Hope You All Have A Happy, Peep Filled Easter!

Challenges

This was a first for me ~ I received an email from a young lady who purchased a Rose Leaf necklace from me at a show, and discovered after she had moved that the leaf had broken. She asked if there was anything I could do to fix it. I told her I didn't think I could, except to replace the casting completely or file the edges down and repaint it, so she requested I try the latter solution and sent it to me.

After I took a closer look, I didn't feel that filing it down would have looked good. If I had both parts, it's much easier to mend - but I did not. So what was I going to do with this now that I had it?

After mulling it over, I decided I would try to rebuild the missing piece with the same material. This is what it looked like...

After I shaped it, matched the paint (that was the hard part!), and polyurethaned it (is that a word?), it turned out very well! Perfect? Not really, but my customer is very happy with it and I am confident that when she wears it, the only two people who will know it's been mended will be the two of us!

Bottles Full Of Dreams

Throughout my life I have involved myself in many types of arts and crafts - back in the day when I seemed to have a lot more free time - jewelry, painting, crochet (although I don't dig fabric and fiber all that much anymore), polymer clay, wire wrapping, ceramics, (and still some hope to be working with glass someday)! Totally right brained! Since then I have since thrown myself fully into the leaf casting, and a lot of the rest of this work was set aside.

But, 16 years ago ,when my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and I had to give him injections of Neupogen, which came in extremely tiny bottles, I felt I needed to do something positive with these expensive little vials of glass, something that would give my mind an activity besides worrying (FYI, hubby's doing very well these days!). I started to use the bottles as a base for bead weaving, and came up with this-

Total height is 1 3/4 inches, plus the seed beads are size 14/0, which is much smaller than the average bead 11/0 (like what you would find on Native American beadwork). The higher the number,the smaller the bead. I actually have some size 22/0, but have never been brave (or crazy) enough to work with them!

Plus a polymer clay stopper to match. 

Several more followed, no patterns used, just whatever I felt at the time. This was a later attempt...that's a Quarter it's sitting on!




This next one is still my favorite-

 Yes, I actually beaded myself a snake, complete with a little "basket" for it to stay in!

 The snake is totally separate, beaded on poseable wire

 Isn't he cute?

Even the bottom's beaded!

...I found other bottles for beading, like this Tabasco sample (YES, I washed it out very well!)

From this....

...To this....

And more polymer clay formed onto the top - for this slightly larger one I used size 11/0 beads

I found these two great little bottles with jeweled caps at some flea market. They are actually NOT finished (I want to bead the bottoms), so you might catch a glimpse of a thread here and there. 14/0 or 15/0 beads.

Another great bottle, which I'm a little disappointed in - I used high quality seed beads on this, and the pink color you see is the blue beads' color lining seeping into the white! Don't think there is any correcting it, though =-(

Of course,this went on long after the spousal unit felt better - I was on a roll! This one is wearable and is on a chain. I called it a Treasure Bottle, and was so proud of it till said spousal unit blurted out,  "Hey, looks like a coke bottle!" Uh, no, he didn't mean the soft drink! Anyway, that wasn't my artistic intention behind this project :-}

Can't  recall where this little glass tube and stopper was found, but it was just the right size for my beading needles! 

For this one, I didn't need to go around any curves, so I used Japanese Delica seed beads, which are shaped like tiny cylinders and are very uniform.

The stopper was also embellished with a polymer clay flower. I have used this for my needles (hey, that could go with the coke bottle!... I'm KIDDING!) for several years now.

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Happy New Year! Wishing all the magic and love of the new year comes your way! Hope to see you all in the coming months =-)

Sources Of Inspiration

 When the snow flies and the sun sets much too early, even I have a hard time remembering the many colors leaves can be. I'm sure I could find a few people who can recall walking with me in the Fall, and wondering why I would suddenly stop short and lunge for the ground! Did I trip? Was I having a seizure? No, I would spot a beautifully colored leaf and would grab it for later reference! Unfortunately, leaf colors don't keep past a day or two. BUT, (Reason number 87 as to why I love digital cameras...!) with my camera, I can freeze the diverse leaf colors in time and refer to them whenever I want!

I discovered most of these leaves last weekend, when the wind was gusting to 50 miles an hour and I had a yard full of leaves from trees that were probably miles away - that's why most of these are under plastic. I wanted to take the pics in the daylight, when the colors would be truer, but they were trying to take off!

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The most colorful and diverse tree in my yard has to be this Japanese Maple - I was disappointed when I first bought it - it had been mismarked and the leaves turned out a plain green in the summer and I wanted a red one. But once it matured, I discovered that its Fall color was breathtaking! The five leaves below all came from this one tree.

The two oval leaves are from a "Burning Bush " (Euonymus). Proof that I can paint a leaf PINK and it will still be realistic!

The underside of a waterlily pad...

Even a shot of my red Castor Bean...

And.... a couple of "my" leaves inspired by my Autumn finds!

Last Show 2011~ Harrison Rally Day

...A cool, cloudy mid September morning in a small NW Ohio community. This was fun, because it is a downtown street festival and it has a mix of the activities a lot of people think of when they hear "street festival" in the Midwest. 

One being: historical celebrations :

This event is named for a rally held in Perrysburg in the 1800s for William Henry Harrison. If you've heard of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too", it was the Whig party's campaign song based on General Harrison's exploits at the Battle of Tippecanoe fought in 1811 against Chief Tecumseh, and his vice presidential running mate, John Tyler. Mr. Tyler, the 10th president, succeeded Mr. Harrison on April 4, 1841, a month after Mr. Harrison's inauguration. (This last bit of info was totally copied from another website: I generally run as far away from History as I can as a rule...)

Quite a large "small" Festival, 240 booth/tents were set up along the streets of Perrysburg,Ohio.

...Here's mine!

And it wouldn't be a Midwest street fair without a parade!

 

 Of course, the local high school's marching band, too...

 

Always displayed proudly at my booth!

 

And we all love our classic cars! My Dad actually had a black '57 Chevy that I still remember riding in! He sold it when I was 10 :-(...

 

Then the sun came out and totally transformed the day (Although, as you can see, our booth was WAY too close to the railroad tracks!) 

 

The local fire department showing off for the kids...

 

I HAD to get a picture of THIS guy! I didn't even ask to take his picture - I figure that if one walks around with two dogs in doggie harnesses hanging on him , he should expect it! Don't think anyone would have believed me anyway if I hadn't provided proof!

 

 My Hibiscus Blossom display

 

And the Faerie Doors! TWO more are now out in the world attracting our tiny friends =-)

 

I'm so thrilled with digital cameras, because I always take such important and well thought out photos, like the sun glinting off my FunGi....

 

I always like to take an "artist's eye" shot from inside the booth! Good parting shot, too. Later!

FYI

Quick update ~ tomorrow I will be participating in my favorite art festival ~ Art On The Mall at The University of Toledo. Yes, it's going to be 90 degrees, but hey, I only wished for no rain, so I can't complain :-)

Ginkgo Pendant

Hope to see you there (-=