A Jar Full of Treasure

  The good yard sale stuff was spread out on the lawn, but I had decided to check out the stacks of old picture frames left just inside the garage.  There it was, sitting on a dusty shelf  amongst boxes of junk.The pint size clear glass Mason jar with the bright gold lid was clean and full and had a sticker on it - For Sale.  But it wasn't full of seashells, my usual find - these were little bits of black and dark brown - stones?  Wasn't too sure, but the price was right - so I brought it home.  I set it on a cabinet in my studio and forgot about it. 

Then, this weekend a rare event occured - both of my sisters visited at the same time.  The Pate girls, when together, seem to inspire each other, and we spent a lot of time looking at, talking about and exchanging jewelry.The little jar was brought out late one evening by Amy.  She's one of those people who has so much creative energy she can have a dozen projects, all in different media, going at once.  She dumped the jar out all over the kitchen counter and we started playing with them, her creative process sparking my own. 

I had already noticed that there were some fossilized shark teeth in the jar, but now I realized that there were many bits of petrified wood with interesting, mostly oblong shapes.  There are many places in Florida to find fossilized shark's teeth and petrified wood, including the Suwannee River, the Peace River and the beaches in Venice.  Eons ago Florida was under the sea and neat ancient things can still be found.  I'm guessing that my little bits on history were lovingly collected by someone right here in Florida. 

Petrified wood, fossilized shark teeth, glass, abalone shell, copper, sterling silver.   Design happened.  And is still happening.  As usual, my new fixation has put other projects on hold (the Strawberry Fest is only days away) but I just can't help myself!  So, here are a few of the pieces that are finished. 

Below on the left, a piece of petrified wood with wonderful texture

and a finish that looks almost like it's been pickled, holding an abalone cabochon circled by sterling silver wire. On the right, petrified wood lashed to a triangle of pale blue tumbled glass and another abalone cabochon.

Next, a sliver of green glass, deep matte gray worn stone with a natural arch holds a large pale peach freshwater pearl.  The middle picture is another piece of green glass, petrified wood and abalone, this time done with copper. 

And finally, pale blue glass, deep blue abalone, petrified wood, sterling silver.  I have many more pieces in process and have begun using the worn and broken black sharks teeth - which have sort of a boomerang shape. 

And lastly, I stumbled on a photo technique to share.  I like to photograph outside, but full sunlight has too much glare, and if I create a shadow it's a bit too dark.  I carried my pieces out to the dock in a large clear plastic bag, which also held extra batteries and everything I might need on my little photo shoot.  My dock has deck boards with wide gaps, and I always worry that stuff is going to fall into the water and be lost.  So, holding onto the plastic bag with one hand, the camera with the other, and taking out one pendant at a time and trying to position everything just so, the sunlight accidentlly filtered throught the bag onto the pendant.  It created kind of a scrim effect and let in plenty of light but cut the glare and shadow.  The results are photos 1, 2, and 4.  I think this just may become my new technique, especially when shooting in the midday sun. 

I would love to read your comments about these new pieces - I'm so excited about them I'm thinking about doing my very first giveaway with one.  But right now I need to get back to my worktable - the creative juices are still flowing! I have two of the pieces listed on Etsy (3 and 5), and watch for the others to be listed soon!

The Heron Tree

I live on a little cove in central Florida. It connects to a larger lake - actually, a chain of lakes, which makes for really nice boating. My boat is a kayak. I guess I'm a fair weather kayaker - because recently I realized that I've haven't done much kayaking this winter. Florida has had it's own "rough winter" - lots of rain and cold, windy days. But this weekend has been wonderful. So, yesterday I went out in midday, across the lake and explored a bit. Found a quiet little cove with no houses - just a bit of old Florida wilderness. There I found treasure: several pairs of great blue herons nesting in the bare branched cypress trees. Why do I never have my camera with me when I need it? I could see one standing on the edge of the huge nest and it appeared to be feeding babies - or maybe feeding the mother as she sat on the eggs. Herons were flying back and forth - the dads, I presume, on guard - carefully watching me, the stranger, getting closer and closer. I took it all in for a bit and then headed back - making mental plans to come back tomorrow with camera.

As soon as I returned home I checked the weather for Sunday - darn - looked like a chance of rain as the day progressed, so I knew I needed make an early start. About 9:30 - not very early, but hey... it's Sunday - I put in, the water calm and the sky a lovely blue with wispy clouds. No threatening weather - not even a gator in sight (did I mention I'm a transplanted yankee and dread the first time I see a gator in the water when there is only a half inch of plastic between my butt and his teeth?) I paddled across the cove and under the railroad bridge that separates my cove from the lake.

The lake was like glass, and it was incredibly peaceful and quiet. Only a couple of fisherman in small boats along the edge. I was a little worried that

when I arrived the herons would be out to breakfast. I'm no expert on heron nesting behavior, so I wasn't sure if mom & dad went out to eat together - or if one stayed at the nest. I got lucky - they must have already had the early bird special like lots of the rest of us in Inverness (Rexall Drugs - home of the 88 cent breakfast!) - because the moms were all on the nests, and dads were close by soaring over to take a protective stance at the edge of the nest.

The heron tree is a cypress that sits alone in the water - not along the edge with the hundreds of other cypresses. I guess this makes it desirable to the birds - they have a clear view in all directions. This cypress tree is rather short & wide compared to those along the banks. There are five nests in the tree. The herons are about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall - so you can imagine the size of the nests.

I paddled in through the water lilies, their thick white buds just about to pop open, and spiky grasses still mostly brown from the cold snap a few weeks ago. It was slow going, and I was keeping one eye on the birds, the other looking for gators. They are so darn hard to see until they're right there chomping your arm off. Thank goodness they are way more scared of me than I am of them! I'm sure they saw me coming a mile away and headed for quieter territory.

I got as close as possible, and with my little digital camera zooming in, managed to spy the mama bird's head peeking out of the nest. Hey Dad, it's a dead giveaway when you fly over and stand right next to the nest!

Here's some info about nesting herons:

The Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve Society

and on this site you can listen to their calls:

Birdweb

And of course, Wikipedia

As I turned to head back across the lake, I saw another heron sitting on a clump of sticks right on the water. It didn't fly off when I approached. Looked kind of lonely. I decided not to pester it - maybe it was enjoying the solitude.

I paddled back home, under the old railroad bridge that is now a biking/walking trail, and had a nice cup of tea.