A Complex Giveaway for Christmas

Posted on November 23, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

As my American friends celebrate Thanksgiving, and as Advent approaches it is time to not only be grateful for all we have, it is also time to think about those who maybe have less or maybe need a little brightening moment in their lives. In keeping with the true spirit of the season, this is the time for giving.

Let’s join together and bring back a little of the giving spirit here in Contented Land and see what we can come up with.

I’ve made a traditionally coloured Christmas Light Catcher – one that can be kept especially for this time of the year or, if the winner is so inclined, to hang up all year round.

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I love making these light catchers, to me they are a really special combination of textures, light and colour – they are always woven with the magic of intent and good wishes for the person for whom it is destined and time and thought goes into each one.

I don’t have much I can give, but I can give this. I want to make a giveaway that is absolutely altruistic – no-one can enter for themselves, each must think of someone else and put in a little effort to share what that person means to you and why you want them to own this light catcher.

I know it means a bit of thought and effort – different to a usual blog post – but I do hope you will be willing to take part.

Anybody, any where in the world is eligible.

This is a giveaway with a difference and every reader of this blog who wishes to take part gets to nominate someone to receive the gift and gets to be a voter for who will finally receive it.

Here’s the process:

In a private message to me, details found in the ‘Contact Me‘ page, please share a little about what your nominee means to you and why you want them to be gifted this light catcher. Names and other identifying factors can be omitted if you choose – after all, they are not necessary, just tell a little story about why you would like them to receive this special gift. You have seven days from the date of this post to share your story – approx 300 or so words only please. (I’d be really grateful if you didn’t wait til the last minute to get your story in too, but that’s just a timing thing.)
At the end of the seven days another post will be made where I will cut and paste all the stories minus your identification and a poll will go up. You will be able to vote for your first and second choices from the stories. The story with the most votes gets the gift.
The poll will close three days after it opens.
I will send the catcher directly to the person you have chosen in time for Christmas.

What do you think? Do you know someone who deserves an unexpected gift?

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Now here’s a little about the light catcher.

It is a three strander with three AAA crystal balls and several crystal rondelles threaded through out. The main strands are threaded with red and green beads of crystal, glass and acrylic, many hand made. There are twelve charm threads with more crystals holding the different charms. There are many, many charms on this catcher and more can be added when the winner is known, especially for that person!

The right strand includes a sun; a heart; a house with two children and a cat and a dog and a pentacle for protection. Beneath that hangs a disc with ‘Remember the moments’ written on it. This strand may represent past or present Christmases – it is for the child, whether it be within or actual.

The centre strand holds the archangel Gabriel; a bell and a musical semibreve and a book. This represents the spiritual content of the season – the magic, the stories, the music. It celebrates the message ‘Peace on earth and goodwill to all’ It is for making memories old and new.

The left hand strand holds a Buddha; a bird, a butterfly, a holly leaf and a flower; a lantern and finally a small disc with the word ‘miracles’ engraved into it. This strand reaches out to include all the world in the spirit of giving. This includes all ethnicities, all religions, all nationalities, all kinds of beliefs and all ways of life. It includes the wonder of nature and reminds us that we are all, every one of us, united on this fragile blue globe that hangs in the darkness of space and each of us is a light that shines into the world if we so choose to be.

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For those of you interested in monetary value, the Christmas Light Catcher is valued at $NZ75.00

I hope you will share your special people, I hope you will come back to help choose the winner. I hope you will enter into the spirit of this Season of Giving.

Thank you for coming by today, I love that you did! ❤

A Touch of Spring

Posted on August 30, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

The days are noticeably lengthening, the air is light and warm and there is the soft scent of new mown grass on the air. Blossoms adorn the edges of branches that have been bare for too long – yellow flowers bob up and down the grassy hillock where Siddy runs on his daily walk. He sniffs them warily, licks one bright head ‘hello’ and moves on. The daffodil blooms on. I skirt the still muddy areas of the park. Ground laid bare by days of rain and frosts and ice and happy dogs turning it all to sludge. Gone is the heavy padded jacket, the woolly hat, the scarf wrapped about three times for maximum warmth, the array of colourful Mimi mittens that have adorned my hands on our morning walks. Gone the thick boots made for water protection, slip proof [mostly] and warmth.

I walk lightly – hatless, scarfless, gloveless. Siddy looks up at me and smiles and we walk on both of us enjoying the warm still air, the golden light, the scents of spring.

Spring enters into my work room too. My rediscovered love of working with beads evident everywhere. Light catchers sparkle en masse in front of the window. This is a wee peek at ‘The Purple Bohemian’ a new one destined for my shop, it’s really pretty!

Beads scattered over the work table catch and reflect sparkles of sun light.

I play with the idea of beaded bracelets – trying things out, working out how to arrange sizes, shapes and colours pleasingly; how to start and how best to finish things off. I don’t know why I’m doing this. Perhaps this first touch of spring makes me want to have some pretty beads to wear.

I’ve read a few books this winter. Not many, I don’t read as much as I used to – I don’t know why. Again, for unknown reasons, I steered clear of philosophical or spiritual content and read only what I had been given.

I read a surprising amount of first novels

‘Wise Men’ by Stuart Nadler, his first novel. The story kept me interested and I appreciated the writer’s ability to have his protagonist have an incidental real life while keeping us enthralled with the mysterious pull of times past.

‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St. John Mandel. The Georgia Flu has wiped out 99% of the population and in this horribly realistic view of life twenty years after the event the author invites us to consider the place of fame, of theatre, of relationships, that reach through time and events and touch and sustain our lives.

‘The Miniaturist’ by Jessie Burton. A first novel. I struggled with this book – I kept reading a little more every night and in the end read it to finish it. It is an odd tale, atmospheric yet cold. Maybe not such a good thing in a novel. Did you read it and feel differently?

‘The Paris Architect’ by Charles Balfoure. Another first novel. I generally don’t like reading about war and man’s inhumanity to man, but this novel grabbed my interest. I loved how the story revealed the architect’s evolution from cool disdain to caring about the fate of others and how in times of desperation, we find those we need to find.

‘Bits of a Boyhood’ by Bruce Goodman. An on-line book found here Written with integrity and honesty and not a little humour Bruce reveals what it was like growing up in New Zealand in the 1950’s. I laughed and sometimes cried my way through this first part of Bruce’s autobiography. I’m waiting for the next installment!

A man of fine education and not a little talent, Bruce blogs at Weave A Web if you want to read one of his [mostly] bizarre or odd little stories every day.

Finally – Siddy waiting for his fans.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did.

Creating a Light Catcher

Posted on July 12, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

When I showed off some of my latest light catchers in the last post there was a small amount of interest in seeing how I made them. Not having a video camera capable of recording the process I did my best with my point and shoot and, with a bit of help from our Official Photographer when I ran out of hands, there now exists an as-good-as-it can-get photographic record of the process.

So, here we go:

First I rifle through my stash and gather together a pile of beads in my chosen colour. I was feeling ‘green’

I look for interesting shapes, a variety of shades and include glass, semi-precious gemstones, crystal, acrylic and facets wherever possible. I like using gemstones for their power and meaning, facets for their bling factor, shapes for interest and texture and crystals of course are the major source of light refraction. Acrylic beads are also very handy for keeping the weight down – these things can get heavy! I may, or may not, use all of my selection. It just depends.

I choose the hanging chain, recently I have discovered a particularly nice one which I am hoping to use in all future catchers. You can see it lying across the top left of the first photo. You can click on the photos twice to biggify – get the close up view for real!

Tools:

These four pliers are my go to essentials. The most recently added in is the one on the right, a split ring opener. Prior to that I used the pokey tool [official designation] seen at the top right and my finger nails. My left forefinger is covered with scars from puncture wounds – a proper tool was sought and finally found. My life has changed 🙂

Beading wire [I prefer ‘Tiger’s Tail] and quick dry adhesive to help secure the wire ends. Excuse the blurry photos – I find it a real challenge to snap photos while in the creative process – it is often an afterthought and is done on the fly ……….

Here we have the first length begun, I chose a pretty gold speckled green glass twist interspersed with small polished agate rounds

And the second string started, these beads are all acrylic and used for shape and texture. The wire is threaded through the crystal ball and up through the beads. It is pulled through a split ring, wrapped around itself two or three times and then threaded back down through as many beads as possible. These are tiny beads, so it can’t go too far down. Where the wire is poking out and at the top, fast drying adhesive is added to help secure wire and beads together. When the glue is dry I snip off the excess wire and attach the length of chain. If the glue doesn’t catch, or is peeled off, the wire can slip out and the whole thing will eventually collapse – it has happened and I try hard to ensure it won’t happen again!

Next I set about making half a dozen or so tiny little dangly bits. This is a selection of faceted glass or crystal beads for bling factor. I use long eye pins and snip them down as necessary. I make two different sets, three in each.

Split rings are added to both ends

I chose glass pearl balls and faceted hearts to hang at the bottom of three of the mini-danglers The hearts, due to their thickness, have to be hung using chandelier bow ties. These things are the bane of my light-catcher-creative life! They slip out of place whenever the catcher is moved and while I know where and how to put them back in place, the new owner may not. The only alternative I have is to use a large connecting split ring which looks ungainly – so I prefer not to go that route. If you have an alternate suggestion please, I would be so grateful should you care to share it.

Tiny crystal hearts are are attached onto the other mini-danglers and then the two strands are attached to a heavy brass ring.

I thought I had finished and left the catcher hanging above my work table for the night.

Early the next morning I wandered into the room and started to play some more. Before I knew it, there was another strand, a new hanging option and a few baubles added – and never a camera to hand! Here’s what I ended up with:

I found the three ring gold acrylic hanger on-line somewhere and bought ten of them, not realising they were so very – um, gold – I need to spray paint them silver but need warmer weather to do that. It’s hard to see in the photo but there are now two faceted crystal balls and one large faceted crystal pear hanging from the bottom of three strands of beads and chain and assorted baubles. The pear especially doesn’t photograph willingly, but is a beautiful thrower of rainbows! Also no charms have been added yet – I add them especially for the person who will own the catcher.

Trying to show some of the magic with the aid of a cushion and the afternoon sun

Of course, there’s no magic without Siddy

And just for a change, let’s finish this week with the lovely Orlando who would like to offer a teaser – there’s a giveaway coming up………. stay tuned!

Any questions, please ask them. Any suggestions, please do make them.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

………Two Months Later ……

Posted on July 5, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

………. and here I am again. There are various reasons for the long break, not all of them completely acceptable to serious bloggers or even myself. Let’s just say “Life got in the way of blogging!”

It’s been a hard winter here in the Riviera of Antarctica. Part of my city is being claimed back by the wild southern Pacific Ocean or being flood damaged by this new set of climatic conditions. My dream of a cottage by the sea is on hold as it may no longer be a sensible place to consider putting down roots.

My art room has been partially given over to another and my painting hours have temporarily ceased. I have been knitting, crocheting and making light-catchers instead.

Crochet: One Bavarian Stitch Throw of the very giant variety, not finished at the time this was taken, but now complete and waiting for blocking to happen. It is so big it took 300g [6 balls] of yarn to finish the last round.

Mittens: A variety of Mimi’s and Bohemian Mittens are about to begin winging their various ways around the globe to those of you who are still waiting their winnings.

Light-Catchers: Here’s one photographed on a rare fine day in the garden before beginning it’s journey to someone special in the USA

I have made my light-catchers for a few years now – rather sporadically, as I enjoy making them especially for someone. They are my gift of good wishes, good fortune and a little bit of magic woven into beads and charms and crystals for someone special. I like to think of the person I am creating for, then I choose colours and shapes and crystals and charms especially for them. Then it all just weaves itself together.

Light-catchers are extraordinarily difficult to photograph – here are two simpler versions that just happened to be lying around on the work bench, coming to completion

They look nothing very exciting lying around thusly – but hang ’em up and watch the magic happen. A tip for those of you who have a catcher is if you hang them away from the window, maybe further out into the room, somewhere the sun’s rays filter in, even more magic happens!

I can’t leave you without a quick peek at the snoozing buddies – I’m under there somewhere. It took the better part of a year, but we are all together with harmony reigning at last.