lapis!

Been taking pics of some new pieces to list on Etsy.  They each have my L I G A blessing written on silk and lashed to the chain.  I still need to take some shots of them on Orlando (my mannequin) and so it will be later tomorrow at the earliest that they'll get listed.  I'm thinking I'll offer my readers first dibs with the added holiday present of a 15% discount, so if anyone's interested, let me know ... soon.  These are the 'before discount' prices.     

fine silver cubes and lapis chunk on 28" sterling bead chain  - $210

bead stack with lapis chunk on 34" sterling bead chain  - $250

large lapis nugget pendant with ring stack on 28" sterling bead chain  - $170  SOLD!

 

raw nuggets - silver and lapis on 28" bead chain  - $155

I've got a few more pieces to shoot and will do the same offer with them ...
have a lovely evening!
l i g a - kvk

my voice ...

... and part of why I've not been posting so much.

Basically, I'm feeling like I've misplaced my voice.  I've gotten lost in the din of so many people pontificating and posturing ...

I'm super tapped in!

You should listen to me!

I've been there, really, I know! 

I've lost track of why I normally love writing this blog ... somewhere I started feeling like all I'm doing is contributing to the noise, scrabbling for my little piece of the pie.  Of course, when I step back and take a look at where I am and what I've really been doing, there's a pile of perfectly good reasons why I'm a wee bit off track.  

but still ...............

I want this to be a place where I share my inspiration, my journey, my process.  I don't want to get lost in any ideas that I'm more anything than someone else.  I am who I am.  I love sharing what I do.  If that resonates with someone else, I'm thrilled and humbled.  It occurs to me that I've written similar posts in the past ... this is a normal cycle ... I'll come out on the other side with a stronger, clearer voice ... doesn't make it any less annoying or unsettling right now.

This line from a Deepak Chopra article in the current issue of Origin Magazine was something of a revelation and might be helping to break up the log jam in my brain, "Awareness isn't passive.  It directly leads to action (or inaction).  As you take steps to expand your awareness, you will naturally find yourself harnessing your mind's infinite power to create greater health, happiness, and love in your life."

Hmmm, gots to get ready for my class call at 3 ........  so I'm thinking that's it for now. 

l i g a - kvk

p.s.  Richie's home and working on his recovery.  First order of business when he got home on Sunday was a trip to the Guitar Center ... music as medicine!  Thanks to everyone for holding Richie and our family in your thoughts and prayers.  We are enormously grateful.

proud auntie

... 3 days after surgery.  He's off all the gizmos and is working on stairs.  No word about what's next, but I'm confident he'll triumph over whatever is put before him.

l i g a - kvk

Richie update ...

I am just now exhaling ... as I'm realizing I've been pretty much holding my breath since Wednesday night.  I'm only now returning to normal breathing. 

We had been ready and waiting yesterday for news since about 1pm our time.  When my little brother called yesterday about 3:30 with the good news, we each each let out enormous sighs of relief ... none of us realizing how tightly wound we had become. The release and residual effects are intense.  Getting wound up and now, trying to wind back down.

Richie is doing extremely well ... either getting out of ICU as we speak or tomorrow at the latest.  The doctors are not speculating about what's next, saying they'll just take it one day at a time.  Test results won't be back until later in the week.  Sounds like weaning him off of pain meds will be later in the week as well.  Rick continues to be blown away by his son, his incredible positive attitude, his strength and the ongoing sea of visitors coming to check on him.

As this Thanksgiving weekend winds down and I begin to catch my breath and look back, the last few days have been filled with small miracles and large blessings ...  I'm enormously thankful that my older brother, Gene, was here with us ... so much better that he wasn't on his own in Nashville and so much better that our family was not so spread out.  Dave and my brothers have always been my three pillared support system.  There is such safety with them ... for that I am incredibly thankful.

From what Rick says, the facilities, doctors and staff responsible for Richie's care have been incomparable.  We're still amazed at how lenient they've been with visitation, allowing him to have his instruments in his room, and holding his impromptu performance from his ICU bed the night before his surgery ... effects of medication making him giggle when he'd forget the words to one of his own songs.

And of course, I am deeply thankful for each of your readers, your good wishes and prayers.
sending love and light filled blessings ..........
l i g a - kvk

YES !!!

Rick just called ... "everything went as well as it possibly could!"

Richie is back in his room, answering all the questions correctly, moving all limbs and digits and even remembered to wish his mom a happy birthday.  I'm thinking Veronica just got the best birthday present imaginable.

So some amazing, serendipitous things about all this ...

They live in Dallas ... The hospital where Richie just had his surgery is one of the top neurological hospitals anywhere. 
The ICU is for brain patients only, so everyone on staff is extremely knowledgeable and patient. 
Turns out his surgeon is one of the top brain surgeons anywhere ... people come from around the world just for him.
Last night, after he had his dreads cut off, Richie held a little concert in his room.  The hospital allowed him to have his violin and guitar in the room and Richie serenaded 15 or 20 people in his room with his own compositions - the i.v. only got in the way a little.  This is an 18 year old kid facing a 5 to 6 hour brain surgery the next morning.   

Pretty much blows me away.  Rick said he just sat there utterly amazed.

What's next ... they don't know.  It will probably be tomorrow before they know anything else. 

Lots of repeated sighs of relief are being heard ......... Thanks to everyone for including us in your thoughts and prayers ... I'll keep you posted.

with deep gratitude and heartfelt blessings
l i g a - kvk

waiting .......

............ to hear from my little brother, Rick.
Our beautiful nephew, Richie, is in the middle of a 5-6 hour brain surgery ... right now is about as early as we could expect any news. 

It's all happened so fast.  Rick called late Wednesday night.  He called while following the ambulance taking Richie to admit him to a neurological hospital in Dallas.  Richie had been having migraines and then started feeling nauseous and they took him to the emergency room.  It didn't take long for them to say, this boys going to the hospital.  He's been in ICU since then, but you'd never know it by looking at him.  The surgery was originally scheduled for the 29th, but they decided their was no reason to wait and moved it up to today ... so much better not to wait all week.

So on this weekend after Thanksgiving, I am so very aware of how thankful I am, how blessed and loved and supported I am and what a wonderful family I have ... so much love, so much light, so so very blessed.

This is an amazing young man ... loved by everyone with a truly extraordinary support group of friends and family.  I would be even more grateful if you would send love and prayers and light to Richie as his surgery continues in Dallas.

just had to share .......

........... these amazing hoops!  They're OTW to my sister-in-law for her birthday.  My niece put in a request a while back ... mom gets hers for her birthday ... Alexis will have to wait until Christmas.

They were a great exercise in design and problem solving.  They're 4" long!  Veronica will totally rock these - she's very statuesque ... a yoga teacher that carries a Chanel handbag with a truly unique sense of style.

Hoping she likes 'em ........

once again ... to my U.S. peeps - Happy Thanksgiving!
l i g a - kvk

quick like a bunny...........

......... So very happy to say I've been listing Talismans on Etsy!

 

 

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving Holiday ......
with deep gratitude
l i g a - kvk

p.s. ...... inspiration fuel

a wee bit of a postscript - some visual juice from the gem show ............

amethyst chunks

tangerine quartz points

amber nuggets

and last, but a long ways from being least ... slabs of lapis

seriously yummy .....

ciao for now

l i g a - kvk

bumper car syndrome and beyond

It's all been kind of swirling ... feeling like something of a muddle ... no clear direction ... no clear motivations ... move forward a step or so ... slam into something borderline annoying ... fall back two or three ... turn back around into what feels like a bumper car ride or moving head on into a gale force wind or being trapped in a riptide ... stop and go and stroke, stroke and just slog on ...

I haven't been keeping up with blogs, have started multiple books and can't find anything I want to stick with.  I haven't done much of anything that requires a lengthy conscious engagement, visually or intellectually.  I just haven't been able to focus on anything for any length of time.  Where I've tended to go on-line has been Pinterest ... small bursts of visual juice without human interaction.  I've made brief visits over to Facebook and will post a sentence or two ... so I haven't been completely out of touch.  More often than not, I have felt like I can't do anything right which, a couple of weeks ago, led to something bordering on one of those nasty dark nights ... laying in bed, sobbing and lost - poor Dave next to me, worried and equally lost as to what to do or how to help.  The next day, I said "enough."

I applied to an on-line business workshop and got accepted.
Make Your Mark - Tara Gentile is team teaching with Adam King.  I told them in my application,
"I believe my best future lies in ... developing a new business model that supports direct and very personal relationships with shops and individual buyers."  I told them, "I want to be called on my sh*t and embrace my full potential."  To myself I said, I have to stop doing the same things I've been doing for the last four years, all the while hoping for different results ... btw, that's my favorite definition of insanity.

The class started on the 9th and goes for 12 weeks - 3 weeks on, 1 off.  Each month is a different focus - first is personal, second is purpose, third is product. It's small ... not really sure, but I think there's no more than a dozen women enrolled.  We have homework.  We do Skype conference calls with this background chat thing that's taking some getting used to.  There's FB interactions and office hours with more Skype instant messaging.  I am so out of my comfort zone ... but that's the whole point.

This past week, our assignment was to record interviews with our most ideal customers.  For me, I added in business owners as part of the mix.  Picture little old me, miss anti-social, serious hermit person ... conducting three face-to-face interviews and one over the phone.  One person I didn't even know before this past week.  Adding complexity to this assignment is my absolute unwillingness to ask anyone for any help or pretty much anything.  My underlying m.o. has always been, don't ask because you won't get it ... I have to be 100% self-reliant.  Needless to say, with this new adventure, that's getting tossed right out.

On top of all that face time and hard core human interaction, Cara talked me into attending two local art events, the Project Handmade fashion show and a Handmade In America (HIA) social to launch their IndiGoGo fund raising campaign.  It gets crazier ... I joined HIA and signed on to be one of their "ambassadors", which means more human interaction and further expanding the boundaries of that old comfort zone.  

Then, on Friday, I hauled off an emailed a jewelry designer in Paris, asking if she'd be willing to share how she's built her line of one-off jewelry into an international sensation.  Okay, so I haven't heard back and I have serious doubts that I will actually hear back at all, but I asked and it's a start.  

As for my work ... I've got a bowl full of Talisman components waiting patiently, I've filled a couple of orders, one being a pick box of the steel Urban Primitive pieces (I did mention that in my last post).  It took a bit to get back in the flow of that work, but I'm really pleased with the results.  Not sure what all she kept.  I'm kind of hoping this one comes back ...

And then another crazy-making component of this past week's outings ... whatever on earth was I going to wear?  I can't believe how much sleep I lost, my mind racing ... running through my closet over and over and over.  I have a very spare closet and it turns out that my normal 'go-to' pieces no longer fit ... you see, I've lost 17 pounds and most of my clothes are now way too big - that's a lot of weight on a 5'2" frame.  I do know this is kind of a nice problem, but that didn't help when I was trying to assemble 'put-together' looks.  I will say the outfit I wore for my interview with local style icon, Constance Ensner, was my favorite.  I don't have any pictures, but see if you can visualize this ... a very crisp and tailored, black Brooks Brothers dress shirt with French cuffs, layered with a Cara May asymmetrical black linen knee length tunic, over Japanese selvedge denim jeans (an eBay steal for 25 bucks!) with my Fiorentini/Baker brown oxfords, topped off with one of my chunky Urban Primitive Pieces and steel/linen earrings.  That seems to be what 'my style' is turning into ... a mix of tailored and edgy, bargains and consignment store finds with well-crafted, handmade goods.

Then for the HIA social, I swapped out the tunic (so's Cara and I wouldn't be twinsies) for a light gray, vintage Lilith tailored linen knee-length coat ... one of my favorite consignment store finds from Port Townsend ... that used to be a bit snug and now fits.  I woke up on Friday morning with an idea for a new necklace using some of my recent haul from the gem show.  I bought a bunch of raw lapis in this crazy electric blue.  Joanna Gollberg was at the same vendor and going for the same thing ... she allowed as how she just wraps the big chunks up in a towel, takes a hammer and whacks away.  Sounded like my kind of lapidary work ... lord knows I love whacking things.

The main idea though, was for the pmc components.  I wanted to make tapered cylinders and coordinating tube beads and rings, take them straight out of the kiln - no polishing or tumbling, chuck them into a strong liver of sulfur solution until they were a nice color, add a couple of layers of Renaissance Wax and call it done.  I got up Friday morning, ditched my exercises, went straight for my vegan/spelt blueberry muffin and multiple cups of PG Tips and set to work.  By mid-afternoon, I was assembling the components.  I added some unpolished raw bronze and a rather spectacular Basha bead and, lord mercy I've got to say, I think I came up with a show-piece ... the Moon Goddess.  I'm hoping that, over time and through being worn, the surfaces will develop a 'personal patina' and the raised areas will start to have a bit of a shine.  Whaddaya think?

 

Here's a close-up ...

So, where I am today ...............
I still don't have a bloody clue where I'm going or what's next.  Mainly, I'm using this model from Danielle ... just doing what I'm inspired to do.  I don't have any holiday orders to fill (every time my new rep goes on a road trip, she ends up in the hospital - not a promising trend), or shows lined up and I don't have anything new to list on Etsy, well unless I decide to list the Moon Goddess.  I've got a homework assignment that is making me cross-eyed.  I'm letting it rest for a couple of days and will dive back in tomorrow.  Times like this, I'm always reminded of Geoffrey Rush's character in Shakespeare In Love ... how will this all work out?  "I don't know, it's a mystery."

All I can do is face the wind, put my head down and keep moving.
Onward ........

l i g a - kvk

p.s.  and just so's you know, I really am in a better place and for a wee bit of a Sunday chuckle, I'd like to offer you a bit of Christopher Walken.