Rainbow Blast-off

Bronze Cones

Long, elegant, colorful yet simple design.   

 The pair above is very African inspired and has monkstone, amber, and turquoise blue glass beads.  The pair below is with teal blue acai beads an monkstone beads.

 The pair above have black and red seeds.  Below is the bead inspiration: a real huichol indian bracelet and a blue beaded purse. 

Some Beanies!

 Above at left: a favorite design of mine I call San Clemente, with brown wool\acrylic blend, multi-colored wool, and a beige stripe at the bottom.  Center is grey alpaca from Peru; it has some faint red highlights to it and is very soft.  Right is also a softy; the mustard-colored stripes are also Peruvian alpaca. 

 Above is a light, spacious beanie with room for some hair and an open knit for good air flow. 

Below is a beanie made with some of my favorite wool- noro wool from Japan.  It is always exciting to watch the colors of the yarn change before my eyes as I work; each ball produces a completely unique hat.  The colors here would be dark red, brown, beige, yellow, pink and blue. 

 Below is another natural fibers beanie, made with some new yarn I discovered from Lion's Brand; it is 100% organic cotton. This hat also has an open weave.  The cotton has a nice weight to it and is extra soft.   Also available in dread sizes and in light green. 

New Earring Designs

 Above is a simple design involving acai seeds and macrame string.  The earrings below are made with little white seashells I collected at a place called Praia de Sono, Sleep Beach, in Brazil.  Both designs are very light-weight and I love the sound of the shell ones; they sound like waves rolling over the shore. 

Mar Pacifico

In Cuba, hibiscus flowers are called Mar Pacifico which means Pacific Ocean.  I always liked that because the hibiscus is so symbolic of the islands of the Pacific Ocean; the name makes perfect sense to me.  So here is that symbol on my new summer hats, in a red, green and gold batik-dyed style.  They are one-of-a-kind and there are only two left! (at least until I find that specific fabric again someday)

Roots Earrings 2013

These are the latest coconut earrings I made with "coquinhos"  which I collected on the beach in Brazil and then sawed in half, sanded, and drilled.  I bought the cowries and red seeds but the other pieces of coconut I cut into shapes myself.  The round, tan-colored acai seeds came straight from the land where acai palms grow abundantly.  I was able to polish them using a "rola-rola" tumbler that my dad made from recycled machine parts.  

Newborn Baby Naya

Here is Naya at three or four days old wearing her new hat with her mother Luisa.  So sweet!

Abundance and Beauty

 Above is Marcelo with the harvest from the farm in Brazil: bananas, palm heart, oranges, and acai berries.  I used the fibers from the frond which the berries are on to weave a mat (below). On the mat is a oil pastel I did of the view looking out over the valley with the acai palm and the moon rising and pink clouds at sunset.   

 Below are some beaded earrings I made which were inspired by the pink and blue sunsets at the land.

 I love this sand art!  Tropical sunset colors. 

Brazil Fades

 These are both dread crowns with draw strings.  Above: beige, grey, olive green.  Below: black, navy, teal.

Minha Tigrada

 Here I am with my friends' lovable pittie bull, Hirasema.  She looks vicious in this picture but she is just very playful.  Her brindle (tiger striped) coat inspired a few of my hats.

 Above is a solid dread crown made with the brindle yarn.  Below is a puff stitch hat made with cream, beige and mustard yarn.