Aire Globe

Cartography, History, Imagery of Elements

On old maps, frequently there are ornamental drawings in the four corners. An example is a representation of the four directions.

North, South, East and West.

Or the four elements.

Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

They had meanings to the ancients, middle age and renaissance cartographers and mapmakers.

These were accompanied by drawings that symbolized the elements. This egg shaped bead has a drawing of the element 'AIRE' on one side.

Some authories say the four "arms" of the Celtic Cross I posted about earlier represent the four elements (fire, earth, air, and water), or the four directions of the compass, and still others feel it is a representation of human existence - mind, body, soul and heart.

The idea of the four elements dates from pre-Socratic eras, and continued on through the middle ages. It's also found in European and Asian cultures, such as ancient India, China and Japan.

The elements are a basis of Hinduism and Buddhism, and include a fifth element to describe things that were not of the earth but were beyond the material world or non-matter. Like the heavens, stars in the sky.

Most maps use latin as the language to communicate between cultures, but some more popular maps use German and were for common use, printed in common term language, with banners announcing their purpose and the mapmaker's name at the bottom.

Small circular illustrations may suggest different ways to look at the world, such as the four elements, these illustrations were made using a printing process from a woodblock and are part of late medieval culture, sometimes including a circle of land surrounded by an ocean sea.

I love the ideas represented by these ancient images. This egg-shaped bead has a spot on the bottom for a dangle to be added, and a generous loop at the top for a chain, seed bead necklace or ornament hanger to go in to finish the design.

Oval shaped, with faux crystals at the bottom like a pointer on a compass, and the filigree top, this pendant reminds me of antique compasses on sailing vessels.

Heartland Folk Holidays

Travel and a change of scene often brings new images and ideas to life and experience.

There are many places in the world where making and selling holiday ornaments are a big event, lots of tradition and skill in making them by hand.

Do you have family ornaments and decorations that remind you of times past, people and places where you've traveled? I have friends who always bring home an ornament or decoration from every trip, to remember and commemorate them. I do that sometimes, when I remember to look for the ornament during the trip.




I especially like handmade ornaments, particularly those with a traditional and folk art feeling.

Things that are carved, stitched or otherwise hand created. Have you seen some of the straw ornaments, braided with colorful yarn hangers? Those type of decorations are my favorite. Or crocheted snowflakes, all stiffened with glue and delicately turning on their hangers.

So I started this week casting some designs in plaster, to give as gifts and to list in the Etsy shop. I don't think of them as beads, they're much too large, I believe, to be used for jewelry, at 4" long. But they are fun for hanging on the tree or a wreath, or putting on a garland. Or on a magnet stuck to the refrigerator with a favorite holiday card underneath.

They are all hand painted. I wanted to make them look worn and vintage, a little rough in the painting and very unique so that each one is special.


Father Christmas, or Saint Nickolas. Santa Claus. Many traditions, different in parts of the world, the familiar standards re-interpreted to tell their own special holiday story, as the days of the year wind down to the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, when the days start to lengthen again in anticipation of the new year.

They have little brass wire hangers embedded in them so they can have a pretty ribbon or beaded chain attached to them. Sparkly and quaint in the light of a candle, decorating the room in the feeling of the holidays.

These little mittens and stockings can easily be customized with a name, for a Christmas gift, with the year written on the back - I have plans to make several for my family. If you'd like one customized for you, let me know - but it has to be a short name, there's not a lot of space on the little ornament!

What's your favorite kind of decoration, do you prefer the shiny round glass, the silvery tinsel? Or do you like the satin sheen and the pearly glow?

Or like me, do you like the quaint, folksy old fashioned style of ornament?

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It's an icy morning here, with more predicted today. The winter winds are blowing hard, there's a good chance of snow.

12 Days - Christmas at ABS

CHRISTMAS AND TWELVE DAYS OF IDEAS AT ART BEAD SCENE

Are you having a handmade holiday?

If you need a little extra inspiration this year, here's an idea for a source to get your creativity flowing again.

Each of the editors at the Art Bead Scene blog are contributing two free holiday project ideas for the 12 days of Christmas, using art beads and button.


I contributed a recent post on using wire to create a one-to-three connector finding.

The necklace I made uses those midnight blue-black costume pearls that I dyed a while back. They are really pretty, luminous and very vintage looking. The hand dye on the pearls gives them that feeling of having been around for a while, not like brand new fresh costume pearls.

Those are the darkest ones I've tried to dye, usually I'm going for a cream or vanilla type of color. They turned out just great!


I have another post coming up at the Art Bead Scene blog on using art beads, buttons and glass beads to make an ornamental decoration.

All 12 ideas are interesting and fun, be sure you pop over there and check them all out, and if you post a reply on the Studio Saturday post from yesterday, you could win a bead if your comment is chosen!

Baked Goods Deluxe

There's an easy, quick cake recipe that doesn't require a lot of measuring or fuss, but is really good and tasty. Even the family's youngest members can make this dessert that's a cross between a cobbler and a deep dish cake.

An old friend gave me this recipe many years ago. I still have the little recipe card with it written down. I keep those as mementos, like a culinary time capsule, full of memories.

Don't you have a little box or three-ring binder of handwritten recipe cards somewhere?

The ingredients for this cake are very simple, it goes together quickly, and bakes up into something really yummy and special.

There are studies that show that the strongest link to memory is often a scent or smell. Maybe cinnamon, or vanilla. The smell of baked goods can take you back to memories of your childhood.

Southern Dump Cake Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan bottom; be sure the oven is fully at temperature before you put the cake into the oven

Pour a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple in heavy syrup into the pan and spread it evenly around the bottom of the pan

Spoon generous globs of cherry pie filling from a 21 oz can over the pineapple but don't try to spread the cherries, just drop globs evenly spaced over the pineapple layer

Open a box of yellow cake mix, the size that makes two layers, and use your hands to sprinkle the dry cake mix right over the top of the pineapples and cherries in the pan, but don't stir or mix anything together

Sprinkle 1 cup of chopped pecans on top of the dry cake mix, generously and evenly across the top of the layered mixture in the pan

Take one entire stick of butter and cut into thick slabs and pats, then dab the slabs on top of the entire cake ingredients in the pan, giving good overall coverage with the slabs

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until the corners are set and the top is nicely browned, with the fruit bubbling through in spots

This cake is great right out of the oven with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream on top, but it's also good at room temperature.

If you don't finish it all off in one sitting, be sure to store the remainders in the refrigerator and reheat it later in the oven - Or cut it into portions and put into the freezer, to warm up in the oven or microwave.

Easy to make, and it goes a long way toward spicing up your holiday or any occasion with a tasty treat!

You may have everything you need in your pantry right now to make one of these Southern Dump cakes. Try it out and see if you like this recipe as much as I do.

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While we're on the subject of cake mixes and notebooks, here's something cool, that you don't see every day!

A notebook, blank pages all spiral bound, with the covers made from the front and back of the box for a cake mix!

There's an Etsy shop with many different types of notebooks like this.

Aren't they fun?

And what better place to start saving handwritten recipes?

Giving Zephyrs

Spirit of the Season

As a big 'thank you' to all of you who posted ideas on how to use the zephyr connectors I said there would be a giveaway of one of the connectors.

But so many of you had such fantastic ideas, I decided not to choose just one of you to receive just one connector.


What about the rest of you who posted a good idea?


So I thought about what I could to, to show my appreciation. And I decided something.

In the spirit of giving, I decided to give all six of you one matched pair of them!

To get yours on its way to you, go to the shop, pick out your favorite from the Zephyr connector beads, do a regular purchase in Etsy.

BUT don't pay. NO - don't pay.

I'll send them to you! Your choice of a color matched pair of connectors for you to use to try out your ideas. There are 12, one pair for each of the 12 days of Christmas!

So ... if you were among the six who left me a reply on the earlier post with a design idea, go quickly so you get to choose the pair in your most favorite color! With three, four or five holes.

Enjoy! And thanks for all your encouragement and support this year ...

Clicks and Snaps of Time

Color gives feelings to images. A warm color like yellow, red or magenta give a different feeling than a cool color like blue, teal or lilac.

I've been painting 12x12" pieces of cardstock, putting collage images on them and just enjoying the color play.

A jewelry piece can photograph totally differently if it's on a bright, white background, a black or grey, or something with lots of colors and textures.

Whether dyeing fabric, painting paper or coloring jewelry pieces, I really enjoy working with lots of saturated color. I'm trying to use more of the cool colors, as I'm most comfortable with the warmer spectrum. The browns, sepia tones, and warm tomato reds.

I'm using more blue, gray and greens. Trying to expand the color palette.

I have some sheets of prepared canvas, really large ones. I think it'll be fun to spread them out on some newsprint and do a collage on them. They have such a nice cloth-like texture, not smooth and shaded like coated paper.

Taking the sheets and using copies of them to make Artist Trading Cards, for sharing.

I've noticed something really odd, at least it seems unusual to me. If I take a really random piece of paper with a collage background and lots of writing or colors applied, and make an enlarged copy of it, suddenly it changes. It looks finished, complete.

I have sort of experienced the same thing with photographs of famous paintings, when you see them in person after seeing them only in a print or photograph from a book. The scale is different, and you can see the brushstrokes and the little details. You can't touch the original painting, but you can get close, and see all the surface areas and places where the artist touched the canvas.

Have you ever stood for a long time in front of a favorite painting, looking close up at all the brushstrokes, imagining the artist at work in another place and at another time?

Who is your all-time favorite artist? The one you are most inspired by.

Want to take a peek into other artist's studios, 'where the magic happens'? here's a fun look from an interesting blog.
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If you want a chance to win on the giveaway, be sure to post your reply today. Comments will be closed at the end of today ... and the announcement for the goods on Friday!

Crown and Cross

Historical symbols and ancient markings are very interesting to me and I think they add a certain meaning and provide openings for personal interpretations.

They can be icons in cultures and bring a sense of mystery and history to anything that uses them.



One symbol I like and use a lot is the fleur-de-lys. It means 'lily flower' and it is a stylized design of an iris or lily. The fleur-de-lys frequently appears on the design of a compass rose to mark the northerly direction, a tradition that comes forward also to the present time. The designs have been said to represent faith, wisdom and chivalry.

The symbol of the fleur-de-lys appeared in European coats of arms, with the French monarch and the Spanish monarch. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the sole remaining monarch of the House of Bourbon and has the fleur-de-lys on their flag and coat of arms. The fleur-de-lys features prominently in the Crown Jewels of England and Scotland; the Crown created for Queen Victorian in 1838 has in its center the Second Star of Africa cut from the great Cullinan Diamond, and above it are alternating crosses and fleur-de-lys. The royal crown of France is a circle with eight fleur-de-lys ornamenting the top.

The symbol appears on French postage stamps but is not officially adopted by any French Republic; it's also the emblem of the Italian province of Florence due to Medici influence in the 16th century. In architecture it shows up in many places including the railings of the fence in front of Buckingham Palace in England.

In North America the fleur-de-lys is often associated with areas formerly settled by the french. Louisiana and Quebec, for example. It appears on military insignia and the logos of many different organizations, and as a religious symbol it may represent the Trinity.

The heart shape symbol originated as an ivy leaf, which symbolizes eternal love and faithfulness. It's found on memorial stones and artifacts of pottery and wall friezes painted in the bronze age, so it's very ancient. It's prominent in folk art, especially the Pennsylvania Dutch designs.

The crown is a symbol of loyalty. In Ireland the claddagh symbol, with the heart, hands and crown, is used as a symbol of love, loyalty and friendship and is often used as a wedding ring. A Luckenbooth, symbolized as two interwined hearts with a crown, is a 17th century symbol of love, betrothal, affection and friendship, with the two hearts entwined with a crown topping them.

I've made several of these crown heart cross beads. This one is an especially pretty light greenish color, with a design on the reverse side that is taken from an ancient mosaic tile pattern. It has the upraised crown pattern, with the heart, fleur-de-lys and cross symbols on it.

It has an opening from top to bottom for wire or beading to go through it, to make an ornament or a jewelry design.

Cross and Crown

On the trip to Ireland several years ago, my friends and I visited the Rock of Cashel. There's an ancient celtic style cross there, with the characteristic circular pattern around the arms of the cross.

It's a high cross, a traditional latin cross with a circle enclosing the arms and uprights of the cross.

For more history about the origin and meaning of the celtic cross images check out the exhibit
with many examples.

When I travel, I take photographs but I also do quick sketches and watercolor washed pages in a small drawing book. A page from my sketchbook has this simple line drawing of another ornate celtic cross.

Many crosses of this type are markers, historical monuments. Others I've seen in cemetaries are markers and memorials of people and families.

In 2005, a celtic cross monument was erected in honor of the irish immigrants to Saint Louis, Missouri, where I currently live. Saint Louis is a very old town, with many historical areas and stories from the original settling of the western part of this country.

Another benefit of the large Irish population in Saint Louis is the many excellent Irish pubs in the area!

I recently made three little pendants in the spirit of the ancient crosses. There are several styles, this one is the celtic cross with four circles, one surrounding each of the upright and cross arms. I'm doing some research on this configuration, to see if it has a special meaning or interpretation. Later I'll show the crown and some of the other crosses I created as replicas of artifacts.

It looks very timeworn and ancient, with great details. It has an opening from top to bottom, for wire or cord to pass through.

It would be great worn as jewelry, or used as a decoration. It reminds me of the worn and ancient celtic crosses standing out in the open on the hills in Ireland.

Or on the open prairie in the midwest, in downtown Saint Louis, Missouri.

Global

Do you ever save old calendars, the ones that have artwork or photos to decorate each month? I have some I've kept for a very long time for the beautiful images in them.

One of my favorites is a calendar with images of antique maps.

I like the colors and the spidery writing on many of these. And the images of countries and waterways when so much of the countryside was still unknown. They look hand-drawn, not like the modern maps we see today.

I have a framed print of an antique map hanging up. It's an ancient image of the world, two circles with drawings of the continents inside. It's a reproduction, of course, but I like the coloring and the images from it.

I've been enjoying making these round, teardrop and oblong beads, some with images from old vintage maps on them.

To me they seem very vintage, like antique globes. I plan on making some for gifts, to decorate packages and later to be used as holiday decorations.



Shaped like a flattened globe, with ornate copper endcaps, this one looks particularly old to me.

I built a chain for it with black beads, brass findings and a length of chain that can lengthen and shorten it. I really like this one. It's got the word 'EARTH' clearly visible on one side of the round bead, and because it turns freely you can sometimes see the markings for the ocean, sometimes the longitude and latitude markings.

Digging around in the bead stash, I found some glass seed beads, and strung some necklaces to hang these little globals from, if they are to be jewelry pieces. If I had enough beads, I'd make a long, long strand, to wrap around the holiday tree's limbs.

That's the amazing thing about beads, they can be used in so many ways.

Reaching for Stars, Showering Blessings

The Story Behind the Charm / Clasp / Bead Exchange - Counting Your Blessings

This is a fairly long post, with lots of photos and links to the wonderful folks who made the 'Counting Your Blessings' exchange swap such a success and so much fun from start to finish.
I also talk about this exchange in my Studio Saturday post over at the Art Bead Scene, with more photos there, too. I've started creating a necklace and a bracelet using the charms, when I finish I'll share how they turned out.

An outstretched hand, showering the blessings, with a shiny star over an inverted heart on the front of the little cotton amulet bags that bulged with their contents. This was my last image of the charm swap goodies as they headed to their new places before the Thanksgiving holiday.



Since then, I've waited to unveil all the details so every member of the swap could get their package first - not to spoil the surprise.


One definite benefit of hosting the exchange was that I was able to see every charm sent, to think about the receivers and try to assemble a group of charms that they would all enjoy. It was a form of extended friendship, long distance but still very real.




The first to arrive for the swap were these lovely heart charms from Gaea Cannaday, with a beautiful crackle under the glaze that made them very rustic and yet smooth to the touch and luminous.




I love ceramic beads, and have quite a few of Gaea's beads to use in jewelry designs. Her focal pendants are timeless and beautiful, too.



Lorelei Eurto sent a marvelous little charm, a found object skeleton key on a stamped copper sheet with the word 'Home' on it. And lovely gemstone beads as a dangle on each one.



Every key seems different, and I could tell they were authentically old keys. As she knows, I'm very fond of antiques. One of the hard things about hosting an exchange is having to part with all but one of all the beautiful things you receive!



Lorelei is very good at combining things in her designs that are unusual but have an unerring sense of belonging to each other after she works them together.



I thought I started to see a common thread running through the charms when these beautiful ceramic leaves were sent by Erin Siegel at Every Heart Crafts.


We are all thankful for the changing of the seasons, the warmth of our homes and being close to our loved ones.




These little leaf charms spoke to me of the unique quality in each person, the individuality we all contain and should cherish. A symbol of passing time, the natural world moving through the seasons.



New spring buds of leaves on the trees when the spring is arriving, the long shadows cast in mid-summer to cool us during the heat of the day. The brilliant changes of color in the autumn as the leaves begin to fall. And the wispy trunks of the trees in the winter, lightly coated with snow.




This little house charm, with its heart design and tiny doggie charm dangle, was created by Lisa Harrington.


The reverse side has the quaint old saying, 'Home is Where the Heart is' - which is so true.

It may look like there was a coordinated effort in making the charms match up well with each other, but it just happened that way. As the charms arrived, there was a story forming in the unity and uniqueness of each person's creations.



Mary Harding has a special way with clay, in making her lovely ceramic glazed toggle clasps. I thought she might send those, since the exchange was for beads / clasps / charms.


To my everlasting surprise and delight, she created and sent along a group of pendants and charms.

She sent me an extra little charm for hosting the exchange, so I have a cute little bird and a pretty flower drop bead. Aren't they wonderful?

She told me that being in the swap encouraged her into a new direction with her clay beads.

I think that's super! and I just love the little bird and flower beads, as well as all the other lovely pendants she sent to share with the swap group.



Cristi Clother is known also as 2ifbySea, and she was very generous in her swap items, including a lot of extras!


There were copper charms, links and a clasp, as well as colorful round number charms and a blue stick drop bead with the words 'Be Blessed' - a bonanza!

I plan to use all the components on a charm bracelet with more copper links and some twisted wire links, combined with some of the other pieces from the group's charms.

Right now they are spread out on my desk in a row, to plan out the order and arrangement that may work best together. I fiddle with them, moving them here and there.

Along with the lovely goodies, these creative superstars sent me little letters and notes that were beautifully designed. I'm putting them into a scrapbook to commemorate the exchange, and the nice sentiments that came along with them.



One of those was a card made by Heather Powers at Humblebeads, with the words 'Wisdom is the Beginning of all Blessings. Wear This Little Owl as a Reminder' - such a nice thought, with a wise little white owl in the photograph on the card.

Each owl charm had a different little pendant, I kept one for myself that had a copper disk and a leaf dangle. It will look great with the copper components for the charm bracelet.

I always pictured the owl charms that Heather makes as larger, this is such a teensy little bird! and the round disk bead that came with it has all my favorite colors in it.


I may make a necklace with just the disk bead and some chain, all on it's own and simple. Heather is so creative and very sharing of her knowlege and experience.

I owe Heather a great deal, she encouraged me last spring to go ahead and offer my bead creations to be sold on their own without being in a finished piece of jewelry, and she included me in the Art Bead Scene editors, first as guest editor and now as one of the regulars.



Of course, I do have a few photos of my charms to share, too.


I created some glass vials of gold flakes, putting the flakes into the vials and covering them with resin.


Let me say that if you are going to do this you should put some resin in each bottle right away because the resin starts to thicken up! The resin resists going into the opening in the vial if it's too thick.

I made eight of them and almost waited a bit too long. I created the translucent labels for the bottles and applied them to the glass when the resin had set up, popping the tiny cork into them and wrapping with brass wire for the hanger.

I found a source for more of the small glass vials, I want to make some more. They are so fun!

I must confess that a few of them were puns - 'GOOD' and 'LEAF'. Good As Gold - get it? Gold Leaf?

I know, not such great play on word puns but they tickled me anyway. I love word games and puns, so I kept the one that says 'LEAF' myself and have plans to use it on my charm necklace.

I made a heart connector bead with two wire loops, and star or leaf charm drops from fused glass.


And a round brass connector bead with the numbers '1' and '2' stamped on them. Like the rhyming counting song, 'One, Two, Buckle My Shoe' from childhood memories.

A little word charm stick that said either 'HOPE' or 'LOVE' also went to the charm group.

Do you see the repeating designs that I noticed, icons of things that symbolise blessings to all of us in the charm group?

Leaves. Hearts. Houses. Keys. Numbers. Words. Birds.

Isn't that amazing?

That's what I was thinking to myself as I tucked them all into the little cotton quilted amulet bag, gave them a final pat and sent them to the others.

I hope you enjoyed following along on this charm exchange experience. If you have a chance to participate in one sometime, be sure to do it!

A big 'THANK YOU' to everyone who went along on this journey with me. You are all very loving and extremely talented people - I'm so happy I know you.