adorned

I've forgotten how fun it was to wear bracelets!
The silver one with the chunky links belonged to my great grandmother, Julia... my mum gave it to me last Christmas... the links are hollow...

fierce hoops

sterling hoops with copper, coral ostrich egg shell, jade and wolf teeth

re-balanced

I was not fully satisfied with the monster's counterweight... so I re-made it...  I like it better that way... even though there is still room for improvement...

bracelet

with beads from Gayle, Janna and Lucie plus some of my stash...

on my bench

some stuff...

White King Black Death - statement necklace

It's Belgium's national day today...


I don't usually document the pieces I make... thought that for once I would...

A couple of days ago, I was browsing youtube, looking for something to watch (well I listen more than I watch) while making stuff (the said stuff is jewelry for a coming show)... I wanted something about the great plague... so I did a search with the key words "black death"... one of the first things to show up was a documentary called "White King, Red Rubber, Black Death" ... I checked it and when I saw it was about Leopold II and what happened in Congo, I decided to watch it...
I heard things about that time but did not know much... not really the kind of things they'd teach you in school... well not here anyway... (a bit like the mutinies that happened in the trenches during WWI or for those who live in the US like the Ludlow massacre)...
5 to 15 millions people died in Congo between 1885 (when Leopold acquired the land for his personal use) and 1908 (when Congo was given to the Belgian state) ... more died after...and more are still dying because of the aftermath of colonialism ...
So I was appalled, disgusted... I don't even know if I'll ever set foot again in the African museum in Tervuren...
And yesterday, while I was taking my bath (told you, ideas strike anywhere) I saw a neckpiece I could make to tell that story...

So before going to bed, I gathered the materials I would need... an old piece of ivory, a chess king, ceramic hands I made, copper wire (not an innocent choice... ) and of course a piece of rubber...
And today, I made what I saw in my head...

 I riveted the plaque with sterling rivets...

Under the king, a piece of rock that I drilled and painted a rusty red... Stanley was nicknamed Bula Matari by the Congolese people... it means "breaker of rocks"...

The following video can be quite shocking for some...



Here's an update... I think it's done now...

very still life

skulls, bones and teeth

wip

rain and more rain so I stayed in and made things...

balanced

I made this bag last month..needed a smaller bag for when I go walking...

The monster... I added more things to it... a few months ago Janna sent me a lots of cool stuff and I decided to add some to the monster... plus some other stuff... so it's getting heavy... very heavy... and my neck is not too happy about it.. In the past if I added something new, I removed something old (like stuff I bought ... I prefer using stuff that were given or found)... but now it's getting quite difficult... it's like removing whole chapters from a book...so I had to come with a solution...

The Hill Tribes people wear very heavy necklaces, mine would be like a feather comparing to theirs... and they even wear those necklaces while tending their fields... The Turkmen women wear very heavy necklaces too... and what is their secret? Counterweights... So I made one for the monster... I needed something heavy but not bulky... so I thought lead... yeah ... but... lead is toxic... so I decided to wrap the sheet of lead in red flannel (that I dyed) then sealed it in a leather pouch... I embellished the leather pouch a bit with some cotton fabric (that I dyed too), stitched it (number 9 is involved again) and add a cool kuchi charm (the one with the fish, the square one is from my stash) that Janna sent me... and now the monster is very comfortable to wear...

room with a view...

not my room... though... I would not mind the view... but you have to stay at the local hospital to enjoy it...

from a sunny island to a rainy country

Some pieces of Barbados : seeds, shell (very old), coral, beach glass, a holey stone, baby monkey teeth (one is already on my "monster"... need to take an update photo of it btw), silver earrings (already wearing them) and a gorgeous watercolor painting...  THANK YOU LISA! ... please check her blog if you haven't already had... it's a wonderful place to visit...

Oh and THANK YOU for the comments on my students works... I'll tell them when I'm back to school!

the future...

This is the last assignement I gave to my students before the end of the academic year : recycle objects into wearable art...  Don't you think they are talented young people (from 15 to 20 years old)?
It's just a selection...

this and that...

This is what my "cousin" brought me back from RDC... said I needed a shell to protect me...  cool thing... I wish I could have browsed that traditional market he went to...

And this is my cousin's band in action... he's the singer...



Found this ring (or should I say it found me) in an antique tribal shop... I think it's from Afghanistan... I'll visit that shop again soon... with my camera... I want to write something about it... it's so unique...

Not far from that shop is the weekly flea market... found this beaded knife...

And this ivory necklace (for next to nothing... clasp broken... so  I won't feel guilty for taking it apart).

prayer beads

"The word bead is derived from the Anglo-Saxon bidden ("to pray") and bede ("prayer"). During the medieval period, when jewelry was discouraged by the church, rosaries were acceptable as convenient portable devices for counting prayers. Their purpose was to assist the worshiper in accurately repeating from memory the correct number of prayers and incantations required by his faith."

.."It is perhaps through the use of rosaries, circlets of prayer beads, that people have achieved their most profound and complete relationship with beads"...

Lois Sherr Dubin , The History of Beads

"Beads are miniature bundles of secrets waiting to be revealed..."
Robert K. Liu


A few months ago, Lindsay from Alien Beadings, told me about some malas she was making and that she wanted to give me one... so she sent me some photos and asked me to pick one... tough choice... I think I ended up telling her... they're all gorgeous... just pick one for me... guess what... she sent the three...
Look at those beauties... Lindsay loves beads... and she collects them... and I'd love to see her stash...  If you want to read more about the process of making them, she wrote a blog post about it THERE and she even has a couple of malas for sale in her shop... THANK YOU LINDSAY! :)

 And since she's a generous person, when I asked her if I could make malas for friends, using her design, she said "yes, of course"... so I did...  the second one on the right is living with her now...  and the other ones already met their owners...

Been experimenting with various materials... I'll show some stuff soon... been visiting interesting people too, will visit them soon again... this time with my camera so I can share with you all...

Take a walk with me

I love walking, I love walking up and down my beloved hills... walking like a long meditation, like a prayer to the beauty that is all around... the songs of the birds, the songs of the wind...the dance of the rain...  so take a walk with me...

On those walks, I find stuff too... and I have a necklace in the making with some of the stuff I've found...

Thank you for the past comments... they really mean a lot to me... :)