A Beautiful Day

The weather here has been beautiful - great weather for the Memorial Day weekend. This morning, I decided to go to "Maxwell Days" in Cedarburg. It's held 4 times a year, and has been an annual event there for many, many years. It opens at 6:00 a.m., but I didn't arrive there until around 10:30 a.m. In years' past, I would get there when the gates opened to look for the 'best pickings.' It never changes -- the same old man's voice announcing stuff over the PA system...kicking up dust and dirt walking around the track...the unmistakable smell of brat grease and smoke billowing from the grills in the early morning hours...just about stumbling into people's wagons and carts when they stop dead right in front of you... the list goes on and on...

I didn't get much there this time. I only found a few little medals and some small, junky tools.

My friend Kim has been coming over to my studio on Fridays. She wanted me to teach her how to make jewelry, ala Thomas Mann style. So I've been showing her how.

(Kim busy sawing out her piece)

I've got a benchpin all set up for her on her side of my workbench. It's fun to have her over, because we are usually chatting away while we're working. Kim is a big "rummager," and she brought over one of her 'finds' from last weekend. It was an old leather jumprope that boxers used to use. She took off the wooden handles to use in an assemblage piece that she's working on at home, and generously gave me half of the leather cord...(probably because she could see that I was eagerly eyeing it up to use in my jewelry)!

This is the neckpiece that I was working on, complete with the jumprope cord.

(My latest Neckpiece)

I'd like to get some more earrings made. But now that the weather is getting nicer, the lawn has really been growing. I've been having to cut it twice a week already, and the yard takes me 2 hours to cut with the riding mower.

An Unexpected Tragedy

When A Pet Dies

When a pet dies,

that special place in our heart feels so empty...

But we realize, as time passes,

that animals have a way of teaching us about loving,

about loyalty, joy, and friendship...

And whatever we’ve shared in their presence

can never really be lost.

Anonymous

This morning Mugsy passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. I'm still in shock and disbelief. I feel so numb and empty. The tears are still flowing at the loss of my sweet little Mugsy. I don't know what happened. He was perfectly fine yesterday. After he ate his breakfast this morning, he got sick. He went to lay down and he started breathing hard and was limp. Mike immediately took him to the Vet. When he got there, the vet gave Mugsy oxygen and took an x-ray. Mike called me and said things didn't look good and that I should come right away. When I got to the clinic, I went right to Mugsy and saw him take his last breath. I couldn't believe what was happening. The x-ray showed his spleen was huge. The vet feels that Mugsy either had an aneurysm in his spleen, or his spleen had somehow twisted on itself. He was such a good dog. He had the most beautiful eyes, and when he looked at me, it felt as if he was looking right into my soul. I'm having a very hard time dealing with this. I am going to miss my faithful little friend so much!

I'm in the Jewelry-Making Mode

"Creativity can be

described

as letting go

of certainties."

- Gail Sheehy

For the past month, I've been in the 'jewelry-making mode.' I spent a lot of time working on a neckpiece for "Iron Wire Jewelry." I am pleased with how it turned out, and had it professionally photographed several weeks ago.

I have also been making earrings and charms. This pair of earrings features my husband and myself when we were each only a few years old. See...I had the curly 'birds nest' hair way back when I was little, too!

I had accumulated a bunch of tobacco tags over the past several years, because I thought they were cool-looking. I unearthed them in a box in my studio, and decided to make some of them into charms.

I think they're going to end up being a necklace and earrings. My friend, Kim Nugent, has been coming over each Friday for 'artist play dates.' I showed her how to make jewelry like the sandwich earrings I have posted. She is now 'hooked,' so I ordered her some metal and I also have a bench pin set up for her on the other side of my workbench. We've got dueling saws going while we're busy chatting away. It's really nice to have someone to create art with. She's coming over again next Friday.

Yesterday, the weather finally was warm!!! It was so nice to be able to be outside without a jacket on. Unfortunately, today is supposed to be raining and in the 40's again. Ugh!!!

A Pendant to Honor My Dad

I wanted to make a piece of jewelry that would be a tribute to my dad's fighting in the Pacific Theater for four years during World War II. I thought a 'booklace' would be wonderful way to capture some of the things he told me. The cover of the piece was done 'ala Thomas Mann style.' I used bronze metal for it, and etched a portion of a letter that he had written to my mom while he was in the service.

There are quite a few pages to the piece. The front side of each page shows a picture of him - one with his machine gun, one with a native from New Guinea who helped him, one when he was home with his parents, one of his purple heart, etc. On the reverse side of each page, I wrote little things that he told me about the war (which wasn't much, because he seldom spoke about it). The pages are sandwiched between mica sheets.

At his funeral, members of a local VFW post gave him full military rights. They gave him a 21 gun salute, and presented the flag to my sister. The bullet shell used in the piece was one of the bullets shot off at his funeral. I found the text, "the thunder of artillery" in an antique book. I thought it would be fitting on the bullet.


After seven times of putting it together and then taking it all apart again because I wasn't satified with the piece, I was pleased with the end result. The book has 9 pages in it, and I have it on a long leather cord. I think my dad would've liked it.