Into the wild blue yonder

Russ and I and our bikes are off on a little (and very much needed) vacation. We're headed up to sunny Paso Robles to join in the craziness of the Great Western Bicycle Rally. And I'm taking some sample head badges along to see if anyone's interested. Photos of the adventure to follow, I have no doubt.

When we get back, I'll have just a few days to get stuff pulled together for the Handmade Revolution show at Viento y Agua here in Long Beach. If you're in the area, stop in and say hi. There'll be live music and lots of local artists.

A little bit of green

One of the things that helps me keep my sanity during the week is a park just a half-block away from my day job. I can wander over there and hang out amongst the greenery for 20 minutes at lunch and de-stress a little bit.


And, even though I love it and it’s what spurs on my art, I constantly find it amusing how much I am drawn to picking up little bits of interesting whatnot amongst the grass. Today, it was bark that had fallen off the eucalyptus trees. It has such interesting patterns and textures... I wonder what I can do with this...

Some Indie Lovin'

Thanks Indie Collective for the lovely write-up!

My very un-scientific method to picking plants

One question I get asked a lot is: How do I know what bits of nature will last and what won't? It's a great question that I don't have an easy way to answer. Because the short answer is that I just guess. (Or, in the words of a colleague, I use the S.W.A.G. method: Scientific Wild Ass Guess.)

Basically, I pick something and try it out and see what happens. Some plants and flowers work really well and some just shrivel up and turn brown. So, it has truly been a long and interesting experiment.

One thing that I have learned which is really important is to make sure that whatever I'm incorporating is completely dry before using it. If I take a leaf or a flower and glue it in and shellac it before it's fully dry, it basically rots from the inside out until it's brown and totally unappealing. (Which is partly why I'm so interested to see what happens with Kait's Project Runway challenge necklace over time.)

What I find most interesting about working with real plants is the variety you wind up with after they've been dried. Some leaves dry flat and keep their green color. Some curl up and turn yellow or brown. Some flowers dry into a really pretty, vintage-like version of what they looked like alive. Some flowers dry into a miniscule version of themselves. And some just shrivel away.

For example...


These big, bright pink flowers keep their color beautifully when dry...


What all of this means is that I'm continually trying out new plants, which means that I'm continually picking up new plants everywhere I go. (Sometimes, I'll clean out my purse and find dried flower stems and leaves crushed at the bottom.) I've actually experimented with so many plants that it's hard to keep them straight, so I'm going to start keeping a notebook to record what I'm finding. (Which will also be a great way to learn the names of the plants that I'm working with.)

Finishing up the Project Runway Challenge

For the past few years, I've tossed around an idea to incorporate a little vase into a necklace or brooch that would enable the wearer to carry fresh flowers or a little plant with them as they went through their day. I've never really been able to figure out a way to do this that I was happy with, though, so, at first, I thought this challenge would be the perfect opportunity to explore that idea further.

But then I saw Kait's beautiful piece. And I decided to go off in a different direction and work with dried flowers and plants instead, so as to create something with a look and feel separate from her own work. (The dried flower approach probably makes more sense with the branch neckpiece anyway.)

In planning out what to incorporate into the necklace and how I wanted the finished piece to look, I decided to keep it simple and work with dried purple statice and lemon thyme. They bring in some great spring colors without overpowering the eucalyptus. And here's how it turned out...



I like the way the very fragile dried flowers and herbs look against the sturdy branches (even though it looks a bit like something a Greek goddess might wear on her head).

Don't forget to check out the other variations on this theme by Kait, Alisa (I love those earrings!) and Annie.

Project Runway Challenge

I've been watching the one-a-week challenges inspired by Project Runway that Annie began over at the Imogene blog, and it's been really fun to see what folks have come up with. I've never really been one to jump on the bandwagon for challenges and projects like this, but I'm really delighted by the idea that Alisa came up with for this week.

"the challenge is to make something out of real plants"

It's right up my alley, yet gives me some space to play and let me goof around with some more conceptual art jewelry than I do on a day-to-day basis.

So, this is what I've got so far...


Eucalyptus branches wrapped into a sort of wreath shape with a sterling silver neckwire hidden underneath for shape and a way to clasp it at the back. It's not done, and I really want to incorporate flowers or something else. But, since I was up late last night working on it, I thought I'd post photos of its current state.

Anybody know what language this is?

I was looking at the raw logs for my website this morning (something I get a really geeky kick out of doing) and found out that someone linked to my website gallery in a blog post in a language I can't read, let alone even recognize to be able to figure out what google translator to use. But I think that's a smiley face at the end of the title, so I'm assuming it's a good and flattering post.


Kinda fun to get recognition from halfway around the world. Now if only I could figure out how to ask them how they found me...