Continuation...

Continuing to work on hands inspired by mudras, I really like the blue color in the palm and the gold/cream of the fingers. I thought I was using the same color for the hands and the fingers, a happy accident. But I guess I should label each glass rod, huh? Still love the color combo.

Have you had a happy accident lately?

Re-Inventing....

Last week's blog post described my research so today's post is about the re-inventing. Here's my first prototype Buddha Hand - made off mandrel. Instead of a bead hole, it has a glass loop.

A first try is never perfect so I'll make a few more before I'll sell any. But I like it.

Do you think I'm on the right path with it?

I can talk French!

I'm still researching hands and thinking about how to re-invent. I'm looking at research from graduate school on sign languages - I studied Japanese Sign Language and Finnish Sign Language among other things.

Did you know American Sign Language is closely related to French Sign Language? When signing, French Deaf signers would understand me better than British Deaf signers.

Why?

In 1816, a U.S. educator went to Europe seeking a teacher to help him to teach deaf children in the U.S. The teacher who consented to join him was a deaf teacher named Laurent Clerc from France. Clerc used French Sign Language to teach the U.S. students - however, the students used his signs and mixed them with some of their own and modified some. It became a unique language known today as American Sign Language. Approximately 2/3rds of ASL signs have French origins.


Fingerspelling or using a handshape to represent each letter of an alphabet is also different. British signers use a two handed system while in the U.S., we borrowed the French one handed system. (If you'd like to learn more or see where the photos came from, visit the Gallaudet Archives.)

If you were thinking the opposite, many people do. They think either sign languages are universal or they think signs are derived from the country's spoken language. Neither is true. Sign Languages are distinct languages all on their own.

Fingerspelling makes a good candidate to include in the hand beads. Something I've been rolling around in my head. Still researching but what do you think?

Research, Review, Renew

Remember when I said I was working on the Skele'Bowz in Black and wanted flowers for the eyes? After trying millefiore in the eyes...

...EWWWW...those are way too big but they're all I have so I couldn't try smaller ones besides, millefiore is the obvious choice and many others use the millis for eyes. So I wanted to try something different.



Copper sheet! Cool, huh how the copper didn't go completely red like it can and stayed orange and shiney! This was such a happy accident, I was planning on using red glass but anyone who uses Italian glass, it's hard to tell the difference between the orange and red transparents in the rod. So, I was using orange instead of red - but it worked out just perfectly!

So, now I'm reviewing some of my previous beads and I really want to bring back the glass hands.I'd like to do more with them this time around rather than just the open palm. So, I've dived into research on hands, the use of hands, language of hands, gesture, religious representation, etc. I'm researching so I can review what I've done and make the hands anew!

Fashions come and go, some styles are a happy accident like the Skele'Bowz in Black above but others are a result of research, review and renew. Have you created anything recently that was a happy accident or a result of the RRR?

Studio Interruptus....

Yesterday's planned session in the studio was a bust. I was called away to sign interpret at the hospital. I had to go - turned out the person in the hospital was a very dear friend. So, I dropped what I was doing and went on the call.

While sitting at the hospital waiting for the doctor to honor us with her presence, I started thinking how I can re-design the glass hands. I made these regularly during 2003-2006. I still make them but don't have them up on my website - but want to re-design them and sell them again. They fit with the whole talisman thing I have going on.

Hmmmmm.....time to take out the sketchbook.