I've had these on my worktable for a while now. I originally was going to messy wrap the charms to the clouds with AB crystals but it came across too stiff. I wanted a little movement --a little shimmy, so I decided to add these tiny little silver charms and I'm super happy now!
Hand formed ceramic droppers by Petra Carpreau of ScorchedEarth with Rene Magritte images.
The tiniest and sweetest little pale blue ceramic clouds by Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade. Honestly, could those clouds be any more perfect?!!!
I'll be back in a couple of weeks! Hard to believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
Sorry for the lateness of this post. Had some computer issues which cut into my creation time last night, much like a storm that causes a blackout. The thing about storms, is that they will come. But how we react to them, how we prepare for them and how we pick ourselves up after them, is the key. So I got up, sketched a few ideas, pulled beads that worked for them, set a timer for myself for one hour and got to work.
I had planned to do three pairs of earrings inspired by the cycle of a storm. Raindrops. Lightning. Rainbows. But I only had time to create two of the designs, although I did make a variation of one, so ended up with three pairs.
First, comes the rain. Inspired by the picture with the drops in the puddle. Each drop on it's own is small and seemingly insignificant, but together they can become a flash flood. dripdripdrop....
And then comes the rainbow. Roy G. Biv is the way to remember the colors of the spectrum. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue, Indigo, Violet. But a rainbow is more than just a beautiful sight, it is symbolic for coming together, accepting of all so I added a Love Knot of jump rings at the top. And since I couldn't decide on the order, I created two variations to celebrate whatever way you want to go.
Now it is your turn. Show us your stormy weather earrings!
There have been a lot of strong storms around the country. Thunder bolts and lightning. Very, very frightening, indeed! But also winds and tornadoes and rain and even hail. I hope that wherever you are, there is not the threat of dangerous weather, or the aftereffects, and I hope that the raindrops are scattered but just enough to make the world bloom where you are.
When I think of storms I think of the kind where I can hear the rain on my roof. I love that. I am a cloud lover as well, and clouds are a necessary part of rain. There is magic in those fluffy water droplets all banding together, looking quite like a pillow or an explosion of cotton candy. Of course, I know that some clouds can be harbingers of danger and harm, like lightning and tornadoes. But despite that, I do believe that weather is fascinating and part of what makes this planet pretty special.
So for June we can be inspired by all that weather has to offer: storm clouds, lightning, raindrops, rivulets on the window, umbrellas, puddle jumping, and of course, rainbows. I hope that there is more sunshine than rain where you are, but if you are caught up in the storms that life brings, I hope that you can walk hand in hand with those you love and weather the storms together!
I took a meteorology class in college because I thought it would be an easy and entertaining way to satisfy my science credit. WRONG! Meteorology = Math, and I am not great at that.
What I did love learning about were weather patterns and cloud formations. I find clouds fascinating. So this month I have been stopping and noticing clouds on my daily commute and find that I frequently take pictures of striking clouds.
I also love weather maps. You know the ones that show what look like ripples in a pond radiating out? I can recall having to take a photocopy of the US map gathering some weather data and plotting all the wind patterns and isobars on there and then coloring it for temperature variations. My professor couldn't understand why my wind patterns were always screwed up. But my colors were always perfect! I just love the color coding. Like the maps you find on the back of the USA Today newspaper when you stay at a hotel.
This map in motion from December 25, 2013 is from the Star Tribune website out of Minneapolis posted by meteorologist Paul Douglas. Isn't it fascinating to watch it morph and change? Looks like Christmas was chilly that year!
The colors that are assigned are based on temperature changes of 10 degrees. Red is the hottest, while blue and white are the coldest. These types of maps are called Isotherms.
i·so·therm
ˈīsəˌTHərm/
noun
a line on a map connecting points having the same temperature at a given time or on average over a given period.
PHYSICS
a curve on a diagram joining points representing states or conditions of equal temperature.
Since there were so many options with weather (precipitation, wind, clouds) I just couldn't settle on one thing for my own challenge. But then I came upon these maps and the lightbulb went on.... I could make my own isotherm patterns in clay! Eureka! (At this point I should tell you that it was about 9:38pm...)
I set out doing some mokume gane and blended colors from fuschia and magenta, indigo and cerulean, leaf and wasabi, sunflower and pumpkin ending in blood red. I threw in a few layers of translucent mixed with opal and then some variegated gold leaf just for good measure. Then I impressed away with all sorts of tools to make marks. It always looks like a mess at this point.
You don't know the magic of mokume gane until you make that first slice. They are always destined for the scrap heap, but not this time. I will make so many things from this amazing stack (and just in time for the onslaught of holiday shows right around the corner!)
From there it was just finding the right bezel in my stash. I sliced away, selecting contiguous pairs, covered them with resin. I found the perfect little heart charms for the bottom because I love weather! I think I will see what other bezels I have that might work with these slices... like long thin pendants in my favorite bezel might be awesome!
I call these earrings Isothermic for the variations in color temperature and the fact that they look like impending storms are brewing! Here's wishing you beautiful skies wherever you are!
The weather is a fascinating force. It is totally awesome in it's impact. I took a meteorology class in college because I thought it would be an easy way to get my science credit. Wrong. There is a heck of a lot of math involved in that study! But I did find it fascinating to learn about clouds and wind patterns and lightning and tornadoes.
Right now the eastern coast of the U.S. is getting hammered by the largest and most dangerous hurricane in over a decade. Stay safe, my friends, if you are in the path.
Since the weather is all over the news even more than just on the Weather.com channel, it seems that it might be a good inspiration for this month's We're All Ears challenge.
I found this website called The Earth Wind Map. It is a beautiful real-time rendering of wind patterns for any spot on the planet. You can click and drag the map to view where the wind is anywhere in our world. Where you see thin strands of green, there are gentle breezes. Long streaks of bright yellow are strong winds. Swirling angry red spots indicate the strongest wind gusts. Quite mesmerizing!
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a part of their site dedicated to Weather Art, specifically historic art, including this picture from a vintage German Cloud Atlas book.
The Met has an interesting slideshow presentation on Clouds in art and life. I found it intriguing to listen to and to see the works of art featuring clouds. Who doesn't love to lay around on a summer day and see pictures float by in the clouds? Clouds were my favorite thing to study in that meteorology class. Cummulus. Cirrus. Nimbus. And this interactive Clouds in Art site teaches you the different types of clouds as represented in master works of art. Love the names of cloud formations. This Van Gogh is one of my favorites. I took a Master Painting class about 15 years ago and this is the painting I set out to replicate. Those swirls! Oh my!
So our challenge for We're All Ears for October is the weather... wind patterns, cloud formations, precipitation... whatever you would like to represent! Looking forward to seeing what you create on October 21st!
It's our first time spending any length of time in Northern Alberta,
so we're not sure if this is the norm,
but someone told us that they see snow once a month here.
So far, June has been snow-less (but it came close a few times). Pretty much every evening,
we end the day with a storm. I see so many clouds, and they really fascinate me.
So in keeping with our stormy skies of late, I've designed this pair of earrings, which
features various shades of grey, and lines representing clouds and lightning:
This design features a pair of gorgeous Artisan Lampwork Beads (I've lost the seller's info, I bought these a long time ago), a couple of chunky nuggets of Labradorite, and natural grey freshwater pearls.
Coupled with Sterling Silver, and these earrings have all the shapes of a cool storm, if you ask me :)
