Waterways

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

Yee Haw ☼

Calling your inner Cowgirl, ☺

This is a nice twist to utilizing a looped bail, turn it upside down I say!

I've found this design to be very versatile and fun to work with. I chose leather in these postings, but I can also see looping wire & fabric, perhaps different colored leather with some African beads...Uh-Oh, the mind is spinning, may have to go back to this one soon.

  

These other 2 designs show the bail at the bottom with numerous potential to what your drops can be.

So if your looking for some inspiration, I hope you found it in my post.  Have a wonderful creative day and we'll see you in two weeks, ☺

Yucca Bloom Etsy Shop

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We're All Ears :: August Reveal

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.

"USA Antelope-Canyon" by Lucas Löffler - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

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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We're All Ears :: August Inspiration

One of the least accessible and most photographed vistas in the American Southwest is Antelope Canyon.
Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona is home to some magnificent slot canyons. According to Wikipedia, the Navajo people have a name for the Upper Antelope Canyon - Tsé bighánílíní - which means "the place where water runs through rocks." Slot canyons are chasms eroded over eons by wind and rain and raging floods to create one of the most spectacular natural masterpieces. Antelope Canyon is located on the Navajo Reservation and can only be accessed by licensed tours with a guide and a permit to visit them.

"USA Antelope-Canyon" by Lucas Löffler - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

At certain times of the day, light penetrates the canyons bathing the entire area in a haze of liquid gold. At certain places magical shafts of light - sometimes referred to as "God Spots" - penetrate to the canyon floor, as if a cosmic stage performance is about to begin. These magic shafts of light only penetrate the secret chambers of the canyons for around 30 minutes each day from late May to late June.

"20030820-antelope-canyon". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The undulating views of the sandstone walls play with your depth perceptions and make for fantastic living sculptures that will continue to shift and change with the coming years.

"Lower antelope 1 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

Twisting and turning, these corridors of light beckon the viewer to continue on to discover what might be around the next terra cotta bend.

"Upper antelope 2 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

Looking up it is not hard to imagine that this would have been revered as sacred ground by the native peoples who live here. There is an aura of hallowed ground in these caverns, a feeling that you are in a Divine presence. These vaulted rooms have a feeling of a grand cathedral in them.

"Lower antelope 3 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

The sandy rock rolls and swells like waves on a molten lava sea. There is an otherworldly feeling to these sandy caves. I wonder what the echo would sound like in there? But mostly I would feel the need to be hushed in wonder at these awe-inspiring vistas.

""Molten lava" (8255556503)" by Šarūnas Burdulis from USA - "Molten lava".
Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The views in these pictures are breathtaking, and I can only imagine that they are even more impressive in person. I think I want to propose going to the Southwest for our 25th wedding anniversary in a few years! The walls seem to be moving with their curves, like a giant ball of pulled taffy being stretched. It feels like a restful, meditative place, and also one with a lot of energy, spellbinding at every turn. But all this beauty holds a hidden danger. These walls are still subject to dangerous flash flooding, mostly from rain many miles upstream. In 1997, eleven hikers were warned not to traverse the canyons due to the weather and they all lost their lives when a flash flood swept them away.

"Antelope Canyon Mittags" by Raimund Marx (Raimund.Marx@ch.tum.de) - Raimund Marx.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A good reminder that what is beautiful might also be dangerous. But let that beauty sing!

Show us your interpretation of this beautiful natural masterpiece!

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Friday, August 21st.

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Margaritas in Marrakesh

Margaritas in Marrakesh

I love Moorish architecture, and it fascinates me to see Moorish design elements trickle from Spain to the southwest United States, where it streamlined itself a bit into Mission style. These earrings could be straight from a bazaar in Marrakesh, or a street fair in Santa Fe! The clover-shaped ring beads are of natural, winter white howlite, and I've combined them with Indonesian glass beads in matte lime green, petite Czech glass flowers in topaz, and glass tile beads in amber. (Howlite ring beads and lime green seed beads from Happy Mango Beads, Czech glass flowers from BobbiThisnThat.) All sterling silver construction.

I picture them with something loose and comfortable like this:

Margaritas in Marrakesh by lunebijoux featuring leather shoes

You can find more earrings in this series, and other items at my Etsy shop HERE.

Dreaming of David Carradine

For the Bride, at Her Desert Wedding

For some reason, a soon as I finished these I thought of David Carradine. Wha?....Ah! Kill Bill 2, the wedding scene in the desert at the little mission chapel. Which is kind of morbid when I think about it, since Bill shot the Bride in the head. But it all works out in the end with Pai Mei's Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

Then the other day I discovered David Carradine died. Four years ago. Boy was I mad.

Of course, you'd have to wear something with these appropriate for being buried alive by Bills' brother. And that could only be denim.

Kill Bill 2 by lunebijoux featuring lightweight jackets

You can see more at my Etsy shop HERE.

Desert Wildflower

Desert Wildflower

I love the classic Southwest color scheme of turquoise and tomato reds and oranges, with cool silver! I chose a pair of stones from one of my favorite strands--plump little roundels of red agate--for these earrings, and fashioned a pair of nickel beadcaps with a sun pattern. I antiqued them with Midas oxidizer for nickel, and tumbled and sealed them. I love the rustic look I get with antiqued nickel. I added petite turquoise heishi at the bottom to evoke that Southwest feel. Hand-forged sterling silver earwires and headpins.

Of course, you have to wear them with jeans. (I'm stuck on this Thelma and Louise thing.)

Via Polyvore

Enameled bangle stack by Bullfinch & Barbury; leather necklace by Inatanka.


You can see more earrings at my Etsy shop.

I Left My Heart In Santa Fe

OK, I've never actually been there. But it sounds really cool (adobe architecture! pueblos! sun!) and I'm sure if I went there, I probably would leave my heart there.

I made these little earrings in a southwestern color palette, with turquoise magnesite, green turquoise, and glass seed beads in crimson. Pewter heart charms from Happy Mango Beads, and ruffled sterling silver beadcaps from Etsy seller Cathy Dailey.

Of course, you would have to wear these with jeans and boots--and I'm thinking a skinny turtleneck in vanilla cream.

See more at my Etsy shop!