Thursday, September 30, 2010

Olympia Artswalk & Craft Fair, 5-9 pm Oct. 1

We (Ann Beal, Caroline, Chase & I) will have a booth at CraftX tomorrow night. It's on Washington between State & 4th--roughly from


Cafe Vita to Einmalein.

Won't know our booth location until we arrive, but please do come, look around, & say hi.

We're trying to make a night market an ongoing thing, & the more people who come, the better.

It's from 5 to 9, but street closes to cars at 4:30 & we'll be set up a little before that.

Hope to see you there! Leslie

Monday, September 27, 2010

more new work

Some things I've made and am working on. Some may hit etsy before Fri., but some may debut at the CraftX Oly show linked with Artswalk on Fri.
On the other hand, our new granddaughter may decide to emerge before Fri., in which case I'll be extremely happy that I'm sharing a booth, since Chase & Caroline will carry on for me.
But anyway, some pics.  Bear in mind that bone hates to be photographed, so some of the skull pics are not that great.
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As usual, having trouble with picture placement. This is called "Not so secret garden" and there's a closeup near the bottom.


This may be called "Octopus's Garden", though I'm not sure you can see the octopus, but I think it's really about Amelia Earhart, whose landing site may finally have been located.  There are several pics of this, at least one of which has migrated to the bottom of this post.



These are very Mexican feeling Caterina earrings for Dia de los Muertos. Skulls, flowers, lacy silver parasols--too bad they're impossible to photograph well! I hope you can get the idea.

Little steam punk skull earrings. Got raves as I was making them at last show.


Inside of the garden piece
Lush garden in a tagua nut almost-box --one of my friend Ann Beal's rejects. I think it's just an ornament - really heavy & clumsy to wear, but everyone who's seen it, even Seth, oohed & aahed.  I remembered that I CAN do other things than steampunk.  I like the glowy stuff inside--sort of like a coral reef or maybe underground grotto. Several pics, spread out.


Another rejected tagua shell. Not sure yet which way it goes or what goes in it, but think it will come easily.




Little antler log(?) also from Ann--wonder what will come out of the faucet?

Chase & I did a couple of bracelets--steam punk watch case centers with knotted hemp bands. This one needed pins. As you can see, I've added some in my own style.

 Crowned skulls with tiny spikes--more Dia de los Muertos. And below, aside from the pics that mysteriously moved down, just skulls with diff numbers of spikes on diff earring backs.




That's it for the moment. Hope to have more before (and after) Fri., along with pics of baby Jenni Fae.

Friday, September 24, 2010

PRIZE DRAWING REMINDER !!!

Every month, on the Facebook fan page for Findings, my etsy supply shop, there's a prize drawing.
In order to enter, all you need to do is post a photo of something you've made using anything from the shop--not everything, just one component.
Last month we had a winner, this month no one's posted yet, making the odds of winning pretty high. 
So if you've done anything with something you've bought there, do post a photo--you may win. 

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Yom Kippur 5771 The Day of Atonement 2010

This is the most holy day of the Jewish year, the one on which G-d agian closes the Book of Life, in which the names of those chosen to survive the next year have been being entered since Rosh Hashano, the Jewish New Year, 10 days ago.

Some of us, of course, don't take this literally, but it's powerful as a metaphor.

Before Rosh Hashano, we are admonished to pay our debts, to ask forgiveness of and make amends to those we've wronged, and to forgive those who've wronged us.

Then we rejoice in the New Year, in being alive and with our friends and family in this lovely world G-d has provided for us to enjoy aqs well as improve. 

Rosh Hashano is the start and Yom Kippur the end of the Days of Awe, a time for reflection as well as rejoicing, a time to consider our lives and how we are using them.

A couple of basic Jewish principles are involved here. 
First is Tikkun Olam, the responsibility of leaving the world a better place than we found it.
Of course this is on a personal level, but it's also political - working to reverse, or at least stop, climate change/global warming; standing up against hatred, prejudice, and opression wherever they rear their ugly heads (yes, even in Israel, but not only there); advocating for everyone's right to be safe, sheltered, fed, and cared for, etc., etc.

Second is Tzedaka, generally interpreted as charity, but actually meaning justice.
I see this as intertwined with Tikkun Olam--it mandates sharing what we have with those who have less.  It doesn't mean starving our own family to feed our neighbors (that would be the worst sort of personal aggrandizement), but it does mean feeding as many people as we can, providing shelter for those who need it (could we solve the problem of homelessness if every household with an empty bedroom invited someone to use it?), contributing to good causes, and sharing whatever resources and possessions we have more of than we need (not to be confused with want).

I'm probably missing something official, but I find that those two give me quite a bit to strive for.

So on this Yom Kippur, as is my custom, I am giving serious thought to what I can do to make next year better for myself, my family, my friends, and the rest of the world. 

For quite a few years, one of my major goals has been to cultivate patience.  I think I'm making some progress on this as I get older, and 2 years of living in China really helped.  Patience encompasses accepting that some things won't happen when or as I want them to, or sometimes at all, but in their own good time if they're meant to be.
This applies to everything from artwork that is not ready to be finished, to dealing with ignorance and prejudice without personal acrimony, to encouraging my children to mature on their own timetalbe.

Lately, as I develop more physical limitiations, I need to consider ways to continue to be as independent as possible.
One of these, which I've been avoiding, is to have my knees (I'm hoping for both at once) replaced.
This should improve my ability to dirve as well as walk, and make it easier to participate more fully in a wider community and in various areas of life, while reducing the help I need from family and friends to do even basic tasks. I'll have to figure something else out for lifting, however--another item for consideration.

Following this thread, I want to be more available to my children and grandchildren, especially the youngest 3, of whom 2 are expected to arrive in the next few months. I want to be able to spend time with them, provide care if necessary, and generally be part of their lives more frequently than is now possible.   I want to do everything I can to maintain and improve my health, and encourage Seth to do the same, so that we will continue to be participants in our familiy's lives.
I also need to be more attentive and available to the older members of my family, using and treasuring the time we can still have together.

I hope to travel more. Not only is it a pleasure, it helps me to better understand what's happening in other places and what, if anything, I can or need to do about it.  Not to mention that warmer dryer climates, especially in winter, improve both our health and our world view, especially after we haven't seen the sun for weeks.

This year I'm also feeling a need for more balance. My online supply shop is doing well, but is also taking a lot of my time and energy, some of which I need for my own work, some for my family and the rest of my life.  That partially comes under patience, but also under meeting my own needs and being able to resist distractions and say no when necessary. This is a difficlt issue for most of us, but we need to realize that, if our own needs aren't met, we don't have anything left over  for other people or the wider world. 

I'm sure there's more, but that seems like a tall enough order with which to begin another year.

May you all be inscribed for blessing in the Book of Life, and have a sweet and fruitful year.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Some works in progress

This one shouldn't still be a WIP. I want it to look like sunken treasure, & filled the spoon (a shaped 2 peseta piece) with Diamond Glaze. I let the layers dry & it was clear, but now it's clouded up. Do I have to melt it & start over, or what?












I'm not quite sure where this one's going, or whether the wire at the bottom will stay or change, but this guy has been waiting for work for at least a year, and I wanted to do something with words--even though I'm a word person, I don't usually use them in my art, but thought these fit, so am giving it a try.


















This one's kind of a steam punk man in the moon, and this piece may be done except for deciding whether it should be a pin or pendant and how and on what to hang it--which is still a lot!
The strange little guy is bone I've colored with metallic wax and/or lumiere paints, the moon is colored a pearly purple with a dye pad, the other parts are pretty much as they came except of course that I've combined them. I'm liking this one a lot, just not sure how to present it yet.









This is a style of face bead I've often used on my doll pins. In this case I haven't decided whether she'll get a body or whether the whole thing will go in some other direction.
The gears can still go around, which I like a lot.
And I absolutely love all the guilloche engraving on this old pocket watch (it has jewels, too, but I don't think they show here).

I found a necklace I made probably 20 years ago at the bottom of a box of things waiting to be listed or reworked, and it included watchworks and had some message about time--apparently I was doing steam punk before the term was invented.  Interesting.