Happy Spring!

Oh bother!  It's that time of year when working in my one window studio makes me not want to be in the studio. 

The sun is shining, the grass is getting greener everyday, and folks are coming out of hibernation.  Kids are zooming by on bicycles and scooters.  Even my own kids asked for a frisbee the other day.  Of course, the really funny thing is that the weather is still barely above freezing most days!!  I suppose 34*F feels like a heat wave compared to -20*F though. 

I can't wait for the trees to start budding and flowes to bloom.  Ah, spring!

Inspiration can come from ANYWHERE

Sometimes in life beauty just hits you square in the face and you just have to take notice!  Enjoy.

P.S. This is a piece of Tiffany Stained Glass from the Stained Glass Museum at Navy Pier, Chicago, IL.

On the BENCH

A few NEW designs are in the works.  Most of my creations tend to be very bright, traditional and perfectly symmetrical.  However, these new designs are more organic. Created in fine silver (99.9% pure silver) the circles aren't quite round and the sizes vary slightly from piece to piece.

Here is the inspiration behind the new designs:

The circle is symbolic of purity and the cycle of life.  I don't believe the cycle of life is completely smooth!  There are rough times and smooth times in everyone's life. Some people have a larger or longer cycle, others may have a smaller or shorter cycle. Every individual has their own unique life cycle.

CLEANING day

Like most artists and crafters, I live in a constant state of creative chaos.  I don't know why my brain loves the messiness, but somehow it's inspiring.  I often find a beautiful gemstone and will leave it on the corner of the workbench, just waiting for it to speak to me.  Waiting for it to tell me how it wants to be presented to the world.  And there it will stay, until I can hear it's request.  I suppose my workbench wouldn't be such a mess if I only had one gemstone just lying about.  But, I must have ten or more gemstones, a dozen or more crystals, bits of silver in every size and shape, just sitting there, silent.  Oh, and let's not forget the five or six works-in-progress. 

However, the chaos need to be calmed.  Just a little.

And, since I have a few new and incredibly awesome tools arriving for the studio tomorrow, I must clean.  All those bits of silver, miscellaneous beads and gemstones will need to be put back in their proper place.  The scattered tools will need to be put back too.  Finally, the workbench will get a good cleaning with a damp cloth.

A clean slate.  Well, a temporarily clean slate anyhow.  It will be just a day or two before the bench will look like it's pre-cleaning self.  Perhaps with a new gemstone waiting on the corner, getting ready to speak.