Leafy Hush

While I was doing my own bangle yesterday, I also made a couple to sell. One was in the same colors as mine - Orchid Hush (soft lavender) and pink, and the other was Orchid Hush and green so I've called that one "Leafy Hush".

The colors do seem so appropriate for "hush". I find them very gentle, quietening, and calming.  Wearing these colors really does make me feel tranquil and at peace.

What do you think? What colors do you wear that are calming?

Leaves of green...(and pink, yellow, black......)

I made some new earrings for my upcoming farmers' markets. I wanted a lower price point and an item that was a good intro to color anodized aluminum jewelry.

Aluminum is such a perfect material for jewelry. It is very lightweight - you can barely feel these earrings when you wear them - but it is tough too.

So today's little series is entitled "leaves of green"..... but with a bit of artistic license, I added some other colors too!

My favorite is the pink/purple pair. What about you?

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

17/52 Bird a week challenge - Rustling through the leaves

Doesn't "rustling through the leaves" conjure up a lovely picture.... and while it's normally associated with autumn in our minds,  as that is the time of year when we rustle,  for birds, it is a year round occupation as they look for grubs and little tasty bites to eat.

We see them all the time out in the wooded area - towhees, robins, quails, jays etc....kicking their little feet through the leaf litter looking for insects. This is why it is important to not clear all the fallen leaves away around your property. It is an vital habitat for birds (and of course insects!!).

And that is what my bird this week is doing...he's wandering around, in between the leaves on this bangle, looking for some tasty treats!

I wonder what he'll find?

Week 17 of the year long challenge and I can tell you - it's impressive how many of us who started this challenge are keeping up with creating a different bird each week. Even those who had never created birds before! Take a look at what the others who joined my challenged have created this week:

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?

13/52 Bird a week challenge - Quentin Quail strolls in the garden

Yes, Quentin has finally joined the "bird a week challenge"!!  For those who don't know, Quentin is an old friend who lives with us here in Birdland. He is a California Quail who shares his life with his wife Queenie and their numerous babies. During the winter he hangs out in his covey of other quail friends.   If you look under "caption competition" at the top of this post, you'll see Quentin and some of his friends from last year!!!

Well today he is hanging out on one of my leafy aluminium bracelets, entitled "Quentin strolls in the garden":

He likes wandering among the leaves and looking for food...... I think maybe later in the season when he has his family, it would be good to see all the quails together on a bangle. What do you think????

Doesn't he look handsome!

A group of us are all challenging ourselves to make a bird a week for 2011, and here we are, already on week 13 - a quarter of the way through!  I hope you'll take the time to see some of the other birdies created this week by clicking on the links below....more and more links appear as the week goes by as people finish their birds. Hope you enjoy them:

The beauty of leaves

I have been amazed at the number of leaves that have fallen from the plane trees outside of where we are staying.  The numbers seem incredible and they have been gather on the pavement below many inches deep.  The council have been around and collected them up - but then the next day there seems to be just as many.  They are the sort of crisp, big brown leaves that you want to kick up and crunch through! To be honest, I would have quite liked to just roll in them -but it was a bit grubby and damp so not the best thing to do!

Then I went for a short walk to get a newspaper and saw this wonderful little bit of street art made from the leaves:

 

The edging leaves have all been cut precisely and the center hexagon has each leaf perfect aligned.  They are stuck to the paving stones just by the wetness on the stones.  I just love it.

And I love the idea of someone taking the time to create their bit of art in the street using a medium (leaves) that was all around them.

Featured artisan - Rena from LilyCobWeb

I'm happy to feature another artist today so you can hear about her work and what got her into her creations. Her name is Rena Roohipour and her store is called LilyCobWeb. She has stores on Etsy and Dawanda.

I asked Rena to share with us something about her work....and this is what she said:

I’m fairly new to selling online, but not new at all to crafts and crochet. I first learned to crochet at the age of eight or nine. I was taught by a neighbour of ours who did beautiful Irish crochet, and I used to marvel at her skill and patience.

I stopped doing any handcrafts for years, with occasional forays into making christening shawls for family members. I came back to crochet about three or four years ago, in a very roundabout way……

I'd been an art teacher but decided I'd give that up for family reasons - ie I have four children! I’d started painting, loved it, but realised that my lifestyle was too busy to allow the time I needed. Then three years ago, I went to Boston to visit my eldest daughter who was studying music there. As I was walking down Newbury Street, I visited the Boston Society for Arts and Crafts Shop where they had a jewellery exhibition. And that was the first place I saw bead and wire crochet jewellery! I couldn’t believe you could crochet wire! I went straight to Windsor Button, on the other side of Boston Common, bought myself some 28-gauge wire and some beads and I was off! I made so much bead and wire jewellery and had no trouble selling it. I’ve since gone back to yarn and thread, but I still use beads and wire a lot to make my creations. I don’t exclude any material, and I experiment a lot! Crocheting leather is my latest favourite thing!

The beaded cuff in the photo is one I made for a commission. Beaded cuffs have now become quite a trademark with me. I love making them as they combine yarn, beads, wire, ribbon and magnetic clasps-all the things I love! Creating them is quite a challenge, as they have a lot of stages in the making.

Crafting is more precarious than teaching, but a much more fulfilling occupation. I struggle to get as much time as possible to develop my ideas, and get really frustrated sometimes when ‘life’ gets in the way. My time management could definitely be better!

Creating in the medium of crochet is very satisfying for me. Crochet always amazed me with its possiblities. It’s very sculptural and I love that. In a strange way, it links me to my childhood and my home. Rudolf Steiner, the educationalist, says crochet has a link to breathing because of its rhythmic qualities. It relaxes me and energises me at the same time! I love the design process, experimentation with new yarns and old ones, and playing with colour.

At the moment, I’m obsessed with leaves and flowers and ways to crochet them. I want to do a series of leaf pendants connected with Celtic tree lore.I like to feel a link to nature, and I think that finds its way into my work.

Selling online is a whole new challenge. It involves having a bit of business sense and taking good photographs, neither of which I’ve perfected yet. But I’m getting there!