Dale and the magic necklace...

My knee is still a work in progress, or maybe regress. I decided to go to the doctor, but was in no mood to put on make-up. The visit did, however, require I put on clothes. I randomly pinned my unruly hair into not exactly a chignon, more like a dozen little chignons all over the back of my head. I had already put on a stained long sleeved white t-shirt and straight-leg cords in hopes of working in my studio, but the cords had to go since I can't roll them above my knee for the doctor.

I grabbed a dress/skirt/ wrap thing I bought on the spur of the moment from a television pitch. The first time I wore it required a visit to the internet and zeroing in on the simplest way to twist and knot the stretchy mass of black into a dress. I am easily disoriented, so following such directions is stressful, similar to an experience I had 25 years ago with a  baby carrier for which I had to lay out the directions, line myself up facing the same way as the paper, and painstakingly adjusting belts and buckles. With regard to the dress/skirt/wrap (skrap?), after the first wearing I can't be bothered, and just wear the big tube of fabric as a skirt. It's kind of like getting a printer/scanner/copier versus just a printer. It does many jobs, but none of them well.

As I headed out the door, (or I should say 'clamored' because limping sounds too elegant), and recalled a friend telling me how she plans her wardrobes around my jewelry. She claims that regardless of what she is wearing, one of my necklaces makes it an outfit. It was a stretch, but I had a stain on my shirt I needed to cover, so I put on the necklace in the photo which I have come to call "the magic necklace."

I am not very adept at walking in the best of circumstances.  I bump into someone almost daily, but only just recently realized it most likely has something to do with the ambiguous nature of my stride which is on the order of Jacques Tati's halting lope in the movie Mon Oncle. Put me on crutches and I take on the random movement found in insects and studied by robotic experts.

I hobbled through the sliding glass doors that open into the lobby of the doctor's office, checking to make sure I hadn't tucked the handkerchief hem of my 'skrap' into my panties. A lady seated next to the elevator looked up at me as I pushed the button and said "I love your outfit!" There is only one explanation, well, maybe two: 1. The asymmetrical handkerchief hem of the skrap 2.The spell cast by my magic necklace. 

Today I am off to the dentist for my 2nd crown in as many weeks. I am currently wearing garish mustard yellow corduroys and a black tank top (am I trying to look tacky?). I retain the flower child make-upless face of my youth sans the youth, and I've got the same quirky hairstyle going on.  I don't know what I'll do to make myself presentable to the public, only that it will involve a magic necklace. To be continued...

Here's to swimming with your clothes on...

I love Peter, the disciple. From what I can tell he is impetuous, adamant, and often mistaken. Try as he might, he often seems to just not 'get it.'  I am no Bible scholar, and I confess that I fall so in love with my ideas, I lean toward not caring if my interpretations are right or not. And my fickle heart resonates with Peter. He burst out with pronouncements and whispers denials and is wrong much of the time.

People fault him for the whole walking on water incident, but I didn't see any other disciples getting their toes wet. He has faith, ardent faith, that wavers and is sometimes misplaced.  Jesus called him 'the Rock' and in the same story 'Satan.'  Seems to me that Peter was all over the board yet spends very little time in-between.

So, they are all crying out in fear, these disciples, when they saw Jesus on the water. Peter demands proof: "If it is you, command me to come to You on the water." And Jesus says "come" and Peter does, but starts seeing all of nature stacked up against his defiance of same. At least when he sinks he knows who to call: "Lord, save me!"

Fast forward to post-resurrection, post-Jesus denying Peter, to the risen Christ appearing to the disciples at the sea of Galilee. It is John who recognizes the man standing on the beach, the one suggesting all the good fishing is on 'the other side of the boat'. John says to Peter, "It is the Lord."  Why did he tell Peter? Was he whispering a fact he is just coming to realize? With Peter there is no hesitation, and here comes my favorite part: Peter puts on his coat and throws himself into the sea. (Oh, Peter, my soul-mate. I am ever throwing myself in and out of the fire, in and out of the sea.)  But why the coat? I have heard sermons making fun of Peter for this, but I think it was his act of faith, his hope that maybe this time he could walk the short distance to the shore while the others rowed. I think he was hoping to greet Jesus, heart full of faith, arms open for embrace, with water on soles of his feet.  

When the going gets tough, the tough need...

Enough said, right? The tiny mason jar has an emergency stash of my holographic hexagonal glitter chunks.

The Giant Despair, Dancing on Crutches, and Pretty Maids all in a Row...

My bride-to-be daughter was wanting something kicky for her bridesmaids to wear and we came up with these octagonal crystal earrings.  The bead chain slides through the middle, so they are sort of 'kinetic', going cutely wonky the more you dance the night away. I love designing for special occasions. It nudges my creativity in new directions, like the architectural look of these earrings. Danielle insisted they be short, not chandelier, giving them a throw-back to the '40s vibe.

I had knee surgery shortly before the holidays, expecting to be up and about in a couple of days. Now in my fifth week of 'no weight bearing' I have new sympathy for anyone confined to a wheelchair. Thankfully I only have one week left after which I should pick up a paintbrush to repair all of my banged up walls.  I have broken glasses, a rice cooker, spilled innumerable food items, knocked over a lamp and water glass onto a power strip, and almost fallen a hundred times. I am clumsy at best. Put me on crutches and I am a deadly weapon.

All of this has made me quite cranky, but my friends and family are bearing with me. I think they will be as happy as I when I can put one foot in front of the other again. I am reminded of a character in Pilgrim's Progress that I fell in love with as I plowed through Bunyan's work many years ago in seminary. Ready-to-Halt my kindred spirit, joins the journey on crutches. After a great victory against The Giant Despair, he and Feeble-mind celebrate with Christiana:

"Now Christiana, if need was, could play upon the viol, and her daughter Mercy upon the lute: so, since they were so merry disposed, she played them a lesson, and Ready-to-halt would dance. So he took Despondency's daughter, Much-afraid, by the hand, and to dancing they went in the road. True, he could not dance without one crutch in his hand, but I promise you he footed it well: also the girl was to be commended, for she answered the music handsomely."

Here's to a New Year of dancing, dancing, dancing even if it's on one crutch.

Accidental pearls, healing crystals, Ta-da!

I was playing with some new materials and have fallen obsessively in love. Above is a 30 inch necklace made of pyrite and vermeil chain.  The large gems are worn to one side for a cool asymmetric yet balanced look. I don't understand why it works but it does. It works so my twenty something daughters each snagged one the minute they laid eyes on them. I am really excited with this new direction in my designs and am hoping to get them up on my site for sale soon ($65). I am reopening my Etsy store too in order to facilitate shopping for everyone.

The necklace features a rough cut pyrite chunk juxtaposed (there I go again) next to a Keshi pearl. While most Keshi pearls today are intentionally formed, originally they happened by accident or mishap when a pearl formed without a nucleus. I love the concept of beauty emerging, as it so often does, when things go wrong.

The third element in the necklace is a 'Herkimer diamond'  or double terminated quartz crystal. I love how it is drilled right through the middle causing it to hang in unlikely horizontal surprise.

James chides me that I should not include that both pyrite and the crystal are thought to have beneficial metaphysical properties, and while debunked by science copper is thought to have healing properties as well.  I joked with him that I felt so much better after photographing the necklace he might want to consider holding it for a while.  Regardless of whether minerals can radiate good karma, I believe beauty does the job all by itself.