Glass beads round your neck

A sneak peak at collection of necklaces I have been working on during spring time rainy days. On the third of Mayo, I will show my latest "pretties" at Missouri Bluffs, a clothing boutique, in Weston, MO. Please come spend a part of your Sunday afternoon with us. Play dress-up. ( noon to five pm.)


Each necklace in this ever growing collection is one-of-a -kind.
Evolution ( yes , even in Kansas....) of rock medicine.
19 inches long necklace

Whilst researching Crow Indian medicine bundles, an image of a rock bundle completely encrusted with glass trade beads lodged itself in my head.

The pendants on my necklaces do not contain rocks though each encased leather shape is a stitched hotch potch of glass beads from my collection. This bundle of beads is strung into necklace form for you to wear when feeling festive or perhaps when you wish to experience light-heartedness.
OLx3
18 1/2" long necklace

Imagery of Our Blessed Mother can be found in my artwork. From a collection of statuary, I photograph and then collage these images with bits of paper, lace, fabric trims, beads, words typed on a 1939 Royal typewriter and all is stitched down in proper order ( at least in my mind.) These collages are printed and encased , thus becoming tags and charms. Three of these tags, a.k.a. pendants, come together here with a hand picked grouping of glass beads to form a statement of gratefulness to OUr Lady.


Cross necklace
19 inches long

This encircling meditation includes a not quite three inch long beaded leather cross, four spiritual tokens, two pewter milagros ( angel & lamb) and various old glass beads ( though two are metal.) A sterling clasp keeps all confidently conjoined.
"Useful birds" necklace
18 inches long

The center pendant is a print of my collage highlighting an image of a Canada Warbler. An old Church & Dwight soda card caught my eye at a flea market, thus becoming the theme for this encircling meditation on our winged neighbors. On the back of the soda card are these words
"USEFUL BIRDS OF AMERICA"
For the good of all
Do not destroy the birds
(interesting words....what makes a particular bird useful? What makes any of us "useful" ?)

Two smaller pendants hold prints of other collages with bird imagery. A yellow throated chat on one. A cardinal on the other.

Certainly not a necklace for the shy or retiring sort to don. If you are feeling particularly "useful" or in the mood to share your knowledge of our feathered neighbors, please consider this encircling meditation.

Year of the Ox

One last peek at Red Rat as the Year of the Rat ended yesterday. As you may remember this rat sculpture was fabricated by Rhett out of part of our old 1969 Chevy pickup. (May it rest in peace .) Rat Rat sits on our kitchen table. And so, with the first day of Year of the Ox , I have no photo of an Ox to show you. Neither of us have 'whipped' one up yet. Instead, I chose Lucky Bird to share with us pages from an imaginary Chinese pothi (pilgrim's handbook). Canaries are kept in cages and act as oracles for passing pilgrims by selecting scraps of paper in the bottom of the cage that have messages on them for each pilgrim.

The traits associated with someone born in a Year of the Ox are traits that we all could aspire to exhibit in the year ahead of us. Hardworking. Dependable. Calm. Modest. Unswerving patience. Tireless in their work. Capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaining. Filled with common sense with feet planted firmly on the ground. Not extravagant. Caring soul. Kind. What do you think?
And so, instead of a page from a pothi to remind us as pilgrims on this year's journey, Lucky Bird is suggesting that we wear a tag with the image of a hand on it. The hand of helping our neighbor whether across the street or across the ocean. A hand of peace. A hand of caring concern. No more either you are for us or against us. No more 'us or them' mentality. A 'we' mentality instead. The printed image on this tag which, of course, Rhett fabricated the case and lens for, comes from the beaded brooch you see in the image below. The tag is 1 and 3/4" across and comes on a nickel plated steel ball chain which is 24" long. These will be for sale along with a charm sized version of the image on my website in the following days but if you can not wait for that , Missouri Bluffs in Weston, MO has some for sale. Their phone number is 816) 640-2770.
This is the brooch from a collection I beaded in 1996. It measures 7" long and 4" wide. Beaded in glass seed beads on painted canvas with mixed media baubles hanging from the bottom. An old watch face and old pressed glass button made to look like a Chinese coin, and a pot metal lucky horseshoe are sewn to the beaded portion of the brooch.

Here is a close-up view of the printed version of the hand that I use for the tags and charms.

I hope all of our neighbors in China made it back home for the festivities with their families.
Happy New Year !

this is how the photo was supposed to look....

this was the entire photo that you were supposed to see in the last blog. oops!

"Trunk show" at Missouri Bluffs Gallery

winged heart design exclusively available through Missouri Bluffs

Rhett and I are going to unveil new designs during a "trunk show" at Missouri Bluffs Gallery in Weston, Missouri on the 10th of May. I will be there from 11am to 7pm. Rhett will join me at 4pm. Please come visit with us and take a peek at our artwork. I am excited about the new designs and am eager to get feedback.

Anne Bollin, the owner of Missouri Bluffs has carried my artwork for over a decade now and as a small token of appreciation I created the above design exclusively for her. The leather winged heart is hand sewn and beaded and is encased in metal. The background is painted leather with embroidered french knots to create texture. This image is their current postcard and the circular piece is the image that will be available for purchase in the shape of charms, pendants, ornaments and bag tags.

Rhett spent many months developing the dies and other machinery to create these metal cases and lenses that encase original artwork as well as color prints of our artwork. These peep tags and charms , as we call, make up a part of this trunk show.

The giant photo at the top of this post was supposed to go here but......( I am new at this stuff ). This is a new variation of the winged heart theme with the addition of the blue cross. You may have seen these as brooches but now you can wear them as necklaces too! I strung the hand sewn and beaded leather stuffed winged hearts on a nickel plated stainless steel bead bar chain. Funky new way to wear your badge of peregrination. These will be available for purchase at Missouri Bluffs in a few weeks.

Okay, I should climb the stairs back up to my studio to continue sewing more hearts now.

This afternoon, Rhett, Gus, the dog, and I are headed to the timber on the back of our farm to search for morel mushrooms, ramps, and nettles. Am taking my camera in hopes of a shot of morel and at least some wild flowers.

adios for now.