shards

dictionary defintion: a piece of broken pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig...
our definition: beautiful pieces of glazed porcelain or chocolate clay made by marsha neal...

she is having a september challenge to see how they were used, you can read all about it here...

at beadfest in philly i had the pleasure of meeting marsha... i got a centered hole shard and a few dangling ones... the word 'shard' takes me to a book i read called 'a single shard'... as an adult, i sometimes read coming-of-age books... and this is one of them... the word represents hope, courage, perseverance & growth to me ... so besides the pieces being so challenging design-wise, they evoke a powerful message...


marsha would also like to raise money to make a dedication for her mom at the tri-state bird rescue... the first shard i used in that vein, drawing on the emily dickinson poem 'hope'...

'hope is the thing with feathers

that perches in the soul,

and sings the tune without the words

and never stops at all.'

it is not yet finished, but i knew exactly how i wanted to set up the pendant...

 

 in this necklace i used pietersite and something my bead shop calls teal paisley - must be a composite... warm colors, varied textures are meant to surround the shard but not overwhelm it... 


the swirling in the clay makes me think of centering pots - when it is wet and malleable... how you yourself have to find quiet (or at least i do) and focus, or become centered, before you can ask the clay and wheel to cooperate and do the same... i think it's such a neat process... the potter who taught me said that if she became president, she would give everyone a lump of clay... i got that - it is relaxing to work with... not a bad idea!


if you are in my area, i will be at the hoboken art & music festival on sunday between 11 and 6...

duality

'every one is a moon,

and has a dark side he never shows to anybody.'

- mark twain

this 'duality' necklace started with the raven bead from mak of maku studios... it had a mythical feel to me, as the raven has been surrounded by legends for centuries and from all over the globe... even carl jung wrote about this bird... unfortunately, the raven often gets a bad rap due to its superior job performance in the natural world as a scavenger... 

the norse god odin had two ravens that accompanied  him at all times... in welsh lore the raven is associated with wisdom... but i love the stories about how the raven brought light when it left the darkness of the cosmos... the light of understanding... and from this, jung came up with his teachings of the raven representing the shadow self, or dark side of the psyche... our dark sides must be acknowledged and examined in the light of our conscious selves... there we find balance...  

the center two rings of the pendant represent coming full circle in understanding... the spiral of the infinite, a beautiful bead by mary ann at linden avenue designs (all glass in this piece by mary ann) & a shimmering piece of labradorite which is thought to enhance clarity of thought... from there we find another glass bead by mary ann that you can see into the depths of ... a white crackle raku bead to counter the dark raku disc and glass on the other side... and a hammered, antiqued sterling blank with 'self' imprinted upon it... reminding us that all facets of the self must be acknowledged to be complete...

a breast cancer awareness bracelet made in sterling with rhodonite and ceramic... the words hope, love and believe are stamped on sterling discs... believe has a fluttering butterfly on it, representing the growth & change that only a struggle can provide us with... 

home

'i long, as does every human being,

to be at home wherever i find myself.'

~ maya angelou

'where do you call home?'

for many, the house we reside in is home... for others it is not... or you can have more than one place that makes you feel that special way... when i am in the woods i feel at home - no demands, no electronics, no laundry or dirty dishes & hopefully people who just let me be... to me, home is where you can be vulnerable, be yourself, be accepted... i try to teach my kids that home is their 'safe place'... meaning (outside of the normal sibling stuff) there will be no intentional wounding of either the physical or emotional type done within these 4 walls... it is something that is very important to me...maya angelou wants us to be so comfortable within ourselves that we carry that feeling around... i think that is an awesome goal to work towards...

i made the bird and leaf charms and had been back and forth about what i wanted to do with them... figured that i would use some of mika's small etched glass beads... but what else? the meaning and expectation one should have of 'home' has been on my mind a lot... and so i decided to build nests (i know they might look like wreaths & am planning on seeing what else i can do to them) out of different elements - using sterling, brass & copper wire instead of twigs, string, reeds, grasses...

i would like to thank everyone that left comments on the etching experiment and the cancer awareness earrings! i am always touched when i see comments on my posts, but there were lots left for these... 

and i would like to thank those seasoned pros who patiently answer the questions posed to them by those who are learning... you know who you are! i always have the utmost respect for your time, your vision, your hard earned experience & the time it took you to learn what you have learned... 

as an alternative for the simpler things, i thought i would share a site i found that has lots of online video classes, some of which are free... www.beaducation.com ...  

feeling kind of antsy tonight because i found out there is still time to be in the hoboken music & art festival... it's only 10 days away, it costs more because it is last minute, but it sounds sooo cool! hoboken (birthplace of sinatra) would be my first non-local show... it just seems like an awesome opportunity... 

hope tonight finds you at home ~