Weaving and Jewelry Part 2

This Spring semester at Mendocino College, I have been taking the weaving class. It has been a very fun experience so far and I'm pretty excited to finish my first weaving project. I just got a package in the mail for the jaggerspun merino wool/silk blend yarn I picked out. I got 3 shades of purple and 1 shade of peach. I'm planning to reproduce a beautiful peruvian skirt I found at vintage store in Arcata. It took me over a month to get my warp set up and put it all onto the loom. WOW what a project. I am learning more and more, how much appreciation we should have when it comes to the fibers of our clothing. The process behind it all is super fascinating to me. And to think we can pick up a shirt or a dress for under $20 sometimes is crazy to me. I already have estimated that if I were to sell this skirt I'm about to make, in order to make it worth my time and repay the supplies needed, it would have to cost well over $300. Dang!! Hope you enjoy the pics of my sewing/weaving classroom and here's a sneak peak at my warp on my loom... more pics to come.

This is one of the best community colleges I've been to! The first reason, being that the school is getting it's power from Solar Panels. There are probably over 100 panels. It always makes me feel so good coming on to campus, knowing that my sewing machine is being powered by the sun. The second reason is because of the FREE parking. I always find a great spot to park too.

 

 

 Here is an up close of all my 664 threads!! This took several classes to finish. WOW!

 Here is what it looks like from the back. We realized after I put my warp on, that I accidentally over counted and ended up doubling my warp. Oh geez... luckily all was not lost and now I have a 2nd warp ready to go for the next skirt. With the help of some fellow weavers, we managed to take off the 2nd warp but it sure slowed up the process.. but that's how we learn.

 She's almost ready to go!

 This is my 3rd favorite thing about my college. Every time I walk down the hallway to my classroom, here is this beautiful dancer who greets me every morning. She reminds me to enjoy life and dance with all of life's challenges. I love the weaving program and I hope we can keep it alive amidst the avid cuts of many art classes.

Weaving and Jewelry Part 1

So I've been wanting to post my latest art forms I have been dabbling into. Weaving and making jewelry out of silver. I've been doing the jewelry for the past few months with a very dear man in my little town. He has been a silversmith for over 20 years and I feel very fortunate that he is sharing his gifted talent with me. He has the cutest little shop tucked away in the woods. Every Tuesday we get together at his shop to solder new creations. Today I finished a necklace I've been working on for a few weeks. I'm really excited about it and the best part is that it was my own design. His wife is also an artist, and she just taught me the first steps in knitting. I love Tuesdays so much because we sit and drink tea, talk about art and then out to the shop we go to make creations.

 

the scrap metal bowl

Hammers and mallets

My favorite tool. This is called a dapping block and this beauty is from France!

I love this technique using mud to protect the jewelry from getting too hot and breaking off. 

This is the ring after the stone has been put into place. Isn't this a beautiful piece of turquoise!

 

In this photo, I'm grinding the inside of my bezel to remove some excess solder

Here is my necklace, almost finished. I got this stone in Tuscon last year at the Gem Show. It reminds me of the United States for some reason. I put a heart on the top to symbolize love.

  The finished product! YAY!!

to be continued.....

Love Is the Way

I just wanted to dedicate this post to all the people of Japan that are suffering from the tremendous damage of the earthquake that shook on 3-11-11. It's really hard to even watch the footage of all the damage that has and is still taking place. I just got word that now there is radiation from the areas where nuclear power plants exploded. Even hearing reports of the wind carrying the radiation that is now in our atmosphere possibly even to our coastline here in california makes my eyes water with tears. I sit and ponder the devastating destruction that our planet is going through right now. It seems like mama earth is begging us to change our ways and to live differently. SIMPLY. With love and with compassion for all of life. Watching the tsunami of Japan ripple out all the way to California is a true symbol of the true connection we all share on this planet together. We really are ALL ONE or NONE...as Dr. Bronner would say~ This is a very reflective time we are in right now. We have an opportunity to shift globally into a new direction. One filled with new ways of living and being. A way that creates sustainability through the preservation of resources and the earth. It takes each one of us, including myself to make the shift. It starts within, and just as the tsunami's wave, it can ripple out 10 fold. One inspiration inspires another.

This afternoon was spent planting seeds for our new garden. It makes me feel so alive to plant and have my hands in earth. I love the connection I feel to it all. I want to give thanks and gratitude for all that is in my life right now. The many many blessings that have been bestowed upon me. I cherish the beauty of the opening of a flower and the songs that the birdies sing in the trees. I hope out of this contrast of knowing I don't want to have a planet that is in conflict with itself, that the desire for change is being birthed. That we all will, one by one, make direct change by healing ourselves so that the whole may feel the shift too.  I know I chose this time to be here and I send out love to everyone on the planet. Even the so called bad guys in corrupt politics. I send them even more LOVE...
because after all LOVE IS THE WAY.