Before I Go

Post before last, everyone was asking what this mysterious 'tassel' was.  Who knew it was mysterious? Who know it was a tassel? I thought it was an old faucet knob w/a bunch of strips of silk and other fabric hanging off.  With the connectors made of antique telephone-like wire.  And old glass beads knotted on hemp, smeared w/wax to remove the shine.

Here's a close-up.

It's funny b/c as I told in the last post, Venus Soberanes came to visit and she was like "will you reveal you secrets?" I'm like, what secrets? I'll tell anyone how I make things.  And copy away, it's called a free market. It means competition.  (See this post on regretsy.) I hear a lot of moaning about copying.

Here's a different view of my necklace of little enamel plaques.  They are office numbers, I believe.  This is with the closure in front.

Y'all remember how I was talking about these pieces that took 10x longer than they should have? Well, to repay me, the universe let these two new ones come together practically on their own. 

 The strand on the left is made of sell pieces glued together to look like garlic cloves.  I gave it some acrylic washes because the white was so brilliant it burned my eyes.  The bead caps have been heavily patinated and the little spacer pearls (faux) also have a cool wash of transparent acrylic. 

 And each photo is a completely different color but oh well.  The crystal was soldered around the middle to attach jump rings.  I've had those pilot wings forever with no clue what to do with them.  I know it's not an original design, but this time the elements are authentic, and not mass produced.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

A bracelet that opens on a hinge.  A bunch of steel cut buttons.  The big one on the bottom photo is a bead cap I shaped over a regular Bali-type bead 

cap over another one I shaped myself, all that on a MOP button.  the silk wrapped all around is from a beautiful Indian skirt I unfortunately ripped.  It was too fragile to mend and as soon as it ripped, my little light bulb went off.

Anywhoo, Venus' visit was a true pleasure.  Nothing like a fan to boost your ego through the roof.  She admired a collage of mine on the wall and I'm like, 'Take it! No one likes my collages!'  Thing is, all the people who surround me are just not aesthetic types.  It's such a treat to talk to someone who likes this stuff!  Who doesn't just go, 'oh, that's nice', but rather picks something up and stares at it closely.  Even better when they then go 'Wow.'  She said I was famous on etsy.  Sure, she's kind of confused on that one, but I still had her repeat it to my dad.

Turns out she is employed by a university to make documentary films about tiny villages in the north of Canada and their Inuit people.  Is that a kick-ass gig or what?  She also made the sweetest bracelet inspired by a necklace I blogged about here.  All different gorgeous gemstones in a subtle rainbow order.  I'll have to take pictures. One of the gems is a faceted pearl- it looks like a pomegranate seed and I must get me some.  She took these funny pictures of us. I get so tense in front of a camera, I always end up making a clown face.  Boy I'm glad I'm not a model.  Saved myself from that terrible fate somehow.  When she sends 'em, I'll post 'em.