Touching the Elements

This is a little treasure I made in Nina Bagley's "Touching the Elements" class. It was a wonderful 2-day class at Art and Soul in Portland where we learned to drill rocks, wrap wire, set eyelets in metal, and look at things found in nature in a whole new way. At the bottom, is a copper book filled with mica pages and decorated with a dried leaf and some fibers. The book is attached to a stick by hammered copper wire rings. Suspended from the stick is a sea-smoothed pottery shard found on a beach in Fort Bragg. The stick is then wrapped with hand-dyed silk ribbon. As we move up, there is a little metal frame that has been decoupaged with various papers. This holds a beautiful turquoise piece of pottery found on the same beach. The "windows" are made of mica. This is attached to a mossy stick, found in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites where Art and Soul was held. Above that is aged copper mesh with fiber laced through copper eyelets, topped by a root-beer-brown piece of sea glass wrapped in baker's twine. I like how this piece brings back memories of hunting for treasure here and there.