a sizing issue, in that there is not enough variety in the sizes of the beads to make it visually interesting or not enough spacing or something. We'll see what I work out this week.

Place holding picture of the summer planning tray-

So I mentioned previously the strange double necklace that I'm having to make for my grandmother's friend and her daughter. This is it- "When the Moon hides Her Face from Glory- 1 & 2" They're not exactly alike, the first one was longer and this one has more of the small beads as spacers. This is one of those organic 2 or 3 bead designs that I don't even really think about as they come out. $35 for something in the same vein.

Art commences

So I started the seasons series last week- four leaf necklaces in the four predominant styles of my work (liquid silver, seed bead, wire link, adorned chain) in order to create a mini portfolio.

I'm usually fairly organic when it comes to design- I pick out beads I think work together and then just make something. This usually works fairly well. For a project like this, though, I need to plan more thoroughly. And I try to always challenge myself- Three of the four I feel like I have the practice of down. Standard styles/patterns for me. I decided to be a lot more challenging in the execution of the summer piece, and I think that will be a post all it's own.

Really, I started this project to use some of the multitude of leaf beads I own. I'm at least working through that bit.

On Names

Sometimes (mosttimes) Art names itself.

Elise's pieces have fantastical names that often superficially don't relate to the visual aspect at all. And they're great names.

Looking at her work taught me that things, even jewelry, should have names. If you ask, they'll often tell you.

Some names I struggle with- "As lightning sundered the heavens" is still not quite the right name, but it's where that particular piece is right now. I'm not skilled enough to find anything better- yet.

Sonata on a starry night, however, is that necklace's name. I knew exactly what it was going to look like when I was finished before I pulled out the work boxes. To some extent, that's because it has been wanting to be made for about a week but I've been concentrating on other things after the holidays and making commission pieces rather than items that don't have an immediate buyer or recipient. The name, in part, came before I started it- though it's been refined through a couple of stages. "Of Samhain Eve under Hunter's Moon" has been sitting on my rack for weeks, nameless, until I went to post it this evening and finally asked what it's name was.

I seem to be getting better at hearing these names, and what the pieces wish to be. For all the semetry that I end up with, I rarely know what I'm going to do and I just start stringing or making links or playing with chain. Art is spontaneous work, and I'm really happy to be doing it.

Pray

On the left is "With Blood, Tears", a four-decade rosary for the dead. The paternosters are alabaster and the gauds and drop, faceted crystal. $45

Right is something slightly off the standard Christian rosary pattern- Five sets of nine pearls, and the gauds are malachite. "Of Samhain eve under Hunters Moon" is it's name and I like how it turned out. $35

A newfound wealth

So I mentioned in the post about "Cantata on a Starry Night" that my grandmother had left me a few beads. For scale, in the pictures on the left, none of the long beads are shorter than an inch. I have a) a random assortment of stones including jade, alabaster, and agate. b) moss agate c) something I'm tentatively identifying as bloodstone, and d) a hell of a lot of alabaster. These are just the really impressive strings, I've got strings of real pearls and glass pearls, sterling beads and gold beads, odd bits of chain, coral, jade, quartz, agates, glass, etc.

I still remember Grandmother getting a Christmas card every year from her friend Jimmy in Hong Kong. Her two favorite places in the world were that city and Bangkok- I've got enough Thai enamelwork on sterling to last any sane person a lifetime--And my cousin has an equal amount of jewelry for me to sort through from her mother. Some of it is the same stuff, things my grandmother brought back for her. Like the sterling bracelets with the enameled bells that chime lightly in with a breath of movement. Some of these pieces I remember her wearing, and some I remember slaving over with the toothbrush, trying to get clean.

Most of these stone beads are just too *big* for what I usually do, so I'm having to figure out how to incorporate this new wealth. So you'll be seeing a lot of experimentation here shortly- Like Cantata, and the pieces known as "Of Time, Memories, and Unknown Legacies" and "With blood were tears".

Sonata on a Starry Night

Sonata on a Starry Night - $45

This is a piece using seed beads and bits off of one of my grandmother's crystal necklaces that she picked up in Bangkok in the 50s. She left me all her jewelery, most of it from Hong Kong or Bangkok as those were her very favorite places.

And now, dinner plans call.

Old Work

Ok, here are the things I've done- Most don't have prices on them as they were gifts or made for me, but necklaces generally run $30-45 and earrings $10-15

Revealed
On a Still Pond in Summer - This one, the center pendant was a place holder before I found the large clear/white glass leaf that went on it just before shipping. No pic of the final product. Yet. Though here are the earrings
Blue Earrings 1 Blue earrings 2 There was eventually a necklace that went along with these, but it got sent off before I took a picture. On the other hand, I need to make another one- Daughter is trying to steal Mom's necklace and so they want a second.
God Grace the Dawn
Green Earrings
For through the years I have toiled
Fire's Eye
The Illusion of Substance - This may get sold if someone makes an offer, as the original owner never wore it and left it with me.
Leaves on the Wind
Of Light , Life, and New Beginnings Made for a wedding, and I need better pictures of it and it's accompanying set. (Hint. Hint.)
Threesaurus
Something Blue a set of hair combs for the above wedding.
In which the Rain falls
In the jungles of Bali
The Cool of Autumn
As seen in Solstice Sun - the earrings of this set are used in the user pic to your right.
One does not think of elves as having pocket lint
Of the Joys of Spring
What the Autumn Left Behind

I still need pics of more than half a dozen such pieces that are out in the wild, such as "Whispers from a forest night", "Caging Freedom", "As water drips from the fingers of Bhudda", "Our Roots are of the crazy and unknown" "The colors of March at home", "Sky winds her pleasure", "Of Time, Memories, and Unknown Legacies", "Blood in the heart of the Tree" and "Bast in Summer Sun"

I've made a lot of jewelry in the past couple weeks. And I'm about to make a lot more..."Sonata on a Starry Night" is a formal that's on deck, and a set of 4 seasons in leaves that I'm half done with.

Currently Availible

Here's what I made and still have availible after my gallery showing, still linking to the test bed for some of it. We'll see how it goes as I figure out this new format.

Earrings - prices listed on tags
3 pair- malachite and glass on gf, grey glass with oxidization on sterling, teal/black glass on sterling
4 pair- Green glass on gf, gold/crystal on chains on gf, red glass on gf, red glass on sterling
6 pair- Red dangly glass on gf, red glass on sterling, pearl and chestnut glass on chains on gf (the glass is approx. the same rich brown as the wood), glass and brass on gf, red glass and brass on gf, red glass on gf.

Necklaces
Wait, She said to Her son $35, jade and goddess pendant on golden chain
But the hero has Boobs! lots of green glass leaves on golden chain
As Lightning sundered the heavens $65 amber and amber glass on silvered chain.
Heart's Blood $40 jet, pearl, and red glass with an onyx and sterling pendant.
Tears of the Goddess $40 $35, amber glass on golden chain, this is one of my favorite pieces, but will someone free up the space?
Moonlight on a distant world $40 $35 Malachite on silvered chain
Ice Wine $35 $30 pearl, glass, and sterling.

I have 4 tree sculptures of various sizes as well, in gold and silver bigger than this one, and there will shortly be a post of things that I made and gave away, and made and sold at the gallery.

Intro

In the interests of starting a new year correctly, I'm moving from my test-bed blog over on livejournal to a full blown Blogspot blog. Whee!

This is going to be the place where I end up posting jewelry- those projects that are in progress, those projects that I'm selling, and those that are long gone. Think of it as a net-based portfolio, if you will.

I'm a Minneapolis-based jewelry maker, and I design every piece that I make. I started back making jewelry about this time last year, trying to remember what I had done many years ago. The wonderful Elise Matthesen inspired me to find where I had put that small bead bag that slowly had been collecting pieces, and to see what I could manage to create this time. A couple friends asked me to make something with this bead or in those colors...and I was off. It has morphed in this last year from something that I do and get materials costs for to something that is an actual business.

I recently finished my first gallery show, so over the next few weeks my goal is to rebuild my stock and chronicle that process here. If you see anything you like, let me know- I often have some of those beads left over and can make something simliar.