Planting Seeds

I've recently found myself with a student.

It wasn't intentional, I didn't advertise, it was more like, I've got a husband who has a friend who has a friend and one thing led to another and here I am with an opportunity like no other.

 

It's been so good for me.

She's determined and wants to learn and also has a completely different style from my own which means she's challenging me as much as I'm challenging her and to top it off we get along really well.

 

Those were kind of the thoughts that were working through my head as I worked on this piece. It's as much about the work as it is the passing on of the knowledge.

 

This last one is particularly poignant. I've taken dried grass seeds and preserved them in resin.

 

It's a reminder to me that you never know what seeds are going to grow and sometimes you never even know when you're planting a seed to begin with.

It's truly a humbling thought.

 

I'm glad that I've been given the opportunity to teach again. It was one of my favorite parts of what I did when I was beading.

I believe the sharing of knowledge is so important and something that we should always work toward.

 

Flashbacks

About a year after I started making jewelry, Ice Resin became really big.

Everybody was resinating everything and there were entire mags dedicated to the wonders of the smelly stuff.

 

I too went through a bit of a resin kick, and got to re-visit it this week when my sister's boyfriend commissioned me to make a ring to commemorate her time spent abroad.

 

 

This is what I came up with.

It's a collage of images cut from a couple of Costa Rican bills that he brought back when we he visited this Christmas.

 

This time around, my skill set has increased dramatically and I was able to build the body of the ring, along with the collage.

 

The back says "Pura Vida", Costa Rica's slogan which more or less reads, "The Good Life" in English.

 

I haven't done resin in a while, and I'm not going to lie, it was fun.

 

These were my older attempts at resin work, and yes, they are miniscule. Each little collage only measures about 1" square.

 

 

This was the one he saw her wear that he wanted me to copy.

It's actually a miniature Amsterdam, made from paper cuts.

 

 

Who knew I'd ever visit that again?!