first of the two 'the sacred bone and the medicine man' necklaces done.

tonight i finished it.  it was 'bout ready to drive this arty girl bonkers. 

i love asymmetry.  love, love, love it. 

one would think it would be easier to achieve a flawless design, but in the end getting everything to line up properly when it comes to the closure can be a flippin nightmare  challenge. 

when i first started on this piece it was just going to be the sacred bone.  i had it all planned, just how it was going to look and then wham out the window  with that plan.  

the large beads had smaller holes than some of the smaller beads, so that meant i could not wire wrap them.

i originally started on this (these) necklaces a couple of months ago, and when my original plan was nixed my inner kindergartener had a fit and decided she did not want to play with that for awhile.  that is when i started working on all of the other pieces you have seen posted here recently.

well, i had to have a little sit down with my inner kindergartener and tell her she could not make any other new goodies until she finished these.  so, with that said off to work we went. 

this photo is a wee bit blurry...but it gives the an idea of what a mad scientist i am in the studio.  i have a 5 foot long table and about 4 square inches of work space!

from this angle  anything looks good....

this was, in my original plan,  going to be the finished piece....before i soldered the vintage medicine label (which is in the post just prior to this one, i even give a few soldering tips)

you know it is funny, as i found myself flustered that this piece was not coming together as I had originally planned it, i just knew that this must not be the plan for it....ya know what i mean.  having that 'knowing'  made me feel a bit less frustrated and very calm instead. 

i posted on facebook that this piece was not coming together as planned and a few minutes after coming to the realization that there was another plan for all of these arty parts a fb friend commented

 'The Native Americans in New Mexico say, "Talk to the clay" - what you have in mind may not happen....the materials must be listened to because it will come, in the way it should. (And I love the development so far.)'

yipes, that made the wee hairs on my body stand straight up! 


i went to bed not sure how i felt about the necklace, and about 4am decided maybe i needed to march right downstairs and tear it apart and start again....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....i fell asleep with that thought.

when i awoke in the morning i felt a bit better about it and decided a break from it for a day or two to do some yard work.... might just be what i needed to fall in love with this piece.  sometimes, just a few and far in between sometimes,  it is not love at first sight when i assemble a piece.

to help get a better vision for the completed piece i pinned the soldered piece to the mannequin and decided to let the 'vision' of it all sink in.

yesterday i did 2 1/2 hours of yard work.  i was so excited to be able to do as much as i could before the beast started whippin my butt. 

i still have several more days of yard work ahead as i, over the years, have done a ton of landscaping.  when it is all pretty i will take a picture for show and tell. 

i woke up this morning hurting in places scientists have yet to name from all of that yardwork.  my left hand  hurt from using the clippers to clip all of the dead remains on a few of the decorative grasses we have.  my pointer finger and thumb were swollen and my thumb was kinda dead feeling....kind of  scary....almost like someone had come during the night and snatched all my thumb innerds and left me with a hollow thumb!  

i was not sure if i was even going to be able to work on the necklace, but by this afternoon i knew what i wanted to do and i was going to do it even it i had to use my toes in place of my fingers!

this was plan b.  this is where i was going to say...tada!  i am done....but it was still speaking to me and it was not saying i could tell everyone i was done with it. 

the edges were hard and there was all of this spacey space that needed something.

i have told the story before that i would have loved to have been an anthropologist or archaeologist.  i grew up with learning disabilities but no one 'got it'  that it was  what i had. back in the day if you weren't gorked out and drooling all over yourself, then you were just plain lazy or did not care...or did not love your parents enough to try hard enough. 

i loved science, and still do.   had i understood what i do today i would have had the courage to pursue my dreams in the field of science, but, just like this necklace had plans other than what i had for them i believe God had better plans for me as well.  i kinda feel like i am still waiting to see it....maybe it is not about me at all......where was i.....

i wanted this necklace to represent the process of modern man (1930's) discovering and hidden lost tribe.  modern medicine, as the label states, meets the witch doctor.  the modern medicine man meeting the tribal medicine man.....and how beliefs and faiths came together......hmmmm....belief and faith.....vintage religious trinkets and newer religious trinkets.....i think i have just what i need to fill the gaps and holes and soften this piece......

better, but still not 'it'

i think i can call it done now.  i have fallen in love. 

there are still some shiny parts that i need to patina to give it that oh-so-old-and-crusty-dig-site look and i will do that tomorrow.  my brain said E-nuf after this!.....that and the hubby and daughter had just gotten home and i missed um.

to be honest it will be monday i am sure before i start on number two.  i just really don't feel like starting the project all over again....there are lots of bits and pieces of the struggle i left out because they are boring, and those are the parts i don't feel like doing again just at this moment. 

oh....the bone is real.  it is the toe bone of a coyote that the etsy seller promised a friend found dead on the side of the road that had been hit by a car.  i really don't like to picture the back story of this....makes me sad and gives me the heebies at the same time, but i did not want you all to think i was tricking coyotes in to giving me their toes. 

i am hoping to get at least 1 blog post in over the weekend....we will have to see...pms is hitting and i am thinking this month might be one of those curled up in the corner sobbing for no apparent reason type of months.  i could live on chocolate covered pretzels and orange juice....it makes the pms happy.....we did not have either of those a couple of hours ago so i ate a spoonful of brown sugar and gulped milk straight out of the jug aftward, even though just an hour or so before i read an article on how sugar is killing peeps.    i will be 47 next month according to my birth certificate...my brain says about 22.  i just love the wild ride the hormones have been taking lately.   oy. 

nighty night.  sleep tight.

have a beautiful weekend! 

big squishy hugs and sloppy kisses to you all.  xo

and tomorrow is another day....

what was planned for today will have to wait until tomorrow......

we have 1 sick hubby, 25 or so years ago had his stomach stapled and every once in awhile he eats something the tummy does not like.

child number 2 has either allergies or a cold, and being of the male variety is feigning death....thank goodness that child will never have to experience childbirth....sheesh. 

the beast, and if you are new to either this 'new' blog or my old, is the Meneire's disease induced vertigo and benign positional vertigo, has been kicking this girls butt big time today. 

this morning the hubby and boys took a 4 hour trip to meet someone to deliver a hatch from our old, tired, pos suburban.  on the way back they stopped at a garage sale.  we have not been able to garage/estate/flea market sale for quite sometime, and i look forward to the day that we can again.  the people were having to sell what appeared to be the majority of their belongings, which breaks my heart.

  the hubby walked in the door with a box full of silverware.  he knew i was wanting to do some arty stuff with the silverware.  some of these pieces are too too beautiful to do anything with, and i have some more research to do on these pieces.....oh..oh..oh....are they beautiful.....eeeeeeee!

ohhhh....i forgot to take photos....hold on be right back, or brb as the daughter says.

okey dokey....wahlaaaa....pictures.

i have been looking for these boxes, the brass and glass ones.  use to be you could find them at any dime store type store, dollar store.  i went looking for them a few months back and could not find a one.  this one has etching on the top, but i will find a way to fix that....somehow.

little old medicine bottles....one can never have enough of them.

old crusty boxes....squeeeeee.....neato.  and one of them is marked with my age....at least the age on my birth certificate.  i sure don't feel anywhere near that number...maybe half that. 

a couple of old brooches i can use in my jewelry making, and this adorable box of teaspoons...and tucked inside.....

this sweet little note......

and now the box of treasure......

just look at the patterns on some of these pieces!!!   i have more research to do to determine the actual age, the back is stamped Rogers 1847.  some pieces list the individual brothers names as well. 

some of these will be used in with art, some of them. 


so, that is all i've got for now.....oh...except for this......

 i worked on this one above....and below..... to introduce our scarves.  not sure if we will use one, or all of them or any of them.  since i was stuck in bed most of the day i played a bit.  the vertigo makes it hard to concentrated and focus....but i hate doing nothing. 

this is one steph did.  steph is more of a plain and simple, classic kinda girl.  she must get that from her grandmother.  i love both of our styles.  lots.  that is what makes it so hard. 

you would, however, think that we would have learned not to work on any collaborative project when we both have some monster pms.  eeeek.  we both are a wee bit over sensitive, and a teeny bit on edge. 

ok, so that is all i have for now.   i am off to schmere poison plant and critter cream on the hubby's face, which is starting to look like something out of a horror film,  and see if my quarter coffee has cooled off enough to drink. 

lots of love to ya....mwah.