gratitude

We've spent the last few days in Florida, slowly unwinding after all the recent difficulties. The slow pace, surrounded by family and familiar sights is a comforting thing. Max is back to his old self, healthy appetite and rambunctious spirit included! In the picture above, he's playing near a tide pool, with his big sister Azalea and the rest of the gang in the background, swimming.

I thought this particular shot captured how peaceful and magical our little spot is. I've relished watching Max recover from such a scary state, everyday gaining strength. When we first left the hospital, he couldn't walk, or even hold his head up. The physical therapist warned us it could be a month or more before he would be back to his old self. We are happy, no thrilled to say our little boy is back to normal!

We will spend a couple more days in Florida, relaxing and feeling truly grateful that our little family is happy and healthy. It boggles my mind how quickly everything progressed, from thinking he had stomach flu, to realizing he had perforations in his intestines from swallowing a set of 'mighty strong' magnets (not a pearl after all!). Those tiny things nearly killed him (so of course we threw out every last one of them). Things will shift back into place, our routines and rhythms will continue and I will look on my boy with gratitude and happiness.

recovery

Max has been ill since Tuesday, with what we thought was gastroenteritus or stomach flu. He had all the symptoms, vomitting, diarhea and listlessness. So, my sister and I took him to the doctor, expecting the medicines he gave us would work and Max would get better. Well, they didn't do much, so we took him to the e.r. and waited for the i.v. that would make all of his issues go away. He seemed better, alert and even eating a little. That evening he grew worse, so were back at the hospital. Since then it has been an exhausting battle to try and figure out why his symptoms weren't responding to the treatments. When his belly grew distended and he was in obvious pain, the doctors used x-rays, ultrasound and finally a ct scan to see what the problem was. It looked like he had swallowed a pearl from the scans, but it didn't explain the blockadge. They decided he needed to go into emergency surgery to find out what was wrong. A few hours later they informed us they found three holes in his intestines, with white blood cells attempting to repair the damage, forming the blockadges. They didn't find the pearl. He is slowly getting better,he isn't vomiting constantly (a really good thing) but his tummy is still really swollen and things aren't progressing as fast as everyone hoped, but we are optimistic.

I've heard throughout my life that there is nothing more agonizing and frightening than seeing your child in a hospital bed. I discovered just how true that statement was during this week, when I wouldv'e gladly given a limb, if it meant his healthy return. I've left his side only when I absolutely had to, needing to watch him closely for signs of improvement. I thought I'd known real fear, since I'd been through some scary events, but the fear I had for my boy was bone deep. We're not out of the woods yet, but I can tell you I've never looked so forward to going home in all my life.

new masters

Here's the next batch of masters. These are cast in silver and aren't polished or antiqued. They are destined for our pewter line. You may remember seeing the polymer version of this piece, when I was trying to decide what to do with it. I think it looks particularly good in silver.

Here's the back of the piece, engraved with the first lines of one of Emily Dickinson's most beautiful poems:

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

This little horned owl has been in more sketchbooks....but I just never got around to carving it. I've drawn it over and over, with different faces, feather patterns and body shapes. I sat down to make something entirely different, a rabbit, I think, then this took shape. He's quite small, perfect to dangle from a bracelet or in a long necklace with oval shaped beads.

I haven't made many pieces with openwork, but found a bit of antique handmade lace in my sewing box and thought it would make a lovely necklace. The first thing I thought of was a choker type piece, strung all the way around with the lacy drop pendants, with tiny briollettes wire wrapped in the middle opening and from the hole at the point. It would have a rather opulent and vintage feel, perfect for a summer wedding. I'm looking forward to making myself something with this design!

I love carving flowers and leaves, there is something quieting in the familiar shapes. It's almost meditative. Anyway, I carved this little dangly piece to go with our floral clasp. I think it'll look great with so many styles- retro or vintage, depending on the beads. These new pieces will also debut at the Bead and Button Show, so stop by and say hello!

winged things

This is a new version of the bird clasp that we carried for years. The original was misplaced (an unfortunate occurance that happens sometimes) and the mold broke, so I decided to redo the whole thing, rather than cast from one that had been polished. Casting from a second generation piece results in a smaller, less detailed finished item, since the wax shrinks slightly. I like this one better, it has a more refined shape and the loop has more detailing. I've also improved the fit, carving the loop a touch smaller, so the bird has to be jiggled a little to remove it.

This is another piece I retooled. I love this little bird girl, but her mold broke several years ago and we never got around to fixing her, so the design was shelved. Greg found her languishing in a box and asked me to fix her up, so I detailed her wings, changing the shape and also carved her little feet so that they have holes - perfect for gripping bits of chain or briolettes. These two will also debut at the show, so stop by and check them out!

butterfly key

This is a silver master of one of our newest pieces. It will be slightly smaller (since the molding process shrinks the final piece about 5%) and cast in pewter. We will cast a few in bronze for the show and a couple for my personal collection. One of the best things about this key is that there is a hole drilled through the bottom part, to hang crystals, or to use as a link.

Here's a shot of the other side. I'm looking forward to stringing up a bracelet with this! Or a necklace featuring a collection that includes Andrew's skull key and a skeleton key from our line. I love the look of antique keys, there's something about the shape that's bone-like and botanical all at once. The mystery of keys is universal, it sparks curiosity as one always wonders what the key unlocks. I think this one opens a tiny red door, a meadow of blue poppies and black butterflies just beyond the threshold.

calm afternoons

Max is so handsome with his new haircut! I think he looks a lot younger and sweeter, probably because more of his plump face is showing. He's peeking through a playhouse window, where he and his big sister were playing Dr. Who (Azalea is always The Dr., I'm always a monster and Max is the alien baby who needs to be rescued).

Here's my girl, caught up in her game with Max. I love watching my babies play. I remember the excitement and sense of adventure a few hours in the backyard could yield. We lived on a sizeable piece of property growing up, some of it wild and overgrown, with huge trees to climb and a tangerine grove to hide in. That was the perfect hideout since it was cool under the shade
of the twisty limbs and the tangerines were sweet and tart and peeled easier than bananas.

This is a drawing Azalea made of our day at Disney, showing everyone that was there that day

(from left: Azalea, my brother Andrew,my sister Sheila, her boyfriend Steve and myself and Max). Don't you just love the bun on my head, the pink shoes and the little detail that she drew me taller than my sis (since Sheila is just a hair taller!). My girl is so talented. I save her drawings and plan on making a book of them one day, starting from her earliest doodles to her more polished pieces.

winner!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I'll make it a surprise to see what I chose to carve on the back. I'll show the results before we cast it. And now for the winner! The name that came out of the hat was #4 Rebecca! So, shoot me an email with your address and I'll send you your prize! Get ready for the next giveaway, which go up some time this weekend. Have a great weekend.

friday giveaway!

This is a new charm for the 'little blessings' line. Its carved from polymer clay and features a sweet image of a mother cuddling her baby. Its about the size of a dime and the thickness of one side of an Oreo. I have an idea of what I want to inscribe on the back, but I'm sort of waffling between a couple of things, unable to decide.

Which brings me to the next thing on my list, a giveaway for Friday! Leave a comment about what you would like to see on the back of the mama charm and I'll draw from the comments section. The winner will receive a pack of the beads shown above. They are from our latest batch of new pieces and they are some of my favorite! The small floral clasp is perfect for a bracelet or a delicate necklace of faceted stones and the coral branch link is great for an asymetrical summer piece. Ok! Let's hear those suggestions!

evening

Evenings at our house are spent together, cooking dinner, playing rambunctiously, quizzing spelling words (my girl gets 100% every time!) and talking about the day.

I am addicted to ball jointed dolls. Maybe its the whole crafty part of painting their faces and making wigs, clothes and shoes that reels me in. Or maybe its creating the characters. Or choosing from hundreds of eyes. Whatever it is, Azalea shares my obsession and is always ready to participate in any dolly endeavor. Here's my girl posing with our latest doll, Buttercup (a Fairyland LittleFee creation). I love her and try really hard not to bring her everywhere, so Greg doesn't have to feel embarrassed that his wife is so weird. Poor Greg.

I do my best work in the evenings. I wish I could rise early with the dawn, listen to the birds awaken the world and begin work. But more likely than not I'm seeing dawn from the other direction, so to speak. Here's my latest piece, inspired by a motif on a piece of Liberty of London fabric, 'The Strawberry Theif" I think, maybe by William Morris. This is a pressing from a mold I just finished carving (its a quick smoosh of polymer in the mold, untouched and sloppy- but it shows the bird nicely). It will probably show up as a bronze clay piece, or maybe I'll clean it up and engrave a quote on the back and cast it in pewter. What do you think?

mother's day

Yesterday was Mother's Day, so we decided to load into the van and head over to Franklin, NC, where the gem show was held. I found my long time friend Jessica, from Jess Imports and we stood around catching up about the kids, my mom (and her love of Phillipine boxing star Manny Paquiao). We also planned some exciting pieces for her line (new bees!) to debut in a couple of months. Above is a vermeil ring featuring the Green Girl classic mermaid button, one of my Mother's Day gifts.
These sparklies are rose cut Champagne Quartz cabachons, destined for some limited edition pieces. I saw them at Sona's table and thought how great they would look on a ring, or even set onto a bit of enameling, to magnify and glitterize the color.

I found this unique amulet at a table selling pieces from various Boudouin tribes and couldn't resist shifting through the pile to find one with a.) a perfect stone with no cracks b.) really sharp carving. It's a quartz crystal sliced like a loaf of bread with an image of a gazelle or rabbit creature carved out. Looking at it put me in the mood to sit down at my lapidary grinder and have at it. I have some gorgeous rough stones that need attending to.

While at Sona's table, I found more stones to add to my hoard (from the top down): micro faceted sapphires, chrome dioxide teardrops, top drilled mini faceted black spinel, rainbow tunduru sapphire rondelles, rough cut diamonds, faceted pyrite rondelles and peach colored andalucite. Unfortunately, they don't have a website, so I have to wait till a gem show rolls around or call their offices in Morgantown, PA (610-856-7211) but their prices are great and I love the quality, so its worth it.