02.24.20 Blue Wave

Postcards: January 2017

If you are a regular reader of this blog, or follow my social media, it will come as no surprise that I have not been happy about the state of political affairs in our country for several years...

I started writing postcards to members of Congress just days after this administration took office, then Resistbot came along, and I began sending regular electronic missives to Washington...and those fell on deaf ears.

I am now back to writing postcards, but this time it is not to elected officials, but to voters (who will hopefully send new people to statehouses and Washington in November).

Through a grassroots organization called Postcards to Voters, I've been writing cards to voters all across the country encouraging them to sign up to vote by mail, and participate in special elections for Democrats running in key races.  It feels much more productive than writing to Washington - where at best I get nothing in response, and at worst I get horrible form letters with canned language that isn't really related to my original message at all.

Stone Maven Designs on Etsy

At first I was printing the cards myself, from templates on the PTV website, but as I started following the organization and other writers on social media, I discovered makers who were creating cards especially for the effort!  I thought what could be better than supporting fellow artists - so I bought postcards from sellers on Etsy!

The first set I bought came from Stone Maven Designs, featuring great drawings of blue waves...and suddenly I was inspired to create some blue waves myself - in jewelry (of course).

I had already ordered a beautiful larimar cabochon and it seemed like the perfect choice for a wave on the back!

Just FYI - I'm keeping this one.

Then, I started thinking about how I could create a relatively affordable "Blue Wave" piece, so that I could donate a portion of the proceeds to progressive candidates and organizations.


I had some success with this concept during the 2018 election cycle when I created and sold several "Blue for Beto" pendants.

I ordered some pieces of vintage blue glass (which is a lot less expensive than larimar, lapis, kyanite or any other blue stone I can think of) and made a prototype.

These pendants are available, starting at $125 with a glass cabochon - more for a stone -  and with each sale, I will make a $25 donation to the (state or local) Democratic candidate or cause of the buyers choice.

The pendants can be customized in a few ways...

I can put a wave or a state cut out on the back;

the buyer can choose their bezel wire (straight, serrated or scalloped);

Shop on Etsy

I can make the pendant with our without an outer twisted wire ring or patina;

and of course, I can make them with a stone cabochon (price to be determined at the time the pendant is commissioned).

So...if you'd like to support the Blue Wave, click the "Shop on Etsy" link below the photo, hit me up with a comment here or DM me on Instagram.

Creative Dem on Etsy

If you want write postcards and support other makers, follow the links above to Postcards to Voters, and get your cards from Stone Maven Designs, Creative Dem or Mary Likes Postcards - all on Etsy.

Mary Likes Postcards on Etsy

Democracy doesn't just happen - it takes engagement from every one of us.  

Make sure you are registered to vote. 

Become informed about the candidates running for office at every level of government, and then go participate.

As Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address (at a previous time when we were a very divided country), we are a nation "of the people, by the people, and for the people" - but only if the people participate.

Until next time.

12.24.18 Thanks for another great year.

Kinetic Jewelry Projects

When I started this blog, I don't think I really believed that I would still be writing it four years later...but here I am.

- I'm now at 180 posts, and counting...

- I took more great classes at Creative Side Jewelry Academy, and especially loved learning to give my jewelry more movement with De Pastel in her kinetics workshop.

"Arabesque" pendant
Peforma/Dance Art for Good

- Continued to donate Art for Good jewelry - to the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, Performa/Dance, the Capital Area Parkinson's Society, LASA's Project Graduation and Gilda's Clubhouse. 












- I am now up to 500+ followers on Instagram (thank you all!) and it has been great for my Etsy shop.

- I participated in my first sales event - the Holiday Trunk Show at Creative Side - and sold some pieces, there, too!

- and you, dear readers, have visited this blog over 19,000 times!

Thank you.

I've got one kiddo home for the holidays (although because she's in grad school it's a shorter visit this year) - but I'll be back in early 2019 with more stories about my journey. I hope you will continue to travel with me.

Until next time.

10.16.17 A Thousand Flowers

Murrine frits (pieces)
Photo credit - TahitiNights on Etsy

The term millefiori means "a thousand flowers" - and describes a particular type of glass made in an ancient tradition.

Millefiori is created using murrine - canes of glass which show intricate patterns when they are cut through.  There is evidence of murrine use as far back as 4,000 years ago - and it has been incorporated into the work of Venetian glassmakers for over 500 years.

The pieces - called frit - can be combined in a number of ways to create either finished pieces (such as paperweights or other decorative glass), cabochons to be used in jewelery, or slabs - which can then be cut by a lapidary artist.

When I made my first Texas Wildflower pendant with a millefiori glass heart, I knew I was on to something...but I had no idea how wildly popular these pendants would be.

I've made several, and they've been flying off the bench - with people claiming them even before they are finished...which is fine with me (because I can't keep everything - and I have to pay for my materials somehow!). Eventually, I do hope to keep one.

However, because they are so popular, I have been going on regular Etsy scavenger hunts trying to find more glass. So far I've been successful - I currently have about a dozen hearts.

As I've said before - I would love to try my hand at glass work - and creating fused millefiori cabochons might be a good place to start.

In the mean time, I'm working with what I can find for sale.  Most recently, I sold three small hearts - all to the same customer - as part of my effort to help with the hurricane Harvey recovery in south Texas.





If you are interested in seeing how millefiori glass is created, take a look at this 5 minute video from "How It's Made".

Until next time.

10.02.17 The White Rose

Perhaps it was inevitable (given my 30 year career in and around government) that policy and politics would find their way into my jewelry blog - that has certainly been the case over the past few months.  Since January, the world has become a different place - and not (in my humble opinion) for the better. The events of this year have had an impact on me, my blog and my jewelry.

Pearl earrings - Rehoboth Art League

I've written about the importance of art in troubled times, the Women's March, and most recently Charlottesville. When I was finally able to return to the studio (after vacation then hurricane Harvey) it felt like therapy...and I decided that the first piece I made would be for me (in part because if I made mistakes because I was out of practice, it wouldn't matter).

I knew exactly which stone I wanted to use. I won a lovely piece of white Howlite in a raffle, and wanted to create a pendant that would go well with the earrings I bought while I was on vacation.

I started thinking about what to put on the back of the pendant, and decided that a rose bud template I hadn't used yet would be perfect. Not only did the design echo the earrings - but I could wear it as a way to remind myself of the importance of daily resistance in the face of hate and injustice.

You see, during Hilter's rise to power there was a group of student resisters who called themselves the "White Rose Movement". Although it certainly was not their original intent, they sacrificed their lives standing up for for the rights and dignity of others.

As a soldier on the eastern front, Hans Scholl had seen firsthand the mistreatment of Jews working as forced labor for German army, and heard of the deportation of others to concentration camps.

When he returned to Munich as a medical student Hans, along with his sister Sophie and fellow students Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell, founded the movement to speak out against the rise of the Nazi party.  The students secretly distributed leaflets that encouraged others to object to the war - but were turned in to the Gestapo by a member of the university community - and subsequently executed.

As Americans, we like to think (and say) "it could never happen here" - but in fact - it did, when more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in camps during WWII...and it could happen again.  Proposals to ban Muslims or deport young people who were brought to this country as children sound just a little too much like rounding up people simply because they are different.

History can be ugly and painful - but it is also full of examples of individuals who chose not to look the other way, not to be silent, and to do these things as considerable personal risk.  These good people - ordinary people doing extraordinary things - walk among us every day.  I want to be one of them - and on the days when that is hard, I will wear this necklace.

Until next time.

09.01.17 Harvey

Hurricane Harvey as seen by the ISS.
Photo credit: New York Times

I normally post on Monday, but things are not exactly normal right now.

I was planning to tell you about our wonderful family vacation at Rehoboth Beach - but that's going to have to wait...because at the moment Texas coastal towns are on my mind more than any in Delaware.

We knew this storm was going to be bad, really bad...and we've seen big hurricanes before.



My husband - who grew up in south Texas - lived through Carla. His family still lives in Houston, where they spent almost two weeks without power after Ike. After Katrina, Houston, and our hometown of Austin took in thousands of refugees.

Nothing anyone had ever seen prepared us for Harvey. Nothing.

Photo credit: Emily Cawood

Thursday night before the storm hit, we agreed that my mother in law should come up to Austin and stay with us - so my husband drove to Houston and back to get her.  For three days we sat at our house in the pouring rain (but otherwise fine), with the TV on, and watched as the devastation hit.

First the coastal towns where we have had family vacations - Rockport, Corpus Christi and Port Aransas; then Victoria - where my college roommate and her family lived for many years before moving to Wisconsin; then Houston, where it seemed the rain would never let up. Harvey dumped more than four feet of water on the Texas Gulf Coast, and there's no telling how long it will take to rebuild - let alone truly recover.

We all want to DO something - and in the short term - the most important thing those of us who were not impacted can do is donate to the relief effort.  Financial donations are best - because they allow the organizations on the ground to obtain the goods and services they need to help those who have been impacted.  I have a list of organizations on my Facebook page if you want to help.

Many Texas artists have stepped up to support and donate to relief efforts.  I participated by donating a surfite pendant to an online Harvey Relief Auction (today through 9/3 on Instagram) - and 100% of the proceeds will be donated the Houston Food Bank and Global Giving.

For the remainder of the year - throughout the holiday season - I'll be donating a portion of my jewelry sales to the relief efforts.  For every custom Texas pendant  I sell from now until the end of the year - 20% of the price (which will vary based on the type of stone and size of the pendant) will be donated to Houston's relief efforts.

The last few weeks have been difficult - and I am anxious to get back to the bench, and to return to blogging about less serious topics - like vacation.

I hope this finds you safe, well and dry.

Until next time.

02.20.07 Art for Good

Photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center twitter

I don't know about you - but it's been a month since the inauguration - and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to cope and what to do...every day seems to bring some new challenge.

I was travelling and unable to attend my local Women's March - but I still wanted to find a way to get involved. I was incredibly moved by the photos from all over the country (world!) with of seas of people wearing pink hats...then I had an idea...a pink pendant that I would sell and donate the proceeds to civil and reproductive rights organization.



I've had a pink mother of pearl heart cabochon in my collection of stones for a while.  It seemed perfect for a piece inspired by the march.

When I got back to the studio on Monday, I pulled out my trusty Green Lion saw and cut a cat out of the backplate for the pendant (a nod to those millions of crocheted pink kitty ear hats...even the Make Way for Ducklings statues in Boston's Public Garden were wearing them).









On Sunday, a couple of weeks after the march, I put the pendant up for auction on Instagram - with an explanation that all the proceeds from the sale would be donated to civil and reprodctive rights organizations.  I was delighted by the support I received - and the pendant sold for over $150 - enabling me to make contributions to Planned Parenthood, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU.

It felt really good to know that I was putting my art to work helping people...so good, that I've decided that I am going to designate some of my future sales as well.

A few items in my shop will be designated as Art for Good, and portion of the proceeds from these sales will be donated to charitable organizations.  One of the items is this hamsa pendant (available now, just click the link) which I am calling "Salaam-Shalom" (the Arabic and Hebrew words for "peace").  When it sells, I'll make a contribution to an organization helping immigrants and refugees affected by the travel ban imposed recently.

I'm grateful that I can retreat to the bench a few hours a week, and turn down the volume on all that is happening in the world...but feel that it is important to be aware of how lucky that makes me, and use my good fortune to do something to help others.

As I keep saying, now more than ever, art matters.  Go out into your community and find artists whose work speaks to you. Get to know them - and support them - in difficult times they are some of our strongest voices.

Until next time.