Prom Jewelry and Treasury

Well, looks like the bracelet and ring I made for Courtney's prom worked out well. She said she got more compliments on the bracelet than the ring, which is fine by me since it was the first ring I ever made! Glad to have helped. Next on the list is still my friend Kelly's wedding necklace and her bridesmaids necklaces. I have been going back and forth with the design of her necklace in my head for months now, especially since she was on the fence about her dress and then ended up getting a different one with a different neckline. This new one is all lace - beautiful, thick, creamy lace. In my opinion, such detail should be the centerpiece of the outfit, so I am thinking twice about the wrap-around necklace I was envisioning before. Though I am totally inspired by this necklace I noticed in my friend SoMi Speak's wedding picture (click it for a link to her photographer's site): What do you think? I would probably use some kind of a crystal or pearl pendant. I think it's close enough to my first design idea, yet simple enough to not take away from the dress' detail, too. Meanwhile, a high school classmate asked me today via Facebook (an admittedly great marketing tool!) to make her a bracelet for her wedding. Also got asked to do a swap of goods with my friend Chrissy, who needs several pieces of jewelry to go with a Indian wedding bridesmaid's sari. In exchange, she's going to either make me a purse or some screenprinted t-shirts! Me like! Finally, I was informed that I was listed in an Etsy treasury this week -- my first! Thanks, VintageEmbellishment!

Buddhism + Christianity = art

I studied Chinese in college and graduate school, and lived in China for a few summers before moving to Los Angeles. I am especially fascinated with the Chinese language (I studied Mandarin for 4 years in college and can still hold my own when bargaining on the streets in Chinese in San Francisco or China itself!), Chinese art, and Chinese religions, especially Buddhism. That said, I dig how Buddhists use their art as both a means of meditation and a teaching tool (ie mantra). I have tried to think of my own craft (jewelry, scrapbooking, photography, etc,) in similar terms, though in my case using the medium to both meditate on the beauty that is at our fingertips and also to praise God. While taking an art class in graduate school on the topic "visual preaching," I had to do a project on incorporating a scripture verse into a piece of art. I decided to use my Chinese painting tools to tackle the verse "Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts" (Colossians 3:15). I thought about how Buddhist monks paint a simple circle as a way of representing meditation and the circle of life and reincarnation (called zen circles). In my case, the circle would represent Christ, who, to get theological, "is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). But using a painted black circle alone wouldn't be enough, I needed to add some red (making my favorite color scheme complete!), preferably in the traditional Chinese signature form. So I put the Chinese character for peace (pronounced "ping") in the bottom right hand corner and in red to represent the heart (at least in my mind!). The scripture, and my new little piece of Chinese art, was complete. I later made several t-shirts with the Chinese translation of the verse written on the back and gave them to friends who liked the image. I also framed it and put it up in my living room (against my red, red wall with my other black and white frames and images). I was looking at the image a few weeks ago and thought to myself, "Hmmm, that looks like a bracelet." Well, here they are, the painting and the bracelet. I dig it: