Journals on Etsy

I've been making journals lately to put on Etsy and to take with me on my upcoming trip to Italy. Tired of purchasing journals, and drooling over the art papers in our local art shops as well as online, I took several classes a while ago and learned how to stitch coptic journals myself. This one I finished and pressed flat a few days ago.

It is spine reinforced with renewable Lokta fiber paper. The textblock is 70 pound white drawing paper and the interior covers are Lokta paper covered with natural Amate bark. It is a coptic style book that opens flat, bound with russet colored waxed linen thread.


Look for this beauty in my little etsy shop tomorrow.

The days are dwindling down both until Christmas and our departure for Rome. I am freaking out with all there is left to be done for preparations for both events. We are traveling to visit my parents and their little dog on Christmas Eve day and then to stay a few days. I'm looking forward to it very much. My mom and dad always go all out with Christmas decorations, many of them have been in my family for generations. I love to look at all of them every year.

Speaking of our departure, I am soliciting ideas from anyone anywhere who has been to Rome and or Florence, as these are the two principle cities we will be staying in. We have all the tourist destinations in mind to visit for art viewing but I am sure there may be out of the way or tucked into the tiny corners shops someone may advise me on to visit for leather goods, paper for book making, and antique jewelry or trinket shopping. Also any fabulous cafe, please let me know your favorites so we can try them out. I know there are a few readers of my blog living in Italy, so give me a shout out either on comments or email. Many thanks!!

It's now 6:47 a.m. and I am still not tired. My thoughts race and my list of things to do doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. My dog got us up at 4 a.m. to go out this morning, followed by the cat at 5 a.m., wanting a bite of wet food to eat. After all that I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to get a very early start to the day.

And I have a start date for my job-- January 15. A little later than I figured, but at least it's there. Two days after we return from Italy. I wonder what shape I will be in? Hmmm..

a wedding, a remembrance

Recently I received a commission for a pin from a woman whose daughter is marrying very soon in the new year. She said she wanted her late mother with her on her daughter's wedding day, and asked me to make a pin for her to wear on that special day. This is the result, still sort of curing for a day or two more...

It's quite different than anything I have made within this genre. Lots of hammering and soldering, bending the metal this way and that to get that perfect lineup of curve and straight lines. Because the requested sentiment on the reverse was too long for the picture, I compromised with a small slab of stamped silver submerged with the resin and the photo.
And also I could not get photoshop to lengthen the photo without a gap in the pendant...

This past weekend my husband, our dog Lucy and I traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit friends. While there, we took in the museums and lingered over the exquisite traveling exhibit, Ornament as art - Avant-Garde Jewelry From the Helen Williams Drutt Collection, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Oh, my, was it wonderful. I could have stayed for days examining each piece. The design of this pin was influenced by several pins I saw at this exhibit by Eleanor H. Moty and William Harper. The fabulous book detailing this exhibit came home with me to study at leisure. Merry Christmas to me. =)

Here we are at the home of our hosts... December 5. I realize my hair desperately needs root coverup, pronto... dang gray hair anyway...

At home last night, Mango peacefully slept on the Ornament as Art book...

We spent Thanksgiving in the Laurel Highlands of Somerset, Pennsylvania. It was a Thanksgiving blizzard and very, very cold... After the roads were plowed and salted we managed to drive (slide) around the country roads, where we viewed the most breathtaking scenery and sunsets I've seen in quite a while.

Somerset County. This moment in early evening was stillness personified.
Beautiful and unforgettable...

Love Your Dog

In honor of the lovely lady who watched our dog Lucy, and since she is not only the occasional watcher of our dog but also a dog trainer and loving dog minder of several regular critters, I presented her with this necklace. The stones are Czech glass and red coral. Since I couldn't find a suitable stamp for the pendant, I drew one myself in the image of our Lucy and etched it. It's kind of a whimsical piece but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I probably couldn't draw another dog like that if I tried, so I traced it on paper in case I ever wanted to duplicate it. One never knows...

This morning I got up early to do what everyone is just dying to do at 9 a.m.-- be strapped down to a polygraph machine for two hours of pre-employment fun. After three previous polygraphs for various law enforcement jobs, one would think I would be relaxed about it, but no... not the case. The questions they ask... good grief. Don't worry, I passed and then flew over to a coffee shop to dunk a 24 ouncer french vanilla coffee with extra french vanilla creamer and sugar. That was the zinger I needed earlier.

All my background stuff, polygraph, drug test, all the usual stuff, should be wrapped up in a fat report by the weekend and a start date should soon be on my calendar. Hello, early mornings... again. I'm not used to them at all after eighteen months of not working a job "out there."

This is why I usually have to sit on the floor... what we do for our little animals, eh? Only usually Lucy, if she gets to it first, has a heating pad under a blanket turned on low when I am home. Spoiled little kids. Who could deny them anything when they are so cute?

soft glow of silver & pearls in the midst of cha cha changes...

Believe it or not (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't), I've made some jewelry lately...

These are very beautiful lustrous freshwater pearls in natural white, with tiny brown freshwater pearl dangle, all wrapped up in sterling wire with soft patina. The ear wires are handmade and compliment the main components nicely. I didn't intend them to, but I have to agree with my husband that they look rather like crosses. After a long absence of making jewelry, I relished making these pretty earrings and they will be for sale in my little etsy shop tomorrow, after I take some nicer daylight pics.


I also made some etchings in nickel with french script, three different sizes suitable for charms or pendants, lightweight and comfortable, available in my etsy shop.

Last Tuesday, my husband had a piano servicing appointment in Smithfield, Virginia, which is quite a drive for us but we keep the client because we rebuilt the Steinway grand that is now housed in the customer's living room. The drive is down route 64 and then because it is so pretty, we opt out of completely travelling the conventional route, and instead take the Jamestown/Scotland Ferry from Jamestown landing. This small ferry operates year round and takes cars and passengers from Jamestown to Surry County, Virginia. It is also free. Anyone who is in the Williamsburg area and wants a lovely free outing, this is it. We almost always see eagles, osprey and cormorants in abundance. It takes about twenty minutes to travel one way and it is very relaxing to walk around the vessel looking at the sites. My husband took these photos, as I had to wait in the car with our dog Lucy, who is afraid of the rolling motion of the ferry, and requires Mom to stay with her for comfort.

This photo was taken as we were leaving the Jamestown side. Note the numerous cormorants on the piling.

Hours later, heading back to Jametown Landing... Isn't this beautiful?

I have news to tell besides earrings. I finally got a job. And it's one I wanted. I got an offer last week from a state agency and accepted immediately. Because they have to do a background check from the interim period when I was separated from state service the last 1. 5 years, I won't know a start date until about two and a half more weeks. I am enormously relieved. HUGE **Sigh**.....

Also, I am continuing my university education starting in January, so my life will be very full and busy beginning in mid January.

Things in the world may be gloomy right now, and certainly I still feel it. But I am so very fortunate for these events, and am very, very grateful for the security coming our way.

Looking at this sunset last week, we both felt it... Isn't life wonderful?

For sale on Etsy

small double sided Italian script etching...

Medium double sided Italian script etching...

Large double sided Italian script etching... Leaves courtesy of the tree in our parking lot.

It's almost 1:35 p.m and I have yet to head for my husband's workshop. It's too cold to strip a piano. The weather said it was to be 58 today but it's still pretty chilly. At least I am using time wisely- doing some laundry, finally getting these pendants listed on Etsy and packaging some books I sold on Ebay.

Mostly today I am thinking about Veteran's Day. Selfishly I am glad I don't have jury duty today as I otherwise may have been sitting in circuit court today.

On a grander and more important scale, I am remembering all the Vets out there, living and dead, who have done so much to protect our country. My grandfather on my mother's side was a WWII vet, stationed in the extreme remote wilderness of Attu, Alaska for several years. Some of the worst bloodshed of WWII was fought on Attu. My mom was a tiny baby when he left, a three year old when he returned. I can't imagine not seeing my family for such a long time. I can't imagine his loneliness, or my grandmother struggling to support a household that included my mother, my great grandparents, and my great aunt, who was a high school student at the time, all on a bank teller's salary. This is how people looked out for one another back then. But she never complained, either at the time or years later, an admirable quality I wish I possessed.

While the war raged on, my grandparents kept up a correspondence, writing each other every day the personal and plain events of their lives, documenting my mom's development from an infant into a toddler and all the events that my grandfather was missing back home in Ohio. The letters are voluminous and detailed and they were saved by my grandmother for more than forty years after my grandfather's untimely departure from this life at the age of 51. After my grandmother's death in 2000, my mom discovered these letters kept in a large wooden box, preserved in order, along with tiny Eskimo dolls, postcards and the long awaited cable from my grandfather, telling his wife that he was finally coming home...

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone. Thank you for your service.

Let the Eagle fly...

Boy oh boy, please don't tell me I'm the only one who is already tired of reading blog entries dedicated to praying for President-elect Obama. Nothing wrong with prayer, nothing at all. But the way it is used is really too much. Such as one I saw today-- prayers that Obama will come to know Christ, which I really don't understand. Has Obama denounced or renounced Christianity? Not to my knowledge. That aside, no one can presume to know what someone else may know of Christ in their personal life and to project it as such upon them is self righteous and self serving.

Then, I saw a blog discussing prayers that Obama may somehow "surprise" us with his ability to successfully lead this country. Honestly, somehow, I think Obama has it covered.

Sincere prayers are one wonderful thing, otherwise it's clear to me the "prayers" alot of these people really would like to have answered would be for Obama to have lost the election. In each case, these good people make sure we the readers know they did not vote for President-elect Obama. That's all fine. Everyone has their opinion.  

In the prayers of some of these bloggers, I read alot of fear.  In between the lines it oozes and splatters all over the place.  Because my goodness, we may very soon have life saving stem cell research in the works, finally. Heavenly days, we will very likely have in the next four years supreme court justices appointed that support pro-choice. We may have to end the war in Iraq. We may see an increase in gun control laws. We may see steps taken to ease our reliance on foreign oil and steps taken to protect our planet from environmental disaster. At long last. These are my opinions.

So continue to pray for Obama, by all means. Thanks be to God. Right now I pray I can continue to pay our bills in this lousy economy. I pray I can find a job that pays more than seven bucks an hour. I pray for good health for myself and my husband and that we, along with 50 some million other uninsured American citizens, can have affordable health insurance. I pray I can finish college without having to sell everything I own to pay for it. I pray I can continue to help out the homeless guy that lives on a plastic chair near my building with two shopping carts. My husband and I feed him several days a week and give him money when we can, a veteran of the Vietnam war, like John McCain. This homeless vet's words? "I never thought I would be the one to end up on the street... I never thought it would be me."

So there are many things to pray for, aren't there, out there, other than for Obama's projected deficiencies and inabilities based on the loss of a candidate. It's everso disheartening.

This is just me.  Now I can get back to making things.

Italian etched pendants

Since I was working on filling some Etsy orders for etched pendants anyway, I got a hankering to try out a huge new rubber stamp, all in Italian. Even though I am going to Italy in less than two months *gulp*, I do not know what the etchings say. This time, instead of leaving the back blank, I took a gamble on burning through the thin copper and etched the reverse side with additional Italian text. They turned out spendidly, although an etched brass barrel didn't fare so well, burned to a thin rusty looking hunk of junk. Lorelei, I'm going to get you!! No, it was my own dumb fault. Trying to do too many things at once and putting different pieces into the etchant at different times and then getting mixed up what was done and what not and you can predict the results.. oh yes. So I spent this evening working on another barrel, which turned out well, and it's on it's way to California.


Reverse side of each, in order as above, shown below... Tomorrow, into the beleagured Etsy shop they go.



Two weeks ago, I went to visit my parents. This past weekend, they and my little pal Maggie came to visit us for a few days. We dashed here, there and everywhere, sightseeing, looking at leaves, eating ice cream and enjoying each other's company. Here I am in front of an ice cream shop with my sweet little girl. Don't laugh, but Maggie knows me as her "Sissy" and goes crazy whenever anyone mentions that word. We have a special bond, that little dog and I, and she is even crazier about my husband, who is known to her as "Uncle Michael." Do we love dogs or what? =)


Of course, even though he is ornerier than the devil and in trouble much of the time as a result, I loves me some fat orange kitty as well... I'm not sure Mango appreciated this hug and kiss, but he should be used to it by now.