Red.

In honor of my childhood Japanese Maple tree. A magical red necklace to protect and embolden a body. Now up in my Etsy shop :)

Labor of Love

Sometimes the most amazing thing is finding the bravery to try something new and maybe impossible. That very bravery jumped into my heart when I saw an old leather crafter's magazine article about cobbled bags. They are made of super heavy leather, cobbled together using rivets or nails and then stretched via completely soaking the leather, tooling and all.
Talk about scary!!! Here: let's do at least 10 hours worth of tooling and then soak the bag and see if the tooling sticks!!! Yikes! It did, and the bag took on a really interesting shape. It's rather compact, and fits against the female hip as if made by the hand of the Almighty.
Soon it shall be painted, and then it shall be given two attachments where the rings shall be for the strap: a small pouch for a cell phone ( no more digging in my bag when it vibrates!!! ) and a slightly larger pouch for whatever one might want on hand.

Theriottthly?????????

Time to photograph a new design, in this case a custom order for a dearly beloved return customer ( Hi, Sue!! ) when who should run up on the scene and overshadow my work? Jones. Never Jane, as she respects my space and my worktime, but Jones....he is always underfoot, always under hand, never on your lap but constantly around.
If I do something that makes a noise he comes running and gets involved. Very community oriented.
Here is an illustration of this delightful point:
In all of these pictures he is 'unaware' of me, aloof as he can be, yet the moment I walked away from the window so did he.
In five minutes he will be peacefully sleeping and as soon as I get up from this here laptop and re-enter the studio ( whose doors are understandably closed to him ) he will sit outside the door, miraculously wide awake and wail like he's at an Irish wake.
Heaven help me.

Things to Do

Places to be, etc.....

Life really does get busy, especially lately -- really over the top busy, and then inspiration hits and I find myself compelled to make brand new things.....a bag, to be exact....a bag that is going to take me weeks, and I don't even know if it will be a success, and it makes me nervous.
To gear myself up for it I am making sure to make the things I know I can make, keeping my hands confident and nimble.
I am obsessed with bees lately, not sure why :)

But there are quiet moments, lately more of them being added in: I have a heart palpitation issue that I am certain is coming from the stressful way I approach my life, so I am taking time to breathe. Sometimes Jones sits with me and meditates on birds and such. We really just understand each other, he and I.

From Pre to Post

A pile of lovely tooled goodies all have homes already. Custom orders comprise this bounty, and also orders for a boutique: a boutique to drool over and die for!
Here is what became of some of the leaves:

Fresh Start

This weekend I played at a benefit in Palm Desert, and as part of the package they gave us a lovely room at a resort hotel. After we played Anthony, Matt and I went to Target and I got an adorable bikini. Upon our arrival at the lovely MiraMonte we swam for over an hour, dolphin diving into the warm blue as the clock neared 10 and the night air chilled.

Anthony and I slept in our big king sized bed for nearly twelve hours before we rose up, refreshed and vacationed. We've since returned home and even now after a day of chores and a killer pilates class I feel like someone refilled my battery full of new ideas and limber intellect.

Here is a bowl of fresh Meyer lemons and tangerines from Matt's Grandpa. He picked them for us from trees in his back yard.

Spring Has Sprung

Here in my heart.

ohmygoodnessohmygoodness

I made something I cannot fathom the end of making. Feathers, feathers everywhere....

Custom Love

I adore when a customer asks me to make a necklace I made once and loved eternally. I got that chance this week: thank you!!!!

Thank you, Plume

Thank you to the time machine that sent The Plume to us, because goodness knows she's straight outta the 90s......


The 1890s!!!!! ;)

Thank you Sue.

Thank you Schmilly and Matt E O and Jones and Jane and Mommy, Poppy, Terra, Julie, Amy, Jeremy, Bonnie, John, Beth, Tucson, Phoenix, India ( take care of my Amy, k? ), Bob's Old Tyme Peppermint Sticks, Phil, Hobo Vintage, Immodium AD, Natalie, Dick's Hideaway and Danielle for the text message of my dreams.
All the joy you brought this weekend made me make a necklace that is a statement of pure happiness.

Wish I had this when I saw Dave Matthews

Instead I awkwardly toted around my purse....this was a while back, how could I have ever known that some day I would make something that I could use intead?
Something that allowed me to dance and use both hands, one to fend off the drunk reeling white-boy hippie dancer on my left and the other to hold up a lighter.
Alas, I cannot invent a time machine ;)

Spammy Comments

Ladies and gentlemen,
I have been getting more spammy comments than the customer service inbox at Spam Canned Meats, Inc. Har har. They are rife with viruses and such, so beware the click of death. I am erasing them as fast as I can, but it's very disheartening, and they are extremely creepy. Do they get semi-literate octegenarian immigrants to write these things?

I don't like you, spammers. Go bother another blogger: I am certain there are many out there with a far larger readership :P

Using a 'Brad' closure

Dearests!
I have made a bag! In looking for an excellent closure, I found the amazing 'brad': it felt right. For those of you who have never used this form of closure before, here is a tutorial, so that you don't find yourself frustrated or ripping and tearing at your new heirloom quality purse :)
1. To fasten, bring your thumb firmly up uder the bast of the metal, with your forefinger and middle finger as anchors on top of the bag flap above.
2. Steep the round metal bulb into the center of the hole and push up with your thumb until it clicks ( albeit soundlessly ) into place.
3. to remove, push on the metal bulb with your thumb, your forefinger and middle finger poised underneath the bag flap to lift it as you push.

There you have it. Here are some pictures to demonstrate :)

Poppy Buckle

What a jaunty way to fasten your belt :)

Love at First Solder

I made this bracelet today, in my first soldering class. Simple, elegant, refined, simple....did I mention simple? I will never take chain for granted again, as I now know how labor intensive it can be, at least for a beginner like me.
My last class was wonderful in terms of learning how to create something you designed and such, but the soldering was always done by the teacher, because there were so very many of us...now I begin the long journey of a silver-filled existence, always striving to learn more, always seeking betterment. Kinda like leathercraft.
Yikes!