I'm Seeing Stars!

I have a weakness for anything with stars on it. I've even toyed with the idea of a star tattoo.
Since I tend to be commitment-phobic, I leave the tattoos to the brave and don this necklace instead.


Sterling silver stars lariat necklace is available for purchase in my etsy.com store, Girl Tuesday Jewelry.

Hot Off the Workbench...

I just finished making this necklace yesterday. For something that appears simple, it took me a long time to work out the design kinks.
What I set out to achieve in this design was to create a cherry cluster that was made from a single piece of wire. I hate clutter (even though I am entering this post at a cluttered desk) but I especially abhor a cluttered design. I wanted the stems to come up and create the loop from which it would hang. Sounds easy, but I went through A LOT of brass wire (that's what I use when I'm working out a design because it's pretty cheap) before I figured out just the right stem length, curve, size of loop at top and how many wraps of the wire I could do around the loop for it to be secure yet not look like a noose.
Attaching the leaf was easy and I got it to look right on the first shot.

The chain for the necklace was another issue. I thought a regular oval link chain would be fine, but it really didn't do anything for the cherries. After scrounging around in my supplies I found some bar and link chain that I forgot I owned. After polishing the bar and link chain, I slid the cherry pendant on and was satisfied with the overall look.

Necklace measures 16" in length and is available for sale in my etsy.com store, Girl Tuesday Jewelry.

Red Agate and Sterling Silver Modern Lariat Necklace

This may be my favorite necklace that I have created so far. The agate is beautifully smooth and shiny and begs to be touched. When I got these agate stones in my last order from Fire Mountain Gems, I opened the box and sat transfixed, pawing them like prayer beads.

This necklace is available for sale in my etsy.com store, Girl Tuesday Jewelry.

You Know You're Irish When...

Today is St. Patricks Day and I have on my requisite green shirt as I am one-quarter Irish. My great-grandmother on my mother's side emigrated from Ireland as a thirteen year old girl and landed in Newark, NJ via Ellis Island to work as a maid. She came alone and worked for strangers. I am nearly three times the age of my great-grandmother at the time of her voyage and I can honestly say that I do not have the courage as an adult to do what she did as a young teenager.

While I don't share the same level of bravery as my great-grandmother, it seems that if one has Irish in them, no matter how scant the amount, they might have a tendency to save things. By "save" things I mean to buy things such as clothing, sheets, housewares and the like and put them away for a special event that will never come, or to have on hand in case the item in question ceases to exist in the natural world.

Here is an example:
I have about 5 pairs of jeans. Out of those 5 pairs, two rarely see the light of day. They are folded away like the Shroud of Turin because I don't want them to ever get old. I want them to remain pristine. They are my favorites and I fear never finding jeans that fit like they do, so I SAVE THEM.

Here is another example:
My Irish grandmother, daughter of my from-the-shores-of-Ireland-great-grandmother, found bedsheets that she liked. They were white with a cross-stitched motif printed around the tops of the sheets and edges of the pillowcases. Every bed in her house had these sheets. Her linen closet was stocked like a fallout shelter with backups brand new and in their packaging. These sheets were a fixture in her house for the rest of her living days. Some migrated to my parent's house. We all used those sheets until the printing was so faded they were basically all white, and then we used them as white sheets.
Just when we thought we had seen the last of Grandma's sheets, my aunt Gen recently told us she found a set, unopened, somewhere in her attic.

One last example:
The car I am currently driving has a sunroof, which I love. I have owned my car for about 5 years and when it was new, I never used the sunroof because I was afraid that it would run out. If you're Irish, you most likely understand this crazy talk, but if you're not, let me explain:
On some deep Irish cellular level, I feared that my sunroof had a limited amount of times it could be used and then it would cease to work. This is lunacy in reality, but I really feared that I would indeed use up my sunroof--the amount of times it could be opened and shut would run out and I would be sorry that I hadn't used it more judiciously. I never enjoyed it as I had such guilt when I cracked it open. There was never a time "worthy" enough for me to use the sunroof.
I no longer do this. I use the sunroof when I want, but I always have a moment of hesitation before pressing the button.

Have a great St. Patrick's Day!

In Case of Fire, Please Save the Following Items...

I thought one day about what I would save from my apartment, (other than people, of course) in the event of a fire and in the event that I had the time to do some saving of things in the event of a fire. I realized that I don't really have deep attachments to my belongings, which is good since we live in an impermanent world.

There are a few of my things, however, that I would try to save if time permit. Here they are in no particular order:

• NUMBER 1: A pair brown ottomans that I bought at Fortunoff. They are faux leather and extremely stylish. They are the right height for sitting on AND the right height for putting your feet up if you are sitting in one of my chairs or couch. If I put them together and add a tray, they make a great coffee table. They are cubes of perfection. I would definitely boost them out the window in the event of a fire.

• NUMBER 2: My kettlebells. I love them, they fit my hands and they weren't cheap. I'd also need something to work through the stress of having my apartment go on fire and nothing cuts through stress like kettlebells. I could also make money on the street performing feats of strength.

• NUMBER 3: My computer and my backup external hd. An iMac, 20" screen, 2Ghz Intel core duo processor, 2 gb ram, photoshop, quark, protools—all legit, not to mention images of ALL of the painting, design and illustration work that I have ever done. All proof of my professional existence is on that computer.
  

• NUMBER 4: My jewelry making supplies. This would be easy to find and toss out the window since I keep everything in a plastic box with a handle. While everything in the box is replaceable, I spent a lot of time finding all of my "findings" and I do really like my tools.

• NUMBER 5: 2 of my paintings, one of Little Italy in NYC and the other of sunflowers. They are my favorites.

Quiet Neighbors

I think cemeteries are very beautiful. Especially the old ones.

It's The Little Things

This is the first post of this blog. I will make it official by now posting an image that will never be seen elsewhere as it is truly unique and was eaten after being photographed. Behold, the marble rye: