Carmi of WrittenInc poses a new photo challenge each week. This week’s topic is odd.
I chose this picture of what I call the dragon tree near my house.
Dragon Tree
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 Gavin's completed blanket So what was my suggestion? Since Gavin’s already two, he has some reasoning capability, so I thought it might be helpful to tell him that this blanket was made special, just for him. Caitlin’s promised to keep me posted on the progress, and when possible, to send me a photo of Gavin and the blanket for me to post. The winnner of the July contest is Judy T from Buffalo, NY. Judy will get the set of four mug rugs in the mail. Watch for my August contest, which I won’t announce till August rolls around. I really enjoy learning. New techniques, new processes, new ideas – I find them all exciting. I also like to push the envelope – to make the limited tools and skills I have do something that is supposedly beyond their capacity. I think that’s the teenager in me: tell me that I can’t do something, and my reaction is, “Wanna bet? Just watch me!” Not necessarily a mature reaction, but it is one that has served me well often enough that I haven’t tried to squash it. After years of thinking that I wasn’t either interested in or able to weave lace patterns on my counterbalance loom, I finally decided I’d give it a try. I couldn’t have done that without having gone through several experiential processes. I had to work with fine yarn – in my case 5/2 Egyptian cotton, rayon, and pearl cotton – to learn that I like it, that it has relevance to my weaving, and that its properties are appealing. I had to learn to do the doubleweave, and do it on my loom, to learn that my sweet, old, counterbalance loom could do unbalanced weaves (1 harness up and 3 down versus the 2 up and 2 down that is counterbalance’s diet of choice). Then I had to stumble on a pattern that I liked, and directions that gave me clues about what types of yarn it would work well with.  Huck Lace Scarf I found weaving the lace to be interesting and full of surprises. First off, it was the first time I’d worked with solid black. This was a challenge in and of itself. It’s not easy to see what you’re doing, at least on my loom, with black. Then, while you’re weaving, the fabric bears little resemblance to the finished product. The lacy effect is pretty much invisible. You can see some unusual patterns on the loom, but you’d never know that it would turn into lace. Take it off the loom and finish it (wash it with an appropriate amount of agitation), and VOILA – the cotton slides around itself to create lovely lace! I’m looking forward to weaving more lace scarves in this and other patterns and colors. I don’t have any up on my website yet, so contact me to get a lace scarf now, during the warmth of summer.  Several colors of fluorite In addition to healing properties, fluorite is an interesting gemstone for other reasons. It has “fluorescence,” or glows, in ultraviolet light. In fact, the word fluorescent is derived from fluorite. Perhaps that has something to do with why I have such a hard time getting a good picture of fluorite – what I see with my eyes and what the camera records aren’t necessarily the same. I was quite surprised to learn that fluorite is often used to remove impurities when making steel and other metals. I have absolutely no idea how it does this, but the word fluorite is derived from the Latin meaning “to flow,” so presumably the fluorite encourages those impurities to flow from the raw steel. Fluorite, like all gemstones, has healing properties, characteristics that can have a positive impact on health and happiness. In general, fluorite promotes truth, harmony, and spiritual growth. It can help to clear the mind and increase concentration. Blue fluorite is a gemstone that is good for calming the emotions. It can help quiet an overly busy mind, reducing some of that unwanted brain chatter. Carry purple fluorite to bring peace and balance into your life. This healing gem can foster more rational thought and concentration, resulting in clarity in complex situations. Use green fluorite as a healing gemstone when you want to still your mind and heart and gain some clarity in expanding your positive relationships. It can also be used to encourage you to let go of old thought patterns and accept new ones. Clear fluorite balances the emotions, bringing calm to a troubled mind. This healing gemstone is good for meditation, and can help you achieve higher levels of awareness and understanding. If you want to increase your wisdom try using the least common color of this gem – yellow fluorite . Yellow can also help to dispel anxiety and to ease conflict, both within yourself and in a group. If you’re looking for a healing gemstone to bring peace, clarity, and positive thinking into your life, consider one or more of the colors of fluorite. I’ll be happy to make a custom necklace, bracelet, earrings, or talisman for you – contact me to discuss what you’re looking for. Joan called me a few weeks ago. She’s standing up for her friend’s wedding later this month and wanted a necklace to go with her new dress. She wanted me to design a custom necklace for her. We had a few false starts, but finally managed to meet so I could see the dress and get some ideas from Joan about what she was looking for. Unlike most weddings, the bride asked her two attendants to pick out any dress they liked, as long as it was pastel. She said her desire was that the women would truly be able to wear the dresses again. Joan went shopping and chose a very lovely sheath dress with a short-sleeved jacket. The fabric is beautifully textured like a silk shantung, and it’s a muted silvery-green color. All together its a very classy look. She planned ahead and brought the dress to my house so we could lay stones on it and see how they would look. Given the sheath style with its relatively high simple neckline, Joan appropriately wanted her custom necklace for this wedding to be fairly long, one that wouldn’t interfere with the lines of the dress or jacket. Instead the necklace would pair nicely the dress, with or without the jacket, and add a bit of pop to the outfit. We looked at a variety of stones, ultimately deciding on using a combination of amethyst and rainbow flourite. The amethyst would be a counterpoint to the fabric’s green, and the flourite, with its transparent green, purple, and pale yellow colors, would tie it all together. So now we had the type of stones. As with all my custom jewelry, next we spent some time discussing everything from length of the finished necklace to weight (actual and visual), type of clasp to overall style. I did a rough layout of what I was thinking based on our conversation, and got Joan’s approval to proceed. Cubes of amethyst & flourite, offset by faceted amethyst rondelles, all surrounded by sterling silver. Within the next week I drafted the necklace for her to come back and try on. She was happy with the draft, so we talked about coordinating earrings.  Fluorite & Amethyst Necklace & Earrings I’ve made wedding jewelry before, but this was the first time an attendant was able to choose it herself. Previously the brides have chosen the jewelry and given it to their attendants as gifts. This was simply another way for the whole process of custom jewelry to work, and one that made everyone happy. Contact me for your own custom jewelry – for your wedding, prom, holiday, or just to make that outfit pop. |
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