Summertime Summertime Sum Sum Summertime

Temps shot up to the 80s here in the Great Northwet, which for us is sweltering, but for me, having grown up way east and south of here, it is . . . SUMMERTIME SUM SUM SUMMERTIME!  Some deeply wired expectation of delight and relaxation and, yes, freedom! rises to the surface and causes all those tight spots to relax.  Ahh.  Things are blooming, things are sprouting, my creative powers are refreshed.

And summer means bangles are back for those bare arms.

Creative refreshment for me means unexpected materials, banish the readymades, tinker and make do, resulting in something original and unique.  Here's my latest stack, a steel wire bangle with home made charms, a horseshoe nail, a rustic ceramic heart from Petra Carpreau, a glorious celluloid bubble button, a clamshell shard and doll's arm, and then my favorite part of this assemblage, a memory wire cuff of heritage corn kernels from TerraCantata, and fish vertebrae, with more from Petra, an oxide striped little disc on steel wire.  And the most unexpected, an experimental foray into textiles:  a thrifted steel bangle wrapped in banana fiber, parcel dyed in natural madder, and randomly lashed with old thread from momma's cake tin full of thread on wooden spools.  Often the thread is too far aged to sew well, but it still wraps, and this bangle was then, just for security, lightly waxed with encaustic medium and heated up to compress the spongy banana fiber.  Definitely not a commercial look, very rustic, tribal and mysterious.  Just right for those corn kernels.  Of course those have to be kept dry, or they'll sprout.  I'm calling it Thriving Tribal Plantings and just now listed it in my Etsy shop.  I'd love it if you'd visit and poke around.