Free Form Peyote Bracelet

Feb6

About 6 years ago, I started a free form peyote stitch amulet bag in luscious sea colors. Over the course of 4 years and a challenging time in my life, I worked on it on and off until it was finally finished. I loved the meditative feel of adding beads a little at a time and it mirrored for me the small positive steps I was taking in my life. Perhaps the healing memories of creating that amulet bag is one aspect of what drew me to the idea of the Beaded Journal Project years later. Recently, when I saw this bracelet created by Libby at Libzoid, it further awakened those memories. So, inspired by Libby’s creation and the sunrise colors in my December page, I created this free form bracelet. I call it “Awakenings”.

Glazed Face Cabochons

Feb3

Last week at my RIPCG meeting, some of us experimented with creating glazed face cabochons. We started out with various colors of polymer clay and some purchased face molds. I used a blend of ecru and white clay. After the face was molded, we rubbed small amounts of Pearl Ex powder on the faces and cured them for 10 minutes. The ones above have macropearl, bronze and gold, going left to right. After curing, we mixed a couple of drops of Pinata ink (I used 1 drop each of Baja Blue and Rainforest Green) with some liquid polymer clay. I used the Kato brand while some of my fellow members used the Sculpey brand. I save the sauce containers from my Chinese food orders and they’re perfect for mixing small batches of paint or glaze. The faces went back in the oven for about a half hour. We noticed that the faces with the Kato glaze came out shinier whereas the Sculpey faces had a matte finish. With the profile face, I experimented further with some Tim Holtz Distress embossing powder in a Tea Dye color (of course!). I rubbed it over the face and popped it back in the oven for awhile. When I took it out, it looked like nothing much had changed. The powder was still sitting on top of the face so I rubbed it off and it left behind some interesting spots. I glazed again to seal in those rusty looking spots.

I’m not sure yet what I will do with these faces. They might whisper to be used on one of my beaded journal pages. Or, perhaps a bead embroidered pin or pendant. Experimenting with glazing polymer clay has inspired me to create something for my January page that I’ve been puzzling over in my mind all month. It’s not done yet but I will post pictures once I have them made. A hint – pebbles on a path that spell out a message.

If anyone has any experience with glazing polymer clay, I invite you to share your story.

Saturday Morning Tea for the flu

Feb2

I’ve been in the grip of a nasty flu all week. Drinking loads of hot beverages and not really tasting them but the warmth has soothed my sore throat. So, this morning I veer from my usual tea path and offer my thoughts on an indispensable herbal for relief of your cold or flu symptoms. It’s also great if you’re not sick and find the inside heated environment too dry.

Throat Coat is an herbal blend created by Traditional Medicinals, “a socially responsible and environmentally conscious company, providing the highest quality botanical products with a balance of responsible business practices as its guide”. You can find their products and this herbal “tea” at any of your local grocery stores. It contains licorice root, wild cherry bark, bitter fennel fruit, cinnamon bark, sweet orange peel, slippery elm bark and marshmallow root. These herbals are wonderful for soothing a dry and sore throat. I drink this blend regularly throughout the winter and quite a lot of it in the last week.

I am hoping that by next Saturday this flu will have loosened its grip and faded away and I will be able to resume my usual tea review.

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan26

Every morning this week when I’ve left for work, I’ve been hit with a blast of frigid air as I step outside into a world of ice and snow. I hurry to my car and as I turn the ignition, numbers in the single digits and teens flashed on my rearview mirror. 9. 12. 15. Brrrr… It is bundling up weather so I wrap myself in a big fluffy coat, a handknit fuzzy scarf and a mint green fleece hat topped with a pompom. This is also weather perfect for a hearty black tea so this morning I am “wrapping” myself in the rich malty aroma and taste of an Assam tea from the Mangalam estate.

Assam Indian black teas are noted for their full body and thick dark liquor. This tea is a broken leaf grade so it brews up quicker than whole leaf counterparts since more leaf area is exposed to the water. I steeped the leaves for 4 minutes in boiling water. Notes of spice and bittersweet cocoa fill my mouth as I take my first sip. The leaf and liquor lend a dash of rich color to a cold winter morning.

Today is my polymer clay guild meeting where I will experiment with making glazed face cabochons. I will share my results in a future post!

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan19

And precious the tear as that rain from the sky,

Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea.

-Thomas Moore

I have been thinking about pearls lately and the wonder surrounding their creation. I invite you to join me in my thoughts for a moment. What starts out to be an intrusion, an irritation, is transformed into something beautiful. In meditating on the life of a pearl, we can use it as a metaphor in our own lives. In our day to day life, challenges arise and in the process of dealing with those challenges, we are transformed as well. In honor of my “pearl” musings, this morning I have chosen a pearl jasmine tea, Dragon Phoenix Pearl, for my cup of tea.

Steeped in 180 degree F water for 3 minutes, I watched in fascination as the little spheres unfurled themselves, reminding me of hermit crabs reaching their legs out of their shells. Gorgeous full green leaves are revealed as I remove the pearls from the water.

The journey of the tea pearls. After green tea processing, the leaves are laid out with blooming jasmine flowers so they will absorb their intoxicating scent. This process is repeated and then the leaves are steamed and hand rolled into little pearls. I deeply feel that the pale straw colored liquor in my cup has been steeped from little works of art in themselves.

The tea is so pale that you can see the wonderful texture inside of my tea bowl. This is one of the bowls I purchased at the Kaji Aso studio. The aroma is delicately floral and not overly perfumey. The taste is sweet jasmine, smooth and subtle.

I have not yet laid down a single bead for my January journal page but there is a lot of inner gestating going on. Being guided by my meditations on pearls, unfurling spiral shapes and turning 50 the other day, it will be called “The Journey to Myself”.