mermaid life

I find myself drawn lately to all things mermaid.
I have been thinking about how I love all things water. It seems the freedom from pain when I am in the water daily teaching classes or just swimming for myself motivates me each day. I live with nearly constant pain in my hip and knee lately if I do not get in the water to stretch all muscles out.

So I wanted to add to this blog the finished necklace from the mermaid beads made with Polymer at Karen's. I love the iridescent finish reminds me of fresh fish scales on a trout.

I love the metal components it reminds me of seaweed. The pearls are purple coins and green and blue regulars. Crystals accents have coating that reflects blue and green.

I just love this piece I find myself dressing to wear it once a week at least. I have several pieces that have beautiful sterling silver pendants int he same color palate yet I tend to pass them by. This piece reflects more of me, my work, my artistry, my aesthetic. It allows others to glimpse a bit of my soul-the woman trapped by arthritis that can be free as a mermaid in the water.

Art of Bartering

My girlfriend Gail makes the most exquisite fabric art pieces- she has been published, and has sold these pieces. Best of all like me she likes to make art to gift both to people she loves but also for causes she believes in. Her areas of artistry are in painted, printed and then manipulated art and she has been generously sharing her time, knowledge and talents with me.

Since I mainly work in jewelry making we have had some fun collaboration.
Much to my delight she bartered a beautiful bag for a necklace of my choice just supplying some seed beads and shells that she had collected to start with the rest was up to me. The following necklace resulted, I especially love the metal shells, starfish and the head pins are art-i-cake.

On the day I was picking up the supplies from her art studio she sent me home with several other pieces. They had started as a hand made stamp, then too linen, then to the computer for manipulation I think I should call it computer hocus pocus because it is magical at the end. I could not decide if I liked the matt or the glossy finish so I went home with both.
I ended up making both into pendants one for me and one for Gail. Much of her art especially her print making has a Japanese aesthetic so the shell coins with the blossoms looked terrific together and I was able to tie in the ivory seed beads from the original project. The colors are ones she tends to favor in clothing as well.

In fact the day I delivered the necklace her skirt and rest of the ensemble had all of the above colors in it and it looked terrific with her outfit.

collaboration makes for great art

I have two friends that I love to make art with. We each have strengths that when together we encourage each other to do some fantastic art.
Two weeks ago we ventured up the eastern side of Seneca lake to Gail's house in Hector to play in her art studio. First we had a lovely meal with great food and conversation. Then Gail let us loose in the studio. We ended up carving our own stamps. Of course I could not just settle on one stamp I made my mermaid with fish and octupus friends and used some of Karen's left-over block and did the two dogs. Gail ended up with a rooster and Karens was much more art-deco and minimalist.

We then started to play with the stamps, ink pads to see what needed to be refined and quickly went to screen printing. I ended up with two archival prints on mulberry paper (according to Gail it picks up the paint better). Gail then stamped the mermaid on blue linen and the dogs on beige linen.
Well yesterday back up the lake I went. Again great food- dried salami, cheese from England with apricot bits in it, fresh cherries and strawberries, and some potato and bean chips. Thus fueled up to the studio we went.

What commenced up there was magical. I had brought a watercolor painting I had done 2 years ago at CAJE in North Carolina. Depicting Naomi, Ruth and Boaz in a picasso-style painting, We scanned it manipulated it added Hebrew text to it. I ended up doing a 5x7 print and framed it. Made several smaller pieces to do up into jewelry.The dogs we scanned the linen and use a paint program to put on a USNA dixie plebe cover and for our American Pitbull he got a green USMC cover painted on.The other jewelry pieces I will be working on in the next week or so as I need to wire wrap the pieces before finishing them as necklaces.

I also used the mermaid prints and manipulated it also for jewelry. The mermaid print is on acrylic and made into a necklace.

The linen mermaid Gail started to work on it for more art quilt, she added a tail, finished out the octupus and fish, added seaweed, I embellished with shell, pearls and beads. It is still a work in progress.
Knowing that we print onto linen best I went to Salvation Army and picked up a 100% linen J,Jill dress that I loved the color of but not the shape, very very boxy. We plan to deconstruct it and add the mermaid to the front. I am so excited to continue to work on it.

love is in the air

I just made a charity donation for the drag show at the YWCA to fund our youth LGBT group. So I went a bit glitzy with pearls, crystals but it is the clasps that put it over the top. The necklace closure is a faux diamond ring and the bracelet is a crystal crown.

Then I started working on two of the hearts I had purchased in Wildwood New Jersey boardwalk. I put on on a ribbon necklace and added a coppery colored beaded strand. The other one was done up with some venetian beads as that heart had a white central glass spiral.

Latest beading fun

Got together with the beading crew again yesterday.

Did wire wrapping to make a pendant for hanukkah. Was working with two soft of wire initially and it could not take the tension of the wrapping wires. As I was bending it up to throw away I realized I liked how it had bent and ended up wiring it in to the stronger frame and used it as the base for the candles.

Then I wire wrapped a new tree of life as that was what I was teaching the others. Love the pink and green in with the browns, looks like the trees on the way to Ithaca a few weeks ago.

Lastly I have includes some shots of the polymer clay beads made with Karen at "Mommy Anxiety Play"

the copper ones are a green, orange and cream clay base. The mermaid beads are brown, blue base with an irridescent blue pearl--I just love this look!

We are already planning the next beading party. We decided we didn't want a cookie exchange so we decided are going to have a crock party-everyone make soup in a crock, bread to match and we will exchange quart sizes. While there we are going to have an earring party. Bring beads to share and make and take earrings. This is set for right before Hanukkah and I have some peruvian menorah and dreidel beads on the way to me from Etsy. Will bring a few sets of those and some orphan pearls as well.

David is in Afghanistan and truly out in harm's way. No matter that I know he is well trained, that he volunteered and is excited for this new stage in his career as a mom I am finding this to be a time of anxiousness. So I am using this time to work on destressing-exercising harder and eating better. Spending more time on the things I love.

fun with friends

I love beading and creating with others. My beading buddy is also into doing jewelry and does mixed media more than I do. She is more playful with polymer clay than I am. Working with her makes me more adventurous. I make pendants and beads to match with the polymer clay embellishing with little sead beads, inks and powders.

I find when I go to my jewelry area that I gravitate to those pieces with beads I have made. I feel a bit more artsy when it has some of my spirit and joy is reflected back to me. They do not have to be perfect match in fact there sudtle differences are fun to me. The mixture of textures and colors make the pieces for me.

Even when working with the metal clay with  my sister I find I like the pieces with more than one type of metal.

Just had a fun evening with Karen doing polymer beading. We both were dealing with stress that as mothers we could not do much to affect rather had to just deal with in support of our boys.

My oldest is in Afghanistan with the USMC doing what he is trained to do and volunteered to do. Yes I know it was a great oppurtunity for him but still as a mother volunteering seems just so wrong. I am handling the stress with swimming harder and working the weights harder. Only that day it was not working well enough. So when my girlfriend said "I need to bead" I was more than ready.

So that night we rolled, shaped and formed works of beauty while offering love and support to each other. The caring was wonderful but to top it....oh yes she made me a home-cooked meal as well. I will have some pretties to wear that are a tangible reminder that something soft like clay under the heat can be made stronger. I just need to be like momma clay soft hearted and toughen up as needed.