Igor Cuff ( Honoring the people of Bermuda)

This month Hurricane Igor hit Bermuda offering lots of damage to them, well just before it hit here in Florida we were feeling the undercurrents with rip tides and lots of danger in the ocean. I was on the beach during this time picking up lots of fragments of shells that were brought to shore because of this hurricane. I was amazed at all the textures on the shell fragments you could see lots of places where water had really smooth out the shells pieces I am thinking maybe these came up from the bottom f the ocean with all the churning of the water,,so I guess walking on the beach made me decide to create a piece of jewelry about how I felt about this Igor. You know we all walk around everyday taking so much for granted we use and abuse mother nature so much with all our wants of it and then we get shocked when she cuts loose and shows us what power she really has I believe there is a reason for everything, who knows what it sis , who are we to ask, damage can occur in any moment in time. So this cuff is all about taking hold of the damage and reconstructing from it . The metal is left over parts from other pieces mostly recycled some fused with other pieces, just a little of this and a little of that. The shell fragments are to show something broken can still be used in another way, the stones added to the cuff are left over pieces from slabs that I had used for cabs, the cuff is all about using damage or left over stuff into a thing of interest and intrigue and making do with what you have which is what these poor people in Bermuda are doing right now they are rebuilding their lives like I am rebuilding this cuff this cuff is all about honoring these people for their grit and stamina to make do and get it all together again to honor the beauty of Bermuda. Please stay with this blog as we go through the building of this cuff, I work on it when I can much like the people rebuilding are doing.

Hot off the press

I orginally started out as a fiber artist then moved on to include metalsmith, jewelry artist and lots of other stuff, anyway after daisy and bella got a bath iI looked at their collars yuck was my reaction. So I started thinking about getting new collars of course the ones I wanted were expensive and I love the cute etsy collars but I wasn't sure if they would be strong enough for daisy who can really misbehave a pull you like a crazy woman sometimes. So I thought about it and came up with a enhancer that simply fits over your collar, can be easily removed for washing, then I decided to sell it on etsy and donate part of it to an organization to help anmals find a home. The fabric is recycled mostly will come from a thrift store who is for a cause so that helps them out to so everyone wins. They are cheap $5.50 each with .50 going to animal organization. And here they are http://www.etsy.com/listing/57427900/go-green-dog-collar-enhancer1-sz-lg

Sunday mornig at the beach !

Isn't mother nature just the best, it is so beautiful and about as far removed from Atlanta as you can possibly get, I feel like I am finally home. In the remaining pictures I will show you a little bit of mother nature at her finest and hope you can enjoy this majical moment with me on this beautiful Sunday Floridian Morning.

Then this family caught this baby shark when they were fishing, looks like a baby hammer

head I think anyway they showed it to me and then took it off the line and through it back in the ocean to grow up. Notice the gloves !

The girls all dressed up to go to the Beach on Sunday Morning. They were so excited ! This was Bella first visit to the beach and she seemed to get right in the swing of things with Daisy and I . My little Daisy loves the water she is such a water babie my little beach bum.

UMMM!

Here's one of my assistants her name is Bella she is the point guard and Daisy is the muscle or her backup in case of any trouble, she is a mix girlie of red heeler and Australian Shepard someone who needed a new home urgently, she spent the first 9 months of her life basically in a cage , she now enjoys the freedom and a loving family us she has really came out of her shell she is doing great. I do share info on jewelry designs, some don't and that's okay everyone should find their own style and not try to reproduce someone else, make your own with your own personal imprint on it , it takes a little time to get it just right just keep practising until you do, make your own designs not someone else's.

This is some sterling silver spoons I have had for years, sometimes I make rings and bracelets out of them, these two spoons had the most wonderful designs on the spoon part so I flattened them to make some restyle pendants out of them., they deigns are so pretty and romantic I use to deal with alot of antiques so I have a million of these everyone says melt them down I say no way !

In this picture you will see the shells after they have been filled in ready for the designs , I use plummers putty found at any hardware store. It comes blue an white and you mix them together umm get ready it really stinks! but the smell does go away.

These are two shell pieces I chose to do more jewelry designs with, their texture is so wonderful and inspiring. I love these shell pieces , these pieces were picked just prior to the hurricane even though it was far away from us in Bermuda the ocean brought in so many shells some whole and some in pieces . I wonder where the other parts to these shells are, what far away beach did they wash up on?

Well I think I was staying up a little to late last night and somehow missed putting the pictures up of my work yesterday sorry. This is the components I will be using for the bracelet that I am working on with the seashells and a little fusing.

A wonderful Wednesday coming up

Thank goodness tomorrow I am off from my little normal job and onto my have great fun job. I got up really early this morning to finish up these little pretties, I had already made some for myself and thought I would feature them on my etsy site. They are the greatest of earrings I just love them. Tomorrow fun is to begin work on the shell pieces I showed you the other day. I want to do some pendants of them, they're texture is so intriguing to me, I am always drawn to sea shells they seem to mysterious to me , I often wonder where the rest of the shell on what distant shore it landed upon. These shells are some of work of the hurricane that the rough seas brought ashore here in Jacksonville. I am enjoying being near the beach for the first time in a long time, I really don't think I knew how much I missed living in Florida. My little Daisy who is not so little anymore is enjoying her sister Bella so much, poor Bella has had a rough time in life but fate landed her with us , it's a little rough getting her use to living outside a cage which is where she spent alot of time in before she came to us , now she has total freedom and is finally learning what "calm down baby " means thank goodness and she is now loving to ride in the car and go for walks although she is still a little scared of the walking she is doing great.

It's a Super Sunday

I have just spent the most wonderful Sunday , Frank and I went to the beach first and of course I picked up at least a million sea shells bits and pieces, jewelry ideas kept blowing through my mind. Why is there something so magical about seashells I mean really do you always pick them up to? I always like the broken pieces with all the texture on them that's me the texture queen. Now all these ideas are everywhere in my head going toward being put down on paper before I forget them. The biggest treasure was all the holey stones I found lots of them, now through out ages they are said to offer protection to those who wear them, the stones have holes carved through them from mother nature which is said to have healing and magical properties in them.

It is also said if you look through the hole during the light of a full moon you will see faires I will try this out.Folklore is so interesting , I enjoy reading about the properties of the stones.

Well after a visit to the beach we kept on Highway A1A on towards St. Augustine. It was great there was a wonderful breeze from the hurricane that is off Bermuda please say a prayer for these folks, we went into all the little cool shops, had a wonderful lunch in OLDE TOWNE which is of course where all the tourist shops are but it was fun and relaxing which is what Sundays are all about, sorry no Pics except of my treasures from the beach I forgot the camera.

Thank goodness tomorrow is wednesday

Ah tomorrow is a day off for some reason this week is already flying by. I went into the studio this moring got out a piece of silver and went and banged it on the patio pavers for some new texture think of something Bohemian again maybe earrings or a ring found some stones I had for saved back umm well lets see what pops out tomorrow so stay tuned check the blog tomorrow when we will discover what is on the bench plate being made in the studio. Hey that's a great name for new creations the "BENCH PLATE". STAY TUNED

Tuesday up bright and early

Ah good morning folks I am up early today as I will be going to a regular job today instead of having fun in the studio. yuck! I stayed up way to late last night putting cabochons on the sister site atticktreasures on etsy. Since the move here seems like everything is in lost land somewhere these cabochons were some of the last I had finished at the farm. The Chrysocolla is fantastic as always, my miner friend sends the greatest stuff to me it's always so hard to choose. Actually we should all have this stone as it is said to relieve tension and stress sounds like a stone prozac to me. Cleopatra was said to always carry one with her history says , it's suppose to make ill tempered people tolerant and sensitive umm interesting huh? If you haven't checked out the site please do and let me know what you think http://www.etsy.com/listing/56286762/chrysocolla-cabochon-4-arizona

Sunday night again

I am so sorry I have been really busy doing all kinds of crazy stuff this week. I am working on doing a little bit of riveting in addition to soldering. Riveting is something I have not done very much so I decided to add it on some of my jewelry pieces. Well it is fun sorta of and this comes from a chick who likes no loves using the torch. The only part I really don't like is sawing the little tube thing what a pain, other than that I can see where it will come in handy with other stuff I do. I have alot of ufo's hanging on that I need to finish so I am off to do them this week. As you will see in the pictures I added alot of texture to this necklace I have always wanted a thicker side to the back plates so I think I have found a way for this to happen. I love the amber beads although they were terribly expensive I love the warmth they give off when you rub them and they are good for metabolic disorders, asthma, arthritis and strengthening heart muscles. It is said that the color of Amber is to give you succes, we hope so.

At this time I would like to ask everyone no matter what you religion is please ask for my aunt who is very dear to me for her remaining time bring her lots of joy and happiness, no pain no discomfort, that her remaining time with us be blessed with lots of love and laughter and joy to enable her to deal with this issue that is facing her and may the sun always shine upon her face.

Sadly grief is once again coming to my family sad as it is to deal with, we must prepare ourselves to loose one who is wonderful and very special to us.