This was one month where I had the material picked out before I even had the inspiration! I actually went in search of something that would pair up nicely with the material that I had in mind. When I spied the images that I shared of the Antelope Canyon, I knew that I had it right.
Unfortunately, I typically bite off more than I can chew. What I imagined I would do couldn't possibly take more than an hour to complete, right?
Wrong.
So there I was sitting with these fabulous pieces that I picked up at the Bead & Button show.
These are all Red Creek Jasper earring pairs. I went a little nutty. I actually bought 24 sets in 5 different shapes. All I could do was sit and hold them in my hands. Can you blame me? They are stunning!
They look like they each have a story to tell. And that is exactly what I thought when I found those pictures of the canyon with the undulating sandstone walls bathed in light and looking like some prehistoric temple. I wonder what mystic chants were uttered in those passageways.
I really wanted to make the focal of each pair of earrings the stone itself. Because natural beauty really needs no further adornment. I had this great idea to make a sort of bail from either sheet metal or wire. I could picture making a balled headpin hinge to hold it all together for a little bit of movement. Unfortunately, by the time I started it was well after 8pm on Thursday and my studio is in a bit of a shambles as I try to reconfigure it (and work in it at the same time) so I would never be able to pull off the bail idea. Still, I did try and was feeling pretty pleased with myself at the cold connections, when I pulled the wire a bit too tightly on the second one and snapped off the top of the stone pendant. Drats. Well, now I have a necklace.
So I tabled that idea (I will revisit that in daylight). And I decided that I
just need to treat each shape differently. So I pulled out a little
metal and some wire and beads and just dove in.
I love that the red jasper really looks like cave paintings or photographs of a canyon. I could get lost exploring those caves, or gazing at these stone pairs. For each stone tells a unique story that is as old as time and has something important to impart to the one who beholds it.
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"HEY. That thar's a piece o' wood hangin from yer ear..."
Lunacy? Inspiration? The line between the two is far thinner than we like to think. 
As we close the curtains on one hell of a year, I'm reminded on how very important it is to be humble. When everything is going right in your life and you can do no wrong, well, that's an amazing feeling and a great place to be. But it's also an easy place to be. It's the trying times, the dark times, the times when you're weighed down by a 2-ton pile of boulders---those are the times that shape us and show us who we are. And motivate us to work harder on who we would like to be in the future. 
Thank you to each and every one of you for reading this year. Your support, uplifting words, and kinship are rays of sunshine to each of us on this blog. May your 2017 be full of light!
For those of us who gravitate toward art beads---and who doesn't, really?---we tend to have favorite bead artists that we keep going back to, time and time again. Can't seem to shake em. And just when you think that 1.5 trays of their beads are going to satisfy your hunger, they list new components and you find yourself going back again for another fix, like a zombie in the endless pursuit of BRAAAAAAAINS. 
Some of my favorite beads are her twisted horns. It's clear that she takes great care in forming them but still lets them take on their own unique, evocative shape. I have yet to find two that match perfectly--that's part of the magic, for me. 
Those of you who know me already know that I love using evocative (sometime provocative) quotes to complement my jewelry. I'm an avid bookworm and am infamous for peppering conversations with arcane underused words. My husband always gives me the eye-roll when I pull some old-timey phrase out of my hat. There are so many nuanced words out there - why stick to the same boring limited lexicon?
" 'Four hundred dollars there, boy,' he said. 'Feast your eyes. The sky's the limit on this trip.'
When I was creating these polybells, the little radiant textured suns never really struck me until they were already formed. Earthy warm hues, abstract glyphic textures, ragged organic forms. I formed these from polymer clay, textured, cured, painted, and sealed them. They're deliciously lightweight. Once I looked on the finished bells, I knew I needed to give them a name that dealt with light. The above quote was just perfect. 
