Happy Birthday, Blog! (& The Story of a Bracelet)

It almost passed me by! Today Friday marks the 2nd birthday of this blog, so I just had to take a peek back to remember what I first wrote, my first blog post, here....and I got nary a single comment. Ha ha ha, how times change! I think I only knew one other blogger at that point and was a true novice when it came to art online and all things related.

And what a happy coincidence--it's also the birthday of Blogfire, the bloggers of ArtFire, who have a carnival going on this weekend, which you can check into here-Blogfire.

I left my darn camera at Christmas dinner, an hour and a half from my house, and it took over a week to finally get it back. Which is why I've been sort of quiet here because I cannot seem to prepare a post without photos. I've got a really fun story today about the 2 year evolution of a bracelet idea. Normally, I wouldn't admit to a struggle like this, but since this one finally has a happy ending, I figured why not share the pain?

Two years ago, right after I started this blog, I saw Valentine's Day coming up, dug through all my supplies, and found each and every heart and every stone that seemed it might relate to my idea of love and romance. Garnets were a big deal to me then, a few red pearls, some silver hearts, a real mixed bag. I wire-wrapped (which means added these sterling silver loops for hanging) each item or collection of items and made 7 sets. You can imagine, this step alone was a few days of work. Above is part of this collection as there are a few other bits that didn't need preparation but could be added as is.

At this stage, I had been bouncing back and forth between working with leather in different forms and experimenting with crochet to make bracelets and cuffs. Somehow, the idea came to me that I had to create a black leather crocheted cuff to hold all of these charms. Ugh, what a looser! I could see no way to save this design so I stuffed everything back into a bag and gave up trying to get this edition ready for Valentine's day 2009.

A year later, I dug it back out. I was determined to come up with some way to use all these charms so I turned to black leather again but heavier stuff this time, the kind I use to make the knotted structures for this style of multi-strand bracelet.

In fact, I was apparently so hopeful about this idea, I tried it in 3 colors: gray, brown and black, as you can see here. But again I gave up and as you can see here, I never even added the clasps because it just was not working for me! Looser Number 2 and back into this bag of failed experiments. But there were still a few unused sets of charms.....

Just after the New Year, I repeated the ritual again and got out "the bag." This time, I had some new beautiful red pearls, some red pressed glass roses and a whole new approach in mind. Not as quick as working with leather as this time, each bead is linked to the next with sterling wire, and the charms are added in between. I laid out a design that seemed like fun and hoped that with a double strand of linked beads, I could achieve the fullness I had been trying for with just the charms and the leather. Well, IMHO, I nailed it, finally! I just love the way this has come out the 3rd year around.


And I happened to have a heavy sterling heart shaped toggle to close the piece, which seemed to be the perfect finishing touch. So now you know the story behind this particular bracelet. Not all my failed experiments have such happy endings, but I don't often give up--I just put things away to get out again with fresh eyes and new ideas....later!

This one, however, is in my Etsy shop...finally....two years after I started it! So in that way, it's a perfect "Happy 2nd Birthday Blog" sort of story! So Happy Birthday to Blogfire....and to me, too!

Samhain, Summer's End, Halloween

No blasphemy intended, but I'm not a fan of the secular Halloween holiday and celebration. The pagan roots, however, I find fascinating. As someone who grew up in the rural, agricultural middle west where the seasons of weather and work still determine much of the rhythm of life, I find a kinship with older harvest celebrations.

I did love running wild after dark on Halloween as a kid. I swear I would howl at the moon and felt the very near presence of spirits, so well explained in this Wikipedia description below, which I lifted from their pages. I stripped out the footnotes, but please follow this link for more depth to this lovely overview of the holiday (holy day.)

Samhain is a Gaelic festival held on October 31–November 1. The Irish name Samhain is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end" A harvest festival with ancient roots in Celtic polytheism, it was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and continued to be celebrated in late medieval times. Due to its date it became associated with the Christian festival All Saints' Day, and greatly influenced modern celebration of Halloween.

Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was traditionally celebrated over the course of several days. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year. It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because some animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

The Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks, was an attempt to copy the spirits or placate them. In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Samhnag — turnips which were hollowed-out and carved with faces to make lanterns — were also used to ward off harmful spirits.

The Gaelic festival became associated with the Christian All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and has hugely influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween, a name first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fullerAll-Hallows-Even.

Samhain continues to be celebrated as a religious festival by some Neopagans.

Please visit here for the source of my story reprinted here. It's been illustrated with my photos taken over time around the WillOaks Farm and Campground. Want to see more artists' Halloween blog celebrations? The master list for this Blogfire carnival will be posted here later on 10-28-10.

Enjoy your holiday! Celebrate the end of the season and the harvest. And don't eat too much candy!

Easter (Cactus)

When I lived in Iowa, my ex and I had an old house on a small farm at the edge of a tiny little village. Everyone knew each other and we were the newcomers. But we made friends and among those friends were the elderly couple who had owned and lived in our house before us.

I learned about a month ago that Marie had just passed away and as a tribute to her, I must tell the story of where I got this beautiful plant and learned how to grow the beautiful Easter Cactus (Zygocactus), because she really had "the touch."

It was over 10 years ago that she asked me to repot a huge cactus for her that she had been growing for I don't know how long. It was a tough job because it was a large, heavy, hanging plant and this type of plant is quite brittle and bits break off very easily. I succeeded and kept a few of the broken bits, potting them up for myself. The past few years, this remnant of her big plant has finally gained the maturity it apparently needed to REALLY start to bloom.

The past few months, it bloomed for Christmas and now, it's blooming again for Easter--how lucky am I!? And the flowers really are just the brightest, sweetest pink....it always makes me smile.

But the secret, according to Marie, that I've been practicing now for some years, is to put these plants outdoors for a couple of months, during high summer, in a shaded place. I think the extra light helps "rev" them up to grow big and strong to really send out the flower buds. In nature, these are jungle plants that grow under the canopy of larger trees, so lots of direct sun is deadly for them...but bright light in bright shade is a good thing especially when coupled with regular water and fertilizer during this time as they build up their "reserves."

The rest of the year, they live in my house in an east facing window where they are exposed to nice, bright morning light but are also protected from strong, direct sun/ And where they do get some water about once a week.

So best wishes to all for a happy and blessed Easter...and Marie? Here's to your wonderful memory and I'm pleased and proud that a little piece of you lives on here in my life!!

See Wikipedia to learn more about the "Holiday Cactus", it's history and cultivation.

Wow Necklaces! Artfire Blog Carnival

Welcome to my new contribution to the Blogfire Carnival: Necklaces. Since I've been pretty focused on my recent crochet approach to necklaces, I decided to search both Artfire and Etsy for examples of crochet neck pieces by other artists.

I chose 8 pieces to showcase here. The links to each item and the artist's shop are below each collage and are listed clockwise beginning with the upper left corner.


Summerdream flower scarf , neck decoration
Lovelycrochet traun, traun

Super Long Crocheted With Felted Multicolored Pieces and Beads
BigFrozenMelon, atlanta area

Freeform crochet necklace Fantaisie noire
FibreromanceT Orillia, Ontario

Yellow - green - olive 6 sea glasses necklace
astash, Blackpool, UK

Night and Day, flower cluster necklace
joyoustreasures, Duck River, Tennessee

GRASS GREEN BIB NECKLACE Statement piece for her
kirevi8, Istanbul

Cellular Biology ... Freeform Crochet Necklace
irregularexpressions

The happiness - Multicolor wool yarn - Crochet flowers and leaves lariat necklace, scarf
jennysunny, Tianjin, China

I must mention again that Eileen's blog - bluebirdluxe, has an incredible article on this topic (and was my inspiration for this post.) If you like statement neck pieces and crochet, drop by for a look at more possibilities! And while I'm on this topic, there is a drawing you can enter for a chance to win a wonderful new book to help inspire and guide your own crochet for wearables. The prize is a new publication by author Linda Permann called Crochet Adorned and it will be a beautiful addition to any crocheter or crafter's library. You may enter until 3-24-2010.


Finally, a reminder that you can enter to win your choice of one of my new crocheted (Silk and Pearl) necklaces to add to your own Spring wardrobe! There are different ways you may enter, for up to 3 entries per person! Hurry, entries are due by Saturday, March 19 and the winner will be announced on Sunday, March 20.

So how about that? Beautiful examples of crocheted necklaces, a chance to win a free book to help you make your own, and a chance to win one of my creations, all in one post that I've written for the Blogfire Carnival! (Artfire Bloggers.) I can't believe I was this organized around one topic! Now you can go see what the other Artfire bloggers are up to for this carnival. The full list of participants will be visible on Friday, March 19.

But I Digress - A Peek into My Studio

I'm part of a blog carnival that starts tomorrow, Friday, 2-19. The Blogfire group, artist-bloggers who sell on Artfire, is the organizing host. The first carnival I did last month was about Valentines and I had an older post all written and ready to use that I could readily link with. This month, the choice was either to do a show and tell of my studio - or something about "the kitchen." Well, "the kitchen" and I aren't on the greatest of terms. I've mentioned before that I get by, but that cooking isn't my big interest, & isn't my forte, so I've opted for a few words and images of my actual WillOaks Studio workspace.



The room I use as a workspace used to be the master bedroom of the old family farmhouse that I'm now living in. It's up on the 2nd floor and one of the best parts is a couple of nice sized windows--one facing east and one facing west. I can watch the sun rise (not very often, frankly) and the sun set (every day.) I've rigged up one window to quickly throw it open to poke my camera outside for shots such as this recent sunset series. The past few days, the sunsets have been very brilliant and colorful. When it isn't winter, this tree that I'm looking through right now (a big basswood or large leaf linden) is in full leaf and it's beautiful. Quite an active habitat for birds and squirrels, too.



Inside, I've chosen a couple of images that don't show the worst of the mess that sometimes happens here when I'm in a creative frenzy. I've actually got a fairly good organizing system--when I bother to re-file things! On the other hand, having some odds and ends handy and visible can sometimes lead to an "aha" moment that might not happen if I had to go hunting for everything all the time. The challenge is that balance between being too organized and too messy! As long as most things are filed "like with like" I can usually find what I need when I need it.

What isn't in sight here are 3 other shelving systems with more materials in labeled boxes and drawers holding stones, pearls, fibers, leather and all the other materials I've collected over the years. It's hard to turn down a pretty strand of beads or handful of stones when your whole philosophy to making art is "You never know where a good idea will come from!"

And when it comes to more serious metal working, including chemicals, fire and the like, I don't use this room--I have an auxiliary space downstairs--which isn't particularly photogenic! Thanks for visiting!