Posting Day!

Another Posting Day has arrived -- Hooray!

I've posted six lovely new crochet hooks on eBay today, including the two pictured.

Did you happen to see the blog entry below? (About the incredible opportunity to take a class with world-renowned woodturning artist Cindy Drozda? (If you didn't, check it out!) If you did... I just wanted to prove how fantastic a teacher she is! Check out my Before and After photo and story.

On to the hooks!

That little gal on the left is made from Asian Satinwood, and absolute pleasure to work with! It's so very smooth to cut, and the chatoyant stripies on the sides add such playfulness to the hook! I think that the amethyst looks absolutely stellar on that hook.

I've never done black painting before -- never really thought of it with regards to my general proclivity to color. However, I think it turned out to be a wonderful combination of colors, especially after adding the silvery colors as well.

The hook on the right is an absolute STUNNER -- sooooooo pretty. Indeed, after I uploaded the photo for eBay, I thought... ooooh, maybe I should keep this one! Soooooo gorgeous!

This beauty was inspired by "Apollo's Frock" by Tori Amos, a B-side from the Scarlet's Walk era. One of my favorite songs, another in which she uses metaphor upon metaphor, including prolific historical and literary referents. A very complicated song, and complicated meaning.

I suppose I wanted to transcend a lot of that -- it just isn't possible to create a small work of art that can express all of the meanings present in such a vastly meaningful work. Indeed, I went with the most apparent of meanings, and chose to incorporate color as a primary part of the design. The flames are obviously representative of the solar innuendo, though also include deeper parts of the lyrical meaning.

I had quite a lot of fun painting this hook -- I used various metallic acrylics: bronzes, copper, golds, etc., applying shading to the flames to give them a bit of life -- as though they truly are licking upward to the top of the hook. I added a 3mm brilliant-cut Garnet set in Sterling Silver to complete the piece... and does it! Garnet in place, the whole hook has a jewel-like effect!