Home By Toni Morrison ~ an Inspired By Reading Book Club post

Sometimes I wonder why Andrew lets me stay in “the club”. 

I don’t think I’ve met a deadline yet.

The Club is the Inspired By Reading Book Club, the brain child of Andrew Thornton, owner of Allegory Gallery in Ligonier, PA.  Each month we read a book, create and blog. This month our book was Home, by Toni Morrison.

It’s the story of a young black man reclaiming his life after returning from the Korean War.

The San Francisco Chronicle said the book “Brims with affection and optimism.” Perhaps I missed much of the symbolism, but I found it to be somewhat dark and depressing. Because of that, I had a difficult time deciding on a project.

At the very beginning of the story, Frank Money and his younger sister sneaked into a crawl space to watch two horses in an overgrown field.  One was rust colored and the other deep black.

My design idea was very literal – I had planned to use a Green Girl horse pendant with black onyx and carnelian.  The horse looked too rustic and out of place with my faceted onyx so I ended up with two necklaces.

I removed the horse, added a black onyx nugget as a focal piece and highlighted with sterling silver bead caps and daisies, and shiny copper nuggets.

Then - I hung the horse with a hammered silver ring from a silver chain. (I mass produce the rings so I always have a few in stock.) I wire wrapped more of those shiny copper nuggets to the chain for texture and interest.

Please go to Andrew's Blog to learn more about the book and check out the other talented members of the group.

Geek Love ~ an Inspired By Reading Book Club selection

 Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn, is one of those books that took me by surprise. I had a completely different idea as to what the book would be about. I suppose if I had actually taken a good look at the cover, I might have had a clue.

My predictions really don’t matter ~ what does matter is the fact that I was intrigued by the story and couldn’t put the book down. I actually stayed on the stationary bike at the gym for a full 45 minutes because I didn’t want to stop reading.

Geek Love follows the lives of a carnival family. The father has genetically engineered his own freak show by giving his wife drugs and other concoctions during pregnancy. Each child has a different abnormality that makes him/her “special”.

When I read that Arturo, also known as “Aqua Boy” was born with flippers instead of limbs.  I immediately thought of Cynthia Thornton’s Green Girl fine pewter pendants. I remembered she had a few sea turtles so I contacted Cynthia and she put a them aside for me to pick up in Tucson.

Have sea turtles – now what?

While taking an enameling class with Joni Kisro I had a brainstorm. 

Shapes cut with
Potter USA's pancake dies.

Use an enameled piece as a focal and hang the turtle from it. I went back to Joni’s the next day after picking up trade beads at the African Market and put my plan in motion.

When I returned home, I dug through my stash for coordinating components, decided on a design and got to work. I haven’t decided on a closure so for now the necklace is adjustable - just tie the extra long waxed linen wherever you want.

 The glass spacers are from Robbie Daly.

Back to Geek Love…

And “the Reds” – The girls who worked the midway and ticket booths all had to have red hair, natural or otherwise. I wanted to play off of that somehow. Strolling through To Bead True Blue, I paused at the Woman Shops World  booth. Maybe they had sari silk or ribbons I could use.

Then, there they were ~ tassels!

And I found little red crystals to match from African Gems.

I had it in my head that I wanted to crochet a really long wrap around necklace. (Cynthia Thornton was crocheting necklaces with some sort of fiber while I chatted with her.) 

But, alas, at that point I was back in North Carolina snowed in and had to make do. 30 gauge brown Parawire worked perfectly. (yes, another Tucson purchase!)

I am seriously obsessed with this clasp I created!

Just for fun I put together a few pair of coordinating earrings.

These ceramic beads are from Golem Designs  with Vintaj caps.

If you haven’t read Geek Love, you should!

You should also visit the other members of the group and perhaps think about joining us next time! 

Alison Herrington

Jeanne Steck

Sarajo Wentling

Rachel Stewart

Mary K McGraw

Andrew Thornton and Laurel Ross   Andrew's blog will give you more info about the group.

Inspired By Reading Book Club/Blog Hop ---- July

I was excited about the July selection for several reasons. For the first time ever, I finished the book and project on time!

And… I had decided to take a road trip. Yes, I traveled 7+ hours to join the group at Allegory Gallery in Ligonier, PA. It was so great to meet Andrew, Laurel, Amy, Terri and Connie. We enjoyed Andrew’s hospitality, including the yummy peach cobbler and interesting chocolate “wedding cake”. Thanks to Amy and Laurel for running down to the ice cream shop.

For the month of July Andrew chose the book,  The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman.  It is the story of two sisters who are very different from each other. Emily is the corporate CEO during the rapid growth of technology, while Jess, the philosophy major is the perennial scholar/environmentalist. As Goodman introduces her many characters, you wonder what their connection will be. The free-spirited Jess spoke to me early on. I went in search of the “Green Girl” pendant I purchased a few years ago, but could figure out how to use. It’s a rather large, heavy rectangle, with 2 holes on top and 3 on the bottom. When I reread the quote on the back I knew it was perfect for Jess!

 

My goal this month was to work out of my stash. The conch shell on the front of the pendant steered me toward a ‘beachy’ theme. Out came the larimar I purchased in the Dominican Republic. I challenged myself to work “outside the box”, or should I say “outside my box”.  The finished piece is asymmetrical or unbalanced. 

I also wanted to to showcase some wirework and be a little more creative this time. I've included wirewrapped sections of beads, handcrafted links and connectors.

Finally, I created a simple pair of earrings with my handcrafted earwires.

Check Andrew Thornton's blog for more information and links to the other members of the group.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton