Sunday, November 24, 2013

It's a wrap


I've been working on a few wrap bracelets, trying out the new techniques and ideas I learned in the Nina Bagley workshop. I love making these bracelets, but the challenge is keeping Nina's voice out and  my voice in. It's so hard to learn something new from someone and keep them out of your own creativity. This first bracelet has parts of a turtle bracelet my friend Laura gave me, some sea glass from Maine, a really cool belt buckle I found at a thrift store, buttons from my mom's old sewing supplies, and some old pearls I picked up in an antique store. I really like the ability to reuse items and give them a new and pretty life.


This one, a bird's nest that Nina demonstrated and I have become obsessed with making. When Wesley left for college it seemed like everything I made had something to do with nests.


I'm getting there, making is becoming easier as I figure out what not to do, what works, what I like, what will say me and not say "Nina".


I still have this miserable cold, making pots of soup and pots of chili, trying to stay warm and hydrated.
Starting to feel the stress of the holidays upon me more and more. The days before Christmas seem to get more and more compressed every year, and just rush up on me and then rush past before I know it.
I'm trying to work out how to make this a pleasant time instead of getting annoyed with it all.

I got a text from Wesley saying that she went to church this morning and how lovely it was and how she feels like a better person today.  She is certainly a better person than me. She lives near Old Salem and the Moravian church and from time to time she goes. She gets up by herself on these very cold mornings and goes alone. I love this child and her love for life. Yesterday I got a text from her saying she was alone all day and typed out a story on her typewriter about Jesus and Aliens. Ha! Yin and Yang....... :-)

Have a great week of Thanksgiving, I'm giving thanks for these folks I live with!
xo

6 comments:

Melissa Rohrer said...

I do like the little bird's nests!
Know what you mean about the holiday stress. I have to talk myself down periodically. One of these years I'll figure it out. Feel better soon.

Lori Buff said...

Expressing your own voice, especially as you're learning something seems to be very elusive for a lot of artists. It seems that the artists voice always speaks the strongest in the end anyway.

Sandy Miller said...

I have become obsessed with birds nests in our recent wind storms they have been raining out of the trees. I cannot help but pick them up...... Getting quite a collection. The engineering is blowing my mind! Each nest is crafted differently. Keep thinking I need to do a blog post on them...... They are sacred objects.

Sending you a bowl of cyber soup!

Tracey Broome said...

Ahhh, voices, nests, nature, stuff for artists to ponder!
How great is all that!?

annie said...

wow, these are stunning, I love the different combinations. Your voice must be speaking more than you realize. How could it not be with work like these? hope you feel better quickly. This is a first visit over here for me, I hope to come again and see more.

Michèle Hastings said...

I think everyone who goes to a workshop comes home and makes something that has the voice of the presenter. If you keep at the technique, eventually their voice goes away and yours shines through.