Beauty, Function

I love metalsmithing and jewelry design. It's the perfect marriage between beauty and function.  To me beauty without purpose is lifeless, and function without good design is forgettable. 

RIP Silver Moth Necklace

Sherlock Holmes

I love Sherlock Holmes.  Love, Love, Love.  When I was a young girl, I bought a book of Sherlock Holmes stories from a bargain bin, and read it every waking moment until I finished the two-inch-thick book.  It was a compilation of stories from The Strand magazine with the original Illustrations by Sidney Paget. The old typeface and the dark moody Victorian illustrations promised a world full of intrigue with a mystery just around the corner… .How can anyone resist that?

The Adventure of the Silver Blaze

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

The Hound of Baskervilles

Making changes

I read a great quote today.  It was on point about making changes, however big or small.

"The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it." ~Wendell Berry

Then I remembered Joseph Campbell and his great quote, "Follow your bliss."  

And that thought was followed by, "Just do it." 

For more information on this silver petal necklace, please click here.

God of Art Jewelry

Rene Lalique

A true genius

Butterfly Woman, (Photo 1)

Hatpin, Wasp and Starflower Pincushions,  (Photo 2)

Carved horn hair comb, (Photo 3)

Dragonfly woman, (Photo 4)

Poppy Maiden Pendant, (Photo 5)

Exquisite Perfection

About 15 years ago, I was watching a young ballerina dance on TV and remember being mesmerized by her. Every movement, every extension, and every pose, a work of genius so obvious, it commanded attention from someone like me who knew nothing about ballet. Her name, Mysty Copeland, and I think she and her talent are absolutely stunning.

                                          (photo)

Garden Party

I went to a dinner party set in an amazing private garden. Like the gracious and multi-talented hostess, it was an organized profusion of complexity and beauty. Very, very cool.

It was a potluck, so I this was my dish, broccoli cheese tortellini salad:

Our table:

We were surrounded by a Buddha, a fountain and a Koi pond:

That red blur is a dragonfly:

 A carnivorous plant called Dutchman’s Pipe, front and back:

There was a hen and fruit trees, and numerous nooks to explore.  It was a balmy Cali night in a beautiful setting, with great company and wonderful food.