For My Friend

This work is a gift for a friend on the occasion of her 70th birthday.  Last year, for my 60th, she honored me with a generous gift certificate to one of my favorite local bead shops.  I wanted to return the favor.

My friend is intelligent, a voracious reader, and loves opera.  She is a mother to feline fur children, currently, a tabby named Holly. She plays bridge, and is a loyal companion.  She owned a cabin in Wisconsin, and that was the part of her that spoke to me, in this design.  Oh, and have I mentioned, she is a private person, and I respect that.  No names.

I wanted to return to my roots, and produce an entirely woven piece for her, and chose this jasper because it feels like a Wintery Wisconsin woods sunset to me.  It is either Cherry (sometimes called Red) Creek Jasper, or maybe Picasso Jasper. I have had it a long time, and do not remember where I bought it.  It has a nice polish, and because of this, I am going to guess, Utah Picasso.  I am fairly sure some of the supporting beads are Cherry Creek from China, judging both by their matte finish, and the not quite perfect drilling that China seems to be famous for.  I chose this stone, both because of its outdoor imagery, and because the beautiful silvery gray in the stone is very close to the color of my friend's hair.

Since as we age, dexterity dimishes, I wanted to make the work easy to wear, and especially, because my friend lives alone, with no one to fasten a lobster claw for her.  I used  hidden magnets to close the back of the necklace.

I created a delicate pair of earrings, as she is a small woman with delicate features.  The bracelet is also closed with a magnetic foldover clasp.

I had to ask her for a wrist measurement, since the oval beads will not lay flat unless the bracelet fits snugly and even though she has said "no gifts" she did oblige me.  I am sure she knows what I am up to, but I hope she will accept my gift in the same way I accepted hers; as an act of love, support, and celebration of life well-lived.  Happy Birthday!

Sam in Wonderland

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland

Thus slowly, one by one,

Its quaint events were hammered out-

And now the tale is done,

And home we steer a merry crew,

Beneath the setting sun."

 The "slowly, one by one" part sounds a lot like beading, no?

Stay with me.  I want to show you a necklace that involves beading, Alice in Wonderland, and a "sleeve."

A sleeve is an armful of tatoo.  The ENTIRE arm, usually from shoulder to wrist.  This must seem like random information but it is pertinent because I have a beautiful niece (Samantha, an animal welfare technician for a humane society) with an Alice in Wonderland sleeve. Here is how it looked after her first session with the needle.  Her bravery is vastly superior to my own!

Do you see Alice, the cards, the catepillar and his hookah, and the edge of the white rabbit?

About this time, when the sleeve was in this stage, I found a cabochon from Sandy Spivey with Alice imagery.  I thought it would be perfect for Samantha, and bought it.

Now unfortunately, this particular imagery is by a different artist than Sam's sleeve.  This is a Arthur Rackham illustration, in my opinion, among his best.  Her sleeve uses the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel.  Lots of different artists have taken on the illustration work, including Salvador Dali, but the Tenniel ones are more popular and familar to most people.  I worried that she might consider this a clash, (of style or maybe values) but finally this fall, decided that I would make it up for her and let her decide if it was wearable.

I wanted to honor the barely colorized, sepia look of the cab, so chose muted colors from the cab itself.

I used a delicate matte gold 24k delica in the bezel and some hints of pink and bronze, with a dab of Miyuki Baroque pearls in the surrounding embellishment and the stringing.  I really enjoyed working with the superduos at the edge, but every effort I made with them in the yoke was very rigid and unpleasantly inflexible, so I finally decided that a strung yoke was the best way to encorporate everything I wanted .

I have to admit, I have lost track of the number of piercings in Samantha's ears, but I felt that two earrings would fill at least some of them, if she wanted to wear them, and bravely wire-wrapped cherry quartz points to suit the purpose.

Now, the sleeve is, I believe, complete and really pretty awesome.  It has super vibrant color, which my work lacks.

I know my feeble effort is quiet by comparison, but Sam seems to be pleased with it, and I was happy to do it for her.

If I get really lucky, some day, perhaps Sam will model the necklace for me and send me a picture!