Saving the Planet from the Vacuum Cleaner

The evil thing with glowing eyes must be defeated.

My work here is done.  Where's the food?

Flower in the Crannied Wall

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies;—
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is. "Flower in the Crannied Wall," Alfred, Lord Tennyson This was one of my mother's favorite poems.  Whether you may agree with the sentiments, you have to thank the poets who have  written things to carry in our memories after we say goodbye to those we love.

Mother's Day for Mistress Hathor (Ancient Egyptian Mother Goddess)

The one bangle option won.  And I agree.  I just listed the set in my Etsy shop, with a little bit of a story about the ancient Egyptian mother goddess Hathor, whose image appears on the charm, along with a small nugget of turquoise.  Just in time for Mother's Day, for the more adventurous mother.

With or Without? Bangle Questions

I found a sublimely tacky wide plastic bangle at the thrift, with a silvery finish.  Probably disco era. Just awful!  But it was just right for an idea I had, of doing a mummy wrap and an Egyptian theme.  And also, that very same trip I received a sign from the Muse -- a pair of disco era earrings that were the head of Hathor in some sort of pottery or resin.  OK, time for the time machine and a visit to the Old Kingdom!

First, I had to sand off all that disco bling, and then tear tea died muslin into strips in two widths.  Then, starting with the widest width and using fabric draping compound, I wrapped clockwise (so as not to invoke the wrath of Seth), let it set, and then wrapped in the opposite direction with the narrower width.  After letting all set and cure, I began working on the edges and bumps with my waxy colored pencils, to create that look of age and dried-up mummy juices.  Next, it got coated liberally with my favorite schmutz, Dorland's, allowed to cure, varnished, and sanded, varnished again, and sanded.  Then on to a bit of foiling, since gold was put into the wrappings of royal personages.  Next, more varnish, and then done.

Or so I thought.  I think the bangle is strong enough to stand alone as fashion, but as art, how far do we take ornament?  I have set the little Hathor head in a copper bezel with a bit of dangly turquoise on a zig-zag bangle from the thrift (another sign from the Muse, since it echoes the hieroglyph for water).  Then, in a fit of charm making, I added a little magnesite nugget to a modern scarab, drilled a fossil crinoid stem, some sponge coral and a fossilized sea skate gill plate, and jumped them to another thrifted bangle.  I like each of these components, but should they go together?

With One?

With Two?

Without?

Whatcha think?  And do those wrappings look as though they had been seeped for a few thousand years in congealed secret mummy embalming fluids?  The Mummy Returns!  Bwa-ha-ha.

Yes, Another Stack!

Yes, I have to confess --  I stacked again.  I am having way too much fun with these little netted bottles. This one has a dried cactus flower in it and a small feather from the cheek of a cockatiel.  The top is a drilled beach pebble and sealing wax.  The shield-looking thingy is a recycled earring jumped to another bangle.  There's a shell inlaid bangle in the stack that had some of the inlay missing, so I grabbed some random words from old text and ended up with a random poem to show through that hole.     As another sortie in my battle with ready made charms, I bezeled the acorn in copper after fuming it for a deep, dark verdigris.  And I've already started working on another stack. 

It's just too much fun to quit -- each stack is like a journey to someplace new.  This time I think I went to see the sunset in the Southwest.  That is a relief from home, where it's been raining for the last three days.