Mother of Pearl Stained Glass Pendant

An oblong piece of Mother of Pearl iridescent stained glass pendant (changes colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes) with silver solder surround, silver wire on the front and a few white glass beads hanging from a silver chain.

The technology for making glass dates back at least 5,000 years, and some form of stained glass was used in European Christian churches by the third or fourth century A.D.

Glass is made by fusing together some form of silica such as sand, an alkali such as potash or soda, and lime or lead oxide. The colour is produced by adding a metallic oxide to the raw materials.

Read more on how stained glass is made.

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Rose Quartz Place-name Holder

Rose Quarts set into a shell with silver solder border and a silver wire stand. Can be used as place-name holders at a dinner party or just to hold an inspirational message next to your bed!

Rose quartz is pink quartz that is often called the "Love Stone." It is a stone of unconditional love that opens the heart chakra to all forms of love: self-love, family love, platonic love, and romantic love. The high energy of quartz gives rose quartz the property of enhancing love in virtually any situation. In turn, this lowers stress. All in all it is a very soothing and happy stone.

Emotionally rose quartz brings gentleness, forgiveness, compassion, kindness and tolerance. It raises one's self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It helps balance emotions and heal emotional wounds and traumas, even grief, bringing peace and calm. Rose quartz removes fears, resentments and anger. It can also heal and release childhood traumas, neglect, and lack of love, in part by enhancing inner awareness. It can help with reconciliation with family and others. Overwhelming or unreasonable guilt is eased by rose quartz.

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Life's a bitch...

but I appreciate her nontheless.
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I woke up feeling utterly depressed this morning. No particular reason, everything is running smoothly in my life, no worries, no stress, no problems, no debt, and yet, I had this completely flat and miserable feeling. Even finding some beautiful feathers in the garden could not motivate or inspire me. In fact, my garden looked like shit. Even the birds, who normally wait in droves at the bird feeders, seemed to have deserted my space.

I wandered back into the house to my studio and opened a box of beach finds, hoping to find inspiration there. But nothing. My muse seems to have taken a walk, leaving me with the dregs of imagination.

When the thought, "life's a bitch" came into my mind, I decided to Google it, maybe find some explanation or inspiration. But all I found was "life's a bitch and then you die" and "life's a bitch and death is her sister". Not very inspirational or explanatory at all. I pondered this for a while and summarily decided that I didn't like those references at all. They must've been written by somebody in a deeper depression than myself and the thought was very scary.

I remembered a quote I had read some time ago, "Creativity is a drug I cannot live without" and decided the only solution was that I HAD to do something creative to break this feeling. Even if it's just something simple, not too complicated, just to get the juices flowing again.

I remembered seeing a nice round pebble, well, stone actually, in my garden earlier (so I DID notice something nice after all!), so I went out in search of it. I gave it a thorough wash and just holding it in my hands brought a feeling of peace. It wasn't long before I was totally immersed in wrapping it in some silver wire, as if wrapping some peace and love into it, safely securing it with some drops of solder. Attaching a ring and adding a chain, it was ready to hang around my neck.

Hand-crafted river pebble (2½" - 5cm) pendant hanging from a leather thong

Pebbles and stones represent solidity, stability, dependability. And that's what I needed to feel today, solid and stable.

Since earliest history, people have collected and admired pretty pebbles, often believing they had magical and healing powers. Even the earliest people told stories about magical creatures made of stone. Pebbles, stones and rocks are a vital part of our earth and our history - from providing us with our very first tools and building materials to giving us a chance to express ourselves through sculptures, jewelry and other fine arts.

Go ahead, hold a pebble in your hand. Feel its smooth surface grow warm in your palm. See it glow with light. I asked myself: Where has this pebble been, and what has it seen, in all its thousands of years of existence? Then I opened my mind to its healing power...

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