Sister Mine

My family had a bad scare Thursday night. My brother-in-law called at midnight and said my sister was being rushed to the hospital with chest pains...my beautiful, 47 year old, baby sister.

She had been having chest pains all week and was scheduled to have a heart catherization next Thursday.

I was in the middle of creating some new pieces, my muse having tentatively returned. It was the first time in weeks I felt like making anything or even looking at a package of clay. I dropped everything and drove like a maniac to get there.

Luckily, it turned out not to be a heart problem, although my sister is still going to have that catherization next week, but she spent the night in the local hospital and it was a tense, sleepless night Thursday until we heard the results of all the tests the doctors ordered. The final diagnosis was an acute asthma attack. Asthma we can handle, and it was a huge relief to hear the news.

I came home yesterday and after a quick nap, went back to work. I had decided to start slow, doing what I know I am most comfortable with, which is image transfers. I love animal prints and was thrilled to find that instead of having to learn to make canes from polymer clay of my favorite animal prints, I could cheat and do it the easy way, making image transfers with digital images instead!

Here are a couple of faux cheetah pendants, which I am going to make into necklaces today, and a few more image transfers.

















My friend Linda Riopel of nkdesigns emailed me some historical ornament transfers from a collage made by a student of hers, and I love them. They have a Pennsylvania Dutch/Colonial look and feel, and I immediately put them to use.


















More image transfers. Recognize the pattern? I swiped it from my banner. Hee hee.


















And finally, I made some chatoyant pendants with silver and gold Premo metallic clays. I am particularly pleased with the silver pendant. I used a lightly etched stamp because I didn't want to slice off the top, which I find makes the pieces flat. Sanding the design down gives the piece more depth, and I sanded it a lot, spending almost 15 minutes with the 400 grit before going on to 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000.

I wonder, could this considered a "faux mokume gane", since it isn't sliced, but sanded?

















It felt really good to get back to doing something productive after sitting and worrying about my sister. She is an amazing woman, one of those "Superwoman" women who manage to have beautiful families, gorgeous showcases for homes, fabulous friends and of course, know how to whip up gourmet meals and entertain 200 with little effort. Yep, she is one of THOSE women, and as I was sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting to hear from the doctors, I couldn't help but think how different my life and my family's lives would be without her in it. She is the backbone of our family and does so much to enrich our lives and make them better.

I came to the conclusion that I hope I go first, because I don't want to face a future without her in it. Realizing one's mortality, or the mortality of a loved one, is the worst feeling. So, we're breating a collective sigh of relief today, and thank God for all his blessings and for keeping our little family safe and happy for a little while longer. We are very lucky, and know we are blessed.

This one's for you Tara, sister mine.