Grow where you are planted

I had a fun time again yesterday at the farmer's market.  It seemed pink and purple were popular colors so I have done a couple of new bangles using those colors today.

The first I've entitled "Grow where you are planted".  I guess as I moved around a lot growing up and then also before arriving in CA, I've been one to follow this motto.  You have to make the best of wherever you are and find some roots and get growing!

Hope you like it.

Admiration bangle

Purple is the color often associated with royalty.  Purple flowers are therefore considered to symbolise deep respect and admiration.

This bangle would make a lovely gift for someone you admire.

 
The purple and greens are lovely soft colors together. The green is much murkier than I usual use. I first dyed it yellow and then green to give the lettuce color.

Who would you give this to?

Blues skies

Following on from my "in the pink" bangle, here is another colored version - "Blues Skies".

Do you remember the song "blue skies" by Irving Berlin?. Quite a few different artists have recorded it.

Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see

Bluebirds singing the song
Nothing but bluebirds all day long

I never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my, how they fly

Blue days all of them gone
Nothing but blue skies from now on 

This bangle is blue skies AND blue flowers!  No more blue days here :=D  And I also  made some simple earrings to match.

Here's a little Ella Fitzgerald as a reminder of Blue Skies!

In the pink

I'm feeling in the pink today!  After flying over to the UK from CA yesterday, although I was up in the night for a couple of hours, (reading my Google reader at 4am this morning), I've felt good today and not tired at all.  We went out with family last night for dinner and they were entertaining so we stayed up until 11pm, not even noticing what time it was!  Hopefully tonight will be a good night's rest too.

So to match my mood, I thought I'd show you my latest pink bangle! "In the pink" - a pink background with pink flowers.  I did a couple of other colors too so I'll post them later in the week.

Our friends from the US also arrived today - managing to get through the volcanic ash on the way! They didn't sleep at all on the flight over, so are having a nap now.  We'll have to work hard tonight to keep them up - and ourselves!!!

Hope you've had a day in the pink today too!

Periwinkle

Gosh - I missed blogging yesterday as Blogger was down all afternoon and evening.  I had something to write about, and it felt odd not being able to share it!  Shows how much I enjoy my blogging.

Anyhow, yesterday I made a new style of earrings that I wanted to show you -  Periwinkles.

I love periwinkle flowers and while these earrings aren’t the exact shape of periwinkle flowers, they are periwinkle in colour.

Yes, periwinkle is not only a flower, but also a color, and a snail.

Another interesting fact about periwinkle flowers – also called myrtles, is that the Madagascar periwinkle is used to make Vinblastine, a drug that treats Hodgkin’s disease and childhood leukemia.  See, my old pharmacologist life does come into my jewelry!!!

We have some periwinkles growing near the mail boxes on our lane.  It’s such  pretty color. That delicate combination of blue and purple.

These earrings are colored anodized aluminum. I printed the flowers first, then sawed them out, riveted a leaf onto each and then put them on the ear wires. Hope you like them.

Burnt orange flowers

You may recall that a few weeks ago I showed you a bangle I made which included texturing the metal using a rolling mill.  The bangle was all one color - a vibrant and strong burnt orange.  Today, I decided to add a few silver flowers to it.

The texture I used was floral lace, so the silver flowers pick up on that texture.

A total of four silver flowers were added. The two larger ones are riveted on with aluminum rivets. The two smaller flowers are riveted on with copper rivets to pick up the burnt orange color again, as you can see in the photo below:

I think it seems a happier bangle now! What do you think?

There is a garden......

I'm working on a lovely song at the moment entitled "My lady's garden".  The original words are in French and translated into English by Roger Bennett and the music is by Roger Quilter.

Here are the opening lyrics:

There is a garden that all sweets encloses,
Where my love is wont to stray;
There blow the fairest flowers of May
And, lovelier yet, soft damask roses.

There by her side among the flow'rs
Would I might pass the days of June,
Fleeting the careless summer hours,
Whether by night or by noon.

It's such a joy to sing, even if the lyrics are sad at the end......and I can't get it out of my head.  I've been doodling flower gardens, thinking of damask roses......and from all these thoughts, these "there is a garden" earrings appeared!  It's like having a little garden shining brightly from your ears.

The leaves are aluminium and the flowers are silver.

And now I've written this blog post, you can be sure the song will be in my head for the rest of the day!!! :-D

Playtime with friends

My two new bangles today are adorned with orange flowers.  The symbolism of orange flowers comes from the fact that orange is the closest match to the color of the sun, so it suggests expansion, growth, warmth and happiness.  It is also the color of friendship and community.

So the overall feeling of orange flowers is that it beckons us to go out and play with friends, remember good times, enjoy the company of like-minds, and share big smiles all round!

I think I need to put on a "playtime with friends" bangle and get out in the sunshine and play!!  What about you? Wanna come out and play?

Hello Blossom!

Isn't it such a lovely time of the year. I love seeing all the blossom on the trees.  Such soft delicate flowers......And so two blossom bangles came out from my studio today!

At the moment we have apple, pear, asian pear, cherry, nectarine, and peach trees all in blossom. We had a frost two nights this past week however, so I hope they are all doing OK and weren't affected.

But I have to confess that while all those blossoms look lovely,  nothing can beat citrus blossom with that wonderful aroma...but then that's another season!!! So what is your favourite blossom?

And were you ever called "Blossom?". I recall as a child in England being called  "Blossom".  Was/is the term ever used for endearment in the US or other countries?  Not even sure if it's still used in England....???? I think we should bring it back in!  I'm going to call someone blossom this week and see how they react!!  What about you? Give it a try....

Alright Blossom? 

Overdyeing

This bracelet shows the technique of overdyeing, where first the aluminum is dyed one color - lemon yellow, then resists are added as the flowers and leaves and the bangle is dyed again with a quick dip in red dye.

The resist is removed and the result is yellow flowers and leaves on a peach colored background.  I've done a few using this technique but love the peach color created with the quick red dip on the yellow.

What do you think?

Happy Flowers

I finished a few more aluminum bangles this week. Here are a couple of "happy flower" ones.

I'm thinking at least one of these will end up with a little creature on them....as I now have a little stash of fine silver bugs. 

 

The colors make me think of summer...blue skies and yellow flowers. What do you think?

Bloomin'

I made a couple of simple pendants today in anodized aluminum.  I am so enjoying trying different techniques of printing and dyeing the aluminum. 

I thought these two were happy cheery flowers for a wet afternoon in CA.

And yes, I am still doing silverwork. I was up in my studio today working on four separate pieces...but more on those later.

Hope you like my bloomin' flowers and that they brighten up your day!

Wedding cake flowers

I think I've mentioned in passing that my cousin is getting married here at Birdland on July 3rd.  She is from Vancouver, Canada so her family and friends are all coming down from there.  My parents arrived from England on Monday for a little holiday beforehand, and my sister and her family arrive  next week.  It's going to be a busy time!

 

 My mum had the task of making some decorations for the wedding cake - and then the worry of transporting them on the plane over from England.  Luckily when she unpacked them last night, she found they were all intact.

I just love them.  They are made of gelatin.  She formed the petal and leaf outlines with fine wire, then dipped each into colored gelatin, let them dry and then wired them together.

I've decided I want the one in the photo below for a corsage for the wedding, as I'm wearing a lemon colored dress!

Don't you think they'd make good jewelry too!!  Great job mum!

I'll try and remember to post a photo of the final adorned cake!

Luscious Lime Purple

It seems that the only thing in my head at the moment is flowers (please don't tell the birds!!). I think it's because we have a family wedding coming up at the beginning of July here at our home and so I keep thinking about whether the flowers are peaking too early and can they just hang on a few weeks longer.....

And so I want to create everlasting flowers!

Here's my latest in my favorite color lime with a little splash of purple. Yes - a little different for me - no silver!!! And how is it that purple is such a difficult color to photograph? It rarely comes out as it is.....

Happy flower time!

Sunday's Spotlight - WAKEY, WAKEY!

By guest blogger Pete.

In late October early November I usually put my garden to bed for the winter.  We have had a harder winter than  normal this year so most things seem to have been delayed.  In fact, some plants that lived through last year's much milder winter have failed to make it this year.  There have been just two exceptions to this.

I gave the garden a weeding in late March and it has had a few grass cuts since then.  Our lawns are not in a very good condition with weeds and moss in danger of  numerically overtaking the grass.  I have tried many things but all with no success.  A friend of ours' recommend "Green Thumb",a specialist firm dealing with lawns.  So we asked them to come and try and sort out our lawn problems.  They reckon they would need three more visits to get things back to what a lawn should be but even the one visit they have made has resulted in a marked improvement to what things were not too long ago and quite a few weeds have already departed this garden.  Their charge is more than reasonable - £14 a visit - and if you are despairing for the state of your lawn then, take a look at the Green Thumb website.

Last year's Christmas tree continues to flourish and I have realistic hopes that it will survive for Christmas 2010.  I resisted planting it in the garden for fear that it would become too large; so it remains in its pot.  The plum tree is in full leaf and looking very healthy.  Even the olive tree I transplanted earlier this season seems to be enjoying its new location.

So the garden has woken up and its demands increase.  It's not a bad place to work in on a nice sunny day and we've been having a few of these just lately.

It may well be that having looked at the photos attached to this blog you could be thinking that, perhaps, a visit to your optician might not be a bad idea.  Worry not (as if you ever would)!  There's nothing wrong with your eyes.  One of the things I love about photography is the opportunity it gives to experiment.  I would appreciate any comments you may have about this week's photos.

Now's the chance to plan  your summer holidays (if you haven't done so already).  Things look as though they could get a bit tough in the UK with a new parliament that is hung.  Or is the hanging bit wistful thinking?