Upcoming Craft Shows - Coast to Coast

I'm excited to announce that this spring you can find us at craft shows on both coasts! Our first show of the year is this upcoming weekend in Pittsburgh, PA at Handmade Arcade, which takes place on Saturday, April 16th from 11am - 7pm. I've heard nothing but good things about this show and their site states that they normally have 10,000 attendees - in one day! If you are anywhere near Pittsburgh, I highly recommend attending (and maybe getting an early bird pass, to avoid the crowds).

Also, I'll be re-uniting with some of my favorite crafty ladies from Baltimore Craft. Oh, how I miss them!

Just a few weekends after Handmade Arcade, I'll be traveling down to Portland, Oregon to participate in Crafty Wonderland. This is a mega indie craft fair, featuring almost 200 crafters. Holy moly, that's a lot of crafty goodness. I also think of Portland at the epicenter of indie craft, so I am both excited and humbled to be participating in this show. This show is also one day, and takes place on Saturday, May 7th, the day before Mother's Day - which seems like a really smart day to hold a craft fair!

Here are the details for these two shows:

Handmade Arcade:

Saturday, April 16th at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA
11am - 7pm. Early bird pass hours are from 10am - 11am.

Crafty Wonderland:

Saturday, May 7th at the Oregon Convention Center, Hall D in Portland, Oregon
11am - 6pm

Hope to see you at one of these shows!

Made by Hank

Have you ever wanted something for a long, long time? Like for a couple of years? Well, I've wanted a Made by Hank bag forever. But seeing as how this designer is amazing, like red hot, it's hard to snag one. She posts her bags every-so-often and then they dissapear quickly. But not this time! This time I snagged myself this little number.

This little pouch will be perfect in my Moop bag, which I currently use as a diaper bag. This way, when we go into a cafe and I don't actually need the diaper bag, I can grab this sweet pouch and feel stylish. Which is rare these days. This mama needs a little style.

Oh, and I really, really want one of these. But, these bags go quick. One of these days I'll get lucky and get a big bag too. Fingers crossed!

You Say Hello

Sam, age 4 months

Most people write their new year posts in January, but February seems like a better time for me this year. We've got some big changes going on with my little business and family. For one, we've just moved back to Seattle. With our two dogs, baby, no house and my husband quit his architecture job (yes, in this economy). Crazy, right?

Our new start, falling so close to the new year, sort of feels like a resolution. A resolution that says: life is short. If you are not living the life you want, just shift your perspective. Also, now that I have a wee one, I feel very strongly that we should live our lives passionately. What kind of message would we be teaching our son if we stuck with something that wasn't working, just because it is comfortable?

With this change, I am in a new city where I don't know very many other artists. In Baltimore, I was very involved in the indie craft community. I did all of the Charm City Craft Mafia Shows. I was one of the founding members of Baltimore Craft. I got to know some amazing people in Baltimore who helped give me the courage to grow my jewelry business into a full time gig.

Am I scared a little bit right now?

Yes.

Do I think we're just a little bit crazy?

Maybe

Am I excited?

You bet


I would love to hear from you all about something risky or just different that you've done lately. It doesn't have to be anything drastic, like moving your family across the country. It could be something really small, like changing from pens to pencils. Or walking to the store for groceries instead of driving. I would love to hear what you are doing differently this year.

Where did the summer go?

new work!


I've come to realize that I've been a very neglectful blogger this summer. I think the heat and all the summer shows just got to me and I never even got a chance to share all of the fun I was having with you. And, did I tell you? I'm expecting a baby in about 3 weeks. Yes, 3 weeks! So, there really has been a lot of excitement around here.

Some highlights this summer here at Elisa Shere Jewelry:


-FREE SHIPPING and 10% for blog readers! Since my shop will be closed for part of September and October, I thought I'd give you a great opportunity to stock up on your favorites by offering you free shipping. And for my blog readers? How about an extra 10% off. Just use code: 'blog" at checkout and I'll send a revised invoice to you with the discount. This offer is good until I close shop for baby (could be any time!)

-Favorite shows: My favorite shows this summer were Pile of Craft and the Pennsylvania Guild summer show. These shows are quite different from each other - Pile of Craft is put on by the Charm City Craft Mafia and is considered an indie craft show. The shoppers are superb and so are the Craft Mafia folks. I really enjoyed myself and sold lots!

The Pennsylvania Guild show is a more traditional craft show. These shoppers were serious art buyers and knew what they were looking at. I just LOVE shoppers that know how things are made and ask pointed and interesting questions about technique. Plus, the folks that put on this show were as sweet as can be.

-New Shops: I just sent off some work to Tilde in Portland, Oregon! It's a sweet little boutique in the the Sellwood area of Portland. I'm so excited to have some work in the Pacific Northwest - as some of you may know, I lived in Seattle for 11 years and hope to move back someday. I have some friends that live near Tilde and they said my stuff looks great and the folks running the shop are very enthusiastic about my work. Yay!

-New Work: I've been making lots of ceramic charms and working on my mixed metal series. Folks have been responding well to these pieces, so I must be doing something right!

I hope to write a couple more blog entries before our little bundle arrives!

Springtime in the Garden

It's been soo long since I've done a blog post, I have missed you! Some of the things I've been up to: developing a new ceramic line of jewelry, selling at my first few spring craft shows, growing my business, walking my dogs, sniffing flowers and sometimes helping my sweetie in the garden. Pretty much in that order, too. I wanted to share this first crop of lettuce with you, can you believe we grew this? I can't. It's so pretty and it made a delicious, fresh salad. We owe the cool, wet spring for our bounty.

I plan to share more of these moments with you and some photos of the amazing rural property where we live. It really inspires me. Hopefully, it will inspire you too!

xo,

elisa

Fresh New Work

At the ACC show I introduced many new styles. Some were one of a kind and some have found a permanent home in my collection. I uploaded the following styles to my Etsy shop yesterday. These pieces are still very texture oriented. I've been experimenting with a scratchy, almost cross-hatched finish to my oxidized pieces. These are inspired by my former life as a drawing and printmaking student. I'm also continuing to work on adding some color into my work. It is almost spring, after all!

Please let me know what you think of this new style of photograph, with a simple white or cream background. It's a departure from my usual earthy style.

Organic Cherry Blossom Dangles $46

Sweet Scallop Necklace with Vintage Black Flower $60

Organic Teardrop Post Earrings $48

Organic Teardrop Necklace with 14K goldfill $78

I survived ACC!

Elisa Shere, originally uploaded by tigerlillyshop.

After spending the first two months of this year preparing for ACC, I'm happy to say the event came and went with great success. If you are not familiar with the show, it is the largest fine crafts show in the country. I was very honored to be included in the AltCraft section, which is for emerging artists that work in alternative materials/subject matters.

The things I loved best about this show:

-Although some shoppers were confused about what the AltCraft section is, they were all very positive about what they were seeing. I received many compliments from shoppers regarding our section, they were impressed with the level of talent. Many said that my work was equal to what they were seeing on the main floor, which is an enormous compliment. A great deal of the vendors on the mainfloor are master craftmen who have been exhibiting at this show for years. The quality of metalsmiths is particularly high.

-Many shoppers had made things at some point in their lives and were interested in my process. Of course, I could talk about making stuff all day, so I loved answering questions.

-There was a lot of interest in my new line of bezel set ceramic pendants (there's a little peek at them in the photo above, on the right). That made me very happy, as this project has been swirling around in my head for some time and I was excited and nervous about debuting this combining of my two passions - pottery and metals

-I was very pleased with the lighting, chains and table provided (although, it was a bit wobbly). The chair was nice and high, so I could sit and talk with shoppers at the same time

-I did well with my higher priced items, which is always desirable.

Things that I didn't love so much about this show:

-The roped off AltCraft area. This was very confusing to shoppers and is just weird. So many shoppers asked me why we were roped off in a pen. I just told them it baffled me too, as this section is a great asset to the show and should be better integrated. It brings in a new type of crafer and shopper that this traditional show so desperately needs.

-The name AltCraft. It could mean anything. When asked what it meant, I just said that we were emerging artists that had never exhibited at ACC before and wanted to get a taste of what it was like to be vendors at this show. It seemed to be the simplest explanation to me.

-Gross food smells. I never thought when I exhibited at the biggest and possibly best, fine crafts show in the country I would have to deal with food frying right next to my booth. At an outdoor festival, I've come to expect this. But not at ACC. I survived 4 days of strong blasts of garlic smells. Made for funny jokes/conversations with my shoppers, though.

-Extra retail day. The extra day of retail on Thursday was a bit of a flop. There were very few shoppers, although I did score a great wholesale account that day. The show should really consider going back to three days - Friday - Sunday.

So, overall a VERY positive experience. It was so nice just to be at that show for 4 days, I love it so much. Met some fantastic new people, and had great times with my BEST girls. And came home with some great trades and purchases.