Inside the Little Plastic Castle

One of my joyful things is stringing beads: I've made more than 200 pieces since March 2020. I'm glad sonia offered to take their pictures. sonia's now selling my work for a great cause:

Jewelry for Fair Fight

Browse the necklaces and earrings, place a $5 deposit on one you like, make a donation to Fair Fight, and sonia sends you the piece!

Stacey Abrams' work with Fair Fight in Georgia is why there's a Democratic plurality in the Senate, and democrats have a tiny grasp on power right now. They promote fair elections around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights.

Meanwhile, I’ve made 28 pieces since my last post. This one must have been inspired by the HAMILTON poster.

20” necklace of bronze freshwater pearls, lots of bronze gold and topaz glass beads, dangling a Murano glass gold foil star.

( within )

( Three described photos of two necklace-or-bracelets and one necklace )

…and since I love pink I love it a lot! These lantern-shaped beads feature pink stripes as well as zigzags of grey, white, and black — they remind me of Florentine marble endpapers. (A "lantern" shape is a thick flat oval where both ends are truncated perpendicular to the stringing axis.)

I'm posting these because at some point I have to send them out into the world. I love feedback and please don't feel obliged to comment.

( pictures of two necklaces & bracelet )

Mookaite Jasper comes from Western Australia, getting its name from Mooka Creek. It’s lightweight, takes a lovely polish, and comes in a delicious variety of colors: deep and pale burgundy, lavender, almost-black, and mustard yellow.

Here’s another fiddle-friendly necklace, featuring an owl pendant carved from mookaite jasper, hanging from a necklace of round and rice-shaped mookaite beads.

( shiny! )

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This mookaite choker has three very long cigar-shape beads in front — they alternate with round and puffed-rice-shape — in shades of mustard, lilac, burgundy and mixtures

( chunky )

I learned a lot about mookaite from this miner's site: https://www.outbackmining.com/mookaite backup link

Tuesday

( swimming dinner bed )

Wednesday

( Super Blue Moon Eclipse )

Home for a nap, then our old standby, the cemetery walk. Cemeteries are for the living to visit, yes? In Historic Fairview Cemetery, there are several signs warning against trespassers. Parts of it were created without any funds for "perpetual care," so they're pretty ratty--tipped and chipped vertical headstones. Other parts are clearly well kept: there are flat markers--granite and brass--as well as upright granite markers.** We saw two set-asides blessed as Greek Orthodox and Jewish.

I'm hoping you can tell me why a Vietnamese couple would have a headstone in what looks like Chinese.

( Granite markers show four columns of Chinese-like characters incised and dyed red, with the largest column alternating red and black. Vietnamese name, birth and death dates appear at the bottom in Roman characters' )

Most hideous was the recent installation of a balloon-themed outdoor columbarium.^ The hyper-realistic hot-air balloon, complete with woven basket below, does not lend itself to the medium of stone. Perhaps that's why this statue commands a circle of black granite that's empty of names?

( ugly hot air balloon structure )

This flat marker gave me the biggest thrill. Bea L Weber--I assume she's a pilot from the plane in the corner--anticipates her own death. She lists her "Arrival Date" but the "Day of Departure" is blank. An exceptionally languid cat-creature guards that empty spot, while her catch phrase is "I dance among the stars."

( Bea Weber's Marker )

( for bead enthusiasts: go to Thomason Stone )

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* Senior/disabled/vet

** Notable since we come from the land of limestone markers, which become unreadable after a century of rain.

^ A structure with niches to house cremated bodies in urns.

^^ Sadly, bad Chinese-origin generic stone dyed blue almost spoiled me for the good stuff.

I love that Dreamwidth provides a connection (when I can comment) and a view (when I can't) to the various, swirling minds of my dwircle. I learn from folks who are leaders, and those striving to become leaders, and those who struggle internally and externally.

I worry that exposing my struggles will disgust my readers. That's why I have forty drafted essays which I can't delete and can't post.

Maybe I would be better of if I gaffiated?

What calls me most these days is working with my hands. Any ideas how I could give away my store of beaded jewelry in an equitable manner?

I managed to beat back the thriving ivy vines of social anxiety that prevented me from doing something I a) really wanted to do and b) am really good at.

Oh brainweasels, I hate you so much.

Just like they say, tiny steps. Took months, but tiny little steps is how I did it.

Then came the delight of shipping it away.

Turns out the US Post Office has finally got it figured out when it comes to shipping small items. They drop off the boxes -- for free! If it fits in the box, one price. They have online calculators.

Being the Post Office, of course it's much more complicated than it needs to be. We'll see if my parcel actually arrives on the weekend.

In the meantime, I was truly delighted when a form requested me to enter "how many pounds total."

The instructions read:
You don't need to be precise here--we just want to know if we should bring a truck.

Now that's UX design I can endorse!