little happy apple

goin' to the chapel

here are a couple of pretty pairs of earrings i made for a bride to choose from...  curious to find out which she likes best...  her gown was gold~

happy apples

in case you haven't noticed valentine is a special lady. my friend v would call her a lifer- someone you know you will be friends with all your life. and in the words of my beloved mary poppins, and now...the qualifications.... if you are lucky enough to have a friend like this in your lifetime (and most of us do) you know that it is all in the subtlety- the way you don't have to say anything, the way they can read what you need and you do the same. the comfortable silences. feeling good just whenever they are around even if you don't "do" anything. then there are things like this- little thoughtful gifts like these earrings she made for me... these friends are always in your heart, you think of them all the time. and whenever you get together you make memories.

merci mon ami.

sea jewels

inspired by our surroundings.... a little necklace i made while at the beach. vintage mermaid illustration with a little clam shell my daughter found and some sand set within the resin....the type is the greek word for "dream".... the beads are on a double strand of knotted silk -faceted amazonite and flourite coins and some little rose quartz rounds- really pretty clasp too. this was a gift for a niece who graduated high school and celebrated her nineteenth birthday.

it took a little time to figure out but it was worth the effort. i really like this piece a lot.

glazed over

i am just about finished with the necklace i began with the silk knotting lesson. i completed the collage and poured the diamond glaze atop...so now we wait. i very much like the design of the stones; i used some wooden heishi beads in there too, and it looks great. in fact, i was so inspired by the technique using the diamond glaze that i made another charm; (for someone i love like no one else in the world...my mama of course.) it makes a lovely clear resin like coating over the collage and seals it all together. you can add just about anything to it as long as it sits within the frame. for example, i used some small seed beads and a little vintage rhinestone finding as well as a small little heart shaped leaf. i suppose you could use just about anything- i am digging on this collage concept and would like to return to my original idea of making small scale drawings to put inside. tiny works of art to wear. yum.

until tomorrow when they are thoroughly dry here are the works in progress... very exciting...

silk knotting 101

there now follows step by step instructions for the silk knotting technique used for pearls... you may use any beads you like just as long as the silk is the correct gauge... it comes in various sizes. the idea is that the bead should not slip over the knot. it really is a marvelous technique; lends a lovely drape to the piece far nicer than tigertail or bead wire. it also ensures that you will not lose any of your stones or pearls if it should happen to suddenly break. i just like the way it looks: timeless, classic... please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions or are unclear about any of my directions. good luck~

once you have all of your materials and have laid out a design that you like you may begin. my design evolved because i was inspired to make a collage charm using this teeny little heart shaped leaf. the beads are red coral and african opals and they will be asymmetrically strung onto the same color coral silk as a design element.

take the silk cord off the card and tie a knot at the very end; the furthest away from the needle. next, put on a bead tip.

once your bead tip is knotted in place you may apply a small drop of glue to the knot; if you are using a clamshell, close it. now make another knot securing the bead tip in place. how do you get the knot there? this is the art of silk knotting!

make a loop with your silk. do not twist the silk! simply cross it over each other to form a loop.

now reach into the loop and pull up the end of the cord that has the bead tip on it.

now you will see the beginnings of a knot. if you pulled it a knot would form right?

carefully grasp the silk with your tweezers exactly where you wish the knot to lie on the cord.

while holding it there place the tips of your tweezers (which are holding the cord) inside the loop that you formed and press down.

with the other free hand, pull the end of the silk. the knot will slide all the way down to your tweezers.

when it has reached the tips of your tweezers, carefully slide the tweezers out from the knot and pull. then put the knot between the tweezers and push the knot down a bit more.

VOILA! well done!

now go ahead and slide on your next bead and continue until it has reached the desired length- at which point you will put on the other bead tip, knot it in place, glue it and close it. the two hooks on either bead tips are ready to connect the clasp to complete the piece. (fyi: note that you may string all your beads first and then knot them...whatever works for you. some people do not like having all those beads on the silk...) also note that when you put on your next bead, push it down against the knot; this keeps the spacing tight.

it really is that simple. i like going to bead shows for supplies but rio grande is a great supplier for jewelry artists and they have great prices.

happy beading! go and make something beautiful!

girl with a pearl

i didn't have a thing to wear with my dress yesterday so i just whipped up a simple pearl necklace; knotted on silk with a really pretty clasp. then i made some earrings with an aquamarine faceted rondelle to match. i have some beautiful cultured pearls but they were too long for my dress and too creamy in color...

silk knotting is the traditional way to string pearls and although initially difficult to grasp, once you have the hang of it, it is quite simple. supplies needed: a good pair of knotting tweezers, silk cord w/ needle attached (i like to use GRIFFIN silk), jewelers glue (again, i prefer G-S hypo cement), pearls (or other beads), bead tips (a bead tip is a finding that holds the knot within a little cup and enables you to connect the silk to your clasp. there are two types of bead tips: clamshell and cups...the former resembles its namesake and the knot is closed within the clamshell, hiding it completely, a bead cup is a little cup the knot rests in) & lastly, a clasp of your choice. you can view the technique below as a brief movie (do scroll through the you tube menu...there are several helpful how tos on the subject as well). tomorrow i will follow up with a step by step silk knotting tutorial. i hope you find both to be helpful. and by the way, the above postcard is of a painting which is one of my favorites: "the penitent magdalen" by george de la tour a master of chiarscuro (obviously) and brilliant artist of the french baroque era. as well as vermeer's infamous masterpiece.

a charmed life

on the creativity front, i suppose i could count this little enameled charm bracelet the girls and i made yesterday from some antique brass components i bought in the city...it is my i heart new york bracelet....a momento.... with some really wonderful charms that represent all sorts of bits and pieces of me...new york landmarks, a happy apple- obviously, a peacock, frog, mermaid, key and hand (things i seem to collect), a carrot for my garden, butterfly for my girls, 5 peas in a pod for the family, a heart shaped box for nirvana (only kidding)- for infinite unconditional love of all things, a fortune cookie- for being truly present, a star for north carolina (there are so many here!), and lastly, a tour eiffel- a suggestion for the next weekend destination-
perhaps??? and i can just keep on adding and adding and adding....

sweet.

labradorescence

in early december i was lucky enough to have a memorable girly weekend with some dear friends in carrboro, right outside of chapel hill. i was there for the opening of a show called "birth choices, birth voices" at the east end gallery sponsored by NCFOM (north carolina friends of midwives) and nchomebirth. my illustrious and talented friend jen curated the show and it was a huge success- bringing the nc homebirth movement to light and helping people understand the importance of midwifery- and for women to have the choice to homebirth safely. you can view the gallery exhibition on the ncfom website...www.ncfom.org.
i was fortunate enough to be a part of the show and had the privilege to design the logo for this wonderful grassroots organization.... so i made the trekk to lend my support and seeing my old cronies from long island was the icing on the cake.
we had lunch and went shopping- a novel idea- for marta who needed a dress for some holiday business functions. it was like dress up and we all giggled all day long. one detour was at the bead shop where marta fell in love with this beautiful piece of labradorite...

labradorite is truly a fascinatingly beautiful mineral. it's a mineral whose charm is not fully noticed and may be overlooked if not viewed from the proper position. generally a dull, dark looking mineral with no special virtue until the colorful shiller is observed glowing on the surface. labradorite can produce a colorful play of light across cleavage planes and in sliced sections called labradorescence. the usually intense colors range from the typical blues and violets through greens, yellows and oranges. Some rare specimens display all these colors simultaneously.

the color display is from lamellar intergrowths inside the crystal. these intergrowths result from compatible chemistries at high temperatures becoming incompatible at lower temperatures and thus a separating and layering of these two phases. the resulting color effect is caused by a ray of light entering a layer and being refracted back and forth by deeper layers. this refracted ray is slowed by the extra travel through the layers and mixes with other rays to produce a light ray coming out that has a different wavelength than when it went in. the wavelength could correspond to the wavelength of a particular color, such as blue. the effect depends on the thickness and orientation of the layers. if the layers are too thick or too thin no color shiller is seen. also, if the viewer does not observe the stone or if light is not supplied from the proper angle then no color shiller is seen. the labradorescence is a one of a kind mineralogical experience and must be observed in person in order to truly appreciate its' beauty. for more information about rocks...my favorite book is called, love is in the earth, by melody.
it's a big, thick purple book that has both the mineral information as well as metaphysical properties of the stones. i heart rocks.

anyhoo, i convinced marta to let me craft her a piece with it. we also chose some pearls as well as garnets and i tossed in some others from my stash and so here sits my palette, awaiting my hand. i love garnet with labradorite. powerful combination- garnets for health and wellness, and labradorite for strength... it's delicious. she has been very patient so i think i will try to give it a whirl this week; (sometimes a blank canvas is a scary thing- well all the time for me!) it is sitting on my...." things i must finish this week" table. i'll let you know how that works for me.
it's coming marta, i promise!

brown skin

you know i loved this necklace when i finished it....and then i just laid it out on this brown felt and all i could hear was india arie singing. this would be soooooo pretty on someone with brown skin. the pearls are beautifully shaped and the colors are incredible; purples and violets and pinks and blues and greens all with a silvery honey like glaze. like a peacocks feather. individually knotted on silk with a magnetic clasp and a hammered sterling ring that sits right in that little dip in your neck.
simple. sassy. classy. yum.