Intentional Stones

Strands and strands

I have to reassure you.  If there's nothing posted here, it's due to the fact that I'm very very very very busy. 

Project Runway is on the TV on thursdays and it's vitalizing to see the design in process.

One last Sunday show is coming up at the Waterfront.  Look for us from 11-3 in the Pump House! I'll be there for their holiday market in late November, but I'm skipping the Biketoberfest on the first.  Maybe I'll stop in with my bike!  What a concept!

But, most of all, I'm getting ready for holiday shows.  I have many great pieces that I've started but need those last finishing touches or a necklace to hang from.  I have planned improvements to my displays to complete.  Photographs to get into the portfolio.  My tent needs repair or replacement.  (One gust of wind from Irene took it out [the storm never touched Pittsburgh, except that pesky wind]) And I need weights to keep that from happening again. 

Bedford's Fall Foliage Festival will be here in no time!  October 8th is coming up very very fast.  This one's a big time show and everything must be hand made!!! 

Then there's the listings.  I uploaded some photos to facebook, but they're not written up or listed yet!!!

School is in full swing around here.  Which is the primary reason for being too busy to blog.  It's like I have two full time jobs.  And while it's filling a lot of my time, I feel like my life is finally back where I want it to be.  We're having the most rich time working together and learning together.  And we completely back in control of our lives. 

Today in the studio I have strands of tiny stone beads getting ready to support beautiful stone pendants.  Woven chain with me all day long.  I'm finishing commissions and making a few larger gemstone rings.  OK, I'm overwhelmed by my aspirations.  

Still.  You get the idea. 

Artist's weekend

My family will be out of town having the time of their lives.

And I'm staying home to have a party! (yes, I do feel like a teenager whose parents have left town for the weekend)

It's an artist's retreat at Simbelmynë's house!  I'll hit Costco and fill the house with food. I'm used to all sorts of eaters-picky eaters, carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, food sensitivities, OmNomNomNivores... Also I have hot and cold running WiFi, which is, of course, optional.  And, never fear, coffee.

Everything's ship shape with lots of room for big projects.  I'm not far from Construction Junction, really you could get pretty crazy. I'm planning to set aside areas for specific things, and we can adjust as people arrive with their projects and goals for the weekend.  I have lots of places to sleep, if you're from out of town or just don't want to leave.

The jewelry studio will be in full swing.  I have almost every type of equipment anybody could need-from torches to finishing equipment. I have tables and corners and quiet areas for writing, being quiet, meditating.  A park next door for walks and listening to the world around us.  A full crafting room with all sorts of supplies, if you forget anything.  I even have a macro photography studio, if you want to get some small photos.

We can swap, dump, laugh, play, work, meditate, trade secrets, teach, learn, whatever we want to do.

If you RSVP I can make sure I have what you need.  Or just show up, the more the merrier!

Stay all weekend or come and go as you please. 

Official Start is 7pm Friday, March 18 and end at 7pm Sunday March 20.

-Simbelmynë

(412)608-8986

235 Oakview Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15218

(Please ignore the photo it's from the highway, for some reason)

We're the last house on the left.

Victorian Lace

Mina and I have talked about collaboration, and as we mature in our craft, it makes more and more sense.  We both enjoy beading, but the silver work I've been doing makes a lot of componants and pieces best enhanced by beads. 

Here's a piece we've been working on since last year's Art All Night in Lawrenceville.  It started just with a crocheted collar and a couple of strands of beads.  We decided it needed to be more woven together.  The resulting whole is very much better than anything we would design all alone. 

I don't have to forgo beads entirely.  I'm using them as my primary source of stones for my metalwork.  They're much more economical and easy to encorporate until I learn more stone setting.  This clasp is a combination of the storyteller bracelet design and a great, whimsical componant to match the design we came up with together. 

Look forward to much, much more!

-Simbelmynë

Behind on the Runway

Clearly I would have been out weeks ago. (If I were the brave kind of person who'd try out for a reality show)

We've been watching, thinking and sketching.  At the party store (episode 3 season 8) I would be going the direction the winner went.  Paper!  Though I'd be into the confetti too:

Making beads isn't something I've tried, but I'm an old hand with paper and adhesives.  Laminating layers of color together would make a fun bead.  Including confettin in the mix would give it the necessary bling factor. 

Or I could use confetti as beads to sparkle things up.  Our party store also had statuary and trinket gifts.  Lots of fun just taken apart to be focal elements.

Episode 4's hats struck a real cord with me.  I started making jewelry because of masks, and maskmaking and haberdashery are close cousins.  There are so many fabulous hats to look at on the web.  I found a stunning flock of butterflies -shall we pretend this hat is my choice?  

I would look to the flowers.  Milkweed.  Dangling earrings or a necklace with a cluster of blossoms.

The last episode we worked on is the Team Challenge, Episode 5.  A major exercize in collaboration.  Each team was instructed to create a line of 6 looks that go together.   It turned out that the teams had different levels of success, in fact one team was really successful and the other almost completely failed.  The difference came from respect.  One team, the underdogs, was able to respect one another and keep lines of communication open, while the other, the team with 4 challenge winners, could not manage even a little bit of respect and tried to pin all of their failures on one team member.  It was sad.

Mina and I are very much thinking about collaboration lately.  Mina gave me this sketch:

An idea she had, inspired by the lovely mother of pearl art nouveau necklace. It seems quite doable.  We discussed shapes and available stones and means of attaching this focal piece to a necklace with chain and beads.  I only hope I can do justice to her design and that my knowledge of construction can make her vision possible.  One thing that helps me be confident in our success is Mina and I respect one another's talants and we can communicate very well about design and changes. 

-Simbelmynë