Inside the artisan

Bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:13:00 +0000

Here is this week's things that I am grateful for - my "bird in the hand":

Photo by D'Arcy Norman

my birthday and all the lovely greetings I got from friends and family
a safe flight over to England
seeing family and my new granddaughter and grandson
having a warm coat, hat and gloves! It's freezing here and the snow has started today!
cuddles and feed-time with babies
seeing the ducks on a frozen lake

Hope you are staying cozy.

Little Evelina

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Yeah!

As little Evelina - my new granddaughter - was born on a Saturday, I didn't have any photos to include in my "bird in the hand" blog post when I mentioned her as she had just literally been born when I wrote the blog post...so a few of you have asked to see her piccies. So here she is!

I get to see her this week!!!! Doesn't she look fabulous! So excited, happy, and jiggly in the above photo and so pensive and thoughtful in the one below.

Excuse the indulgence of grandchildren photos two days running, but I think new grandmothers are allowed such things - especially when two grandchildren are born within 11 days of each other. ;-)

Weekly bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:02:00 +0000

This week's things I am grateful for - my bird in the hand - is a short list of one. And that is Maxwell. He is my new grandson - born to Adam and Alexa. He was born January 25th, weighing 7lbs and 4 oz.

He was born 11 days after my granddaughter Evelina. Two babes in two weeks! How great is that! When Adam phoned shortly after Maxwell was born, I could hear little Max making gurgling noises down the phone! Our first hello! My heart melted right there and then :-D

We fly back to England on Wednesday - so obviously we are going to have a wonderful time over there, cuddling with two new grandchildren! How lucky are we?

Isn't that just a gorgeous photo!

New window necklaces

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:28:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I needed to do some more stained glass window necklaces for Grace cathedral, so I finished them off today.

Three of them are utilizing the scenes from the St Matthew window in the Chapel of Grace, and the fourth - the largest - is from one of the more contemporary style windows in the nave of the church.

I will take them to the shop at Grace on Sunday when I sing there.

They vary quite a bit in different lights. I like that aspect as when you wear it, you see different colors and suddenly, the vibrance shines through....but then you turn and it looks different again.

Hope you like them - and I appreciated your comments on the bangles. Thanks for that.

New Window Bangles

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:26:00 +0000

My jewelry is selling well at Grace Cathedral and so I made a few new bangles this week.

They were made from the St Matthew Window in the Chapel of Grace.The window was created by Charles Connick and is the first window as you enter the chapel.

Connick's chapel of Grace window designs, like the chapel architecture, were inspired by the famed and still-surviving Sainte-Chapelle - a private chapel attached to the royal palace in Paris. This chapel is considered one of the highest achievements of Gothic architecture - and is somewhere I would love to visit one day........

The new bangles feature both the full length St Matthew window and also just small vignettes. I like the one shown above on the left as it has bunches of grapes on it...merlot?

I need to make some more necklaces too, so I'll show you those when I'm done.

Weekly Bird in the Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:27:00 +0000

Here is this week's list of things I am grateful for:

Photo by exfordy

Rain! Finally we have rain. We've probably only had about 3 or 4 days of rain since spring last year - but hopefully we will now get enough - however much that is.
Hearing news/updates and seeing photos of our lovely new little grand daughter Evelina - a week old today :-D
Singing.
Going for a long walk with lunch in the middle - and avoiding most of the rain. We walked to Kenwood and back today - probably nearly 8 miles.
Spending a lot of the week at home working on my computer and learning lots of new things.
Keeping up with my walking program
Revisiting a restaurant we hadn't been to in ages and really enjoying it.
Seeing a covey of nearly 100 quails
Watching the ducks on the pond
Having a week off from making jewelry

I hope you've had a good - and maybe different - week this week.

Weekly Bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:31:00 +0000

This week's bird in the hand - the things I am grateful for - is wonderful news. We just heard this morning that Craig (John's son) and Chui have had a little girl - Evelina! She was born this morning at around 9.30am (UK time), weighing in at 7lb 4 oz!

They had a long, busy couple of days - but mum, dad and babe are all doing well now and hoping to sleep!

Chui and Evelina will come home from the hospital tommorow.

So now I'm a granny :-D Exciting times ahead.

Sending all our love to the new family xxxxxxxxxxx

Vibrance and Grace

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:52:00 +0000

I took some of my 'stained glass' aluminum jewelry down to Grace Cathedral this week for them to sell in their gift shop. I was delighted that they wanted to stock it.

The jewelry is all based on the stained glass windows in the cathedral (yes, I have permission to use it). The colors are so vibrant, which is why I chose to call the series "Vibrance and Grace".

It'll be interesting if I see any of the congregation wearing it when I go down to sing on Sunday.

I heard that they went on sale on Tuesday and two pieces sold straight away! How encouraging is that.

Now I'm working on some new windows - and it looks like I need to get working!

Weekly Bird in the Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:48:00 +0000

Here is this week's Bird in the Hand - the things I am grateful for:

WWI Carrier pigeon

My nephew Matt. It was his 17th birthday yesterday. Seems difficult to believe - but he's still as cute as ever ;-D
Achieving my 10,000 steps a day goal every day this week - totalling walking more than 40 miles.
My new walking shoes!
The fun of learning new things. I'm busy building a new website for my Health Coaching business but as many things have changed since I built my Birdland Creations site, there is quite a learning curve. I often feel I haven't much to show for a day's work, but I am getting there - and enjoying the challenge of it all.
All this wonderful sunny weather here in California. We've had practically no rain at all since the beginning of December - only 1 day I think - and this is supposed to be our rainy season! I'm thinking it'll all catch up soon enough - but for now, I'm enjoying the 65 degree sunny afternoons and frosty mornings.
The support of fellow artists and family when I had an unreasonable customer to deal with.
Getting back to singing after a week off over New Year.
Time with friends.

I hope you've had a good week too. What was the highlight for you?

Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:35:00 +0000

For me, January is a time for reflection, evaluation, taking stock and planning.

Reflection photo by mikebaird

I love this month. Jewelry sales are typically slow after a busy December so I like to focus on the business side of Birdland Creations - what I've done, what I want to do, where I'm going, strategies, etc - and not on creating and selling jewelry.

To this end, I'll not be blogging much this month, but will be coming up with new ideas. I'll share these with you soon.

Hope January is a good month for reflecting for you too.

Weekly Bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:35:00 +0000

Here is the last "grateful" list of the year - my "bird in the hand" for this past week:

Reflections photo by Debasis ~~

Reflections. Having time to reflect on the past year and plan for the new year
feeling connected to family even though we aren't together physically
fun times with friends
great California weather
yummy food
tasty wines
the life of John's cousin Andrew, who died on Boxing day. Always a happy soul.
good walks
challenges of starting to build a new website and business
wonderful Christmas gifts
happy memories of Christmases past
all my Birdland Creations customers, blog readers/followers, supporters, and online friends/peers. Thanks for being a great part of my 2011.

Wishing you all a healthy, fun-filled, fruitful 2012.

Looking forward to having you in my life in 2012 xx.

The Weekly Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:18:00 +0000

Here is a slideshow of all the birds that were created as part of the bird a week challenge.

We started the year with 33 members, many of whom had never even made a single bird before. Not everyone managed to complete a different bird each week, but every bird included was a delight to see.

There are, I think, four of us who did make a different bird each week for the whole year: myself, Joy, Linda and Riet.

It was the first time I had organized anything like this and I'll definitely want to do it again. I had never met any of the people who joined me in the challenge, but over the year, I feel we've become friends and now know each other's work well.

There are some new challenges starting next year, but I'm going to take it a little easy to begin the year, and just continue with the bird theme - but only one a month. I know Joy is doing this too, plus another challenge, so we will see how the year transpires.

Thanks for following along with all our birdies and their journeys. Time to fly now!

Review of my "bird a week" challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:02:00 +0000

Yesterday I finished my 52nd bird of 2011! They were all part of my "bird a week challenge". If truth be told, I made more than 52 birds in the year, but for the challenge, we only counted those that were a new design, and some of my extras were repeats of designs that I'd done before.

Looking back at them, I used 17 different materials to make the 52 birds. Here are the main media:

18 were made from silver
12 were made from aluminum
5 were made from steel
3 were made from food items

11 of the 17 media I used, I had never tried before, so it was a big learning year. The new media included encaustics, printing from zinc plates, plaster wrap, wax, and plasticine illustrations.

Most of the birds were "generic" but there were 9 specific species that I made, as follows:

1 eagle
2 bluebirds
2 herons
2 quail
1 robin
3 penguins
1 owl
1 parrot and
1 kingfisher

If I were to choose two techniques that I now wish I'd explored a bit more and tried more birds with, they would both be illustrations - one was a pencil drawing and one was a illustration with plasticine.

Screaming Eagle - week 1

Great Blue Heron

I would really like to be able to illustrate and as I was lucky enough to get Adobe Illustrator for Christmas, I'm hoping that this is a skill that I can develop in 2012.

Here is a slideshow of all the 52 different birds. Tomorrow I'll let you know about the others who joined me in the challenge.

52/52 Bird a week challenge - Given wings, where might you fly?

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:47:00 +0000

Gosh, the last week of the year and that means my 52nd bird of the year. Yes, this year I have made a different bird each week of the year for the "Bird a week challenge" that I started. To end the year, I wanted my piece to somehow take me into the New Year...and to be an inspiration for what the new year will bring.

And thus, here is: "Given wings, where might you fly?"

They are ear thread earrings of flying silver birds. Ear threads are my favorite style of earrings and of course, birds are my favorite subject, so it seemed fitting to end the year with favorites.

And the title I find inspiring as it intimates that we all have wings...all we need to do is decide where we want to fly to. The New Year is bringing lots of new things to my life - new opportunities, new challenges, new experiences - and so I'm going to spread my wings and fly!

It's been wonderful to do this challenge and have other artists join me on the way. I'll do some summary posts of the the whole challenge over the next couple of days, but in the meantime, click on the links below to see this week's birds.

I hope you'll spread your wings for 2012 too.

White Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:20:00 +0000

Well, we definitely didn't get a White Christmas this year...and I don't know anyone who did. Maybe this will make up for it - my favorite Christmas cartoon! You've no doubt seen it before, but...

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 01:25:00 +0000

Merry Christmas to you all.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day xx

51/52 Bird a week - Keep a green tree...

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:46:00 +0000

"Keep a green tree in your heart and a singing bird will come"

This week's bird is one I started a while ago, but only finished this week. It is a lidded box with the sides of the box made from a car license plate that I bent and painted.

The top and bottom are painted pieces of wood and the whole is then mounted on casters (to add to the whimsy). The lid is adorned with a little singing blue bird on top of a tree branch in the lid.

The bird on the branch with a red heart painted below, symbolizes the quotation "keep a green tree in your heart and a singing bird will come".

I think it's a lovely quotation - encouraging us to keep an open, fresh heart and good things will happen.

The bird is made from plaster wrap cloth, which I wrote a simple tutorial on using, back in September.

He is my 51st bird this year...one more to come a week today and then I'll have made a different bird each week for the whole year. There are a few of us on No. 51 so click on the links below to check out their penultimate 2011 bird too:

Weekly bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:42:00 +0000

Here is this week's list of things I am grateful for. I think you might notice that there has been a certain theme to my week this week!:

Our continuing harvest. Today we picked a fridge load of meyer lemons and about 24 soft persimmons. We still have more of them for future harvests...and also some guavas.
Cooking new recipes. Today I tried a persimmon pudding recipe recommended by Jennifer. Yummy - I'm just eating my piece now...warm and a little gooey!
Cooking extravagantly ie unhealthy dishes, once in a while! I made Eccles cakes with potted stilton for dinner at a friend's house this week. Gosh was it a wonderful combination. Not something to eat every week but a couple of times a year - especially around Christmas time, and it really hits the spot. And I made the puff pastry gluten free and it turned out great.
Eating out! I've eaten out so much this week, both at friend's houses and at restaurants. It's lovely to share food with good company.
New cookbook! I get so excited at the thought of some of the recipes...and can't wait to try them.
Cold frosty mornings and warm sunny afternoons. It was 71 degrees here yesterday afternoon!
Having our friend's dog, Bella, back with us for a couple of weeks.
Making lots of sales from my website and Dawanda's.

Hope you've had lots of yummy food this week too. What was extra-special?

50/52 Bird a week - March of the penguins

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:56:00 +0000

This week's bird - or actually birds - are edible...but I don't think any have been eaten! It was our book club Xmas lunch on Friday and I signed up to make dessert. I thought it would be nice to make individual desserts for the 10 of us, so I made gluten free ginger and zucchini igloo cakes and penguins from icing!

You may well see a similarity between these penguins and my penguin necklace "Cold hands, warm heart"!

When they were made, they all started playing together. Their favorite game, as you can see from the photos, is "follow the leader", or as they call it "The March of the Penguins". Off they went, all around my kitchen!

Each one is sculpted from black, white and orange icing - which is made from powdered sugar with gelatine and glycerin. It's very easy to sculpt with. You stick the parts together with either water or alcohol.

My sculpting of birds and animals in icing actually predates my sculpting in silver, and jewelry making. In fact, it probably was a big influence in my 3D sculpting with metal clay as opposed to creating more flat pieces of jewelry.

Anyhow - at the bookclub lunch, the igloos were eaten, but everyone took their little penguin home. Some were to be saved for grandchildren, the others were going to sit as decorations for the Christmas holiday season! Yes, they last quite a while in the open. I have three sat at the bottom of a candle!

With their igloos!

I am making dessert for a party this weekend too, so maybe some more penguins will join the march.....

To view the other birds that have been made on our 50th week of our bird a week challenge, check the links below! Yes, these little penguins are my 50th bird this year! Only two more to go!!!

Stained glass window bangles

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:28:00 +0000

I finished off some more stained glass window bangles today, in blue colors!

As I'm now looking to link back to a previous post regarding the predominantly red window bangles I've made, I realize that I didn't blog about those - only showed you the window photos!

Anyhow, today's bangles contrast with the ones you haven't yet seen (!!!) in that they are predominantly blue! They are based on the windows in Grace cathedral, San Francisco. Beautiful colors and more traditional in design that the others. I'll show you the red ones another day...soon!

I had good news this week that the Gift Store at Grace Cathedral is going to stock some of my stained glass window necklaces, earrings and bangles...just as soon as I get them there. It'll be nice to have my work sold where I sing.

Weekly bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Here is this week's list of things I am grateful for - my "bird in the hand":

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Crisp frosty mornings with sunshine. Puts some color in your cheeks!
Making time to play with food! I made igloo cakes and penguins for my book club Xmas lunch yesterday. I'll show you them on Wednesday for my "bird a week".
A good bird vet. Poor Harold hasn't been feeling well this week. Lots of feather loss and not eating. Hoping that the vets advice will sort him out and have him feeling tickety-boo in no time at all!
Dinners out with friends. This time of year it seems we eat out with friends nearly every day! Lovely to see the friends but next week we need to eat less food!
Sad movies. Watched "Sarah's key" last night. I'd read the book for our bookclub ages ago, but loved watching the movie too. In fact, the journalist annoyed me much less in the movie than she did in the book!
The anticipation of becoming a grandmother.
The excitement of putting up the Xmas tree this afternoon!

Hope your week has been exciting too.

Belinda Bunny

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:37:00 +0000

OK, I need to practice saying it. "Grandchildren." I am struggling with the word, I have to say. Not that there is any lack of enthusiasm for the arrival of two new babies due in the New Year, it's just that calling them Grandchildren suggests that I will therefore be a grandmother and also suggests that I am old or at least 'older'! And I'm not!!! I am only 46! Way too young to be a grandmother!!! ;-D

Both of John's twin sons are having babies in the New Year. Craig and Chui are expecting a little girl on New Years Eve and Adam and Alexa are expecting a little boy later in January. January is going to be quite the exciting and eventful month!

You may recall that last week I introduced you to Chilly Billy - the knitted penguin and blanket that I made for Adam and Alexa's little boy - my soon-to-be-GRANDSON. Now I'd like you to meet Belinda Bunny (plus blanket!) that I've made for Craig and Chui's little girl - my soon-to-be-GRANDDAUGHTER!

Doesn't she look a sweetie? I hope she is a good friend for the new baby - a soft, snuggly friend.

The baby's due date falls in the Year of the Rabbit. The year of the rabbit comes every 12 years, but for the first time in 60 years, it is the year of the Golden Rabbit (notice any connection to that fact and Belinda????). According to the Chinese Zodiac, the rabbit is known as the luckiest of the 12 Chinese astrological signs. People born in the year of the rabbit are generally quiet and good-natured, with the rabbit also symbolizing peace and longevity.

The "golden" or the metal element of the rabbit suggests that people born in Golden Rabbit years also have a real strength inside them and resilience and determination.

Can't wait to meet her! And I know Belinda is looking forward to meeting another Golden Rabbit soon too!

Any ideas on a name for me that isn't granny, grandma, or grandmother or some other old sounding title????

49/52 Bird a week - Love is in the air

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:11:00 +0000

A few of my friends have mentioned this week about being single and wanting a new love in their lives next year....so this birdie ring was inspired by them and symbolizes my hope for them, that in the new year, "Love is in the air". Maybe the birds can search out some love for them?

Sculpted in silver, they form an open-styled ring. These types of rings are very comfortable and secure to wear and also somewhat adjustable - which I really like. I wear my "sweet nature" one all the time.

If it's what you are looking for, I hope you find some love in the air too.

To see the other birds that have been created this week, please click on the links below:

Close to my heart

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:29:00 +0000

I just finished a new footprints necklace today for a customer in England. It is a gift for someone who loves dogs and ferrets!

I hadn't done a ferret footprint before, so made a photo polymer plate of one and used that to make the impression in the silver clay.

The necklace is therefore reversible with dog footprints on one side and ferret footprints on another. I called it "close to my heart" as her favorite animals (well, their footprints) will sit close to her heart as she wears the necklace!

Any ferret lovers out there? I don't think I've ever met a ferret????

Weekly bird in the hand

noreply@blogger.com (Ruth) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 02:20:00 +0000

This week is another of those weeks when my list of things I am grateful for - my "bird in the hand" - is one item long!

My choice this week is John my husband.

It is our 16th wedding anniversary tomorrow and so I am most grateful for John for being in my life, for being my life, and for our life together.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie xxxxxxxx