Art Making in Two of My Favorite Mediums

If X equals the sum of my evening's art adventures, then WHY do I still have a headache?

If three beads and one charm can send me to the studio for nine-and-a-half hours and produce four bracelets and six pairs of earrings all the while fighting a migraine, then what is x? Just thought I'd try to tie in some of that lovely algebra we were all promised we'd use later in life. Well, I don't know x or why, but my jewelry-designing gene woke me up in the middle of the night with an idea for a bracelet. I received my three free beads from Fried Peas and an unexpected and totally cute crown charm from Debrina Pratt of Spark*Your*Imagination in the mail Friday, and by the wee hours of Saturday, I had a girly pink charm bracelet in mind, using the crown charm and some pink resin beads. I even got up to write myself a note in case my memory faded by morning.

After a late breakfast and one of the worst migraines I've had in awhile, I banished myself to the basement thinking that the charm bracelet work would take my mind off my head pain. It did indeed as I wire-wrapped dangly after dangly for the bracelet, then added jump rings and attached all the charms. A few of the beads I used I had been saving for almost a year for something special. I guess this was it.

The next thing I knew it was six hours and four bracelets later! I came up to make a big salad and homemade croutons for supper and then headed back downstairs to make six pairs of earrings. By the time I finished I had been at it nearly 10 hours. And none of this was on my to-do list for today! I also wanted to put more beeswax on my doll canvas, which I did. I love the smellof beeswax, although I know not everyone does. I also had high hopes of painting my paper clay figures- the mushroom and owl I had molded-so I got to that about midnight. I am always quickly reminded that tired=messy.

I photographed all my creations, and some are shown above. The entire result of Saturday's adventures can be seen on my Flickr photostream here. Some of the goodies are heading to my Etsy shop next. Gotta try to make a little money because that buys more beads.

Tomorrow's art to-do list? An art doll assemblage with the porcelain doll heads I built up with paper clay and something Alice in Wonderland*ish.

It's off to Pittsburgh Tuesday for work and also company year-end Tuesday, so reports and packing are also beckoning, and my reading pile is growing. I've tried stockpiling sleep, and it just doesn't work. In fact, I'm going to guess that weird sleep, feather pillows, stress and too many carbs were the algebraic equation that equalled my migraine. Don' try this at home.

I'm Not Who You Think I Am

I'm not done with my collage (top), but then I didn't even plan on what it became. I had my niece Abby, 11, stay overnight Saturday after my son's graduation open house, and we decided to make collages. It was her first time, and I think she had fun sorting through my bits and bobs to find "just the right stuff." Her collage says: Try Hard, Die Hard, Be Compassionate and Have Passion. Pretty good advice, Miss Abby!

My goal was to make one large face out of a bunch of smaller faces, but then, as sometimes happens with collage, it took on a mind of its own. Each top half of a face got paired up with a different bottom half, and it became something totally different. Not sure how I'll finish it off. Abby took hers home. We put a hanging loop on it. We also flipped our hair ends out, made greeting cards and did rubber stamping and embossing and made earrings. Pretty good fun in less than 24 hours, adding in time to eat and sleep.

Spring Bling and Things

There were splashes of color everywhere I turned this weekend. The trees seem to be exploding with blooms. I took time to cut some lilacs, crabapple blossoms, tulips and daffodil to bring inside. A large pitcher does double duty as a vase for my fragrant and cheery centerpiece.

A trip to Canal Street Gallery in Winona Lake produced a little baggy of goodies (bottom photo). It's almost like going to the candy store...and much less fattening! Owner Merna Eisenbraun had just gotten a new shipment of interesting Mother-of-Pearl beads in, so I brought home a few to make earrings. I made two pair for myself and another five pairs for my Etsy shop. So it seems like I got a lot out of my little stash, and I still have enough left to make a bracelet out of the black and white and red ones. But try as I might tonight, I just couldn't come up with the sequence that interested me. Next time. I'm offering free shipping in the US on the new earrings in my Etsy shop, so check them out.

A couple of hours wandering the antique mall in North Webster, IN produced only one little treasure- this frozen Charlotte/Kewpie type doll for $5.00. She stands six inches and aside from a little dirt, she's in great shape, frozen though she is, except for arms that move. Although that was the only thing I bought, I always have a great time looking at all the old stuff, hoping for that bargain, searching for that "thing" I will know when I see it- something strange to use in my altered art or just another thing. Period.