JUST IN TIME FOR THE KEENE ART TOUR!

I’ve been collecting ancient glass for awhile now. There are sites of old glass factories in Pakastan, which are 1,000 to 2,000 years old. Modern folks are gathering the glass shards from broken bowls and bracelets, and reshaping them into wonderful, beautiful beads.

I love the colorful tube beads made from ancient glass bangle bracelets.

Retooled beads from ancient glass bangle bracelets. Miniature works of art!

But I especially love the translucent shards make from broken vases and bowls. They have amazing patina, and I can hardly bear to cut one from its strand and use it in jewelry.

I am haunted by water these days. I dream of the Pacific Ocean. I’m obsessed with those old Japanese fishing floats.

Probably not authentic, but I don’t care, the color is right!

And I’ve been working almost non-stop with these old water-color glass shards and semi-precious stones–apatite, amazonite, peridot, freshwater pearls–in aqua, pale greens, turquoise, teal and blue.

Here are some images of necklaces I’ve made. To give them that old, collected-over-time look, I’ve used antiqued brass chains and findings, bronze metal beads, recycled found metal beads in copper, brass, silver. Every single one is different.

Ancient glass, prehnite, peridot, apatite, pearls.

Repurposed stone pendants from antique Afghani necklaces, ancient glass, pearls, kyanite.

Some are bronze rings with multiple drops–lovely!

Of course, you can’t have a signature necklace without coordinating earrings, can you? I’ll try to post pics of those, too, before the big weekend.

Enjoy!

MINI BEAR COLLAGES–DONE!!

I finished all fifteen mini collages.

I was indeed fifteen minutes late to Jeff’s. In my defense, we’d just had another 6-8″ of snow and the streets were slick! Jeff said he didn’t notice I was late. I love Jeff.

You can see the first set of six bear collages at my Etsy shop.

These are little guys–they fit in the palm of your hand.

I decided to let customers decide if they want one as a pin, with a small hanging cord on the back, or mounted on a very tiny beaver-chewed stick (for additional $$).

I think they came out really great! But then, I’m prejudiced.

It felt wonderful to work on these. I really like working on a tiny scale. And in these little pieces, I made everything except the seed beads. Sometimes I think about making my own seed beads (I already make my own 6o beads, sometimes) but seed beads are tiny–10o to 12o. That means 10 or 12 beads to the inch. Don’t go there, girlfriend.