Tarot Art and Steampunk Accessories, Courtesy of Jintrinsique

My creative friends inspire and encourage me all the time.  My friend Jen (a.k.a. “Jin”) likes to make art from Tarot cards, such as plaques and magnets, embellishing them with beads, gold paint and other magical things.  Jen, who is an accomplished pastry chef, closed her pastry shop to move across the country to be with her boyfriend (now husband), and she creates food and art with him in sunny Florida.  Here is one of her Tarot-inspired plaques.

Jen and her husband were recently married at the Florida Botanical Gardens, with a steady stream of rain for good luck.  She wore steampunk jewelry she made herself.

… and a jaunty steampunk hat.  The hat led her to create her own steampunk hats, and here are two of them.  They have already been featured in a fashion show, and elicit praise and excitement wherever they appear.  What I love about Jen’s hats are the lush combinations of colors, textures and patterns:

You can check out more of Jen’s Tarot-inspired art at her Etsy shop, Jintrinsique:   https://www.etsy.com/shop/jintrinsique?ref=pr_shop_more

My Musical Jewelry

Some of my bling actually makes a kind of music.  For the past year or so, I have been designing jewelry from metal connector links, and it really is fun.  When I hang the links close together, the necklaces make this sort of gentle clinking sound that is soothing.  Here are some examples:

Have a great weekend !!!

Recycling and Jewelry

I love the idea of recycling, and I try to incorporate recycled elements into my jewelry whenever possible (i.e., the floppy disk hubs).  The African beads in these necklaces are made from recycled brass, using the lost wax process. It is an arduous procedure that involves destroying the mold to retrieve the newly created bead:

 
Here's another necklace made from African beads:

The crimson beads are made from faceted carnelian, which is about as fancy as I get ... with tangerine gold aluminum chain.  And the patterned beads are wood.

In this era when we are told to constantly grasp for more, maybe what we really need to do is transform what we already have; to make it new and fresh.  Just a thought.