Blue Moon Rosary Challenge

August 31 is a rare blue moon. Please join Margareta Saari and I on that day for a Handcrafted Rosary Challenge. What began as an extra bead exchange and challenge between two Bead Soup Blog Party partners is growing to include other rosary artists! I will share links to all the artists blogs soon, and if you too would like to participate, please comment below and join us.

Big hugs,

TJ

Korukopla: Flower Jewelry Challenge

Today I'm participating in a jewelry challenge with  lovely Finland jewelry artists! :)  It is an honor to be a part of the jewelry challenge: flowers. Thanks to my BSBP6 partner Margareta Saari for allowing me to join in. I enjoyed the theme of flowers very much. Here in the U.S. it is Sunday lunch time, yet I realize now that Finland is about 7 hours ahead. So, I will post my jewelry pictures quickly and then enjoy the sunny afternoon looking at all the other artists' flower jewelry art! You will find a list of the participants here.

I often create flowers with chain maille weaves, but using all beads was new to me. I wasn't sure what I might create -- daisy chain? French flowers? Japanese 12-2 with beads? In a cool syncronicity, I happened to come across a beautiful blog, "Wild roses and blackberries" and discovered two special flower tutorials -- the "Dagger Flower Tutorial" and the "Dagger Flower Drops Tutorial." The flowers are made with Czech daggers, which feel strong as representations of flowers, bittersweet and defined. I have Czech daggers bought on a whim last year, and now the Dagger Flowers and Flower challenge seem to be destiny. My thanks and praise to the artist and author of the tutorials and blog "wild roses and blackberries."

 Instead of Czech drops, I used faceted moonstone in the Dagger Flowers. For the Dagger Drops, I used opalite sticks. Last night, I decided I had to include the pastel drusy quartz from my dear friend Julez Jewels, and I wire wrapped a beautiful drusy stone using German wire. I choose matte white, periwinkle, and rose gold coated copper wire for the pearls, Swarovski rondelles, lace agate, and opalite diamonds and leaves.

The drusy focal can be worn as a component or as a pendant. The spiral at the bottom makes a perfect loop for a dragonfly charm when worn a a pendant. As a component, the drusy brought an element of the ethereal and magical to the flower garden, iridescent and pearlized.

Thank you again for allowing me to create in the Korukopla challenge!

Big Hugs, TJ

Love Should Grow Like a Wild Iris in the Fields ...

Love should grow up like a wild iris in the fields,
unexpected, after a terrible storm, opening a purple
mouth to the rain, with not a thought to the future,
ignorant of the grass and the graveyard of leaves
around, forgetting its own beginning.
Love should grow like a wild iris
but does not.

Love more often is to be found in kitchens at the dinner hour,
tired out and hungry, lingers over tables in houses where
the walls record movements, while the cook is probably angry,
and the ingredients of the meal are budgeted, while
a child cries feed me now and her mother not quite
hysterical says over and over, wait just a bit, just a bit,
love should grow up in the fields like a wild iris
but never does
really startle anyone, was to be expected, was to be
predicted, is almost absurd, goes on from day to day, not quite
blindly, gets taken to the cleaners every fall, sings old
songs over and over, and falls on the same piece of rug that
never gets tacked down, gives up, wants to hide, is not
brave, knows too much, is not like an
iris growing wild but more like
staring into space
in the street
not quite sure
which door it was, annoyed about the sidewalk being
slippery, trying all the doors, thinking
if love wished the world to be well, it would be well.

Love should
grow up like a wild iris, but doesn't, it comes from
the midst of everything else, sees like the iris
of an eye, when the light is right,
feels in blindness and when there is nothing else is
tender, blinks, and opens
face up to the skies.

~ Susan Griffin ~

Like The Iris of An Eye 

Meet Finland Artist Margareta Saari of Mags-Koruja

Participating in Lori Anderson's bead swaps and blog hops has given me the opportunity to learn about new artists and new elements in jewelry design, and to make some terrific friends! 

This spring, I participated in Anderson's Pantone Summer Color Bead Swap -- an experience that taught me a lot about beads and color as I created soups for each of the ten Pantone summer colors for my partner, the immensely talented Tina Holden of Beadcomber. Holden is an expert polymer clay and jewelry artist and instructor, and her bead soups made for me were exquisite! Tina has now become my good friend, and as she says, we know we would be hanging out if we weren't at opposite ends of the USA and Canada! Distance doesn't stop us from having fun online,  sharing life's adventures and challenges and of course, the jewelry arts. I'm so grateful to have met Tina!

Now being a part of Lori Anderson's 400 person Bead Swap Blog Hop Party is another amazing experience! Not only has BSBP6 been fun, but exchanging beads between Orlando Florida and Jyväskylä Finland has been an adventure! I've learned some Finnish, and I've learned about Finland. But most of all, I cherish making another friend, my partner Margareta Saari of Mags - Koruja, a beautiful artist whose jewelry is intense, artistic, poetic and very popular. Margareta Saari is a beloved Finland artist, and it is easy to see why. Her work ranges from inspirational rosaries to leading edge modern folk art to the sophisticated and sublime.

One of my favorite pieces from her blog is "Noitanainen" (meaning "Witch Woman"). I love the raven, a cool twist on the popular birds in jewelry designs, and adore the magic bottle! I've looked hard for one, and the small size of the glass bottle filled with flowers makes it perfectly magical.

"Noitanainen" by Margaret Saari

Margareta loves Seraphinite, as do I, and often works with the feathery, upscale gemstone. Seraphinite, the gemstone of the angels with its silvery wisps of wings on soft, muted fern greens, is called "serafiniittti" in Finnish. Saari's  necklace "Päivän sana: kiitos" represents thanks to the angels.

"Päivän sana: kiitos" by Margareta Saari

I've learned how challenging it can be for artists to shop, ship, and share internationally -- and I've come to appreciate the stores, independent artists, and internet jewelry challenges that are  open to all and are internationally focused to bring us together. It takes more energy and more time and even more income to go global, but it is so well worth it! The results are outstanding. Whether we are in Canada or Finland or the U.S.A., we all share our love of jewelry arts, our love for our families and children as mothers, and our love of adventure. 

Thank you brilliant Lori Anderson and thanks to my partners in soup, Tina and Margareta -- I'm honored to call you all friends :)

Big Hugs,
TJ






Toltec Jewels is an author by day and jewelry artist by night. Her literary work is housed by the San Fransisco MOMA in a permanent collection of mixed media art and is published internationally in popular magazines, literary quarterlies, and university publications. A gemstone collector and jewelry lover, her store offers gemstone beads and she is happiest when creating handcrafted jewelry with her entire family. She has won a number of awards for both her literary and jewelry art.

 She is also the creator of Jewel School Friends, a community of expert and emerging jewelry artisans taking inspiration from each other, Jewel School, and jewelry art culture by featuring jewelry designers and bead artists and supporting entrepreneurship for independent artisans. Join her at Jewel School Friends on Facebook for tutorials, community events, challenges, and fundraisers.

Soup for Finland: A Look at Colorways for Bead Soup Party 6

This summer, I'm participating in Bead Soup Blog Party 6 and exchanging beads with Margareta Saari of Mags - koruja, an amazing and gifted Finland artist. The Bead Soup Blog Parties are hosted by the energetic and talented Lori Anderson, who is managing this summer's 400 participants! Artists are paired up to exchange bead soups, and after creating jewelry using at least a focal and a clasp from the soup, everyone's  jewelry creations are revealed during a blog hop party. This summer's huge Bead Soup Blog Party 6 will have three reveal dates: July 28, August 11, and August 25.  Margareta and I are in the August 11th reveal. The Bead Soup Blog Party is a lot of fun, and a great way to work outside one's comfort zone and grow as an artist. You can read more about the event at Beading Daily, "Over 399 Ways to Be Inspired to Make Great Jewelry: Bead Soup Blog Party 2012" by Tammy Jones.


For now, here is a look at the colorways I created for the party and sent to Margareta in Jyväskylä, Finland.

Bead Soup First Course:

Bead Soup Second Course:

Desert:

And, here is a peek at the soup Margareta has created for me. The gentle shades of lavender, blue, and purple -- and the cool patterns and textures -- are intriguing. I love the soft, muted colorway!

 Stay tuned as Margareta and I reveal the soups we exchanged, and as the parties begin, check out the inspiring jewelry designs that will be revealed as 400 jewelry artists share their best beads and finest designs.






Toltec Jewels is an author by day and jewelry artist by night. Her literary work is housed by the San Fransisco MOMA in a permanent collection of mixed media art and is published internationally in popular magazines, literary quarterlies, and university publications. A gemstone collector and jewelry lover, her store offers gemstone beads and she is happiest when creating handcrafted jewelry with her entire family. She has won a number of awards for both her literary and jewelry art.

 She is also the creator of Jewel School Friends, a community of expert and emerging jewelry artisans taking inspiration from each other, Jewel School, and jewelry art culture by featuring jewelry designers and bead artists and supporting entrepreneurship for independent artisans. Join her at Jewel School Friends on Facebook for tutorials, community events, challenges, and fundraisers.