'The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightning and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not.' -The Upanishads.
A dear friend gave me a strand of glass Krobo beads from Ghana for my birthday a few years ago. They are "Mue ne Angma" or "Writing Beads", made from finely ground glass with glass slurry decorations that are "written" on and fused in a second firing. They are brighter than most of the beads I tend to favor and they only found their way into a couple of pieces. I like an aged, more elegant look and these are - well - kind of crude and brash. But I know that if I find myself resistant to something, it means I have to suspend my judgement and find its own unique beauty. It works the same way with people too, but that's a little more problematic.
Grouping the them into color affinities was my solution to the problem of what to do with the Krobo beads, adding other bright resin and ceramic beads and some rustic bone Tibetan Buddhist mala beads.
In a short-lived burst of creativity, I made a batch of bracelets strung on leather and embellished with charms.
With the first really hard frost here on Long Island comes the necessity of dealing with all the half-ripe and green tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and a ton of windfall apples from a friend's trees. I enjoy food prep and cooking, especially now that the weather is so cool, but it takes me away from my workbench more than I would like.
Just got this amulet listed on Etsy. I love the bronze hand clasp and the diamond shaped Thai amulet. I have come to the conclusion that my reluctance to part with a piece is an indication of how much of my heart I've put into it. I hope no one buys this one.
