Random Saturday - A rose between the pages

This post is for Ida.

As a librarian, I have found a lot of things in books, some were from the library itself, old process slips, old bookmarks with ads on them, old receipts, and some of them were quite interesting because they were from even before my time. Hard to believe, I know 😉
Others were left behind - rarely on purpose, I would think - by our patrons.
Bank statements, photos, library cards, prescriptions, letters, really anything that can be used for a bookmark.
Some of those tell a very clear story that helps us to identify the rightful owner who might still need this, other stories stay in the dark, in case of photos for example ... or a flower.

Thanks to this week's silent movie and my usual snooping around for interesting details (I love my rabbit holes), I had found out about other books Jean Webster, the author of "Daddy-Long-Legs", had written, and I put her first one, "When Patty Went to College", and its later published prequel "Just Patty" on my reading list (both books are in the public domain and can be found at The Internet Archive).

I struggle with reading books on my laptop, but I told myself that it was part of my attention span training and have been getting a bit better at it since although I really prefer printed books.
One problem is getting tired more easily, but when I was just about to nod off in the middle of the story about Patty inventing a lore around a non-existent college student and turned the page, I came upon this.

There are several editions of the book available at The Internet Archive. There was no special reason to choose this one from 1903/04 (the title page says 1904, the back says published March 1903), but maybe the universe sent me a little greeting with this rose.

Mrs. Ida La Rua ... I couldn't find the name quickly, only an Ida La Rua Conrad.
Why did Ida own the book (only?) 20 years after it was published? Had it been passed on by someone else? Was it a gift or inherited? Did it come from a second-hand bookshop or a charity sale?
Why did Ida put down a street name, but no city (so I could find out something more easily)?
Was October 8, 1924 a special date or simply the day Ida got the book?
What about the rose? Had it already been in the book when Ida got it if it was a used book? Did Ida get the rose from someone special? What's the story of the rose?
Is the rose even that old or did someone put it in the book long after Ida owned it? And why wasn't it taken out when the book got scanned? Where is that book now? Is the rose still in there?

My mind went wandering and stories began bouncing around inside my head. It's just the way my mind works, I couldn't stop it if I wanted to.
Does the same happen to you if you find an inscription or something else in an old book?

Tackle that stash - Beaded Tudor Rose pendant

First of all let me say this. I know that this pendant is not an exact replica of the Tudor rose. It is, however,  inspired by it.
The other day I made a pair of flower earrings that reminded me of Kanzashi flowers (which are actually Japanese folded fabric flowers) when I had finished them, and this time I wanted to see how I could make a variation that was maybe a little larger and more three dimensional.

I beaded it from silver lined red and golden seed beads and experimented with how to sew the individual petals together for the best effect.
At first I wanted to leave it at that, but you know me, I love my dangles on earrings or pendants, and this pearl drop makes such a great one.
I was tempted to add something green to it, but then I found it would have been too much here, especially because the green beads in my stash are also silver lined. This is one shiny pendant!

Decades

This month's JAC blog carnival is about decades. Pick a favorite decade and tell us about it, make something in the style of your favorite decade or even in a favorite style of a not so favorite decade.
The task wasn't as easy at it may sound.
I was born in the 60s and still remember the mod style vividly. So much color! Or how about the classic elegance of the 50s or the rock'n'roll style? Let's be honest, though, I am totally in love with the style of the 20s and 30s. Art Nouveau and Art Deco are fascinating to me, design, architecture and fashion.

After thinking for a while I remembered Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Scottish architect, designer, water colorist and artist. I had made a little wall hanging for a friend before that had been inspired by his work and featured a font that he developed, part of a chair design of his and the well known Mackintosh rose, and always had wanted to make more in this style.

This is my take on a Mackintosh design, a bead loomed pendant featuring the rose and the buds on a cream background, adorned with a fringe of beads and crystals. I put the pendant on a bronze tone chain for now, but I am thinking about getting a silk cord in a matching purple tone for it.
What do you think?

Mackintosh rose inspired pendant in my Zibbet shop

Please check out the other members' posts, too. I'll add the links as they come in.

The Crafty Chimp
Jewelry Art by Dawn 

P.S. If you want to know more about Mackintosh, visit the page of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society.

What's in a name?

"That which we all a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Thank you, Mr. Shakespeare.

Sorry to disappoint you now, but this rose doesn't smell at all because it's from polymer clay. I got some carving tools and this is one of the first results. I might not have a green thumb, but there's no way I could water this rose too much or too little. Nice, huh?

The other thing I like about this necklace is the way the crochet ribbons are set on the focal part. The idea came suddenly and I really think I'm onto something here for other focals. My mind is already working ....

Summer scent

By the way, this necklace was made for the Polymer Clay Smooshers challenge with the subject "Fusion" (of materials and/or techniques).

Bug alert!

No worries, I am not talking about a computer bug. I haven't had to deal with that since I got my new notebook - which by the way is called The Patrician, for those familiar with the Discworld, a name that I find fits very well. So why am I calling out bug alert? Well, the Polymer Clay Smooshers on ArtFire had a challenge called "Bugs" this month. It took me a while to have any ideas at all, but finally I came up with two entries. This is Ms. Ladybug. She stands out between her bug friends as compared to them she's a monster bug with her 1.75 inch length and her (still) shiny copper wire legs. She doesn't care much, though. All she needs is her leaf, a little sun and some love. My other entry is one of my mixed technique items that I like to make. It's a small black butterfly that has landed on a purple rose blossom. The blossom is lying in one of my wire crochet baskets on a bed of brown "soil". You can find both entries in my ArtFire studio. And don't forget to check out the Smooshers' blog to see all of the fabulous entries. Amazing work from amazing artists!!

Romantic Sunday

No, it's not that I'm in a romantic mood, but I felt like making polymer clay roses again.
Probably Mabel was a Mucha lady again today.
One of them (rose, not lady) turned out much larger than I had planned at first, you know how it goes sometimes.

At first I thought about making a pendant out of it, but after I had crocheted the setting, I felt it might make a fun ring.
The wire goes through the rose bead, so that it doesn't move, and it's a very comfortable ring.
Yes, I think I am quite happy with this one! Not all my experiments work so well at the first attempt!


Which reminds me that I need to hurry to get the rest on today's list done ... wish me luck!

Welcome to "The Little Gardener's Show"

Too late to back out now, the door is locked.
This is not a garden show, you know I don't anything about flowers!
Still my topic today are flowers, but not the kind that withers when I come close. I found the cure. Give me flowers that are tough, that can stand up to me and that don't need water!!

One of them you know already from an earlier post. It had been lying around there and I felt sorry for it, so I decided to plant it. I didn't want to use something store-bought, though.
Then my looks fell on the brown polymer clay that I had intended to use for a tree. The design hadn't worked out the way I wanted it to, but .... hmm .... with a little red in it .... organic look .... rough edges .... oh yes, and a tiny snail on there!
When the bowl had left the oven and was cooling down I started thinking about the "soil". Sand? Nah. I would have to glue it down, so the plant wouldn't fall. Glued sand? I don't think so. Rocks? The deco rocks that I like to use as background props for my pictures? I still had enough of it, so I started glueing the flower into the bowl with the rocks (after checking out if my glue was ok for polymer clay).
When I had about half of it done, I glued myself to the rocks. It was bound to happen. Glue doesn't like me. When trying to get my hand off the rocks, I pulled the whole bowl with me and rocks started flying into all directions. Have you seen that they are black with silver?
I stepped on them. With my white socks I stepped on black, silver and glue. Sometimes you have to sacrifice things, I guess. I sacrificed my socks for this project. They were not the youngest anyway, the heel started to get a little threadbare, and I didn't feel like picking off all that stuff before throwing them into the washer.

I needed two sessions to glue everything so that nothing would fall out.
Here is the result.



The other flowers are totally different. They are roses from polymer clay, much smaller, too. I know there are many rose earrings out there, so I wanted to give the design a little twist.


I love to combine wire crochet and smooshing, in my opinion that can compliment each other very well in a design.
And my head is full of ideas! Stay tuned!

My muse has struck again!

Really I hadn't expected her yesterday. I worked on a necklace in a style I had used on other necklaces/chokers before, only in fine silver and suddenly she struck me over the head, held on to it and yelled: "Look at the texture!" What I hadn't seen during making three necklaces and two bangles was that it seemed like snake skin. Now I know many people have a hard time with snakes and I also would prefer to not be bitten by one, but still I think they are beautiful animals. Also a friend who happened to be there at the moment when I noticed said the same thing. My muse laid back happily. She thinks it's enough to have an idea and leaves how to realize it to me. The head was not that much of a problem, but as I was already past the part where I could have put a clasp, I needed some idea how to close the necklace. I "filled" the silver tube with a wire that is sturdy enough to hold the shape and still bends, so now you just put the ends together and voilà!
It's not in my shop yet as I didn't take pictures today, but it soon will be.




Not only my patience was on ground level at that time, but also my wrist (we talk about almost 10 hours in two days). So I decided to take it a little easier today. Usually I don't talk about work on this blog and I won't start that now. All I want to say is that last week was my boss' birthday, but she was away on vacation. She said she'd like some flowers, so I told my coworkers I would make a little extra beside the bouquet she will get. I thought some roses in one of my wire crochet baskets might be nice, so I set to work and here is the result.



I so hope she will like them! (And I so hope I found at least most of the cat hairs! Esme just walked by without even touching the clay and everything was covered, ugh.)

Surprise message

For the first time ever I was featured in a treasury without my team and I am especially happy that it shows one of my favorite pieces - the blue rose.
Enjoy all those beautiful blues in A patch of sky!