Treasure Of Mermaids

I made myself a ring today..

A gorgeous aquamarine that I've been saving for quite some time now, trying to come up with a design that could do this stone justice.  In the end, I decided to set this stunning cab simply, keeping the sterling humble and letting the stone sing, as it deserves.

The colour of the ocean and of the skies, the aquamarine is said to have life-giving properties and legend has its origins in the treasure chest of mermaids.  Like the ocean, it gives and takes away..all a natural part of the circle of life as it is ever changing, never static.

Life lately seems to rush on by and if you're not careful, you might miss the very soul and essence of it.  Take the time, close your eyes and breathe deeply.  If you listen closely, you can almost hear the tides coming and going.  Feel the cool breeze on your skin and the sand under your feet.  Turn your face up to the sky and promise yourself to let your heart lead you forward.  Live with no regrets.

This is aquamarines gift to you and me.  

Hoping you have the time to listen to your heart this weekend.

xo Blue Gnome

Sakura

This past week has been the beginning of our unofficial spring, although the warmer weather has brought rain, last Sunday was an unbelievable 23 degrees.  It's exactly what the plants have been waiting for..overnight bright green buds seemed to have pushed their way up through the soil and there's a definite change in air.  I sat and watched a couple of Robins fight over a worm this morning as I had my morning tea, the warm weather's brought on the renovations in the neighborhood and by 8am, the air was busy with the sound of power tools and hammering, the radio playing faintly in the background reporting news about the rush hour traffic.

I've grown accustomed to city living and I have to admit, even enjoy the sounds of the bustling city once in awhile.  Having said that however, I'm in the midst of putting the finishing touches on a backyard project that started last summer, my goal is to have my backyard 'getaway' ready to enjoy by the time the warmer weather arrives.  I'm a pretty lucky girl - I have some very handy people in my life and with their help I'm going to have a beautiful, sanctuary of a garden when it's all done.  The next step (and definitely the most exciting step) is handpicking the plants, shrubs and trees that will shelter my home and loved ones from the craziness that has become a part of our everyday lives living in the city..streetcars and angry traffic, the unfriendliness of big-city living and a seemingly endless list of to-do's.  I'm looking forward to sinking into a comfortable patio chair with a tall glass of something cold with lot's of ice cubes, grabbing my copy of the latest issue of World of Interiors magazine and wriggling my bare toes in the warm sunshine.

A friend on mine recently posted pictures of springtime in Tokyo..cherry blossoms are nearing the height of their spectacular displays and the country, for a brief time, seems to be taking the time to enjoy and appreciate the beautiful things nature has to offer..not her recent fury.

Sakura Ring - Sterling, Ocean Jasper

 I decided to use this particular specimen of ocean jasper because it reminded me of Hanami - meaning 'flower viewing' during this time of year.  Poems have been about the delicate cherry blossoms or sakura, which were seen as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful yet fleeting as the blossoms only last about a week.  


Set simply in sterling to showcase the pink blooms amidst its deep green backdrop, the Sakura Ring is now available in my shop.


xo Blue Gnome

Listening To Your Soul

 Paintings of a white stag around King Arthurs court

Ruth Sanderson, Golden Wood Studio


Legend has it that the white stag rules and protects it's forest, and all the animals who live within it.  Hunters who pursue the stag for trophy will find themselves disoriented, lost and face the risk of a fruitless hunting season.  For those who respect the forest and Mother Nature, their rewards are plenty and fruitful.


The stag has been a source of life, an important natural resource for early man who relied on hunting for survival. It symbolizes warmth and the renewal of life in the spring and seen as the true spirit of springing forward and upward, leading you onward to leap over difficulties.  Encouraging you to find new adventures in your active pursuit of living life to the fullest.

Sterling, Freeform Turquoise

My newest work is about rejuvenation of the mind, the body and perhaps most importantly, the soul.  It's not an easy thing to do to stop in the midst of a hectic day and take the time to listen..to truly listen to what your soul is saying to you.  There isn't a second that your soul stops whispering, never loud and intrusive but always there, quietly waiting for the moment when you might have the time to listen.  
This pendant is a reminder of the most important part of us that is often neglected.  Just as the deer has an uncanny sense of where to find the green freshness Mother Earth provides, picture yourself walking in the forest with the stag leading you into the depths within your soul.  What you seek shall be found.


So make the time, step away from your busy life for a few minutes and let your heart whisper to you.  Listen well..I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to hear what it has to say.


xo Blue Gnome

Share In The Freedom I Feel When I Fly

Have you ever dreamt of flying?

I gather everyone has at some time in their lives had a dream that they were soaring high in the sky, not a care in the world.  I've had several of these dreams, and oddly it's through these dreams that I can honestly say that I know what it feels like to be able to take flight.  I'm not talking about flying around in a rocket ship or being belted to some technological gadget that flies around on some kind of jet fuel.  I'm talking about simply swan diving off of a cliff and swooping upwards and away..it's simply the most exhilarating feeling one can imagine.
  
I had another dream about that eagle again the other night.  I couldn't see him this time but I saw his shadow on the ground by my feet..when I looked for him above me, the sun was too bright..but he followed me for a little while.  I'm pretty sure I'm not feeling hunted, I don't get a feeling of uneasiness in these dreams..quite the opposite.  I feel like he's looking miles ahead for me, guiding me on my path.  I'm not sure where I'm going either but there's a spring in my step and I'm excited about whatever may come my way.

I started this ring the day after my eagle dream.  I heard a John Denver song years ago on the radio called ' The Eagle and the Hawk' and although I'm not particularly a John Denver fan, I fell in love with the lyrics.  As such, I felt it fitting that I set a picasso jasper in the ring, it reminds me of the Great Canyon and all the wonderful colours nature has to offer.  I imagine the pattern on the jasper might be something like the landscape an eagle might see as it soars high above the ground, miles in the sky.

Available next week in my shop.

xo Blue Gnome

Sterling, Picasso Jasper

I am the eagle, I live in high country

In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky

I am the hawk and there's blood on my feathers

But time is still turning they soon will be dry

And all of those who see me, all who believe in me

Share in the freedom I feel when I fly

Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops

Sail over the canyons and up to the stars

And reach for the heavens and hope for the future

And all that we can be and not what we are

- John Denver and Mike Taylor

A Bounty of Riches

There's something so wonderful about holding a handful of finished pieces, all of them just pieces of flat sterling a little while ago, now so rich with life.  There's something so satisfying about manipulating the metal, the heating and hammering, watching it all come together right before my eyes.  I lose hours in my studio, it will literally be daylight when I head down, and when I come back upstairs, Sachi will have  been sitting in a completely dark house, looking at me accusingly of neglecting her for so long.  Just to clarify, she actually has a cozy bed on the floor of my shop but when the hammering begins, she gets up in a huff and trots upstairs to her other cosy bed.  This dog is not neglected..far from it. 

 I'm hoping to have more images available to post this weekend, I love how the sunshine brings out the best of what nature has to offer, and I refuse to take photographs of stones in indoor lighting.  As such, today has been a heck of a gloomy day..so no photos yet.  I'm hoping for a peek-a-boo of sun tomorrow when I will scramble around the house setting things up to be photographed.  Until then, this is all I have to offer this evening..First Bloom necklace with turquoise.  It hangs with such a wonderful weight, I've been wearing it all day as I went about with my chores.  I might keep this around for a little while..I've kind of fallen in love with it.

Happy weekend!

xo Blue Gnome

Sterling, Turquoise

Birthday Ring

For years the amethyst has been associated with spirituality, healing and and the metaphysical.  Whenever I see an amethyst, I think of my mother; she is the most spiritually connected person I know.  She's a water sign and like how a trickle of water can turn the strongest concrete foundations into rubble over time, her strength is her patience and perseverance.  For those of you that know me well I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I am the polar opposite..a fire sign.  She's the only person in my family who can douse me out like a campfire when I'm huffing and puffing over something, showering me with calm and reason.  And like a protective boundary, when she lets me vent and burn clear and bright, she keeps my flames under control and protects me from burning out.  She is the queen of our family, the glue that holds everybody together.  I think it's fitting that I finished this ring today, on her birthday.
Available this weekend in my shop.

xo Blue Gnome

Sterling, Amethyst Dendritic Opal, Pearl

Monday Offerings

It's been a good few days of regrouping here..the house is cozy, there's a pot of tomato sauce bubbling away on the stove and I'm just finishing up the last of the laundry.

Yesterday was quite the day of dog-duties.  After a nice trek through the nature trails by my house, the puppy and her beau found a lovely puddle of manure smelling muck to roll in..mmm..manure muck.  The pups were immediately put on leash and they pranced home quite proud of themselves for their little achievement.  Nothing says 'top dog' like the lovely smearing of brown goo all over your fur and the stench of all things smelly that the warm weather brings this time of year.  So home we went, and into the bath she went.  There were a few laps around the dining room and coffee tables before she finally gave up and dragged her paws up the stairs and into the bathroom.  You know you've truly lost that final thread of sanity when you find yourself sitting on the bottom step of your staircase dressed in your 'dog bathing clothes' which for me consists of an old pair of faded red shorts, paint-stained Benetton tank top from high school and a bleach stained bandana on your head yelling at your dog who's on the other side of the house, 'you can run but you can't hide Sachi! I've got alllll day to wait for you, you smelly girl!'  Really though, Sachi is so good..aside from her hobby of barking at handicapped children (yes, handicapped children..I'm truly not making this up..), she's really quite sweet and well behaved.

So anyway, after all of that craziness during the day, my evening was spent finishing up some pieces of jewelry I had been procrastinating on finishing.

Available later today in my shop!

Happy Family Day to those of you here, and Happy President's Day to those of you south of the border!

xo Blue Gnome

Sterling, Dendritic Opal

Twin Ring - A Series of Contradictions II
Sterling, Rosewood, Natural Turquoise

Rise of the Fireflies

Fireflies..have you been fortunate enough to see them?
My first and only time was during a installation job in Georgia, Atlanta.  Small, glowing orbs of light dancing around on someone's front yard..I was mesmerized..then my good friend and coworker told me that when he was a kid, he and his brother used to catch them and squish them..and paint the glowy stuff on their arms and faces as warpaint.  Nice.  Boys are so weird.

I grew up watching movies from Studio Ghibli, an animation house in Japan.  Among their popular animated films like Totoro and Spirited Away, they produced a powerful, heart wrenching movie called 'Firefly Grave'.  It's about a young boy who takes his little sister into the forest to escape the war.  Although they succeed in escaping the bombings of the city, without rations they struggle to survive.  One of my all time favorite movies..but not one I can watch often.  I know my Japanese grandmother couldn't watch it..she survived the war as a child and the movie hit too close to home.  The little girl in the movie also has the same name as my grandma..Setsuko.  The title of the film comes from the fireflies the boy catches for his sister.  He traps them in a glass jar, and she keeps this by her bed at night since there are no lights.

I saw this ocean jasper and I immediately thought of this movie.  And that night in Georgia when the night air was warm and muggy.  It reminds me of what it might be like to walk through a field of fireflies in the darkness of the night and see them all float up into the night sky.  Soft, glowing orbs of light, dancing all around me.

Available later today in my shop.

xo Blue Gnome

Wednesday Blahs

Ugh.  It's one of those days when your day..damn..your whole life just seems blah.  Like looking through a dirty window or being on the wrong side of a foggy one, when you want to take a towel and a huge bottle of industrial windex and wipe everything sparkling clean.  Maybe it's the grayness of the day..all the crisp white snowbanks are black from the fumes of the passing cars and the milder weather has made even the happiest of snowmen slope sadly on people's yards.  I'm trying to snap myself out of this..but then again, I think to myself, why?  Why can't I be in a poopy mood once in awhile, when all I want to do is put on my granny undies, flannel pj's and curl up in my quilt.  Okay, maybe that was too much information.  I don't actually own a pair of granny undies..I mean, how silly..all of mine are super sexy.  Yeah...whatever.

I've just finished ranting and raving to my poor, patient coworker..we'll call her L..and like the supportive trooper she is, she nodded and agreed at all the right place, and scowled and make faces when my rants called for it too.  She was having a 'blah' day yesterday you see..maybe, like last month's flu, this is also catching.  Maybe I should just blame her for my blue day today..yes, that's an excellent idea!  That'll teach her for being such a good friend today.

In honor of my melancholy day today, here are a list of some of my favorite things..can't you just hear Julie Andrews singing 'Doe a deer, a female deer..Ray, a drop of golden sun..'?  On second thought, I'm just going to think about my favorite things and not actually write them down.  That way they're secret..by the way, that's one of my favorite things.  Keeping secrets..

Here's to you having a better day than me..and to having small secrets to smile about when you need one on days like this.

xo Blue Gnome

Newbies To The Shop

I'm digging this rabbit design lately..maybe it's because this is my year..

I had an especially terrible soldering day yesterday, everything I touched seemed to blow up, catch on fire or break.  So I finally gave it a rest..and finished these beauties today, with fresh hands!  I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, still trying to get used to working with smaller stones.  Such finicky little things, my fingers instantly feel too big and clumsy trying to get them to just behave!

Available in my shop tonight!

xo Blue Gnome

More Blooms

Well, the temperatures have plummeted here in the city.  But I have to admit, the great thing about winters in the east coast are the frigid but BEAUTIFUL sunny days!  Yes, it might be horrendously cold out, with wind chills sending the thermometers down to an unthinkable -35 degrees but as long as you're inside somewhere warm, it really is quite uplifting to be able to enjoy the warm sunshine coming in from the window.  My parents live in the gorgeous Okanagan Valley in Beautiful British Columbia.  There the summers are perfect and the winters mild.  But the price you pay for the mild temperatures are the months of overcast skies..it can drive a person simply mad and lead you to experience seasonal depression even if you're not the depression-kind-of-person.  Whoever that 'kind' of person might be.

The cold weather has been the perfect excuse to stay indoors and not deal with the mess that's slowly starting to resurface as the clean, white blanket of snow has begun melting in the yard.  My backyard looks like a small graveyard of buried and forgotten bones, thanks to my wonderfully fuzzy room mate.  As the weather gets warmer and the snow really begins to melt away, the time for utter panic ensues.  All of a sudden her treasures are exposed and my 120lbs dog spends her days reburying all her goods.  Because we're all after her bones..bones that have now had months to ferment in the ground..the grosser, the better.  Some are even green.  Oh goodie.  Not wanting to deal with any of that until it becomes absolutely necessary, I've been hard at work indoors designing and creating the happier thoughts of spring like bright green buds peek-a-booing out of the ground, the first tulips we're so happy to see.

I've decided to name this ring 'First Bloom'.  I love it..it makes me smile thinking that perhaps spring isn't that far off.  Available in my shop later today.

xo Blue Gnome

New Bloom After The Snow

Yesterday was a snow day.  There had been a storm watch in the area for a few days now and yesterday was the day when everything was supposed to happen.  I have to admit, I was kind of looking forward to a crazy snow storm..my pantry was stocked, candles, tea, movies and well..a lovely bottle of No.10 gin.  What could be more civilized than an ice cold gin martini (very dry of course, with a twist..) while curled up on the couch, my very big fuzzy canine companion by my feet, watching the storm from the comforts of my cosy little home?  But alas, the snow came but was nothing extraordinary.  We, who live in the Great White North have seen better from Mother Nature.  What ended up here was simply an inconvenience, terrible drivers at their best, fishtailing about town, people trying to pull U-turns in the middle of traffic, wedged between two snowbanks that are 8 feet high.  Ah..that martini's sounding better and better.

After a very long dog walk through the winter wonderland-like side streets in my neighborhood, my 120lb fuzzy roommate toweled and fed, I spent a luxurious afternoon in my studio sawing, hammering and creating.

From the safety of my home, created from me to you.

xo Blue Gnome

The Hare and The Moon

  I've always grown up looking for the rabbit in the moon.  I remember being confused as to why none of my other friends knew about the hare..instead, they always referred to the "man" on the moon, which just confused me even more.

My mother is Japanese and I grew up hearing stories from my big hardcover book of Japanese Folk Tales, supplied by my grandmother in Japan, who no doubt, didn't want me to forget about my Japanese roots living in Canada.

My all time favorite folk tale was "Kaguya Hime", the story of a bamboo princess who is found by a poor farmer in a bamboo grove.  As the baby grows up, she becomes the most beautiful young lady in all the land.  However, as more moons pass, she becomes increasingly sad and withdrawn.  Finally, one night on the night of the full moon, she tell her adoptive parents that she's in fact a princess of the moon, and her time has come for her to return.  As she speaks, the clouds part in the bright night sky and a beautiful procession of maidens glide down to earth on moon beams.  The chariot awaits.  As the princess bids farewell, she give her parents the gift of a long life and all the wealth they could ever hope for.  I remember imagining how beautiful that sight must've been..and recall wrapping my mother's colourful silk scarves all around me and dancing about the house,  pretending I was the moon princess.  So as you can see, my fascination with the moon started a long time ago.

As such, and with 2011 being the Year of the Rabbit, I've designed and created a ring close to my heart. An ethereal moonstone set in sterling, hand sawn, oxidized and satin finished for somewhat of an industrial look.  So we say good bye to the Year of the Tiger..and welcome a year of artistic creativity, imagination and ambition!

xo Blue Gnome

Some Small Offerings

xo Blue Gnome

Dreams

Dreams..they can have you waking up like you're on top of the world, fully rejuvenated and ready to take on whatever life throws at you that day.  On days like this, you are the ultimate superhero, brave, compassionate and immortal.  Then there are the dreams that screw up your day before you're even out of bed.  You feel fragile, ultra-senstive and exposed..vulnerable.

My sleeps lately have been dream filled.  I've woken up exhausted from the hectic events, friends from so long ago that it feels like another lifetime dropping in for their cameo appearances.  People from the past who shouldn't even know each other, mingling like long lost friends.  Lately there's been a eagle who drops by to pay me a visit.  Flying so high in the sky, sometimes he's only a shadow on the ground by my feet but I know it's him..like somehow I know it's a him, and not a her.  When I look up, despite the distance, we always make eye contact.  I never feel frightened or threatend but I'm left wondering why he's always there.  Am I being hunted for watched over?  I'm not sure yet.

"  To see an eagle in your dream, symbolizes nobility, pride, fierceness, freedom, superiority, courage,  and powerful intellectual ability. It also represents self-renewal and your connection with your spirituality. You will struggle fiercely and courageously to realize your highest ambitions and greatest desires."  - www.dreammoods.com


Hmm..I don't feel particularly courageous lately.


xo Blue Gnome