Gregory Fricker's new necklace

Greg is a painter, and he illustrates children's books, so having him commission a piece from our friend Chase Arevalo and me was especially nice--working for other artists is fun. (And he has a painting I'm hoping to do a trade for, too.)
I wish you could see Chase's knotting a little better--we should have gotten a pic on the table, but once Greg got the piece there was no way he was taking it off--he said he loves it so much he's going to read it bedtime stories: "And then the little dragon said...."
Greg also bought a little piece of mine for his about-to-be-wife at last month's Artswalk, and, much to my delight, he said she wore it for their wedding and every day before and since.

So there it is.

Chase and maybe Caroline and I are working on a few more ideas for collaboration. No one else seems to be doing what we're doing yet, so we're hoping to get some press for it.

Jesse's necklace

Our friends Zach and Jesse have been putting a new floor in our family room, so when Jesse asked if I could make him a necklace I was happy to do it.  In addition, Caroline, Chase, and I had just received our hemp cord order, and I was anxious to play with it--it's nice quality stuff, not itchy & easy to knot.
So Jesse picked out some colors and beads, and this is what I made.
Note that this is a snapshot--this necklace will never be listed anywhere. I just wanted a record (and maybe to show off a little)

Perseids

I went out to see the Perseids, our local paper having said this is the night and the time. For a wonder, the sky was clear--no overcast, no rain, and it was warm enough for just a light sweater.
The up side of no streetlights, usually not such a good thing, is that you can actually see a LOT of stars.
I sat in a chair, head tipped back, and looked at a star-sprinkled sky for maybe half an hour.
Our cat and dog thought that my sitting out there in the dark was a brilliant idea.
No showers, but I did see several flickers, 3 definite flares, and one meteor arcing across the sky.
When my eyes started playing tricks I stood up and had to grab the chair because my head was reeling.
And this poem's  been running through it.

Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894). A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913.


 Escape at Bedtime

THE LIGHTS from the parlour and kitchen shone out

Through the blinds and the windows and bars;

And high overhead and all moving about,

There were thousands of millions of stars.

There ne’er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,

Nor of people in church or the Park,

As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,

And that glittered and winked in the dark.



The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,

And the star of the sailor, and Mars,

These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall

Would be half full of water and stars.

They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,

And they soon had me packed into bed;

But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,

And the stars going round in my head.


The Perseids should be visible for several nights--apparently best between midnight and dawn.
Take a look if you get the chance.

I've been working.....

Bother--I still haven't figured out how to get my text & pics where I want them!

Oh, well, I know you can figure it out.

The top pic (and a couple of others) are Funky Monkey (from a song we heard in every taxicab in China as we were leaving) and Guy With Tie, which should be obvious.

The next 2 pics are Steam Punk centerpieces for a couple of commisions I'm doing with our friend Chase. He & Caroline & I did the Tacoma Arts Walk last month & will do it again on the 19th of this month & third Thurs in Sept, too, and we sold a couple of pieces and got these commissions to do a "guy sort of thing" .

Chase will be adding a hemp neckpiece --green & black for the piece on the left(on an antler base), purple & black for the one on the right(on a tagua nut/vegetable ivory slice).

I don't know if you can tell, but the one on the right, which is for Gregory Fricker, a painter whose opening our show shared,  incorporates crystals in gold, blue (well, bluegreen in this case), and purple, colors he loves to use.

Funky Monkey started out as a piece of probably faux Aztec broken jewelry, with a missing face. Somehow this monkey just managed to attach himself & I added the piece near his belt that looks a little like a sword and the gold gear near his belt. But he needed more, and after I finished the two above I came back to him and added the crystal below the sword, the gears near his left hand, and the watch part wings or cloak pieces. Now I think he's ready to fly.

Guy With Tie just sort of happened. I had this piece of glass I'd fused & didn't know what to do with, & then I looked at it and realized it was a body with a striped tie. So I mounted it on a piece of filigree, added a Peruvian ceramic head, et voila! there he was.  He's nicer than the pic, too.

These are not formal portraits, just quick shots to show what I've been up to besides keeping up with my etsy stores (where you can see some new BJD jewelry I've also made) , playing in our beautiful raised bed garden (built for us by GRUB), & getting ready for 2 more granddaughters due this fall  --not to mention all the usual life-gets-in-the-way stuff.

Thanks for following my blog.  And BTW, if you're a customer of Findings, please join our fan page on Facebook, post something you've made with something from the store, and be automatically entered in a monthly prize drawing. 

As always, comments are welcome.  In fact, PLEASE comment--sometimes I feel that I'm talking to myself out here!