It isn’t even February, yet, I’m making heart shaped pendants. It just seems like the thing to do! I prepared the two in the photo because I wanted to experiment with making bails for an upcoming meetup of designers.

The bail for the heart on the left is made from a small piece of copper sheet soldered on the back. The one on the right utilizes a bail made from wire, also soldered on the back. My grandson told me that this heart has heartworms! Hmm, I really didn’t see it that way, but I’m not three years old. I used my new leather sand bag as a base for creating the doming effect on both pieces. I dimpled them with dimple pliers. By the way, thanks to a talented friend, I was able to saw the heart shape from the middle of each piece. Thanks Adele!

Following is another photo of a heart pendant made for the same meetup. I torch enameled the copper rectangle and riveted the heart, cut out of the center of a piece shown above, to the metal. I used a tube rivet which gives it some dimension. The back shows the small piece of tube I soldered to the metal for a bail.

The photo below doesn’t seem to fit with this blog entry . . . yet, it is the essence of “heart”. It was commissioned by one adult sister for another in remembrance of their girlhood when they watched the cardinals together. I’ve shared this previously online, but wanted to repeat. Wouldn’t you say the giving sister was “sharing heart”?

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I hope that commercialism doesn’t remove the heart from the giving. It often seems that men, in particular, are harassed by the advertisements to a point where they feel they must spend a good deal of money for their sweeties. I hope the men I know will understand that this woman just wants a little “heart” in one form or another.

Today is my birthday and I can truly say that I don’t look more than a day over 63! I’m not writing this to solicit greetings since I’ve received a good many already and am appreciative of the messages and singing. I write this to tell you about my mother.

Most readers know that my mother, who will be 92 in a couple of weeks, has been in the nursing home for 8 years. It has allowed us more time together than we have had since I left home so long ago. I see her for nice visits in a nearby town at least twice a week and try to help her through this difficult final journey in her life.

Today, when I arrived for my visit, she said, “it’s your birthday!” I didn’t think she even knew what date it was and was surprised by this remembrance. She told me that she awoke this morning and knew it was my day. Then she worried about what gift she could give me. I’ve told her every year for the past ten that birthing me was quite enough. Yet, today she felt the need to give something more.

She explained to me that she couldn’t go shopping but wanted me to have “this.” She held up her little finger and pointed to her special ring. She’s worn this ring for as long as I can remember and I’ve always loved it. I didn’t want to take it, but could see that it was important for her to give it.

It took considerable effort and hand crème to get the ring off her finger, horribly gnarled by arthritis, but she was determined. Then I worried whether it would even fit me – it did. It fits my little finger just as it did hers and her actions touched me more deeply than she will probably ever know.

Of course she has touched me deeply before. I still her voice at times when I’m making a decision or need to turn a corner. As an only child, I received all the nurturing and encouragement she had to give. Now, as very slow dance partners, the lead has changed from her to me, but we both know where I learned the right steps.

Today, I will proudly wear her ring and be glad that I am blessed. Thank you Mamaw!

After running the Christmas gauntlet of jewelry shows, I wondered if I would have any ideas left for starting anew. I shouldn’t have worried since the holiday’s usually close with renewed inspiration to create again. This year, I’m making an honest effort to add some different looks to my pieces.

One new idea in particular resulted from a metal disc my son-in-law hammered while showing me how to use my new leather sandbag.  While the family tried to rest after Christmas dinner, the two of us sat on my studio floor and hammered. Oh what fun . . . Later, I picked up the disc he made and turned it into a shield.

This shield is on the top left. It has multiple dimensions and weavings and is adorned with turquoise and lapis. The challenge for this piece was adding extra pieces of wire and trying to keep the weaving even. I wasn’t completely successful on the latter.

The shield on the top right sports a sterling silver bezel on textured copper. I added both sterling silver and copper wire to support the weaving.

The bottom piece was simple to make and may need more embellishment before it is complete. I used dimple pliers to create interest on the disc.

The challenge for now is how to best hang these pieces to enhance the look. It would be easy for me to end up with a box full of pendants, but these need to become necklaces soon.

The final photo is of a shield that did become a necklace. It’s too bad that close up shots not only show the flaws in the wire work, but also those on the face! Oh well, I earned every one of them.

I’ve tried to avoid writing this entry and I do so now, not because I want to, but rather because I need to.

Home alone last weekend as the news of the school shooting rang out, I chose to ignore it. I didn’t turn on the television or radio and avoided the internet news and posts per the subject. Two days later, when my husband returned home and turned on the TV, I left the room each and every time reports of the shooting were aired. I simply ignored them, worked frantically on my business and avoided the inevitable. It was as though I put up a concrete wall to protect my emotions from the pain so many felt. Yet, that wall was a porous, constructed subconsciously as a useless shield.

I managed quite well until Monday when the funerals began and I finally cried. It was as though the faces of those young children shown on television were those in my own classrooms so many years ago. Those faces still reside in my memory box although the children are now grown or well on their way to adulthood. I remember all the angels and the rascals and would have protected them with all my might.

I cried not only for the parents and grandparents of the lost children and adults, but also for those at the school and what they now face. It is possible that some of those children will never resume the emotional stability that is their birthright. The spiral of evil, initiated by a single young man, will likely continue to effect many in ways we will never comprehend.

As I think about my own former students, I cannot help but recognize my own fear of and for a very few of them. As a teacher, I approached mental health carefully yet forthrightly, speaking with parents and counselors when I sensed deep seeded issues in a child. While parents usually listened to my concerns, I don’t know of any instance where they took action to seek professional help for their children. Now, I cannot help but wonder what type of people these youngsters became and whether I should have pushed harder to get help for them. Yet, it is a rough ride on the horse of guilt if you choose to consider the “what ifs”. What if I missed a child who called out for help? Was he or she the one capable of horrific deeds? What if I missed the actions of a parent toward a child that I might have saved? What if, I was just too wrapped up in my own life to recognize problems that grow until they become destructive?

It’s too late for me; my days in the classroom are past; yet I hope that teachers will always care enough to trust their instincts and that parents will care enough to listen and act if things do not seem quite right with their offspring. I believe we are all trying.

. . . and so I write because it helps me recognize what I’m feeling. I write because it guides me toward healing. I write because I care.

I’m Bruno, a really a good dog. I ‘m only three years old and still learning what my owner’s call “behaving”. After all, this is my first Christmas to really pay attention to the “goings-on” and a certain Santa called my name.

I was just minding my own business, coming back from getting a drink of water when I heard him say “Bruno . . . psst . . . Bruno, I’m over here.” Well, just like any self-respecting dog would do, I trotted right over to the sound. You see, I’ve been taught to come when my name is called. When I reached the source of the sound, I knew what I had to do.

First, I looked both ways to see if I was being watched. The course was clear; so I grabbed Santa full in my mouth and ran to my rug. I turned my head toward the fire place, so no one could see what I had in my mouth. Luckily, my mouth is big enough that I could get the entire little guy in it with no parts hanging out.

I knew that Santa wanted me to eat him and it seemed he would be a tasty morsel. Yet, just as I was ready to bite down, my Mother pounced. She told me to open my mouth, but I really didn’t want to do it. But, she looked pretty mean and I gave in. She just kept shaking her head and looking me in the eye as she dried my slobber off that Santa.

I wanted her to know that it wasn’t really my fault . . . that Santa made me do it. Perhaps she understood, because she finally hung that wet Santa high on the tree, laughed at me and patted my head.

I’m a good dog, but that Santa . . .  I wonder what he’s made other people do.

Bruno

I enjoy making handmade chains. If my hands would hold up, I could sit for hours twisting “S” links and making jump rings; yet I wanted something a bit different for the design below. As it developed, I began to picture a vine running along one side toward the wearer’s neck. First I made the chain without beads on the vine, but now I think it’s better adorned with them. See what you think.

My friend from Magpie Gemstones , made a few suggestions and I think the design is working now. Another friend named the above necklace “Sweet Pea”.

Below is another version. You can also see that I’ve played with the use of different size jump rings to add a bit of interest.

My analogy for the initial necklace may be a stretch, but here goes any way. As so many of us gather with family members and/or friends this special time of the year, it seems to me that we are vining. Vines often reach toward their nourishment whether it is sunlight or water and it seems that people do the same. We lean towards those who nourish us by listening, caring and sharing our lives. While we may originally “vine” in one direction, later that part of the growth may wither and we vine in another direction depending upon our needs. I watch my ivy houseplant do the same thing. It grows well in one direction and then I notice it withers and needs trimming. Once trimmed, it angles off toward something else. It doesn’t seem to inhibit the plant as it takes the process in stride. As we traverse our own growth including changes in relationships and in families, it may be important to consider new directions or perhaps to better nurture those old ones. I think we just need to keep vining.

This entry requires no words. Enjoy our trying experience.

It’s been many months since I wore my cowboy boots, but yesterday seemed like the day to get them down from the top shelf in the closet and put them on.
As I brought them down, however, I heard an unusual rattle that I thought came from the left boot.

Now, all Texans know that it’s not a good idea to stick your hand down in your boot if you hear something suspicious; so I just turned the boot upside down to see what would fall out. I was, of course  prepared to use the other boot to smush what ever was in there.

It’s good to be prepared but what came out was nothing to be feared.

It was only macaroni. As I pondered how in the world that one piece of pasta got into my boot, I noticed the other boot emitted a similar rattling sound. Less afraid, I dumped out the contents of the second boot and founds another single macaroni shell – nothing more.

I looked for other pasta clues on the shelf where the boots had been, but found nothing. Hmm . . . a mystery. Initially I thought a rodent might have deposited the pasta, but my spouse assured me it would have been quite a feat for a mouse to carry a pasta shell half its size all the way from the kitchen to the top shelf in the bedroom closet. Then, there’s that problem of how the rodent would have skinnied up my boots.

Next, I wondered how my three-year-old grandson might have completed the pasta-to-boot trick. Just the day before, when I removed my bracelet mandrel from the vice, several small objects fell out of it. I DO know who put those in it! Yet, it seems unlikely that any small urchin could have placed or thrown anything so accurately into my boots on the high shelf.

So, the mystery remains. How did that pasta get into my boots? Will it happen again? Should boots come complete with lids to keep things out of them? OR should boots be stored upside down?

I guess we have enough to wonder about without lamenting too much about the rattling boots; yet, it is a mystery. I just hope that pasta is the only rattling thing that ever gets in my boots.

Playing with wire one evening, a seemingly familiar shape emerged in my hands. Who knows whether it came from my subconscious while thinking about my long ago high school years or from something else. My high school class just celebrated our 45th reunion in Medford, Oklahoma. Although I didn’t attend, the photos and notes from classmates brought back a flood of memories long buried, but still reachable. While I don’t remember too many high school dances, I do remember my last prom. I had been sick and out of school for three weeks, but managed to get it together and make it to the prom. After all, I already had a date! It was an eventful day of preparation during which my mother burned a hole with the iron in the chiffon overskirt of my long blue dress. The local dry goods store saved the day. There she purchased blue plastic flowers which she sewed on the dress to cover the hole. I remember that she was much more upset than I was.

I also remember that my hair wasn’t in very good shape, but we managed to adorn it with a pretty sparkling tiara. It seems to me that it looked much like the one in the photo below (from Tiara Town). It was probably much smaller

That shape stuck with me and I recognized a similarity in the wire shape I made the other night. It became the bracelet below.

I also turned the shape upside down and made a necklace.  If you stand on your head and look at the necklace below, you should be able to see the tiara – or you could just believe me! This particular piece and the bracelet above are both made of moonstone from Magpie Gemstones. I made another similar necklace out of sterling silver wire with grey colored moonstone, but it found a home before I could take a photo.

Today, I tried my hand at a smaller necklace, shown below, that has less loops. I really think I prefer the loopier one. All of these are finished with handmade chain and clasp.

These necklaces are fairly easy to make and the bead placement helps secure the wire loops in place at the top.

I think there are a few more jewelry tiara designs in my future, but I don’t anticipate ever needing to wear one on my head again. I’m either afraid or relieved that those days are past – I wonder which . . .?

I’ve been remiss in not sharing a little success via this venue. This month, October-November, Step by Step Wire Jewelry published one of my pieces. Below is their photo of my Tri-Loop Necklace.

This example was made in sterling silver with lovely amethyst stones from Magpie Gemstones (www.magpiegemstones.com) There’s a very long period of time between having something accepted by a publisher and actually seeing it in print. The publication also contains my complete tutorial for the necklace where you can find out the sneaky way I make those tri-loops. These are NOT made on a jig.

My friend, whose sister works for Disney, calls this the hidden Mickey necklace. Just look at all those ears. She purchased one for her sister in copper and it looks great. I was pleased to see it. Someone who read the magazine also sent me a photo of her version of the necklace. If you make one, why not send me a picture too?

Also, I have another piece that should be out in the same publication in a couple of months. I’ll let you know when it’s available.