i want to hold the hand inside you...

Nix and Hydra - Satellite Necklace 001

Two Souls

Floating through and into eternity

Adrift in the deep darkness

At the edge of the galaxy

United as one with their beautiful god

Tied forever in perpetual oblivion

Peaceful and calm

Reliant on laws of gravity

Alive only if for the other

Glimmering onwards, forever.

Wouldn't it be impressive to think of when we leave this earth, if we could be placed in the heavens alongside our best friend and lover, or true mate, to float through and into eternity?

Nix and Hydra, the two moons of Pluto, at the end of our galaxy, mysterious and quiet. They live on the edge of darkness, and protect their mysterious Pluto god. Content only for the other, happy with the certainity of forever together.

A fine silver bezel is set around the tiny druzy and lemon quartz stones, and the piece has a sterling silver backing, which bears my makers mark. The 18" sterling chain is ended with a dainty bullet magnet clasp. The entire piece is oxidized and antiqued for color and effect, then treated with a polished wax protectant finish to preserve the color for years to come.

Now in the Etsy Shop!

EtsyMetal Project Runway Challange - Season 8 Epi 4

"La vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui

Va-t-il nous dechirer avec un coup d'aile ivre

Ce lac dur oublie que hante sous le givre

La transparente glacier des vols qui n'ont pas fui!

Un cygne d'autrefois se souvient que c'est lui

Magnifique mais qui sans espoir se delivre

Pour n'avoir pas chante la region ou vivre

Quand du sterile hiver a resplendi l'ennui.

Tout son col secouera cette blanche agonie

Par l'espace infligee a l'oiseau qui nie,

Mais non l'horreur du sol ou le plumage est pris.

Fantome qu'a ce lieu son pur eclat assigne,

Il s'immobilise au songe froid de mepris

Que vet parmi l'exil inutile le Cygne."

"Will the virginal, strong and handsome today

Tear for us with a drunken flap of his wing

This hard forgotten lake which the transparent glacier

Of flights unknown haunts under the frost!

A swan of former times remembers that it is he

Magnificent but who without hope gives himself up

For not having sung of the region where he should have been

When the boredom of sterile winter was resplendent.

All his neck will shake off this white death-agony

Inflicted by space on the bird which denies space

But not the horror of the earth where his wings are caught.

Phantom whom his pure brilliance assigns to this place,

He becomes immobile in the cold dream of scorn

Which the Swan puts on his useless exile."

this necklace began because of my EtsyMetal Teams Project Runway Challenge, where each week we watch the newest episode, and create a piece based on the challange within the show!

this past week was a very inspiring episode, where infamous Milliner Phillip Treacy was the guest judge, and brought some of his delicious hats that the contestants had to create an outfit to compliment.

our Etsymetal Teams project was essentially the same idea, to create a piece of jewelry to compliment whichever hat you choose.

this particular hat called out to me while I watched the episode, and I knew immediately what I wanted to create with metal and stone.

it had this interesting and modern version of an Art Nouveau style, and I wanted my piece to reflect that in a less obvious manner.

as it began to take shape beneath my fingers, I was reminded of the shape of a elegant swan neck, and sought out the Mallarme poem that I've long thought was so beautiful.

emancipate yourself from mental slavery...

pushed upwards out of the underworld...

as part of my EtsyMetal team, I partook in the August challenge of creating something that was inspired by Ancient Jewelry.

this is what I was inspired by:

and

they are heart scarabs from Ancient Egypt, so beautiful and full of ritual and meaning.  they believed that the young sun god Khepri, pushed the sun god Ra, upwards out of the underworld and into the sky each morning.  this is much like the way a dung beetle pushes the ball of dung with the youngs eggs laid in it, resembling new life coming out of the ball, or the sun.  Understandably, Khepri had the head of a scarab beetle, and that is where all of the lore comes from. 

scarabs were also used to aid one on their journey into the afterlife, and were heavily adorned on tombs and hung around the mummy necks to protect them.

it was from these thoughts that I was inspired to create my piece. 

I used a trilobite fossil to represent the scarab, and etched into a brass tablet my hand drawn representation of some of the heiroglyphs from the heart scarab.

I'm quite obsessed with how this came out, and can't wait for my fresh supply of trilobites to arrive so that I can begin experiementing with other ideas in my brain!!!

my heart as open as the sky...

I just wanted to say that today, I am grateful to be alive.

my temperment and personality have always been the more pessismistic type in regards to my own well being and daily life, it's something I work on, but has always been sort of a joke with anyone who knows me.  I can turn it on or off, of course I'm a ton of fun to hang out with at parties and the such, I'm not trying to say I'm 'Debbie Downer'.  it's just really when I'm on my own, living my own life that I can be a downer on myself.

the Hubby and I have gone through some incredible changes over the past 6 months...Hubby joining the Air Force, selling or giving away most of our possessions and putting everything we own in a 10'x15' storage facility, quitting a well paying job I've had for over 4 years and throwing myself full time into trying to make a business out of my metalsmithing jewelry skills, going through a short sale on our home, relocating permenantly out of the city and friends I've known for most of my life, living with my mother-in-law while Hubby is in training (shes actually quite wonderful, unlike most mother-in-laws!)....I could go on, but this is a pretty good summery. 

what I'm trying to say, is that for one of the first times in my life, in spite of all these life changing things that have occured in the span of a few months, I'm genuinely and absolutely happy!

maybe it was the realization that you are only truely happy and satisfied when you let go of everything that has kept you in your 'safe zone', or maybe it was a little bit of blind faith in my Hubby and myself that we are taking a huge step in our lives together to make both of our lives more enjoyable and create a incredible future for ourselves...I really can't pinpoint one of these things, so it must be a little bit of all of them.

at any rate,

life is right in any case, my heart as open as the sky.

photo you see above is the "Christ of the Abyss", South Keys, Florida

I didn't even know that beautiful statue existed until 4am today when I was randomly browsing the internet.

my lungs love the air i breathe...

i spend a little time outside everyday, soaking up the beauty, smells, and gorgeous peace.

what an incredible specimen! 

the Texas Hill Country is filled with lovely things such as this Spanish Moss.

it grows in trees, and falls off in beautiful perfect little clumps like this, just so that I can pick it up and add it to my daily 'Nature Bowl' on my workbench.

there's theives among us...

inspired by wonderful Maggie today, I decided to go on my own search for a fresh Zooey fix, and this is what I came up with.

do enjoy.

friday workshop muse....

Lissie.

*sigh*

so, forgive me for asking...

but how am I supposed to get ANYTHING done with THIS thing in my way and all over my stuff?

her name is Louise...and I SUPPOSE that I can SOMEHOW make do with her here.

*GRIN*

can I get a WOOT WOOT...

Etsy Shop is finally re-opened!!!

Pieces are slowly being re-added throughout the duration of the day...

Working furiously in my studio so many brand spankin new pieces spawned from brand spankin new ideas and sketches will soon make their way into the shop as well ;o)

rekindling the fire...

so it's finally happening...I'M GOING TO BE A FULL TIME METALSMITH!!!

beginning tomorrow, I will be completely and fully, self-employed, doing something I absolutely adore.

I must thank my incredible Airman Hubby, because without his faith and belief in me, I wouldn't be able to do this.

money will be tight, times will be tough, and necessity may call me to get a part time job beginning in a month or so...but I would wash windows or clean toilets if it means that I would be free to create, and hammer, and torch, and solder, and LIVE THE ARTISTS DREAM!!! 

ok, thats a BIG maybe on the cleaning of the toilets.  I dont' want to get ahead of myself here, but I suppose if it came down to that, I would clean toilets a few days a week to allow the rest of the time for me to try to get my jewelry business off the ground.

Anyone have any dirty toilets in the San Antonio or San Angelo area?

YOU will soon see some big changes...Etsy shop re-opening this week, lots of new pieces posted very soon, blog re-vamping, much more action EVERYWHERE.

I'm in it, fully immersed, and I'm IN LOVE!!!