Things I do between paintings

Malachite Necklace with silver cross and accents

Thought I would post my latest re-creation. I say re-creation because the cross was made by a Native American craftsman and once hung on a silver chain. And the necklace was a gift and included a weird assortment of bead shapes and gold plated beads.

Malachite is suppose to bring you wealth or money and the necklace was given to me by a friend that wished to bring me abundance. I just never wore it much. It hung funny. And the cross would not slip over the bigger beads in the necklace. Besides it was silver and the necklace had gold in it - not that I don't frequently mix metals. I was between knitting projects while watching a couple DVD's and decided to redo this necklace. Which brings me to where I began with jewelry making.

It was and still is in my estimation a hobby but as I agreed to go with my jeweler friend, Jessica Duke, to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show it dawned on me that perhaps I was getting rather deep into this whole business to call it a hobby much longer. I find myself setting limits. I certainly do not want to spend a fortune to be able to solder and cast, but I love the metal bending and cold join approach. And I find creating beaded necklaces (or re-creating them) very relaxing. Come summer I may add some necklaces to my things for sale in my studio. Mostly to fund my hobby.

Oh, BTW, I also made the horse sculpture I am using as a prop. Sculpture is also something I do between paintings.

Camp Craft

When my sister and I get together be it at my house or her house we always have fun. Days are generally spent in very active pursuits like four-wheeling or hiking or power shopping. Evenings include Yahtzee and Casino tournaments and what we term camp craft.

Camp craft can be making our own spruce Christmas Wreaths like we did in November or beginning a new crochet project or stringing beads. In the photo above I did the three necklaces on the left and my sister, a new convert to the hobby, did the rest. It required two trips to Mama's Minerals for supplies and a couple evenings of dedication.

I am not sure what about stringing beads I find so relaxing but it begins walking through the racks of beads and continues through to the finished product. It is almost like Zen meditation. I don't think that would continue to be the case if this was a business for me as opposed to just a hobby or camp craft, but recently I realized I had strung up far more necklaces than I can wear. Yes, friends have gotten some for gifts in the past. And upon occasion I don't like my creation and cut it apart and begin again. I have been known to do this even with jewelry I buy - suddenly seeing them as supplies.

And with every project I always seem to be left with beads enough to compose another creation. Often I like the second better than the first. All this lead me to take some into the gallery that handles my paintings recently and see if she would like to see if they sell. I just want my costs out so I can do some more. Hmmmm, this may be where I began on mask making almost two decades ago. Or even painting more recently. No, that was wall space issues.

What camp crafts do you do? In the creative journey I think it is important to tithe some of our energy toward play. Stringing beads is play for me.