Spice Mouse

A perfect winter piece, with the weight to lay gracefully over a warm winter sweater. Blue coral, little spaceships and silver leaves sit between red sandcast beach glass that looks like spicy gumdrops. and to remind us to be kind to all creatures, an inquisitive mouse from Green Girl Studios nestles between two smaller spun beads. It is the beauty of compassion for the small that will be yours when you wear this.

The Mentor's Key

The story of this necklace reads like a fairy tale: first, the mentor gives the traveler three keys. And then I guess the traveler goes on to find out what the keys unlock and gets into all sorts of untoward adventures. I think a monster or two will be behind one of those locked doors. Then the heroine conquers the monsters and brings them, along with the treasures she’s gathered along the way, to her Ancestral home with newfound appreciation.

Well, my Mentor DID give me three keys, because I’d mentioned I could see a necklace with a key as the center piece. Then the great voyage began- a search through the treasure chests (actually they’re little bags and wooden boxes) of beads and trinkets to find companions that would ride along with the enchanted key.

The central shield , for protection, is an ancient-looking probably very old brass button with a lot of character and an irregular surface. Perfect for holding the keys and the necklace together. Reminds me of a Celtic knotted embellishment or an Etruscan shield.

There are carved serpentine barrel beads above the centerpiece followed by gorgeous thumbprint Kazuri beads. They’re a soft earthy color somewhere between fern and moss, and when you touch them, could can feel the ancient way they were made: using the thumb to indent soft clay and form a whorl-like shape. It gives you a moment of tactile communion with the person who created them.

The key, which plays the part of lock-et (visual and verbal pun) is symbolically chained to yellow turquoise and shell leaves, two Vaseline matte Czech glass seashells and a double-sided natural brass seahorse.
There are some sweet miniature vintage filigree buttons dangling there in front and a larger flower pattern vintage button used for closure.

The necklace is filled with other treasures, some collected from 30 years ago: a brass –inlaid rectangular tube bead, a paisley carved wooden round and an old nuthusk bead. Nestling in peace with the exotics are several American-made artisan beads: a Keith O’Connor fancy patterned ceramic tube and a mustardy borosilicate dichroic heart. The plain and the fancy, the earthly and the ethereal romp together in harmony for you.

Triskaidekeuphoria

"Tris-kai-dek-euphoria"
A made-up combination word meaning happiness of thirteen: Thirteen strands of very individual beads, in grayish blues and pinks, all based on the amazing fossil jasper disc of rose, smoke and sky remnants of ancient tidepools.

This is where we repeat the dance of those stones and bones in a delicate way.
Memorabilia from earth to you.

Chance Meeting at a Summer Soiree

Beads of many shapes and sizes get together and have a party.

Beads, like people, act differently when they aren’t accompanied by others who look just like them.

They burst out of their ordinary personas. They mingle. They make connections you’d never think would work so beautifully.

Fiesta!

This neckpiece looks like a party to me- not one of those sanguine, sit on the terrace watching the boys play croquet parties—this is a rip-roaring, bring sparklers and spike the punch fiesta. Some very fancy lampworked beads are mixing with down to earth wooden beads, irregular spool-shaped beads and art glass. You’d never think they’d get along. But it’s the colors of a warm summer evening’s sunset that make them happy to sit side-by-side: that orange-y coral and rich plum magenta that gives way after a long evening to Maxfield Parrish blue- deep and on the edge of purple.

Spirit of the Village

This is a neckpiece for the most powerful person in an ancient village. It brings it’s wearer strength in many settings: there is a fish that symbolizes speed and agility, a fire agate Full Moon bead that symbolizes the fullness of wisdom. These float from an intricately inlaid shell bead shaped like the replica of a small shrine. Two brass boat-shaped beads symbolize a robust body and a vigorous mind to carry one through the difficult waters of life. Above them, encircling the neck, are the ethereal arms of iridescent tube beads, rays of a warming sun.

Remembrace Mermaid

Like a neckpiece of seafoam, these translucent briolette glisten in the wearer’s peripheral vision. The crystal hangs above the mermaid and rings like a tiny bell.

Is the Sea green - or is it blue? All things beautiful have many colors.

Those who know the secrets of Green Girl know the message inscribed on the back, but it's worth repeatingL "We do not remember days; we remember moments."

The Grass is Greener...Right Here

Okay, I’m supposed to be doing something else. But I’m thinking of beads…confession! As my mind wanders from work, I think of what a great life I have, and how lovely the view is from here. Just take these amazing gold and green tiger beads from Milan. They were costly- too expensive for a necklace to sell, really, but just right for one to give to a dear friend. The kind who deserves the best and rarest things you can find. It was my Muse who found the first green and gold luxe beauty, in a bead shop we don’t often get to. [The best thing about that bead shop is the great Café on the way home from there: you can drool over your new beads with a latte to disguise the real reason.] Okay- so Muse made me purchase ONE green glass bead- for a hefty $7.00. I thought it was too much to spend, but the Muse chooses, and that’s it!

It only took a glance on the way home to know we'd never be able to live (or finish a necklace) without more of those magical Italian tiger-stripe beads. If you hold a bead up to the light, you can see the world reflected in brilliant emerald. It the glossiest, greenest glass imaginable. So the necklace has to be simple. Let the beads shine on their own, and let the wearer delight in those little worlds of perfection.

Collar of the Shaman

I see some powerful ancient seer wearing this- the pebble-shaped beads painted with the elements of the universe- sky, sea, soil, soul.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2009: This piece was stolen from a shop in Avon, CT. It is one of a kind. If you see some one wearing it, you will know that it was not gotten honorably and that it's power to bring good fortune will have been voided by the disgrace of its possessor. The only decent thing to do is to give it away to someone and hope that the generosity of that act will redeem your taking it.

The [Blue] Sky's the Limit!

You know what it feels like to wake up in the morning, see that deep cloudless blue sky and feel like the possibilities are endless? That your head is clear and your ideas are ready to take off into that ocean of air? This is that wonderful, empowered feeling in a necklace.

Take me To Your Beader

Alien Beadings' First Creation

I've had it with Humans lately. Greed, war, cruelty, etc. Those aren't behaviors which I think should inform any endeavor. So why should I call my work "Human Beadings"?

If Aliens could bead, I'm sure they'd be fascinated with the good hearts some humans have. And wear them around their necks.

Ice is Nice

There are a lot of people who love spring, warm weather, bright sun. Not me. I’m more of a snow-loving, grey skies kind of person. This is how I hold onto winter and the crystalline cold, with color-changing silvery cubes that go from purple-y pink to ice cube blue in different light.

December Messenger

I’ve had the dichroic pendant that forms the centerpiece of this necklace for a long time. Dichroic is one of the only manmade substances that does magic color-shifting tricks that are reserved for the special creatures of the natural world. Only the rarest butterfly wings, dragonflies, and peacock feathers can change their appearance in the shimmering dance of sunlight. So it was fitting that I waited a while to collect the perfect companions for the pressed glass and dichroic flake pendant: lovely gold Venetian foil patties, little Venetian grape-beads, etched mulberry rectangles, and some special lavender Czech faceted beads. A lovely entourage to carry my “Happy Winter” message to it’s new owner!

Heart of Winter

The last days of December, after Christmas, are the heart of winter. After the Winter Solstice, these are the epagomenal* days- the days that fall in a secret space of the year- between the old lunar calendar and the new solar calendar. They are magic, these days which we spend with family and loved ones, remembering the old year and celebrating our hope for the year to come. The berry reds and brilliant sterling are the contrast of the warmth of our feelings in the icy weather.

*"The Epagomenal Days are the Days Upon the Year which were highly celebrated by the Ancient Egyptians. It was the transitional days between the old year and the upcoming New Year. It was during this time that great change occurred, and it was not unusual for lives to become somewhat chaotic during this period." [from Per-ankh.org]