A Start to my September Journal Page

Sep24

The start of September. Meet the Goddess of the Harvest. She has a sweetly content look on her face because the seeds planted in the springtime are yielding a rich, abundant harvest.

I marbled some gold and black polymer clay in my pasta machine for her body. Her bone face cabochon was purchased years ago at the Whole Bead show in Providence and lovingly added to my stash to await the day it would be part of a creation. The variegated bead hank, purchased on my recent trip to Michigan, was originally intended for a bead crochet project but when I placed it next to the page, I thought it would make simply awesome flowing hair. Muted but rich shades of turquoise, green, brown and cream beads – the photo doesn’t do it justice. I have a whole evening free for beading!

My August Journal Page

Sep23

A little behind schedule but my August journal page is finally done! This one was a lot more challenging than the first two. They seemed to flow easily whereas I struggled with this page a lot. Maybe because I experienced some challenging health issues for most of the month. That said, I just forged on whenever I hit a difficult patch and didn’t rip anything out.

It is a hodgepodge of beading with a lot going on where my first 2 pages seem more cohesive. Maybe it was because I used tiles created by other artists and each tile had an influence on the beading around it. Anyway, I’m calling this piece “Window to your Imagination”. By using the polymer clay tiles I received at Klay Karma, I arranged them into a window pattern and then embellished that window with my beadwork. A lot of leaves and flowers adorn the window, symbolizing the lushness and fertility of imagination. As August is a month of harvest, this piece also represents the manifestation (harvest) of the ideas (seeds) planted in your imagination. I’ve just started my September page and will post a photo very soon!

Saturday Morning Tea

Sep22

This morning’s tea comes from an ancient tea forest located in the misty Jing Mai mountain area in southwestern Yunnan province of China. The hill tribe people of this area, originally called the “Pu”, have been cultivating tea in this forest for over a thousand years. The history of their sacred tradition is documented in ancient stone relics and scrolls. This tea, harvested from a varietal of the tea plant called Camellia Sinensis Assamica, a broad leafed tree, is called Ancient Organic Green Pu-Ehr Tuo Cha tea. As you can see, the leaves have been compressed into a little bowl called a tuo cha (tea cake).

Pu-ehr teas technically start out as green tea but have a tea category all of their own because of unique processing methods. There are 2 types of Pu-ehr, raw and cooked. My morning tea is a raw Pu-ehr. The new growth, buds, are harvested from the tree and sun dried. After the buds are dry, they are heated to halt oxidation and then compressed into a bowl shape. A tradition dating back to the old caravan routes, compressing the tea into cakes makes for an easier form to transport from one place to another.

The tea liquor is the color of a white tea, having some of its delicate flavor characteristics as well. Notes of honey and fruit caress your tongue as you sip from your cup. This tea is great for multiple steepings so I can keep adding water to my teapot all day long. My first steeping was 4 minutes with 180 degree F water. I will decrease my steep time as I go along but keep the water temperature the same. Since 80% of the caffeine is extracted in the first 30 seconds, each subsequent brew will be decaffeinated.

What is your experience with Pu-ehr tea?

Rainforest Choker

Sep19

Here’s my latest creation. This choker style necklace was inspired by a wonderfully inspiring and colorful book called Rainforest. It’s filled with gorgeous closeups of plants, birds, animals and insects found in the rainforests around the world. I highly recommend it to add to your inspiration library.

I made the polymer clay bead by covering it with canework and molding it into the oval shape. The cane itself is a Skinner blend bullseye plug separated into 5 pieces which is then layered and surrounded with a striped cane. I capped the ends of the bead with the same stripes. The cord is a woven herringbone tube strung on soft flex wire. The fit of the tube on the beading wire is tight so I was able to twist the tube. As I was stringing it, the tube kept twisting anyway so I figured that’s the way it wanted to be. Despite careful design planning, my jewelry sometimes develops a life of its own as I am creating it! I finished the choker with a button made from the cane and a simple beaded loop. Now, it’s time to make a bracelet and earrings to match!

Beady Eye Candy

Sep16

A couple of weeks ago, I made some bead purchases during my trip to Michigan. Twisted together are Mexican fire agate, turquoise, and sugilite, purchased at Munro’s Crafts in Berkeley, MI. I usually like to purchase stone beads at the bead shows I attend but they had an irresistible sale going that day I visited. I couldn’t resist these gorgeous strands! I found the fire agate oval bead at the Bead Haven in Frankenmuth, MI the following day.

At the same bead store was a whole wall of bead hanks where I found these beauties. I’ve never done any bead crochet and I thought it was time to learn. So, that’s my plans for these gorgeous beads. I especially love the second hank from the right. It’s so earthy looking.

I seem to be drawn to variegated colors lately and these glass beads spoke to me from their little hooks on the wall. Don’t they like great just as they are?