Monthly Archives: May 2024

1″ x 1″, found objects

We just got back from a few days in Puebla, and while we were there we were able to visit a talavera factory.  We saw the process from start to finish, from fresh clay dug locally to workable clay, through to glazing.  Although there’s a limited palette of traditional colors that can be used by certified talavera makers, the designs are a different story.  Anything goes.  Ancient local motifs, designs that came with Arab immigrants, designs from Spanish conquerors, and contemporary designs.  It all counts.  I like that as long as the materials and the process remain the same, it’s acceptable to borrow across borders and cultures.  People often have trouble pinning my jewelry down and comment on how something might look Egyptian, or Native American, or French.  While I don’t want to be too derivative, I look for shapes and patterns that please me, informed by art from around the world, all made with the same techniques.

.5″ x .75″, found objects

Tiny nails have a special place in my heart, so whenever I have some in my pocket, I turn them into a pendant.  This time the design looks like an eye with beautiful long eyelashes, and it reminds me of a mosaic mirror that a student of mine made last weekend.  It had multiple small  mirrors, and said “change your view”.  In the center was an eye with the word “see”.  What a beautiful reminder that what we see depends on our view, and if we change our view, we see something new.  Thanks Susan!

.5″ x 2″, glass

Is it possible that I haven’t made a purple-themed pendant in all these years of posting pendants? This week two different people asked me to make more purple pendants, and I thought about why my very favorite color doesn’t show up as much as it should in my work.  I’ve leaned hard into glass and metal, both of which are hard to make purple.  Glass can do a lilac, or a deep reddish-purple, or a deep blue that leans purple, but not the kind of royal purple that you think of when you’re looking for the purple crayon.  So this pendant combines many of the purples that glass can do.  If you squint maybe you’ll see crayon purple.

I sat down to write about this pendant and I had decided that it would be called calendar, because the way the months feel to me is like lots of the same, with the odd holiday or wonderful meal to break it up, and that rivet at the bottom is where the breaks in the month happen.  But when I typed “calendar,” spellcheck, in all its wisdom, changed it (as always) to cake dar.  And once again, I thought “gosh, I wish I had cake-dar that could help me sniff out all of the cakes and lead me to them!” So here it is, either a rumination on time, or a miraculous device to help me sniff out cake!

1″x1.5″, found objects

I was thinking about all of the pieces on this pendant as flotsam, as things in the way as I try to float along, but then I realized that I’m not floating,  I’m working much harder to move forward. I’m swimming, pushing hard against the water and finding the gaps between the many barriers to swim through.  I’ve been watching my son learn to swim, and the process of learning is tough.  It’s reminded me that as I move along and take each stroke, at least I already know how to swim.  (Also, if you’re in the Boston area, come say hi and pick up some pendants for yourself this weekend at Somerville Open Studios!)