Inspired By Reading: The Forgotten Garden

It's been a little while since I've actually made something for the Inspired By Reading Book Club even though I've done some of the reading.  Suddenly the world has been turned on its head and I have much more time for reading and creating (in theory anyway.) 

The March selection for book club was Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden.  I had a good feeling about this book as soon as I saw the endpapers which featured one of Arthur Rackham's illustrations from an edition of Peter Pan.  (We actually bought a print of this very illustration when we were in York last summer.)  This novel involves a family mystery that spans three generations and two continents.  There's a foundling, a book of dark fairy tales, a secret walled garden, and more.  The story switches between the three time periods as the story and the mystery slowly unfold.  Things may tie up a little too neatly in the end but I certainly enjoyed the journey of getting there.  I'm curious about Kate Morton's other books... when the libraries are safe to reopen I'll have to see if I can check them out.

I honestly didn't think I'd manage to make anything this month... but, miraculously, I did!  I spent a good amount of time this past weekend trying to get at least a tiny amount of my insane bead mess organized and put away.  In the process of doing that, I unearthed a wonderful pair of faux tin charms by Heather Powers of Humblebeads that I snagged during one of Andrew Thornton's destash events.  These little fairies were perfect for a novel that featured an Authoress and her fairy tales so prominently! 

As luck would have it, at the same time I found the charms, I also had one of my boxes of dark blue beads was also out on my table.  Some medium sized English cut Czech glass in a nice dark blue with Picasso finish jumped right out at me!  I then grabbed some small caramel colored rondelles that are great match for the tones in the fairy wings.

Ok,  I'm going to go curl up with the kitties and return to reading my current book, The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine.  Even though I have plenty of books on my shelves, I do wish that I had checked out a few more books the last time I was at the library. 

Inspired by Reading: The Ladies of Grace Adieu

This month's Inspired by Reading Book Club selection is a book that I've owned for quite some time but just never got around to reading... The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke.  This is a slim volume of fairy stories by Clarke that is illustrated by the amazing Charles Vess.  The stories are presented as if they were written by various authors and are in a variety of 18th and 19th century styles.  I'm not sure that I loved the stories (although I still want to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) but this is a truly beautiful book that was a delight to hold in my hands.

I feel a tiny bit like I cheated this month since I had already hatched the idea for this necklace and earrings before I started reading the book selection this month.  Each year for the Bead Cruise, Heather Powers chooses a theme for a costume/cocktail party.  This year she chose "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Even though I'm not great at coming up with fabulous costumes, I hate to pass up a chance to let loose and be a little wild so I started plotting early.  I had a mask that I got a good deal on at sci/fi convention a few years ago and have never worn.  I thought the great leaf design would be a perfect starting point for my fairy costume!  I did some searching online and found some fun, leafy fairy wings in orange and red and a simple orange tutu.  I still had to make some minor adjustments to the mask and find a suitable under layer for the tutu, but I was feeling pretty good about my costume by November and then sort of forgot about things for a while... and I hadn't even begun to think about jewelry!  Lucky for me, the January edition of Erin Prais-Hintz's Simple Truths Sampler Club got my creative juices going... it was the perfect complement for the rest of my outfit!

I picked out lots of Czech glass flower and leaf beads in the colors of the pendant (and my new leggings that I bought to go under the tutu) and arranged them (along with a couple of rondelles) in an asymmetrical design.  I used brass chain and findings to go with the brass pendant bezel.  

Needing earrings to go along with my new flower fairy necklace, I got to work playing with some enameled bead caps from C-Koop Beads.  I bought a lot of different colored pairs of flower bead caps a while back with the idea of making earrings featuring vine-like dangles, but hadn't gotten around to figuring out how to make my vision reality.  This was do or die time!  I ended up using a skinny mandrel intended for making wire loops to wrap my long head pin around to form my "vines."  They aren't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how these turned out considering they were a first attempt.  I'm eager to play with some of the other colors and shapes of enameled bead caps that I've been hoarding!

And here's a look at me in my full costume for our party night on the cruise!  It was a great night dancing and cavorting with the other Bead Cruise fairies!

Me in my fairy costume with my roommate Lissa.