Grama Tortoise Jewelry Review

Iktomi, Whimsical Ceramic Clay and Art by Denise Ferragamo

2011-09-23T12:04:00.000-04:00

I found this etsy shop a while ago. It gives me faith to return again and again to ponder the inspirational artworks listed by this florida artist.

Her works have a solid, grounded aspect I find comforting. Each animal spirit guide promises to share their secrets with us. The animal faces peer up at us ineligently, curious to hear from us our stories, noddingg sagely.

She also makes lively painted dishes, small animal sculptures, and little bitty houses. Checkout her etsy shop for the perfect gift for your spirit- minded friend.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/iktomi?ref=seller_info

SCRAPdannymansmith

2011-09-16T10:44:00.000-04:00

SCRAPdannymansmith

It is hard to find an artist whose work is completely their own. I am excited to share with you my find today, SCRAPdannymansmith , an artist in fiber from Chicago.

I find it so refreshing to paw thru the listings on his etsy site. So much creativity and all unbridled! I especially enjoy his clothing. Most are custom pieces. Some are works he made for himself, then decided to sell. I tend to work this way too, I make the work for myself, then the world benefits from my need to make so much of it.

I have included a pic of his custom coat offerings. Beautiful and individual, each stands on its own as a solid, gut-felt expression. Yet each would be a transformative apparel, something brining the wearer to a new vision, a new place. New, though the journey ends at the wearers deepest core of themselves.

There are a lot of items in his shop, so I recommend using his shop sections to navigate through the items that most attract your fancy. Don’t miss it!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SCRAPdannymansmith?ref=pr_shop_more

Jane Dunsmore's ceramic sculptures

2010-12-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

Jane Dunsmore's love of clay has lasted her lifetime. I remember her starting with the wheel, and throwing vessels in the late 1970's. Since then, she has moved on to show her talent in depicting the natural world.
Her works include murals, free standing sculpures, and often combinations of the two techniques. Some of her free standing pieces are made in large modules, that like a mosaic, are stacked together when finished, to create the final piece.
Jane's work is an integral part of the homes each piece inhabits. The rooster depicted below is a mural placed in the kitchen of a renowned Fredericktonian. I myself have a table with her mural work on hte surface, and it is the center of our lives. Anyone who visits, sees this table before anything, and it always recieves compliments.

Come visit us on Saturday, December 11, 10-6pm or December 12, 11-5 at my home/studio, 11302 Windsor Rd. Ijamsville, Md. You'll see Jane's work, and lots more!

Noralie Katsu's inspired stones and silver

2010-12-02T19:06:00.000-05:00

I asked Noralie Katsu to tell me a little about her work, so I could share with you the excitement I feel for her work. She told me she studied painting at the Corcoran Gallery School of Art, but also
created and designed her own jewelry for over 10 years, mostly working in Sterling
Silver and semi-precious stones. I have seen and coveted her stones - the ones she chooses to work with reflect her love of unusual, striking stones. She works often with picture jasper, turquoise, drusies (stones with crystaline surfaces), boulder opals and so forth.
The green pendant shown here is an Uvaravite drusy in a hand
engraved sterling wreath. The opal is an Australian boulder opal with
a fresh water pearl, the Purple pin/pendant is a Russian Charoite, and
the Shell necklace is set with antique buttons, coral, fresh water
pearls and seed beads.

I hope you'll join Noralie and myself at our open studio. December 11, 10-6pm, and December 12, 11-5pm. The address is 11302 Windsor Rd.

Beautiful things for Beautiful People

2010-11-28T14:29:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving, a beautiful time of reflecting on all the joys of the year.

I have met so many wonderful people, in so many places.

And as the year wraps up, the Chrismas/ Hanukah holidays loom, and we have every reason to pamper ourselves, and those we love.

As long as it is on sale.

So in the spirit of giving, I would like to invite you to my Holiday Open House Event.

~Beautiful Things for Beautiful People~

Featured will be the Ceramic art of Jane Dunsmore - the rooster is a ceramic mosaic. Checkout her other work at her website, Jane's work

Also Don Dunsmore's fantastic nature photography will be featured.

Checkout his work at Don's work

And Noralie Katsu's Sterling silver and stone jewelry will be there for your shopping bliss! Here's a picture of her work. Noralie's work

Please come by and see us!

December 11, 10-6

December 12, 11-5

11302 Windsor Rd, Ijamsville, MD 21754

View Larger Map

Energy Pyramid

2009-12-21T10:21:00.000-05:00

You've heard of the nutrition pyramid, here's the enegry pyramid. Its all about prioritizing the greening of your home and home habits.

www.katherinesalant.com

We did an energy audit on our home this year, and while none of the reccomended changes have happened yet, the path is laid for our improvement of our 100 yr old home. I so highly reccomend the energy audit. Most homeowners of an old building are thinking of all the modern insulation they don't have - but when the auditor pointed an infrared camera at our walls, no temperature leakages were to be seen. Despite the lack of insulation, the lath and plaster, the diagonal one by six boards edge to edge, which make up our home, are darn heavy and solid!
An energy audit is the grooviest, I highly reccomend it!

the Saturn V Dream Quilt

2009-12-17T11:48:00.000-05:00

Checkout the dream quilt - a huge undertaking aimed at... the moon? A Saturn V rocket overshadows Huntsville, Alabama. Like a cathedral spire it stands, inspiring the residents. It memorializes a dream thought to be impossible. Now the Saturn V rocket again will show the dreams of the world, for a better future.

An 80 thousand square foot quilt is being assembled to drape the Saturn rocket, quilts showing the dreams and hopes of children and adults around the world. Hopes are that when the piece is finished, that the quilt will travel on a global tour, along with the stories of its creators.

The website shows how to contribute a quilt for yourself, how to organize and contribute a quilt from an organization, and how to support others in their efforts. Wow! Just reading their website is like a shot of positivism. After the aids quilt, I can imagine the joy this project will create in all its participants.

What do you think? Want to give it a go?

The Family Show : Animal, Vegetable, Spiritual

2009-11-23T22:33:00.000-05:00

Nov 7th witnessed the opening for a show at the Delaplaine Visual Arts and Education Center in Frederick, Maryland. It was real groovy, because not only was my work in it, but my whole family participated!

Don Dunsmore, my dad, exhibited his nature photography. Kit Dunsmore, my sister, hung her quilts and displayed her varying sculptures. And Jane Dunsmore, my mother, showed her ceramic sculptures.

The outstading efforts of all these family members created an unusual and vibrant show. We often consulted each other while creating the work, checking to see that we all had items that could hang well and relate to the other pieces. Don showed me a photo, and I caught a flame if inspiration, ran home and created a wall hanging from his image of a water lily. Jane made an owl, Don photographed and owl, and Kit made an owl wall hanging. Don received inspiration from the quilts headed for the show and created a quilt of his own, layering images in a photo quilt.

To name the show, with our diverse work, challenged the Family's creative skills. The title seemed to cover all. Despite our group tendancy toward portraiture of living creatures, human, animal or plant, the title allows for the healing and contemplative relationship each of us has to our own work. Spiritual also refers to the sometimes holy reverence we each have for nature's grandeur, and our attempts to capture this in camera, in fabric, in ceramic, in glass.

The Delaplaine Frederick Hot Glass Fun Times Workshop

2009-11-23T22:16:00.000-05:00

This Sunday, six ladies settled down behind torches at the Delaplaine Visual Arts and Education Center in Frederick, Maryland. I did my best to explain basic use of enamel powders, and then the ladies fired up and began warming, then melting glass.

They were silent, their inensity burned! (really!)

I had a great time, and not just because I got to be the boss.
Debbie Weaver, my mentor, attended and delivered her inspired observations, allowing me to appropriately help the attendees, but due to her arm in a sling, she was unable to play with fire. L

A good time was had by all, german chocolate cupcakes were served.

2009-11-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

Casowosco is a retreat center on Owosco Lake in upstate New York. Bi –annually, the quilters of Tompkins county descend on Lake Owosco in a horde, carrying boxes of fabric and expensive sewing machines.

I have the joy of being a member of the Tompkins Co quilt guild, despite living seven hours away, in Maryland. I, too, load up my car with glee in the fall, and drive to this beautiful, peaceful haven for a wild weekend of stichin’ joy.

I meet new artists, hug artists I am thrilled to re-connect with, hear their stories, and have an audience for my own. Sharing, a word with meaning far beyond it’s few syllables. Quilts are made of fabric, cut up, and sewn together again in a new, magnificent, expressive solid flat sheet, which is then sandwiched and quilted. So we, as pieces of fabric, are reunited, and become whole for a time.

We leave carrying more than our projects and our equipment. Where we had twigs of thought, we bear away fruiting wild trees, laden heavy with new directions projects may take.

Thinking about a retreat, even a day, for your local art group? I suggest you take the leap!

2009-05-12T12:48:00.000-04:00

Have there been times that you felt much more self-confident than usual?
Have there been times that you got much less sleep than usual and found you didn't really miss it?
Have there been times that you were much more talkative or spoke faster than usual?
Have there been times that thoughts raced through your head or you couldn't slow your mind down?
Have there been times that you were so irritable that you shouted at people or started fights or arguments?
Have there been times that you felt so good or so hyper that other people thought you were not your normal self or you were so hyper that you got into trouble?

I sat in a doctors office a few weeks ago, and had a twelve point checklist read at me, to which I answered every question yes.
If anyone asked me, I’d have said it was a test asking who I am. I would have said the test had been written for me, to describe me, at my best and worst. “than usual” Is simply an idiotic phrase to use when I am like this all the time. This is usual. What are they talking about not feeling like myself? The only time in my life I didn’t feel like myself was when I was on medication. These “wild” feelings are all what I feel like, all the time, every day. This is my life, in twelve questions.
The doctor, with delight, sat up and said, “We have a pill for that! You can be cured.”

Why am I putting myself thru this? I have a vivid and active spiritual life, I have managed my symptoms for the past five years without medication, without therapy. Why doesn’t anyone give me any credit for this? My doctor acts like I have lived like a hobo because I managed my symptoms with meditation. “Well it is a gift and a curse…”
So what the hell happened to the gift side of this equation? Does this mean I should fling aside the gift with wild abandon?

Frustration

2009-02-22T10:15:00.000-05:00

This week I embarrassed, humiliated, and disappointed myself a righteous many times. Just when I started to pick myself up, I found a good, solid rebuff awaiting in the wings. So now I’ve had my good cry, had my time balled up in a blanket with my dog bravely beside me, I’m ready to pick up my chin, and grin, and say…. The sun will come out Tommorrow!

My advice, should you be looking for any, is to not expect to stand and run after the blow. Anticipate a collapse. I certainly can’t appreciate and heal my disappointed crushed little feelings if I’m smacking them on the butt and telling them roughly to get back in the game. I need to respect my injuries, respect my hurts. This doesn’t give the weakness liberty to take over, it gives my weakness the opportunity to heal, and grow into a new, stronger me.

Thusly, anticipate is the key word here. The collapse is not a dreaded event, but a joyous opportunity to meet, love, embrace and hold sacred the most vulnerable parts of myself. I have been gifted with this injury, this disappointment. So celebrate and let fly the tears. They are a doorway to a an old, and a new you.

Convergence

2009-01-30T13:49:00.000-05:00

In case you need motivation, consider entering a competition in your chosen field.I have probably ten unfinished projects laying out on my work bench on any given day. Those unfinished projects call to me, beg me for their attention, and then lay there, unloved, uncared for. And why? Because I don’t have a deadline staring me in the face.

This week, I made two complete necklaces, with the goal of finishing three, the best of which would be entered in the International Glass Bead Society Jewelry challenge called Convergence. The theme was the four elements, and the idea was to collaborate with another artist, a jewelry artist. Being both a beadmaker and an artist, I decided this was a challenge I’d be happy to fill on my own, which fortunately is an option in the jewelry show.

I worked every day on these three pieces, finished and photographed two, and here they are. I am so gratified! Filled with accomplishment. It is the highlight of my week! We have had snow and ice, and my dogs can’t even walk on the surface of my lawn without falling down, so they are stir crazy barking maniacs who are dying to go out for even a moment, though they stand and do nothing. I have had a hellacious cold, and have used up a bottle of Dayquil and almost finished a bottle of Nyquil between me and my husband who has also been sick.

And yet what treasures I find I have made! What a blessing. My unfinished projects cry out to me, “Me next! Pick me! Finish me!” And I smile, because I know I’m taking a break!

Review: Allison Strine

2008-12-08T15:45:00.001-05:00

What is poetic beauty?
In art school, I heard of a professor who assigned his students to illustrate the concept BEAUTY.
What a challenge! Is there a definitive beauty? Is there something we can nail down, and all agree is attractive, positive, uplifting, beautiful? One of the few things that the students eventually agreed on, when handing in their assignments, was that beauty involved regularity, evenness, balance, symmetry.
Certainly there are archetypes for these attributes, there are gods and goddesses who embody these qualities.

I am in line with none of them, myself.
Therefore I celebrate the uneven beauty; the irregular and attractive, the unbalanced and still healing, the unsymmetrical bouquet.

Showcase Allison Strine, artiste of poetic beauty.
Her work is funny, and hauntingly sincere. Her images embrace the wide variation of human shape, and celebrate our strengths, and laugh joyously at our weaknesses. With a bit of collage, painting, quotes and original text, she is able to hold woman-kind in a warm circle of acceptance.
There are images of animals and birds capping human bodies, and the iconography resulting I find deeply inspiring.

Just in time for the holidays, affordable artwork, and it’s available near you! Check out her website, www.allisonstrine.com, where you can peruse her gallery of images, or search for a store carrying her work near you. Live in the middle of nowhere? Shop on etsy, and have your purchases shipped to you for the holidays. Search on www.etsy.com for Allisonstrine, and you’ll find a store of opportunities waiting for you!

Quilt Retreat, Casowosco Fall 2008

2008-11-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, Quilt Retreat…
What do the magical words mean to the uninitiated? How many times have I met the eyes of one who gives me the “Wha?” look when I say with feeling “QUILT RETREAT”.

There is the wild fabric muse, skipping giddily among the tables, strewn with fabric. There are late night hijinks, still pajama game girls under their garlands of years. We share jokes and high hilarity; we share wild laughing fits that seem to have no end.

We share knowledge and experience directly upon seeing another with an unsolved problem. We share advice, free flowing, varied as the rainbow from as many varied women. We see many works of many artists, fancy and simple. We experience creative fertilization, one mind to another, simple and complex.

This quilting retreat may have had those rich times, but it also had a memorial service. In memory of one of our members, who we enjoyed at this retreat, in her most robust healthy days, in her unflagging chemotherapy days, arriving with determination and napping much of the retreat, and now in her absence. The circle of women goes on, as we remember our sister, Donna.

So here are the images, of quilters in their glory, and quilters spreading the ashes of a loved one.

I don't live in Tompkins County, I can't attend the meetings, and I drive over six hours to attend the retreat spring and fall. But these amazing women have allowed a special place for me in their circle. So when I say I am a quilter, my deep sense of pride is not for the colors and patches. It is that I have had the joy of calling myself a member of the Tompkins County Quilt Guild.

Washington Bead Bazaar

2008-11-04T13:18:00.004-05:00

I just attended the Washington Bead Society Bead Bazaar at Bohrer Park, Gaithersburg Maryland. Next year, I’ll be standing behind my own table! The show went great, with lots of sales, fun, laughter, and supportive friends. I shared a booth with several ladies from the Mid Atlantic Society of Glass Beadmakers.

We did a lot of laughing! We discussed the merits of large vrs small chesticles, and other savory topics.

I brought my newest goddess beads, and sold so many on the first day, I had to stay up Saturday night to make more!

Open to the unkown, open to the good

2008-10-24T11:03:00.000-04:00

There’s a reason the musical “Annie” has run almost constantly for about sixty years. The reason is, optimism is a timeless message. Another reason is, art based on optimism can do nothing but rise to the surface, in any environment.

Today, I am wearing my optimism necklace. It is a bit funny looking, bold and silly, with a bikini clad blonde goddess who says, “Hey, let’s surf!”

I wear necklaces to remind myself to get out of the rut. I have a whole collection and each has a relevant message, to help me remember how to escape the quagmire of depression. Hey, not only is the surf up when the weather’s bad, lemons make lemonade, and flying by the seat of your pants is still flying!

So today, I say to you and me, open the window, not on what you know, but on what you don’t. Open to uncounted possibilities.

Every time I have done this, I am shocked at the sudden fire-hose flood of good turned on me by the laughing spirits. And if I don’t stay open to it, I will shed that gushing goodness like water over an umbrella. So today, I turn my umbrella upside down in the rain, and smile, and open my arms to the downpour.

Malphi : Rustic Chic

2008-10-19T13:00:00.001-04:00

I was perusing Etsy one day, and discovered this treasure. I have to share!
Old fashioned, fun and comfortable, functional, poetic, historical, romantic, yes, what fits in these descriptors better than aprons?

Let’s face it, the world is changing, and I want to curl up in a book and forget about it. I want to go back in time. I want to mop my floor with a mop, a scrub brush, ancient non-toxic good-smelling soap, not use a plastic machine from walmart to suck the water off it. I want roots, connection, to feel the earth while I garden, to dust with a duster, not a disposable swiffer.

So here are clothes to help you get that down home, egg-hunting, water-carrying feeling.

Malphi, who believes you’re never to old to play dress up, is a terrific spearhead of the apron movement. Trained as an actress, this UK seamstress has brought her theatrical style to sewing, and now to you. She learned to sew from her mother, (the best way in my opinion, as Mum isn’t trying to sell you a sewing machine.)

Dig her designs at her etsy store, her website, http://www.malphistyle.com/, or her blog, Malphi.typepad.com. On her website, Malphi: Rustic Chic, she sells aprons, from short to long, and verity dresses. Each is designed to go over your clothes- just imagine the flexibility! A wrap around verity hope dress to brighten and feminize the standard black outfit, a patchwork apron to hug you at home, over the sink, while you have to face the housework dragon. Turn house work into comfort, turn everyday into Jane Austen’s day… now that’s what I call moving forward!

Grama Tortoise Needs YOU!

2008-06-18T13:51:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Grama Tortoise, the weblog of jewelry, beads, adornment, and rampant wild fun.

This is the place to look for the insanely gorgeous. Disregard your trendometer, fling aside your fashion magazine! What's hot, actually isn't. What's going to be hot is here, and its not about making an impression, it's about honoring you.

Yes, that you! The wild bumblebee spandex you! The false nose and glasses you! The naked dancing around the fire chanting you! Get ready for cutloose dancing, margaritas at midnight, and ... jewelry!