February 28th Should Be a Holiday Across the Entire Northern Hemisphere

I can't think of one single good thing about February, well, I guess there is one.... it is short! What a dismal month, cold, dark and gloomy. Year after year I wonder if I will make it out of February alive and sane, one year I almost didn't, ended up in the hospital with some pretty serious stress related health problems.
I am in a celebratory mood today, it is the last day of the most dreaded month of the year, I am alive, pretty sane, and part way down my path to a completely new life. I have left teaching behind and am looking to a brighter future.

My Version of a Victorian Coral Rosary for Protection from Evil and Health Giving Benefits

You can read a little about the history of coral rosaries below, but I will briefly say again that coral has long been treasured not only for its beauty but for its mystical properties of protection from the evil eye and illness. This appreciation for coral crosses cultures and can be found in such diverse areas as Tibet and the Native Americans of the United States. In Europe rosaries were made from coral from at least the Middle Ages, Victorians were well known for providing infants with coral in the form of a rosary, necklace or teething toy.
Now that gorgeous Mediterranean coral is endangered we are using other non-endangered corals and dying them to resemble Mediterranean coral which is of course a good thing. These beads are a gorgeous and delicate salmon pink and white and are very naturalistic, almost rustic looking and perfect for rosary making. The cross is a hand cast bronze cast from a Victorian antique. You can find this rosary (at least until it sells) in my Etsy store. thesacredbead2.etsy.com
I made this rosary a four decade rosary rather than the traditional five allowing this one to be worn if one wishes. Five decades would have made it just too long to wear. It is just too beautiful to be put in a drawer! Your grandmother may have told you to never wear a rosary but throughout the ages, rosaries have been worn. Look at Medieval paintings, you will find every prominent figure wearing prayer beads. Incredible rosary necklaces were made during the 18th century. I find it interesting that we are returning to wearing rosaries, although I must say I am a bit incredulous when I see them used by pop culture figures who don't seem to have an appreciation of their actual use.

Three Precious Tiny Antique Bavarian Rosaries

Not only do I make rosaries but have an extensive collection of antique rosaries. These just arrived from Germany and I am simply thrilled with them! The word for rosary in German is rosenkranz and refers to any rosary, but you often see the Bavarian ones specifically called Rosenkranz. The history of rosaries is a rather difficult one to research as there is no one place where the information is compiled so I will tell you a little of what I know about these from the research I have done. The two rosaries on the right are the earliest ones, dating to the 1700's and are simple wooden rosaries used by the common man. The crosses are hand made of wood and silver. The cross on the right has a tiny inlay of mother of pearl. Note the Credo Cross above the main cross and how this one is actually in 3 pieces rather than one piece. There is also a tiny medal of the crucifixion attached from a pilgimage that the owner of this rosary took. Some Bavarian rosaries are rich with little medals and trinkets from pilgrimages. Beads are a simple wood with silver caps on the Pater beads. The center rosary is quite interesting. Each wooden bead had been inlaid with mother of pearl. Only a few beads still have the tiny mother of pearl inlay in the shape of a rounded cross, all of the beads have a little depression that had inlay but the centuries have seen the loss of almost all the inlay. This rosary also has 6 decades with a partial seventh rather than the usual 5. It probably had a full seven originally but over the decades the strings break and beads are lost.
The last rosary, the one on the left is more recent, dated to the mid to late 1800's. Note the filigree cross with credo cross above. Each bead is a tiny natural coral bead, beautiful Mediterranian coral which is now endangered. Coral has been used throughout history as a protective and healing substance, children were adorned with a tiny coral necklace and given miniature coral rosaries to keep away the evil eye and illness. Adults believed it could help keep a marriage harmonious, give health benefits and keep away evil. Always an expensive substance, coral was usually found in wealthier households.
I usually have at least one Bavarian rosary on my website The Sacred Bead, but I'm afraid these will remain in my private collection. Below is the reverse of the larger cross with hand engravings.

Tiny Folk Art Virgin Mary Retablo Pendants

My latest little project, a group of rather primitively painted, folk art Virgin retablo pendants. Two on the left are done and ready to be worn, the others are still in the process, I have to finish glazing them then wire them for pendants. I love the simple folk art traditions from around the world and these are my tribute to Latin American retablo art. I would like to do more of these of various saints and more of Mary. Finished pendants are in my Etsy store thesacredbead2.etsy.com

A Shrine to Bring Calm Focus and Unblock the Stagnation of Indecision

This little shrine was made for someone to help them find focus on a goal for the future, to help clear away indecision and the paralyzed inaction that it causes. The numbers have a special meaning for that person to help them with a timeline for action.
The little Buddha is really old from China, I've been trying to sell some of my huge collection of Buddhas and this little guy didn't sell after listing it twice on eBay so I decided there had to be a reason to keep him and he's just been hanging around in the kitchen for months and months. So, I decided to use him in this shrine since the person it is for is a practicing Buddhist. The numbers are old printing block numbers so they are backwards, the one 5 on the left is actually an upside down 2 which made a kind of OK 5. Then I took a frame I bought a long time ago and built the whole shrine structure attached to it made out of paper mache. I painted it to look like an ancient little grotto for the Buddha and numbers. So this will bring calming focus on what is really wanted/needed and bring movement towards it. This one isn't site specific like the Ohio River and Desert ones, just one to help with meditation to find a goal and make movement towards that goal.

Words that Have Built In Failure-Traps

This is just a short piece about self talk and a couple of words and phrases that open the door wide for slipping into failure mode. The first one is "should have". This is probably the most futile, failure oriented self talk. I should have....... It is a blatant admission of self-failure with no possibility of correction, leads right into giant pity parties and wallowing around in self-destructive thinking. The past is gone, you can't change it so why allow yourself to create misery while dwelling on what you should have done? Here is a brief revision of how you can word it instead. "The last time I ...... ,I did......, and it didn't work out too well. So in the future, I will remember to........" Better huh? Productive thinking producing change.

The other one that is self-defeating is the word "try". "I'm going to try to relax". Bad. There is failure inherent in that word. You don't say to yourself "I am going to try to walk out to the kitchen and get my tea", you just make the decision to go get your tea and do it, unless of course you have trouble moving around independently. So, rather than inserting that word that allows failure, get rid of it. "I am relaxing". Positive, doing it, it's happening. You might not have whatever it is perfected but at least you are actually doing it, not trying to do it. See the difference?
So, I am going to try.... Whoops.... I am getting rid of these words in my self-talk vocabulary, strike them out, gone.

Shrine for a Friend Gets Some Results in Less than 24 Hours! Wow!

I made this little shrine for a friend who yearns for the blue skies and warmth of the desert. For some reason as I made this one I kept thinking of dreams and seeing only white with just a vague outline of mountains. I usually like lots of color, but not this time. The cactus are poly-clay and were great fun to make, they pop right out of the dream! The Airstream is can-metal and belongs in dream-time. Oddly enough the children's block letters make both AZ or NM, or MN or MA but those two aren't in the desert now are they? And I'm not telling the rest of the story here.... about the results in less than 24 hours..... All I can say is this one had a really strong feeling around it as I worked on it.

My Find Me a Cheap House in Kentucky on the Ohio River Shrine

A just for fun and a wish kind of personal art project. This is my "Find Me a Cheap House in Kentucky on the Ohio River" Shrine. Maybe it will actually work? That powerful eye will surely find what I need, right? Side panels have alternate house wishes, one side is a big shack in the country, the other a nice teepee
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My First Etsy Sale, Thank you Ravens

One of my little Raven Beads sold on Etsy, my first sale. Thank you so much my first buyer!

Oregano, Olive Oil, Paint and Dreams

Guess what? I'll start with the dream- I dream about having a place, I think it is called a studio ;), where I can do art. This really is my workspace now- I cook and paint on my kitchen stove. I just lay a piece of cardboard covered by wax paper on the stove and do whatever project I am working on right there. There's a light, an exhaust fan, it's the right height, the sink is handy. Then when it is cooking time I move the cardboard with project somewhere else for a while.
Ah..... a studio, a place to organize all my supplies, a place to work, a place to plan and create! Where-ever I move to, I just want one room with an abundance of shelves and work surfaces so I don't accidentally squirt red paint in the spaghetti sauce. I have been considering sprinkling herbs in some paintings just to see what happens - haven't tried it yet though!
Now, here is a shot of the other side of the kitchen. I like this side but it's a bit disorganized, finished projects, art on the wall, piles of stuff, mail and books, my favorite friend, all kind of in a jumble.

Transformations, The Rabbit and the Turkey Vulture

I am very visually oriented and things like verbal affirmations don't do much for me unless I can link them to a mental picture which doesn't work with most affirmations. As I try to understand my relationship with the world I realized I was like a little twitchy-nosed rabbit sitting in the field waiting for the coyote to come rip my throat out and that this wasn't a very good way to view my place in the world- another reason why I may have an over load of anxiety and high blood pressure. So, while I was out hiking last fall, I decided I needed to change my internal image of myself and I chose the turkey vulture. Now, up close a turkey vulture is not the prettiest bird, but when in the sky, who doesn't admire their graceful drifting on the wind. If you think about it, a turkey vulture must lead a pretty stress free life, almost no predators, they don't have to chase down their food, (dead things are pretty darn still), and all that time floating on the winds with the sun shining on their backs! Much better internal self-image I'd say.