Getting to the Bottom of It

A pointy nose and a good set of choppers can be quite useful for getting to the bottom of things.  Like a smear of peanut butter in the bottom of a yogurt cup.

The Straight Skinny on Seeds and Such

For more on the world of seeds and botany in general, try visiting this wonderful place: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/.  Great links and solid information.

A treasury of natural seeds

Want to get inspired?  Go visit this new treasury and see just a few of the fascinating seeds that can be used in jewelry for summer!  Very tribal and mysterious; along with shells, probably one of the most ancient forms of personal adornment.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NzYwODU1OHwyNzIyOTI0MTkw/summer-seeds?ref=pr_treasury

Sycamore seed pods from Bytheinch, on Etsy, whom you may visit by clicking on my treasury link above.

Try a visit, and leave a message to compliment these Etsy entrepreneurs and help their products reach the Etsy front page (promotes their sales and helps them wend their way through these perilous economic days) -- it would be a good deed for the day!  And you might find you'd like to purchase some of these goodies, anyway.

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Natural seeds from Nepal,  offered by Nepal Bead Shop, whom you can visit if you visit my beautiful treasury and all those Etsy shop owners who are just waiting to be of service.   It's a good entry into an alternative economy.

And you can also visit Lydia Smiles, of Faulkner, Mississippi, to peruse her exquisite porcelain drinking cups and hand harvested and dyed chinaberry beads, a deeply historical Southern adornment generations old in her family, something I have searched for a long, long time and at last have found!  Do note, that's Faulkner, Mississippi, for a fine literary connection, as well.  I plan to wear my chinaberry beads this summer, and go back to reading Mr. William Faulkner, myself!  The town of Faulkner is in Tippah County, not Yoknapatawpha County, which is purely fictional, but so truly created that it does seem to exist.  I have been there, myself, having grown up in the deep south.  Read and recognize . . .

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.