The heart shape continues to be full of so much metaphor for me. I got news recently that my brother's mitral valve has torn and gone from just a regular old leaky valve (like mine) to a SERIOUSLY leaky valve. They're monitoring it but he'll need surgery some day in the not so distant future. In the meantime, it certainly gives my heart pause. My late father had a mechanical valve put in his heart and the manufacturer recalled it 4 years after he died! Thus, I'm back to the old grind...I continue on my heart worn ways. I just did another series of my gemstone jet, contemporary mourning beads in my "broken heart" series. The rough is all from Tennessee and all have 3mm drill holes so they can be worn on a thick chain or a cord...and I took this one heart and made a "keyhole" through the center and a 2mm drill hole that goes down the cleft into the keyhole. I envision some beader or jeweler making a necklace chain that would come up out of the cleft and 24 inches or so later connect with the key. The key fits ALL the way through the keyhole, so that it could dangle through the jet heart, creating a centerpiece clasp. Would that be what they call a "y necklace"? They key is from an old key collection that my late grandmother kept. One of these days I'll get off the grinding wheels and the computer long enough to make finished jewelry, in the meantime, I just continue making these goodies for all you beader and jewelery peoples out there....

I also made this nearly 700 carat "green" moonstone heart stone out of a single big chunk of rough moonstone from Tanzania. It's got an amazing, lightning like, schiller that is unrelated to the light blue adulaurescence that is the hallmark of classic moonstone. When I saw the piece of rough I knew I would make a "broken heart" out of it and leave the natural points with the cleavage planes of the feldspar crystal poking out the bottom. This is NOT A BEAD, but is a really fabu meditation aide or shamanic tool for scrying and healing work. That's it for now. I'll certainly be making more hearts and I would LOVE to see what kind of hearts others are making! Share your pics or your links.