J is for jewelry

For awhile--several years in fact--I was obsessed with bead crochet and during that time I made numerous beaded crochet bracelets and necklaces...I haven't made any of these in awhile--right now I seem to be on a knitting spree, but here is some of the JEWELRY I made then...

the Creative Healing Zone

My fine art and crafting have always sustained me through any big transition or crisis in my life. Currently I am in a major transition, and once again I am finding myself--and taking back parts of myself I gave away--by meditatively, quietly, calmly stringing tiny beads in intricate patterns.

Every night, I sit and string up new bead patterns, exploring different color palettes, and the feeling of being adrift---which has been with me since I was forced to move out of my home of 6 years--melts away and a feeling of well being grows as the string of beads grows longer.


I am stringing the seed beads on thread to crochet into bracelets---and after I have strung enough beads for a bracelet (about 40 inches), then I crochet a few inches to see how the pattern and colors I chose looks.

Like knitting, stringing the beads and crocheting the bracelets is a repetitive act---with a rhythm all its own, which puts me into a meditative state---the healing creative zone--is how I term it. Transitional states are always painful for me--and this one is especially painful and chaotic---but while I am stringing beads nothing else matters---just the beads and the pattern that is growing beneath my fingers. As I do this I meditate on letting go, and on some level I am putting all that I am letting go of---into each bracelet. For me, the process of creating something has always been more important and more satisfying than the end result.

I think this quote from a book I have been reading lately----THE KNITTING SUTRA Craft as a Spiritual Practice by Susan Gordon Lydon--- sums it all up nicely:
"...the purpose of craft is not so much to make beautiful things as it is to become beautiful inside while you are making those things."

Winner!

whew! nothing like a vacation to set you back in your "real" life! I promised to post the WINNER of my BLOG ANNIVERSARY drawing yesterday--sorry!

here it is....(drumroll)..the winner is T. M.! Please e-mail me your snail mail address at:
aurora at morningstarbooks dot com

and I will send the inchie brooch/pin off to you pronto! Congrats!
and thanks to all of you for participating.

For more about fabric inchies and inchie plus---click here.

Tutorial conglomeration!

For months I have been bookmarking online tutorials of wonderful creative crafty projects I want to make...some day....
so here is a short list of a few crafts to make in the New Year:


1) Very Easy Pincushions here from the Purl Bee---the Purl Bee is the online journal of PURL, a shop devoted to beautiful materials and tools for knitting, sewing, quilting and other crafts located in New York. They have a whole lot more great tutorials on their blog---but this one first caught my interest.


2) tiny happy's shoulder bag tutorial---I make my own bags--but I have wanted to try this style for awhile.

3) A pretty crochet flower tutorial from the blog Echoes of a Dream---I can think of many uses for these !





Rick Rack Roses from the blog Nostalgic Needle Art. Wouldn't these make cool additions to a hat?










4) A great tutorial for a button bracelet at the blog Creative Kismet. I love vintage buttons---and have made some bracelets and necklaces with them, but this is a great tutorial---with good illustrations---for a pretty bracelet of buttons which lies flat around your wrist.












5) A luggage tag tutorial from My Longest Year---just a decorative tag to help identify your luggage as it passes by on the conveyor belt....


I guess 5 projects should start the year of 2008 off just fine...more to follow soon!

Holiday Vintage

First of all, I like to send you all over to the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog--where they have been posting great gift craft tutorials everyday for over a month. Awhile ago I answered their holiday blog meme questions in a post and today they chose to mention my Holiday Meme and Fruitcake post! This is one of the craft blogs I check out everyday because there is always something new and interesting posted, and some great links to other craft blogs...so do check them out!

I picked this fun vintage pin up at the Alameda Flea Market (aka the Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire)---talk about vintage holiday decor! The Alameda Flea Market sure has that in November and December! If you live in the Bay Area, you might want to catch this once a month Antique Flea market---it is always the 1st Sunday of the month. This vintage pin is green felt--with many sequins and beads sewn on--with a "pearl" bead strand as the tree garland...I just love this! because it has a 50's vintage funky feel to it.



When I saw this so [awful] so kitschy holiday plate at a thrift store recently, I just had to buy it! Can you tell from my photos that the holly and pine cones are actually 3-d? what a great plate to serve my holiday fruitcake on....





Thought for the day (well, really a holiday reminder):

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" - Stephen Levine

New Bead Crochet

New bead crochet--orange leaves and fringes....a choker to wear to my daughter's graduation...she's finished her Masters! and this just happens to go with the dress I'm wearing--so I finished it, just in time! and it seems only fitting that the big carved leaf was a gift from my other daughter....

Happy Graduation Kesia! and much Congrats from your Mom! you are precious and will give much to the world.

A note on technique: the free form fringes were added on after I completed the bead crochet.

Mermaid & Crystals Bead Crochet

A few years ago my sister sent me this lovely Mother-of-pearl and silver mermaid pendant made by an artisan in Alaska. Since I can't wear metal--I usually wore the pendant on a black cord--but always wanted to create a bead crochet necklace for the pendant...so here it is. Since I used mostly crystals, and white and clear seedbeads this was difficult to photograph with my point and shoot canon---but isn't the pendant lovely? I crocheted the seed beads and crystals around a silk cord--which ties in the back. I used silver bead caps on the ends of the bead crochet to finish this necklace off.