Daughters and Druzies

Good morning :) It's Sunday and I'm home writing and listening to Miles on Spotify. It's one of those dark, cloudy, cold winter NY mornings. I have candles lit, sage and incense burning...I'm also admiring this Druzy stone that my daughter picked out of a website while I was looking myself, for stones to purchase and wire wrap. Druzy is a crystal-covered rock. Tiny quartz crystals form on the surface or within the cavities of the rock. Like a geode, when cracked open, the stone reveals crystals. The crystals are small, and look like a coating of glittering stardust. Out of hundreds of stones, she chose a titanium coated druzy 38mm in size (which is big) and EXPENSIVE. In my mind I was thinking "No way. why would I buy a nine year old a stone like that,,,she's going to play with it like it's just a rock"..I changed my mind though, when I took a real good look at that stone. I noticed that it was one of the most beautiful ones from the online catalog. The colors were so bright, the crystals sparkled like Cinderella's slipper, perfect teardrop shape, flawless:)))) So I bought it and it arrived yesterday. I opened the package and sure enough the druzy gleamed with deep purple and blue and gold understones...and the center has hundreds of tiny purple pink and gold crystals....Perfect. Kylee and I agreed to wire wrap it in 14kt gold wire and hang it on a pretty 14kt gold chain...I think I have a jewelry partner here in the making.. Here's a look at the stone she chose as well as some others I purchased

Sometimes I wonder, what on earth am I supposed to teach my daughter..How dear lord did you give her a mama like me? I'm....a hippie :/ I laugh sometimes,though because deep in my heart I know that I may not be able to give her a big home (for now) or expensive things. We are a simple family of two, with hardly any possesions. But I love that when we are home together, we listen to jazz, and we paint, and She watches me make jewelry. She knows about stones, and beads and wire. A few days ago I received a beautiful book called "Georgia O'Keefe, Museum Collections", which is about of course, my favorite artist Georgia O'Keefe, thank you Nyles I love you always my friend :)Anyhow, my daughter and I sat for about an hour looking through this book and talking about her work, her personal history; The lines and colors she used in her paintings. We talked about Georgia's work in New York where she lived with her husband Alfred Stieglitz, also an important artist/photographer at that time. We discussed Georgia O'Keefe when she lived in New Mexico, and talked about the beautiful desert paintings she created. ...I then caught myself realizing that what I was doing was giving my daughter an art history lesson. I felt then, that the most important thing I could give Kylee, was myself. To give my child what I know, and love and understand. I don't believe I'm here to force my own agenda, but to share with her my knowledge and love for the things that move me and create me... and I like that. Share with my daughter, music, and creativity, and a calm, peaceful home filled with love of art...How could that be a bad thing? I'm sure it could only influence her in a good way...hmmm.. I see her as a young adult, wearing that titanium druzy and gold necklace, rocking an all black outfit with deep burgundy nail polish, curly brown hair flowing in the wind, portfolio in her hand rushing to an art class downtown...okay, okay,, maybe that's my dream for her...but it's a cool one isn't it???

Disappearing Acts and Metal Clay..What on earth am I talking about??

If you noticed the last time I wrote in this blog it was over a year ago. I was shocked at this fact when I first looked at the date of my last entry and very disappointed in myself. When I first started this blog my intention was to invite you into my world of jewelry designing. Not just the "how to's" but the mental, emotional and spiritual process in creating. I know I disappeared for a while but rise and shine! Here I am... I get it... those creative lapses,a wire wrappers writer's block if you will. I felt I needed new inspiration and a new medium. However, I always, always, always bounce back. This is who I am! For the last year I have gained and learned so much, not only about jewelry, but about love, loss, new beginnings and finding the courage to still write and create. It took me a long time to get here. So with this in mind I bring you my new love interest: Metal clay jewelry! It has been on my mind for quite some time. I have been looking forward to learning this technique. When you see some of the designs you will understand why..How fantastic to have a piece of clay which once fired turns into silver or brass or gold! at first I thought this technique would produce kitschy unsophisticated jewelry which would look more like a play dough project than a work of art. How wrong am I! take a look at some of these pieces that I have found quite inspiring and give you an example of the direction I want to take my work in..These pieces are not mine so accolades to the wonderful artists who created them.

BLOG HOP WEDNESDAY

I am doing a blog hop on "Welcome Wednesday" first time so here goes...Anyone new to my blog WELCOME :)

Some things that are broken, simply cannot be fixed again...

I had bought this gorgeous amazonite stone from Singapore about a month and a half ago...It was EXPENSIVE and took four weeks to ship here to NYC. I was overjoyed when I finally received it in the mail and had big plans to wire wrap it in silver as a pendant...Here is what the stone looked like when I first bought it



Now I am a true believer in doing your best to maintain positive vibes, especially when you are in the middle of creating jewelry. But yesterday, I don't know, while I was taking out wire to form a cage for this gorgeous stone, I was feeling a little down and thinking about current disappointments. I am also worried about the current state of the education field here in NYC with layoffs looming over teacher's heads. For someone like me who is in grad school for education, this is not news you want to hear. I just did not have it in me to bring forth the good energy it takes to create..so as I was picking up the stone to create a piece, I accidentally dropped it and it fell on the floor and cracked into pieces....LORD! I cursed like a sailor and at that moment I knew, I should not have started the project with such negative vibes....I quickly grabbed gorilla glue, wire, and tape to try to put the pieces back together..




I went to work and lamented the whole day wondering what that stone would look like when I got home. Luckily the glue dried perfectly and the crack in the stone was not so obvious. I continued to work on the piece and decided to finish what I had started. This is the final piece, cracks and all but I still think it came out nice.



No matter how I try to cover that stone up with wire, it will always be flawed and broken now. Of course, in my mind I compare it to parts of myself which feel broken and unfixable at this time. I am just in a moment in which I need to look within and upwards to God to fill those cracks and areas that have become unglued and undone. I know I won't be able to sell this piece now but I am keeping it for myself as a reminder of a few things. Even flawed as it is, it is still beautiful and with God's grace, so am I.

Blue Chalcedony and Jade

Some of my wire work with Blue Chalcedony:




a gorgeous quartz stone made up of many different minerals. Considered a sacred stone by the Native American Indians, chalcedony nurtures and promotes brotherhood and good will. Absorbs negative energy and dissipates it. Harmonizes mind, body, and spirit.Instills generosity

Wire wrapped Jade: Known as the stone of wisdom and prosperity, I need wisdom and prosperity!!!



This is all done by a wire wrap technique in which you take a cabochon (flat backed stone) and create a "cage" by wire wrapping. It's fun, addictive, and hard on the fingers!

Free giveaway at Godsfavoriteshoes.com...I love this stuff :)

Hello, everyone, I am very excited to be part of a fabulous give away...Take a hop on over to Godsfavoriteshoes.com and check out Reiko, an awesome woman with SICK taste!!! she puts this city girl to serious shame. I love her style and fashion point of view...Any how, I am giving away a FREE handstamped necklace. Become a follower on her blog...I guarantee you will be inspired to vintage shop and finally wear another color besides black!!!
( manhattanites u know what I mean)

To all my new friends visiting this site,,,welcome :)

My Year in Jewelry Designing

It has been a great year for me in regards to moving forward in my jewelry designs and I am learning so much..next stop, precious metal clay,,,hmmmm.

I would say that most of my work this year focused on alot of blue semi-precious stones wrapped in silver. I also loved creating many spiral designs. This is my year in photos :)