Inspired by Reading Book Club The Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn

The Inspired by Reading Book  Club selection for  September is The  Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn.   This book takes place in Manila roughly during the time of the dictator Marcos.  It is a very dense, film like pastiche of life in post colonial Philippines.  Not an easy book to read for several reasons.  It can be confusing and it does display many graphic images of the violent and sad lives of those less fortunate, especially women.

I have personal reasons for wanting to know more about the Philippines since my grand children's maternal grandfather emigrated to the US from Manila.  I also have been quite intrigued by Jessica Hagedorn's writing.  I loved the movie references and  meta texts of those movies throughout the book adding depth of meaning to many aspects of the novel, as well as referring to the Philippines' importance in movie making in that part of the world.  I especially liked the part about the German film director visiting.

I was inspired to make my necklace by the character of Abuelita Socorro.  Here is Hagedorn's description of her:

"Abuelita Socorro has silver hair.  She drenches herself in "Maja" perfume, wears her perpetual black widow's dress with sheer black stockings and black suede pumps. She has thick ankles, a thick waist and always wears two strands of pearls."

I decided to dress her in  more traditional Filipino jewelry and made a necklace that features the filigree of the Tamborin jewelry and the butterfly that symbolizes the dream of freedom from colonial repression/rule.

This picture shows the simple filigree of a chain that actually comes from Mexico but harkens back to the Spanish filigree tradition.  The toggle clasp that I made has a lone butterfly on a background of copper turned black by patina.  The goldish color of the brass is suggestive of the original filigree that would have been made of gold plated silver.

The pendant I made is also made with brass pieces to suggest gold.  The butterfly itself is stamped into silver soft solder and the flower and border are brass stampings that have been soft soldered to the base. 

                                                      A necklace for Abuelita Socorro

Sadly the dream of freedom from colonialism, also expressed with the butterfly symbol, by the poet, writer and martyr Jose Rizal, did not bring a better life to the Philippines.  The novel the Dogeaters deals with the complex subject of being Filipino in the late 20 the century.  Abuelita Socorro is one  part of this multifaceted identity.

Andrew  Thornton is the leader of the wonderful Inspired by Reading Group.  I am always challenged by the books he has chosen for us to read and to be inspired by to make a creation.  Thank you once again Andrew for a remarkable read and the chance to express my take on it  in jewelry.   I hope you will check out what others have made this month.  The list follows:
Mary Harding http://maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/    you are here
Mary K McGraw http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/
Jeanne Billeci Steck http://gemsbyjeannemarie.blogspot.com/
Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross , Connie Parsons , and Allison Smithhttp://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

Inspired by Reading Book Club The Cookbook Collector Blog Hop

This month for Andrew Thornton's  Inspired by Reading Book Club we read The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman.  I really like this book. It is well written, and has a great story to tell.  And of course I liked all the tech details and the old books.  A perfect combination for my reading taste.

When it came to thinking about what I would make, I knew I wanted to make some peach beads.  There is a spectacular scene/section in the book about a peach. I won't tell more so as to be sure you also enjoy it when you read the book.  Once I began planning to make the peach beads, I noticed that the cover of the book had a picture of peaches on it.  Funny that I hadn't seen that before.  Since making peach beads is a new experience for me, I bought some peaches and took a very nice one to my studio. 

A real peach

I studied it carefully to see what makes a peach look like a peach.  By the time I got the beads made, sponged and bisque fired, it was time to replace the over ripe  peach in my studio with another one to help me figure out the colors I would need to glaze my beads.  It is surprising to me that I used so many different colors: red of course, yellow, orange, brown, and blue.  All those colors turned into this handful of peach beads.  Since they are made of porcelain clay they were fired to over 2200 degrees F.  I was so excited that the colors came true.

Handmade porcelain ceramic peach beads by Mary Harding

My second inspiration came from Andrew, our group leader.  He posted a picture of a computer motherboard to our Pinterest Boards  and that gave me the idea to use some techno pieces in my necklace.  I immediately looked up my Art Walk Etsy Team friend Patricia Johonson's  Etsy shop and found just what I needed.

There were quite a few of these in my order of Techno Trash from Patricia L Johnson GlassArt on Etsy

These little guys needed some altering to make them into beads.  I clipped off the tops and re-wrapped the copper wire and carefully pulled it through the middle of the piece so that it would not surface and be sharp. Then I wire wrapped them with lots of wire since the  "holes" are not round but little rectangular slots.

Techno trash from PLJohnsonGlassArt  Etsy shop

For the pendant, I made a soldered bezel and filled it with electronic resistors from PLJohnsonGlass Art and then covered them with resin which magnified and intensified their color.  

Electronic resistors, capacitors and diodes from PLJohnson GlassArt on Etsy

I hung some additional resistors on the bottom of the pendant.  To me these resistors under resin look like some kind of text.  The copper wire spools look like scrolls:  all references to written language and ancient texts which the cookbook collector  and book collecting in general bring to mind.  

Close up of pendant.  The light at the end of the dangle is a nod to Diogenes who carried a lantern around in daylight looking for an honest person and a reference to the theme in the story of the characters looking for their authentic selves.

This is a full photo of the necklace which is quite long.  No clasp.  Prayer or mendicant style.

a closer look at some of the necklace elements

I had a wonderful time bringing all of these techniques, alterations, and creations together to make a necklace.  For me this book club is such a rewarding experience because I am introduced to new reads, and get a chance to experiment with new techniques and bring them all together into a piece of jewelry.  Andrew this is such a brilliant idea that just keeps on inspiring.  Thanks so much for organizing and hosting this book club.

Please join in on this blog hop and visit the other participants.  Thank you so much for stopping by.

Mary Harding  you are here

Jeanne Steck

Sarajo Wentling

Mary K. McGraw

Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Amy Roadman, Terri Greenwalt, and Connie Parsons

Mary Harding http://maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/

Jeanne Steck http://gemsbyjeannemarie.blogspot.com/

Sarajo Wentling http://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com/

Mary K. McGraw http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/

Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Amy Roadman, Terri Greenwalt, and Connie Parsons http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

Texture Focus on Life

Copper headpins on 20 gauge copper wire

This week our prompt from Sally Russick for the Focus on Life One Week at a Time is TEXTURE.

I have been so busy for the last weeks keeping up with the weeding in our veggie garden due to all the rain we have been getting and  preparing for two jewelry making classes that I am teaching later this month that I have not posted for awhile.  But this week the texture prompt fit right in with what I was doing, making balled end head pins for one of the classes.

I thought I would contrast two different metals and illustrate the different textures they create when heated into a ball with a torch.  The first picture is of copper headpins.  They often make a kind of shriveled up ball which I really like.  In order for mine to get them red like many in the pic I have to be patient and let the ball fully form and them I pop it into cold water.  When I hear the sound of the hot metal hitting the water I know that it will be red.  I love that red color.

Over the winter I read a blog post by Silver Maple Designs by Andrea discussing the merits of Argentum silver wire.  When the price of silver went down I purchased some.  The headpins below were one of my first tries.  It balls up very quickly and is SO smooth. Thank you so much for showing me the way with Argentum silver, Andrea.   I love these headpins.  BTW if you do not know Andrea you can see her blog here.  I love the jewelry she designs!!!

Argentum silver balled end headpins

I hope you will take a look at what the others have photographed for texture this week.  You can get all of the links HERE

Happy 4th of July

                                                              A Celebration
                                 Happy 4th of July!!!

Inspired By Reading Book Club Blog Hop Today

This month, for Andrew Thornton's Inspired By Reading Book Club we read The Bucolic Plague by Josh  Kilmer-Purcell  

It takes place in Sharon Springs, New York and is about two gentlemen farmers who have purchased and attempt to revitalize the Beekman Mansion and farm.  It is a delightful story, well told by Josh.  At times it seems a bit too focused on commercialization, but overall it is a great book with an important  message: preserve the past.  For me, that took the form of focusing on Josh's heirloom vegetable garden.  I even sent for the Landreth Seed Catalogue and purchased a package of Josh's  favorite heirloom tomato, Cherokee Purple.

                                   Landreth seed catalogue of HEIRLOOM veggie and flower seeds

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Josh, who was feeling down and overwhelmed on his 39th birthday sat in his garden alone and made a salad from all that was growing there.
"The bowel was brimming with every color imaginable and when I added a drizzle of olive oil, the colors seemed to magnify even more.  The salad was so bright and cheerful that it actually made me smile for the first time  in weeks.  It was my birthday party in a bowel." (add quotation)
Back to the necklace:
   About the same time I was thinking about what to make for the Book Club Reveal, I came across a notation in an Anthropologie ad that the model was wearing a Ladder Necklace.  I searched Anthropologie and found the necklace and it then became a kind of obsession that I would have to make a ladder necklace myself.  But once I got into figuring out the parts of the necklace, I realized that it was a bit more complicated that I was feeling I had time for so I tried to purchase some curved tubes but that didn't pan out either.  But I did find some nice arched bails at JoAnn Fabrics that perhaps would do the trick.

                                    Arched Bails JoAnn Fabrics--top one I was trying out some ideas

By then it was mid June and I was going to have to somehow meld my  ladder necklace obsession and the Bucolic Plague into one necklace, which is what I did.  I began to think about what a ladder could be related to a necklace concept of preservation and realized it could be a hierarchy or maybe a cross section of an idea.  So I proceeded in that fashion using a Tomato Flower pendant I had recently made as the central focus of my idea.

 I began to realize that the brown and black sticks I had wirewrapped and hung on one of the arched bails could be earth.

                                                   wire wrapped stones to represent fertile soil

And so it went on from there.  I finished the necklace this morning but do still have to add the clasp.

The third rung of the ladder was my heirloom vegetable seeds that I preserved in little glass bottles that I wire wrapped and hung from the top bail on the necklace.

Wire wrapped bottle with heirloom veggie seeds:  starting on the left:  Detroit Dark Red Beets, French Breakfast Radish, Mache Corn Salad, Lemon Basil, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, Carrots scarlet  Nantes, and Brandywine Tomato



All finished the necklace looks like this:

                                                   Preservation Necklace by Mary Harding

This was another great month in the Inspired by Reading Book Club. thank you Andrew for doing this. You can see what the others made HERE  I will add the links later today.

Updated Etsy Shop and Book Club Happenings

I have added these pieces to my Etsy shop this weekend

I have also been busy working on my necklace for Andrew Thornton's Inspired By Reading Book Club reveal which will be this Tuesday, June 25. Just come back to my blog and I will have the links posted.

I have totally enjoyed our book this month which is The Bucolic Plague by  Josh Kilmer-Purcell 

Its all about living in the country and getting back to basics.  Since it is gardening season right now, and much of my time lately has been spent planting and weeding this book fits right in with my life.  What fun!! I usually work on the piece I am making from very early morning until the dew dries in the garden and before it gets too hot.  I expect to put it all together tomorrow morning from 4:00 AM to 6:00AM.  Our cats faithfully wake me by scratching at our bedroom door beginning about 3:45AM.  Luckily I am most energetic in the early morning!!

                                                      Hope you have a great day today!!

Happy Summer Solstice

Here is a picture of breaking dawn yesterday at about 4:40AM EDT.  It  was a beautiful clear beginning.  Today is a bit overcast and here is my picture for the First Day of Summer--the beginning of my very favorite season.

                                  Breaking  Dawn  Summer Solstice  Taken at 4:39AM  EDT  June 21, 2012

I spent part of yesterday with my friend Isis enjoying the sun and her new miniature donkeys  and young ducks and geese.

I  purposely wore the necklace Isis designed for me last week  with my ceramic beads so she could see how

it looked strung it up.    I love this simple circle of bright colors around my neck.  Thank you so much Isis.

 I had to get my passport picture taken yesterday. By chance I was wearing the necklace.   Now it will be immortalized in my passport book for the next 10 years.  How cool is that?

                                                                 Happy Summer Solstice!!!

Art Jewelry Boot Camp: Wire Work Out Blog Hop!

Free form wire work earrings with New Jade stones

Today is the Wire Work Out Blog Hop presented by Art Jewelry Boot Camp.  I have been following along.  What really grabbed me was the post by Staci Louise of Free Form wire work.  I found that I just love working with 14 gauge copper wire.  So all of these pieces that follow were made with it.. After I free formed the wire, I put the pieces in a Liver of Sulfur solution and waited until they turned black.  Then I tumbled them and the black became shiny!!  I have rubbed off bits of the patina on some of the pieces to show the copper but I do love that black.  I did the same with the wire I wrapped the stones with but I didn't tumble it since it wouldn't fit in the tumbler--I make up quite a few feet at once. 

Theses cool dangles are from Scorched Earth on Etsy

These are slightly mismatched stones that I wire wrapped to hang from the free form 

A group shot with one pair not quite finished ( that one was made with 16 gauge--quite a difference!!)

I also tried making  free form wire pendants which are such fun to do.  Here is a pic of one that I decorated with wrapped ceramic beads that I made. Wrapping onto the wire construct is such fun and has so much inspirational potential.  I can see this worked into one of my free form peyote necklaces.

Free form wire with wrapped ceramic beads and stone dangles

Thanks so much for stopping by and looking.  THANK YOU  Love My Art Jewelry for all your well thought out and inspirational  tutorials, videos and info.

I hope you will check out what others  made in their wire work out sessions.  You can get the links HERE

Focus on Life: Green Week 24

This week our prompt from Sally is Green--so perfect for this Spring here in Northern New York.  We have been deluged with rain and everything keeps growing and growing and getting greener and greener.  I chose to post this photo of some blueberries on by blueberry bush because they are green with that beautiful hint of pink which will turn to blue later.  They look so tasty but sadly they are about all the berries there are for the three bushes I  planted 4 years ago.  I must be doing something wrong.  Any suggestions would be so appreciated!!
I hope you will check out what others have green in their lives HERE.  Thanks so much for stopping and for all of your comments.

New in my Etsy Shop SALE First Friday Art Walk Weekend

Porcelain Toggle Clasp in Red Orange in my Etsy Shop

It is First Friday Art Walk Weekend on Etsy through Midnight Sunday June 9.  Use coupon code FirstFriday15  at checkout for a 15% discount in my Etsy shop.  Also please take a look at the other Etsy shops participating in this event HERE.

Lime and Coral Daisy Pendant here

Shamrock Pendant here

ART Toggle Clasp   here

Small Round Rustic Black Toggle Clasp with Sterling Silver Bar   HERE

Large Sun Rays Toggle clasp   HERE

Out of the Volcano Toggle Clasp  HERE

Rustic Black Tree Pendant  HERE

Butterfly Toggle clasp in Scarlet  HERE

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  We are told we will have sun and warmth today.  Hopefully you will too!!

Inspired By Reading Book Club: A Rumor of Gems

A Rumor of Gems with Clasp from my necklace inspired by the book

Close up of double strand toggle clasp by Mary Harding

This month for Andrew Thornton's  Inspired by Reading Book Club we read A Rumor of Gems by Ellen Steiber.  This is a fantasy novel that is full of magic and the lore of gems.  I  was captivated by the setting and the incipient magic of the gems.  In the necklace I was inspired to make by this book I focused on the idea of captured power and magic in gems.  I used several beads that I made to convey the idea of fantasy and mystery.  

My starting point was some long Rosemary Herbal Totem sticks that I made recently.  I wanted to increase the raw gem like quality of these so I made some in porcelain clay. 

I was inspired to try dipping them into some Copper Clay slip by artist Petra Carpreau from Scorched Earth.  She makes beautiful rustic pieces using a technique of blending clay and bronze clay. You can check out her Etsy shop HERE.   Mine are quite different because of the way I did it and because of the copper clay being quite a different material than bronze clay.   The black color is from the copper clay slip and the gorgeous turquoise is a mid fire clay glaze.  I feel that the two together invoked the sense of the captured incipient power of the raw turquoise gemstone.

I further conveyed the talismatic feeling of mystery and captured or incipient power in making small copper clay charms and a fiber bead which I attached  to the tips of the peyote stitch strands.

 And to give the necklace more focus I made a large round focal bead from copper clay as the center energy point of the necklace.

                   

                                 View of the entire free form peyote stitch talismatic pendant.

A view of necklace as it would look if worn

Since I loved the technique for the long porcelain beads, I made more of them and turned a pair of loosely matched totem sticks into a pair of captured gems earrings.

I wrapped  waxed linen around the tops of the earrings to increase the primitive talismatic look of the gem sticks.

As you can see, I had a wonderful time being inspired by the Rumor of Gems.  If you have an interest in the lore of gems, I highly encourage you to read the book and go to Ellen Steiber's website where she has an extensive list of books to read and information about gems.

But most of all, please  look at what the other readers were inspired to make by clicking on Andrew Thornton's blog for a complete list of those participating in today's blog hop.

or click on the list below

Mary K. McGraw http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/
Jenny Davies Reazor http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog/
Judy Campbell http://www.macmillanmarie.blogspot.com/
Jeanne Billeci Steck
Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Terri Greenawalt http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/