Mutterings of a Crone

First, I’d  like to thank Lori for all the hard work she has done hosting the Bead Soup Blog. Lori, I know you have had to surmount a lot of problems in your life, but HEY, GIRL! you’ve succeeded! By doing so, you have set a wonderful example to the rest of us to not give up, even in our darkest days, and soldier on. My hat’s off to you. Hugs and Love!!

I’ve had a lot of fun with the Bead Soup Blog 2013. From dreaming and creating OOK jewelry from the stash I received to learning how to take pictures. I need to get a better camera, but I’m sure you’ll forgive a novice jewelry photographer…LOL

I sent a smorgasbord of items to Diana, my partner. In this hot mess, you’ll see chain, SP head pins, various semi-precious stones, amber bi-cones, amber beads and amber Swarovski crystals, a lovely little SP leaf clasp and even a couple of beads I made myself from Kato polyclay.

I didn’t want her to get bored…LOL

I was so excited when I opened my package from my partner, Diana Gonzolez. She sent it in a lovely little box that she had decorated with Washi tape.

Here’s what I got.

Look at those two mermaid focals. I made two separate necklaces from them. And those sparkly beads! Wow! What beautiful colors. You’ll be seeing them all over the place. Quartz is one of my favorite stones to work with, and whaddayaknow, quartz roundels  Yippee! The brown speckled heishi and the matching seed beads were a challenge. I think they added interest to the pieces where I worked them in. I haven’t used the plastic drops yet, but I’m sure inspiration will hit any day now. The two tiny Day of the Dead beads (posed to the north of the crystal roundels  made their way into my wild and crazy bracelet. More on that later! Let’s get to the goodies!

I am learning metal-smithing and just adore forging different things. Links, chains, beads, focals…the list is endless. Pretty soon, I’m going to brace myself and tackle soldering! LOL It was quite a rush when I annealed my first copper piece as I was working on it. Forming a ball on the end of an earring finding was cool, too. Pickling, throwing stuff into a tumbler with some metal shot and seeing it come out all bright, de-burred and strong is quite satisfying.

THIS is the first item I made from my cache.

I used one of the mermaid focals and some of the AB beads and blue beads she sent. I thought of the sea and its waves and tides. I thought of the Voudon loa (goddess), Yemaya-Mother of the Sea.  Her colors are blue and white. I made a few links that symbolize the wave motion and some more in the spiral to symbolize the eternal movement of the sea. A clasp to close it with and viola! I called it good.

The Second Necklace

Along the same lines, but on a more delicate scale, the second necklace is more ‘sparkly’ with a wider variety of beads and shinier copper.

The THIRD necklace

For my birthday, my partner gave me a lovely silver and black opal dragonfly. I didn’t have a chain to put it on; I wanted to make something and incorporate the dragonfly in a way that kept the pendant from moving around on the chain. I used some of Maria’s AB beads to make the stalk the dragonfly was resting on, jump rings to add more interest, and silver chain. I think it turned out rather well.

My funky bracelet

What to do next…hmmm…I have some memory wire. I’ve never worked with memory wire. Off that bridge I jumped! Seven loops of wire, curl the end, thread on some of her beads and throw in some of my own. See the little Day of the Dead beads? Fiddle around, back and forth, and I decided I wanted some movement. I threw on some crimp covers (since I hadn’t included crimps originally), and mashed them flat. Then, using my crimp pliers and a special set of crimp pliers that turn crimps into beads, I fixed them on the wire so they didn’t move. Now, my sections of beads moved freely on the wire. Yippee! I like sections of the shiny silver wire showing through.

The next day, I had a dinner to attend.  I wore this bracelet and the first necklace I made as a trial run. I got lots of good comments on both, but the beads on the bracelet decided to follow the law of gravity and slid to the lowest point, under my wrist. Sigh. The bare wires didn’t look so good now. So, back to the studio (the half of my bedroom dedicated to jewelry work…LOL) I went. I threw on about twenty more crimp covers, effectively making smaller sections with fewer beads in each to slide around. NOW, I have the movement I want, and the beads are all visible all the time. YAY

This has been fun, and I haven’t even used all the supplies Maria sent me! Look for more pics in the future. Maybe by then I will have honed my photography skills, too.

Visit Maria’s blog to see what she has done with all the fun things I sent her.

Visit the rest of the reveals, too. Here is a list of names and links to help you get there:

My family seems to agree that a great use for Facebook is public grieving.

Yesterday was the second anniversary of my nephew’s death from a massive coronary. He was 39 and left behind a lovely wife who he adored, and four children. He was a good man. An ex-Marine, Corrections Officer, Volunteer Firefighter, and a Christian very involved in his Church and Community. He was the kind of Christian I look up to. I wish we had more pagans like him.

Early in the morning, the posts started coming. Favorite pictures. Odes to his wonderfulness. Last moments shared. Puddles of pain, gallons of grief.

By 10 am, I was a basketcase. I huddled in my room, in my bed, howling with grief. I ate an entire bag of Halloween candy. My blood sugar reading shot up to over 400. I didn’t care.

Sandy came in, and poked at me until I agreed to go out with her.

Then, that afternoon, my niece posted a picture of her mother’s flowers. The second anniversary of Janell’s death. That undid me again.

I don’t dare go to their Facebook pages. The family and friends tend to use them as shrines, and leave offerings of love and prayers of poignant wishes. It is rather like the candles and flowers left at a memorial site in the cities…only this is in zeros and ones that never seem to fade away.

Today was better. I constructed elemental altars in the circle in our backyard. I even started my first ‘pit-firing’.

All the little bits and pieces of greenware are tucked into their soon to be fiery nest of cedar chips.

Cedar chips and aluminum foil. Simple, simple, simple.

A nice wide spliced aluminum foil tarp for the burning bed of cedar chips.

Lit in three spots for even burning. I had no idea it would burn so FAST! QUICK! Throw on the foil!

Next time, I’ll remember ‘Foil First Fire Second”. Phew….four layers of foil later (fire burns through foil…fast!) and a couple of little scorch marks, the fire is smoldering nicely. With a couple of partially burned logs on top in case the wind whips up a bit, we’re all set for the night. I’m excited to see what I drag out tomorrow.