12.14.20 Home for the Holidays - Part 2

Just before Thanksgiving, I wrote about going to Ballet Austin to record the descriptive audio narration for the feature length film of the Nutcracker that is now available for home viewing.  On Saturday, the Home for the Holidays package was released, and I felt a not so small swell of pride when I opened the page and saw this:

It was a little weird to hit play and hear my own voice coming through the speakers on my computer...but it was exciting, too.

For two decades, Nutcracker has been a part of our lives...

as soon as our daughter began taking classes at Ballet Austin Academy, her dream was to have a role in the performance.  Once she was old enough - she did - every year for a decade.  From her first year as an angel, to her last as a rat...when she was part of the "new" (now seven years old) production with updated battle scene choreography and costumes.

My involvement paralleled hers - not onstage, but behind the scenes. I drove carpool, wrangled angels and mice backstage and began voluntering as a docent...first at her elementary school, then at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impared, and finally (the year she went away to college - and Nutcracker no longer started in September for us), taking on descriptive narration for the school performances.

When the Ballet Austin staff reached out during the summer, and asked if I would come into the studio and record the description for Act I (which would be sent to schools all over Central Texas so third graders would not miss their Nutcracker opportunity) I said, of course!

When they called again, just before Thanksgiving, to ask if I would be willing to return to do Act II, so they could include the narration with the full length film, I was honored.

It really wouldn't be the holidays around here with the Nutcracker - so we were delighted to be able to watch it at home (I now know how to cast from my phone to the television through the Roku).  It was different from other years, too be sure, we were in our sweats on the sofa...but they were great seats...and we loved seeing our friends - many of whom are my daughter's former teachers - perform.

Not only is the film beautiful but Ballet Austin is offering extra digital content each day...including a hilarious bit where the rats run around the empty building wreaking havoc.

Just click on the Home for the Holidays link at the top of the post, and you, too can sit back and watch sugarplums dance across your screen.

Here's hoping that next year, we'll be back in our seats watching the Silberhaus family live and onstage again.

Until next time.

11.23.20 Home for the Holidays

Under ordinary circumstances, I would say that when it's still 100+ outside, it's too early to be talking about Nutcracker...but a few weeks ago, that's exactly what I did...and it was great.

For the last decade or so, I have been giving Nutcracker Docent presentations on behalf of Ballet Austin at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and more recently, I have been providing descriptive audio narration for students and other visually impaired patrons at performances.

Like everything else about 2020, Nutcracker presentations are going to be different this year...but I was thrilled when I got a request to go to the Ballet Austin studios and record both a video piece for the docent presentation that will go out to third graders across central Texas, and make an audio recording of my descriptive narration.

I was so excited to be going somewhere and doing something - in person, with people - safely, of course.  I got dressed, put on make up and jewelry, donned my mask and drove downtown.

When I got there, I was so glad to see the staff from the Community Education and Production departments...but I couldn't hug them, in fact, we all stayed six feet apart as they set up the camera and microphone for me to record my video segment.

I was a little nervous - it's one thing to make a presentation in front of a group of third graders, they love having "guests" in the classroom, but doing it on camera is a little more daunting.

For many students, Nutcracker is their introduction to live performing arts, especially dance, and I wanted to appear as enthusiastic on camera as I try to be in person.

The good news is - it went quite well - in no small part due to the work done for me by the Ballet Austin staff. They had the script on a teleprompter, and adjusted the scroll rate to a speed that worked well for me.

After the video taping was finished, I was ready to do my descriptive narration audio recording...but rather than being in the sound booth at the Long Center, with a live performance on stage, I was in an office watching video on a small screen.

Still, I was glad to be asked, and happy to be doing it.

I'll miss being able to see the students - and the performances - in person this year, but I'm glad to be able to help the folks at Ballet Austin, who are working so hard to make sure that Central Texans - including thousands of school children - can still experience the Nutcracker this year.

Covid has hit arts organizations and individual artists especially hard.  If you are able - please support them - by maintaining your season subscriptions, following the on platforms like Patreon, and as always, shopping small from artists for yourself or as gifts.

You can help support Ballet Austin, and enjoy the holiday tradition by bringing the Nutcracker Home for the Holidays.  Just follow the link to make a tax deductible donation to Ballet Austin and get digital access to the performance and related events.

I hope you have a small, safe and socially distanced Thanksgiving this week.

Until next time.

12.11.17 Happy Accidents (part 2)

In the same shipment as the turquoise chips, there were several pairs of drilled bars for earrings.  Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in shipping, one of the stones cracked.

I contacted my sellers, who promptly sent me a new pair of stones, but I hated the idea of not being able to do something with the broken one...

I asked a number of folks I know who work with stones if because it was a clean break, I could glue the pieces back together?

I knew I wouldn't be able to sell the earrings, but if it worked - I could keep them.


With information about the type of glue to use (clear drying two part jewelry epoxy) and some good instructions, I put the pieces back together, wrapped them with painters tape and waited to see how it turned out.

Lo, and behold - it worked!  If you hold them close and look very carefully you can still see the seam where the stone was repaired, but you have to know it's there.

There were several other pairs of stones in my order, and they made their way into my shop, but I'm still feeling pretty proud of myself for mending these...

...and I'm really enjoying wearing them.














Until next time.

PS - my time in the booth doing descriptive audio narration for the Nutcracker went really well! Here's a bonus picture of me - with my script and microphone - just before the show!

11.13.17 I Must Be Nutz

The physicist and the biochemist in 2004

I became a Nutcracker parent (and docent) in the fall of 2004.  I continued in my role - working back stage, driving carpool, making sure we had the right colored ballet slippers - for the next 10 years, until my daughter graduated from high school and headed off to college.

Over the years, I created a charm bracelet for her with each of the roles she danced...and I acquired some Nutcracker jewelry of my own.


After I was done with the schlep, I continued to be a docent - both at the our neighborhood elementary, and at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  When I go, I usually wear one of my Nutcracker pins (along with my Ballet Austin Docent name tag).

This year, I've taken on a new role -  learning to do descriptive narration for blind and visually impaired ballet patrons.  If you had told me even a couple of years ago that I would spend hours in front of the computer painstakingly taking notes about dancers, costumes, and sets so that I could write a script to describe them in excruciating detail...I am sure I would have scoffed at you.  But that is exactly what I am doing.

29 handwritten and 18 typed pages

While it does give me the warm fuzzies to learn this new set of skills - I am not motivated entirely by altruism...

My father was a world renowned theoretical physicist.  He received numerous accolades and held a variety of senior positions at the US Department of Energy during his career - including serving as the Chief Scientist for the Superconducting Supercollider.

Yep - he was a bona fide genius.  But at the end of his life, his razor sharp mind was dulled by dementia, and one of the things I learned in the process of helping to care for him - and coming to terms with his death - is that learning new things in middle age, and later in life, may prevent or at least delay the onset of dementia.

So - along with learning metalsmithing - I decided that becoming a descriptive narrator was something that I could do for my community and for myself.

In 2013, Ballet Austin bought new sets and costumes for the production.  We bought our daughter an ornament on the tree, on the back it has her name and says Cast Member 2004-2013 - so she could always be part of the production - my name is not there.

She, and the rest of my family think it's "cool" but also more than a little hilarious that after saying that I'd be done with the Nutcracker when my daughter was - that hasn't happened yet.

Until next time

02.15.16 Love Tokens

One of the great joys of writing this blog has been learning how many of my friends share my love of and interest in jewelry.  Over lunch late last year my friend Mary Casas and I were comparing jewelry notes, and I asked her if she would be willing to write a guest post (or two) for this year.

Happily - she said yes, and we agreed that the subject of love tokens is perfect for February!  Here's her Valentines gift to me - and you.  Enjoy!

Charming talismans from the past as vibrant and as meaningful today as in the height of their popularity in the late 1800’s into the early 1900’s

What is a love token you may ask?  It is an artistically altered coin, typically made of silver ore, which has been smoothed on at least one side and engraved with the name of one’s beloved, or images, or poems.

People were quite sentimental in the Victorian age and love tokens are an enduring testament to those feelings.  According to the Love Token Society website, which is an excellent source of information and images, there are 2 basic requirements for a love token:  First, the engraving must be on a legitimate coin (i.e. a coin of the realm)  In the United States, the liberty seated dime of the late 1800’s is the most common, likely because it was softer and thus easier to engrave than say the nickel, and a more valuable gift than a nickel or the lowly copper cent.  Second, the engraving must be done by hand.  Love tokens are not unique to the U.S.  They were also made in significant quantities in Great Britain, Germany, and Canada.  Smaller quantities were also made in numerous other countries.

I discovered love tokens in the fall of 2014, quite by accident, and have been drawn to them as a collector ever since.  I was looking for a unique gift to mark a special milestone and exciting moment in the life of my daughter, Madeline.  She was 14 at the time and had been cast in the role of Clara in Ballet Austin’s 52nd production of The Nutcracker.  As I searched online for a jewelry memento related to the ballet that I could give to her at the end of the show’s run, the results were exactly as you’d expect.  There were myriad nutcracker charms and even a charm in the image of Clara with outstretched arms holding the nutcracker while gazing at him admiringly, but something told me to keep on looking.

Finally, out of desperation and in an attempt to cast the net wide, I simply typed the word “clara” into the search engine and was amazed by an image that appeared.  It was a delicate and lovely silver coin engraved, Clara, with what looked like an elegant swish underneath the name, which I have since learned is referred to as a “bale.”

The coin had a very thin gold frame that encircled the perimeter of the coin and the effect was lovely: simple and timeless.  I ordered the Canadian love token coin and found the lightest of gold chains for it and took a deep breath.  I was pleased with the one of a kind memento I had discovered.  Since then, I have become a collector of sorts and must admit the thrill of the hunt keeps me coming back for more.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve put together several love token necklaces for family members and friends, all containing the names and/or initials of children, grandchildren, and other loved ones. 

The antique quality of a genuine love token is definitely part of the allure of these charms.  The patina silver acquires over at least a century lends depth and richness to these treasures that captivates the imagination and transports us to another time.  The idea that someone took the time to hand work and engrave a coin to perfection for a loved one over 100 years ago, only makes the gift have more depth of meaning when given today.

Happily, I found myself in the market for another love token engraved Clara, when Madeline learned she was cast as Clara for a second time in 2015.  Somewhat remarkably, I was able to find one with a beautiful inscription of Clara once again.  No two love tokens are identical of course and that is what makes them so beautiful.  The love token I found this year, a U.S. liberty seated dime from 1883, is a bit bolder and more nuanced than the first, just as I found Madeline’s performance to be her second year, so the congruity of this particular find was not lost on me.

As I type this in my kitchen on December 27th, Ballet Austin’s 53rd annual production of The Nutcracker has very recently come to a close and Madeline ducks into the kitchen to get a snack.  She walks over to say hello and sees what I am writing.  She smiles and touches the latest Clara pendant she’s been wearing since receiving it at our celebratory dinner with family at Uchi on 12/23 after the company’s final performance of the season.  With that simple gesture, I know the experience itself and the love token remembrance will both be treasures to her always.

My thanks to Mary for sharing her wonderful story and beautiful photos.

Until next time.

12.14.15 Visions of Sugarplums danced in their heads

Ballet Austin Nutcracker Cast 2013 - my daughter's last show

When my daughter was 3 years old, we were invited to a mother-daughter event to see Ballet Austin's production of Cinderella.  For more than 2 hours, she sat on the edge of her seat, and when the curtain went down and the lights went up, she said to me "Mommy, I'm going to be a ballerina".

My response was "of course you are" - because all 3 year old girls want to be ballerinas.

However, my girl really DID go on to be a ballerina; for 14 years she danced at the Ballet Austin Academy, and for 10 of those years she was part of the annual cast of the Nutcracker (she STILL dances for fun and exercise).

Charms - all the roles

My daughter was so excited to be cast as an angel her first year, and I bought her a James Avery angel charm, and had the date engraved on the back, as a keepsake.  The next two years, she danced as a mouse in the battle scene, so I bought mouse charms, and by her fourth year, it occurred to me that maybe instead of putting these charms on her regular charm bracelet, they needed to be own their own...so it was...that over the course of those 10 years we created a shiny record of all of her performances.

I confess, I tired of the schlep to rehearsals and the theater, and saw the production more times than I can count...but I got involved in my own way.  I became a docent - going into schools in the Austin area to talk to elementary school students about ballet and what they will see when they attend the performance.

Backs - all the dates

Being a docent is hands down my favorite part of the Nutcracker.  There is something so special and fulfilling about the opportunity to bring an art form I love to students, who often, have never seen a live performance.  For most of my presentations I rely on the wonderful materials provided Ballet Austin Community Education staff.  In addition to the presentation itself, each docent receives a bag chock full of props including, of course, a Nutcracker. For the past several years I’ve also been the docent for a particularly special group of children – the students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired - and I was excited to see them again last week.

When I was first asked to do the presentation for TSBVI, I was already an experienced docent.  I said “yes” without a full appreciation of what I was taking on.  I knew the students would have little or no sight, but what I did not know what the range of other special needs the residential school serves.  Some students are sight impaired, but very high functioning in other areas, and some have much more severe disabilities and special needs. Fortunately, the school has a wonderful music teacher who gave me great advice on what would spark their interest and be appropriate for her students.

A TSBVI student holds a Nutcracker

Being the docent for TSBVI made me think about ballet in a way that goes beyond the visual.  To bring the Nutcracker alive for these students I focus on their other senses.  Students hear the story through descriptive audio services when they attend the performance at the Long Center, and Tchaikovsky’s fabulous score provides signature phrases for many scenes.

In the first act, there is the ominous music that precedes or indicates the arrival of the Rat King.  At the end of the act, there is snow - which does not fall silently – but as the rhythmic tapping of 32 perfectly timed pointe shoes moving across the stage.  In the second act, each "sweet" has their own musical theme, and as we listen I ask students to imagine the taste and smell of coffee, tea, cinnamon, chocolate, almond and peppermint. 

A TSBVI student tries on a costume

The students also love the costumes. Over the years I’ve made a point of taking well embellished tutus so that students can feel the beading, embroidery and tulle – allowing them to “visualize” the garment in their minds - truly creating visions of sugarplums.

My daughter is in college now, and we attend a performance every year when she is home.  But it is my time with these special children that really helps me to "see" the beauty of this "holiday gem".

Until next time.

11.23.15 Shop local: Holiday Art Fairs

What’s better than being able to give beautiful hand crafted holiday gifts?  Being able to do it while listening to great music and supporting local artists.  Here in Austin, we have more opportunities than I have time to write about, but three of my favorites are:

Blue Genie Art Bazaar – November 27 – December 24
Cherrywood Art Fair, December 12 and 13
Armadillo Christmas Bazaar – December 14 – 24

While it’s the smallest of the three, the Cherrywood Art Fair is nearest and dearest to my heart.  Started in 2002 as a way to support neighborhood artists and elementary school art programs, it has grown into a very big deal.  In 2003 it moved to Maplewood Elementary school (our neighborhood school), where it is now one of the most anticipated events of the holiday season.  With over one hundred artists, musical performances and food vendors, it is great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Not only can you support these great artists through your purchases, a portion of the proceeds from the event goes to support the Little Artist BIG ARTIST program.

Since 2007, Little Artist BIG ARTIST has provided an opportunity for fifth-graders from East Austin elementary schools to work with BIG ARTISTS to create their own art.  BIG ARTISTS provide their time and professional experience as working artists to guide their Little Artists to envision, plan, and create at least two pieces of artwork during their 10 week one-on-one collaboration.  The artwork is part of a silent auction each year at the Cherrywood Art Fair.

Just up the road a piece, and open for nearly a month starting the day after Thanksgiving, is the Blue Genie Art Bazaar.

What started as some creative people deciding to have a little holiday fun has become one of my favorite must shop Austin holiday traditions.  According to the history on their website - "The first Blue Genie Art Bazaar was held in 2001 at the Blue Genie Art Industries (BGA) shop, where we mostly sold items made by Blue Genie employees. Without putting much thought into it, we built a few walls, hung up some clip lights, and swept the floor — and then we opened the doors. It was quickly apparent that we had something exciting on our hands. Now, the bazaar features the handmade, unique work of over 130 artists, whom we select from a talented pool of more than 300 applicants. We have spent over a decade refining the bazaar, and we’re quite proud of what it has grown into." 

I ALWAYS find something at Blue Genie, sometimes it's even something for me!

At 40, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar is the oldest and longest running of the fairs.  If you REALLY want to make a day of it - get tickets to Ballet Austin's Nutcracker (which runs through December 23, right next door at the Long Center for the Performing Arts), then stroll over to the Palmer Events Center for a different kind of Texas culture.

With artists from all over the country, it's not just a great place to shop for gifts - but a wonderful way to entertaining out of town friends and family wandering from booth to booth while hearing great Texas music.

In case you can't make it to all three events - or aren't fortunate enough to get to Austin at all - here are links to a few of the Austin-based jewelry artists I've shopped with over the years: 

adaptive reUse - Christine Terrell uses vintage tins to make one of a kind earrings, necklaces, belt buckles and cufflinks. (at Blue Genie)
Dish it Out Jewelry - Holli Brown brakes vintage plates - and turns them into wonderful earrings, pendants and bracelets. (at Blue Genie)
Fail Jewelry - Christine Fail works in gold, silver, brass and gemstones to create beautiful contemporary wearable art (at Cherrywood Art Fair)
Lisa Crowder Jewelry - Lisa Crowder creates distinctive floral and geometric jewelry in silver, gold and enamel. (at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar)
Poppy & Fern - Rachel Pruitt creates tiny embroidered works of art to wear on a chain or hang on the wall. (at Blue Genie and Cherrywood Art Fair)
Steve Kriechbaum Goldsmith - Steve Kriechbaum is a master bench jeweler working in precious metals and gemstones.  Fun fact - he and his associate Nora McMullen are also instructors at Creative Side Jewelry Academy. (Armadillo Christmas Bazaar)
Stones Throw Studio -  Kyle Goss works primarily with silver and stones to make jewelry with an organic look and feel. (at Blue Genie and Cherrywood Art Fair)

Happy shopping - and stay tuned for at least one more "shop local" post.

Until next time.