Thanks for My Bead Soup

I love the fantastic soup my partner, Kathleen Lange Klik, cooked up for me for the 7th Annual Bead Soup Blog Party. The variety of ingredients is incredible. Each day I look at it and have several new and different ideas.

Lori Anderson only requires us to use the focal and clasp but I see several focals and many necklaces and a bracelet or two to be made. Will I ever meet my reveal date of April 6? Yes, of course.

I took photos as I opened the package. She had even stamped the front of the padded envelope with a bird in a tree. The box was wrapped in that wonderful green filigree ribbon and decorated with a filigreed stamped brass leaf.

How did she know that I love fiber? She sent so many wonderful treats for the touch and the eyes plus all the beads and metal findings.

 This is the photo that Kathleen posted on her blog. She is a professional photographer and she even labeled the beads and findings. Notice the soft green of the jade and the multi green of the Ceramic button. I love the hints of purple in the Greek ceramic spacers and the green, yellow and purple in the cane glass and the square glass beads. The double holed bamboo beads intrigue me as do the hematite and the perfect ceramic bead by Firefly Design Studio. She also sent a string of tear shaped shell beads and a beautiful strand of leopard jasper. What a lucky gal I am. Last but never least, the metal. Oh, the gunmetal is divine and the cherry on top is the tree pennant by Green Girl Studios. I have several more Green Girl pieces, perhaps I can incorporate them.




 This is the teaser photo of some of the things I sent to Kathleen. And below is the real photo. You will just have to go to her blog to see if she liked them. LOL

The soup I sent to Kathleen included some of my handmade Painting with Fire enameled beads. Thanks, Barbara Lewis.
 

 

 

Have a super day!

 Julie Panusis

 

 

 

 

 

Monochrome Makes Me Think of Simon and Garfunkel

The prompt for Week 7 of Sally Russick's "Focus on Life" challenge is Monochrome.

That leads to endless possibilities but at least we are limited to photos that we took ourselves. When I read the word monochrome, I immediately began singing "Kodachrome" by Paul Simon in my head which led to thinking about photos that I had taken many years ago which also led to knowing I would post in black and white or sepia because that means the past to me. Whew!

Unfortunately, I did not take this photo. It is a publicity shot.

I had a good laugh at me thinking of Simon and Garfunkel when I read the word monochrome because it really shows my age. I actually saw them in person in a theater in Hollywood in my yute (that's youth in Brooklynese). I lived in Glendale, California and was so excited to see them. People in the audience were so well behaved back then. They kept walking up and giving them single flowers which really confused them. I guess the audience in New York and the East Coast hadn't caught up with the "Flower Child" thing yet.

Now the word Monochrome would bring to mind a couple of different alternative Grunge/Metal/Rock bands or a Japanese illustrated magazine and TV show. My how things change.



Anyway, I decided to post a photo that I have always loved that I took almost twenty-five years ago.

I took this photo at my daughter, Kim's wedding to her wonderful husband, Dave.

So many memories came flooding back with this photo.

I had the beautiful wedding cake made at the local Junior College and was going to freeze it for two days until the wedding. When I got it home it was too tall for my freezer outside in the carport. We had to prop the door open and build false walls and close it all with duct tape.

I remade Kim's dress from a dress I made for my sister Debbie's wedding. We didn't have enough fittings together so the dress was too big around. I had to borrow safety pins from my Mother-in-law, June.

Somehow, the hand made underskirt to make the dress poof didn't make it to the wedding. I can't remember if we ever found it.

It was one of the hottest days recorded in the month of July in Washington State and the church had no air conditioner.



We lived in a tiny house in Snohomish, Washington (1100 sq ft.) and had people staying with us when a friend from Texas showed up unannounced at the wedding with her rolling suitcase and said she was staying with us. And she did! She slept on the floor and we had a wonderful time.

But what I remember most of all is that it was one of the happiest days of my life. My sweet daughter had found a kind, loving man and I wouldn't have to worry about her anymore.




Both Kim and Dave love music. They have raised two musical kids, Kya who will be 21 in June and Christian, who will be 11 in August.

They live in Marysville, Washington with our grandson, Christian and Kya lives in Seattle.

Dave works at Kenworth for his day job but still pursues his music on the weekends and nights. He takes a few gigs and teaches guitar in his spare time.

Kim trains horses for a living and the people who ride them but that's another story.

                                                                                             



This is an Internet photo

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Julie Panusis

Art Jewelry Elements Earring Reveal #3

Once again the two weeks has gone by like a flash.

It is time to reveal the earrings that I made for the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge.

I enjoy making metal art so I decided to try copper washer earrings. I have lots of copper sheet and a copper punch so I got to work. I stamped words on the rings, patinaed them with Liver of Sulfur and added ear wires and charms.

As you might expect, the earrings have a cat theme. I wanted to get inside the cat's mind and see what he or she was thinking.

Unfortunately, I was sick all last week with the winter bug. I got my flu shot so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but I didn't get into the studio. Actually, I did go in, only to sit and look at things and then go back to bed.

So I thought I would post a photo of some earrings that I made in Cindy Pankopf's Art Clay Teachers Certification Class about six months ago in Southern California.

I made these fun earrings around a ball of cork clay. The cork clay is dried on a tooth pick and then covered with squiggles of fine silver clay from a syringe. When the fine silver is dry it is fired and the cork burns out. Then the beads were tumbled. The last step is to add a silver head pin and ear wires. I have had so many compliments on these earrings and I am very proud of them.

I first met Cindy in a class she taught at the Bead and Button Show last June in Milwaukee. I immediately fell in love with her teaching style and her innovative thinking. When she told me she taught Art Clay Certification classes at her store, Cindy Pankopf's Creative Place, in Fullerton, California, my mind started calculating how to get there.
 

If you can't travel to Southern California, Cindy has written a wonderful book, Making Metal Clay Jewelry. It is a fantastic book which I purchased even before taking her class in Milwaukee. I highly recommend it to any metal clay artist, not just beginners. I use it for a go-to book when I want to refresh myself on techniques.

 

She also teaches a class at Craftsy.com called Kiln-fired Silver Metal Clay which is very detailed. Check her out, you will be glad you did.

 

 

I will leave you now with another cat photo that I got from the internet. Unfortunately no photo credit was available.

Happy Day,

Julie Panusis



Flowers and Creating Art

I love Flowers! Doesn't everyone?

This week, Week 7 of the Focus on Life Challenge is all about the beauty of flowers.

My favorite type of flowers are the ones that smell wonderful and fill the house or yard with fragrance.  I also love the flowers that eventually become food. We have an orange tree and each year when it blooms I can sit in the yard for hours just to be near the wonderful fragrance. Then this time of year we enjoy multitudes of fresh oranges. Nature is wonderful.

And then there's Kirk's strawberry patch. What could be more wonderful than the delicate flower of the strawberry plant which turns into a succulent strawberry? Life is very, very good.

I also want to talk about Week 4 in this challenge. I started late and missed this posting.

The prompt was Creating Art which leads to all kinds of interpretation. We often think of art as painting. If that was the only type of art, I would be in big trouble. Painting isn't my thing. I can't even paint a wall without lots of problems including getting more of it on me than the wall.

I decided to go with some photos I took of making metal art because that is my favorite to do. Show what you know, is what we are told. Or is it write what you know? Oh heck, I don't know, LOL.

 

Here are two bracelets that I am working on. I learned the techniques at Bead and Button in Milwaukee and at Art-is Petaluma last year in classes with Richard Salley. Believe me, if you are interested in metal work, Richard is the teacher to go to. He lives in New Mexico but teaches at lots of major shows in the US. Check out Richard's web site for his show schedule.

 

 



 

Everyone have a fantastic holiday weekend and be careful out there.

 

 

Julie Panusis

Find Your Word and Take Time

Once again I will catch up with the Focus on Life Challenge.

On Week 2 of the challenge by Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime, we were told to find a word for the year. This word should remind us to focus on the things we would like to do with our life.

The word I chose is Venture. The dictionary says:

experiment (a venture at something new or different)

drive; effort; movement (a series of actions tending toward a particular end)

For me it means to make an effort to keep going. To always try new things and meet new people. That's one reason why I love to travel.

 



This photo was taken on our trip to Florida in January. We were on our way to places we had never been. Venture forth, comes to mind.

 On Week 3 of the challenge, Sally gave us the prompt: Take Time.

That one really stopped me in my tracks. For some reason, I don't read anymore and that's what I used to do to relax and take time for myself.

 

My husband came up with the answer right away. You need to post a photo of your studios. That's right, since I'm not in the business of selling jewelry, that is how I take time for myself now.

 

This is where I go in the winter to do my projects. It is an upstairs bedroom where I used to sew. Now it is a beading studio. I set it up in 2009 and have spent many an hour taking time for myself.

I must assure you that it doesn't look like that now because I work in it but it is my haven.


 On the right is my garage studio for metal working. I also do my glass fusing and ceramic firing there.

I don't use this studio as much in the winter unless I am firing.

 

 On my last post, I promised to let you know how many people posted about animals in Feel the Love. So far there are 61 posts and 30 of them feature animals (almost half). I expected dogs and cats but was surprised by the variety of animals included. There were also goats, monkeys, guinea pigs and love birds. I am so happy to see so many people love animals. It gives me hope for us humans.

Happy Wednesday!

Julie Panusis
 

Feel the Love

As you probably know by now, I am in a challenge called Focus on Life and we are to share a photo that we have taken once a week based on a prompt given to us by Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime.

As soon as the prompt, Feel the Love, came this week I knew what photo I was going to post. It is of my husband and our dog, Angie, who is now in dogie heaven.

We got Angie in Arizona as a companion for our puppy Christi. We had just adopted Christi and she was lonesome and destructive. It is my theory that no dog should be alone as they are pack animals but our Shatzy had just died and I wasn't in the right frame of mind to get another right then.

Kirk went to the local Petco on Saturday to get some cat food and the Humane Society was having an Adoption Event. He saw Angie and thought she would be perfect for Christi. He came home and told me I should call and see if she had been adopted. I said, "I don't want another dog!"

Every night Kirk would come home and say, "Did you call the Humane Society yet?"

On Thursday I went into Prescott to do a side job making sandwiches for a gal that had a lunch truck. I earned $35 cash. On the way home I saw the sign for the Humane Society and turned down the road to just look at the dog.

Angie came to the fence to look at me but when she didn't know me, she turned away. She was looking for her people. I went back to ask for a leash to walk her and she led me to the parking lot to a car and waited to get in. I knew I had to have this dear girl.

When I asked how much it cost to adopt her, the man said $35.

Angie was the most loving and loyal dog we have ever had but she never stopped looking for her people. At the dog park she would wander around looking at faces but never lost sight of me. She was my shadow and my dear companion.

I wish people would realize that owning a dog is a forever commitment. They have feelings and you hurt them deeply when you get rid of them.




I recently joined another challenge, Lori Anderson's 7th Bead Soup Party and was partnered with Kathleen Lang Klik whom I have already introduced. It turns out Kathleen is also in this challenge and I was blown away by the photo she posted.

Yes, that's her husband and her dog, Twila. I don't think Lori Anderson could have made a more perfect match for me. We even think alike.

 

 

I wonder how many other's will post their pets in this challenge. I will try and keep count and let you know

 

 

 

Julie Panusis

Bead Soup Partner and Me

I am so pleased to announce that I have a partner for Lori Anderson's 7th Bead Soup Party.

 

She is Kathleen Lange Klik from Virginia. Kathleen is a jewelry artist and a photographer. I love her style. She gets lots of her inspiration from nature which is very similar to how I work.

 

Kathleen also loves dogs, especially her adopted dog, Twila. You can read her blog about Twila here. I think we are going to have great fun.

In fact, I already have her Bead Soup ready to mail. Here's a photo.

Sorry, it has to be a teaser photo because I can't actually show what I send her until she receives it in the mail. That would spoil her surprise.

I will mail it Friday and see how long a snail mail package takes to get to Virginia.





The other thing I wanted to talk about is the Focus on Life Photo Challenge. I got into the challenge late and missed the first four posts. I really wanted to catch up so I will be double posting until I do.

The Week 1 prompt was to take a self portrait. Wow, I don't ever remember taking a photo of myself unless it was to document an injury and that was of a limb or my head when I cracked it open.

My sister Debbie takes her own photo all the time and they seem to come out great. (Now that I think about it, why would she post a photo if it didn't come out great?)

Anyway, I went to the bathroom in front of the wall mirror with my trusty pink Cannon and started to snap away. I found there was a learning curve to taking your photo in a mirror and pretty soon it was hard to even see because I was laughing so much.

So, without further ado, I am going to show you the progression of my self portrait.

So what did you do to keep yourself occupied today? LOL

 

Happy Wednesday

 

Julie Panusis

 

Art Jewelry Elements Earring Reveal # 2

Has it been two weeks already?

It's time again to reveal the earrings that I made for the Art Jewelry Elements Challenge. I can't believe that time has gone so fast. We were on vacation in Florida part of the time so that might have had something to do with the time warp.

Earrings #3

First of all, I made these earrings to see if I could. I wanted to make post earrings and I wanted to see if I could make the tree of life small enough to be earrings. I had made a pendant a few years before and I loved it.

My Tree of Life Pendant

I used 20 Gauge sterling wire for the outside because that gauge is the most comfortable for the ear and it is also the post. I believe the trees are 22 Gauge sterling.

The earrings and pendant don't match as I can't wear copper in my ears. I turn green.

Earrings #4

 I made these enameled earrings at the Painting with Fire Studio of Barbara Lewis in St Petersburg, Florida when we were on our vacation. They are 24 gauge copper, punched out of copper sheet and forged then enameled with opaque white. The cabochon is punched, dapped, and enameled in opaque Robin's Egg Blue.  I applied a decal and then connected the pieces by firing with clear enamel.

I really enjoy making earrings each week for this challenge. It gives me a chance to try different techniques. I believe more metal work is in my future and also some resin work.

Happy Super Bowl!

 

 

Julie Panusis

Focus on Life

I've talked about the Challenges that I have started this year so when I heard about Sally Russick offering a Focus on Life Challenge, I thought how hard can it be? The idea is to take a photo each week and post it. The photo has to be something that comes from Sally's weekly prompt.

Taking photos; I love to take photos. Well, it turns out that this is the hardest thing I have taken on. The difficulty is deciding what to photograph that will convey the message and then posting about it.

I got into the Challenge late, this is week 5, but here I am and I'm confident that I'm up to it.

This week's prompt is: Capture Our Hearts.

 

 

I noticed when I looked at what everyone else was posting on the Studio Sublime blog, that most people photographed hearts. Hearts are nice and can be very pretty but I have never been a person that liked hearts that much. What captures our hearts here in the Panusis household is our animals.

 

 

All three of our dogs are rescues and the love they give back to us is a thousand fold. It is almost like they know and are very grateful. Especially Cindi, who loves to kiss and cuddle and sleep in bed with us.

 

The people that set her out on the street when they lost their home are the biggest losers. We are forever grateful to have her find us.

 

Have a great Super Bowl Weekend.

 

 

Julie Panusis