Random Saturday - Purple and green

If you expect something about color coordination in art or fashion, you're wrong, sorry. This is just another post about memories which is inspired by a post written by Nicole from Huisvlijt, "Kringloop Tristesse".
I don't speak Dutch, but from the Firefox translation I get it's about a water can that a school class gave to a teacher and it ended up in a thrift shop still with that tag on.
No idea how it is in other countries, but in my time gifts for teachers were not a big thing, at least not in my school. So I asked a teacher I know how it is today, and he too said that it happens, but not often.

We had one teacher, however, who got several gifts from part of the class, and that was a running joke.
One of my classmates loved the color purple and wore it a lot and said teacher didn't like purple. I don't know what the exact reason was, but he once told my classmate jokingly that purple wasn't a color, but a punishment.
So of course our whole row decided to give him something purple. My friend was a former baker's daughter and good at baking herself - how I loved her Christmas cookies! - and suggested a marble cake, but with purple and pink food dye. It was a big hit (I have no idea if our teacher ate any of it, though).
Anyhow, from then on, he always got something purple at the end of the school year. Nothing big of course, just to keep the joke alive, and we always tried to make it something useful or consumable, so it wouldn't take up unnecessary space.

One year, another teacher said jokingly how much we "spoiled" him (they had become a couple although we didn't know it yet at the time) and another friend of mine told her to pick a color. She said green. That friend did macrame and knitted socks like crazy - it was the 80s and a lot of pupils knitted in class - so she made a beautiful pair of green socks as a Christmas gift, much to our teacher's surprise but also delight.
So from then on we had to get something purple and something green.

Picture by Konevi via pxhere

I even kept the tradition running for several years after leaving school. A lot of my school friends left town to work elsewhere or study, but I lived at home during training as a librarian and my teachers didn't live far from me.
One time, my teacher handed me a little parcel saying "ok, so sometimes purple can be beautiful if it's on the right thing".
It was a framed picture of a purple Porsche (he had a vintage one himself, not purple but red). I don't know if I still have that picture somewhere, but I remember it really made me laugh back then.

Picture by Alex Ifti via Unsplash

So yeah, that's my little story of an "apple for the teacher".
Is it common for children to give their teachers a gift where you are?

Green, green, green ....

is all of my clothing ... the words don't work perfectly with the melody of the German children's song I grew up with, but that's ok.
It's an old one from the 19th century and each verse is about a different color and profession.

"Green, green, green is all of my clothing, green, green, green is everything I have. Therefore I love everything that is green because my sweetheart is a hunter."
The other colors are red for the rider, blue for the sailor, black for the chimney sweep, white for the miller, and colorful for the painter.

I had to think of this song when a friend said she had so many clothes in green and would I make her some earrings to go with them?
She chose the beads for the folded peyote and I have to say that the shiny green reminding of beetles' wings was a great choice with the matte green for the inside.

So, what next?

Oldies but Goodies - Green

This week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge didn't ask for Christmas green specifically, but I thought I'd pick the ones that fit the season best colorwise - and the frog. Because I love the frog. The one in the bottom row, that is.
As a bonus I added some Christmas frogs. No, don't ask me why Victorians felt a frog killing another over a bag of money is a good image for the season, but they came up with many more hilarious ones, believe you me (or if you don't, go ahead and google for some Victorian Christmas fun ;-)).

1 RioRita
2 Cat's Wire
3 Bijou Bead Boutique
4 Jewelry Art by Dawn
5 MC Stoneworks

Oldies but Goodies - Peridot green

"Others strung the gems on donkey hair and tied them around their left arms to ward off evil spirits."
Thank you, GIA. Who would not like to begin a post with donkey hair?
Now go, find yourself a donkey and ask him if s/he can spare some hair, so you can tie that peridot around your arm.
No, wait! I'm just kidding! And even if I sound crazy, I'm not, promise. I'm just a little tired and still worn out by my cold and looking for a way to introduce this week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge.
It was about peridot, the birthstone for August. Not all of our members have used that in their designs, though, so the topic is peridot green.

1 RioRita
2 Cat's Wire
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 Violetmoon's Corner
5 MC Stoneworks

Wire calling

With all the bead looming I have done recently my wire started to feel neglected and I heard it calling to me.

It will never stop being fascinating to me how different the feeling is if I pick up the bead loom or the crochet hook.
Once I get to the bead loom, I usually have a pattern ready that I have to follow and there are not many changes I make during the process.
The hook, however, lets me change paths in the middle of a piece. Although you don't see much of the wire here from the front, the back is built up from several randomly knitted layers which make the pendant sturdy and helps the crystals to sit right.

The pendant is now available in my DaWanda shop.

Why do I have green on my mind?

Snow has turned into rain, there are last remnants of slush on the ground, but does it make me happier?
Don't bother to answer, I'll tell you. It doesn't. Although I usually don't mind rain at all, I am still grumpy. It's a shame because I really had a good laugh on the phone with my Mom earlier.

Is it a wonder that I was drawn to the color green when I stumbled upon an opening T-West?
Green is supposed to soothe your soul.


Check it out here - Restful and Soothing.

Playing with sapphires

Quite a while ago I bought half a strand of tiny faceted sapphires in all colors of the fall, orange, yellow, greenish, almost everything but blue. At that time I had no idea what to do with them. Every, now and then I took them out and waited for the muse to tell me what she wanted me to use them for.
You know my muse by now. If she is not in the mood she just stays quiet, and if she is she gets violent easy ;-)
So the last time I took a peek at the stones she told me to put them on the wire and then let her take over (she hates the part of stringing the beads first, I guess it's too boring for her). And boy, did she suddenly take over!
I had had a vague idea when I reached out for the marquise shaped closed form of silver wire and I thought about giving it some sparkle, but suddenly there was sparkle all over.

Then I remembered I still had a silver spool knit necklace and although I hadn't been happy with the last pendant I had teamed it with, in this case it gave just the right extra kick.



Now there were still a few sapphires on the wire, so when I took it out a few days later I wondered about something little that I could do with it.
Here's the result - a fine silver wire ball with polka dots. Not quite what you let your children play with. Also I doubt it'll jump very well.


This is a night picture, I hope you can imagine what it will look like in the light ....

Let's have a ball!

Tricked you. I might have a good time, but neither alcohol nor dancing is involved. No flirting, no movies, no night on the town, no girls' night out.
Still my muse and I had, well, not just one, but actually two balls today and I am almost sure they won't be the last ones.
Maybe you remember my wrecking ball? The name comes to you courtesy of Maureen, an SJA friend (by the way, you should check out her blog and shop sometime). These balls are different. The wrecking ball is almost solid. These ones I wanted to make hollow, so I could fill them up, like a candy. Well, not really. A filled candy is meant to be eaten. I love liquid fillings and the sensation on the tongue once the outer wall is breaking. You shouldn't try to eat the ball pendants and I will tell you why.

First I made this one.


It is from black coated copper wire. I tried different things to fill it with, but in the end I decided to take a silver-colored kind of embroidered ribbon because it gave the best contrast.

Now I was eager to try other combinations. As I often do, I reached into the "current project bag" in my nightstand without looking inside and out came the green-golden colored wire. I tried different ribbon and beads for the inside, then I found the last bicone crystals that were left over from my "Green Fairy" necklace. Perfect!


I guess now you know why you shouldn't eat these pendants. Ribbon feels strange on the tongue and is hard to chew and crystals could break your teeth out.
Better stick with wearing them around the neck! ;-)