05.01.17 Celebration

A very full fridge

Ostensibly, this is a blog about jewelry, but you (gentle reader) and I both know that sometimes I write about jewelry, and other times I use it as an excuse to write about something else.  This post is very much in the latter category.

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Passover, which has (almost) always been my favorite holiday - although when I was growing up and my April birthday fell during that week - not so much (because the birthday cake was off the table, so to speak). As an adult, that's not really an issue, and there are so many things I love about Passover - the message of redemption, renewal and hope, the celebration at home with friends and family, and of course THE FOOD!

Chocolate-toffee matzo bark

Since our children were young we have shared the first night Seder with a core group of friends at their home.  Some years the crowd is bigger, some years smaller, but there is a sense of connection and community that moves me deeply, and I look forward to it every year.

So...about the jewelry...earlier this year I had a custom order for a piece with a purple stone, and one of the ones I bought (although the client didn't choose it) was this big, gemmy amethyst.  I love amethyst, and after looking at it for a while I was glad the client decided on something else, because I wanted to keep it. I just had to determine what to put on the back.

Photo credit: ShangriLa Gems

I was at the bench a couple of weeks before the holiday - working and thinking through my plans for shopping and cooking - when genius struck - I would put a wine glass on the back! Because we are commanded to drink four glasses of wine over the course of the Passover Seder, this would be the perfect piece of jewelry for both the gatherings we were attending (on the first and last nights).





In some years, we had attended the last night Seder hosted by our congregation - but this year we had the opportunity to do something new, different and wonderful!

A few months ago an Italian restaurant opened in our neighborhood, and it has become of our very favorite places. The amazing food and wonderful staff made it easy to become regulars. As it happens, L'oca D'oro is also owned by a member of the Jewish community, and they hosted a last night community Seder.

In some ways, it was very much like every other Seder I have attended since childhood.  The crowd gathered and was seated - some people I knew, some were new to me. The candles were lit to mark the separation between the day that was ending and the one that was beginning. The hosts, Adam Orman, the owner and Rabbi Rebecca Epstein of Congregation Beth Israel, identified the ritual items on the Seder plate and led us in prayer and song.


But...THE FOOD...did I mention I love Passover food (yes, yes I think I did).  Chef Fiore Tedesco prepared the most amazing Passover meal I have ever had! Traditionally, the first "course" of the meal is a green vegetable (usually parsley) dipped in saltwater - but we had fried snap peas in a salty dipping sauce that were divine!



Furthermore, by the last day I am generally doing everything I can do avoid eating another piece of matzo (they don't call it the bread of affliction for nothing).  Not so with Fiore's incredible house made unleavened bread.  Toasty and topped with sea salt, everyone at our table agreed we'd eat as much as was set in front of us.

Everything that followed - matzo ball soup, brisket, a grain free potato and tomato lasagna and flourless chocolate cake - were gastronomic works of (kosher) art...and now, every time I wear my wine glass pendant, it will remind me of the joy of celebrating with my community.

L'chaim!

PS - with a busy summer ahead I'm going to drop back to posting every other week, so I'll see you next time - on May 15.

02.01.16 Leap Year

Well, he's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape.
- Guy Clark

Thinking about 2016 being a leap year made this refrain from the Guy Clark song "The Cape" start playing in my head.  This isn't the first time I've started a post with his lyrics - and it probably won't be the last, because he is one of my very favorite songwriters.

...and now I am going to leap into my second year as a blogger and a jewelry maker...it was one year ago this past weekend that I took my first class - and what a year it was!  Can't believe I'm a month into year two!

Since it's February, I'm going to focus on amethyst, this month's birthstone.  There are no February babies in my immediate family, but it's still one of my favorite stones.  The use of amethyst in jewelry dates back to ancient times - it has been found in both Egyptian and Greek artifacts.  It has great color and was once considered to be a "precious" stone, however, when large qualities were found to exist, it was downgraded.  The demotion to "semi-precious" makes it very affordable by comparison to many other colored gems.

It seems appropriate that the first piece of jewelry up for sale in my Etsy store (another "leap" this year) is an amethyst.  It's a large stone, and but I was able to purchase it at a good price - probably because it does have some visible inclusions.  However, it has great color, and seemed perfect for a statement piece.

After putting the heart on the back of my Fordite pendant, I decided that every piece of my jewelry would have a "story" cutout on the back.  I thought about this one for quite a while, and decided that I would call it the "Violet Crown"...a name used to describe the City of Austin since the late 1800s.  Also, because purple has often been used as the color of royalty, it would make a great gift for someone who should be treated like a queen!

I decided from the beginning that I was going to sell this pendant - I can't keep them all, as much as I'd like to - and I'm hoping it will find its way to a happy home some time this month.

I have another pair of emerald cut stones that belonged to my mom - from a pair of her earrings - that I do plan to keep.  I'm playing around with ideas for them right now.  One of the most important take aways from my fabrication classes and time working in the open studio (with an instructor always available) is that I can't just go to the bench and let the stones "speak to me".

Some people can do that - but I am (and have always been) a planner.  I want to make the most out of my studio time (which is expensive), and the best way to do that is to go in with both a design and work plan sketched out in my notebook.  I have a Pinterest board - Inspiration to Fabrication - where I've pinned both ideas and finished pieces.  If you scroll through I suspect you'll see the seeds of some of my work.  I also have a board devoted to amethysts, for those of you who ARE looking for February birthday inspiration.  

Whatever your take on this leap year - make the most of your extra day this month!

Until next time.

1.30.15 Healing Gems

I don't know what I thought the theme of January was going to be at the start of the new year, but at the end of the month I can tell you it is summed up in an old Yiddish proverb:

Man plans, God laughs.

I am a moderately observant Jew, and I believe in God - in the sense that there are is some force greater than any of us - driving the universe.  Barbara Bradley Hagerty is NPR’s religion correspondent, and the author of a fascinating book, Fingerprints of God: In Search of the Science of Spirituality. I was a religion minor in college, and was intrigued, so I bought the book when it first came out in the summer of 2010.  It's a good read, and it resonated with me in a very real way.  I also practice yoga regularly.  I started as a way to manage my pain and improve my flexibility after being in a nasty car wreck several years ago.  My goal then, and largely still, was physical improvement - but I have found that my practice brings me a great deal of emotional stability and mental clarity as well.

I don't know how I feel about gemstones as a source of healing - although I am a staunch believer in the benefits of retail therapy - but I decided it was worth looking into for a blog post at the end of what has been a rather topsy-turvy month.

According to the American Gem Society, amethyst is considered to be the "gemstone of meditation, peace, balance, courage and inner strength".  I could certainly use a dose of that moving forward.

I've long been a fan of amethyst - both because of its color (generally shades of purple, but it also pinks and greens) and its price.  Amethyst is a form a quartz, which makes it a semiprecious stone, and generally more affordable than other richly colored precious gems.

Two of my favorite personal pieces are a child's ring, from one of Uncle Bernard's trays, which I wore as a pinky ring for many years, and a pendant that my mother bought me on one of her early trips to visit me when I was in graduate school.  Coincidentally, amethyst is also the birthstone for February, and I've pinned a number of lovely pieces to my Pinterest board, February birthstones (how's that for a segue?).

Until next time.

is considered the gemstone of meditation, peace, balance, courage, and inner strength. - See more at: http://www.americangemsociety.org/healing-gemstones#sthash.lOGBK7n6.dpuf

is considered the gemstone of meditation, peace, balance, courage, and inner strength. - See more at: http://www.americangemsociety.org/healing-gemstones#sthash.lOGBK7n6.dpuf

is considered the gemstone of meditation, peace, balance, courage, and inner strength. - See more at: http://www.americangemsociety.org/healing-gemstones#sthash.lOGBK7n6.dpuf