Cooking with Memories

In my kitchen I have a colander that has seen long use and better days.  One of its 3 legs is wonky, a large dent mars its rounded shape and a small crease has a bit of rust.  It has the feel of age, its design a repeating pattern of small holes that is definitely not au courant.  

It has a companion:  a sparkly bright modern large-holed colander with a solid round base...no legs to wobble.

I use my Mom's every time.  Its dents and wonky leg go unnoticed.  Using something of hers in the kitchen makes me happy.  I feel the connection to her and to all those times we spent in the kitchen together.  

One of my first cooking memories is of a cold  and snowy Thanksgiving in our walk-up flat in Chicago.  

It is the day before Thanksgiving and I am 4 years old.  I am sitting on the floor, my legs straight out in front of me, white socks and lace up shoes on my feet, a red and black plaid pleated skirt covering my legs.  I hold our large dutch oven on my lap and I am picking the homemade loaf of bread into pieces for the next day's stuffing.  My mom is busy at the stove.  I am happy.

The colander reminds me of this memory and many others; it is a welcome connection to the past.  My Mom taught my sister and I to cook, her feet up after a hard day, instructing us on how to prepare yet another of her magical 150+ ways to turn hamburger into something...from her porcupine meatballs to empanadas to mystery casserole.  

The colander was always there, perhaps hidden in the back of the crowded cupboards, but definitely a star when needed, just as it is today.  I cherish it, I cherish the memories it brings, I still cherish my Mom, gone these many years.  When I hold the colander, it is a tiny bit like holding her.

My Dad was a dreamer; my Mom did not have that luxury.  She was the practical one, the one who made the budget and kept to it, the one who darned socks, made our clothes, kept our house clean, made the hard times seem easy. 

I learned many lessons from my Dad, the dreamy ones about being an archaeologist or a musician or buying a hard-scrabble place in the middle of nowhere and fleeing the city life.  From my Mom, I learned to cook and sew and clean and budget, to stick to a task, to finish what I start, to keep the worn and wonky if you can still use it.

The colander, worn and wonky, still works.  I still use it.  

Thank you, Mom.  Welcome to my kitchen.

Journeys with Stones

All my life, I have loved the feel, the look, the heft of stones.  From the smallest pebble to the jagged stone of mountains:  I have felt a connection to them all.  In these, my later years, my love of stone has finally found an outlet in making jewelry.  There, in my hobby gone wild, I can savor the feel, the look and the mood of stones and remember their connection to small joys from past times.

In my family, I shared this love with my father.  He loved rocks too.  When he had to move from his beloved Texas to Washington D.C. for business, the movers complained that "This box is so heavy...what's in it?  Rocks?"  To which my father replied simply:  "Yes".  The practical side of my Mother was horrified at the expense of moving a box of rocks; her love for my Dad labelled the box "Dave's Rocks - Handle with Care".

He took those rocks, his favorites from a lifetime of collecting, with him.  These were not stones of distinction; in fact they were generally nondescript.  But they were markers of memory and a paean to his love of stones.  He took an Edwards limestone with a large hole as well, to ground him in his new place and to remind him that they would return to San Antonio.

He and Mom spent too many years in the purgatory he considered Washington to be.  But in the end he came home with all of these rocks - and a few more to mark the time spent there.

The limestone rock with the hole once again sat on their patio in San Antonio and all was right with the world.

Those patio rocks had many companions, including the three rocks he always carried in his pocket.  Plain rocks, picked up who knows where, these stones took on a soft sheen, as though they had been tumbled.  Through the years, they had....in his pocket as he lived his life.

For me, stones are a reminder of my connection to the earth, to God and to my Dad.  I love them in all forms and I never met one I didn't want to pick up, an obsession that has made many suitcases inordinately heavy on journeys back home.

Now I make jewelry, a creative process grounded in my love of rock and stone.  Making jewelry gives me immense satisfaction, not just from the creative process, but from these deep connections I feel in my soul.

There is a Hindu proverb that I have never forgotten:  "God sleeps in stone, breathes in plants, dreams in animals and awakens in man."

What better expression of that thought than to create beauty in jewelry with the beauty found in stone?  That is my current journey.

My father still has his three stones.  I placed them in his pocket as he lay in his casket.  Now they roam the heavens with him and I sometimes dream of his journey as I work in my studio.  One day I will share it, but for now, his love of stone has a new legacy in my jewelry.

Gift Collections from ArtFire

Here are the links to 2 collections of gift items from ArtFire.  It is always wonderful to look at and share other artisans work....so, enjoy!

Many Thanks to RoxAndThings for putting these collections together.  You can find her shop at:  RoxAndThings ArtFire Studio.  Her work is beautiful and her shop is well worth a visit.

From RoxAndThings Studio on ArtFire


Here are the collections.  Enjoy!

Unique Gift Guide on ArtFire









From Windy'sDesigns studio on ArtFire


Unique Gifts for Her on ArtFire - 2

From Patchtique Studio on ArtFire




SarahZoe

Silence is....Silent

The door is open.  Outside, a small breeze moves the leaves.  The moonlight plays on the pasture and the world is suffused in a soft silver glow.

I hear a quick rustle as the raccoon scuttles away, all soft edges and silvery gray in the moonlight.  Deer are near the feeder, wanting its bounty of corn.  The night is so quiet that you can hear the sound as they chew.

The moon is a bright crescent, on its path to fullness.  The stars are bright in the clarity of the night sky.  In the East, Orion is starting the hunt, his right knee poised on the horizon, his shoulders rising high.  The Pleiades twinkle in harmony.

The Milky Way is distinct, a bright path of stars from the westerly sky high into the night.  the distant hills wink with the soft red flashes of the cell towers that march across the heights around our town.

The soft curves of the road are lit silver threads through the trees and the grass. The inside of the house is filled with the soft gleam of moonlight on mirror and on glass, on stone and on the tile floors, cool beneath my bare feet.

The night is mild, a relief from the punishing heat of this summer.  In the softness of a moonlit night, the world is full of depth and hope; blessed, normal.

The world is beautiful; the moonlight is beautiful.

The moonlight is kind.

The moonlight is, above all, kind for what it does not show.

For with the light of day, what is softly lit by the moon is revealed in the bright glare of the sun:  the grass is dead, the trees are dying.

The green of summer, faded even in a normal August, is a thing of memory.  My eyes see yellowing leaves, falling leaves, dead leaves.  Whole cedar breaks turn brown overnight.  Cedars, trees most do not love, are dying - and everyone will miss them.

I am filled with sadness and fear.

Drought has a stranglehold on our beloved Hill Country.

The Blackbuck and Axis herds move in small swirls of dust as their hooves strike the ground.  The mostly nocturnal whitetail deer are showing their ribs and engaging in a desperate hunt for food and water in the heat of the day.

The birds search for food and each week there are fewer searching.  The Hummingbirds fight for the few remaining flowers and engage in aerial combat around the feeders.

The water tank, which must be filled every day now in the blistering heat, is a popular respite.

I am grateful for the night, for in the night I can pretend that all is well.  The damage is hidden, unseen even in the moonlight, and I am grateful.

Yet, something is missing, something profound.  And then it hits me once again.

It is quiet.  Very quiet.  I am hearing only silence.

The soft coos of the quail, the hoot of the owl, the quiet sound of a bat's wings whispering in the air - they are all missing.  And the night is suddenly loud with the absence of the quintessential music of the summer night - the trilling, raspy, insistent sound of the insects.

The night is loud with silence and the silence is not golden.  It is merely silent.

My heart breaks and I close the door.  It is too painful to hear the silence.

Maybe it will rain tomorrow.

Musings on Becoming a Pearl

Do you ever wonder how something so beautiful, so sensuous and so enticing as a pearl could be born from irritation?

Imagine the birth of a pearl...a tiny piece of sand or shell enters an oyster and it irritates, just as a mote of dust under your contact lens.  You take the lens out; the oyster deposits a thin layer of nacre over the tiny intruder.  As time goes by, the layers of nacre deepen and a pearl is formed.

The iridescence of pearls is the allure; light passing through the nacre seems then to return in a coat of soft color, making the pearl seem to glow from within.  The pearl may be round and perfect; it may be baroque and freeform; it may be small or large; it may be a pure white or a dusty peacock gray.  But, to me, it is always beautiful.  It always glows.

A pearl transcends its beginnings.  It grows and gains beauty as the tiny intruder is coated with layer upon layer of transparent nacre that, when it enters the light, is transformed into sheen and glow and beauty.

To me, pearls have the serenity that only people who are calm and sure of their true place in the universe possess.  I remember seeing Pope John Paul II in the riotous tumult of St. Peter's basilica, teeming with people just after mass.  His serenity was a beacon, a tangible presence, a sanctity that surrounded him like an aura.  He was a pearl in his own setting.

I would love to be such a pearl, filled with the humble surety of God's grace and able to glow with that certainty.

Would that my irritation, whether to the vagaries of daily life or to the long-held anger at an insult, could flower into something as beautiful as a pearl.  But my irritations never end like that.  they end up as little stamps in a book, gathering strength as they are saved and hoarded until one day I throw the book at an unsuspecting victim.

But, I am learning.  My irritations often now are just a cause for laughter at my own clumsiness or the intransigence of inanimate objects.  The stamps in the book are fewer, the books smaller, the victims dealt only a glancing blow.

My hope is to learn and grow so that I too glow from within and share serenity and joy with those I love.  I hope to make pearls from irritation and make gifts of them to my family and friends.

As I make jewelry, I create beauty from my imagination and from the gifts of the earth and the sea.  I handle stones and pearls and they calm my soul as they ground me in the certainty of a power beyond myself.

I can take a pearl, or many, and create a piece of jewelry.

I cannot create a pearl.

And therein lies the difference.

SarahZoe

http://www.dreamstonesbysarahzoe.artfire.com

Inspiration: Marvelous Metal Jewelry

Making jewelry has become my passion.  I love the feel of the stones, the marriage of different elements, the joy of making something beautiful for someone to wear and enjoy.

There are so many creative avenues open to the jewelry artist from stringing beads to wire wrapping, from weaving to metalsmithing.  My goal is to learn the art of metalsmithing and the collection at right - Marvelous Metals - is a showcase of talent that is an inspiration to me every single day.

Marvelous Metal

"Jewelry featuring the creativity and skill of metalworking artists on ArtFire. Their work shows that metal is, indeed, marvelous!"

The pieces in this collection lure and entice me.  Look at the sinuous curves and soft sheen of the silver pieces, the warm glow of steel and copper.  Look at the forms - from smooth and angular to flowing curves.  These pieces are not only beautiful, they demonstrate a wide range of technique and an amazing display of creativity and skill.

For me, they are inspiration.  I have started small, but am learning.  With these pieces as inspiration, someday one of my pieces may make a collection titled "Marvelous Metal".

But for now, I am happily  weaving gold wire on copper, "embroidering" a spider web of wire on natural copper and hammering hardware store washers.  Someday............

Musings on Becoming an Artist

All of my life, I have thought of the term "I'm an artist" only in the context of my father who was an untrained painter of more than ordinary skill.  Our home is filled to this day, as are those of my sister and niece, with his paintings.  VIrtually all are landscapes in a soft palette and incredible detail; photographs transcribed into oil or watercolor.

In that context, I am not - nor will I ever be - an artist.  Stick figures are beyond me; with paints, I have a heavy hand.  Although composition is within my grasp, perspective expressed on a flat surface eludes me in any medium.

Over the years, I have taken up many hobbies that can, and did, transform themselves into artistic expression - knitting, photography and needlework are particular favorites.  Yet, I did not think of myself as an artist.

However, last year I stumbled upon making jewelry.  My sister was stringing some beads and I decided to help her.  That small decision has changed everything about my conception of myself as an artist.  From a lifelong love of rocks has grown an obsession with gemstones and artistic expression in a three dimensional world.  I now consider myself a  jewelry artist.  A relative beginner?  Yes.  Dedicated to my craft?  Yes.  An artist?  Yes.

Finally, as time has brought me to my 64th year, I am growing used to the idea that in my own way I too am an artist.  I am learning, growing and enjoying a new world in which I too, like my father, am an artist.  It changes everything.  He would be proud.

SarahZoe
http://www.DreamStonesbySarahZoe.ArtFire.com

Pyrite: A Beautiful Stone for Jewelry

Pyrite is a beautiful crystalline mineral whose name derives from the Greek word meaning "of fire" because it is a stone that will spark when struck. Pyrite is also known as fools gold, because its look resembles gold. Alchemists in the Middle Ages believed it could be turned into gold; would that were so as it is a very common mineral, iron sulfide.  While it has had many uses, today it is used commercially to make sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid.  However, to me the best use of all is in the creation of handmade jewelry.  

It can be found in many forms for use in jewelry:  from polished beads to cut and polished mirrorlike slabs to freeform rounded nuggets to my favorite, a nugget of interlocked or intergrown cubes.  This form is particularly beautiful, as the different planes of the intersecting cubes reflect the light in a soft golden glow, enhancing the beauty of whatever jewelry you use them in.  These nuggets pair well with almost anything: they look beautiful with gold or silver, with crystals or with gemstones like jaspers or agate.  Pyrite is truly a versatile stone in both form and its ability to enhance almost any stone you pair it with.

It is said that pyrite has healing qualities, particularly for bronchial and lung problems.  It is also said to be a stone that works on the navel and throat chakras; other say it works on the Third Eye.  

Sources:  

Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrite

Book:  Healing Crystals and Gemstones by Dr. Flora Peschek-Bohmer and Gisela Schreiber

You can find my shop at:

http://www.dreamstonesbysarahzoe.artfire.com
You can find this piece at:
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/DreamStonesbySarahZoe/3066153

Finishing Your Necklace or Bracelet

How do you finish bead necklaces so they look pretty and are strong and lasting?  

This was my biggest question when I first took up making jewelry.  Over the course of the year, I have found many hints but no one tutorial that included them all.  And, no one tutorial addressed all of my most common mistakes - those such as stringing too tightly, ruining a crimp or not being able to properly close a crimp bead.

So, here is my try at Perfect Finishing 101.

When you are ready to finish your necklace and attach the clasp, string - in this order:

1.  one seed bead in a color that matches your bead strand; 

2.  one - or two - crimp beads;

3.  one small spacer bead;

4.  one wire guard;

5.  one half of the clasp.

If you tend to string your strands too tightly,as I do, you cause the beads to pinch against one another.  In that case, one of your best strategies is to add a seed bead to one end of the necklace or another; if you always string really tightly, add a seed bead at each end. Then, if you do indeed string in your usual way - too tightly - you can break the seed beads when the necklace is finished and end up with the perfect tension for the finished necklace.

I know that a single crimp bead is supposed to hold any strand.  However, when I make a heavy necklace, I use two.  I sometimes use two just because the necklace would be too complicated or time-consuming to start over in the event that I flub the crimp....and I do, more often than I should.  By having two crimp beads, you have insurance against crimp failure as well.  The great thing is that crimp covers will make everything pretty in the end.

The spacer bead is really helpful when using wire guards, which naturally separate the wire strands as they enter and leave the wire guard.  This can make crimping them well a bit more difficult.  To that end, putting a single small bead - such as a seed bead or a 2 to 3mm gold bead - between your crimp bead(s) and the wire guard solves this problem.  In addition, since the ends of wire guards can be a bit sharp, adding this bead makes the necklace lie more comfortably on the skin.

When you have put one of the clasp pieces onto the wire guard (don't forget to do this - I have and it is maddening to end up with a perfect finish but no clasp!), run the wire back through the spacer bead and the crimp bead(s) but not the seed bead.  

Crimp the crimp bead(s), then pull the end of the wire back over the crimp and cut it as close to the crimped bead as possible. 

Spacing is important here; as small as they are, crimp covers do take up additional space.  If you are using crimp covers, be sure to leave a bit of room for them.  If you use two crimp beads, be sure to leave a tiny bit of space between them so that you can easily put on a crimp cover.  If they are too close together, your crimp cover will clamp onto the adjacent crimped bead and never close properly.  This is also true if you have placed the crimp too close to the beads of your necklace, which is another reason that it is nice to have the potential that the seed bead gives you for that necessary bit of free space.

Place a crimp cover on the crimped bead, making sure to cover the cut end of the wire.  Doing this ensures that nothing is going to stick you when you wear the necklace.  If you want to do so, place an additional crimp cover over the second crimped bead if you used one.  If your second crimp is beautifully done, you don't need the second crimp cover as the first will raise the necklace far enough off your skin to prevent the second crimped bead from scratching you.

The final steps to a perfect finish are to press the ends of the wire guard together, gently, and to break the seed bead if you need to do so.  If you need to leave it, don't worry - they are so small as to be unnoticeable if you chose a close match to your beads.

Other tips I have learned from experience:  

If I really messed up and I end up not with a too tight necklace but one which is too loose, there is one possible "cure".  It is sometimes possible - rarely, but often enough that you can consider it - you can add a crimp cover to each end of the necklace near the crimped beads, or covering your seed bead.  Sometimes, this just wouldn't look right and you must start over, but on a few occasions it looked just fine and was the perfect solution.  

And, finally, don't even try to finish items on days when your hands are shaky, the light is bad or you are tired.  It just isn't worth messing up a lot of work just to say you've finished the necklace.  Often, waiting until the next morning ensures a perfect finish the first time.

I hope these hints help you complete a beautiful necklace every time.  If you have other hints to share, please do!  I am always looking for that one tip that will make my life simpler and my jewelry prettier.

SarahZoe

Please visit my shop at:  http://www.dreamstonesbysarahzoe.artfire.com