It's been a disturbingly warm winter here in southern Ohio. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said we've had MAYBE three inches of snow total. I have daffodils and iris that are blooming all over the place...in February. Last week it was 70F and sunny...we had the doors and windows open, for god's sake. It's nice to not be snowed under, but it's also a little disorienting.
While we've had very little snow, one thing we have had quite a bit of is rain. Truly, I can't remember a more soggy, rainy winter. Local rivers, including the Little Miami and the Ohio, have been swollen and angry--churning and channeling the muddy water as soon as it falls from the sky. One of my primary bike trails happens to run parallel to both of these rivers. And since it's been warmer, I've had more opportunities to go for rides.
The other week I was flying along the trail on my way to downtown Cincinnati, and I had to pull over just to gawk at the near-flooded Ohio River. If you've ever observed a waterfall, a dam, angry waves, or whitewater rapids, you'll know what I mean when I say that the power of water is absolute. The roaring white noise fills your head--making it hard to think about anything else. Work anxieties, family squabbles, packed schedules--they all seem to fade into the background in these moments.
I stood next to my bike, allowing myself to feel small, to feel humbled. All these waterways, acting like arteries and veins, transporting the planet's lifeblood. Washing, removing, renewing. It was a cathartic moment. Then I mounted back up and kept pedaling along.
This week's earrings immediately brought rivers to mind, as they feature natural Royston ribbon turquoise mined in Nevada. Named for the bands of turquoise running through a brown matrix, this stone is incredibly natural and rustic. I picked up quite a few sets last year at the Tucson gem and mineral show and have been waiting for just the right moment to showcase them as a series.
I
fabricated these out of solid sterling silver, framed each bezel with
gnarled, twisted roots, and hung them from cratered hand-cast silver
granule studs. This style of earring is great if you have lobes that are
stretched or can't handle traditional ear hooks--you get to rock the
dangly look with the security of posts/backs.
Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy
Hello! And Happy June.
I don't have a lot of clear early childhood memories, but there are a handful that I have always remembered, for whatever bizarre reason as they don't seem to connect to anything major at all, and one of them has to do with faces. I was a very young girl, obviously working on expanding my mind, which it certainly needed based on the thoughts I was having. :) I remember clearly pondering and being perplexed by the fact that every person on the planet looked so different, when we all have two eyes, a nose and a mouth. Remember, I was really, really young. :) But that was the beginning of my fascination with faces, their expressions, and my emotional reactions to them. Not just human faces; I'm fascinated by canines, felines, other primates. Faces in photographs, paintings, sketches, I love them all.
So it was no surprise to me when I found myself gravitating to faces in jewelry components as well. And there is so much to choose from.
Today's earrings are "Serene Faces" made by Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads. They are, indeed, serene, and this pair is graced with a beautiful, high-gloss, golden brown glaze with shadows and shadings of deep brown. Simply beautiful. The glaze seems to almost sparkle.
Initially these earrings were a fiesta of color, and they were fun, but they had lost some of their serenity, and I wanted them to stay serene. So a two-color palette is where I landed. I used varying shades of brown aged glass beads, natural Turquoise disk stones and matte finish, opaque turquoise glass beads, with one rogue red glass bead on each, all wound on ball-tip headpins I made with 20 gauge copper wire, and 22 gauge copper wire was used to wrap above the faces.
As an aside, I generally don't like working with 22 gauge copper wire. Even though the wire I use is "half hard," 22 gauge is "wimpy," even when work hardened. But many things, like these Turquoise disks, won't fit on 20 gauge. They just require a little extra TLC. And Black Lip Shell heishi beads sit atop the Turquoise disks.
Thought I'd also share with you my current little stash of Face Beads. All of them are ceramic. The artisans who made them are Jana Bliznakova of Happy Fish Things; Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth on Etsy; Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads; Nadia Karepencheva of Nadia Terra. I have a whole lot of fun to look forward to! :)
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| Fun Fun Fun! |
Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look. We appreciate it! I'll be back on the 21st of June. 'Til then, I wish you all days filled with sunshine, peace & joy.
Norbel Marolla
She Flies Again on Etsy
She Flies Again on Facebook
She Flies Again on Amazon Handmade
It's been a disturbingly warm winter here in southern Ohio. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said we've had MAYBE three inches of snow total. I have daffodils and iris that are blooming all over the place...in February. Last week it was 70F and sunny...we had the doors and windows open, for god's sake. It's nice to not be snowed under, but it's also a little disorienting. 
This week's earrings immediately brought rivers to mind, as they feature natural Royston ribbon turquoise mined in Nevada. Named for the bands of turquoise running through a brown matrix, this stone is incredibly natural and rustic. I picked up quite a few sets last year at the Tucson gem and mineral show and have been waiting for just the right moment to showcase them as a series. 
