When I was just a little girl of eight years old, I begged my grandmother to teach me to crochet. Her house was filled with beautiful dolls of all shapes and sizes that were adorned with lovely dresses made up of different yarns and threads. One doll, in particular, that I remember, had a dress with a skirt that seemed to cover a radius larger than an old LP record. It flowed out from her waist in waves of ruffles that resembled the colors of a bright autumn afternoon. The memories of this bountiful display of her handicraft fill my thoughts whenever I see a new ball of thread or a soft skein of yarn.
There are so many techniques that can be learned in the art of crochet that the possibilities are endless! I wanted to learn all of them at once. I couldn’t wait to get to the first ‘real’ stitch, which I believed to be single crochet. “Not so”, my grandmother would say. “The most important thing that you can learn is to make a perfect chain. When you learn to make your chain stitch so that it is even and smooth, and of good proportion, then you will have mastered the base of all crochet stitches.” Of course I argued that I didn’t want to just do the chain stitch, but I realized the wisdom of my grandmother’s teaching as I went on to chain a whole ball of thread. It was true! As my chain making got more and more even and smooth looking I felt like the master of the universe! (Or was that the ‘Queen of the world?) At any rate, once I mastered the chain, I was able to go on to make the most beautiful single crochet that anyone could hope for!
To this day, whenever I get out my hooks and my yarn, I think of my sweet grandmother and all of her many dolls clothed in their fine crocheted arraignment, the delicate doilies that graced her tables, chairs and shelves and the depth of beauty that they gave to her home, her life and to the little girl who grew up to love these things as much as she once did.
Beadwork has also been a passion for me since I was very young!
Way back in the 60's, my friend Lark and I were sitting at the table working away making earrings. I decided to go out into the orange grove and find a few pretty feathers from the birds that wondered through the groves. I placed them carefully at the bottom of my bead design and, voila'!... feather earrings!
Lark took one look at them and said that no one would ever buy them. Well, I took several pairs of them to a little shop on the California coast and put them on consignment. Within a few days the shop owner called me and said that he thought I had started a new craze! Every one of the pairs of feather earrings had sold and people were flocking into his shop asking for more!
No one had ever seen feather earrings before! My friends joke with me now that I should have patented them because feather jewelry took off like wildfire from California and spread across the country! It seemed that everyone started making feather earrings, necklaces, headpieces, and anything else that feathers would fit on!
Did I start it all? I don't know for sure but I think I did! :)
To this day, I love making anything with beads. Real semi precious stones are my weakness and of course any antique bead or finding.
I use artfully misshapen stones because they are always one of a kind and naturally beautiful, as well as beautifully carved or shaped stone, glass and crystal beads.
I love what I do and take great care in doing the most sturdy work possible so that it will last for many, many years!
I loved the movie 'Willow' and the baby Elora Danon. So comes the name, "Elora's Castle".
I have a great love for the Renaissance and have produced several Medieval style crochet patterns.
I am a free-lance black & white photographer and I love painting as well. You can take a look at my photography at http://PeaceOnTheWindimages.photoreflect.com
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