what it was is not what it will be

i have been a busy busy girl.  i have neglected my blog once again.  i feel guilty. 

i need to get back in the habit of making a visit here nightly.  i was just getting good at it when life made a turn i was not expecting, and since i have no idea when we will have a sense of 'normalcy', as much as i do not care to be normal, i just need to adjust my big girl undies and carry on.

i have decided to make a change in direction with my jewelry.  i will still make semi-precious items again when the need or fancy may strike, but i am following my heart's desire.  found object jewelry.  a long lost love of mine. 

i am gathering all things not the norm for most in jewelry making.

on a recent trip to goodwill i found these

we can't figure out what they were...but now they will be a part of a necklace.  i will give them  a bit of patina to give them a nice aged look. 

in my hurry to photograph them i apparently did not notice the frosted flake left behind on the table...and you might not have either if i would not have pointed it out, now that i see the photo here on the blog!

a very old chair that i picked up years ago at an estate sale finally just could not be forced to remain chair like any longer no matter how many nails or how much glue was used.   things just don't get thrown away here if they are old and crusty....the older and crustier the better. 

soooo....i pointed out to the hubs just what was to stay and what was to go.  once disassembled, come to think of it, i don't think any of it made it to the dumpster.

these, screwed on the back and the seat of the chair.....

will now be part of a necklace. 

growing up i wanted to be a scientist, anthropologist, archaeologist.  i had learning disabilities that were not diagnosed as a child, so by the time i was ready to go out in the world this arty girl was convinced that everyone was right.  i must have been lazy and stupid and i must not care about anyone but myself.  

had i understood what was going on i would have figured out 'how to' learn and  pursued something in the science field.    i love old stuff.  i love holding something in my hand that someone else used decades or centuries before my time.  who were these people, what were they like, what kind of life did they have.  the wonder of it all. 

i love the look and feel.

 i love all things worn, torn, aged, used.

 if it was glued back together that is even better.  it means that thing meant so much to someone that they kept it, even broken. 

that is the direction my jewelry will be going.  for now.  we will see what happens. 

right now i have so much going on and am running in many different directions at the same time.  even on the days the beast (my meniere's and positional vertigo) is acting naughty.  i don't have the luxury any longer of being able to 'take it easy' on the days i am even the slightest bit functional....but i have to say i feel a bit excited about it all....i feel like i am becoming the me i lost awhile back in some weird way.

  i am exhausted beyond words.  i fall asleep if i am lucky around 3:30 or 4:30.  i get the boys up at 5:45 and stay up long enough to make sure they are up and not going to go back to sleep.  by 7 usually i am out again and then usually the phone will ring one, two, or ten times and then i am up for good a few hours later. 

steph and i are finally getting to tie dye scarves.  one of our biggest sellers.  we have somewhere around 50 - 70 of them in the works now. 

it is only our second year tie dyeing, and thinking back to doing this camp/school/scout childhood activity, you think no biggie.....but boy-oh-boy is it a biggie.  

steph and i are learning so much.

 what makes the best patterns. 

what colors go together, and most importantly which ones do not! 

 what works best as a resist, what does not. 

we have tried 2 new methods of shibori and we are going to try an alternative to wax resist tomorrow. 

just as the weather broke and the temps were tolerable we dove in hands first

today my hands and nails are stained in the blue/purple/green/black colors.  when we went out to do running yesterday i color coordinated my outfit and jewelry to match my hands! 

the temps have been cooler, but it has now been raining off and on.  so the buckets are covered and we run out in between bouts of rain, and in the case today during the rain to move stuff from one color to another, to take one piece out and add a new piece in.  on the up side, the rain is free rinsing water for the pieces that are completed and ready to go in to the wash.

when most of the world is sleeping steph and i are running outside with a flashlight tucked under one arm checking the fabric in buckets. 

here is a peek at pre-dyed wrapped and readied fabric

 can you guess what is wrapped up in this fabric to make it look like bubbles?  it is one of the shibori methods we used. 

 this design we found out is not a good idea.

 these pieces have been woven on a loom first and will be cuff bracelets.

 this section is a method of shibori and was stitched and gathered with string.  lots of work..boring boring boring, but so worth it in the end.

another alternative to using rubber bands.  binding with string makes some pretty neat patterns. 

i can not wait to show you the finished pieces.  this year i decided to keep one for myself!  it is hard not to keep them all. 

after ordering a loom from a fellow etsy seller and loving what i could do with it, i had the hubby make steph and i some additional looms in larger sizes.  i think we ended up with 4 looms a piece.  

i loomed my first cross body bag, and i can not wait to do more to put on the etsy shop.

one of the looms the hubby made is nearly 8 feet long and will be used to make scarves.  i have not had a chance to try that one out yet and can not wait. 

there is so much more to say, but it is time to go check the buckets to make sure i don't over cook some fabric in the dye. 

ok...one more thing....the full moon may have kept us from seeing the latest meteor shower, but it gave me a chance to snap this photo...i am kinda thinking it makes up for it, for the most part.

nighty night all.....talk to you soon.  mwah!