making up for lost time

I've been busy.  So busy.  Taking old things apart and making them into new things.  Sometimes the creative flow just takes over and it is glorious.

If you heat copper wire on the gas burner on the stove until it's glowing red, it makes it nice and soft and malleable.

Why did it take me so long to try this?

This one started when I reworked an older piece that I was tired of wearing.  By the time I was done, there wasn't one single element of the original necklace that I had kept.  Things take on a life of their own.

Garnets and some great brass rings and beads.  My little kiln is having temperature issues so I haven't been making any components.  Also, it's been too hot to test fire it.

Labradorite eye with copper beads and charms.

Lapis lazuli.

Carnelian.

A chunk of citrine was the inspiration for this one.  Faceted horn beads, Beautiful handmade vintage African brass beads, borosilcate, jade, ammonite, ancient quartz, Tibetan mala beads.  I really love this one.  Hence the number of photos.

Tuareg earrings with no mates are reincarnated.

A request for a copper wire evil eye amulet inspired all kinds of variations.  This one with Chinese jade cicadas and citrine nuggets.

This one with amethyst and bronze clay charms.

A bunch of evil eyes with different gemstones - this one green jade.

Red jasper for strength and courage.  Little body positive pink ceramic goddesses.  Serene Buddhas. Buddha hands and Tibetan copper skulls to invoke the wisdom of the ancestors.

Leather bracelet with Czech glass beads, bronze clay discs, copper and brass.

Jasper and petrified wood.  Chinese symbols for longevity.

Artisan lampwork bead.  Gorgeous colors.  I may need to keep this one.

Years ago when I had some leftover Ice Resin from a pour, I coated a few Lunaria pods.  They have tiny bits of Chinese herbal burn medicine instructions collaged onto them and little faceted citrines.

I've had the African hand cast spirals for ages but hadn't known what to do with them.

More simple evil eyes.  Labradorite on this one.  It's called "The Shaman's Stone" or the stone that "Heals the Healer".  I was not attracted to Labradorite when my daughter was first working with it.  I took me awhile to appreciate the subtle flashes of blue and purple, but it has become one of my favorite stones.  I think it works well with bronze, silver and copper.

Carnelian and horn.

Green Tibetan turquoise.


Time to take a breather and see what to try next.  If you haven't visited my Etsy shop, Maggiezees, please check out all the new listings.  Shipping is FREE right now to US customers.  I'm sorry that I can't extend that offer to Canadian and EU buyers.

new stuff

Lots of new stuff to share.  I am way behind in photography and listing on Etsy and all the things I think I should be doing.  Just indulging in the pleasures of creating.

For a while now, I've just assumed that blogging was pretty much passe'.  People I was following are now using Instagram and Twitter and I have enough trouble trying to keep up on FaceBook.  But last night I checked out my blogger account and found to my great surprise that I am still getting hits.  Lots of them actually.  So for anyone who is still along for the ride with me, here is a lengthy update.

I originally had a large labyrinth pendant on this necklace, but I wasn't completely happy with it.  I had tried out something different for a bail and only realized after it had come out of the kiln and I was polishing it, that it looks just like the Trilithons of Stonehenge.  I think the shape and size work much better.  I used the second pendant with red jasper, carnelian, horn, and red tiger eye.

This one had been incomplete for ages.  It features an old silver and turquoise pendant from Tibet along with silver and turquoise, a jade cicada, old silver earring orphan, Scorched Earth spike, Thai amulet and Whitby jet beads.  Jet is a cousin to both amber and coal - very popular in Victorian times for mourning jewelry.

The weather hasn't be cooperating with my intent to photograph pieces outside - all the damp and dank has put a layer of green on my slate and whalebone props so I've had to look for some new backgrounds.  The one above is the inside covers of a book I've had since I was a child - Sir Richard Burton's translation of "The Arabian Nights".  I love the aged look of the paper.  Some of the other photos are taken on the back cover, but it's not big enough to show an entire necklace.

This piece is kind of minimalist for me.  It showcases an unusual pendant of green Prehnite.  The photos don't begin to do it justice.  I love that it's not clear and perfect.  The inclusions and irregularities and color shifts within the stone are fascinating.  Prehnite is sometimes described on New Agey crystal websites as "the stone that heals the healer".  It's supposed to help release a person's natural psychic abilities and deepen meditative states.  I just know that I am drawn to work with it on an aesthetic level if nothing else.

 Rutilated quartz.  Another favorite stone of mine.  I love the threads of golden rutile running through the beads.  Encased in time and space.

Gorgeous porcelain spikes by Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth on Etsy.  I-Ching coins, old African cowrie shells, bone Buddhist mala beads, Kuchi coins, and Czrch glass talhakimt amulets.  A little raw.  A little wild and tribal.  Steel wire was called for here.

 Faceted chalcedony beads with my hand made bronze clay discs.  A twisted copper jump ring and vintage gold washed brass "raised dot" Yoruba beads from Africa.  

Another shield amulet with impressions of the dancing ladies inspired by North African cave paintings on both sides.  A large smokey quartz crystal, recycled amber colored glass Krobo beads from Africa and tiny ones from Indonesia.  I like to squish the clay out with my fingertips rather than rolling it out.  I want to see the marks of my hands and leave no doubt that these pieces have been a labor of the heart and soul.

Another spike from Petra Carpreau.  The colors are glorious!  A rough faceted carnelian, a Thai amulet of a Kalachakra Wheel in sandstone, a bone spike incised with an Ohmmmm, a little wooden skull from a Nepalese or Tibetan prayer mala, and one of my bronze hands - open to repel negativity and receive blessings.  Suspended from a bronze ring on a leather choker.  I had sent this one along to Belle Armoire for consideration, so it will be listed as soon as I get it back.

And these two.  I need to take some better photos so I can list them.  The first one makes me think of woodlands - of Spring shoots poking through damp autumn leaves.  Renewal and promise.  Green garnets, wooden disc beads, and seed beads in many shades of green.

The last one is golden - sun shining through dew drops.  Sparkling with faceted citrines, amber, and Peruvian opals.  It's going to be very hard to part with these two.