Etsy Treasury

Look at this great Etsy Treasury called Night on the Town by Etsy seller TartDeco. It features one of the vintage compacts from my shop.
I've had the honor to be featured in several Etsy treasuries and from now on I'm going to toot my own horn and post them here!
Here is another really nice one called Canadian Sellers by Alisonsyer, featuring work by Canadian artisans.

"In A Garden" Show

This past weekend I sold at the 20th annual "In A Garden" show and sale, organized and hosted by Kathryn McHolm. It's the fifth time I've participated and it was a pleasure to see so many lovely repeat visitors out enjoying the beautiful gardens and the artisan offerings. Here's our host, Kathryn.

My little corner was shady and cool.

I've never seen a fox before. This adolescent was glowing with health and as alert and interested as could be.

One of the adobe ovens, out of which came a procession of cinnamon rolls, pies and fruit cobblers.

Garden decor.

Guinea fowl chicks. Did you know they have blue eyes??

Lambs, they liked to have their noses tickled.

A fuzzy unripe peach.

And a marvelously alien-looking quince!

Poppies, so delicate, with their endearingly rumpled petals.

A wine dark lily.There is a honey bee in this poppy!

Flowers everywhere.

A smiling dragonfly.

Fabulous rosehips.

And a dainty and decorative spider.

The weather was July-In-Ontario hot (which can suck the energy out of even the most ambitious!), but we had lovely customers and a great visit. Of course it was heavenly to be spoiled by Veronica, and to enjoy Lemon Buttermilk Pie at the Buttermilk Cafe, for breakfast on Monday.

It was great to be able to share the driving for the first time, though driving on the 401 (our busiest freeway) is certainly interesting. Wow. I want a De-Materializer which will annihilate people who don't signal before darting neatly in front of me and then whisking off into some other direction. A click of a button could send them promptly into another dimension, where they can randomly change lanes as often as they like without bothering anyone else.

Sweet Clover, Freshly Cut Hay and Rain

Close your eyes, and take a deep breath.

The Bluest Blue

Morning glories so blue that the eye almost can't register the saturation of color.

Moth on the deck. Birch bark or a leaf? Sand? She would blend with any of those.

Summer progresses gently. I have a show this weekend and am assembling all the goodies into some sort of order. And relishing that I can distance myself from drama. It's helpful to remind myself that a lot of people seem to have trouble understanding that not everyone wants or needs to be just like them.

Further Experiments in Glass Casting

Molds made of jewellers investment. The fluted ones were poured into silicone muffin cups, reusable and easy to remove. I used fresh leaves, and hand molded sacred hearts made of polymer clay.

The molds look so pure and smooth and lovely! As an experiment, I tried lampworking some glass into approximately the correct shape and size. Some leaves are filled with green and clear frit.
Ready to go into the kiln:

And out of the kiln. Note that one mold broke as I took it out of the kiln, they are very fragile after they've been fired and can be used only once. Some glass flowed well, some didn't seem to get quite enough heat to make it flow flat, and it bunched up on itself instead.

With the molds removed:

Unfortunately the white sacred heart reminds me of a chicken,

Scrubbed clean:

I am liking how these look very much, continued experimentation will follow.

Viking Beads

Weathered and etched and aged, as close to the originals as I've been able to manage. Inspired by beads found as grave goods throughout the Viking world. Viking men and women treasured their beads of jet and amber rock, crystal and agate, carved bone and ivory, gold, silver, and especially glass. Women's graves have been found with hundreds and hundreds of beads. These replicas feature gold foil, enamel, layered cane and hand made starburst and checkerboard murrini.
Available in my Etsy Store, $45 for sets of 7 to 9 beads.

Delete

"The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
---Omar Khayyam

Pretty Pod Baubles

Lovely silver glass adds opal tints to the seeds, and fumes the base glass to strange new colors. I never get tired of making these.

Happy 4th

There are fireworks going off across lake Huron, on the US side. We are really close here, perhaps 4 miles? and the sound is carrying very clearly across the water. The cat is sitting by the screen door, looking out, very alert, as she does whenever there are fireworks. Her attitude is one of expectation and anticipation, as though a mouse-filled pinata could appear at any time.

A little song.

I wrote it just for me! Please sing along, to the tune of "I'm a Woman" (you know the one, "I can take the bacon, and fry it up in a pan? yeah, that one)
Ahem:
First I took effexor, made made me sad to be alive
Then I tried wellbutrin, made my hands shake like I was 95
Next was zoloft, felt great but pooped all the time...
now I'm on cyprolex and I tell you I feel fine

Cause I take antidepresssants
A-n-t-i depressssants!
Yeah!
say it again!
I take antidepressants,
A-n-t-i deee-press-ants!

Some dull your libido, so you don't wanna screw
Some affect your innards, so you do nothin but pooh
Some give you palpitations, think you're having a heart attack
others make you sleepy so you're always in the sack

Those are antidepressants,
A-n-t-i depressssants!
Yeahsay it again!
I take antidepressants,
A-n-t-i deee-press-ants!

No matter what the hassle, they're better than being blue
the kinda blue when everything in the whole world sucks and you don't know what to do
See the doctor's my advice and feel better, and you will see,
and then you can sing my little antidepressant song with me...

Take your antidepressants,
A-n-t-i depressssants!
Yeah say it again!
I take antidepressants,
A-n-t-i deee-press-ants!

Thank you, your'e beautiful!

Stepping Out Of The (Bead) Box

Of course I am still making beads, owls and pods and birds and baubles, but I've been working with some fibre as well lately and enjoying the way things are coming out. I'm making pieces that are multi-purpose, and can be tied and worn in a variety of ways. They work as long necklaces, lariats, chokers and bracelets, probably would work as delicate belts as well. Haven't figured out a way to wear them as earrings yet!

Click on any photo for a slightly larger view.

Needlefelted wool appleblossoms and leaves, antique stamens, size 15 seedbeads, silk and bamboo fibre knitted wool cord.

My first tentative experiments with bead weaving, I wanted backs that could slide up and down the cord.

100 antique mother of pearl buttons, hand crocheted onto kid mohair and silk yard (Rowan Kid Silk Haze, the crack of knitting!)

100 antique pink mother of pearl buttons, on silk and bamboo yarn.

As a choker.

The beads snuck into the mix here, of course. Antique mother of pearl buttons, vintage seed beads in an opaque oyster white, handmade lampwork glass beads, hand-felted baubles accented with tiny seed beads and some handmade cashmere flowers and leaves, all on bamboo and silk yarn.

Felted baubles with beading, needlefelted wool flowers, antique buttons.

The pale pearly pink beaded baubles are from the 1960's, I picked them up at Bead and Button and of course I wish I had bought more!

Lilac pancake-stack cashmere flowers with needlefelted and antique button centers, lots of antique buttons, handmade beads, hand felted baubles, on kidsilk haze.