Halloween/Day of the Dead Blog Hop

I  love Halloween. It is my favorite holiday.You can wear anything you want,  all the chocolate you can eat and you don't have to deal with your relatives or in-laws. Life really can't get much nicer then that. 
Ever since I can remember I have always loved spooky things. Growing up, there were a lot of strange happenings at my house. As children we often saw shadows and heard voices that were not supposed to be there. That may have been part of my attraction to all things spooky and undead. I watched every Hammer Horror film on the Saturday afternoon movie. We played vampire, it was like tag, but creepier and you got to bite people.

When I was 8 or 9 I discovered Edgar Allen Poe's classic poem "The Raven"  I wasn't old enough to interpret  or even understand   the entire poem, but I knew enough to know that it spoke of something utterly terrifying in the world of adults.   It opened the door  to poetry for me and it still remains one of my favorite verses. 

For this blog hop challenge, I knew I would do something to pay homage to Poe and The Raven.
I had all kinds of ideas swirling around my head, but in the end I decided to keep it simple, inspired by 19th century mourning jewelry which I absolutely adore. You can check out my Mourning  Jewelry Pinterest board

My raven bead, my Poe pendant , and my skull charm, a powder coated black chain, a pearl, hematite  a black bead, and 3 black resin roses. 

I thought about adding my "nevermore" word bead, but decided that would be overkill. Haha overkill, I just cracked myself up!

If you want to hear Poe's Raven I suggest this reading by Edgar Oliver.

Please grab a cup of coffee or if its past lunch, a glass of wine and check out the rest of this blog hop. 
You can even put on Pandora Radio Spooky Symphonies  while you peruse this unearthly blog hop.

Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com
Staci Smith  http://www.stacilouiseoriginals.com/

Kathleen Breeding  http://99bobotw.blogspot.com

Sue Kennedy  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Dianne Miller  http://www.artbydianne.blogspot.com

Lisa Liddy  http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Toltec Jewels  http://www.JewelSchoolFriends.com

Linda Landig  http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com

Laura Medeiros  http://Www.zoeowyn.blogspot.com

Veralynne Malone  http://www.veradesigns.blogspot.com

Lynn Jobber  http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.co.uk

Michelle McCarthy  http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com

Karen Totten  http://www.starryroadstudio.blogspot.com

Jayne Capps  https://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com

Jenny Davies-Reazor  http://jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Joan Miller  http://metalmudandsand.blogspot.com/

Melissa Meman  http://melissameman.blogspot.com

Melissa Trudinger  http://www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Kari Asbury  http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Inge von Roos  http://www.ingetraud.wordpress.com

Andrea Glick  http://zenithjade.blogspot.com 

Stephanie LaRosa  http://Www.stringaholic.blogspot.com

Lola Surwillo  http://www.beadlolabead.com

Jennifer Cameron  http://glassaddictions.com/blog

Diane Hawkey  http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com

Kristi Harrison  http://kristibasket-itsanewday.blogspot.com

Nicole Valentine Rimmer  http://www.nvalentine.blogspot.com

Tanya Goodwin  http://www.Pixiloo.blogspot.com

Shai Williams  http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Sandra McGriff  http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com

Sarajo Wentling  http://www.sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Marie Covert  http://thistledown-and-swaddlings.blogspot.com

Lisa Stukel  http://www.carefreejewelrybylisa.blogspot.com

Laurie Vyselaar  http://www.Lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com

Sherri Stokey  http://www.knotjustmacrame.com

Pam Traub  http://www.klassyjoolz.blogspot.com

Lori Dorrington  http://lorisglassworks.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens  http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

Eleanor Burian-Mohr  http://cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com

Sally Russick  http://thestudiosublime.com

Dawn M. Gallop  http://www.flipflopsandpoptarts.com

Christine Damm   http://storiestheytell.blogspot.com

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

Out With The Old, In With The New

reinvent redefine rediscover recharge reexamine

Its that time of the year again. Things are going to change. I need a fresh start.

I am going to redo the website,(If its disappears for a while, don't worry, it will be back). I am getting rid of old styles that are just not "me" anymore.

I've had some of these beads for 10 years and they no longer make me feel good. Some still resonate with me and I will keep them, perhaps tweak them, but it will be a conscious decision and not "just because".

A lot of these things have been a heavy weight on me. I need to breathe again and allow myself the freedom to create.

I honestly don't know what that will be. Clay makes me happy but I will be exploring more media keep the winter blues at bay.

Maybe its because its the end of the year. Maybe because I realize how old I am and how fast time slides by.

So many people I care about have experienced loss in this past year. Loss of their homes, loss of their beloved pets and even loss of their earthly life.

It has made me reexamine my own life and my own direction and I hope it has made me brave.

Wishing everyone a sweet New Year.

Walt Whitman's Angel

This is a sculpture I just finished. Its called Walt Whitman's Angel.

Lately, I have been fascinated, ( maybe even obsessed) with Walt Whitman.

His poetry and life are a bottomless source of inspiration.

He explored the nature of life and death in many poems, years before he even witnessed the horrors of the civil war and comforted dying soldiers in the hospitals of Washington DC.

In leaves of Grass he writes:

I will make the true poem of riches....

And I will show that there is no imperfection in the present, and can be none in the future,

And I will show that whatever happens to anybody it may be turn'd to beautiful results,

And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death,

And I will thread a thread through my poems that time and events are compact,

And that all things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.

I imagine him comforting the dying soldiers. He must have seemed like some strange large bearded angel helping them pass onto the next world, watching their souls leave their destroyed bodies. In his own estimation he tended 80 to 100 thousand wounded men. And yet he still saw beauty in everything, even death.