My Newest: Rivendell Elven Forest Set

I am having a lot of fun coming up with new colour themes based on places and characters from the Lord of the Rings series...this particular set was named after I made it. A customer asked for all "blues and greens" in an earcuff, and these beads came together almost magically- from there I just had to make more of the set, and the Rivendell Spring series was born.

My next project is to come up with a range based on a character who was only in the books...her name is Goldberry and she was the wife of Tom Bombadil (one of my FAVORITE characters!) I was disappointed that they left him out of the movies, but there was only so much they could do with the time constraints they had- I know there are a few of us who would sit through a 6 hour movie if it was set in Middle Earth, but not too many;-)

Rivendell Spring is available in my Etsy shop...follow the link below, and then type in "Rivendell" in the search box at the top of the screen

Thyme2dream on Etsy

With Wings As Eagles~ A Pendant

"They shall mount up with wings as eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."

When I first looked at this incredible stone, I thought it could represent an eagle or a dove...I am walking through a very tough time in my life at present, and the words of the ancient Hebrew prophet spoke to me in the strength of this stone...for now, I choose eagle!

This pendant was created for the Wire Artisans Guild Earth Day challenge.
Sometimes the most difficult thing in wire wrapping a natural element is to simply stay out of the way of nature's handiwork. As I created this piece, I felt that the beauty of the stone celebrated Earth Day in its own uniquely eloquent way and the simplicity of the wrap fit in with the "au naturale" theme we chose for the challenge.

Chinese Writing Stone (aka Porphory) is usually cut to feature its inclusions of andalusite crystals against the black limestone matrix. These often have a Chinese character look to them, which gives the stone its common name. In this rare cut, the bead is finished so that the matrix with crystals is seen a bit at the top and on the sides, and the beautiful red shape is allowed to shine as the focal point of the piece.

This will be my first piece included in the Wire Artisans Guild Team shop on Etsy. Our grand opening is scheduled for next week, and With Wings as Eagles will be available to purchase there once the shop is open:
www.WireArtisansGuild.etsy.com

Victorian Spring Fairy Ear Cuff

This is a variation on my Lothlorien Spring ear cuff... I was delighted with the way the pink leaves and pearls combined to give it a vintage "victorian" air. I also decided it was a bit more fairy than elven, so its officially a fairy cuff, lol

The Victorian Spring Fairy Cuff is available in my etsy shop:

Thyme2dream

There Be Dragons!

Dragon Rider of Pern Circlet 

My longsuffering beloved finally got tired of being surrounded by all the "girlie" jewelry here in our treehouse...he declared himself an independant artisan today and opened his own MANLY circlet shop on etsy called "PernCirclets"...the amazing thing about this man is that he keeps pulling new talents out of his hat.







Here is the banner he made for his shop:

He drew the dragon many years ago in Scotland...it is on a Boudhran (Celtic Drum) that he used to play and which now hangs above the fireplace in our house. So he took a photo of the drum, played with it a LOT in photoshop, and that is what popped out. Guess I know how to pick 'em:-).

To see Ian's Manly Shop of Circlets visit:
PernCirclets Etsy Shop

Mucha & Me

Art Nouveau, tales of Lothlorien and Neverland, Alphonse Mucha's artistic love affair with Sarah Bernhardt...all came together in the inspiration for my Elven Dreams Art Nouveau Cuff.

There is definately a "fae-vintage" air about this piece and it can be worn as a bracelet as shown in the photos, or stretched a bit to fit as an upper arm cuff. I wear mine as a very exotic ankle bracelet~there are many different possibilities!



I love the art of Alphonse Mucha! Anyone who has been to my house can tell by all the Mucha (pronounced "moo-kah") artworks that adorn my walls. He was a fierce Czech nationalist, and I like to think I might be related to him somewhere back there- my maternal grandparents are from the same region where he was born. One of the highlights of my first trip to Scotland was attending a Mucha Exhibit in Edinburgh..All of my most beloved Mucha works were there, including the amazing and inspiring Slav Epic series that he painted in honor of his homeland....I could have stayed in the gallery for days!!

I have been especially inspired by the jewelry he adorned his portrait models with, as well as the designs he actually had made into jewelry pieces in collaboration with French jeweler Georges Fouquet. While I am certainly no Mucha, this bracelet has a lot of that love and admiration incorporated into it.


As Always, this item is available for sale at

thyme2dream.artfire.com

Music To Make Jewelry By

Did I mention that my muses travel in groups? This particular group Oysterband, is a wonderful muse for a cold rainy day (which we still seem to be having, even though it is Kansas and supposedly spring here!). The video below features Osterband's lead singer, John Jones and Ray "Chopper" Cooper on Cello (yes, he's rocking a CELLO;) Im off to create...enjoy the music:-)

Dreams of Midsummer

I have had so much fun creating my Elven forest jewelry range! When I first discovered Czech glass leaf beads I knew I had stumbled upon something that would keep me enchanted for a long time. The ear cuff was my first ever attempt at "crystal flower arranging" as I have come to call it. The lovely gold topaz leaves reminded me of Tolkein's description of Galadriel's home in Lothlorien and from there a collection was born!! After the cuff was born, I decided to make a bracelet and necklace, and eventually added the tiara and the upper arm cuff (which doubles as an exotic ankle bracelet:-).

I was recently commissioned to create this set for a fantasy artist in Denmark who plans to use these in a portrait of Titania- quite fitting I thought, as these colours always remind me of the height of summer. I am very excited about this project and will be sharing more once her piece is finished!!

As always, this collection and more is available in my etsy shop:

www.thyme2dream.etsy.com

Once you are there, search "crystal forest" to find all the pieces...:-)

Daughter of the South Wind

Continuing the archived blogs...this is one from summer of 2006, a recollection of one of my best days in recent memory:

There are days, in early summer, when Kansas is almost as beautiful as Scotland, and our history-although much younger than Scotland's-sings in my spirit...today was one of those days. I drove nearly 250 miles (round trip) today up to Marysville for a "Merry Meet" picnic with some wonderful new friends. I had a lovely time at the picnic, and I also enjoyed every minute of the drive.

On the way up, I went straight north on 75 and across on 36. This is historic country with lots of ancestors speaking to me all the way. I saw places I studied about in my recent Kansas History Class and imagined myself back in the days when the Native American and European cultures still lived in relative harmony up in these parts.

The French trappers and traders understood the prairie...they came and lived on the land, not trying to dominate or tame it. They also adapted to the native ways of life, didn't try to force change upon them...and for a long time the French were the only ones who could live here comfortably.

The Spaniards came with their swagger and gold lust; but they were driven back by the fierce, wild Kansa and a land that held only spiritual riches. Coronado couldn't understand that the seven cities of Cibola were indeed cities of gold- but not the kind he craved...they were the endless sea of golden prairie grass that held a fire he would never understand...they were also the amazingly productive cultivation of the Wichita tribe, but even the bountiful harvest they offered in peace did not impress him beyond the sustenance it provided.

On the way home, I drove down 77 along the backside of a line of towering summer thunderheads. That is by far the most amazing scenery in Kansas- our changing skies:). I saw rainbows, mushrooming cumulonimbus heads, fierce looking scud clouds, and eventually the wild and sensual mammatus clouds billowing out of the underside of the anvil of a mature storm.

As I turned east toward home, I chased the rain back into Topeka...watched the sunset splash amazing colours on the still wet landscape- deep greens with glittering silver and gold drops everywhere.... and paint the sky vivid sun-god colours of gold and orange.

Once the darkness fell, I was treated to the light show...this line of storms was riding the cool front across Kansas, and stretched from as far north to as far south as I could see. There were pockets of lightening dancing everywhere across the front...The chain lightening that seemed to fly from the ground up into the clouds and dance from storm to storm illuminated my path homeward....

There are days when I am in awe of the privilege of being a 5th generation native Kansan...and am proud to call my self a daughter of the south wind...today was one of the best!

(Originally posted: Sunday June 18, 2006 - 12:35am (CDT) )

Lions and Tigers and Blogs, oh MY!

Well, here I am finally on Blogspot.com

I just got the myspace thing figured out, and here comes another one for me to try. We will see what happens. I started all this over on Yahoo 360-a platform I adore-but they are shutting down sometime soon, so I decided to transfer some of my writings from there. The first few posts here will be "archives" from the past couple of years. A lot of what I write about will be jewelry and my pursuits in that line, but creative muses often fly together, so I will include other things as the mood strikes...my first few archived posts will demonstrate...

Here's my first ever blog post from 2006:

Disclaimers (Sort of )

Getting some disclaimers out of the way first... (self-concious? moi?)
A couple three things about my blog that may bug you if you are really smart:

• ... see the elipses? I OVER use them. I see them as continuing thoughts...and my thoughts are never completely finished... See what I mean?

• I also use emoticons a lot:-) (smilies is the term I prefer) This bugs my sons, who are actually verbal geniuses and dont need emoticons, because when they write something their words alone express their emotions and thoughts wonderfully. For me however I like using the smilies when I am writing informally, or 'conversing' with someone online. I have a very expressive face, and I use my hands to speak...trying to get that all into a sentence is a challenge that I sometimes can't be arsed with. I think I will try to include a whole separate entry on smiling and its importance in our modern world.

• One important thing to remember...I dont smile when I dont mean it:-). I pretty much love everyone in the world most of the time, and you are my friend unless you have worked hard to prove otherwise. For the record, Yahoo Messenger has the absolute best emoticons available online..I love that little angel thing..and the winkie one, and the hug:-)

• Lastly, (for this list) I write sentences that are too long (and include way to0 many things in parenthesis), but again, if you know me, you know this is also how I speak.

I can write properly, and have so far earned straight A's in all my college classes...here tho, I will just sort of speak informally on the cyberpaper, and try not to be too annoying:-).

Tuesday June 13, 2006 - 03:05pm (CDT)