Surprise! Crafty Bastards

my display

Well, remember when I wrote about doing the Fenton Street Market last week? Well, instead of doing Fenton on Saturday, I got the opportunity to be a Crafty Bastard instead! I had been on the waiting list, but it's such a great show that they weren't able to make room for me (because every single person that was invited said yes). That is, until someone cancelled the day before the show. Fortunately, I happened to have lots of stock on hand, so I was able to say yes to this last minute opportunity. And I'm so glad I did! The shoppers were wonderful, I received many, many lovely words of praise about my work and people were gobbling it up. The whole day was like a craft show dream come true, including the weather. Not only that, I but I shared a booth with Monica Stroter of Sugar Paperie. She is so sweet and her note cards are so lovely. She was a source of calm, which was nice on such a hectic day.


So, thanks to Sara and Kim of Crafty Bastards/Hello Craft fame. You guys run a pretty fantastic show and were so great to work with. I am really so thankful to have been given this amazing opportunity!

Never Want To Let You Go....

Like the song, I never want to let these new pieces I've hours obsessing over go. I'm usually so busy producing quantities of work that I don't normally get too attached to any one piece of jewelry. However, I recently discovered not one but two totally unique, Montana Agates that are so gorgeous, they have these lovely inclusions that give them a sense of movement and have a subtle modern transparancy about them. I'm so happy with the settings I've crafted, I've been doing a lot of scalloped edges lately and they seem to work so well with these pendants.

Also, as it turns out Montana Agate isn't actually mined, but instead is found in gravel bars by the Yellowstone River in far eastern Montana and then hand gathered. I am so excited that something so pretty is earth-friendly and conflict-free.

I've been wearing the necklace shown above since last night and refuse to take it off. I will try to part with it, as I would like to feature these two pendants at Artscape. They will be priced between $120 - $14o.

The Man Bracelet and My New Life

Well, we never know where life is going to take us right? For months I've been slammed with tons of Etsy orders, shows and more. At the same time, I was working at a demanding day job, fantasizing about the day I could just work on my art. All of the sudden that day is now. Here I am with no job and all day to work on my jewelry, starting yesterday. It's a little shocking, but exciting at the same time. For instance, I could go for a hike - right in the middle of the day or write this blog entry. It might take me a little while to wrap my mind around this.

On another subject, I was commissioned to create a "man bracelet" for a very nice Baltimore girl a few weeks ago. Her boyfriend is Mexican and we brainstormed different Mexican themes and landed on Day of the Dead. I'm so happy with the way this bracelet turned out. I'm especially proud of the little skull that I sawed out by hand, and the manly badass quality of this bracelet. It was such a thrill to be challenged and to spend a lot of time developing one piece, sort of like being back in art school (except without the stress and grades). It was the perfect project for me right now, and I dropped it off in person right after I left my day job for the last time on Friday. Pretty symbolic, I think.

Weekend Sale: 20% off Riveted Jewelry

Riveting Flower

Starting today and through the entire weekend you can enjoy 20% off my new riveted jewelry series. I've been having too much fun with this cold working technique, it's a different experience to create jewelry without my trusty torch. I've also been having fun with the combination of different metals and vintage materials.

• To take advantage of this sale, simply place your chosen item in the Etsy checkout cart and mention my blog in the notes to seller. The 20% discount will be refunded through paypal.
  

Riveting Bracelet

Harmony

Sweetest Flower