Worth a Try

A couple of friends and I did a 2-day pop-up show at a local brew-pub, Baerlic Brewing.  No charge for the space, so it was worth a try.
Lesson learned: beer drinkers don't buy jewelry, but they do like glass plates and wooden trays.

However, one young couple was very cute... the young woman really admired a fairly expensive bracelet of mine, and later when she went to the restroom, the young man hurried over and bought it for her. It made my day!

Post-Olympic Beading

Since the Olympic Pool necklace was so successful this summer, I decided to make another Cellini Spiral necklace. The new one features Autumn colors, and satisfied this month's beading challenge to create something with only seed beads. I love how it came out!!

So now I have summer and fall. Maybe I should do two more for winter & spring?

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Olympic Beadwork?

This month's beading challenge from Operation Tackle That Bead Stash is anything related to the Olympics. After several false starts, I came up with this crazy idea.

3 metallic colors to represent the medals: gold, silver, and bronze.

4 more colors of blues and greens, representing the ever-changing colors of the Olympic diving pool this summer in Rio!

I've been wanting to do a Cellini-spiral necklace, and here's my chance. The spirals represent the twists and turns that bring an athlete to the amazing Olympic experience.

So here it is:  "Olympic Pool."

Hamsa!

This is my latest work, created for an online beading challenge to do something that includes  an eye.  How could I NOT participate??
I haven't done any bead embroidery in awhile, but this Hamsa wall-hanging was a pleasure to work on, and flowed pretty easily once I got started.  It's about 5" x 6", beaded on stiff interfacing, and backed with ultra-suede. The beadwork was very loosely planned, with most choices being made as I went along.  Materials include stone, glass, metal, crystal, shell, and pearls.
I completed a lot of it during my recent trip to Seattle, so it evokes that feeling when I look at it.

My questions now are:
- Hanger or frame?
- Sell it or keep it?
- How much can i charge for 30-40 hours of work?

High-quality problems, right?

P.S.  The underlying Hamsa shape and lotus-flower idea came from a free clip-art graphic by Rebecca Davidson.

How I Spent My Thursday Night

I was disappointed that I couldn't be at Mah Jongg on Thursday night, but it turned out really well. 

My Mother-in-Law Sonia was invited to be the guest speaker at a Holocaust Remembrance event, and it was a women's event, so Gershon couldn't attend.  I felt I should be there for moral support. 

Well, she did a great job, and I was really proud of her.  The young women were so impressed, and grateful to her for sharing her painful personal history for their benefit.  In the end, she did an artful job of bringing it all around to today's refugee issue. With her heavy accent and quirky English, she was still articulate & eloquent, never dipping into self-pity, and emphasizing her point effectively that humans can, and must, survive much more than they think they can, and make something worthwhile of their lives.

During Sonia's talk, there was an amusing moment when some of the women realized that she was Gershon's mother. Many of them know him through their children, because he leads children's services at Neveh Shalom. Suddenly the whole context of the evening made more sense to them.

The event was in a private home, attended by about 15 people. Mostly it was young moms, but there were also a few kids, a baby, and a couple of people my age. Also two dogs and a rabbit. We got the hostess' 10-year-old son to take a group photo.  The feeling of intimacy was lovely.  Sonia gave her talk, about 25 minutes, and then there was a Q&A session. Once the formal part of the evening ended, individuals had a chance to talk with Sonia, and she was really in her element.

In the end, everything worked out the way it was supposed to, and I was glad I went.