On The Topic Of Girth

January 2, 2011 by
*While it might seem I have forgotten how to create titles, according to proper grammatical rules, I have not.  The thing is, I like it when the first letter of every word is capitalized.  In the title of THIS post, the first letters of “the” and “of” should be lower case but I prefer the look of capital letters in my titles so please don’t think I’m a grammatical ignoramus.

Whew.  
Glad that’s out of the way.

Good day to you all!
This is the first day of 2011. 
How does that feel for you?
I’m thrilled!
The back half of 2010 was a real trial for me, mostly in terms of health issue divining.  I’m ready to leap onto the clean, crisp papers of a new year.  Let’s live it up ladies (and gents)!  Ok?  Ok.

Fact:  The sledding conditions in Pocatello are fantastic right now.  Late last night, RW and I took our wee toboggan to Bartz Field and ripped around on the hills there.  Great fun!  We also started to teach Farley to pull a sled.  I’m going to try to rig up a leather harness for him, for pulling.  Soon he will be my wee short haired husky.

Now.  Today was my first day back in my studio space actually working.  It feels great! I took about a two week long hiatus for Christmas holidays (as you well know)*** and was so darn exhausted that I feared I might be permanently burned out. Not so. Our jaunt to California was anything but restful! However, being at home in Idaho again has been really restorative. I’ve been spending plenty of time cleaning the house, organizing my life, reading, sleeping in, eating well and there’s been a lot of dark chocolate swallowed down in the past few days.   Back to the studio though…I just finished building this ring.  It’s composed of sterling, pearl and turquoise.  I’m all about girth these days.  I daydreamed constantly, over my Christmas holiday, about ultra wide (but tapered) bands that are elaborate and rich feeling but close fitting to a finger.  Rings that feature bold girths!  I love these sorts of designs.  They’re kind of sexy, there’s a bold flash of a ton of metal and it’s a bit bad ass, to boot.  Which I rather like.  Quite.  What I mean is, this ring is pretty but tough.  It deserves to be worn on a long finger paired with a sweet dress, funky tights and a pair of biker boots.  Ok?
 Fact:  I am currently wearing the rattiest ponytail you ever did see.  It’s all teased out, long and wild looking.  I’m going to tell RW to call me Sheeba for the rest of the night.  Rawr.
Oh…these too:

News on the renovation front:
I officially do not have a toilet, bathroom sink or bathtub.  Additionally, I do not have a floor in the bathroom.  Things are getting interesting and perhaps a little bit trying.  I will say that being without indoor plumbing of any sort has made me so thankful for the blessings of modern conveniences!  I feel like a pioneer woman here!  I might go hug my microwave when I finish this blog post.  I tell you!

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the Christmas Tree Contest Winner!!!
We tallied up votes early this morning and the official winner is, with 15 votes:
In The Glow of the Christmas Tree
Finland

The people have spoken!  Congratulations! Please do contact me with your shipping address so I can ship your Winter Hatch Necklace out to you, tout suite!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered a tree in the photo contest and thanks to everyone who took a moment to place a vote!  You made the Christmas season a cheery one for RW, me and many other lovely folks.

Righto.  I’m off to the studio to set a few more stones and perhaps start one more ring.  I hope you’re all well.

xx
Plume


***Before taking my Christmas holiday my interwebular inboxes became ten times more chaotic than usual and at some point I just realized that I needed to shut down the business side of The Noisy Plume and go on holiday.  So I did.  I’ve got all correspondence caught up for the moment but if I failed to respond to a note from you, PLEASE hit resend for me!  Thanks!
Filed Under: New Jewelry, random stuff

The Body Cavity Series

December 5, 2010 by
Disclaimer:  
Inner beauty isn’t about not taking care of yourself.  I mean, we ladies still have to attract mates, right?  We aren’t luna moths with heady pheromones that do all the work on a fellow nectar drinking night flying flapper and besides, there’s something to be said for feeling beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.
I’m just saying that something important is within us and neglecting the care of that inner stuff of the soul affects our wholeness.

And now:

The Body Cavity Series
I recently (as in, within the last three months) dreamed up this idea of creating a series that features animal forms, enameled, with open body cavities one can gaze into.  I gathered myself, last week, and set upon the creation of the first piece in this series.  I wasn’t actually sure if I could bring these ideas into being in a beautiful way…because surely, when you hear the phrase “body cavity” you don’t think of beautiful things — which is why I especially love calling this series as such…it’s somewhat disconcerting to read, isn’t it???  

The first piece in the series features a jackrabbit form I hydraulically pushed into being from one of my original press templates.  I opened his form up and placed carved ivory blooms in his core.  The entire notion of the body cavity series is to bring to the forefront the importance of inner beauty and the possibility of the beauteousness of virtue — something so often overlooked in a North American society that pushes us so hard to have a prettier face, prettier hair, perfect breasts, long legs, thin and fit arms, flawless skin, manicured nails, immaculate makeup, a busy and successful career, a competitive nature, a charming and extroverted personality…the list goes on and on and on.

What about the core of our being?
Is the core of your being suffering from neglect?
Do you wear your body like a mask over your stunted heart and soul?
I love meeting women.  More specifically, I love meeting women who are blooming beautiful on the inside.
I’ve found that don’t really notice what my best girlfriends look like anymore.
Yet, when someone asks me about them, I start out by saying:
My gosh.  She’s so tremendously beautiful.

I’ve come to realize, I’m talking about the insides of those women.
They’re blooming beautifully on the inside.  If I were to sit down to draw them or paint them, I’m not sure I could remember a truly cohesive likeness of their facial features or bodies…beyond vague details:  blond, green eyes, tall, short, wide hips, narrow shoulders, full lips…..
The funny thing is, I can sometimes fail to see the beauty and potential beauty that is within myself.
I can fail to cultivate that region of my being.
I can focus, to a fault, on the surface things.
I can neglect the development of my virtues.
I can forget that this body houses something more important than the flesh and bone that makes it;
it is a home for my conscience, my character, my personality, my soul, my spirit…..my essence, my verve…
the real me.
The me I want people to see and remember when they look at me.
The me that My God loves and cherishes.
The me my husband respects and serves (and vice versa).
The me my friends comfort and confide in.
 I want people to remember me for how I responded towards others in tricky situations.
For the way I treated others.
For compassion.
For the way I could laugh with reckless abandon.
I want to be remembered for: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.* 
 Those are the attributes that grow ivory roses in the soul.
The way I see it, when your heart, soul and spirit get big enough, bright enough and beautiful enough no one notices what you really look like anyway…they can barely see you because of the ethereal glow that spreads itself across your skin and beams out of your eyes and open hands.
I have a lot of work to do when it comes to cultivating inner beauty in my self.
It’s something I want to encourage in other women.
In my best friends.
In ladies I hardly know but feel a connection with.
You.  She.  Her. Them. We.

To commit myself to that work, I dreamed up this series and concocted the first of what I hope will be many!
This necklace is composed of sterling, copper, enamel, coral, carved coral flowers, carved ivory flowers, sari silk and green quartz.
It took five days of work, months of daydreaming and sketching and a studio full of tools to create.
It’s delicate.
It’s massive.
It’s vivacious.
It’s beautiful.
I poured my heart and soul into it.
It’s festive.
It’s cheerful.
It’s serious.
It’s calm.
It’s merry.
It’s strong.
It’s one of a kind.


And lastly, this lipstick is called Sephora Rouge (0127B RO6).
In case anyone was wondering.
GUFFAW!

xx
Jillian Susan

*I’ve not mastered any of these things…I openly confess…but I’m working on them every day…two steps forward, one step back.
Filed Under: body cavity series, inner beauty, New Jewelry

Alabaster Bones

December 3, 2010 by
Yes.
Another one.
Namely because I’m obsessed with hollow forms and white enamel.  Do forgive.

This one has an extra dash of magic to it that takes the form of the beautiful BEAUTIFUL prehnite beads in organic, glass smooth cuts.  The pale green of that stone is so ethereal, so ghostly.  Those beads make this piece feel like a rosary when I hold it in my hands; I opine this is perfectly suitable since this series is all about the Holiness of the designs of our bodies and spirits.
Also, I tab set the enameled component, which is a first for me.
Yee haw!

I’m trying to pull together a shop update around here.  I have a handful of earrings finished, two necklaces and a couple of rings but I’m really focused on this body cavity series I’ve been working on (that sounds gross but don’t be afraid it’s terribly beautiful).  I have the studio on and am about to hop in there and work on one more crazy necklace design that belongs to aforementioned series.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  The creative waters are a bit choppy when it comes to this piece and I’m not sure I can pull it off!

Good Friday to you all, my darling tweets.
xx
Plume
Filed Under: New Jewelry

Fidelity

December 2, 2010 by
Fidelity is two jackrabbits who 
really know how to be true:

[2.75oz sterling silver, aquamarine, garnet, pearl & iolite]
[100% hand built and hand crafted]
Filed Under: New Jewelry

Four Things:

November 26, 2010 by
1.  Isn’t this positively beautiful?  
Can you guess what animal made this track?
 2.  Just when you thought it wasn’t possible, she became more adorable!
Behold, Penelope, queen of the snow!
 3.  I made some earrings.  I’ll be updating the shop around 8PM tonight (MST).  See you there!
4.  I hope all my American friends and family had a beautiful Thanksgiving Day!  A dear friend of ours hosted a straggler feast in town and we had a delightful time at a long table with a handful of friends and wonderful food.  RW and I took a gluten free chocolate chai cake for dessert and oh, for the sake of Pete, I would love to share the recipe with you but it belongs to a bakatista friend of mine and I don’t want to steal her thunder…but let me tell you, it was as though heaven fell into my mouth when I tasted it.  And when it was baking??? It smelled like sweet baby Jesus came down and let out a little toot in our house — yes.  It smelled like heaven.  I might perish if I don’t bake it once more this week.  PERISH.

I hope life is beautiful where you are.
xx
Plume
Filed Under: farley and penelope, idaho, nature, New Jewelry
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