a matter of stone

this week I've "co-inspired" with my muses creating like a mad woman ... and despite the cold outside, and the cold in my head, ideas have bubbled up like molten lava, manifesting in stone ... wrap necklaces dance before my eyes in boundless variations and combinations; this one of golden Citrine and purple Flourite ... reminiscent of the drops of rain on my fading hydrangeas as fall gently nudges summer aside and takes her place in my garden...



click on the photos here for a closer view! This wrap, like the others, can be wound up tight as a choker, or worn long and tumbling like a reflective water fall.

below, more Turquoise and Coral are bound with silver findings... the chunk of Coral speaks of abundance, and seems almost magnetic here ...nearly edible, packed with the codified knowledge of the garden, dangling from a silvery stem, like the apple that caught the eye of an ancient Goddess...



and finally; visions of gold have danced in my head (and led me astray from my silver roots) ... asking to be combined with plum colored Pearls and Amethyst as dark as a king's robe and deep purple dreams ...



and tumbling into matter as the elegant wrap necklace pictured here.

my week ended with a raging head cold and this weekend I will tend to my wounds with chicken soup and a soft blanket, so that by Monday I can begin again. There's so much to do!

all of these creations will be displayed, and sold to good homes at Portland Fashion Week starting on the 19th. I hope you can come!

fondly,
~L

what i've been up to today

i've been quietly preparing for my upcoming show and so haven't been posting to my website or etsy, however, here's a peek at what I've been up to.



silver wrap necklace using smokey quartz, freshwater pearl, carnelian and crystal quartz



silver wrap necklace using aventurine, chalcedony, moon stone, quartz crystal, Austrian crystal and flourite


i just love the delicate mix of colors!



these necklaces can be wrapped many times or just once and worn long down the front or, if you're so inclined, down the back



silver wrap necklace using lemon quartz, died quartz and peridot


these items won't be posted for sale until late October, since they are show inventory at present ... now, back to seclusion!

hope your Tuesday is fabulous!

adventures in artistic-ness?.... whatever!

recently, you may remember, I played with collage art ... "played" being the key word here! Stones being my medium of choice! But I really had fun creating this little fairy girl with her cool boots and bull dog. Fall's my favorite time of year and so it is nearly impossible for me to make leaves green! The pages were pulled from some old 50's children's book. I hate to ruin a perfectly good children's book and thought later ... why didn't I just copy the pages and antique them! Duh! Oh well, we live and learn..... nevertheless ... I think she turned out sort of cute. Another blue fairy.


A beloved friend of mine dropped by the other day with a dreary face ... she was bearing an envelope containing a necklace I made for her several years ago that finally "took a dive" her words ... meaning ... the beading wire broke. 5 years is a good go, in the wear and tear world of favorite jewelry, especially when you wear it riding horses! Well, duh! Can it be saved? Of course!

As I reworked her piece and walked down memory lane, I realized I had another shell just like hers... I found them years ago on one of my writer's retreats to the ocean! (little good that did, you're thinking! I speak of the writer's retreat here) ... anyway, I drilled it and created something new like something old (oops wait, I have a parrot hanging down from my bangs and pulling an eye lash .... ooh.... arghhhh .... sheesh!)

Okay .... now then ... where were we?

i'm not sure what sort of creature this shell came from .... so anyone who knows ... I'd love to hear. The little pinkish beads are antique trade beads, the silvery-white beads are mercury glass from Japan along with Sterling balls, and the green is, of course, lovely Aventurine ... the Gamber's Stone, a stone attracting luck and good fortune to it's keeper. It corresponds with the heart chakra, unconditional love and health. Plus ... it's so pretty! Translucent spring green.

very delicate and beautiful ... but chunky enough to make a statement, too...

I decided to go with a non-symetrical piece which can be worn with the shell dead-center or not. The shell can also be turned so one can either admire the sculpted back or front with the shell-opening. The Sterling silver clasp is a really plain, simple toggle, so as not to deter from the elegant beauty.

that's it for today's entry. In case you hadn't noticed, Mrs. E wrote my entry yesterday, since I'd already used all my alotted 10,000 words having spent two weeks of visiting with family. I'm currently reconfiguring a few brain cells. Anyway, I haven't read it yet, but she assures me it was fabulous.

Of course, cat's tend to think everything they do is fabulous. (shhh! Please don't tell her I said that!)

hope your weekend's great!

~L

urban goddess couture

Without fuss, the earth dons her finest ... night or day, dressing herself up in flora, water and stone. A brief lesson: Citrine is my favorite stone for it's simple, delicate beauty and golden color, known by the ancients as the Merchant's Stone, and often kept in cash boxes to draw more good fortune to it's keeper. Citrine has a very high vibrational quality and is used as a healing stone to pull refined, golden light into the auric field and down through the 7 main chakras for the ultimate cleansing. Smokey quartz is a delicate, brown crystal and is known as an excellent grounding stone, bringing its keeper stability, confidence and reason.

una terra

( A study in turquoise with one small, faceted carnelian. Something about this beautiful blue-green turquoise captured my heart. It's actually much daintier than one would expect looking at this photograph! Turquoise, of course, is associated with the throat chakra vibrationally; an ally of the authentic voice of it's wearer. Carnelian is a reddish-orange stone associated with the vibration of the sacral chakra, and was also been known by the ancients as sard. Carnelian assists with clearing of the lower emotions including depression, anger and jealousy, among others. It is said to increase the energy of the wearer and renew sexual vigour. Together, they speak of confidence and grounding, good nature, honesty and comfort with one's sensuality. Not unlike the mother earth herself!)

Today's pieces will be posted on both websites this weekend: http://www.lorakellydesigns.com/, http://www.lorakellydesigns.etsy.com/

desert sea

Various sizes and shapes of Coral make up the bulk of this little necklace, only 14 inches long. The tassle combines two shades of Turquoise along with red and white Coral pieces.

promised

The colors were inspired by a Chinese proverb ...

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

So what of this reminds one of either a tree or a singing bird?

(This dainty necklace is called "Promised." Something a Celtic princess might wear to a "Hand Fasting" ceremony, to be wed for a year and a day, and then to decide if she will remain a wife or take back her freedom. Thus two hearts, one large and strong. The smaller delicate heart is struck by Cupid's arrow. The stones here are Peridot and Amethyst. )

Peridot was used by the Egyptians and Aztecs for cleansing toxic energies and negative emotions such as jealousy and rage, even. Associated with both the heart and solar plexus chakras, sharing the same vibrational signature, it allows one to move forward towards unconditional love with a clarity and a calm heart. It has been called a good "first stone" for those who have begun the search for spiritual awakening, because of its quiet energy. Whereas a higher vibration might cause feelings of light headedness, nausea or back pain as energetic toxins are stirred and brought to the surface.



Amethyst is THE healing stone of choice. A beloved, high vibrational stone that matches the vibrational signature of the crown chakra. I spoke of Amethyst's qualities below in my August 9th entry; Journey in Stone.

Unfortunately, this piece will not go on the sale block as it has already been promised. The new owner is a lovely Irish woman ... so this little piece will be shipped out to the Emerald Isle. I just like to photograph them before they go off into the world.

Oh ... and I haven't forgotten that I have three more to tag!

~L

getting tagged and the seven things

as I sat down to write my entry this morning, I was very excited to see that I'd been tagged by my fellow etsy jewelry maker Ackeloade! Hmmmmm....You're sneaky! Not that I really understand anything about being tagged, mind you, it just seemed... well ... exciting anyway. I have noted this "tagging" phenomonen going on as I've perused the blogs on a regular basis while taking my morning tea, and thought it looked fun... and I especially love to read those seven "things" everyone must tell about themselves once they've been tagged. They MUST tell secret things about themselves... or... or ... like ... self-destruct or something. So ... sure as heck ...I'm game!

The only thing is ... now that I'm the tagEE... I also get to be the tagER ... which I'm not so sure how that will work, since as a child I never liked being IT because everyone ran so darn fast and hid so darn well! Oh, wait ... that's hide and seek, isn't it? We're not playing that, right? (Oh... distraction... just this moment I looked up to catch Vera out in my flower box digging up the pansies! Lovely!) For those of you who missed it, Vera is the (sweet?) squirrel who lives in the giant cedar tree next to my deck. (So where was I? Golly, I am easily distracted, obviously... I suppose that should be one of my 7 things).

Okay .... so here goes:

• Number One: I am easily distracted. I think I have undiagnosed ADD. I can certainly hyperfocus, like when I'm eating chocolate ice cream or reading a totally forgettable romance novel. I can be vigilant about the strangest things ... like noticing that one of the sofa pillows is in the wrong position or noticing that one window smudge in an otherwise immaculate house (okay ... on the rare ocassion the house is immaculate) ... but paying bills, balancing my check book, talking about cars or plumbing, doing anything math related ... you can be pretty sure the lights are on, but no one's home.

• Number Two: I am a dog maniac and magnet. I have been known to cross to the other side of the road just to visit with doggies ... worse, while driving...swerve to the side of the road in order to jump out and visit with doggies. Sad isn't it. Really? And wherever I go, dogs seem to find me. I'm always trying to save them ... sometimes to my detriment and everyone elses. And have brought home my share of strays, sad sacks and lost souls of the four legged persuasian in my lifetime. Once, I found a huge german shephard running along the highway. I coaxed him into my back seat with my son, then a toddler in a car seat, and drove home to check out his tags and call his owner, all the while he hung his huge head over my shoulder, licking my ear or my baby son's face. We found the owner, by the way.

Gosh ... I'm only to number three?

• Number Three: I am a 2nd degree Reiki practitioner. Reiki is an ancient healing art discovered in Japan which involves the laying on of hands. I received my first attunements seven years ago, and only last year felt ready to move up to level II. (I'm a slow mover ... that's another thing!) I have had great success using it on myself and other's to dissipate aches and pains, skin disorders, depression and animal ailments. I love it so much because it feels so nurturing and deeply relaxing to the giver and receiver. It's a miracle right in our midst and I'm surprised at how many people don't know about it, or merely dismiss it without ever having experienced it.

That's all for today because I will need to think about the other "things" before I continue, and also, it's already quite late already ... just look at the clock! I must run. So, I will return tomorrow morning (or maybe later tonight if I am able) to provide the remaining 4 "things" and decide, too, who I get to tag! I can't wait!

It's the next day already! And I decided I would pick up the next "things" in the same blog entry, otherwise, well ... it would just be too confusing.

Number Four: I'm a popcorn-a-holic. In my book, popcorn is the 5th food group and must be consumed on a daily basis or else the body will have a nervous breakdown. I'm very careful, mind you, to make sure I buy only good popcorn with 0 transfats. Orville Redenbacher makes some lovely popcorn worthy of addicted souls like me.

Number Five: I am the most disorganized person I've ever met. Truth. But I hide it very well and most of my friends are totally unaware. This is why, I try to do all things at once. Because of my undiagnosed ADD, I try to do everything on my mind all at the same time and it isn't easy to read ten books, work on 12 projects, clean all the rooms of the house, paint the front door, re-design the garden, re-arrange the furniture, write a romance novel, meditate, pay the bills, learn a new technique , bake a pie, make a list of all the things I need to do, listen to all my favorite music and relax with a cup of tea or a glass of wine all at the same time! It's downright dysfunctional. I just want to do everything now and I don't want to wait and I have no ability to see tomorrow because I'm so entangled in today. Sad, isn't it. Funny thing is, I'm usually pretty calm about it.

Number Six: I hate to cook. First let me clarify one thing. I absolutely LOVE to bake! And I really LOVE to eat baked things ... cookies, especially. Okay ... I like cake too. Pie's nice. I think I hate to cook because I"m so busy doing all the other things listed in Number Five above (you might wish to scroll up and re-read those). That's why Pizza Tuesday is my favorite night of the week. Because I don't have to cook! I am very jealous of the wonderful cooks I see in the blogs ... so creative! Such skill. I truly wish I could enjoy cooking more. But I'm more likely to put on a roast, and head off to do other things while it cooks, then forget the roast is in the oven. Not good. Just ask my husband.

Number Seven (FINALLY): I love rain. It's not that I hate the sun. It's very pretty and it does warm things up nicely and where would my flowers be without it. But my favorite day in the world is a rainy one. Where the rain falls gently or in torrents, it doesn't really matter. If I have places to go, I prefer a warm, gentle mist. If I have a good book a clean house and no place to go, I prefer powerful wind and lashing rain! I love to work in my shop with the door open on a rainy, summer day. The air is thickly scented with Douglas fir and dark, fertile earth and everything is sparkling and clean. My dream day: If I can pull on a sweater, wool socks, jeans and boots and head off down a wooded lane with my dogs on a misty morning ... there is nothing sweeter in life. I've died and gone to heaven.

So that's my seven. And now I get to be IT. That will have to wait for a later post!