Day 1 of 51 Things

 Today I turn 51! Yay me. I began my day with the most earnest of prayers in gratitude to TMH for allowing me to experience the blessing of today. There are a lot of people who did not make it here. For that I humble myself. Someone baked me cookies. That is a first. Monday was my Grandsons Birthday and Tuesday the World experienced a solar eclipse. Today I was born 51 years ago. I challenge myself to experience 51 new things. I begin with a Meyer lemon tree. He will have his very own greenhouse to grow into and zi am to build it myself. I love the smell of lemon blossoms. 🌸 

Papaw's Mayonnaise Jar

 A journal entry dated October 20th of 2010 had me recalling the infamous mayonnaise jar.  I must have been missing him a lot.  He departed this life in January of 2009.  My grandfather, Reese Witherspoon shared his name with a famous actress but he was a Jr., so this name had been taken for quite some time now.  He used to keep a glass of ice water in the refrigerator.  Everyone new it was his but we ALL drank from it.  Boy, I am telling you.......Ugggghhhh!......just to think of all the germs in that Jar! For some reason it didn't matter to any of us.  We drank it anyway.  It was soooooo good!  We must have really been lazy.  Too lazy in fact, too lazy to get our own glass and our own ice and our own stream of water from the dispenser.  I think I'm going to keep a mason jar in the fridge and everytime I see it I will think of him. Wink

An Array of Bamboo Petals

This is what I do.  I get in the workshop. I start with the miter saw and cut angles. After I fit them together I drill the holes.  Next I figure out what to string it with.  Somehow it always comes together and this is what you get.   The necklace is brown cotton cord finished with a toggle clasp. I signed the back as usual.  Yo

P.S. Convo me for measurements.  Thanx

Doing Me

This week found me returning to the workshop in a brainstorming session.  I had some pieces laying around that have been previously cut.  They resemble a diamond shape but with a curvature.  Imagine a very upturned surfboard.  I made flowers out of this shape some time ago by arranging five pieces into a circular pattern resembling a flower.  There is an old blog with photos of the flowers which were made into hair scrunches for a natural hair expo I participated in .  This week I wondered what I could do that I haven't done before.  I was looking for some way to create a new shape.  Many of my silhouettes for earrings have been done by me over and over.  I usually choose a disc, rectangle or hearts, maybe even flowers.  I came up with the notion that I wished I could flatten them so they would hang in a more appealing fashion.  I have seen YouTube videos of people bending bamboo but I have never been able to accomplish this feat.  Well I stuck with it for about a week trying out a couple of methods and the second one worked.  I was successful and so ecstatic about the possibilities with accomplishing this new silhouette.  The first one looked great.  Only thing is you gotta make two, especially if they are going to be earrings.  The second one cracked in two places as I overzealously held it flat.  DarNitt!!!  Ok, back to the drawing board.  Next was to try a couple of smaller pieces.  The jury is still out on the small ones.  After the first flat spear dried (I think the new shapes will be spears. African Spears) it was the next day and I noticed that as nature would have it, it tried to curl back up.   But I will not be discouraged.  The holiday season is fast approaching and I think I will have some new pieces to add to the collection if I stay the course.  I think one of my problems is always changing and innovating.  Maybe if I made the same shape and changed little, like the size and colors I could do more.  Maybe focusing on one thing and one thing only could take me somewhere.  I get bored with doing the same thing over and over.  I get new ideas and inevitably have to try it out.  Then I get another idea while working on the last idea and before you know it the ink is drying on this while I am creating the next thing.  Sporadic attention span is on Maxx overload.  I think I have several winners and top sellers to choose from if I ever decide to settle down and date one design.  But until then I will be ever expanding my creative horizons.  Trying new ideas and putting new spins on the ideas that worked so well in the past.   I'll be a designer and not a cookie cutting human press.

It's Me

Hello,
    Wanted to post something on my blog but I haven't been in the workshop lately.  This looks like it will be a post just for the sake of posting. Lol.  I ran across this photo that I took of myself.  I was on the way to the market.  Wow! There is something magnificent about the glow of the 7am sunlight, or should I say sunglow.  I look fabulous!  Ponytail swoop, skin flawless (thanks sun), Gardenia from the garden in my hair rocking my dope earrings.  The car was packed with the makings of a jewelry shop.  I was in a good mood and it shows.  I hope everything is well for you and yours.  Peace and Blessings! YO.......................Oh, oh, wait.  I have been working.  I almost forgot.  I finally started a few beads with the black raven clay. I hope they turn out nice.  I love creating texture within the beads.  Some of them are a little warped and lopsided but I think it adds character.  I will still need to find someone to fire them for me but I am tinkering around and making different shapes and styles.  I hope I find the right glazes for this dark clay.  There will be a learning curve so wish me luck. Out