Lovely things!

I never state categorically that I don't like something.  Well, sometimes, but I try to avoid it.  I don't like cleaning.  But I've discovered that there is a huge amount of personal satisfaction to be gotten from scrubby polishy cleaning, as long as I don't have to organize things in order to do it.  I was convinced I didn't like Lady Gaga, then someone introduced me to the magnificent song and video combo for "Alejandro" and I went "Oh my god ... this is actually a genderqueer, pornographic, post-apocalyptic Lady of Shalott.  With lace goggles."  I thought I didn't like coffee, but then I tried a good chocolatey French roast and now my appetite for the stuff is unhealthy.

I had the same feeling about seed bead jewelry.  I had the impression it was all either overdone, dripping-with-gewgaws "statement" pieces, or dainty little-girl stuff.  Then I found this.


Photo copyright Clara Francis.


This is amazing stuff -- particularly the botanicals.  In the flowers, this artist is actually using the shimmery, almost pixel-like nature of the medium to contribute to the design instead of working around it.  It's sort of ... Art Nouveau meets Impressionist in a lovely organic way.  Really versatile stuff, too, especially the lovely earrings -- I love a "jeans to wedding dress" piece, which the pansy earrings certainly would be.  For all my gushing, I don't particularly care for most of the animals -- we're straying back into dainty-little-girl territory there -- but I'd wear those fan flowers everywhere.

And the Web site!  Just click through this beauty.  THAT is design.  Lovely storybook collage, and the nav bars as playing card-bookmarks is a nice touch.


So yeah, go look at it.  It's an enchanting way to spend half an hour.