Avocado Green and Guacamole

I live in the land of avocados!

They grow abundantly here and over the past ten years lots of people seem have to cottoned onto this, so we have a constant, abundant and cheap supply of green goodness almost all year round.

I love them - I cold eat them for lunch almost every day on grainy toast and make guacamole at least once a week.  I like to eat it just with carrot sticks rather than a packet of toast or crackers, though I can do the carbs - I just try to avoid them mostly for snacks.  I find they stick to my hips - the carbs, that is.

We have a little vege stall up the road that we call on regularly - we get all sorts of fabulous goodies there, but my most regular purchase is the avos...

Oh, my word, yes!  They are "heavenly delicious"!

I make guacamole by mashing them with an equal quantity of cottage cheese, a clove (or two if you're not expecting company) of crushed garlic, the juice of a lemon, salt, pepper and something hot - I alternate between dry mustard powder, wasabi paste, chilli or a current favourite is horseradish paste.

This was a monster batch that the two of us still managed to scoff.

I'm always surprised when I see avocado green in any colour chart - it never looks like the colour of nice avocadoes to me - it's always way too dark.

The Avocado Green in my glass is a lovely colour, but doesn't look like avocado flesh at all...

Nor does our 70's avocado green bathroom suite - soon to be gracing the recycling centre!

Some new work and the Rock Candies

Black & White Candy Stripe Earrings i - NZ$55

I've begun stocking up my glass earrings for the spring shows, and have just put a few more sets onto the website.  I've been enjoying playing with the effects of transparent glass in differing thicknesses over a coloured base - there are so many ways to make the glass distort or magnify what's underneath - the possibilities are endless and dreamy.

Orange & Clear Doris Daze Cube Earrings - NZ$55

I'm in love with orange at the moment - the colour of the Sacral Chakra - one of the fire colours (and chakras) and the colour of passion and creativity.  I don't really feel all that fired up or inspired, just kind of slow and meditative and wintry, even though it's the first day of spring.  

I saw my first newborn calf yesterday, the daphne bush is in full bloom and perfume and the "real' daffodils are appearing everywhere.

Bring it on, is what I say!

One of my more enjoyable tasks this week has been to photograph my "Rock Candy" Swarovski Crystal series.  They are just so sumptuous and sparkly - I couldn't resist taking this photo of them all piled up together. 

A few of us in our immediate neighbourhood are planning a fund raising dinner for our local hospital and medical facility and have chosen the them of "All British" - mostly because of the Olympic Games being held in London (though they can really go by without my noticing!).  We are to wear all of our finery, including the "Family Jewels" - I think I'll go with the Rock Candies for the night!
I've hired a long frock  made from an old sari from our local drama club - our go-to for fancy dress out here in the wop-wops.  It's a bronzy colour, with a heavily beaded and sequined tulle overlay - quite glamorous ;). 

Shall I wear the Naturals... (This is the Full Rock Candy Necklace in Natural) NZ$320

or the Crystal Aurora Borealis?  This is the Rock Candy Bracelet in the larger size crystals 

NZ$130

There's a smutty little joke in here if you're a kiwi and understand the double meaning of "Family Jewels" - the men have been warned to wear theirs strictly undercover ;).

These are the long Rock Candy Earrings in Natural NZ$40 - I will wear my earrings long...

These are the shorter Rock Candy Earrings in Crystal Aurora Borealis - NZ$35

 The long earrings are made in smaller 6mm crystals, the shorter earrings in 8mm crystals.

The series is available in smaller 6mm crystals or 8mm crystals as mostly pictured here.  I have all of the bracelets made up in both the smaller and larger crystals, but would make necklaces up especially for you in the smaller crystals if you like.

The Rock Candies are a gorgeous and extravagant crystal design with almost no silver showing - even the clasp is a genuine Swarovski button and loop closer...so even the back of your neck or underside of your wrist looks neat.

They're available in nine colourways...Crystal Aurora Borealis and Natural as above and...

Black Part Rock Candy Necklace - NZ$150

Blue Full Rock Candy Necklace NZ$320

Green Rock Candy Bracelet in larger crystals NZ$130

Pink Full Rock Candy Necklace - larger crystals NZ $320

Purple Part Rock Candy Necklace NZ$150

Siam Red Rock Candy Bracelet in small crystals NZ$130

Topaz Rock Candy Full Necklace NZ$320

Yum?

Have you Liked the Facebook page yet?  It's a fun way to communicate and I'm going to run a giveaway this month for a pair of Rock Candy Earrings in your choice of colour to "Likers"!

So what's your favourite colour?

This Week 6th May 2012

This week...

1.  It's was Queen's Birthday Weekend so we had an extra day off.  I spent the time being a domestic goddess, working in the garden and preserving some lemons.

2.  I'm enjoying wearing my cozy tartan Doc Martens these chilly winter days

3.  It was really great to get together with a group of local business owners at the Pohara Boat Club (gorgeous building) for the AGM of the Golden Bay Promotions Association.  It's a real buzz when a group of enthusiastic people get together to brainstorm on something we're all passionate about.

4. I'm really enjoying wearing heart-warming (heart chakra) green Cherry Blossom beads with my Glowing Sky merino jacket.

5.  And red lipstick!

6.  I loved this YouTube clip - The Best Wedding Proposal Ever!  If you feel like a warm fuzzy take a look...

Have a great weekend!

Pinking up...

 I've been making lots of brooch beads and they're almost ready for mounting onto boards and having their portraits done - I've tried for lots of colour in this batch.

They're great to wear on jackets and coats - my problem is that I always have to rat through my wardrobe every time I want to wear one - I tend to leave them on my coats - it's one way of storing them I guess.

                                                                                                              

I love lemons.  I love the taste of them in almost anything - someone called themselves a lemophile a while ago, and that really resonated with me!

                                                                                                                

I've tried to grow lemon trees at every house we've ever lived in and I'm sure I've left some amazing future specimens scattered around the country. 

Something eats all the new growth on our trees here and we think we may have tracked down the culprits - WETAS!!!  The largest insect in the world apparently!

I'm trying to discourage them my putting crushed eggshells around the trees - that's a lot of eggs!
Does anybody have any better ideas?  We never see them - I think they come and feed at night - they take the most enormous bites.

In the meantime I went and bought a lovely lot of lemons at the market last week and have tried preserving them for the first time.  I want to use them in tagines - they're apparently only slightly lemony in flavour - salty/sweet.

They're sliced almost through in quarters then packed with rock salt and into a jar then covered in lemon juice.  This took around 20 lemons!!

I used a recipe from Made in Morocco by Julie Le Clerc

A sumptuous recipe book full of the most amazing photography

I think this is my favourite photo - "Petits Taxis"

After I had begun this method I found another recipe by Annabel Langbein's Free Range Cook which I wished I had used - it used only a few lemons and seemed much less messy...

She slices 2 lemons into 6ths completely then freezes the slices on a tray, then packs the frozen segments into a clean jar, adds 2 heaped teaspoons of salt, the juice of a lemon (to cover the segments), adds a bay leaf and covers it all with oil.
Ready in a week, but will improve over several months, and once opened, keep them in the fridge.
How easy is that?

Maybe next time?
                                                                                                               

What do you think of the new pink background?

I've been looking for something a bit more colourful for ages, and pink seems a nice colour - feminine, heart chakra energy and all that.

                                                                                                          
Speaking of heart chakra colours, I've been wearing quite a lot of green lately and thought I'd show you these beads I made years and years ago that I still wear and love...I call them Cherry Blossoms these days.

Happy New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
I wonder what the Year of the Dragon will bring?  Health, happiness and good fortune to you all I hope.
It's been a busy old time here in Takaka with lots of summer visitors, but never so busy that there's not a place to enjoy a relaxing cuppa in the shade.
The workroom is warm (sometimes a little too warm!)and buzzing and I've really enjoyed catching up with a few of you.
I seem to be having a "purple patch" at the moment, playing with purples, amethysts and blues - mostly started by the blue/purple chakra lotus flowers necklace still sitting on my bench waiting to be completed!  There's a green cherry blossoms necklace in there, too and a purple Tiger Beads necklace and the beginnings of an amethyst chakra lotus flowers necklace too...along with some other bits and pieces that are awaiting the perfect accompaniements!

And there's a tray of red and black beads that need attention...are we hooking into a theme here?  Do I actually need to complete some works?

I'll leave you with a little treasure that I found on the beach this morning

Aren't they precious?  I'm guessing that the croquembouche was made by an adult?

Green Beads for Sonja

It's been nearly a fortnight since we got home from our big trip South, and I've really enjoyed being back in my studio. After three weeks away I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms - I just can't take time away from the torch!

However, the trip was a really good chance to recharge out batteries and breathe a little fresh air - and VERY fresh some of it was, too!

I've had a lovely project on, making a green bead necklace for Sonja - a petite redhead with that perfect Irish complexion. Those of you who know me well will know how much I love all shades of green - I have green eyes and wear a lot of it myself.

The colour green is one of the major colours associated with the heart chakra, the colour of healing and love.


The beads for this necklace are quite small and I decided to make them all in transparent glass in a Swirl pattern, and the colours are these. It's a very simple style but very effective, working on the principle that "less is more" - something I can find hard to achieve sometimes! The beads are quite small, too, and the transparent glass makes the piece look light and dainty.
In between each glass bead I have put a tiny Swarovski Crystal bead in the colour Peridot, just to create a flow of green from bead to bead.

I'm rather pleased with it, and so is Sonja, thank goodness!

Here They Are

OK - so here they are...not quite what I expected in some cases, but that's the way it is with glass - expect the unexpected!

From left to right
1. Olive Green Riverstones Bead
2. Ink Blue Lazy Daisies Bead - I had forgotten how hard it is to capture this colour on camera. This is the one with the Periwinkle Blue core - but it's almost invisible! It is a gorgeous colour - quite transparent - almost a royal purple. The centres of the daisies are raised and made with twisted cane. A pretty bead, but not the effect I was looking for.
3. This is a landscape bead - it's a local beach - Wharariki - where you walk a track through bush and farmland to a really expansive beach of huge pale gray sand dunes. There are enormous rock formations at the water's edge. I'm going to mount this one with silver wire scrollwork.
4. Small True Red Raku Heart - I love the way the glass frit (crushed glass) has spread on this one.
5. Small Aqua Flow Bead - I'm pleased with this one - the glass has really moved around and taken its own course. There's a good play of light through the transparent glass in this one - can you see it?
6. This is the other one I was quite excited about - I've used a very pale handmade opaque green, and love the way it has moved with the lime and bottle greens. There are little pools of transparency throughout the bead. I will play with this glass again.
7. Ink Blue Riverstones Bead - once again, it's hard to capture this colour with the camera - purples always go either darker or bluer for me - darker today. Any camera tips gratefully accepted :). Lots of lovely tranpsarency in this one too, which really highlights this gorgeous colour - a transparent royal purple.

So...there you go...that's most of an afternoon's play to get to this stage!