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Wow, this is harder than I thought.
This post is dedicated to Merlin who passed away February this year at the age of 13.
I "stole" him (we thought we rescued him not knowing the Humane Society would come by the next day to pick up his oh so young Mom and his siblings, but still I think I wouldn't have cared!) from a neighbor of the tall guy's cousin who neglected them (the neighbor, not the cousin, they were the ones that fed them at all). When I saw him sitting on a post - we are talking small village and former farm here - with running nose and half-closed eyes, I knew I had to take him with me. Although he very bravely tried to scare me off by hissing at me, I took him off the post and glued him to my sweater telling the tall guy that he was coming home with us and that his name was Merlin.
Little did I know what he would become to me. Of all the cats we had and have the honor to serve (we do know our status in this house! ;-)) he was mine the most. He slept in my arm at night, he listened to me ranting, laughing and crying and he was the one all the other cats seemed to respect. Not because he was tough, oh no, he was a big couch potato, but around him they all calmed down - after a fight, after a rough game, after the disappointment of another meal not suitable for their gourmet taste.
When he was 8 years old, he got diabetes. We pulled it through together, he just let me do what was necessary and finally he didn't need insulin injections anymore.
Like so many cats he got a kidney problem, though. In February he told me very clearly he needed to go, with a look from his beautiful eyes.
Although he is in my heart of course, I wanted to do something else to remember him by, something special.
Then my way had already led me to SJA and when looking at the pieces of Dawn from California, I suddenly knew what to do.
It took us a while. I say us because I hope Dawn didn't feel neglected during this time, left alone with the task to satisfy a crazy cat woman and a grieving one at that. The way she asked me about Merlin, how he got his name, what his character was like, showed me she didn't just want to copy a photo, she wanted the pendant to show him. As she had other commissions to work on and there were vacation trips in between as well, it took a while until Merlin finally made his way from California to Germany.
I wasn't home the day he arrived and when I came home the next day, I was alone in the house. I opened the parcel and there he was.
Don't the beads compliment the pendant perfectly?
I have been staring at him for over a week now (with small breaks to go to work) and still I am amazed, stunned, speechless. I had expected a lot, but this went beyond my expectations.
There is also a little surprise on the back, but that will stay my secret.
I know I already said it, but I'll say it again. Thank you, Dawn, thank you so much.
And now for something completely different.
That's not true, but as a Monty Python fan I couldn't resist to say that.
Merlin has been drawn years ago when he was still a youngster and his figure a little, ehm, fuller. My friend Denis (from California as well which is pure coincidence because I first met him years ago) who is a talented animator made some sketches of our cats for us when he visited.
This is "his" Merlin.
Ok, now I am sitting here bawling and smiling at the same time. It's time for bed. Thanks for bearing with me through Merlin's and my story.
I often say that I like my hook and the wire to lead me to a design. That doesn't mean I never have a plan of what I'm going to do. When I make a setting for a cab, I know it very well. Sometimes things don't work in my favor, though. That's what happened on one of my recent projects.
It started out harmless enough. A cab in the shape of a drop which usually is the easiest to work with for me was supposed to end up in a crochet bezel of fine silver wire, but somehow it didn't want that. It wasn't so much that it kept slipping out, I had that before and I have forced smaller cabs than this one in a bezel, it wasn't so much that the wire wanted to run off the spool and start kinking, it wasn't so much that from too much kinking the wire gets tired and starts breaking easier - it was all of that together! I used a very fine hook which can give fine silver wire even more stress (from my experience). I had already fixed three accidents although it would have been smarter to stop there and then, but it worked out. The wire breaking in the last row was the last straw, though. My patience had been tested long enough. I ripped the bezel off the cab and started squishing it. I would have even jumped up and down on it, who knows, but the tall guy was watching me with that sceptical look he gets when he feels I am overreacting.
Now I had this squished almost solid piece of silver - what to do with it? I got out my hooks and the wire spool I had in reach, light purple and started to make a little silver ball that was held together by purple lines of crochet. They are not straight, they can't be as I just followed the stitches that I could use in the silver.
For an extra color kick I added one of my handwrapped bails in purple.
Actually I am quite happy with it now. Maybe the wire breaking was one of my muse's jokes!! ;-)
Do you believe that gems have hidden powers? Check out the T-West I got today. Beautiful jasper all over it, in all varieties. According to the comments there are people who doubt that jasper protects you from spider and snake bites, though ... What do you think? Game to give it a try? ;-)
If you want to comment on that, go and visit Go away, evil spirits!
Some strange birds are nesting in this area and I have the feeling they are endemic only to this house. I haven't been able to catch a glimpse of them yet, but I found some of their nests. Small nests with one big egg each. Maybe I should watch them until they hatch? Although the nests look very similar, they do have different colors and the eggs look different, too.
Also I found some other nests lying around that are still without eggs and they again have different colors. One or two have an egg in them, but none of the attachments these have. What are they for? To hang up the nest? Wouldn't the egg fall out? Are those secretive birds weavers maybe? I wonder, I wonder .....
P.S. Double strike, although it was a close call. Many of my favorite movies have Audrey Hepburn in it. There is an exclusively 1970s Japanese Francie doll (Francie was Barbie's cousin) whose make-up made her look like Audrey. I have seen some of her movies (Audrey's, not Francie's!) so many times I can't even count it anymore. I love "Charade", "The Nun's Story", "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina", but I have to admit "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is not one of my favorites. The movie is not, but the costumes definitely are. Such a difficult decision, watch or not watch? As you can see it has influenced me nevertheless. Take a look at Silver and black and you will know what I mean!
We have a little zoo in Göppingen, I have mentioned that before. And we have a very big zoological/botanical garden not far from us, about 25 miles, the Wilhelma in Stuttgart. Our club president has connections to the Wilhelma as we are sometimes coached by them, the vet has helped us out with medical treatment when ordinary vets in the area couldn't help anymore and so on.So today we were taken behind the scences by one of the curators. Unfortunately he didn't have much time, so we could not go where the animals are. No cuddling the baby chimps or the tigers! ;-) We saw and heard about the technical side, though. It was very interesting and he is a good story teller. For example I hadn't known that the Wilhelma has the world's largest collection of zoo posters in their food preparing area. He said they hadn't known, either, but when one of the seasons of a zoo show was shot there, the TV people were amazed about all those posters that come from all over the world and had somebody from the Guinness Book check it out. Shhh, just between us - I would have loved to take some of those posters home, especially the old Stuttgart ones.After a while he had to go to supervise an arriving animal transport and "released" us. We split up in two groups, the adventurous one wanting to see as much as possible and the one I initiated, the slow one checking out only a few things (I had been there a short while ago and love to sit in front of an enclosure and just watch, my favorite are the Keas). As always when I visit a zoo, I had to buy a t-shirt and it's a real cool one, too. It has a big lizard on it. To work I usually wear my animal t-shirts, it's my trade mark.It was very humid, the kind of weather I can't stand very well. Also I only had four hours of sleep (thanks, Ponder, grrr), so I am tired now and will probably meet my old pal Morpheus as soon as my head hits a pillow.
I was not all unproductive today, though.
One idea I had for our zoo, I only have to make some more samples, is to sell my animal pendants there and split earnings between the club and me.
Today I made another kitty and because a nice lady from SJA recommended a Siamese, I gave it a try. Here is the picture I took in a hurry (as you see, complimentary real cat hair is included ...). Pictures of the other critters will follow as soon as I have a bunch together. By the way, suggestions for possible pieces are still welcome!
"Please go answer the phone", my mom told me when I was over at her place. While I was talking to my sister who was on the line, I was playing with some rocks in a bowl sitting next to the phone. They had come with a fountain my sister had bought for the garden. Big, substantial rocks in all colors. Too big for jewelry? Hmm. When we had finished talking, I took the bowl to where my mom was sitting and started looking. The shape was important and the color. Finally I had picked three of the maybe twenty-five. "May I ask what you are doing there?" my mother asked and I told her. She allowed me to have them under the condition that I would give one piece to her.
"Black mist"
Netted in sterling silver wire, I don't know what the name of the stone is, but it looks like a sodalite, just in black. Maybe one of you can help me out on this one? Attached is a little star for guidance through the mist
This is the pendant I made for my mom. A big, chunky sodalite, netted in sterling silver wire, wearable from both sides and adorned with little very light green jade dangles.
Front side where you see more of the stone
The backside where the netting is more dense, like a little window for the star
Shhhh, I might have to go back to that bowl ....................................... ;-)
