Design Day Wednesday

Now that my teaching term is in full swing, I am devoting Wednesdays to crafting. Today I worked on a charm bracelet. I have been mentally working on this design for some time to celebrate the sixth anniversary of my Pentecost Baptism. In the Christian faith, Pentecost celebrates the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. Pentecost began this past Sunday, marking the end of the Easter season.

A mixture of vintage chains form a double strand. Some vintage charm elements hang from the chain, like the shell, which is a Christian symbol of baptism. This shell opens to reveal Jesus on one side and Mary and the baby Jesus on the other side.

Red is the traditional color of Pentecost, so I included a red-framed Sacred Heart image of Jesus. Medals and crosses complete the charms. A vintage clasp finishes the bracelet. How do you all like my latest creation?

Does Anyone Know Which Saint this Is?

I have this Saint medal with no name on it. Is there anyone familiar with this image who could tell me which Saint it is?

Monastery of the Holy Spirit

I am one of nine women who divide themselves into two cars for the journey to Conyers, about 25 miles east of Atlanta. We are all a group from our church, St. Luke’s Episcopal, heading to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit for a day trip.

I was aware of this Monastery for several years and extremely curious about it. As you can deduce from many of my blog posts, I am strongly drawn to Eucharistic worship practices like those in the Episcopal and Catholic traditions (among others). This explains my love of ritual, icons, saint medals, and Rosaries. 

This is an angel icon designed by Sabrina Samuel that I purchased today. 

The Monastery was founded in 1944, in what was very rural Georgia at the time. The Brothers belong to the Benedictine movement, and welcome visitors because art of St. Benedict’s teachings is the idea of hospitality and welcoming the stranger as though he were Christ.

One of the many vocations of the monks is the design and manufacture of stained glass. Below is a picture of a sketch representing some of that design history.  We joined the monks and others for their noon service in the Abbey Church. The original monks who founded the monastery built the cement structure by hand.

While walking around after the service, we take note of the strong smell of gardenias wafting around a statue of St. Francis. As I study his form, I contemplate what it would mean to live a monastic life. Although I am an introvert, complete separation from the world would be extremely difficult for me. Yet, the commitment the monks show to one another as a community is nice.

Finally, the monastery is known for some of the foodstuffs they produce like fudge, fruitcake, honey, and others. However, I have to declare the biscotti they bake to be like a taste of heaven. I am a biscotti lover, and have tasted many, many kinds. Monks Biscotti is above and beyond the best I have ever tasted!

I love My new Rosary

I received the beautiful I won in the Etsy Rosary Guild Team May Giveaway. Created by Mary Selano of Faithful Servant Arts,  the Rosary is quite beautiful, and I love the way the clear, faceted Ava beads create prisms of light dancing everywhere.

I especially love the center connector piece which has an image of Our Lady of Lourdes on one side. I blogged earlier about how much I love the story of Lourdes.  This medal has a sacred heart on the back.

I am looking forward to using this in prayer.

The Creative Spirit

Today found me spending way too much time playing with my camera rather than cleaning. I have been trying to better learn how to use some of the features on my camera that I have ignored in favor of the “easy” setting.

I had a burst of creativity this weekend and made both a necklace and a pair of earrings. I was all fired up to finish them both by Sunday. The necklace uses a Rosary I took apart to make into a necklace. The Rosary is definitely vintage and may be antique. 

I used Mary center Rosary medals as a decorative element to attach the additional chain to. I used a vintage, broken floral piece, which I think was originally a sweater/scarf clip. The stones were missing, so I added complimentary pink beads to it.

The necklace also features vintage Milagros- Mexican prayer charms. As I mentioned in another post, I love Milagros. I created a charm drop for the closure using another Milagro charm and a pink bead I rescued from the original Rosary. I also ran out of pre-made closures in the right color, so I made a hook closure.

The earrings echo the pink of the necklace in the form of both hot and pale pink beads. I also used Milagros and a length of chain for the dangle.

In other news, I am very excited because I am joining a group from my church taking a day trip on Saturday to Monastery of the Holy Spirit right outside of Atlanta in Conyers, GA. I have a friend who goes on periodic weekend retreats there, and I have always been extremely curious about it. I will certainly take my camera and lots of notes for my blog followers! So stay tuned.

Retro Saints

Retro Saint medals from the 60s or 70s are my latest obsession. An extremely popular form of devotion, Saint medals have been in use since the earliest practice of Christianity.

I have always seen the medals as ones carried in a pocket, on Rosary necklaces, or on charm bracelets. I had not known that they were stylized to fit the jewelry trends of certain decades. For some reason, I find these images particularly fascinating.

I read an article in the June/July/August edition of Belle Armoire Jewelry that got me thinking about the way to present and package my jewelry if I do end up selling it. One idea I had is to use vintage Holy Cards for the religious pieces. 

This is still something I am mulling over. Do you think the Holy Cards would need some additional decoration?

Giveaway Winner!

I went to random.org to generate the winning entry number for my necklace giveaway:

Entry # 19 is: Juliana!!! Congratulations!!!!!!! I will be emailing you for your mailing address.


Hope you all had as much fun as I did.