sing your own song

I do like the way that the amulets on a choker-style necklace hang over the throat, protective and yet empowering.  

It has been a struggle for me all my life to learn to speak my truth.  I suspect this is true of many women.  These amulet chokers I have been making are a reminder to sing your own song.

My oldest granddaughter started high school this week after going to a small, arts based charter school since kindergarten.  She was upset Monday night because no one seemed to be responding to her openness and natural friendliness.  In searching for words of grandmotherly advice, I found myself starting to tell her to be friendlier, make eye contact, smile more - and then before the words could leave my mouth, I caught them and swallowed them down and told her that she should just be her smart, funny, uniquely wonderful self and she will eventually find her tribe.  Or they will find her.

still august

Once in a while, a piece just kind of makes itself.  That doesn't mean this was just the way I needed it to be the first time.  I had to restring the smokey quartz crystal because it didn't hang right and the Tibetan mala bead that connects the coin to the leather cord originally had turquoise chips in it that were way too blue to go harmoniously with the other turquoise beads and had to be changed out with another that had only a brass inlay.  But overall, the process is just joyful when it comes together so smoothly.  (It also sold within a couple of hours of being listed on Etsy.)  Now, if I could just do this whenever I wanted to ...

August 2015

I've been working on this piece on and off for a least a month, but at last I think it's where it needs to be and I'm satisfied. For now.  I've had the little mother-of-pearl belt buckle forever. When I first moved to Bay Shore more than 40 years ago, I made friends with two little old ladies who ran the thrift shop for the local hospital and they used to put aside old buttons and such for me. This is probably from that stash. It's such a pretty piece - delicate and iridescent. I wonder where it came from and who wore it ...

And here's a very simple and serene necklace -

Don't let the simplicity fool you though - this necklace packs a potent protective wallop - including a Troll Cross to protect you against (what else?) trolls! Wish I had known about these when I was still working in an office ...  Hanging below the copper wire Troll Cross is a terra cotta Thai Buddhist amulet, a bead from a Buddhist prayer mala and a bone shield/evil eye cattle amulet from Ethiopia.  With the creamy opal beads from Peru, we've covered 4 continents in 2 hemispheres.

This one is a triple tiered necklace that I'm going to test drive a little before I put it on Etsy.  The bottom amulet is a very large (much larger than I expected because I am metrically challenged, as you may remember) Thai amulet made of low fired clay, stamped and gold-leafed.  I sealed it with about a zillion coats of clear acrylic.  I was originally going to make three separate necklaces so any of them could be worn individually or with other pieces, but having three different clasps at the back of the neck felt like it might be uncomfortable.  The three chains come together on one clasp but my concern is that in storage, the necklace may become very very tangled.  I'll have to see how that works out.

And finally, another deer antler tip amulet with a Chinese bronze coin and fancy Bali-style copper beads on a copper rolo chain.  The antler tips are naturally shed and I polish them up a bit and drill the holes in them.  I love the shape and the variations in color and use them to invoke the wild male Green Man energy that puts the Divine Female energy into balance.  We have an abundance of white-tailed deer here on Long Island where I live, although not in my neighborhood.  A number of my friends have to contend with having their gardens devoured by hungry deer so they have mixed feelings about them.  I just get to enjoy their beauty and the wonder of living 45 minutes from one of the biggest cities in the world and still having the experience of driving home from a friend's and having to stop my car for a magnificent stag standing in the middle of the road.