Another Wonderful Christmas Gift

A couple of years ago, my one son gave me a wonderful gift- 'The Santa Stimulus Package', an original comic that he wrote and illustrated.
This year, he gave me another original creation:

'How the Legal System Stole Christmas'
by H. Dahmm

Chapter 1

Although he lived in a region where temperatures never reached above freezing, Santa had never felt this cold in all his life. He waddled wearily around the small enclosure, surveying its modest furniture. Against the far wall sat an industrial steel bedframe, which held a deplorably thin mattress that could never support his weight. In the opposite corner, there was a metallic toilet, which was caked in rust. Outside the room’s one window, snow was falling. Between the snow and Santa, though, stood a series of vertical, iron bars.

As inconceivable as it seemed, The United States government had placed Santa on their “naughty” list and had locked him in a penitentiary accordingly. The evening had begun as all Christmas eve nights had begun before. Along with a warm hug, Mrs. Claus had given Santa a thermos of hot cocoa and a laxative (all of the cookies had to go somewhere) and then sent him on his way. Following a salute to his faithful elves, Santa boarded a super jet laden with toys.

Although much of the general public was under the impression that Santa preferred to travel by Reindeer, he had found this mode of transportation to be rather problematic. After Rudolf had experienced an unfortunate run-in with an electric cable, Santa had made the executive decision to transition over to a more conventional form of flight. The plane was secured by armored walls and some twenty chubby elves armed with high powered rifles, which they could barely lift, let alone fire. These safety measures seemed absurd, but the aircraft’s cargo was enough to fill 58 Wal-Marts.

When the jet reached the eastern coast of the United States, Santa and his elves, one by one, began to parachute from the rear of the plane. With packaged gifts in their arms, they gradually descended through the cloudy night, landing on the roofs of nearby houses. The impact with asphalt shingles was unpleasant, and muttered curses of “wrap it!” and “oh gingerbread!” filled the air. Once at their assigned destinations, Santa and his elves tossed some presents under the Christmas tree, took the liberty of “examining” the refrigerator, and made a pit stop by the bathroom. Additionally, Santa snapped a few photographs at every house he visited. These images were intended for his decidedly disturbing blog, titled “I See You When You’re Sleeping”.

As soon as this work was done, Santa and his elves climbed their respective chimneys and loaded onto the hovering jet by launching candy cane grappling hooks that connected with the underbelly of the airplane. Once they had all returned to the ship, the elves, and especially Santa, celebrated a successful round of deliveries with a healthy serving of spiked eggnog.

This process was then repeated hundreds of thousands of times across the country. By the time the team reached California, mistakes began to arise. Due to exhaustion, Santa would on occasion give a young boy a doll house or a ten year old a collection of Spot books, but this night he had made an error of unprecedented magnitude…

What was Santa’s big mistake? What has NORAD really been up to all these years? Is Santa a jolly fat man or a predator?

Find the answers in the next edition of

'How the Legal System Stole Christmas…'

I can't wait for Chapter 2!

Holiday

Happy Holidays!

Best wishes for a creative New Year!

A Real Page Turner

In recent years I have become a huge fan of audio books. When I get in my car, I usually have a book to listen to. I'll have one book going for driving and one book going for studio time. There are few and precious moments when I can actually sit to read a book, but when I do, I definitely prefer an actual book.
I have yet to be tempted by the various forms of e-readers.
I love having the actual printed text in my hands and the actual book on one of my bookshelves.
So old fashioned of me!
Appealing to those other old fashioned readers, I recently made some bookmarks.

These sweet bookmarks have bits of text that I cut out of one of my old, old dictionaries.
The text was then protected with a two part epoxy resin.

I am completely delighted with these bookmarks which came about when a friend asked, "Say, do you make bookmarks?"
I thought of the cardstock bookmarks that our local library gives out, and used that size as inspiration for my design.
Pieces of copper, brass and German silver were cut, filed and sanded. I then textured the surfaces with various hammers and steel stamps.
A selection of quotes were hand stamped onto small pieces of brass which were then riveted to the bases.
A hole was cut in to top of each bookmark for threading a piece of leather.
Bookmarking an e-reader is simply not as fun as having an actual bookmark.

Other Interests

For years I had thought about trying my hand at painting, but always had a reason not to follow though....too busy with an abundance of commitments and a deep seeded fear that I would really stink.
Earlier this year I thought "What am I waiting for?"

It is quite a struggle for me, but working in the 2 dimensional arena does not scare me as much as it used to.

Made in America

For those of you interested in making purchases of 'Made in America' products, there are some wonderful venues in the Philadelphia area that might be of interest.
I am shamelessly promoting the following selection because, along with a collection of other artists and craftspeople, these shops and shows feature my jewelry.

Woodmere Art Museum Gift Gallery

Located in Chestnut Hill, the wonderful Woodmere Gift Shop expands into one of the galleries to display a wide variety of unique, handcrafted gifts, featuring local talent. The gift gallery is open through the end of the year.

Sweet Mabel is located in Narberth, PA.

This small shop is a treasure trove of delightfully quirky one-of-a-kind items with a focus on American folk art. Tracy, the always smiling owner, works hard to find new artists which keeps the displays fresh and captivating.

The juried Holiday Sale at The Community Arts Center in Wallingford, PA really is one of the best ever!

Artists from eastern Pennsylvania and selected surrounding states will be selling their original creations in the beautiful Duke Gallery.
Yes, that's my bracelet in the top right corner of the promo image.

The Main Line Art Center in Haverford, PA begins this Friday and continues through December 11.

This juried show also features artists and craftspeople form the Philadelphia/east Pennsylvania region. I set my display up today and was wide eyed as I looked at the fabulous displays that were already in place.

Buying products at any of these shops/sales will satisfy any 'Made in America' urge that you might have.
It will also satisfy that 'Support those Starving Artists' urge.

A Thanksgiving Tale

Years ago, as I prepared to graduate from Cook College of Rutgers University with a degree in Landscape Architecture, I was trying to figure out where I was going and what I would be doing. I had several job offers that were being considered, but none of them were leaping out as the obvious and exciting path that I absolutely had to explore. The exciting opportunity came when the head of our department asked me, along with Ed (another graduating senior), to meet in his office.
 

The Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Illinois had called, asking if there might possibly be two students who would consider entering their graduate program. The list of incoming graduate students did not have the right candidates to fill 2 teaching assistant positions, and they did have a special fondness for Rutgers graduates. Our Chair said, "I think I have 2 perfect seniors for you." And that's how both Ed and I ended up at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. I was the Teaching Assistant for the Site Technology classes and Ed was assigned to one of the Introductory Design classes. Full tuition and a salary made this decision easy to make.
 

During our undergraduate years, Ed and I were always friendly but were not really friends. Ed was way more cool than me- not a hard thing to accomplish since I would not even register on the 'Scale of Coolness'. He had his circle of friends and I had mine and we comfortably coexisted in the same program. When we both moved out to Urbana-Champaign, our amiable friendliness continued as we again found friends in different circles. We would often be at the same event or party, but we did not have the kind of friendship that included calling each other to chat or to make social plans.
 

That is one of the reasons I was surprised when my phone rang early on Thanksgiving morning of our first year in graduate school, and it was Ed. Being a desperately poor graduate student, I was in town since I couldn't afford to go back to New Jersey for the holiday weekend. I don't recall if I had any plans for the day, but I do know that I would not have planned on calling Ed to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving, nor was I expecting that he would call me. But there I was, wakened on Thanksgiving morning by a phone call from Ed thinking, "This is weird."
 

Ed needed a favor. He was going back to New Jersey for the holiday and needed help getting to the airport. Ed owned a car and I didn't....how exactly could I be of help? He explained that he couldn't afford to leave his car parked at the airport and wanted to know if I could drive him to the airport and then drive his car back to the campus area. The Willard Airport that serves the University of Illinois is just south of campus; why not take the shuttle bus? Ed was not flying out of Willard, right down the road. Oh no....he was scheduled to fly out of Indianapolis International Airport, as in Indiana, where he had found a ticket price that he could afford.
 

Ed had had a brilliant plan. He woke up early and carried his travel bag along with his "INDIANAPOLIS AIRPORT" handmade sign to interstate 74. He figured he would have no trouble hitchhiking to the airport and be there in time for his flight. He clearly figured wrong. He stood along the highway long enough to realize that if he didn't enact Plan B, he would probably miss his flight. 
 

I was Plan B. 
 

I told Ed there were some problems with this plan including the fact that I didn't know I was Plan B and that if I dropped him off at the airport, that meant I was in Indiana. He said there was a bonus for me....the use of his car while he was away. Not quite a bonus. Ed had an old Ford Capri, and...sorry Ed, but those of us who knew the car referred to it as The Crappy. In addition, although I was in grad school, I had hardly ever driven. At that point in my life, I had never owned a car. My mode of transportation was either foot or bike. I wasn't too excited about the idea of driving The Crappy anywhere. But I was even less excited about saying no to Ed who desperately wanted to make it to his parent's house in time for the evening meal.
 

I was more than a bit irritated when I told Ed to come pick me up, and we began our journey to the Indianapolis International Airport. After almost 2 1/2 hours of driving, we pulled up at the terminal in time for Ed's flight and I turned around to make my 2 1/2 hour trip back to my Urbana apartment. Driving The Crappy seemed fitting for the Thanksgiving that I was having.
 

There are a couple of lessons from my Thanksgiving tale. Make sure that you are always on good terms with a few completely uncool people. When problems arise, they may be the only ones available to help you out since they will have no other plans. Also, when turning your car over to someone who has hardly ever driven, make sure to let them know that you have engaged the parking brake so that they don't drive 2 1/2 hours wondering what that funny smell is.

Poppies Part II

And a few days later....

the poppies are becoming sweet necklaces.
Sterling chain with a sterling clasp and jump ring.