Finding inspiration in the stars

New Year, fresh start, new beginnings, resolutions anyone? Nope, me either! Instead just a tiny little promise to self to take time to find ideas. 
First this... 
"We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us.We are born able to sing to birds, and read the clouds and see out destiny in a grain of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we are told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they's allowed to wither in themselves". (excerpt from Boy's Life by Robert McCammon)

A reminder to go right back to the beginning of you, and just be you.
Part of the little promise to self is to have the nerve to get the phone out and snap those random images. It's so easy, now that phones have uber cool cameras, but I've missed some great ideas by being too shy to just take the shot. 

Next this... on a cold December day.
The work of Stone carver Alec Peever and a beautiful poem by Alyson Hallett. 

The word 'Star' is randomly placed on a street corner. 
Across the way there is more... 

"Arise from the earth like water
give birth to your sacred dreams
this world's an ocean of mirrors
an invitation to create and be seen". 

Which is just the most beautiful thing to happen upon. See more of their works here.

The colours in the snapshot got me thinking about these lovely glass cabochons. They are vintage and the backing is chipped and flaky, but they sing to my love of moonstones.
The ideas of moonstones, stars and monochrome pavement colours began to take root. With this for a thought, 
"If I was really full of magic and whirlwinds and took up the invitation to create and be seen, what might happen?"... 

So out came the beads and the decision to make a piece for the pure fun of seeing where it would end up. Because the glass cabochons were fragile I figured the best way to protect them was to use bead embroidery techniques to hold them in place. It's usually at this point that the original ideas quieten down, and the whole thing becomes a more practical series of 'what if?' questions. Then the piece begins to grow... based on endless decisions and changes of mind, while the bead tray becomes a chaotic mess that is, in all honesty, my happy place!


I found a real moonstone pendant, which led me eventually to a piece which grew into this...

The little brass rings which link each section together have the words Love, Dream, Hope, Trust, stamped in tiny lettering around them.

I used a mix of crystals and seed beads in stone colours with a few milky glass size 8 beads to pick up the colours of the glass cabochons and moonstone pendant.

Now the piece is finished and ready to wear, there is a bonus, all those questions, and decisions, and solutions have given rise to lots more ideas and alternatives. I love making pieces like this for that very reason.