BTW: Nesting

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings."

~Victor Hugo


The birds are staking out their claim on my front porch for nests.

I came downstairs the other day and came face-to-face with a pigeon of some sort checking out the options.

Our front door is all glass... from the front door to the side lights to the transom window. Sometimes it feels like I am living in a fishbowl.

But in spring it is more like an aviary, like the kind that they have at the assisted living facility. A big glass enclosure with dozens of tiny birds flitting about, perching on little branches.

We will wake up one morning and come down the stairs to find the beginnings of a nest and someone sitting in it. I always feel a bit voyeuristic when I see this. They fly away. My husband removes the twigs before they can complete it. (This is the only staircase in our house, and while it would be cool to watch the nests this close, we disrupt them every time we walked by. I don't want to be the adoptive momma to a bunch of baby birds. Plus it makes a huge mess. So please don't hate me!). Then the process repeats itself. Until one day I discovered that if I hung old CDs in the window they wouldn't like the spinning and color and noise. There are plenty of trees and bushes and other structures around. It is just not the best place to feather a nest in my glass front door. So what if my neighbors think I am crazy for a few weeks? ;-)

{New crackle components from Earthenwood Studio}



When Melanie of Earthenwood Studio sent me my last Design Team packet I admit that I set it down and forgot about it. And then I saw what some others were doing and I thought that I never received. Luckily for me, Miss Melanie is kind and generous and helped me realize that I had April's package tucked away with March. Needless to say, I am a bit behind. But with the sort of April that I just had, I hope that you will all forgive me!

Melanie sent use a few of her new crackle glaze components and I just love them. The set she sent me has a sort of soft pink creaminess to it (but I see that she offers other glaze choices). The crackles are such a delightful texture. And the shapes are great too. The little egg and the connector will have to wait for another day, because I had my eye on that egg shaped donut from the moment I laid eyes on them.

So my Bead Table Wednesday is more of a finished project since I didn't think to take a shot as I was working. Finishing something feels good!

I had a vision that there needed to be a nest in that hole. I suppose it would have been easier for me to just use it as a toggle, but I like to challenge myself...especially if it is really late at night and I have been sitting on a baseball field in cold and wind for a double header for 4 hours. (That is when my urge to challenge myself really kicks in ;-)

I made the messy nest with galvanized steel wire and an egg shaped mother of pearl bead from a defunct vintage necklace I picked up from an flea market shop.

I dug through my stash and found this sweet little bird tile from Marie at MoreSkyeJewels.Etsy.com but there were holes at the corners. Hmmm... I found the perfect Vintaj filigree to wrap it in, but the wholes were either visible or not lined up at all with the natural holes in the filigree. What to do? I got out my trusty screw punch and poked a few more holes in the filigree (one needs to be enlarged a bit but for now it works fine).




Then it was just a matter of bringing it all together. I found some turquoise nuggets, more mother of pearl vintage egg beads. I added some wood rondelles to call to mind the branch of a tree. But then the color I wasn't seeing was the soft pink of the Earthenwoods component. So I added three little mauve colored pearls that add a lustrous sheen to the piece.

I used a combination of Vintaj elements, like the leaf and the rings and the filigree, I punched holes in the branch to make it a connector, and I also used galvanized steel wire to cage the beads and add a different patina to the metals. I wanted this to be a longer necklace so I found this great textured cable chain from AD Adornments (I seem to recall that I bought the last of the roll that she had at Bead & Button), and I found a sweet little gunmetal magnetic flower clasp to complete the look.

I call this Remember You Have Wings.

Please go and visit Miss Melanie's blog to see what she is up to (it is always something innovative and fun), and also check out the other members of the Earthenwood Design Team.

Andrew Thornton
Gaea Cannaday
Denise Yezbak Moore
Erin Siegel
Heather Powers
Lorelei Eurto
Lori Anderson
Jean Yates
Marie Dodd

What is on your bead table or work table today?

i have no words

i have no words.

what is happening now in the world... the death of one man and the sacrifice of so many others... the raucous celebration (not unlike the images that make us cringe in horror when it happens elsewhere in the world)... the subsequent warnings for retaliation and the heightened security that will come... the end of one terrible reign sure to sprout another indidious evil like a starfish with one arm lopped off will surely grow a new one... it all leaves me feeling flat and empty... sad and scared... grateful... yet confused...

i have no words.

but the lovely soul behind starving artist ink does.

and her words are more eloquent and poignant than i could ever hope to be.

please go and read what she has to say.

namaste.

I'm A Bead Star

"In the cherry blossom's shade

there's no such thing

as a stranger."

— Kobayashi Issa

At the last possible second, of the 11th hour, I finally made up my mind to enter the Bead Star competition again. But this time instead of entering all the categories I only had time for one.

But I sent in one of my personal favorites from the gallery exhibit last year (and I was so thrilled when this one didn't sell!) called "Tin Blossom."

It is more simple than a lot of my designs, something that I need to remember before I complicate things too much. Plus it reminds me of cheery cherry blossoms. And that calls to mind that the plight of the Japanese people in what should be a time of blooming, is far from over.

"Tin Blossom" features layered blossoms built from enameled flowers from C-Koop beads, recycled bottle cap flowers from Glass Garden Beads and czech glass beads twisted with green Parawire onto a pewter branch. I just love the bottle cap beads from Cathy Collison (and she is as sweet as she is inventive!). They are magnificent, so chic and so eco-friendly! The horizontal construction on this design makes it very different and intriguing. Plus it goes with everything that I own.

If you feel inclined to vote (through May 17th), head on over to the Beading Daily website. Mine is the second one listed in the Metals category. I don't really care for this new rule, but you will have to register and log into the site to vote for any of the categories. However, this year you can vote for as many in each category as you like, and I do like that change. Because some of my friends have selections in there and I am so glad to support them.

I don't have any illusions that I will win or even place in this category (as in the last two years), but I do feel honored to have been selected for the top 20. That is my reward.

What is the most interesting component you have used that was made from recycled materials?
What recycled or upcycled component would you like to try?
Do tell!

30 Words::The Princess Bride

forcing the butterflies to fly in formation

you tremble, slightly

your

every move

eyeballed

by 2,000,000,000 someones 

it all melts away

when he smiles and utters

"You look stunning, babe."

Enjoy the day!

BTW: X Marks the Spot!

Ms. Tori, the dance director, has come to expect me to make her a showstopper of a necklace for the yearly performances. And I am true to form and running it right down to the wire. I had hoped to have this complete by today, but I forgot that life gets in the way. Hopefully it will be done by tomorrow.

The name of the show is "X" for the Roman numeral ten. This is the 10th anniversary of the dance school. So my idea was to incorporate the number ten (or "X) into the piece in a subtle way. She picked out these amazing stones from norah62 on Etsy (and she is having another sale of 25%! Hurry!). These were described as "Vibrant blue fire hot pink moonstone faceted nuggets." Their color and flash is really quite remarkable! Ms. Tori has great taste as a whole strand of these was not cheap!

There are flashes of blue and green and purple in there, so I found a gold toned clasp with a beautiful mystic Swarovski crystal in it in the shape of a star. And I am using faceted amethysts in between the stones to bring in another shape and color.

The X comes in the way that I wire wrapped each stone using 14/20 gold filled half round wire that lays nice and flat.

Now I just need to bring it all together!

Enjoy the day!

Art Bead Scene Challenge: Finches & Bamboo

"The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends."
~ Chinese proverb

Bamboo are the fastest growing plants on the planet. You are seeing all sorts of bamboo products now from floors to clothing and everything in between. Harvesting this natural grass is very sustainable.

Bamboo is prized for being flexible yet strong, traits that allow it to bend in the storm and ones that are smart for us to emulate.

Finches and Bamboo, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
Emperor Huizong (1082–1135, r. 1101–1125) Chinese
Handscroll; ink and color on silk; 11 x 18 in. (27.9 x 45.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
John M. Crawford, Jr. Collection, Purchase, Douglas Dillon Gift, 1981

Symbolism of the bamboo is that it stands for simplicity and humility. The bamboo plant does not flower but once every 60-130 years so it needs no further adornment. And the hollow trunk of this plant reminds the Chinese of the virtue of humility because it is empty at it's core, recalling that we should not fill ourselves up with material things or arrogance.

Bamboo is also associated with respect for elders.

From Living Arts Originals, "The young branches at the top of the bamboo trunk will not grow at the same angle as the older branches below, in order to allow sunlight for their elders. When the young shoots emerge from the roots, they are under the shade of the older bamboo branches. Such a spirit reflects the young respecting the old as well as the old protecting the young." 

I find this last fact particularly intriguing.

In going through my art bead stash this month, I found one complete set of things that I would still like to explore. I teased the Bead Table Wednesday folks with that set above, but it was that little bird tile in the top that kept calling to me.

This decoupaged wood tile is from Skye Jewels on Etsy. Marie does some really lovely pendants and charms that have this great vintage vibe. She will drill a hole in them if you like, or leave it untouched, as in this piece, to use for filigree wrapping. I ended up wrapping two different Vintaj filigrees around this round tile to make it secure. These two birds reminded me of the finches in the challenge painting.

{"Love Life" - necklace that didn't sell}

But it needed something more. I happened to have a necklace from my show last summer that didn't sell that I decided to pull apart and use some of the pieces. In particular, I love the round leafy bead from Melanie at Earthenwood Studio (on the right side of the design) because the shape of the leaves and the color reminded me of the painting. And the shape of the pewter leaf from Green Girl Studios is a spot on match to the bamboo leaves. But this necklace that I was pulling apart was done up in silver, and I had started with brass. I didn't want to re-do the whole thing, so the challenge then is to bring the silver into the design in a way that seems balanced and thoughtfully placed. (And for the record...someone had commented that I was very brave to pull something apart, but I do that all the time with defunct jewels. And there must be a reason that this piece didn't sell...if nothing else than for me to make more things from the raw materials!)

{detail of the Green Girl Studios pewter leaf}

I added two wire wrapped links of these little wood nugget beads to call to mind the trunk of the tree, an enameled wire ring from the Industrial Chic line and the most lovely pewter leaf that says 'love life' on the back from Green Girl Studios. Below the pendant I wired on a branch and attached a brass leaf with one little pewter leaf to bring back the silver tone.

The back is finished with peridot green matte seed beads for comfort interspersed with tiny rustic silver spacers. The Vintaj brass hook clasp is wired with silver wire and more of the green seed beads attached to a leaf toggle (my last! Note to self: buy more Vintaj!).

{Available here.}

The result is what I call "Grow Tall, Bend Deep & Love Life."

Come back and join me and my beady friends as we hop through the Art Bead Scene challenge blog hop on Friday, April 29th. There are some great prizes to be won for the month from Jess Contreras and Deryn Mentock that you won't want to miss. Share your post of your interpretation of this painting by Thursday, April 28th to be included in the blog hop and be sure to check out the entries on Flickr!

Enjoy the day!

Art Bead Scene Studio Saturday

Want to read about how I made this?

Come on over to Art Bead Scene. It is my turn for Studio Saturday... and there is a giveaway of this little etched copper tag to three random winners!

Enjoy the day!