Inspired by Reading: Swamplandia!

So, let me start off with a confession... I did not actually read this month's book club selection, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.  In my defense, I did try when it first came out but, despite the quirky and interesting premise, I just couldn't get into it.  I know I should probably have given it another try for book club, but with everything else I had going on, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  It's pretty seldom that I abandon a book (seriously... it took me over two months but I did finish The Children's Book!) so I'm going to stand by that decision.

I still don't know why I couldn't get into the story since it sounds like something that would be up my alley.  Here's the book description from Amazon:  Thirteen-year-old Ava Bigtree has lived her entire life at Swamplandia!, her family’s island home and gator-wrestling theme park in the Florida Everglades. But when illness fells Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, the family is plunged into chaos; her father withdraws, her sister falls in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, defects to a rival park called The World of Darkness. As Ava sets out on a mission through the magical swamps to save them all, we are drawn into a lush and bravely imagined debut that takes us to the shimmering edge of reality.

You may be wondering... if I didn't even read the book, why is there a blog post about it today?  The truth is that I hate missing out on a challenge... especially my favorite ones!  I couldn't resist making something alligator inspired!

I had picked up some pewter rings that have a texture that reminds me of reptile skin that seemed like  a perfect starting point... I made some dangles from dyed fire agate that felt a little bit alligator and a lot swampy.  I kept them pretty simple adding blackened and dull silver findings.

This is a blog hop too... please stop by Andrew's blog HERE to see what people who actually read the book had to say about it and what they were inspired to make!

Into the Wild: Inspired by Reading Book Club

The January book selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club was Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  The book attempts to piece together the journey of Christopher McCandless, AKA Alexander Supertramp, as he traveled across the country eventually hiking into the Alaskan wilderness where he perished.

Both my husband and I went to Emory University, where Christopher McCandless had been a student before us.  Christopher died the year we started college there and the book was originally published the year we both graduated.  Although I never knew him, there were murmurs about him about campus for sure so I guess I just had some morbid curiosity about his story.  Book club was a good reason to finally find out more!

Unfortunately, I really had to push myself to keep going with this one.  I think the problem I really had with the whole thing is I just wanted to take Chris by the shoulders and shake some sense into him most of the time.  In some ways he reminded me of some other guys I knew in my younger days who were smart (at least in the book sense), charismatic, and passionate but had not a lick of common sense half the time.  My biggest problem was that I just didn't find Chris/Alex likable or relatable.  I don't know if that's the fault of the author or his subject.  I found Krakauer's writing to be more than a bit dry, pretentious, and rambling.  I wanted to just page past many sections where I felt like he had veered pretty far off topic.

This is a bit of an aside, but I did find it odd that there were no photos at all in this book.  It's obvious that Krakauer had access to McCandless's journals and photos as well as a great deal of communication with and cooperation from the family.  I can only guess that they just simply didn't give him permission to use the photos (or maybe the paperback didn't include them) even though he was allowed to quote from Chris's journals and notes he left in the margins of his books.

Ok, enough of my ramblings about the book and onto what I was inspired to make!  After my complaint about Krakauer going a bit off topic (at least in my opinion), it might be hypocritical that I chose something from one of those sections as the jumping off point for my design.  I think it's because I'm a pretty visual person as far as design inspiration goes, and much of the book just didn't spark my imagination in that way.  What did get my attention was Krakauer's description of his own Alaskan adventure when a storm left him stumbling blindly through a maze like filed of crevasses.  He wrote "Time after time I'd think I'd found a way out, only to wind up in a deep-blue cul-de-sac..."  That made me think of the wonderful way that thick ice takes on all sorts of blue and aqua colors.  Yum!

Eric bought me a beautiful strand of lampwork beads from Debbie Sanders on Etsy in gorgeous aquas and teals.  Aren't they just lovely?

I ended up making two different pairs of earrings with some of the beads from this strand of lampwork... one in sterling and one in brass.  For the silver pair I used lampwork beads in palest blue  with silvery flecks in the otherwise clear glass.  I added in some aquamarine rounds, silver plated crystal rondelles, some wavy pewter discs (that I've been using WAY too much of lately, and Swarovski crystals.  I love the sparkly cool ice of these... although in retrospect they probably feel more Frozen than Into the Wild.  Oh well, I'll just have to let that go.  :)

I was still feeling the sparkle with the second pair and the rhinestone rondelles had more of a brass or dark gold tone to them so I decided to pair the dark teal beads with some Czech glass, and some brass plated bead caps.  I love the bumpy effect of the lighter glass on top of the dark teal (clearly, I need some help with my lampwork terminology!).  So, I've gone a little more rustic... but not too very far.

So... even though it was not my original intention to do so, I kept going and made on more pair of earrings.  When digging around for beads to go with the lampwork, I stumbled on some rough cut apatite nuggets I recently acquired.  Now those looked rough, rustic, and wild to me!  I wire wrapped the nuggets along with some faceted squares and added little dangles from some carved gemstones I just got from a friend.

You can check out what everyone else was inspired to create with the links over on Andrew Thornton's blog HERE.  Andrew (our fearless leader!) just posted the book list for the next year of the Inspired by Reading Book Club, see what we'll be up to HERE. Anyone can play along... see a book that interests you?  Join in... the more the merrier!

Proust's Overcoat: Inspired by Reading Book Club

This is the last installment of the Inspired by Reading Book Club for 2014.  I feel like a broken record lately but, seriously, where has this year gone??

I actually read this slim volume during my trip to Pennsylvania for the book club meet up in October.  I have to admit that while it was a quick read, it didn't really resonate too much with me... likely because I've never read anything by Proust (and probably never will.)

This is a nonfiction title that relates the story of one man's passion for (maybe even obsession with) all things Marcel Proust.  Being a librarian married to a book collector, I get the desire to collect to some extent, but I have a hard time going to some of the lengths that Jacques Guerin did.

The imagery that really stuck out to me was really just a tiny mention in Guerin's backstory describing his family's perfume company.  The author describes a large, bright room that housed women "sorting through white, yellow, orange, and crimson rose petals, which, once picked over, were piled high in huge wicker baskets."

I ended up wire wrapping some orange and yellow Czech glass flowers to a brass filigree hoop and hanging it from a simple brass chain.  I wanted to give a little more movement and visual interest to the pendant so I hung the hoop from the chain slightly off center and then added a dark red glass flower and an orange leaf dangling from the bottom of the hoop.

You can check out what everyone else made this month too:

Sarajo Wentling - That's me!

Mary Harding

Jeanne Steck

Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, and Alison Herrington

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Inspired by Reading Book Club

I feel like I haven't been posting too much lately, but life has just been flying by too darned fast!  I didn't manage to get project done for all the challenges I like to participate in, but I did get two pieces done for the Inspired by Reading Book Club!

This month's selection was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  I vaguely remember hearing about this book (Henrietta's story) when the book came out a few years ago, but never really delved into it until now.

Some of you may know that my husband is a pediatrician, so medical and scientific themes tend to be of some interest around here.  I feel like this book did a great job blending the science with the very human story of Henrietta Lacks and the family she left behind when she died of cancer... and it didn't get so "science-y" that I couldn't follow it.

I was truly fascinated to learn how tons of medical and scientific advancements came about because the medical staff at John's Hopkins took samples of Henrietta's cells when she was being treated for cervical cancer.  What is really crazy to me is that no consent was needed to take, grow, and run countless experiments on her cells.  More mind blowing to me is that, legally, consent probably wouldn't be needed today... think on that for a moment.

While the author gives as much background on Henrietta Lacks as possible, the story is really more about what happened to and with her cells after her death and the impact all of this had on her children... especially her daughter Deborah.  It is the story of gaining recognition for one woman's contribution to science and the struggle for her family to come to terms with what had happened and find a way to move forward.  I'm not going to give too much away (read the book!) but this was an interesting read for me even if I found parts of it really hard to read because of the emotional and mental toil this journey took on Deborah and her siblings.

So, now onto my creations!  I never thought I'd be writing these words, but for my creations this month I was inspired by blood and blood cells.  Yup, you heard me right.  Inspired by blood.  What can I say?

I was really struggling with an idea for this book, and I started reading a little later than I would have liked.  Luckily, when I was going through my art bead stash I came upon a enameled pendant that I bought from C-Koop years ago at the local bead show.  It caught my eye and I realized that it looked a little bit like blood cells to me.  (I realized that's not going to be a selling point, but I'm guessing most people won't actually see what I see!)

I knew I had some sari silk in a blue that would work perfectly with the background color of the pendant and I thought I could weave it in and out of some silver plated chain.  At first I intended to add some little dangles along the chain in red tones but I decided to keep it simple instead.  It wasn't even a time issue... I just took a step back and realized that sometimes less is more.  I completed the design with a key shaped toggle clasp from Nunn Design as a nod to the fact that Henrietta's cells were the key to unlock many medical questions leading to all sorts of advancements.

My second necklace is less about cells and more about the color of blood... deep, dark reds.  (Wow, I do sound like a weirdo this post don't I?)  Anyway, I was playing around with a cool new focal from Vintaj and paired it with Czech glass in several shades of red including one with a Picasso finish.

This is a blog hop.  Check out all the creations that my fellow book clubbers made this month!  Pop on over to Andrew Thornton's blog HERE to see the creations inspired by this month's book.

The Drunken Botanist: Inspired by Reading Book Club

The June selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club is a book that I remember seeing in advance reader copies at a library conference when it was about to be published.  I was intrigued but my success rate for actually reading adult ARCs is pretty sad so I walked away.  Needless to say, I was happy to see The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart on our reading list for this year.  My husband is a homebrewer and has dabbled in wine, mead, and cider making as well.  Additionally I've also gotten a little more into cocktails and am still learning what I really like (and dislike!) when it comes to that. So what I'm saying is that the subject matter was of personal interest.

Generally speaking, I'm more of a fan of narrative nonfiction... nonfiction books that tell a story.  The Drunken Botanist is more of an encyclopedia of ingredients used to make, flavor, and garnish alcoholic beverages from around the world and that made it pretty challenging for me to read all the way through.  I liked the way she broke it down into three parts: plants that get fermented to make alcohol, plants used to flavor various alcoholic beverages, and then mixers and garnishes.

With my attention issues and time crunch problems (my goodness but June has been a crazy busy month!), I ended up skipping around quite a bit and focusing on ingredients that were particularly interesting to me or that just jumped out when I was flipping through the pages.  For instance, I was a little blown away to learn that the cashew is related to poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac and its outer shell has similar oils that will cause an uncomfortable rash.  Weirder still, the nut grows at the bottom of a "cashew apple" that looks sort of like a pear or apple but isn't actually a fruit at all (the nut is the fruit).

Weird cashew plants.

I had lots of potential ideas swirling (mixing?) around in my head like an exotic cocktail but ended up focusing on beer.  Delicious and diverse beer.  Shocking, right?  Ok, maybe not so shocking, especially since I just came back from a trip to Michigan for the National Homebrewers Convention.  While I was at the convention I picked up a lanyard with the color chart (SRM chart) that judges use when evaluating beer.  I won't bore you with all the details but you can find out more about it HERE if you are interested, but here is one version of the chart:

Beers can range from super pale yellow to almost black depending on the beer style and the types of grains used to make them... I decided to make a necklace that represented this beer rainbow!  I chose a variety of beads in Czech glass, crystal, and even some smoky quartz to represent the range of colors and made a fairly simple linked necklace.  I really could (should?) have used a black bead in the middle if I wanted to be totally true to the scale, but I wanted to keep to more transparent beads for a certain look.

Enjoy and go pour yourself your favorite color of beer as you check out what everyone else made for the blog hop!  As always, you can get the full list of links over on Andrew Thornton's blog HERE.

Steampunk Leanings

Steampunk is a movement that's been having its day lately in literature, fandom, and design.  If you aren't familiar with the steampunk aesthetic, here's a cliff notes explanation for you:  it's most often considered a sub-genre of science fiction that is usually a re-imagined past or a post-apocalyptic future where steam technology has developed more elaborately than it ever did in our actual history.  For instance, instead of travel by airplanes, you would use dirigibles or ornithopters.

Me looking all serious in my steampunk inspired outfit at a local con.

In books you tend to see a mix of Victorian England or the American wild west with crazy steam-powered gadgets and often a little dose of the supernatural.  Here are a few of my favorite books from this sub-genre in no particular order.  Some are adult and some teen...and I'm not telling you which!

• Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
• Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
• Soulless (as well as the rest of the Parasol Protectorate series) by Gail Carriger

As far as steampunk themed jewelry designs go, you often see things like keys, gears, re-purposed lockets and watch faces.  If you are interested, Jean Campbell wrote a cool book called Steampunk-Style Jewelry.  I haven't gone too crazy with any of my steampunk-type designs, but I've dipped my toe into the pool.

Here is a steampunk inspired necklace that I made in my recent adventures in UV resin.

I used a cool piece of scrapbook paper that was like an old-fashioned hardware ad in the bezel with resin over it.  I loved the gears on it...and originally thought I'd add some metal gear pieces into the necklace.  In the end, I went with a variety of interesting gemstones and a cool key copper toggle clasp along with the chunky copper chain.  I'm pretty proud of the wire wraps I used on the ocean jasper faceted teardrop!

And here is an older piece (I'm wearing it in the picture of me up above!) that I made to go with my costume that I wear to sci-fi/fantasy cons.  I wear this one in real life too, usually with a black turtleneck or something fairly simple.

I fell in love with the key hole pendant from Earthenwood Studio and built my design from there.  I added in some gears, including an enameled one from C-Koop Beads, as well as a couple of different key charms for the long, dangly pendant.  Since steampunk is all about mixing things up, I used two different types of chain... a smooth brass on one side and a snakeskin textured gunmetal on the other.  

It's funny and kind of neat looking back on something that you made a while ago... I think this one is from 2010.  My design aesthetic has certainly shifted over time and my skill set has grown quite a bit since then!  This was one of the first necklaces I made with an asymmetrical design and it was also the first time I attempted a wire wrapped bail.  I feel like I've really come a long way when it comes to jewelry design!  While I still like this necklace, I would probably do some things a little differently if I was making it today.  

Are any of you steampunk fans?  I'd love to hear if you have any great steampunk books that I may have missed.  Even though I always have a huge pile of books in my "to read" pile, I'm always looking for more suggestions.  Please let me know what great books you have come across in the comments!