Intentional Stones

I'm heading down to the studio feeling lighter and more free. I have some stones to set tonight, but that's the only "must do" for the first time in a long long time. At least there's that.
This is in the nature of a quick post. So I'll share photos on tumblr.
But the plan for the night is set stones, get my vice and forming stake holder attached to the big workbench and maybe the rolling mill, we'll see how I feel about sharing my new workspace with that huge hunk of steel.
I need to sort out some examples of ring shapes for a customer who's visiting tomorrow.

Wow, it feels pretty good to have choices.

Learning from failure

There it is, the end of the opportunity.  I had a larger commission that I just never got done.  It started with success.  Rose quartz became a lovely set of pendant, earrings and a ring:

 

 

Great!

But then, with 6 more stones to go, I started falling apart. 

I can't really say exactly what happened.

Was I being stubborn and not confident in my designs?  Has my desire to traditionally set stones rather than wire wrap them whenever possible doomed me to failure?  Am I just uncomfortable with Sugilite?  I've never worked with it before.

I did get a pretty pair of earrings and a pendant done. 

And I like them.  But the pendant I was working on to match the earrings just never worked out.

Life got full? the design wasn't fully thought out and starting on it wasn't really reasonable? I expected too much from myself?

Clearly I need to limit taking too many pieces at once.  Clearly I need to work on communication about design.  Clearly I need to reign myself in when I get ambitious about artistic design and I'm not sure my skills will match it.  Clearly I need to manage time better.  Clearly I need to work on self discipline, since my time of late is so very precious.

But the clearest part of all is I let someone down.

And I'm really sorry.

-Simbelmynë

 

Coming to the end...

(This is another of those honest posts.  If you want something cheerful, please go to the rest of this blog.  I usually try to be more upbeat)

Of the year. 

Of what?  the expectation to grow the business AND homeschool AND learn new things?

Well, I certainly need to modify my expectations if I'm going to keep on going. 

On my twitter profile it says, "I want to make gorgeous jewelry, keep my family happy and see the world. My goals are small."  This year I've realized exactly how big all those goals really are.  Before I'd known, but not to the core of me.

School takes up all of my time and energy.  This year, I've been able (barely) to make enough jewelry to keep up with special requests and keep my table full.  But I'm raising my own standards, and I hope to make new.

Yes, if you're interested, I'll be listing many things at about half off the original prices.  Mina and I have agreed upon these new goals and the old stuff simply has to go.

And if I have a commission of yours and it's not with you yet, I will be getting it into the mail by the first. 

Mina and I have talked... A lot. 

Our eclectic style has not been working well on the sales front.  Not to say we won't go where inspiration takes us, but we'll be focusing a little more on consistency. 

So, next year will be a year of fits and starts.  A year of hard hard work, a year of learning to juggle better.  How is that different?  I'm not really sure.  But it will be more serious, more directed, more realistic. 

I'd like to blog more.  I'd like to take more pictures.  But most of all, I'd like to make a lot more jewelry. 

Maybe I'm looking forward to the end of this year with all it's stuggle and frustration.

-Simbelmynë

 

Holidays: Getting the season moving!

 

Fed-Ex trucks are coming up my little dead-end street daily, carrols are on the radio, and the ads on TV have ramped up the the max.  It's that time of year again.

And we know you're thinking about your lists, even if the racket raised by retailers is driving you nuts.  (Some years it keeps me from shopping almost indefinitely.  Handmade holidays are my favorite!)

I'm working to keep it subtle around here.  I'd much rather post artwork and let you decide to visit our shops on your own.  Still, I would love it if you spent a little of your holiday shopping time looking at Intentional Stones! 

Here's the deal:

We're looking to liquidate the stuff we have so that we can start fresh in the new year. 

And we need your help.

Starting today, The last day of November, and ending January 15th, I'll ship anything via USPS anywhere for free. 

And over the course of the season, we'll run online sales, something different every day! 

Does this work for you?

 

 

Filigree

I got a surprise e-mail from the Center for Contemporary Craft.  My teacher, Adrienne, teaches there and she'd passed on my name as possibly interested in advanced metal classes.  I don't think I can thank her enough!

I met Stephanie, (who's studying for an MFA in Jewelry art via a distance program, something I need to look into!) and a lot of other new people.  An energizing and refreshing experience.

The teacher was from Germany, so even though I hadn't been planning on taking any classes this semester, I absolutely had to take advantage of the opportunity. 

The piece above is my very first piece of real filigree! 

I didn't get the wires twisted tighted enough, so the tiniest wires are a bit clunkier than they should be.  However, I adore the techniques I learned!  I've got several pages of sketches of elements I can make, now I'm deciding what to make with them.  Probably I'll start with pendants and charms, but you can build pieces of amazing complexity with simple pieces.  I need a whole bunch of time.  I look forward to after holiday show season is over, when I can dedicate time solely to playing.

-Simbelmynë

Winds of time

Nice dramatic title, eh?

The Wheel of Time books that I'm Still reading, (Yeah at just about 800pp per book and 13 books, it takes this slow reader a while.  Especially checking the Wheel of Time Wiki every time a character is mentioned, And listening to the podcasts a bunch of delightfully foul mouthed geeks are producing, spoilers abound, so if you're not up to date, don't go to either.  I'm a true geek.) start each story with the Wind.  The Wind is almost a character.  It carries the threads started in the prologue into the main part of the book.  A fun literary tool.  Especially when it clues in characters we've been wishing would get a clue.  Like a little gnat biting them.  Ok, maybe it just adds to the frustration.  But if I didn't love these characters, I wouldn't be on my 5th re-read of the series, nor would I be cheering on Brandon Sanderson to get the final book done. 

Anyway, the reason I mention all this, is that the past few months have flown by.

How does time do that?

Since starting the school year, on top of Show Season, on top of finishing the remodeling of the kitchen, on top of everything else, I haven't had time for anything.

I've been disappointed in the studio.  When ever I'm there, I can feel my skills growing and my work getting better!  But I can't spend nearly as much time down there as I'd like. 

I have a number of small commissions I picked up over the summer and fall that are nearly done, but they've been inching along!  (Thank you, if you're one of the people I owe work to.  I know you're looking forward to your pieces.  I wish I was working at any kind of decent pace.)  And I'm only barely making my deadlines.  I have been careful to explain to people that I'm severely limited in my work time, but it doesn't help me in feeling like I'm way too slow. And I have a big set I've been working on for months.  Since the beginning of the year.  That's still not done.  I work a little at a time and try to show my work when it's gotten somewhere.  And I just got a key to the biggest piece, so I hope to get a bunch done this weekend.  It's not that I'm not thinking about these things constantly, it's that I just can't find time to do everything!!!

There.

It's off my chest.

I'm terrible.

I'm not going to take any more commissions until the ones I have are done.  I'm hoping I can clear up 90% of them this weekend.  Putting them ahead of everything else. 

I'm certainly not making excuses.  Time is just moving way too fast lately.

-Simbelmynë

 

 

Monday Traffic

I figured it out a week ago, then the blog post was stale, now it's fresh again.

Mondays are like tunnel traffic. 

Living in Pittsburgh gives one a unique perspective on the concept of tunnels.  Tunnels and bridges are a way of life here.  There are something like 700 bridges and fewer tunnels, I've never counted.  But I live with a view of the Squirrel Hill tunnel.  It goes over 376, the main path from east to west through Pittsburgh.  When I first moved here, 12 years ago, I didn't understand why people don't like to cross town for gatherings, shops, events.  And then a few seasons of heavy construction on the bridges and tunnels showed me what it was. 

Tunnel traffic.

There's nothing quite like the psychological effect tunnels have.  Someone once told me that if the Squirrel Hill Tunnel was just 1 foot wider on each side, (East and Westbound each has it's own 2 lane tunnel), then the psychological effect of the tunnel would be lessened.  People automatically slow down when entering the tunnel.  There's a tendency for fender benders near and in it.  Most are very minor, but they can stop both lanes for a couple minutes at a time.  Stopping everyone else for 15-30 minutes.  And that's just for minor problems.

Construction is just that much more fun.  Removing lanes, putting up signs for slowdowns, rerouting exits (there's one right after the tunnel on either side).  It's all fun.

And on a busy summer weekend day, you can lose a huge chunk of your free time by braving these hazards.  Even I have started mentally assessing the construction situation before I commit to something across town.

My point, that I've gotten distracted from, is that Mondays are like my tunnels. 

Weekends are a time when I get to participate in a lot of my artistic pursuits.  I get to take classes, get together with friends, family, fellow artists, go shopping and hunting for materials in other ways.  I get to recharge. 

I also get to spend free time with my family, I get more rest.  I'm generally reenergized when Monday morning comes. 

I wake up and I feel like I could do anything.  Get through the school day, take on 2 new projects as well as finish all the old ones.  Clean up the house.  Have a great time. 

By noon, I realize that it's just like every other weekday.  School is hard work and it's using up all my energy.  Jewelry and household projects are going to need more than I have left at the end of the day.  And every day things like cooking, cleaning up after ourselves and keeping myself fit and healthy are going to take up even more of that energy.   The rest of the day is spent in that weirdly lighted, tightly enclosed space where if anything happened, I wouldn't be able to back out and I'd be stuck there forever. 

Every week.

I need some kind of alternate route through Monday.

Any ideas?

-Simbelmynë

 

Lovely Laurel Highlands

(Sunrise over the Laurel Highlands.  I never see this hour of the morning.  It was worth it)

These past couple of weeks I've done something entirely new.  Two shows in the Laurel Highlands during leaf peeping season.

This means a lot of driving.  I know, these places are only a little more than an hour from home, but arriving there without my family, they seem forever away.  Setting up in little towns, Bedford and Ligonier, in the chill of mid fall was something different. 

Bedford was a family effort.  Adam and I drove out and set up while the kids hung out at home with a friend.  Saturday morning, when I took this photo, I set out eerily early, long before the sun was up, and launched the jewelry shop amidst the crowds in summer-like heat!  The family joined me on Sunday to help break down.  Persephone wanted to help watch the tent and to wander the fair and to eat all the food.  And they let me go do the same.  I definitely want to go back next year.  Maybe I can participate in both weekends of the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival!

Just as I got home on Sunday, I got a text from my friend AR asking what I would be doing the next weekend.  She found us a little spot at Fort Ligonier Days!!!  I wondered if Adam would forgive me causing this craziness two weekends in a row. 

We set up inside the new bead shop started by Andrew a month ago, Allegory Gallery on the main street of Bedford, PA.  (This is my dream shop, Andrew Thornton has beautiful beads and artwork in the front and Laura of Second Chance Books has used books and childrens books in the back)

It was kind of quiet for the type of weekend we'd been expecting, but the weather was lovely on Sunday and we set up outside.  I made a big point of trying to get people into the shop.  And we loved the people of Ligoiner and the costumes of the festival!  I also got to spend more time with Maria of Lost Marbles.  (funny, her marbles don't seem so lost!  or maybe it's in comparison with me) 

Anyway, it was lovely to meet so many people and have so much fun.  Now it's time to get ready for the holidays.  And it was great and very very positive to have these experiences now.

-Simbelmynë

Bee in my Bonnet

Just a quick post before I go set up for the weekend's show in Bedford!!!!

My goal is art markets.  Good ones.  I imagine myself spending weekends in downtowns enjoying crowds of people.  Last year I started trying to apply to a couple and found myself at an impasse.  The application had a much larger requirement for the tent than I was prepared to meet.  Your tent requires coverings for the walls and to hang things from.  You need a carpet under customer's feet!

These didn't seem like good reasons to not be eligeable for an art fair.  So I began thinking about how to create these things for my tent.  But I've put it off.  Fabric is lovely, but expensive.  structures for hanging art are complicated and hard to carry in my little car!  A rug isn't a big deal.  Costco sells them and so do many of the other box stores.  But those walls!

I've been hunting for inexpensive fabric, ways to attach a support structure and lower cost materials for that.  Because I need money left over from the jewelry I've sold to buy metal and gemstones!!!!!

This summer's Heritage Markets have been awesome, not only because of the wonderful people I've met and supporting a great cause, but because I earned enough to get this dream off the ground!

This week, the first of National Craft Making Month, I've focussed entirely on getting my tent ready.  The carpet will have to wait a little tiny bit longer, but I've found a few very likely candidates, all I need is a little more money.  But I was in Big Lots and found very inexpensive curtains.  Far less than any of the raw materials I've looked at.  Curtain rods that are light and collapsable, and some little lit branches to make my trees sparkle.  (Focus, Woman!)  And at the local resued materials shop I found the webbing for making slat-style blinds at an incredible price.  A trip to Home Depot for dowels and and picture hooks I have everything I need!

Goodness it's good that I have family members who sew!  I've relied on them for a lot of help.  They made it look easy.

(pictures tomorrow, I'll take some tonight once we're done setting up the tent for the weekend)

They're not perfect.  One of my display solutions isn't working yet.  But the major problems are solved. 

Now I can focus on art without the nagging thought that I can't find a market for it because of the dumb walls.  Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy.

-Simbelmynë

Birthstones everywhere

I've been making a lot of these birthstone rings.  They're a fun and inexpensive way to have a piece of jewelry made just for you.  Being me, I've not been happy with just the original design.  I've been encouraging people to choose something even a little bit more customized.  This one will have a pearl for June, making a pearl cup is new for me, and she's asked for fewer bands on the ring.  These stones aren't set yet, so it doesn't look quite as it will.  Actually, she hasn't chosen stones, I gave her a choice of garnet colors and shapes as well.  Here, I was worried that these would be boring, but they're giving me a chance to experiment with stone setting.  The next set I'll be working on will be emerald cut stones.  I'll have to add listings for the variations!

 

That was really the purpose of designing the birthstone stacking rings in the first place.  Creating settings is my next skill goal.  I think I've got a handle on the tube setting that's the basis of the orinial ring.  The square stones will be very pretty.  In fact, the design for the next ring will be a "Steelers" design.  I'm pretty excited about that one, but a little afraid.  New things!

I need a recommendation for a good stone setting book or video course.  There are a few at Rio,

 

Like this course, or the book Creative Stonesetting, by John Cogswell which has been reviewed very well on amazon.  But I'd love more feedback.  Nothing would replace a class, I think, but I haven't found one and I've done OK so far on my own. 

Anyway, I'm rambling. 

It's been good to have a new skill to focus on while getting ready for this seasons shows.  I can get overwhelmed in the process of preparing applications and improving my displays, and it's nice to feel like I'm still growing, even when my time is spent on non-jewelry projects.

-Simbelmynë