Bras, Breasts, & Piercing Clouds

Busy, busy, busy, here in the Cosmic Folklore Studios.  We’ve been wrapping up orders as fast as they’re coming in to be able to take a weekend off and do the gem shows in Tucson.  In this blog I am showing off the newest pendant design and sharing this year’s philanthropy.

This year, Lora and I opted for Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Hospital’s annual Bra’s for a Cause fund raiser.  We’ve had so many people close to us fighting cancer and especially breast cancer, we wanted to do our part to help.  And, while we had a lot of fun on facebook with this, posting these pictures and letting friends give me a ribbing about making a bra, we’ve also tried to spread the word to make people aware of how devastating this disease is to women, their families, and friends.

The contest rules are that you decorate or create a bra with a theme and submit the bras.  These are all due in Tuscaloosa tomorrow.  Lora is putting the final touches on the thing as I write this, and then there will be voting online to raise money for this charity at $1 a vote. Voting will be held Feb. 8-19 at the DCH Cancer Center AND online.  I will be posting links to the website to vote on my facebook and twitter, so if you’re interested, please friend me using this :::link:::   All, money raised will go to help fight breast cancer.

I have no interest in winning.  This is all about raising funds for a great cause, so Lora is running the “vote for us” side of the campaign on facebook, and I will be playing the part of the antagonist on there, by taunting people to vote against us.  I play a pretty good jerk online, as I’ve picked up a few things by watching online forums, LOL.  ;o)  But, this is all just good fun to inspire people to donate by contributing a dollar to vote.  So please support us, or vote against us you bunch of slack-jawed jerkys.

Our concept was inspired by the goddess Venus.  We researched colors, stones, metals, and aspects of the goddess to weave into our design.  My contribution was to form the cups out of copper.  The big joke on facebook was that I was using Lora as my mandrel to hammer these babies to the proper shape, but in reality I chased the shape out in pitch, and then plannished the surface with a modified railroad bolt.  The flower embellishments are formed in white brass.  I used the five leafed Venus flowers that I also use in many of my designs.

Lora is tediously embellishing the strap with beaded embroidery, which just amazes me.  I am not much of a sewing guy.  I haven’t even the patience to darn a sock, much less cover something entirely with beads, stitch by stitch.  I’d rather beat something with a hammer :o)

We will also add a copper chain to be used as a bikini style strap around the neck to hold the cups up, and the cups will be laced together in the front with a leather cord tied into a bow.  We will get pictures posted just before the voting begins to arouse interest.  And, I encourage you to join us in the fun next week, and give a dollar to vote for or against us.  We are also looking forward to seeing some of the other wackier entries.

Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women.  I about fell out of my chair when I read this.  That is an astronomical percentage.  People gamble with fewer odds in casinos, but the fact is that this isn’t a game.  It’s life or death, so please help us out.  Vote with us next week.

We will be leaving for Tucson this Friday, and we are stoked.  This is the last piece to roll off of the workbench before we head out, and I was anxious to share it with you guys.  I’ve sort of gotten addicted to buildings these hollow pendant designs.  I actually got the idea for this one while watching an old Road Runner episode, where a bomb drops through a cloud and leaves a bomb shaped hole.  My mind started spinning with concepts of negative spaces and my rocketfish designs.  But, of course I moved with the idea through sketches till I had something far from the original Looney Tune seed of inspiration.  This one to me is more about the impact of existence.  The footprints we leave behind are the impressions of our travels on this planet as we move towards the light away from darkness.  Or, heck, if you like the Looney Tunes idea, you can go with that :o)

CoudRocket: Hollow-formed sterling silver, faceted citrine, garnets, and a ruby, with labradorite beads.

One of the things that I was very pleased with was the textures.  The combination of patina and engraved textures really gives this one a luminescence that just can’t be captured in photography.  So, you’ll just have to drop by the studio to see it.

Bras, breasts, piercing clouds with phallic symbols, I hope you enjoyed this sensual blog post :o)
And, if you’re going to be in Tucson this weekend, drop me an email, facebook message, or twitter, and let’s see if we can hook up for a cup of coffee.  I am going this year looking for Kingman Turquoise rough, rough opals, and a fist full of faceted gems.  But, every time we go, I always find some other shiny rock that catches my attention.  I hope to see you there.

But, be sure to vote next week.  I will post a blog to remind you great folks to vote for us, or against us, but please vote.  It’s just one dollar, and it will be great fun to see all of the whacky entries :o)

Tagged as: Musings, My work, philanthropies