Oops

It looks like all crafting will be pretty slow for the next few months, I just broke my hand yesterday morning. I can use my pointer finger and thumb but the rest of my hand is swollen, bruised and the pinky knuckle is broken and out of place. Hopefully I will have a quick recovery but we'll see how bad things are when they cast me on Monday. Well I suppose I should be resting my fingers and giving in to the drowsiness of the pain killers, I was really hoping to get some new pieces out soon *sigh*. Good night my fellow crafters.

Heaven

While at the grungy pool hall that I had been going to for a year, I noticed a bead shop a few stores down. Right next to the probably-serves-cat-Chinese food place, the GLBT center and the infamous Green Door was a little place I now call Heaven. It was wall to wall covered in gorgeous strands of beads. The entire store was lined up with tables just covered in every bead, pearl, stone, finding you could think of. Good prices on most things too, and the guy even gave me a discount. 9$ for over 150 fresh water pearls is a good deal in my book. The owner watched my pierced, tattooed, hot pink haired self like a hawk until he saw how full my basket was haha.

Bought a few new types of beads, goldstone, mother of pearl and sodalite, and some slightly tacky pink beads, should make for some fun pieces. Right now I'm looking into places I can sell my stuff at besides online, getting excited to be selling again. These are what I'm most excited about. I know these skulls are all over Etsy but I love them. The roses are amazing, I have big awesomesauce plans for those.

Personal Collection

So I have been hoarding this pendant for a while now its an ammonite fossil, they lived in the seas between 240 - 65 million years ago, when they became extinct along with the dinosaurs. Pretty cool to be able to wear that on a necklace.

The back is pretty rough, but when you flip it over it's just beautiful. It has a lot of depth and color to it that the camera just doesn't pick up on, I really want to make something nice and unique. I can't decide on what to do though, I was thinking of using some brown jasper, big pink Apache ball beads, wood disk beads or maybe even some of the rougher looking turquoise balls might give a nice contrast.  Hoping to match it to a bracelet that I made years ago, was thinking on adding some wire wrapping on it or a simple silver border around the edges. But I'm not sure how good my skills are for that, it's been a while and I don't want to ruin it. I'm really in love with the idea of making something new out of something so old but I want to keep the old feel and look that it has, I wish I had the skills to make something as lovely as these! That ring is just amazing.

Inspirations

  Growing up I had the most amazing grandparents, they were by far the best and most influential part of my life. My grandma was insanely talented in any form of art that she set her mind to, glass sculpting, pottery, stained glass, sewing, painting, photography, drawing, welding, writing, paper craft, jewelry making, the list could go on forever. She was strong, smart, talented, creative, passionate, loving, spiritual, giving, and I looked up to her in every way. Her whole world revolved around her family, and ours revolved around her.

  My grandpa is the most intelligent person I know, he worked construction all his life and could make just about anything, well as draw, weld, glass sculpt and make neon signs. He is my go to guy when ever I need to know something about ANYTHING, when I need some spiritual guidance, or when I just want to hear good stories about a great life. I look up to him in every way as well.

  For years they successfully traveled around many states doing art shows and selling their glass sculptures, jewelry and photography. I was blessed to have their talents passed on to me. As far back as I remember, they were always teaching me something new. I remember sitting on their laps their hands over mine teaching me to sculpt, marveling over how we could make beautiful life like creations from just a few rods of glass and a torch. Through the years together we learned more and more and I traveled with them doing art shows and seeing beautiful places and making unforgettable memories. Through them I learned to draw, paint, sculpt, make pottery, do photography, sew and quilt, but the one thing I latched on to most was jewelry making.

  6 years ago while on one of our "adventures" this time in New Orleans, my grandma fell ill. After a month of being there we came back home and she was diagnosed with lymphoma, It was end stage by the time they found it. They told her she wouldn't even make it out of the hospital but she proved them wrong and battled for 6 long years all the while she continued to craft and teach me everything she possibly could. We lost her on March 27, the wound is still fresh and we all miss her desperately but the things she taught me spiritually helped me to prepare and cope.

  So this blog is about all the things I have learned about art, photography, drawing, lots of jewelry making, sharing some memories and ideas about these things. My grandma lives on through my work and it brings me much comfort in knowing she would be proud of my progress.