Smoky Mountain Memories

Part of my growing-up years were in the Smoky Mountains. I love all of Tennessee, but the eastern part holds a special place in my heart. I love the way you can see that misty blue gray outline from miles and miles away as you approach. I love the way the trees seem to shade and shelter you from the heat. I love the way a smidgen of sunlight peeks through a hole in the leaves. Last year our loved ones took us to see a production about the original inhabitants leaving the mountains to make way for the park. It was heart-wrenching to realize that people lost their homes and their traditions so that we could make roads that snake slowly up the mountainsides for tourists to visit. Say hello to the Smokies for me, you'ns.

Weeping Willow

Today's post is inspired by the challenge on Humblebead's blog. The idea was to create something on the concept of "Willow". Willow to me means the weeping willow trees of my childhood. Granny had one as big as a mountain ( it seemed to me). The branches came all the way to the ground and you could pretend you were in your own private cave of green as far as the eye could see. We had one sorry willow specimen in our yard right on the fence row. The neighbor's mule would mosey up to the fence, bray once just to show he could get away with it, and chomp a few leaves. He finally killed it before it could flourish.
My dad sang an uptempo bluegrassy song that had this verse:"Bury me beneath the willow, Under the weeping willow tree, So she may know where I am sleeping, Then perhaps she'll think of me." It's strange how a snippet of song can bring back a forgotten feeling. I thought everybody grew up with the same songs. When I went to college the girls from the city knew a smouldering jazzy song with this line: "Weeping willow weep for me, You know where I long to be...". Same tree, same sentiment, different worlds.
I pulled out all the green mini beads I'd made from polymer clay from my stash and made a few shades I didn't have to make this willow-inspired fidget bracelet. Thanks for the walk down memory lane, Heather!

Visionary

While I'm making beads there is always a story in my head. I'm thinking about a color, a texture, a story, a song, a poem. Here's where "Visionary" came from.
The sky was turning from ink to milk as Lina stood at the kitchen window. In the distance the trees were shadows in deep greens and blues. A woman appeared, mist swirling around her skirts. Lina was instantly drawn to the woman. She could feel the soft fabric of the woman's skirt against her own legs. Soft blue green with designs of lilac and sunny yellow. As the woman neared, she could see that the designs looked like eyes. "Should I go and talk to her?"Lina thought. Just then the woman turned to the left and was gone.
Later that day Lina found a scrap of fabric tied to the branch of her clothesline tree. It was soft blue green with designs of lilac and sunny yellow. The eyes looked back at her.

Turn on your heartlight

I bought alcohol inks quite a while ago and have only started playing with techniques this year. Applied directly to the clay, the colors are soft and subtle. When metallic leaf is layered between the clay and the inks something magic happens. I can look at these beads all day. The colors change as you twirl the beads between your fingers: blues morph into greens, reds and yellows make fire, purples peek shyly from the edges. Poetry without words.

Summertime

Summertime-and the living is ...well, not quite easy, but more manageable. Two classes to teach and some sporadic office work and possibly time to work at the bead table. Goals for this summer: learn to make earrings, put cords on pendants and list lots of stuff on etsy that's sitting in the studio,co-ordinate tags, business cards,online presence, see Polly, Diana and Hannah. Might even find time to read a book on the front porch. Ahhh, summer.

Fidget beads

Just a few bracelets with fidget rings. The perfect way to use up bits and pieces of a cane or special color combination.
Someone just told me that they can tell if I have been making beads or not by how I sound when I answer the phone. If I'm beadmaking I sound happy. I'm needing to let go of a lot of baggage lately. Is it safe to say that there are beaders and there are beadmakers and one does not necessarily have to be both? I LOOOOVE to make beads. I don't mind stringing them into simple bracelets and have even managed to make a few necklaces which I truly enjoy wearing. After buying several books on more complicated jewelry making, however, I've realized that I really don't want to invest the time and money into learning how to do wire work and more sophisticated techniques. Will this change? Perhaps when retirement comes or I get bored just making beads I'll take a class or read just the right book, but for now let's go make some more beads.

Ocho de Mayo

For some strange reason this one makes me think of balloons. I've been listening to an internet radio station that plays 70's songs all the time. Lots of Rolling Stones, Beatles and Chicago. Saturday in the Park...I think it was the Fourth of July...

Cowgirl Boots

A long time ago I had a cowgirl doll and a pair of red cowgirl boots. When I look at a picture from that time, I can remember that doll perfectly, but not the little girl who wore the red boots. I've been thinking about mothers and children lately. It's strange how the person we remember being is not the same person our mothers remember. Mothers tend to attribute traits and characteristics to a child before they are able to fully express themselves: "She has Grandmother's freckles and Aunt J's stubbornness," they say, but are these things true for a lifetime? Probably not. We try to assert our adult identities, but should realize that our mothers will never see the person we are now without the misty and cherished image of the child we once were.

Poetry Redux

It's spring and poetry is in the air (along with lots of scary thunder and lightning and rain). I've been experimenting with adding text to beads for a while and finally settled on a design I really like. Here's a bracelet with the text of an Emily Dickinson poem I love. I've also done one with Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky". What direction should this take: more poems, quotes, different colors....?

Spirals

I so admire the complex canes that some polymer clay artists are creating. At this time,however, experimenting with the diverse effects you can achieve with simple canes has me enthralled. The fingerprint bracelet started out as a simple black and white spiral reduced and manipulated until the spirals turned into fingerprints.

Bubbles!

Such a simple concept that feels so fresh and spring-like when done in a soft palette.

Diva Disks I

My hands want to make BIG beads. For my purposes, that doesn't really work. Smashing them into disk beads makes them more manageable. I love to string diva style bracelets of disk beads and matching spacers. P.S. The names are as important as the beads.

Painterly polymer

Inspired by Polymer Clay Daily (as I am most weekdays), I tried some controlled surface imagery in polymer clay. Normally I love to put colors together, manipulate the clay and let images emerge as they will. This new technique toward a more controlled surface image was very labor-intensive but worth the effort. The beads have an oriental, delicate look

Blogging bracelets

I set a goal of 100 new bracelets in January and I made 106! Really the goal should have been to put the beads on etsy, but I couldn't resist turning every set of beads into a bracelet. I've been experimenting with Mokume gane, caning,all the wonderful online tutorials available and some new finishing techniques. This one,called Dance of the Seven Veils, has a hand buffed wax finish which gives the beads a matte surface but still brings out the colors. Bracelets don't photograph nearly as well as individual beads because you can only arrange them one or two ways. The bracelets look very inviting laid out on craft fair tables in their little boxes. Perhaps it's best to think of bracelets as a craft fair item and individual beads as possible online items? ¿Quién sabe?

Squirrels are eating our car!

We have to park our car under a walnut tree because there's nowhere else near the house to park. Last year there was a bumper crop in walnuts. Squirrels were everywhere! The check-engine light came on in our car and wouldn't go off. We took the car to our mechanic. When we picked it up two days later he said, "Craziest thing! It looks like something has been gnawing on all the hoses." It cost almost $400 to fix everything so the car would pass inspection. Darn squirrels!

First Bead Show-Buyer

I attended my first bead show yesterday. I wasn't sure quite what to expect. The set-up was exactly like a craft show with tables and a few more elaborate displays. My favorite booth was the Kazuri beads booth. I've been told on several occasions that my beads remind them of Kazuri and it was a treat to finally get to see them. The vendors were so nice at that booth that it made you want to buy something and the beautiful display of colors and designs was quite inspiring. Until I actually lifted strands of glass and stone beads at the show, I didn't realize how much heavier they are than my polymer clay beads. I hope to make a post titled"First bead show-vendor" someday. Time will tell.

Reading and Beading

This bracelet and pendant set was inspired by Mma Ramotswe in the delightful No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith. If you haven't read them, rush right out and pick up the first one. The characters are delightful,but the thing that sticks with me the most about this series is that the main character is not a person at all, but the country of Botswana. Simply lovely. A pity that when I'm intensely beading there is no time or energy for reading. Balance is needed in all aspects of life.

2011

Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2011 will be a good year.

Happy Days are here again

My computer is out of the shop! I haven't been ignoring the blog, just out of commission. A holiday miracle! So how have you all been this December?

Sunday Dresses with Polka Dots

These polka dotted beads make me think of the Sunday dresses of our neighbor Ruby. During the week she wore any old thing working around the house and in the garden, but on Sundays, the fancy dresses and red lipstick came out. Nobody was a bigger part of our life on Trammel Creek than Ruby. She was the only neighbor within shouting distance and had lived there her whole life. She was in her seventies when she taught my boys to ride their tricycles by following them across our yard on her knees. She raised lush gardens every year and always shared the bounty of her tomatoes and okra when mine didn't measure up. It was pretty snakey close to the creek. When Ruby killed a snake with her hoe, she'd bring it down to show my delighted offspring. They'd hang it on a fence post because she told them that was how you make it rain(and it always seemed to rain soon after). She had a spacious house, but lived only in the back portion. The front had a parlour with a functioning player piano and maroon velvet furniture. It was used only at Christmas when her family came to visit.In her small living quarters, she had a recliner,a television, dozens of African violets and her party line telephone.(Party lines meant that you could pick up the receiver and hear your neighbor's conversations since everyone was on the same line. This was very entertaining and somewhat frustrating when you needed to make a call.) All her meals were eaten in front of that t.v.,preferably when Wheel of Fortune was playing. When we came to visit, we'd hear her shouting out the answers as soon as we stepped onto her property. There never was a day that Ruby didn't visit us at least three times. The visits were short and surprising as we never knew when she'd sneak up to the window and bellow, "Heeeeey boys." I've never seen anyone who enjoyed life more than Ruby. Trammel Creek was her whole world and for more than 80 years it was enough.