Earth Bound Lace

Earth Bound Lace

       For as long as I can remember I have had a love for rocks. I have collected them and thought of them as treasures. To me it is quite remarkable how beautiful they can be. I love the shape, look, texture, weight, and age. Some other loves have been with me for, not quite as long as rocks, but important to me just the same. They are thread, string, knots and lace, also, beads and glass. All of them have an elemental nature to me. Rocks have age, a permanence and stability. Lace, thread, and knots also have an age and story. Knots and fiber . They have a connection to generations past, the skill has passed down through generations. Different from the rocks, they have a light and an open texture. It is from these elements that these projects evolved. 

 

      I started with a carved pink jade rose and I tatted around it, incorporating the stone as I went along and also, picked up tear -dropped shaped beads, which included tiny white pearl-looking glass drops, I got to the very bottom, I added two vintage pink trumpet-like flower beads held on with some more tiny tear drop beads. In between , I added a vintage Chrystal-cut bead, and below , a wonderful softly swirled pink and clear glass teardrop.

I made a chain of Josephine knots and pink crystal bi-cone beads, finished off with two tiny pink seed beads. I Closed it with s loops and a vintage crystal closure. 

 

      This next piece has an Asian feel to me. With it's Chinese knots, Chinese chess piece, and handmade Asian glass bead, I have used an oval stone bead with three beads in the center. The one in the middle looks like a carved red bead but is made of something lighter. The necklace portion is what took the longest . I used tiny nylon thread, and, several kinds of assorted glass seed beads. I finished this one off with a lobster claw clasp and a few loops to make it adjustable.

This one gave me some grief . I had to set it down in between working and had the bright idea to put it all in a bag, and it got knotted together in a mass of nightmare knots. It took a long time to untangle and unknot. I hope I never get in that kind of mess again. After untangling, I put each thread in separate little baggies to keep them apart. It worked a lot better and kept me out of trouble. 

      The next necklace I call lost and found treasures. First, I did tatting and knotted lace around the stone, In the center, I added a vintage eye-shaped rhinestone given to me by a friend from The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. After she died, her niece, (I think also a member of the group)who knew that I liked that sort of thing and gave me this along with some other beads that must be older than me. She was almost 100 years old. On the bottom, I put two teardrop shape old beads from a necklace I found at my favorite thrift store. I think these are a bit rare. They appear to be amber with some interesting inclusions. In the middle I added an acrylic bead sent to me as a bonus with some other beads I bought recently on Ebay. Above that is a tiny silver heart with some tiny diamonds and a sweet opal. On the topside I attached a link from a belt and added a nice old chain with and old metal flower bead and a round intricate clasp from an old broken clasp. It has a nice mirrored back that shows through the open-work front. There are lots of tiny treasures . I think I will keep this one because it has a bits of sentimental pieces that remind me of friends and finds.

        This next piece was a fun learning experience. I and finds. started with a larger rock in mind, but as I knotted the cover,it was too small to cover. I started with tatted picots to make feathers for the front of the little bird. Then the back and sides are made of knotted needle lace. To represent the eyes, I used some delightful eye like agates. That I think are from Africa, if I remember correctly. For the beak I used a tiny conch shell. As the top of the plume I used some metal leaves that look like feathers, reminiscent of some birds I have seen. 

 

I should call him fun and whimsical, because most of the time male birds are a bit more flashy than their female counterpart. The necklace part is made up of a heavy nylon cord, dotted with polymer swirl beads and rock looking beads with a few wooden spacer beads. This brings a smile to my face. I hope it does for you too. I had to use a drill to enlarge the holes on the beads to fit them on the heavy cord. I wanted to add a nice clay bead. I tried to drill the center of it, and to my surprise6, it got red hot and stared to shoot sparks, So I took it to the kitchen sink to finish drilling to be close to the water if needed. I thought the clay was becoming molten inside, but it turns out that the drill bit was actually melting . I'm not sure how I will attach it to a project,but it is a metal reinforced center now. I've never had that happen before. I think that clay is some sort of fire clay. Really hard. I made do with the ones I could drill and finished up. 
 

         The next project is made with lots of odds and ends, silver metal beads of assorted kinds,a glass cube, cylinder and triangle shaped beads, A few gunmetal -looking tube beads, and some nice decorative carved looking beads. I added last of all a dragonfly made of an acrylic body and needle laced wings with a top

Chinese knot for a head. This one took some reworking. I started it but didn't like the result ,so I took it apart and started over. Now I like it better. 

 

       Last I made one with an Onyx donut bead and a few vintage pieces from other necklaces. In the center of the donut ,I put a faceted black bead that has a hole in the back, making me think it must have been on an earring at some point. Dangling from the bottom is a silver encased black stone which could be onyx, but I'm not sure. On either side of that are two glass leaf-looking beads. On the back of the donut I added a vintage metal button. I had to do something I don't like to do if I can avoid it I had to glue the faceted glass piece and the button. I could not figure out how else to keep them in place. The tatted lace was not going to be enough to hold them in. I found in my stash a nice black chain and added that to finish this one. 

 

So we are at the end of this journey for now. See you next time.

Thanks for checking this out.

Found Object

Found Object

Hello again. This adventure started with an object my husband found while we were out walking. He picked it up and said, “you like found objects, Here is one.”

It came off of who knows what and had been run over . It was folded and smashed together. I took it home and unbent it the best I could and considered the possibilities. It was made of what looks to be copper and it consisted of two ring shapes connected with a bar between the two circles.

I started by looking around for other metal items and found a piece that I had made into a necklace once before. I took apart the rest of the necklace and saved that part. I joined the two and went on from there, finding other pieces that seemed to go together. I was able to use some copper-like circles. I had wondered how I to use them. This seemed to be just the thing. Off I went, putting together all the pieces. I liked the result. I also used some chalk turquoise and other turquoise-looking beads. It was nice to reuse a piece that I had saved. I think it was originally from an earring. When I got it I made it into a necklace. Maybe this will survive as a group this time. 
 

My next adventure started with three beautiful stones that were carved and put together as a set. They are quite heavy with all three pieces . I wanted to make the piece with strong enough cord to support it. I found heavy nylon cord that I already had would fit through the drilled holes. After I put the cord through, I had to find how to make it a unified piece that would be strong enough to hold it all together. That is a problem I have had before. First I used a ring covered with knots to hold it in place. It was still not enough to support the whole thing. I decided to make a wire framework to give it further support. I knotted cord over it to give me a base to work in some needle lace to fill in the space and unify the whole piece. I also attached a knotted cord with assorted beads along the way. I used two vintage buttons and some other beads to finish off the bottom. This is the sum of the adventure in reusing items to make something new. I hope you enjoyed the process and result. Thank You for your visit.

Harmony In the Chaos

Harmony In the Chaos

Out of our comfort Zone

I learned a lesson this time. I do not like being out in the public eye. I've had several friends encourage me to “put myself out there'”a bit more. So I ventured out there a kind of a leap of faith. There is a little shop a few blocks from where I live that also took a recent leap of their own and opened a little shop. It's in a sweet old pioneer house and is called “Harmony”. A gathering place to sew,knit and learn. They offer classes and get-to-gathers as well as lots of supplies to get the creative spark going, With a sense of community and help, all gathered from lots of places in the world. Some of the things offered are: vintage buttons, yarn, fabric etc. A nice mix of finished projects as well as supplies to start your own creations.

If you want to take, a peek, thanks to the wonderful internet. http://www.harmonyprovo.com/

Well this is where I took a leap and brought in some of the things I've made and asked if they would consider putting some of them on consignment. We had a nice visit and I left them with some things to see how it will go.

Then my husband and I went off to the office supply store. I had some business cards made up. I guess that makes me a little more official. 

 

While at the shop, I picked up some of those vintage buttons. I love old buttons. The one I picked to use first is a square glass button. 

It has a nice mix of colors. I started by bringing out one of my old poker chips, I drilled a hole in the center to be able to attach the button to it and have it lay flat without damage to the wonderful button. I was able to attach the button with some wire through the shank, which is metal attached to the glass front. Then I took the poker chip and rolled it on an embossing ink pad and rolled it into some embossing powder. I heated it with a heat gun and fused it on the edge. I gathered a vintage yo yo around a cardboard circle. Then I began to make needle lace around the edge of the yo yo. I worked on that part of the project at the block party of the “Museum of Peoples and Cultures” They hold this event each year, with different displays and crafts and artisans from lots of times and places. Some of the exhibits were: Spinners/Weavers, Basket makers/Quilt, Pioneer Games, Academy Square Lacers, Dolls & marbles, Flint Napping, Spinning, Historic Weapons, Native American Tipi, stories and dancing by Morning Star Native Dancing & Stories, Pioneer Songs and stories by Clive Romney & Willingly.

I was there with the “Academy Square Lacers” This is a lace group that meets together at the Library once a month. We learn and work together on projects. These are some amazing people. http://aslacers.blogspot.com/ .

After a nice morning and afternoon, my friend and I gathered up our things and left. On the way home, I asked if I could make a quick stop at the shop I talked about earlier. They were also having a bit of a celebration. I wanted to pick up a couple of bird knobs I had seen when I was there last. They are made of metal and old paint. So we stopped there, and I was able to run in and pick those up.

While I was waiting my turn to pay for them, one of the items I had on consignment was being bought, or at least the customer was thinking about it. It was a little bracelet I made quite awhile ago. I almost threw it out because of it's imperfections. I was introduced to her, and she to me, by the worker at the cash register. They were having an interesting conversation about the piece. The prospective buyer said things like “It reminds me of my life, lots of little bits and pieces rather unexpected and a bit spooky” 

 

I started to think this morning of how maybe our learning and mistakes can actually bring a bit of light and laughter. Into the busy, sometimes hectic, lives we live. It can bring hope of another chance to try again. It was made of lots of odds and ends old poker chip, glass millefiori bead hearts, a random cat head bead, with needle lace and tatting, as many of my things are. It reminded me of Tim Burton movies, a bit dark and quirky yet with some sort of charm. Even our mistakes can bring hope and light to others in ways we have never expected. I came across a scripture that seemes to speak to this situation.

2 Corinthians 9:9-10.

“ 9.(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad;he hath given to the poor; his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10.Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and incresase the fruits of your righteousness;)”

This says to me that even our mistakes can do some good and be food for the spirit of a poor and weary soul. Who can use a lift. It often surprises me how God can take our little offerings and make some good of them in spite of all our imperfections. How much time do we spend in what looks to us as mundane and unimportant, and find it helped someone unknown to us?

I guess even our mistakes are not wasted. They can bring hope, and encourage us to keep trying. Part of the important work we do here is just keep getting up. Don't be afraid to cast your bread upon the water. It might just spread to another's life, and bring and unexpected harvest.

So summing it all up, things worked together in a nice blend of old and new with a soft color and texture, blending with some quirks and kinks to make a simple folksy finish.

Keep on going!