Well, 'survived' is one thing, 'sanity' is another, but the kids managed to sing the (much shortened) entirety of Handel's Coronation Anthems from memory in 3 days. Was soooooooo proud of them at the night concert when they performed - the alto section that I was coaching stepped up to the plate and did marvellously too, was even prouder of them!
After that, a vacation was absolutely necessary, and I've just come back from a wonderful week's visit with my family and my brother who's just flown back to NYC. A MUCH needed rest, I might add - for the last few days I've been slowly recharging my creative batteries and even creating a couple of new things which will eventually get posted when I photograph them (in one case, it's 'recreate', as the originals were gifts that I didn't get a chance to take proper pictures of before they went to their thrilled new owners.)
However, I have finally managed to finish my 'Buried Treasures' necklace - the one that was going to incorporate all those beautiful antique beads and chaton montees! She's called 'Old Love Haunts Me In The Morning', after a song by Marissa Nadler, and here she is:
Old Love Haunts Me In The Morning: Vintage lucite and glass seed beads, vintage chaton montees, vintage faux pearls, Czech glass seed beads, brown glass foil twist beads, Siam Swarovski crystals, brass findings, purple shell pendant, 14ga sterling silver handmade clasp.
Tried to get a closeup of some of those beautiful beads - the chatons are even more beautiful in person than when photographed. The sparkle has to be seen to be believed, and to think they're at least 40-50 years old! And the vintage gold beads are just as lovely; they've developed their own patina over the years apparently.
This is one of the vintage floral lucite beads. I've never seen a finish like that on any of the more recent lucite beads I've looked at. It's absolutely amazing, just like the colours of a rainbow through a soap bubble.
There's a story to those coppery rings - they were originally clasps, but the connector rings broke! Rather than waste them, I sanded them down and put them to good use in the necklace. I think they fit the look and feel pretty well.
Marissa Nadler's beautiful ballad, 'Old Love Haunts Me In The Morning', kept going round and round in my head till I figured it had to be translated into a necklace somehow. I've always imagined that old love fondly remembered is like a golden memory, and in the morning sunshine, it's even more vivid - hence the various tones of gold and burnished copper-bronze speckled through with scarlet to represent 'love'. I tried to incorporate a sense of 'haunting' into the gradual colour gradation from golden to deeper browns and purples, since old love, while beautiful, can sometimes bring with it a darker tone of regret and sadness. The Swarovski crystals and bright chaton montees are the 'sparkle' that accompanies the other half of such memories - the good times, and those that we would never exchange for anything else.
The occasional flash of pale green in the vintage lucite floral bead and chaton montee is reminiscent of the evergreen nature of fond memories.
Old love haunts me in the morning
La da da da da da da da di
Old love haunts in the evening
When the remnants of pictures come alive
I told you that I loved you
I laid the summer down
Come all your careless wanderers
By the lake with the days of ruin
When I first saw you in the sunshine
With the speckles and flaxen in your eyes
When I first saw you in the moonlight
It is true that I thought that I might die
I told you that I loved you
By the lake with the summer gone
Come all your careless wanderers
By the lake with the days of ruin
