This bio page from the Alexandra David-Néel Cultural Centre for Franco-Tibetans Cultural Exchanges website outlines the life of the amazing traveller, spiritualist, and all-around incorrigible woman of the world, Alexandra David-Neel. She is the author of Magic and Mystery in Tibet (see my auctions this week for a copy):

http://www.alexandra-david-neel.org/anglais/biog.htm

visitors since July 06, 2006!

This week I'm listing a couple of collectible vintage issues of The Bead Journal, which was the precursor to Ornament magazine. Here are some interesting links I found... including a link to the BEAUTIFUL and long-awaited fully functional Ornament website:

• History of Bead Research by the late Peter Francis. His website is still up but not being updated.
• Alice Scherer what The Bead Journal was selling for a few years ago...
• Ornament magazine an amazingly gorgeous site to go with the gorgeous artistic adornment featured in the magazine's pages.

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Alrighty then! Sometimes things work out after all -- my DH walked in the room a few minutes ago and handed me the totally unblemished book for the Hanson-Roberts fairytale Tarot deck I listed yesterday. Go figure, I'd torn the place (or at least my eBay pile) apart looking for it!

So I modified the listing to reflect that the booklet is included after all...yay!

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Thinking of my teenage nieces this week, and them going back to school. I ended up putting together a little lot of estate/secondhand jewelry that reminds me a lot of them.

• I had a hunch the big seed/star/shell earrings were from Peru, and I was right although I couldn't find a pair exactly like it. I've always loved the delicate handwork that goes into Peruvian silver wire earrings! I didn't find any other on the Net that have the star dangles...
• I could not find a thing on the mama gnome pendant, but she looks like bronze to me. I dunno. She's a mystery.
• To my surprise, I did find the maker of the bird rock carving earrings, although that design isn't on her website, so maybe it's retired: Petroglyph Jewelry by Alice Warder Seely

It was definitely those peyote stitched beaded crystals that made me want to do learn beadwork years ago, and so I took lessons from a friend. I found out it wasn't so easy after all! But I did eventually learn to bead around crystals, maybe that's why people are always giving them to me. I'm parting with this one, because well, it's brown and it goes so well with the earrings! But I did a quick net search for some more beaded crystal inspiration, and here's some of what I found: NOT MUCH!

• So then I search for HOW TO bead around a crystal, and found this tutorial from the Jewelry Making site at about.com

So, the search goes on...maybe I should do a tutorial. Beaded crystals should NEVER go out of style. ;-)

visitors since July 06, 2006!

I know, I know -- "cute" isn't usually a word you associate with Tarot decks, but this lovely little illustrated deck by Mary Hanson-Roberts is sort of a children's fairytale book-style version of the Rider-Waite Tarot. I just listed a deck here at eBay -- here are some more resources about it:

• More images from Aeclectic.net
• More illustrations by Mary Hanson-Roberts: At Art-Wanted

The LWB is, unfortunately, missing from the box. CORRECTION: I found the little white booklet that goes with the deck. You can begin to learn about interpreting the cards, and more, here (it's free):

Learning the Tarot

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Hey all,

I just listed a large lot of butterfly conchos and thought I'd post something here about how I use them.

First off, yes, you can use them in the usual ways -- as bandana ties, in handmade belts, as buttons on vests, jackets, purses, etc.

But here are some additional things you might not have thought of. Conchos are inexpensive and with a bit of altering you can make them look like precious metals, combine them with found objects in your collage work, etc.

1. Rub black acrylic paint (from the tube is best) all over the concho, then gently wipe the excess paint off the high areas with a slightly damp paper towel. The paint will adhere to the low, design areas and give your concho a low-cost, non-toxic patina.

2. OR Use an instant patina solution like Silver Black or Black n Silver to create a real patina. Read the instructions and use carefully, as this is a more toxic solution than the above. I usually let the patina dry, then rinse it off before buffing.

3. Use your lightweight metal conchos on altered book covers, in found object collage and assemblage and all kinds of contemporary art projects. Here's how I used one on an altered journal cover:

The concho at the bottom started as a bright, shiny silver concho. I applied a patina, then printed out the words I wanted. I cut down the words to the height of the slots in the concho, and cut down the width to almost the width of the concho. I threaded the paper through, and glue it to the concho on the back. The I glued the concho to the journal cover!

Have fun!

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Woohoo, I'm finally back online! Here's some info on the out of print Santa Fe Tarot deck I have up which is closing in a couple of days. See these links to see images of the cards in this deck, and more information about the deck (mine is still in the cellophane so I couldn't scan the card pictures).

Very nice images, from Tarot.com:
http://www.tarot.com/tarot/decks/index.php?deckID=27

Detailed information on the deck (plus a few images), from Aeclectic Tarot:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/santa-fe/details.shtml

Additional info from The Tarot Garden, usually my first stop to find out if a deck is out of print:
http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/dbsearchengine.php?search_type=blob&pageenter=0
(note: do a quick search for "Santa Fe" to find the deck)

NOTE: The deck I listed is a FIRST EDITION, the box cover is different than the later one, which also seems to have a different ISBN.

By the way the links above are excellent sources in general to find out about all the various tarot decks that are in and out of print.

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Arg.  My hard drive crashed a couple of weeks ago. Kinda hard to post auctions with a scanner and nothing to plug it into ;-) [sigh]. I'm hopefully getting a new computer this weekend. {yay!} After that it should be smooth sailing on eBay again... Meanwhile, I'm kinda hoping all my regulars have been on vacation and didn't even notice, hehe

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Not so much a trick with glue, rather a trick for hiding glue that misbehaves! This won't work for every single flub but it works great for me with paper collage, decoupage projects, and even some work I do altering metals and other mixed media stuff.

Ever had this problem? -- Nevermind, I know you have...

You're gluing something down, and no matter how careful (aka "obsessive") you are, some of that dang glue oozes out the sides and when it dries it's all shiny and detracts from the utter perfection of the piece.

Well, just uncork that bottle of matte medium and paint a wee bit over the glue. No more shine. My favorite brand is Golden matte gel medium (not the super heavy weight stuff, just the regular mixture, perhaps watered down a bit so the brushmarks don't show), but I've noticed the two major hobby store chains in my area now carry only Liquitex.

I'd show you pictures -- but you wouldn't be able to see it! <--hehe. ;-)

Bead on...Mary 8-)

visitors since July 06, 2006!

Just added: a couple of new reviews of two good beading books I recently purchased on eBay:

Bead & Sequin Embroidery Stitches by Stanley Levy

Designer Bead Embroidery by Kenneth D. King

Click the links above to go to the reviews! Enjoy! 8-)

visitors since July 06, 2006!