Hi all,

Yesterday would have marked John Dye's 63rd birthday.  I hope he knows we continue to remember him and celebrate his life and work.  On the Google Group, I posted this quote from him yesterday:
"There are possibilities for goodness in a world that's very filled with turmoil."

I hope we're all able to bring goodness to a world that desperately needs it.

Thank you, John.

God bless,
Jenni


And now... as I've mentioned previously, I've been finding mental breaks from the onslaught of devastating news by crafting.  Often that involves some sort of beading, usually in the form of making earrings.  While I was working on some last week, I thought it might be fun to make a game out of it.  Below are photographs of earrings I've made over the years in tribute to various John Dye characters.  The only rule I had for myself was that they had to be earrings I would actually wear.  So it would have made sense, for example, to attach a gun charm to some black beads and say it was in reference to Bob from The Billionaire Boys Club but there is no reality in which I would wear something gun-themed.  I just bring that up because there were definitely some charms available that might have made more sense for characters than what I went with but I didn't want to be wasteful and buy something I wouldn't use.  Anyway, some of these are pretty obvious but to make things more difficult, some characters only have one pair of earrings.  Some have two or three or even four.  Anyway, have fun!  Just looking at beads calms me down so maybe these can do the same for you.  Make your guesses then view the answer key under the collage to find out how you did!

Possible characters: Andrew from Touched by an Angel; Doc Hock from Tour of Duty, Andy Broom AND Dr. Ray Stinson from Murder, She Wrote; Todd from Campus Man; Virgil from Best of the Best, Bill from Once Upon a Christmas and Twice Upon a Christmas; Jeff from Mother, Mother, and Skip from Making the Grade
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Don't scroll below this collage until you're ready for the answers!
1.  Jeff from Mother, Mother.  In the film, when Jeff was little he wanted a red and black teddy bear but his mom made him get a blue one.  So when they reunite after he's diagnosed with AIDS and has lost his partner, she brings him a red and black teddy bear.  Cue the tears.

2.  Andy Broom from the "A Little Night Work" episode of Murder, She Wrote.  He was a bellhop, I believe (it's been a long time since I've seen it) but also an aspiring author.  I think he wanted to write either sci-fi or fantasy hence the stars.

3.  A Christmas tree for Bill!  I had a bunch of Christmas earrings I was tempted to use but, strangely, none of trees.  So I did specifically make these in reference to Bill putting up the tree after they have to stay in that cabin.

4. I was so excited when I came across these charms!  They are, of course, a reference to Todd's awesome yellow Converses in Campus Man.  I can't wait to wear these with my yellow Converses.

5.  The doves are obviously for Andrew.  These are the oldest earrings in the batch as I made them years ago, back whenever the JABB Store was still in operation.  I love them.

6.  The Hamsa hand was a popular hippie symbol.  So these are for Doc Hock.  I tried to pick tie-dyedesque beads to go with them.

7.  Andrew again!  The labyrinth is a reference to the TBAA episode "A Feather on the Breath of God."  Second only to the doves, these are probably my most often worn earrings in this group.

8.  The lion is for Dr. Ray in the MSW episode "A Nest of Vipers."  He actually treats a lion cub, not a full grown lion, but I had to go with what I had on hand for this one.  So jealous John got to handle a lion cub!

9.  The lotus is a common Buddhist symbol so this is a reference to Virgil.  I used miracle beads for a lil added meaning cause those were what I used for the old JABB Store wares.

10.  Doc Hock again.  I tried to make the pin part of the earring look like hippie love beads.  I believe he wrote both a peace sign and love beads though his beads were much more sedate.

11.  So, full disclosure, I had made these monkey earrings just for myself without thinking about John Dye's roles.  But then I wanted to make some monkey earrings to honor Doc Hock's lil monkey friend from a couple episodes of Tour of Duty but couldn't find any I liked.  So I just repurposed these.  And they could actually reference Virgil, too, cause I didn't realize "speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil" was a Buddhist saying but apparently it is.

12.  So Doc ended up as the most referenced character in part due to my love of hippie symbols.  Here's some more peace signs and tie dye for him.  I really should have cleaned these before I snapped the photo.  They've got some good wear on em.

13.  These are for Skip from Making the Grade who wore his school colors of pink and green.  This was an example where I had a charm (an A+ symbol) that woulda fit but I knew I'd never wear the earrings so am saving them for some other project.  I'd like to one day make a little beaded collage of John's career.

14.  The rainbow ribbon set is another reference to Jeff who bravely faced the AIDS crisis as so many in John's generation had to.

15.  Snowflakes are for Bill.  Okay, so this one is a lil phoned in and not terribly specific but I felt like with two movies there should be two pairs of earrings.

16.  This tree symbolizes the bodhi tree that the Buddha was sitting under when he achieved enlightenment.  I used pearls because of their symbolism in Buddhism... and lil opals just cause I like them.  So another pair for Virgil.

17.  And, finally, a pocket watch for Andrew!  These were also charms I was so excited to find!  I had some silver ones years ago but, of course, Andrew's watch was gold.  So now I have gold ones.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Please let me know if you enjoyed this.  I might go for another round just with earrings referencing TBAA episodes or maybe Dyeland/Asteriana stories characters.


This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for continuing to be an inspiration in ways both serious and a little goofy.

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(Photo Credits: The photographs used on this page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions.  The images in the collage are from [top left going clockwise]: Campus Man owned by RKO Pictures, Touched by an Angel owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions, Best of the Best owned by Best of the Best Films, Kuys Entertainment, SVS Films, and The Movie Group Inc., Once Upon a Christmas owned by Ardent Productions, Legacy Filmworks, Lincoln Field Productions, Sterling/Winters Company Studios, and Viacom Productions Inc., Tour of Duty owned by New World Television and Braun Entertainment Group, and Murder, She Wrote owned by Universal Studios.  They are not being used to seek profit.)