I am back...I think.

To the legions of fans who were wondering what the heck has happened to me, well...

I have finally finished my metalsmithing class and wow... was it ever "challenging" to me...

saw these suckers out......

They became this 3-dimensional  riveted bracelet...

a true anguish to make...

Then...

the little brass box...less torture... even some triumph..!

and on to...

THE HOLLOW RING

I am use to staying at home, going to yoga for an hour, coming back and just putzing around my estate....Make some jewelry, putter in the garden, cook something once in awhile, sit on the porch and drink tea, play my uke....that is my day...and I love it...

  It was hard to go to school!  All of my time went into the class and everything else I do in my life just fell away.  My eating, my yoga, cleaning my house, cooking..laundry....no one had socks, pants or shirts.   My husband starting doing the laundry and the man works some 80 hours a week...

second side added

I loved the class and the teacher and the kids in the class especially...so young, so crazy and just everyone was very different and unique...we became a little family and it was cool...

I did learn some great new skills.... 

I can solder and cut and file and bend and roll and tumble and rouge..

I can make paper models and show 20 drawings of stuff I'll never make....

I can make a box, a riveted bracelet and a hollow form ring....

 But most importantly.... I learned that  I love to stay home and do my own thing..!!!! I am so ok now with my life ...I have found things that totally keep me busy and that I have a passion for...I am not lonely or bored...and I love my house, my garden, my yoga, writing and music.

So here's my final project

A Tahitian pearl  

hollow ring....

see the blood!  see the sweat!  see the tears!

This bugger was hard as hell to make but Beatnheart never gives up a fight

so I kept at it until I did it ...The End!

and so onto 2014 

 I am cleaning up the remnants of 2013 on my worktable.

I will be destashing some things in the up and coming days weeks so pop on by the shop if you need any more crap 

beautiful, unique, findings and beads ...

all the best in 2014

my bloggy friends

blessings 

and peace...

xxbh

Jewelry Affaire Magazine Autumn 2013

Here's my shameless self-promotion...

I'm in the Autumn Issue of Jewelry Affaire Magazine...

A nice two page spread...

with text written by me...

These earrings were just returned to me from the photo shoot

and are now available for sale in my

ETSY SHOP

and for inquiring minds...

The Long Beach Open Studio art walk was killer!

I did really well and now it's got me thinking about

maybe doing some more events like this ...

It was great to sell stuff directly to the customer and see what they

pick out...and see it on them...

The Long Beach Open Studio Tour

I am pleased to announce that I will be showing my work at the Long Beach Open Studio Tour
on October 12th and 13th, at 3868 Gaviota Street up in Bixby Knolls.   I have been very busy working on new designs ....this along with keeping up with my metalsmithing class up at Long Beach City college has kept me at the work bench....My poor Etsy shop is suffering because of it and I haven't put a thing in there in what seems like ages...

I'm making some of these just for the show...these however went to my special bestie before that could
happen...I think I'm going to try to make  something similar as these are way too cool...

I just love these sea urchins...got a lovely stash of them recently,

but was a bit put off with the hole drilled in the center...

couldn't quite figure out how to work with them but found out

that the extra wire work involved actually seems pretty cool.

These sold right out of the box...I tried something new with the polymer

I added inks over the top and the craziest colors happened...like Tiffany glass almost...

Making some more of these for the art walk...

  I would love for you all to attend but of course since most of you are all over the world I don't think I'll be seeing many of you, such a shame...wouldn't it be wonderful...

 Also the Long Beach Ukelele Club will be playing on Sunday, of which I am a proud member, so it
ought to be a great weekend...

  Here is the website to the event ....The Long Beach Open Studio Tour

Our Darling Ginger...

Our beautiful little cat of 15 years, Ginger died this morning at 3:30 am

after a long illness...

Our beautiful boy was never quite the same after his mum died last September.

He missed her something terrible and just kind of lost his spark and then just

fell into a lung condition that didn't respond to treatment....and the last couple of months have been torture for us as he has been in and out of the vets...the last time, last Friday, the vet said we should put him down...but we took him home instead, with us, in his own little bed, where he belonged and where we could love him to the very end....and it got tough...real tough...but it was the right thing for all of us, because when he decided to pass away, he gave us signs and it was over with in a few hours...and we are grateful that we stuck to our decision.

These cats were the reason we bought a house...Our landlord wouldn't let us have pets and these strays worked their way into our hearts and we got them in, and worked on their feral ways, with love love and more love.  I saw the tender side of my husband come out...I'll never forget the first time I came home and heard him cooing and baby talking to him...Ginger was always "his pal"

Now this is from a man who swore he didn't like cats..."I'm allergic to them" is what he always said.
They became steadfast and true friends...Ginger picking him over me anyday...my boys stuck together.
Ginger would sit on the bathroom floor in the morning and watch him shave, they would play endless rounds of "tennis" and filbert nut throwing....Ginger was smart...real smart...come when your called smart unless the lure of freedom got to be to much for him and we would have to chase him a little bit...
Both our cats were inside cats...living where we do cars, crime, racoons, hawks, fleas, other cats, all were ready to play havoc...so we kept them indoors...after they got a bit older , I would sit outside with them in my side garden and watch over them.

So today, my husband is building him a copper box, and we will lay our beautiful friend to rest in our garden next to his mum...

Our house is quiet ....

our hearts are so heavy..

our loss so complete...

college bound...The Full Story

Stamen Polypods

I knew when I was typing this post that something was very wrong...

and it was...and I lost the entire post which I just so carefully wrote...

Do I want to do it again?  heck no!  

So I will give an abridged version of my long tale and tell you that I am returning to college to take a metal smithing class.

I will be going to the local junior college and I am just so excited I got into the class,

which after a difficult time even trying to get registered, I finally got in by the skin of my teeth.

So I'm going to be a bit busier than usual and my Etsy shop will show it...

but I'm off to learn how to finally use big girl tools and play with fire...

Thanks Penny for sending me the orignal blog....

here it is in it's entirety....

When I graduated from high school way back when, there was no question in my mind that I would go to college.
It was never really brought up, encouraged or even asked about...What was I going to do? No one asked...no one cared.
I personally hated school, high school in particular, and the idea of going to school another four years just was out of the question...but I remember graduating and thinking" now what?" It was assumed I would work in a factory or get married even though I never had boyfriends, so it's not like marriage was looming on the horizon.
So what did I do? I worked in a factory for a week, where I cried every lunch hour. I got a ride to the job with a neighbor lady who had been working there for 20 years....the thought of this kind of a life...endless repetitive boredom was not for me...but I was lost and didn't know what to do....

I did meet a boy and fell in love and after being with him for about 6 months he told me he was going to California and did I want to go with him...Well my bags got packed that night and to the shock and dismay of my poor parents, i hitch hiked the 2,500 miles in the middle of a March snowstorm to Venice, California.

I never really did figure out what I was going to do with my life...I dabbled in just about everything...you name it ...I have probably done it...acting, singing, dancing, boat washer, waitress, photographer, camp cook, seamstress, curtain maker, upholster , craft services, production assistant, stage manager, antique dealer...have I forgotten anything? probably.

Cut to today...my main job has been wife, "home-maker" and I had my own antique business for 9 years in a brick and mortar store at Wertz Brothers Antique Mall in Santa Monica  and I have been making my own jewelry and running my Etsy store....I have known all along that I need to be my own boss, that I have a hard time focusing on getting a task done  and of course I am bone lazy and love to do as I please....and although I did finally go to college at the tender age of 30 and got two AA degrees, one in liberal arts and one in theatre, the time has come for this old gal to go back to school.

Long Beach City College...one of the orignial buildings from the 20's

Now I'm doing anything as crazy as trying to get my bachelor's degree...I got into a silversmithing class at the local junior college...It meets two days a week for both lecture and lab...I am excited and scared.  The college has had a major overhaul...It is beautiful..It retains it's old California Spanish charm but with luxury upgrades, beautiful xersicopse landscaping, and fabulous rose gardens...There use to be bunnies running all over the campus...I guess people dumped their pet rabbits and it turned into a major "Bunny U"...but they captured them all before the re-model and they are not there anymore...I loved those bunnies, but now the clean, wide open spaces are just so beautiful that the bunnies are now just a lovely memory.

where the bunnies ran free

I will probably not be making as much jewelry for the shop as I would like but this new challenge is going to expand on what I am doing already.

xxbh

Polymer Clay Daily

So I got a message today from my polymer clay mentor, Ginger Davis Allman, from The Blue Bottle Tree saying that I was featured in today's Polymer Clay Daily.   Ginger's tutorial on head pins is what got me started on my latest addiction...she probably has stock in Fimo and Premo....

Well as many of you know,  I am pretty new to working with polymer clay...but now I am completely hooked on it and want to learn all I can...I have had some really great response from the PolyPods that I made...

MARSH PODS

EARTHEN PODS

and I have been trying new things everyday...

I kinda went crazy with making beads....

I didn't  think anyone was really paying that much attention,

so to get into this polymer clay daily is a pretty cool thing...

So here's the link to the feature...

Thanks to all that helped...you know who you are...xox  bh

Polymer Clay Daily

Jewelry Affaire Magazine Summer 2013

I have the honor of being featured in the Summer 2013 edition

of Jewelry Affaire magazine...Stacks of Bangles ...on pages 12-13...

I'm creeping my way closer and closer to the front...

What's next?  Cover?!!  well why not...

This is the third magazine I've been in now...

each time is as thrilling as the first 

There is nothing like seeing yourself in print, seeing your work

on the racks of one of my own personal favorite hang-outs, Barnes and Nobles,

and walking into that store, going to the  mag rack with a cup of Starbucks

and sitting down and reading about....me!

For all of you out there, and you know who I'm talking about,

who has not yet submitted their work to a magazine,

go ahead and do it...It is a thrill of a lifetime...

It takes a little time to do it, but it's well worth it...

Polymer Clay Madness

It all started simple enough....I saw a tutorial on distressed polymer clay headpins by Ginger Davis-Allman from  The Blue Bottle Tree.  I bought some of her headpins previously and thought, hey I can do this, they are so cool, just what I need and want ...so I bought the tutorial and downloaded it on the spot.
  This tutorial is really well put together with every little detail covered.  The step by step instructions are clear and easy that even a learning impaired adult like myself could understand it.  There are lots of pics, again clear and nothing left out...Ginger did a great job.

Next stop, good old Micheal's for the little packages of clay...I chose  Premo and Fimo...I thought I'd try both to compare the two.  I have tried making polymer clay beads before and went through about a pound of the stuff with some disastrous results...Ginger told me I was using crap clay for starters and between her and Rey at Greybird I  realized I wasn't cooking for a long enough time and at too low of a temperature...  Yes Rey!  The high priestess of clay started with polymer...have a look at her old sales if you don't believe me...she put polymer clay into the stratosphere...  I sent her one of my bead mishaps clear over to the Isle of Skye and she helped me too.

Here's the first batch...

 So...I have been clay shaping, bead painting crazy over here ever since I got the tutorial...somebody stop me!!  cause I am hooked...it's fun...it's challenging and you get some cool beads and focals no one else has.

The Ancient Ones were inspired by American Indian pottery...

Chaco Canyon

Bullseye!

Pottery Shards...

see I told you...Stop Me!

Works in progress

And another thing I learned...is how time consuming, frustrating, did I say time consuming making beads is...I had no idea...So next time you have to send you hard earned cash to Greybird Studio, Ragged Robyn,  ScorchedEarth, Numinosity, Sara at DivineStudio2, Happyfish, Shipwreckdandy...be thankful these hard-working gals are doing it all for you and at a real bargain for all the time involved in the making of hand-made beads.  

Still a lot to learn and many mistakes to make I am sure...