Cute as a Button

I recently learned that Mary, an old friend from high school, is in the jewelry-making business. She studies gemology and bench jewelry-ing at Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology. Mary's got some really clever items in her collection. My favorite are her wire-wrapped button rings, where she sets unique vintage buttons atop tightly coiled wire.

Antique castle ring

Antique Egyptian button ring

Last but not least, my favorite, the Kama Sutra bead ring! I'm lovin' it! 

KittyKat

About a month ago my roommate and I hosted two delightful couchsurfers who were passing through Memphis on their way to South by Southwest. We ended up at the P and H playing Taboo with them, as Larissa and I often do. Kitty and I (Team KittyKat) left Team Teen Horse in the dust!

This kitty-chasing-ball-of-yarn wonder is meant to be a broach, but I don't wear a lot of those. I prefer it as an earring. However, when worn this way, the yarn is behind kitty. Maybe she's just lost interest. That youthful feline curiosity doesn't last forever...

Burn baby burn!

One of my favorite people, Christie, is the owner of this very special necklace. Seven lit 'cigarettes' hang from a chunky black chain. No two cigarettes are alike, although two need to be ashed!

It is definitely a conversation piece, but when do cigarettes not 'spark' conversation?? (Over the top, ok, ok.)

Jenny graciously modeling the cig necklace.

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Afterthoughts corner: 

Last week I posted about Danish kroner in "Dirty Money". My Swedish friend from Malmö told me that as a child, he and his friends used the 2-kroner as tires for cars they made out of wood. That mental image made me grin. I bet he looked something like this...

Or this

or this,

but probably this! :)

Adjö!

Aleatoricism:

(n) Composition depending upon chance, random accident, or highly improvisational execution.

Sometimes art happens by chance, without any sort of mental planning. This term seemed pretty appropriate for today's post. Many years ago my mom intended to cast my Dad's high school ring to a mold, so she could make another ring out of it. It stopped melting much earlier than planned (cheap gold), and morphed into this little shape. Kinda looks like dried up chewing gum.

It reminds me of this very aleatoric incident that happened when I was trying to scan a book report on A Separate Peace back in middle school. Instead of scanning the page like normal, it dragged out one sentence over three pages, with only a few legible words left on the last page: "send them back to happy feeling." Veerrry cryptic. Especially considering the quality of work produced by my pubertal mind on the other side. ("Although Leper tries to form a bond or connection to Gene through his stories, Gene rejects the actions, making Leper's attempted release futile.") What??

Dirty Money

Most countries have prettier currency than we do. It's just a fact. Yeah that's right Washington, I'm calling you ugly. When I went to Copenhagen a few years ago, I was delighted by the Danish kroner. Not only are the paper bills more colorful and artistic than ours, but about half of their coinage have holes punched through them!

They are also ornately decorated, with heart and crown adornment. They certainly deserve to have a second life outside of somebody's change purse!

Under Pressure

It takes pressure to make a diamond, right? Well, I am certainly under a lot of stress as I type, buried under piles of sociological books and articles, and loads of open internet tabs. Hopefully the pressure of my impending deadline (Monday, 5 pm) will amount to a paper coherent enough to grant me a Masters in Sociology.

I always thought these Lorraine Schwartz earrings that Cate Blanchett wore to the 2007 Academy Awards were stunning. I'm more into the winged earlobe portion than the dangly black diamond. (I believe the technical descriptions are "diamond wing earrings" and "black diamond drops".)I love earrings that climb up the ear, but they’re pretty hard to find. I think there’s something really sensual about the way they curl up Cate’s earlobe. Alright, back to work!

Post-apocalyptic

My friend Gabrielle’s got some serious style, which she describes as post-apocalyptic yet classic. Aren’t you intrigued? I think her black coral earrings speak more to the classic aspect of her style, while her Eve Apple Swatch definitely embodies the post-apocalyptic spirit. 

I love the stark, industrial look of the earrings, which hail from Havana. The coral is actually made from some type of ocean plant that is boiled, shaped, and then painted black.

The round-the-clock temptation of Eve!

Her spectacular snake skin Eve Apple Swatch watch was hunted off of eBay. Eve's upper and lower body serve as the hour and minute hands, respectively.