In July 2013 I started a blog post with the words "What is a rainbow? According to Wikipedia it's an optical and meteorological phenomenon. Boooring. For many of us rainbows have that bit of magic."
In fact I found a website about rainbow legends from different nations and about the colors of the rainbow which is called Colours of the Rainbow. Maybe you'll find your own magic in stories about leprechauns and their gold which is probably one of the most popular legends or about the Rainbow Serpent?
Rainbow colors also keep fascinating artists and artisans. Sometimes they use the whole spectrum, sometimes just part of it.
This week the Oldies but Goodies Challenge at the Jewelry Artisans Community was about rainbows and this is what the members chose to submit. I hope you'll like it and maybe it will inspire you a little as well.
1 Cat's Wire
2 Violetmoon's Corner
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 MC Stoneworks
5 The Crafty Chimp
My plan was to take one of my small Mexican Cantera opals and make something with it. Instead I stumbled upon this beautiful glass cab - believe me, my pictures don't do it justice - and decided on a little quickie. Just a very simple wire knit setting, you know, no extras, no beads, no double layers, nothing.
Very funny. Sometimes I wonder if I know myself.
The pictures can't show what exactly I did. There are double layers in there which hold the freshwater pearls now and the bezel went up a few rows, too.
It makes me think that I should take WIP pictures from time to time, but it's hard to remember that if you are caught up in a project.
So just have a look at the beautiful colors. Unfortunately that cab was a gift and I don't know where it came from. I think some browsing may be in order eventually.
Aaaand the winner iiiiiiiiis ........ Michele!
Congratulations ... your new rainbow ornament will go out in the mail to you within the next few days! :-D
I hope you'll have fun with it!
Thank you to all who shared their Christmas memories with us. As promised now I'll share one of mine with you from the year 1970 when I was five years old.
24th of December and an excited kid (you know we celebrate the main event on the 24th) in front of the living room ... the door opened .....
and there was a brand new doll's pram inside. And even more, hand sewn doll clothes.
Little Cat was a little ingrate, though, I'm afraid to say. Her older sisters got Mattel dolls and since little Cat has always been a sucker for miniature (which hasn't changed to this day), she was fascinated. The small shoes, the tiny buttons and zippers ... Cat started nagging like only a five year old can. She annoyed her sisters wanting to look at their dolls.
And finally she was promised that she would get her own doll as soon as the stores were open again, the 27th. Those must have been difficult two days for the whole family!
On the 27th then we went to the store and I got my first Mattel doll. It was Stacey, Barbie's British friend, with platinum blond hair. I loved her and she's still in my collection. Her face has turned yellow, she's missing half a foot, so she prefers to wear boots with the evening dress my sister made for her. When sending her to the library that I had set up in my chair, her feet hit the ground a little too hard, I guess. She's also missing a finger, it broke off from putting bracelets on her wrist too often. If you look really close, you can see one on her left arm. She has a head split from taking her head off too often to put clothes on her or handmade necklaces (nowadays I know how to make a necklace you can put on without having to take their heads off ;-)).
If you worry about my baby doll, there's no need to. She was taken for walks outside in her new pram and she wore her new clothes, too. When she finally broke (she kept losing her limbs), my teddy bear who had about the same size, inherited her more unisex kind of clothing.
Ok, so that is no excuse for behaving like a spoilt brat, but I apologized more than once for it over the last 40 years, so I think I'm forgiven by now.
Ok, I know it's only November, but if I want to have a giveaway you see it makes not much sense to start it in December, right? I'd run out of time.
To keep suspense up a bit, let's have a look at my decoration ideas first.
When I was a child, I bought small Christmas ornaments for my grandmother's artificial tree. The memory inspired me to make this set of 10 miniature wire crochet ornaments from colorful copper wire. Of course there are so many more colors, so if someone does not want pink or orange on the tree, no problem!
These are the big siblings of the mini ornaments. They too come in lots of different colors. They look beautiful in candle light.
Just as beautiful look these light baskets in different sizes. You can't only use them for tea lights, but also to collect your coins or to drop your earrings and rings for the next day. They are also a nice gift filled with some candy.
Now I have made you wait long enough. It's time to announce Cat's Wire's Christmas giveaway!
Let me know one of your Christmas memories in a comment to this post or, if you don't celebrate Christmas, tell us about some other holiday memory of yours and you can win this ....
.... rainbow ornament!
It's about 2.5 inch or 6.5 cm high and is made from different colors of copper wire and even some bronze wire.
Put it on your tree, it looks great in the light, or if you don't have a tree, hang it up elsewhere and just let the bright colors make you smile. Rainbows always make me smile!
The winner will be drawn from all those who commented until the 30th of November, so don't forget to leave something that lets me contact you.
Now I wish you much fun on your trip down the memory lane :-D
