May Flowers and Turquoise

i love me a lot of color. 

right now, it is both pink... and turquoise. 

when i used to practice architecture, i rebelled. 

i wore pink every day. 

most of my coworkers wore black. 

they were ninjas in design. 

of course folks thought they dressed so snappily, 

that it became really hard to separate the nerds from the cool kids. 

i wasn't even close enough to being a nerd to be remotely cool. 

so i was stuck in the nether regions. 

now i am just trying my hardest to follow my own heart. 

over the past few years, i have been collecting some pretty turquoise beads. 

not that i have a plan for things most of the time,

 but i always wanted something truly as grand as a well-crafted native american necklace

or an armful of gorgeous silver and turquoise stone bracelets. 

my sweet friend Trish gifted me with some plastic beads she couldn't use. 

i took them home and felt that it was a challenge to play with them. 

i added and subtracted things until i came up with something that i didn't like, 

but 

LOVED. 

so it is not a hand crafted Navajo Necklace in silver and gorgeous blue stones. 

it is however ME. 

now i just would love to have all those cute pink dresses i once wore

(and my pre-children body/when i gave a damn body)

as an underpinning for one of my insane necklaces. 

i love that i can translate my crazy pearl necklaces into colors. 

i am having a fun time...

and i have added both enamel flowers and 

a vintage steel cut buckle with an antique tintype photo set into it.

nerd or cool kid... 

who cares? 

this makes me very happy. 

***

also, i am making a necklace for a local school fundraising event. 

it is for  the Sophia Academy. 

it is a school dedicated to middle school girls in the inner part of Providence city. 

they have few advantages available to them in their natural experiences. 

they fight uphill battles. 

 they are truly amazing kids

and just waiting to become amazing women. 

the addition of a little TLC 

and some resources, 

with a smidgeon of mentoring,

will inform these young women's lives. 

i am so honored to be asked to participate,

to help support the school, the children, the mentors in place, 

and everything else possible. 

my skills are very specific these days,
yet may translate somehow to help generate some tuition

even if it is through creating a necklace or two. 

this is one of the ladies under construction 

she is going to have some other stuff added to her surface. 

it is either this lady ...

or her sister who is shown below her*. 

(*photo to follow in the morning light)

one of these two ladies will be selected...

once a bunch of other parts are added to both of the pearly pieces. 

 the Sophia Necklace 

will enjoy some pretty additives of sparkly rhinestone necklaces and lengths of chain

 and 

enamel pins that one of the board members has culled from estate sales.

and 

oddments that speak of great wisdom. 

oodles of glass based pearls from the sixties. 

venerable and pretty. 

 ***

finally, for this posting, 

a few nice necklaces, rings, and other floral items 

MAY FLOWERS!

dutch garden necklaces

pink rings for their fingers

earrings... likely for my ears... i am feeling quite greedy.

other unassigned blooms for bracelets and other necklaces.

time to get back to work...

i mean tending flowers. 

xoxo. 

W.