Fini Friday! Myths and Charms!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Fini Friday! 

I hope many of you are well on your way to celebrating Labor Day Weekend (if you're in the U.S.A) or simply celebrating your weekend! 

I've a little bit of a follow-up on the the charms that were gifted to me at the beginning of August! The story of how they arrived in my world is here. 

I've finished embellishing them and they are ready to show you! 

A group shot first...

  I hand-painted each of the charms with various colours and then painted on the differing, hand-coloured resins. 

Below are close-ups of each charm... 

This is has the working title of Blue Sky Eagle and was painted white with a bit of black and then sealed with blue-green tinted (non-toxic) resin. I love the fine glitter effect of the pigmented resin and the very ethereal effect it gives! 

The second Eagle/Hawk pendant has a working title of Earth Eagle and has a bit more detail to it.... 

I painted the Eagle/Hawk a beautiful copper-y colour and meticulously applied an ebony black to the wings to give a bit of depth and distinctive marking to those wings. I also hand-mixed and painted the rocks or earth below the glass marble a darker, rich brown. The resin is tinted with a fine gold glitter and I love the beautiful sheen it gives! 

The last of the gifted pendants is the skull. 

This one was more challenging and I think it's look is distinctive. Working Title: As Yet Unknown

  This, too, was hand-painted with many colours and sealed with a blue-green tinted resin. Perhaps one could describe the style of the pendant now as Tribal? 

Let's wrap up this post with that new creation I mentioned at the top of the post! This is a creation that has been languishing for long enough that it warranted a complete redesign! 

Working Title: For Brigit

Ingredients: Amber, Fire Opals, Carnelian, sterling silver, Swarovski crystals, lead-free pewter, Artistic Wire, leather, metal.

Brigit or Brigid is a Celtic Goddess known for her skills in all things poetry, blacksmithy (or craftsmanship) and healing. These diverse accomplishments often lead her to be described as a Triple-Goddess or having a triple-aspect. That redesign included a move using mainly cable as a stringing material to leather and wire. Leather seems a natural fit, since that is something most blacksmiths and craftsman of yore would wear as protective gear. Wire and metal in the design also seemed appropriate for the same reason. The redesign was also simplified a great deal, which shows off the gemstones to good advantage. Amber is said to be sacred to Brigid and the Fire Opals and Carnelians continuing the flame-y feel to this necklace are a nod to both the black-smithing, but also to perpetual flame, which is held to be sacred to this Goddess. Her main temple in Kildare, Ireland has such sacred flames attended to and maintained by nuns. I had a lot of fun playing with wire in this creation and am very pleased to have both completed this creation and completed it in a better manner than the original idea! 

And so! 

It is time to celebrate the weekend! 

One little note of where you can find me next week! 

 

Fall Art Festival 

Saturday, September 8th Only! 

10am to 4pm City Center Market 

122 North Buchanan Street Cambridge, MN (USA

Until Monday, then!

Ciao!

Fini Friday! Everyday Faerie and An Intriguing Experiement!

Hello Hello! 

Welcome to Fini Friday! 

I hope your week was fabulous and that your weekend is equal to or better than that! I've had a whirlwind of the an end to the work week and am looking forward to some fun with friends in and amongst some other events this weekend! YAY Friends! 

I've finished a few pairs of earrings with some of those green with-white-polka-dot beads which were debuted on Wednesday! 

Let me show you! 

Title: Forest Faerie Mushrooms 

Ingredients: Bali silver, Glass, metal, surgical steel earwires.

  

This was the first idea that popped to mind upon receiving these beads and I love how the beads shift and change just a bit as they dangle... just as real mushrooms are not always perfect, and adapt to the environment around them!

Title: Faerie Gambling Tools

Ingredients: Bali silver, Glass, Artistic wire, surgical steel earwires.

  

 These square beads reminded me right away of dice and I love the idea of Faeries, dice and good-natured gambling games!  How these dice are used and how the games are played is left to Imagination and the Faeries!

And finally, a new challenge that I'm giving myself!  Below are three charms that were gifted to me from another artist who received them as a gift.  No ideas came to her as to what to create with them and so they were passed on to me.  I'm thinking of possibly brushing on resin on the hawk/eagles' wings, but the experiment I've set myself is with the skull.  I normally don't really care to work with skulls much, especially those that are specifically designed to be menacing or scary.   However, an idea has surfaced regarding this and I'm pondering painting, using resin or etc. to the style of the Sugar Skulls seen at Day of the Dead celebrations.  Other inspirations may emerge as the creation starts, and I'm intrigued to see what happens with it (and them all!)

That's it for this Fini Friday!  

Below is a little reminder of where I'll be in a little less than two weeks!

August 11th!

Saturday only!  10am to 6pm

The Coffee Grounds!

1579 Hamline Avenue North
Saint Paul, MN 55108

Ciao!