The Day in Reverse

Do you see this moon being swallowed by the evening fog?

A few hours ago when I was driving to Point Reyes Station it was nowhere to be seen, completely hidden by cotton candy clouds - I wish upon wish that I had the skill to take pictures while driving because you would have seen taupe hills capped by what looked like ice cream: strawberry ice cream scoops from God's own Creamery Shoppe.

What a sight! 

Something very thrilling is happening in the hills surrounding my wee village:

Sonoma County is becoming Ireland. (!!!!!)

I was expecting a fully brown and sadness-inducing winter that made me pine painfully for spring, but...er....... look!!!!

The cow farm smell I endured to show these to you made me feel like the bravest set of nostrils in (or 'out of', I guess) town.

Whew!

My goal was to get here:

Oh, my friends: if you ever visit we will drive to The Bovine Bakery and get a ginger cookie, rich with molasses and topped with organic granulated sugar.

Everything here is organic, sustainable and wonderful - they saved five ginger cookies for me

and now there are four.

Oh my goodness. That's about all I can say until you visit :)

There was also work done today: I made a few pairs of earrings using a gorgeous vintage brass chain that looks so much like snowflakes that I felt compelled to use slightly different shapes and sizes for the beads, while keeping the continuity of the mineral type:

We have amazonite:

And we have Serpentine:

I also finished two necklaces I've been working on, one of which blend handmade chain with some rather perfect commercial links, Serpentine and Turquoise rondelles:

And a little Guided and Protected necklace with an agate Bear fetish, the ultimate protector with a fierce heart and loud roar!

It can be worn with the bear against your chest or flipped around and worn with the words against your heart. Either way, it is endearing and special.

These pieces will be in the Metal Shop this evening and then I am off to make some good supper for our little family.

Side note: Janey is the one who has been peeing outside the litterbox, not that silly Jones as I had thought: I took her to the vet to rule out infection or crystals and they gave me non-absorbent litter for her to pee in so I could get a sample. One full day went by completely dry, then yesterday still nothing. I cried a lot to think I was causing this little innocent any pain or anguish. 

Last night we sat with her in the kitchen where she was isolated and Anthony was singing popular songs to her, substituting subject matter to revolve around the joy of peeing. He also scratched around in her litterbox like he was a cat and he had me laughing so hard.

After two days of no pee, we relinquished the new box and returned her old one and she went immediately and copiously.

So it's behavioral, and we've got our work cut out. Wish us luck! I always said, "I will not have a house that smells like a litterbox" - unfortunately in renting this amaaazing (otherwise) house sight unseen, I got one.

I have poured Nature's Miracle everywhere. I have steamed every inch of carpet until my human nose wasn't offended. I have wrung my hands biblically and gnashed my teeth. 

A move in April is imminent - the wet season brings all the gloriousness up out of the carpets and into their nostrils, giving ideas we don't want them to have.

If life was perfect, what would we have to keep us grateful for contrast????

Love to you all and a fine weekend ahead!!!

Feathers and Fins

A yellow koi necklace - I am so tempted to call this the 'Lucy' koi, after one of my girlfriends who named hers just that.

A Feather Mini-Clutch!! Ooooh, this one gets to me in the best way - three tooled feathers with ruby roots and peach tips...

And on the back a soaring hawk in a sunrise.

7.5 inches across, 5 inches tall, two inches wide, perfect for the essentials when you step out on the town in your boots and best coat.

In the leather shop later today!!

A Little Something for your Chakras

I do Hatha Yoga two-three times a week and I can tell you with conviction and gratitude that it is life-changing. That being said, I think anything we put ourselves into with devotion and discipline is life-changing. 

I think the key is committing to something, be it love, service, health or the betterment of people, places or animals.

This week I was overcome with thoughts about our chakras, those spinning energy centers in our energetic body that serve as gateways to our highest good and are to be protected and nourished by us - I wanted to make some pieces specifically for the chakras.

I know there are seven, but I chose a few that seem to give people the most pause: specifically the Heart chakra, the Solar Plexus chakra and the ever-important Throat chakra.

The color for the solar plexus chakra is yellow and so I chose a stunning Mexican Jelly Opal that has both elements of yellow and orange: it is luminous!

It is a boundary necklace on a really luxe chain that is a series of sterling four-leafed clovers liked together - it is 21 inches long and meant to be long enough to give the sense of reaching to your belly. At the back of the neck where it fastens is a little tag that reads

"Guided & Protected"

This is one of the most important chakras to be protected: its function is will, its innate states are joy, laughter and anger and when in balance it allows you to better use your intuition, eases tension and calms emotion and frustration.

The next chakra north is the heart chakra, the center of compassion and love. Balancing this chakra is essential for the circulatory system and the human heart. When everything is in balance it affects everything from love to a sense of universal oneness.

The stone I used for this particular piece is a gemmy piece of chrysoprase in a watery green: just lovely. It hangs at 18 inches and can be worn with the opal boundary necklace or on its own.

For the fifth chakra, the Throat chakra, I chose a ring with a rather dramatic piece of blue calcite as the centerpiece. This chakra's function is communication and creativity.

When in balance it positively affects our speech and interpersonal relationships.

As silly as it sounds, I made the ring in a shape that is conducive to being placed in the throat hollow: the shape seems to be perfect for it! I imagined the wearer having a hard time speaking about something important and taking a moment of privacy, placing her hand at the base of her throat with the stone in the beautiful hollow and breathing in the healing power of the stone.

I know that everyone has their belief systems and this has been where my meandering path has taken me: in my estimation, we are all spiritual and energetic beings in a meat suit :)

The pieces will be in the shop this afternoon or evening - thank you for taking the time to read this and visit with me on this fine day!

Someone is Cuuuuuute.....

And her name is Lady Jane!

Treats and Revelations

Dear Friends,

The afternoon California sun is filtering into my studio with such loveliness, spilling over my cds (today it was a Peter, Paul & Mary kind of day with a side of Indigo Girls) and my work and my comfy chair...

I must confess: the experience of Friday night sent me into my studio Sunday with a near fever of love for what I get to do for a living:

I get to make rings our of rare stones (eclipse stone!!)

I get to name my pieces and hand scallop my edges...

I have the unique opportunity to marry my chosen arts: silver, stone and leather...

become energized by earth that took the color of marigolds and ebony and wrapped them into a picture of the original big bang!

The cuff was a result of my fervor, the ring a result of my love.

They will each be in their respective shops this evening.

I had a huge revelation on Friday night after all the emotions died down: my comfort zone-though not to be pandered to- need not be pummeled.

In my well-intentioned urge to make sure I wasn't afraid of living I scared the living merde out of myself and found my body responding in a way that any being responds to big stress:

heart palpitations

digestive issues

jagged emotions...

This is not to say for one second that I am not thrilled to have done what I did, or that I am not completely excited that I was so brave - what I am saying is that there are ways to push the box that are a little less extreme. A little less shy-girl-onstage-at-a-honkytonk!

And

I 

am

so BEYOND

grateful

that my body is so vocal in its complaints - what I need to learn how to do is listen with compassion and love to those unspoken words and decide with each passing option what feels best and act accordingly.

side note: I just got a card in the mail today from one of my Canadian crew and I cried, big happy tears to read the sweetest words - thank you, dearest like-minded friend. 

This is added to care packages and jam and notes and stones and all the wonders I have received of late: I am truly grateful for the kindness showered on me, my stomach and my steadying heart.

You truly rock my world.

Alas....

Twas not meant to be  - the sassiest and loudest vocalizers of the evening took the prize, and I, as you know, am a subtle bean.

I love how much you supported me and I cannot wait to NOT be nervous for another week.

I love you with all my heart,

Allison

Yes Indeed!!

Tomorrow (Thursday from Wednesday's post) was indeed better, thanks in great part to your incredible friendship and encouragement.

Thank you.

A lot of very important things got done and they were done with a sense of peace and wonder: I had an especially amazing piece of Japanese Rhodochrosite I've been holding (literally) every day for nearly a year: it was time to set it and to do so I made an Anini Beach Snorkel setting and voila:

It is the yummiest gemmiest pink stone on incredible depth and a peaceful spirit. I felt it was very important to wait until a deeply peaceful time to make it -and- (as you well know) the days after a good old-fashioned cry are rich with what remains when the tears carry the toxins and emotions up and out.

Space.

Lovely, lovely quiet.

The perfect moment for making!

I also made a little labradorite necklace for some lover of double-chained simplicity:

And finally a custom ring for a budding collectress  - yay!

After these items are listed I am off to Kodiak Jack's for round two of Sonoma County Idol!!!

Throw me some fairy dust for good luck :)

xoxoxoxo,

A

'Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya....

UPDATE: - thank you so much for all your texts, convos, emails and even songs (love it!) and kindness. You are all such amazing women and I get chillbumps every time I think of what I must have done to be so lucky as to know you.

Thank you from the bottom of my skip-a-doodle heart (who will hopefully soon stop her skipping :) )

There has been a lot of interest in the moctezuma necklace, so I will be listing it at 11:30 AM Pacific Time this morning to ensure that everyone has a chance to take her home: I normally do holds but there was too much interest at once and I felt I had to be fair!

...tomorrow - you're only a day awayyyyyy!!!!"

That is a song I used to sing to my Grandpa at his every request.

I write it out now because today was kinda one of those days that feels really really hard.

1. I have PMS

2. When the octogenarian volunteer receptionist at the Hospital (going to pick up some X-ray - I have degenerative disc disease in my neck, a result of my work with leather) told me I was going the wrong way in a rather rude way I turned around and said "You should try being a bit nicer!" waaaay louder than I wanted to and two floors of patients turned to stare.

3. As I walked away I cried and had to ask directions from the Orthopedic receptionist WHILE crying. Hard.

4. I spend the entire hour between 2-3 trying to get home through my small village of Petaluma because there was a Veteran's Day parade that just finished: there is nothing like being five blocks from home but unable to get there to compliment PMS and tears.

5. I have scheduled another session with the Holter Monitor of Doom : my palpitations are back with the whole nervousness of Sonoma County Idol and the prep for Bazaar Bizarre - December 1st they'll strap me in for another 24 hours of fun and I'll drink a bit of coffee and exercise to get my heart a' talking. Harumph.

I need a hug: Schmilly is coming home soon and boy oh boy is he ever the best hugger. 

There were good things that happened: I wrapped up some designs I had begun on Tuesday morning:

One Champagne Toast Moctezuma Agate Necklace and a labradorite teardrop necklace with my little danglies!

Two leather leaves of love...

A pair of surprisingly light hammered hoops that have such a lovely hanging angle: kind of like suspended scythes... gorgeous!

Everything will be in its respective shop tomorrow and my head will be in a much better place, I am super certain.

The sun'll come out tomorrow - bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be Sunny :)

Two for You, One for Me!

Two sprout trees, one in peridot for eternal spring, one in garnet as a valentine to the Japanese Maple in the yard of my childhood home.

Both will be in the Metal shop later this morning!!!

This Agua Nueva is most assuredly an Alien landscape and I paired it with silver that would look like a symbol from an alien language, one that I could look at and understand  -

surely it means 'courage'.

I made it yesterday and when I look down at my hand I am instantly calm, instantly strong: such is the power of stones, ladies and gentleman (Dave).

I am off to San Francisco today to refill my stock at The Museum of Craft and Folk Art as it has mysteriously been depleted again: I need more hands!!

Lots of love and courage to you all this overcast November Monday!

Because of You

I made it through to the top 8 in Sonoma County Idol.

James was holding my hand and the whole lot of your comments were my backup singers-

I just know it!

Thank you

:)

On Stage Fright

For the last few days I have been a shaky, focused, heart-palpitate-y mess of a woman, singing "Redneck Woman" into every mirror I pass, air-mic in hand.

Yes, I am a performer by trade: it's one of the trinity of activities that puts food in my stomach and a rented roof over my head, but that's something completely different: performance for me entails sitting at a piano, telling stories through song and baring a bit of myself, something I have become more comfortable with through the years.

Tonight will be about bravado, about a nervous sort of tipsy karaoke showmanship that I find so far outside my comfort zone that it's dizzying!

This evening's performance will last less than two minutes and yet it has consumed me, as I knew it would. In fact, I was counting on this, banking on it in a way I cannot describe very well, except to say that in the overcoming lies the joy.

I think we all have a comfy box we live in by whose dimensions, texture and temperature we define our lives. When we do anything to push one side out or put a skylight in our previously demure and quiet comfort zone becomes a vocal fear factory, convincing us via logical thoughts that our worst nightmares may very well come true if we are so foolish to poke at the tear we've made above our heads.

"The sky will come crashing IN to this box - do you want that?"

"They're all going to laugh at you - you will fail!!"

"Since when do you think you'll be any good at this, huh?"

"You'll die!!!"

The creative license our comfort zone (or ego to some) takes in formulating these ideas is actual quite amazing and inspiring - it just reaches inward instead of out and because of that it is stultifying and deadly.

It breeds boredom, 'shoulda-woulda-coulda'-ing and regretful sighs.

From the very beginning of my decision to call in to Froggy 92.9 I knew that the nervous energy I'd experience would make me feel really halved, really challenged, but I knew I had to exercise this muscle in order to absolutely make that skylight a reality.

 Because this scares me I know I must allow myself to rise to its challenge

even if the sky falls in

even if I botch the words and fall over in my cowboy boots

even if I don't sound good

even if I die

because to turn back now

would mean that something that wants me to shrink away from vibrant, terrifying 

life

would win

and I would be one inch shorter than I was yesterday.

Simply Set Wonders

Heartfelt creations using some of my favorite stones. One of them is the contest winner's necklace, the others are for the shop.

The contest winner's necklace, agua nueva simply set with a heart and a lovely heart chain:

 it says 'love' on the back. I don't really feel at liberty to say what she struggles with, but it is huge and awful and apparently the timing is perfect for her to receive a bauble.

Oh my camera could not do justice to this piece of agua nueva: it is a rose, trapped in black molasses and framed in milky white. The settling is simply a valentine to the stone: its folds and curves mimic the curves within the stone.

This is most assuredly a collector's stone.

A little snip of a necklace!! Vintage Japanese cabochon of cherry blossoms.... sweet, indeed!

Morrisonite with tree patterns and a really nice chain - this makes me think of endless summer, my very favorite season.

The necklaces will be in the Metal Shop today!

Dear Agua Nueva Agate,

Where do I begin? Not since my handsome husband has anyone beguiled me quite as much as you. I am referring to you as a sentient being because, somehow..... you are.

Your bands of color are hundreds of thousands and millions of years old and yet they are as fresh and immediate as a newly peeled nectarine or a ripe Japanese eggplant. 

I think I began collecting a few years ago, unwittingly finding my first Agua Nueva (new water) agate online and wondering if there were more to BE found, so new was I to the lapidary world - ha!! My latest problem seems to be stopping! I've found enough.

I wanted to share these pictures with you, dear readers, because I was struck today by how varied and special each piece is: some are from the very same nodule (you can tell by the colors) but they all express a complete idea, which is partly due to the skilled hands that cabbed them and found the sentence or paragraph inside the rock.

Some are suns.

Some are Opera sets.

Other still are trees, or curtains opening to an alien landscape...

each one has captured my imagination in some very big way and I find myself staring at them for hours, dreaming up designs for some and simply coveting others with the knowledge that they will never be set for anyone other than me.

It's taken me a while to realize that's ok: not every stone I own will be shared: I am allowed to cling a bit, just not so much that I forget them biggest lesson: they are not 'mine' - they belong to the earth as she created them with the sweat of her seismic changes and the slow drip of her weather systems.

I've made the pictures rather large for your viewing pleasure: I wanted you to see the details as I do every time I open my cabochon boxes - click on the picture and it will expand to a magnificent detailed size.

Enjoy my collection!

Meanwhile, Here on Earth...

My head is in the clouds above today with bizarre news aplenty - I am updating the Leather Shop today with a few fins and feathers - skip or jog over at your Leisure!

I promise this is the last post, yeesh!!

;)

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!

I am one of the 16 finalists for Sonoma County Idol!!!!!!!!! :)))))))))

I am dancing around the room and trying to think of which song to sing accapella on Friday night at Kodiak Jack's!!!!

Oh, deary me :)