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Fall has such gorgeous colors. And last weekend the weather was stunning, so I couldn’t help but go outside with my camera.
Then, serendipitously I popped into the V7N blog, and saw that Cricket has posted a photographic challenge. This is week one, and we’re each to shoot at least 5 photos that fill the frame. The first and last photos of my last post fit this bill, but I really like some of the nature shots I took over the weekend, and now had a reason to share them with you.
This is a leaf from my sycamore tree. I found it stunningly beautiful. The insects had left an interesting lacy structure which was nice in and of itself. The leaf, against the green grass, was a rich, coppery color. It looked like the metal itself, like those gilded leaves you can buy in some stores, only huge, since sycamore leaves are big. I was pleased that the metallic-ness of it showed up in the photo.
The wet fall has produced an amazing array of mushrooms. I have never learned enough about wild mushrooms, so I don’t pick and eat any of them. So even though this group, marching toward the tree, looked just like grocery store mushrooms to me, they stayed where they were on the ground for birds and insects to enjoy.
In addition to liking the ‘shrooms themselves in this shot, I also like all the really skinny, light tree trunks in the background. Usually in a shot that’s filling the frame they’d be gone, but when I cropped them out, the photo wasn’t as pleasing to me.
This flicker landed on the branch right near the road during my walk. I stopped to see if I could get a shot. Since my little dog kept moving, I was afraid the bird would fly away. It hopped around a bit, and then was kind enough to show turn his head and give me a nice profile and still show his little shock of red. I liked the contrast of the yellow leaves to the bird’s feathers. From even a short distance away flickers look quite plain; up close, especially from the front, there’s lots of lovely color variation.
I decided to leave this last picture unexplained for a few days to see if any of my readers can identify it. Check back by the end of the weekend for a full explanation.
Your turn: what do you think that last photo is?
You’ve waited long enough – here’s the info on that last picture. This is a Japanese dogwood in my yard. Their fruits are so interesting – to me they are somehow reminiscent of brains. (Not that I’ve ever seen a real brain, mind you.) I read in a book that they taste rather like mangos, which I love, so I did taste one. It was sweet and fruity, but so tiny that I wasn’t inclined to continue.
I’ll be mostly working on jewelry for the next few weeks.
Once again, I’m really glad that I keep all my business records on QuickBooks; with a few clicks of the mouse, I could pull up a report from last year’s sales at Letchworth to give me some idea of how many pieces I had to have this year. I had to make at least enough new pieces to equal the number of pieces in each category (earrings, bracelets, necklaces) as I sold last year. I was surprised that I had sold lots more bracelets than earrings. Was it because people weren’t buying earrings, or because I didn’t have the kind of earrings they were looking for? I assume the latter.
In any case, I didn’t think to pull up that report until I had already made 31 pairs of earrings in brand new designs, and now I know I need to focus more on bracelets and necklaces. That’s fine, and I know that I’ll create earrings to coordinate with them as I make them.
Here’s a new necklace.
I’ve made similar things in the past, but not for a few years. I’ve always been attracted to a multitude of gemstone chips, and my customers seem to like them, too. Obviously, by this time I’ve gotten back into a routine of being able to replicate loops repeatedly – I had to make two loops of sterling wire for each gemstone chip in the necklace.
Then I had an idea for another new kind of triple necklace. (I’d made triple necklaces in the past, which had been quite popular, but which I didn’t want to make them just like that again.) I’d combine the idea of my triples and my convertibles (wear a long necklace, or a take a piece out and wear shorter necklace and a bracelet). I had a lot of freshwater pearls, so tried out the concept with them.
The 3-in-1 necklace has three (relatively) identical, handmade clasps. Hook the three sections together for a necklace that’s about 23″ long. One section has three strands of pearls; two sections each have two strands of pearls.
Take one section out, forming a choker and a bracelet. Or wear it as three bracelets, for 7 strands of pearls around your wrist. That’s multi-purpose, and will hopefully be appreciated by buyers.
Astute readers will notice that the two necklaces aren’t identical. I liked the first one well enough that I made a second, using more subtle colors of pearls.
I tried the concept a third time, using onyx, red jasper, and turquoise. Although I like the way it looked, I won’t do it with other gemstones again. Other gems are so much heavier than pearls that I had to use lots of sterling spacers or the whole thing would have been much too heavy. That’s not the concept I wanted, and like my weaving, if my jewelry doesn’t make me happy, it doesn’t get made.
But by now I’d checked my records and knew I really had to focus on bracelets the most. I had an idea in my mind of something that would combine my fiber interests with my jewelry. I’ve had plenty of experience and know that what works in my head and what works in real life can be completely different. So I was pleased that this one worked rather like I had planned.
Each bracelet is made with 2 or 3 different colors of yarn. The orange is a 3 colors of very fine cotton, the blue-green-brown a medium cotton. The blue & white and red & purple are actually both variegated rayon yarns. The purple is a very fine blend of cashmere & silk in light and dark. I like them all, but must admit the oranges are my favorite, partly because of color, partly because of their thinness. It took a while to work out how to make these, and I think I’ll make a few more before the show.
Your turn – how often are you able to combine your varied life interests?
My next show is the Letchworth Arts & Crafts Festival. This is the only juried show this year where I will have my jewelry. It’s also the last juried show that I plan to bring jewelry to. Period. From here on, weaving only. But I’m committed to jewelry on Columbus Day weekend.
I have very little jewelry stock left, so have to focus on that for the next few weeks. Earrings are usually the easiest to make, and the easiest to have fun with, so I started there.
Hmmmmm……why am I having a hard time?
To begin with, my hands have lost the quickness and sureness to make the same loop in the same size repeatedly. So practice is in order before I start wasting supplies.
The real problem, however, is lack of sufficient inspiration. All I want to wear, and therefore all I want to make, are relatively long, dangly earrings. I had one idea in my head, so started there.
These are a very dark green agate rondelle. I made the same earring in a dark pink agate.
These two weren’t enough. I made them in a blue triangle glass for a brighter look.
That still didn’t exhaust my desire for these 3-stroke dangles, so I made a pair, a bit shorter in case everyone doesn’t want them quite as long as I do, with an 8mm amethyst round.
Then I played with sterling silver wire. This is one version of the earrings I made.
After every pair of earrings, I felt like I was again empty, devoid of inspiration. It was a struggle to come up with something else. I kept opening my drawers of beads and waiting for something to pop out at me. I had a pair of blue cane beads that I like.
Next some hematite teardrops said, “use me.” Although the two agate pairs are my favorites, these run a close second.
After what felt like several hours at the table, I have created only 18 pairs of earrings. I need to make 3 times that many, for sure. Plus necklaces and bracelets.
Sigh.
Your turn: where do you get inspiration when you need it?
Last month my very old cat died. Magic was 19, and was, indeed magical. He’d made it through any number of serious health crises, and had a good long life. We were sorry to see him go on a lot of levels.
One of those is that for years he and my dog Red were best buddies. They wrestled and played, both indoors and out, admittedly not much in the last 2 years. (How did I not get a picture of that?!) They rested near each other outside,
and often slept together in the same little bed indoors.
So now it’s just Red & me. Coming to me at 3 years old, Red was never one to play with toys, fetch, play tug of war, etc.; weaving & making jewelry are incredibly boring for him. Red’s always been a bit timid, and that may be getting worse as he ages – he’s now 11.
Before Magic passed, I’d assumed I’d get another cat. But now I’m really hesitant. For most of his life, Magic was an indoor-outdoor cat; he came inside whenever he wanted (most of the time), but didn’t use a litter box – he did his business outside. As he aged and became more frail, a litter box in the basement was critical, and while I didn’t resent doing it for him, I REALLY don’t want a litter box as a constant.
Probably more troubling, however, are the potential problems with my work and a cat. How many cats do you know that wouldn’t find all those strings involved in weaving, or those little beads involved in making jewelry, the perfect playthings? If most of what I made was jewelry, it would be a relatively easy thing to always cover what I was working on during time away from the table. But yarn? I have dozens of cones of yarn on the great rack my son made for me, yarn in bags (often a kitty favorite), yarn on shelves. There’s no way to put it all inside something that’s kitty-safe.
So I’ve been playing with the idea of getting another dog. However I’ve tried two dogs at once a few times out here in the sticks, and it’s always a problem. Without a fenced yard, two dogs will invariably leave the area and get into trouble of one kind or another, or in my experience, several kinds of trouble.
Invisible fence initially seemed like a good answer, but now I think not. Red really hates beeping, so would be easy to train, but would it make him crazy? I think that’s likely. Plus, with a second dog (and I wouldn’t get a puppy, only an adult), there would be that training period before Dog2 knew about the fence, and that might mean keeping that shelter-dog longer than we would like to. (Interaction between the two dogs is critical. If they’re not really liking each other, I’ve made the situation worse, not better.) Additionally, given my yard configuration, the odds of placing the fence in a way that will both provide shade options for the pooches and not have a high likelihood of getting jabbed by my garden tools are quite low.
So what about something more like farm fencing? Galvanized, with 4″ x 4″ (or similar) openings, green metal posts driven into the ground. More than twice the cost, and visually not so appealing. Yet it has no training period, and will provide more security – nothing can get in, including dead stuff that Red loves to roll in.
That seems reasonable. Then I think about how much touching Red needs to be happy and secure. If I had to divide my available pooch petting time between two dogs, will that make him jealous & unhappy? Or will having a full-time buddy totally offset that, and even make him more confident and happy?
Too many unknowns!
So I’m seeking your input, readers. What has your experience taught you? What are your suggestions?
Being an early riser, I have a few minutes before I have to leave for the show this morning, so will sneak this post in.
I knew I only had two handwoven silk scarves left after Elmwood, so wanted to give my customers at least one more option. I had enough dusty rose silk left to weave two more, and chose alternating blocks of Swedish Lace. I sett this 20/2 yarn at 18 ends per inch, and was off and running.
They worked up quickly. As usual, I made these handwoven lace scarves on my counterbalance loom.
I was pleased with the results, and quite surprised when I saw how clear and lovely the color was in comparison to the last/first time I’d used this yarn in the gray twill blocks – it really muddied the color more than I realized.
I thought that would be all I’d have time for before the show, but had a whole day left (woo hoo!), so decided to weave a few more cashmere silk scarves, too. I intended to weave two, but my habit got the better of me in measuring the warp – when I finished winding the last bit, I realized I’d measured for three. 🙂 No problem. Put three on the loom, and if I can only get two done, that’s fine; I’ll just cut them off and weave the third when I return home.
OCD me of course got all three woven.
Two of them are an all-over huck lace pattern, one is a woven with huck spots. I’m less thrilled with the look of that one. Spot Bronson would be a much better choice for spots, but of course my loom was already threaded for huck. The lavender color is much nicer in person than in this picture, which makes them look more gray.
Ok, now you’ve seen them all, and I have to get ready to leave the house.
Your turn: is the weather as gorgeous where you are as it is here this September weekend? Sunny and warm – great!
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