It’s been awhile since I made some cold settings. I really do like the raw earthiness look to the stone wirh this typeof setting. Two are made with copper, one is copper and German silver.
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
Since the 1980s my go-to Thanksgiving side dish was broccoli casserole. Although I shared that recipe, it was always requested for our Thanksgiving gatherings. But as the years pass, our family gatherings – which used to be quite large! – have dwindled down to barely a few. Parents and some siblings have passed, some have moved thousands of miles away, ….. the only constant in life is change. We are older now, and are now invited to local friends and neighbors places for Thanksgiving. They tell me, “Please, just bring yourselves!”. I think they don’t want me to ‘go through any trouble’ and just enjoy the day. So instead of cooking something to share, we’ll just take a bottle of good wine. And I’ll make that broccoli casserole for hubby and me, to go with the leftovers that are almost always sent home with us. Wishing you all a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?
If I could meet a historical figure, it would be Jesus the Messiah. To hear him speak, witness the miracles, and learn from his teachings would be the greatest experience one could ever have.
What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading The Secret of Secrets. Well, I’ll be starting it next week.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?
A heart shaped rock. I asked for a sign from God that life would get better. I looked down a saw a large heart shaped rock. 30 years ago. I still have it.
Along with about 50 other stones, Chrysocolla is one of my favorites. So many shades of blues, greens, browns, and rusts, ….. It’s easy to get lost in the colors’ movements. During the polishing phase, while moving from wheel to wheel, I love watching the beauty of the stone slowly appear.
I’m a minimalist when it comes to wire-wrapping. For me, it’s all about the stone. For a bit of whimsy, I’ve added accents of faceted micro turquoise in the bird nest wrap. They remind me of little spinning blue planets. The touch of blue from the turquoise micro beads both complement and bring out the blues hiding in this lovely stone. Is it planet Earth? Is it the universe? I’ll leave that up to the new owner to decide.
Hand forged (by my cousin, the blacksmith) dimes and pennies. Coins are in dated pairs. cowgirls just wanna have fun!
2023 – what a year! We sold our house in CA and moved clear ‘cross country to beautiful and serene South Carolina – where the days are lazy (and hot and humid), the old live oak trees are beautiful with their Spanish moss (which is neither moss nor Spanish), the ocean waters are warm and filled with delicious fresh fish and shellfish (oyser roasts, anyone), and the people are friendly with their Southern charm. We’ve settled in quite nicely.
Although mostly retired now, the jewelry making continues to keep me busy. Our community has a boutique on the first Saturday of the month, rain or shine (can’t complain about those 85′ squalls!). On my table one will find my fun and unique jewelry pieces as well as croched hats and scarves. It all keeps me busy and enjoying the semi-retirement, adding in bird and critter watching (ever heard of a fox squirrel?) while enjoying my morning coffee.
That’s it for now. Wishing y’all a lovely and blessed day!
In my local crafters club, The Torrance Craftsmen’s Guild, we have a great number of talented artists. While recently participating in a craft show, I had the time to leave my booth and browse – to check out some of the goodies that our craft club members had made and were up for sale. Lena’s booth is one of my favorites. She makes beautifully crocheted pieces of wearable art, sews flowing ‘butterfly’ blouses, and makes creative jewelry with small seed beads (those little beads intimidate me!). At her table I spied a lovely beaded bracelet with the most unusual combination of colors – yellow, green, purple, and white. After many compliments on her creativity and use of colors, she shared a confession with me – while out strolling in Kenneth Hahn Park, Lena came upon the most unusual and curious looking flower, one she had never seen before. She was inspired by the colors and decided to rush home and make something using those colors, capturing the flower’s beauty forever in her mind.
Well, I too happen to love color. In fact, color is what initially got me hooked on stones and beads. Anyhow, I stared at that pretty little bracelet for awhile, and then it hit me – I KNEW the flower Lena had seen! I hurriedly went back to my booth, rummaged thru my photo greeting cards (yes, I do a bit of photography as well), and found a picture of that flower. It is called a Passion Flower – Passiflora. I knew this because the passion flower had always been a favorite of mine and as a kid I looked forward to the flowers blooming on our fence vine. I rushed the photo card back to Lena to confirm my thoughts. BINGO!
What follows is the story of the Passion Flower.
In the 1500’s when the Spanish missionaries saw this flower it reminded them of the Passion of Christ. These are the representations:
- the 10 petals and sepals represent the 10 faithful apostles (less Peter and Judas)
- the flower’s radial filaments, which can number more than 100, represent Jesus’ crown of thorns
- the 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails
- the chalice shaped ovary (below the stigmata) represents the Holy Grail
- the 5 anthers (below the ovary) represent the 5 wounds
- the tendrils of the plant represent the whips used
Given that today is Good Friday, I thought today would be a fitting time to share this story, a flower’s story of the Passion of the Christ.
Oh, yes – Lena was thrilled to finally know the name of the uniquely beautiful flower she saw that day in the park! And, I believe, she charmingly captured the flower’s colors in her pretty little bracelet.
Happy Easter to all.
Recently, a friend of mine referred to me as “A real Renaissance woman”. I knew it was meant to be a compliment so I smiled and said, “thank you!” While I always enjoyed dressing up and going to the Renaissance Faire, I must confess: I really had no idea what a “Renaissance woman” was. So I looked it up in our modern day encyclopedia, the internet.
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dictionary.com states that a Renaissance woman is “a woman who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.”
Hmmm… OK, I’ll accept that. While I have profound knowledge in my jewelry making, I also have knowledge of and great appreciation and proficiency in several other fields. To name a few, there’s sailing, music (especially old R&B and Motown, late 50’s and 60’s rock and roll music, and 1970’s rock music, New Wave, and disco – stop the teasing!), dancing to that music, cooking, wine appreciation, family board games like Scrabble and Taboo, card games including poker and Cribbage, baseball, road trips, fishing (freshwater preferred), animals and flowers, cruising – I could go on.
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wikihow.com gives several tips on becoming a Renaissance woman/person:
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Be talented athletically
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Be musical
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Understand art
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Be educated
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Be well-read
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Have a good family and economic life
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Be brave
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Be thoughtful and generous
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Be courteous
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Be a leader
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While I do or have been all the above, I believe that the most important traits to practice on a daily basis are courtesy, thoughtfulness, generosity, and bravery; and especially one which is not listed: happiness. We owe it to ourselves and all those we love to be happy – happy with who we are and happy with what we have.
Me? A Renaissance woman? I guess the answer would be yes. And thank you, my friend, for giving me one of the best compliments ever.
I love the hat
Lyn D jewelry design 