All wrapped up

I’ve been wrapped up in memories this week. An unexpected call from someone I haven’t spoken to in 40 years brought so many memories—good ones—flooding back. And another unexpected gift of photos from someone else connected to that time was the icing on the cake.

Unwrapped

The person who called me is Shirley. She was in the Peace Corps on Palau and became a family friend. I grew up on Guam and for several years we spent part of the summer on Palau. Shirley also visited us on Guam on her way between Palau and stateside. These photos are from around 1969 or 1970 on Palau. I would have been 12 or 13.

L-R: unknown, Darlene, Shirley, me, one of my sisters

Center: my Mom (isn’t she beautiful!)

L-R: unknown, Shirley, me, unknown, Mom

Shirley lives in Washington now and we’re hoping to have a “family” reunion soon along with Darlene and Paul (who sent the photos). They are a richest part of my memories of that time. So I’m all wrapped up in memories as I unwrap this gift from the past.

Note: the photos were sent digitally so I did crop and brighten them up.

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

A door. Serves a seemingly simple function—an entrance into a building, a room, a space—if taken at face value. And yet rich with meaning if looking beyond the face. Independence. Security. Belonging. Opportunity. Creativity.

The front door to my home represents independence and security. I bought my house ten years ago next month (thankfully before the market tanked) with some help from my county’s first-time homebuyer’s program. Well, technically it wasn’t my first home. When I was 21 and married, we bought a house. One month later, he wanted a divorce. Uh. Gee. Thanks. So this is MY first house. I did it myself, and no one can take it away from me (except the bank). Thank you very much.

Front door to my home. Hope came outside with me and I love having her in the photo. And yes, she is fat.

The door to my studio represents belonging, opportunity, and creativity. I first approached starting my jewelry business as an opportunity to make a little bit of extra money. Well, that’s not working out as I would have liked; but my studio door still represents opportunity. Opportunity to connect with other creative folks and be part of a larger community. I’ve made some good friends—both locally and online—that I would not have met if not for this door. Creatively, my skills have expanded and I’ve had designs published in beading magazines (well, one magazine four times). I can enamel beads (posts here and here), solder, shape leaves from sheet metal. I have a place to display my drawings from a figure drawing class I took over 10 years ago. The little wall hanging above one of the drawings is from my friend Cat and you can see a close up here. Yes, those are dumbbells under the card table. No, I don’t currently use them!

Door to my studio

These are my doors. Independence. Security. Belonging. Opportunity. Creativity.

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

My cat Hope was sitting in her cat tree this morning, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to capture a photo of her for this week’s post. She doesn’t like having her picture taken so the first photo that caught her unaware was the best. She’s a tri-colored calico, almost 8 years old (June 14 will be the 7th anniversary of her adoption), chubby, and my constant companion. In fact, she’s sitting under my chair as I type this. Hope looks great in whatever color she’s wearing. I love my Hope!

Hope: pretty in green

Hope: pretty in purple

Hope: pretty in sepia

Hope: pretty in black and white

Hope: pretty in full color

Flowers. Timeless beauty. Meant to be enjoyed and smelled. Given as a gift of friendship, love, apology, hope, sympathy. One single bloom or a bouquet. So many messages and meanings.

Pink roses

Mixed bouquet

These are bouquets I came across while grocery shopping on Monday and snapped with my phone camera. Both are beautiful; and while I would have had a difficult time choosing between them, the pink roses probably would have won. Just because they are pink. My favorite color. The items in my cart added up to more than I really wanted to spend so I didn’t bring a bouquet home with me. Next time!

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

Many, many Christmases ago (probably more than 20), my brother-in-law gave me this moon and star that he bought at an art show. They are made out of a terra cotta colored clay. When he showed them to my sister, she told him that the terra cotta wouldn’t suit my style. So he painted them gold. A girl’s gotta have a little bling, right? I love that my brother-in-law picked them out himself.

Mr. Moon and Ms. Star

In every home I’ve lived in since—at least half a dozen, they have hung above one of my nightstands. I like to think Mr. Moon and Ms. Star are watching over me and keeping me safe. I have taken them for granted so this prompt was a nice reminder to appreciate them again and remind myself of what they have meant to me through the years. And can’t you just feel the love between Mr. Moon and Ms. Star?

Mr. Moon and Ms. Star in context

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

I was hoping to find a heart hidden in the clouds or a shadow or spilled flour but no such luck. I glanced at my wall arrangement and low and behold, there were hearts in the iron scrollwork. Funny thing is that I saw the large hearts in the corners first before I noticed the ones in the center. Not quite was I was hoping for. But in the end, I found hearts that I hadn’t noticed before; and I think that was the objective. To look at the ordinary with new eyes. Objective achieved!

Capture hearts

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

This week’s prompt—create art—was a fantastic impetus to use a forged and formed leaf tutorial purchased from Janice Fowler of Doxallo Designs Studio at the end of last year. If it hadn’t been for this prompt, I don’t know when I would have gotten around to learning this new skill. And I am so glad that I did! I love these leaves and am eager to make more. I do need to order a bordering hammer though. I made do with a cheap, wimpy riveting hammer and am sure I would like the results even better with the proper hammer. The leaves have been pickled (I use a homemade pickle with white vinegar and salt) and are ready to patina.

Large leaf

Forged and formes leaves

The large leaf (1-5/8 x 3 inches) is intended for a necklace. There’s also a pair of leaves for earrings and a skinnier dapped leaf for a wrap bracelet. The 3-1/2 hours spent in the studio flew by. I loved being able to creating these leaves from just a sheet of copper.

Thanks, Sally, for these prompts that are encouraging us all to grow and stretch.

Visit Janice at these sites:
http://www.doxallo.com/
http://www.jewelryartistsnetwork.com/
http://doxallodesigns.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DoxalloDesigns

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

I’m a little late to the party this week because I ate my props vegetables and had to wait until I bought more and couldn’t do that until I planned my menu for the week and so it goes.

Since I’m single and live alone, I feel like I always take time for myself. Upon reflection, though, taking time for myself involves more than just what I do in my leisure time. It also involves the time I’m taking on this healing journey. One of the things that this involves is taking the time to prepare nutritious food with a lot of fruits and vegetables.

In my truly leisure time (because eating healthy is very time-consuming. Sure was easier when dinner was a bag of chips. Rip open and devour! No prep or clean up involved.), I read a lot of fiction. No, I didn’t read all these books this past week although I did read one book in the past two days. They are just what I picked up at my last trip to the library. I won’t get them all read before they are due back but that’s what extensions are for. My favorite weekend mornings are when I have time to read while drinking coffee, and I usually end the evening reading in bed before lights out.

Taking time for myself

My love of reading goes a long way back as evidenced by this photo where I’m proudly displaying my Pius Tenth (courtesy of attending Catholic school) Book Club award for reading so many books in a specified timeframe. I’m probably just barely nine in the photo.

Pius Tenth Book Club award

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

Instead of New Year’s resolutions, some people like to choose a word instead to guide them through the year. Last year, I hadn’t really firmed up a word but I think I had ‘fearlessly explore’ in mind. In that vein, I took workshops to learn new jewelry skills (enameling and soldering!) (post here and here) and submitted jewelry designs for publication—and was accepted (posts here, here, here, and here). So I would say that I had great success with my word.

For this year, I had a couple of words in mind—either healing or mindful. Healing as in healing mind and body with the goals of being happier and healthier. Or mindful as in taking care in what I think, say, and how I act. Both need work! However, I choose ‘healing’ because in order to live my best life, my health—both mental and physical—needs to take priority.

My word – healing

For my photo this week, I’ve chosen items that represent healing to me—healthy food, a food diary, and books—one on making my knees feel better and the other on making my soul feel better. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

I also started a weight loss support group on Facebook this week along with three other ladies I met as a result of last Saturday’s hop. Pretty cool, huh! If you’d like to be included, let me know.

Go here to see the rest of the participants.

The books are “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay  and “Treat Your Own Knees” by Jim Johnson.

This week’s prompt is “self-portrait.” And it’s a difficult one for sure. Posting a self-portrait is a bit painful (due to that food thing). But no pain, no gain, right?

Thanks, Sally, for the challenge. I look forward to seeing what’s in store for Week Two. To see what the other participants have photographed, check Sally’s blog here.

Summers Studio’s packaging

The gift packaging for my jewelry is kind of bland– a label on a kraft box with raffia tied in two directions. I have both navy and a pacific blue to match my logo. Sometimes, if I’m feeling generous, I use both colors of raffia on one box. Woo hoo!

My current packaging

With some events coming up before the holidays, I figured this would be a good time to revamp my packaging. Since I already had the boxes, labels, and raffia, I wanted to use what I had. I turned to LeAnn’s packaging for inspiration and knew that with some minor changes, I could have more attractive packaging. There were a couple of things about LeAnn’s packaging that I wanted to use on mine. First, the paper band anchors the label to the box. It also fills up space on the box lid and adds a nice touch of color. Second, the way that the twine is tied around the box makes the twine easy to remove and easy to put back on. After all, on her box I do it frequently to take a peak at the little treasures nestled inside.

My revamped packaging

So I found scrapbook paper to complement my logo and cut different width strips depending on the box size. (Thank you, Ann, for the paper cutter that I didn’t even know I needed when you gave it to me that first Christmas I was talking about going into the jewelry business. Plus I use it for all the jewelry cards.) The ends are glued (using a glue stick) to the inside edges of the box lid. I also ran the glue stick along the long edges because I like the strip sealed to the box. I added my label on top of the paper band and tied the raffia in one direction. Having the raffia tied like this will make it easier for the purchaser to take another look at the jewelry inside before giving it to the recipient–as in “I just love the jewelry. I have to look again!”

Different size boxes: earring, bracelet, necklace, and large necklace

If someone chooses not to wrap the jewelry box, I can also supply a gift bag and coordinating tissue paper. This comes in really handy for men those who don’t have time to wrap a gift.

Perfect for gift giving, no wrapping required!

So how did I do on my revamped packaging? If you’re a jewelry designer, how do you package your jewelry? If you’re a buyer, do you feel like the packaging adds a nice touch? And for the men, do you like having it all taken care of so you just have to hand over the money and get a gift ready for giving in return?

And if I’m feeling generous, you might get three or four times around with the raffia!

I wanted to do justice to the pendant and make a spectacular necklace. Well, that was a bit a lot more difficult that I thought it would be (absolutely no fault of the pendant!). The final design is actually the THIRD design! Yes, you read that right. The third design! Yikes! And it took a tremendous amount of work to get to this design.

Third and final design

I knew that I wanted to use my enameled beads in the design. What I hadn’t counted on was how much work it would be to come up with a coral shade that would coordinate with the pendant. I layered so many combinations of pumpkin, clover pink, flame orange, orient red, and transparent china pink. Although I tried to keep track of the color combinations by writing it on slips of paper, I have no idea what this final combination is.

Closeup of pendant and enameled bead

Earrings with enameled beads

In the first design, I made the beaded circles, which I truly love and will use in another design. The balance in this design was off because the size of the beaded circles and the enameled beads was over-powering the pendant. I also made this a 20-inch necklace, which turned out to be the wrong length for most of what I wanted to wear it with.

First design

Closeup of beaded circle

In the second design, I thought the enameled beads were too large plus I didn’t think the necklace was spectacular enough. Hmmm, as I’m editing the photo of the second design, I’m thinking I kind of like it. Oh, well. Too late!

Second design

The third and final design is inspired by a Diana Frey necklace. Although some might consider this design a little busy, when I wear it, it has that spectacular look I wanted. I am beyond pleased that, with the exception of the glass, pearls, and gemstone beads, the entire necklace is handmade by me (and of course Cat made the pendant). The wire wrapped links, jump rings, and clasp are aluminum. I made the balled headpins and ear wires out of Argentium sterling silver. I made the enameled beads. You can read about the torch-fired enamel workshops I took with Barbara Lewis here and here.

One of the things I struggled with when I was designing the necklace was what length to make it because I wanted it to be different lengths for the outfits I had in mind. I solved that problem by making an extension chain with a matching clasp for when I wanted to wear it long. For the long version, I also made a detachable tassel with a lobster clasp that attaches to the back of the soldered ring on the pendant. Love!

Extension chain and detachable tassel

Long version with extension chain and detachable tassel

All of the hours spent on this necklace was worth it (I also call it my $500 necklace). This has become my go-to necklace, and I wear it a couple of times a week to work and on the weekends. These are the outfits I wear it with:

Short version:

• Coral blouse with tan pants
• Coral blouse with jeans
• White blouse with tan pants
• White blouse with jeans

Long version:

• Coral tank dress with coral blouse
• Navy tank dress with denim jacket

I also made the wrap bracelet in this post to coordinate with the necklace and earrings.

My bracelet

By Jove! I think I’ve got it! Third times a charm. What about you? Do you have a go-to necklace?

L-R: Cat, Barbara, me

We met at my house and I made curried chicken salad with mango chutney and a garden salad, Cat brought grapes and rolls, and Barbara brought a cream puff pie. All so delicious!

We planned a project to work on—a Chan Luu style wrapped bracelet—but spent so much time chatting, eating lunch, and playing show-and-tell that we didn’t get our bracelets started until fairly late. Well, in my case I didn’t even really get started because I had trouble with the tread getting tangled up. By the time Cat and Barbara left, I hadn’t even stitched on one bead!

I had a great day and hope that it’s the first of many play dates. It’s so nice to have peeps to talk jewelry, the jewelry business, and other sorts of creative things. Barbara posted on the Love My Art Jewelry blog about organizing your own creative play date. Lots of good tips to get you started. I love her “Find Your Tribe” comment. I feel like I’ve found my tribe or at least some of them. Must search out more!

And I did start and finish my bracelet. From 10:32 p.m. to 1:11 a.m. yesterday/this morning to be exact! I used 1.5 mm leather cord, 6 mm Czech fire-polished glass beads in a transparent peach and an opaque coral, and coral size D Nymo thread. It’s a triple wrap with the opaque beads in the center and a sweet button with a floral motif. Love, love, love it! I’m so happy that I made it.

My bracelet

Gorgeous button

What about you? Have you found your tribe? Do you have peeps that you can share your creative passion with? Hint: if you blog, make sure to include your general location so that other creative folks will know you live close by in case they’re searching for their tribe.

 I’m so fortunate to live near mango groves here on the central east coast of Florida. Since mangoes are a tropical/subtropical fruit, most of the groves are in south Florida where mangoes were introduced in 1863. However, the groves in my area are located on South Tropical Trail on Merritt Island. Merritt Island is bordered by the Banana River on the east and the Indian River on the west. This keeps the conditions for growing mangoes very temperate.

The swing bridge (Mather’s Bridge) to go over to Merritt Island

I grew up in the tropics (Guam) so I’ve been eating mangoes my entire life. As a child, I liked them green (like a crisp apple) with soy sauce—Guamanian style. (I think I mostly liked the soy sauce.) On Palau were we went for several summers, they eat them green with salt and Tabasco. Now, however, I like my mangoes ripe—juicy and sweet.

Ensey’s Mango Grove. We’re here!

The grove that I go to is owned by the Ensey family. Edward Ensey originally grew pineapple on the plantation and introduced the Indian Sunset mango in the early 1900s (an article online said early 1900s but I think it might have been after WWII). He later switched to mangoes as the primary crop. There are now dozens of different varieties in the grove—each with its own unique flavor.

Ensey’s mango grove

I’ve lived in Melbourne on and off since 1980 and have gone to the grove periodically throughout the years that I’ve lived here. Ed would be tending the stand and driving through the grove in his golf cart. On one visit, a girlfriend and I were the only visitors at the time so he went to his house next door and came back with a slice of mango pie for us—freshly made by his daughter-in-law. The last time I saw him, I was visiting with a couple of girlfriends and he wanted a kiss on the check from each of us. Sadly, Ed passed away in 2008.

Mangoes on the tree

Mangoes!

More mangoes!

Across from the groves, facing west to the Indian River

One of the older homes. Most of the homes that were older than this one are already gone.

Elaborate home with manicured lawn

New house under contruction

Royal Poinciana, aka flame tree. These also grew on Guam so seeing one feels like home.

On the return, the swing bridge is open for a passing boat.

Stopped on the bridge over the Banana River, looking to the north

Banana River, looking to the south

Imported mangoes come from primarily from Mexico and are nothing like those straight from the grove. If mangoes are picked too soon, they don’t ripen correctly. They also tend to be very stringy. Ensey’s won’t pick the mangoes before they’re ready. They still need to ripen at home for a couple of days (unless you’re lucky enough to get some that are ready to go) but after that, watch out. It’s every man woman for herself.

Mom, sister Suzanne (visiting from Georgia), and me digging into a ripe mango as soon as we got home. The bowl was full to the top but I didn’t remember to take a picture until we were almost done. It went fast!

Mango season is over for this year but I’ve got bags of cut fruit in the freezer for smoothies and sorbet. And maybe a mango pie! Yummy.

It’s not the same visiting the grove without Ed. Now, it’s hired help manning the stands and they change every year. But thankfully for those of us who love mangoes, they are still open. The grove is on prime real estate so I’m not sure how long they can hold out against the allure of big money. Small, older homes have been torn down and elaborate homes with manicured lawns built in their place. Parts of South Tropical Trail still feel like old Florida but one day that will be gone along with the remaining groves. Hopefully, it won’t be for a long, long time.

To read about Merritt Island mangoes with mention of Ensey’s: http://centralfloridapalms.com/archived/sep2003/mimango.htm

Information about Florida mangoes:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/he625
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg216

What about you? What’s your favorite summertime fruit? Any special memories associated with it?

Copper Cascade necklace, Bead Trends, September 2012 issue, first page

Copper Cascade necklace, Bead Trends, September 2012 issue, second page

Copper Cascade necklace, my photo

This is the last of the published pieces for a while since I haven’t submitted anything else. Thanks, Bead Trends, for giving me the opportunity to have my designs published. It’s meant the world to me. I think my family will be glad that the publications are over for now. I think my family has been happy for me.