More Dragonflies, watch part earrings....

A family of dragonflies trying to carry home a vintage clock gear .. with dew drops  (aka vintage crystals) clinging to it.

Sorry this one is fuzzy, this time silver dragonflies capture a cog...

Newer watches are not as interesting as old  vintage watches, but I do like the copper coils in the new one.  I finally had enough of them to make these cascade earrings!

Stop by my booth at Valley Junction Art Market Tomorrow ( Sunday 5/19/13) to see these new creations and more... I'm in booth 217, which is in front of Selina's Bridal.

Playing with Dragonflies.....

Bracelet.. one large excellent dragonfly with crystals

Yesterday I played with dragonflies, and I think I will again tonight.

That's after I catch up the bills, bond with the kid, update Etsy,  clean the kitchen, wash dishes, clean both toilets, fix and eat supper.  And probably half a dozen little chores I don't even know about yet.

huh.

OK, maybe I'll be I'll play with Dragonflies again tomorrow.   sign.  At least tomorrow is Friday!!!

Under the Sea

Brass charms, lampwork by Jodie Marshall, Sari ribbon, other fibers

earrings to match

I call this piece "under the sea".  The funny part is I've been collecting and saving these sea themed brass charms for over a year, with a very special lampwork bead that was in blue and black.  But then I bought these beads from Jodie Marshall and I had this sari ribbon that matched perfectly, and it was finally time to make this necklace !! I made earrings to go with it of course.  See this piece at a show near you or email me if you are interested.  This is one of a kind piece.. once it's gone it's gone, and no amount of mermaid wishes will bring it back.

Victorian clocks drooollllllllllll

the box

 I saw this on eBay, and I couldn't resist.  The auction was a box lot of Victorian era small clocks.  I talked it over with Jerry and we decided to go ahead and try to get the lot.. and I did! woot! In the pictures I could count for sure 21 full movements ( the guts of the clock) and possibly more.  It turns out there are 30 full movements, 1 incomplete, an handful of extra keys winders, faces and casing bits.  In short, we got such a deal!! and I love that I can actually date at least some of these.  So far all are over 100 years old.  I love being able to tell my customer more about where the pieces come from.

The Victorian era aprox runs 1837 to 1901 (1902?? ) .  so far none of the clocks I can date are younger than 1907, so that's pretty much ball park to my mind.

I look at these clocks and watch my husband take them apart, and I"m just bouncing off the walls with jewelry ideas!!

droollll!!! 30 complete movements, a partial, extra faces and keys...

this is a very pretty enamel face.

one of the "big" clocks.  it's almost 3 inches deep.  it's not quite 2 inches diameter

this one is quite the surprise, it looks more like a giant pocket watch than a clock!! yummy!

how about the good things?

hm... what should I make with this stuff???

 OK, OK, OK, the last couple of posts have been less than cheery, so I'm going to do only positive subjects today!

First, between the old and new tents we now have 1 complete tent, with the addition of a few screws.  Jerry thinks it will at least hold for this year, and if it can, then I'll budget a new tent for next year.

I'm not sick.

I have a good paying job.

I have good friends , family and cats.

This weekend is my first Downtown farmer's market for the year!!! yeah!!! and it's not going to snow on Saturday! ( there is a chance of rain, but it's in the 60's)  

how about this!

Well Spit, or how snow in May really really sucks.

this is just *some* of the damaged tents ... I am guessing 30 or more tents where laying around in clumps looking like crushed spiders.

 The last week has been rough, let me tell you.

Last weekend was my last chance to get ready for shows.  We also had some social obligations, but really it was about getting ready.  I even took an extra day off of work.  I've been having so much anxiety about shows this year... one of the best ways to combat anxiety is to be proactive... to be as prepared as possible.  To think through any problems and have solutions in place for them. 

Last weekend I was going to really pump out inventory, do a mock up of the booth with the new displays incorporated and just really get mentally prepared for any issues.

Friday went well, had some bonding time with the family, did some flea market hunting (found a old adding machine, a couple of older clocks to rip up) and got 10-11 inventory items done.

Sat morning and afternoon got more inventory done, went to the retirement party of a good friend, and by Saturday evening, I felt strange, but happy I was accomplishing so much.  I even got some housework done!!!

Saturday night I got sick, and spent the next 2 days either in bed or in the rest room.

I won't go into details, I had some sort of virus or flu.   I don't think I've felt that .. bad... in YEARS. 

Monday late afternoon I started to feel somewhat normal again, but exhausted. 

This means of course that I didn't get to do all the little rituals that would have made me feel ready to face the summer show season. 

But you know what...  I actually did feel better mentally about shows.  Why? because I gave myself permission to be OK with what I could get done.  Maybe I was just too tired to fight myself for once!

I did everything I could to get ready.  Getting sick wasn't my fault.  Monday night, instead of the full mock set up with tent and everything in the yard, Jerry brought up to the studio the displays and an extra table.  Since the shelf units have liners in them, I just set up the 2 tables and laid the liners around my studio and just did it that way.  It took Monday and Tues night to figure out the layout, but I got them figured out, and once I had jewelry set up on them, it looked fine.  And I discovered I had more jewelry ready to go that I realized.   I also got the jewelry packed  in order.. a huge time saver when setting up at shows.  This way, you get all the displays set up, and each layer of jewelry corresponds with a certain set of displays.

This is our "bad weather" set up.  other than the spiny racks everything is flat to the table and unlikely to blow away.  it's very small and compact, easier to keep dry if the rain is heavy.   If it's really windy we hold the tent down and don't put out earrings at all ( I have magnets on the back of the earring cards, which really does help keep them in place)

I wish I could report that the "good feelings" lasted longer than they did.  My show was the Pella Dutch Market during Tulip Time.  When the weather is good, over 130,000 gets pumped into a small town in Iowa.

Unfortunately  the weather wasn't good. Thursday started out cold, wet and rainy.  And windy.  So instead of my nice,  10x10 booth full of  lovely artisan jewelry goodness, we set up 2 tables and had 6 ft of space. 

We call this our "bad weather" set up.  it's minimal, wind proof ( well, up to maybe 40 mph) and rain proof but it's hardly inviting to customers.  Then again, when the weather is bad, especially cold, we aren't going to sell much jewelry anyway... if customers have to peel off gloves to try stuff on, they aren't going to try stuff on.  If they don't try stuff on, they are not going to buy it.  It's just the way it is.

Around 1130, the rain became snow.. that melted as it hit the ground.  By 1230 the temperature had dropped enough that it started to stick.

Can you imagine trying to sell jewelry in a snow storm? Freezing temperatures?  I don't have too.  We left early that day, skipped Fri entirely as it snowed all day.  Pella ended up with over 6 inches of snow in less than 12 hours.  It snowed off and on all Friday night as well.

Saturday was predicted to be warmer, in the 50's if not exactly dryer.  We had left the tent up on Thurs, which in hindsight was a mistake.  Rain more or less runs off a tent, but snow? The snow collected, and the weight bent the tent struts.  3 of the tent struts are cracked... once one of them breaks completely the tent is dead.  We are lucky actually.. our corner of the park was somewhat protected from the snow.  Many people came back to tents completely fallen in.  Our tent was still usable on Saturday... but I doubt it's gonna last more than a show or 2.  It doesn't close up correctly due to the bends in the metal.

This is my mock up of what table 1 should normally look like

 I want to give a big big thank you to the organizers of Dutch Market... the Pella Women's association.  They handled the bad weather with grace.  They went around to all the vendors and told them to use their own judgment --- and it wouldn't jeopardize future shows with them.  Do you know how rare that is? most shows, even in absolutely horrid weather, won't do that.  They are too afraid of people abusing that privilege.  All the contracts are written with bad weather clauses-- some just threaten to never let you in the show again, some have fines!  The pella contract has one also.. but common sense prevailed.  My hat is off to them!   They also arranged Saturday morning for a scrap metal guy to get all the broken tents removed before the show started at 9am.  There had to be over 30 of them.  Most shows if you end up with a broken tent.. they make it your responsibility to take care of it, which can be almost impossible if you are out of town.  Jerry and I have already decided to do the Dutch Market again next year. 

Sales on Saturday were very few... again, people don't buy jewelry much if they have gloves on.  We took a loss on this show once you figure in we have to buy a new tent.  We have an old tent with broken corners... Jerry will double check.. if it has the same struts we might be able to make one or the other tent whole again... but my guess is we are buying a new tent.

This Saturday is Downtown Farmer's Market, and hopefully lovely weather.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Table 2.  ... first "good" weather day show we have ( hopefully this coming weekend!!!) I"ll take a pic of my normal set up which includes 2 shelf units and sometimes a small table if there room

I'm going to whine now... you are warned!

This is one blurry, crappy pic.  Which seem appropriate when I'm blogging about things going and wrong and the freak zone.  Brass painted/patina, sealed, and riveted.  the cuff is hand-shaped.. or I suppose I should say bail pliers shaped.

I think I mentioned a blog or two ago how I'm reaching the freak out stage of show planning.  You know, the stage where you have only doubts and fears, you are running around trying to get the last few things done, trying to make arrangements for the Kid, figure out the layout of your booth this year, and trying to keep the rest of real life from crashing around your ears in a pile of dirty dishes, filthy laundry and dusty furniture. 

Nothing you make seems to be right, you ruin components by rushing things, you drop stuff, you can't find things, you stab yourself with needles and wire, and the list can go on.

The doubt can be crippling.  Paralyzing.  I've had evenings after work and diner and some quick, modest attempt at housekeeping where I get in the studio and stare at the walls.  I'll start a project, and can't finish it.  Even if I finish something, I don't like it. 

Add the pressure and stress of how very important doing well this year really is.  I want to do well every year of course.. but this year most of my profits go to the family budget, not back into my business coffers. 

I want to do my best every year... but in the past a "bad" year was depressing, but overall the effects are not great.  This year, not doing well means less grocery money, not fewer beady buying trips.

The icing on the cake came today in the form of an email.  Apparently a show I applied for and never heard back from actually accepted me and had me on their website as being in the show.  I never got any email stating I was in.  I never got the PayPal money request for the show fees, which were due by April 5th or you would lose your spot.  Yet here I got the email about how to set up!  This show is this weekend BTW.  Which means from my perspective, I've been given 3 days notice.

Considering the state I'm in to begin with, this just about shoved me over. 

First I panic and think I've somehow lost track of the show.... One of my big fears is double booking.  Lots of artist apply to more than one show a weekend, as insurance for not making this show or that.  If they get into both shows, they pick one and eat the jury fees on the other.   It does make certain financial sense for those who have to do a show every weekend.  Getting into shows can be tough, and the deadlines can make it hard to juggle.   Every year I take into consideration the deadlines and some shows I might want to apply to I don't because of  the conflicts.  Some weekends are reserved for family time or Birthdays.  ( I booked a show once on Jerry birthday.. NEVER AGAIN)  But I'm scared to death at some point I'll slip up and double book by accident.  My reputation as an artist is very important to me.  If you ditch shows without really good cause you can get a bad name. 

In the 10 plus years of doing shows, I've only really missed 3 shows, when My mother-in-law was dying and in a show 2008 when the roads were flooded and we literately couldn't get there safely.   Last year I had to back out of a Jazz in July due to a asthma attack. 

But after looking over my emails in the last month,  and double checking my PayPal, I'm very sure I didn't know.  I was pretty sure before, because I do pay very careful attention.  See all the above about how I don't want to mess up show dates. 

But boy, I hate what that show promoter is thinking about me right now. 


I have commitments this weekend I can't break, set up after I didn't hear from the show.  I'm sure it will all get worked out and be fine in the end... only I really didn't need this extra stress right now.  I'm doing just fine boiling in my own juices without any outside help.

Maybe my asthma attack last weekend was as much about stress as it was about wacky Iowa weather and allergy triggers.

So..... I'm trying to take deep breaths, trying to stay calm and tell myself whatever doesn't get done is OK, and not to blame myself for email mishaps.  If I make something, and don't like it, I'll put it out of sight and look at it again in a few days with fresh eyes.  Jerry is helping ... Jerry washed dishes today.  (Thank you Sweetie!!) Jesscera gives me extra hugs, and tries not to complain as much when I give her extra chores.


I'm going to try very hard to be productive this weekend, without losing sight of why I make jewelry... the joy of creating it *normally* brings me.  

I'm also going to -stop- making things Tues evening.  I'm going to get everything packed up (hopefully) so I can relax Wednesday before the Dutch Market at the Tulip festival starts Thursday morning at 9am.

This will probably be my last blog until after the Dutch Market,  yet another effort to relax and be realistic about what I can get accomplished in this last push before show season starts.

Don't forget Chainmail

Inverted capture chainmail.  I love the fluidity of this pattern!

I've added more designs using Oh rings... which gives some "give"for fitting and wearing bracelets. 

 Regardless how you want to spell it, I still adore making chainmail.. someone asked me if I still made it cause lately all I've blogged about is salvaged/industrial/steampunk stuff.  So here are some pics of chainmaile just from the last couple of weeks. 

Got to have earrings!

Treasure Box

Here's how the necklace started: throwing stuff on my work desk until something "sticks" mentally, and then go from there.  The little tin is a old needle case, no idea of age, you can barely read "needles" on the front... but great patina!

Finished necklace, the red ribbon is vintage sari ribbon, woven in brass chain.

While the box stays closed by itself right now, I thought it might be loose overtime, so added a "locking" mechanism.  Besides, the extra fall of chain looks kewl.

The inside is lined in ripped up newspaper sticker, alittle bling and a red crystal  heart.  We keep our treasures (memories) close to our hearts...

Close up of the ribbon and chain.

just 1 picture

The ring says "dream and the little charm says "wish"

Sadly I'm under the weather today.  Had big plans to get 8-10 inventory items done, do a long blog  (as I've been skimpy on them lately) and clean the studio as it's reaching annoyance level of unorganized.


Instead, I had an asthma attack this morning around 830am, promptly went back to bed, just got up around 130pm, I'm writing this, eating something, and then probably go back to bed.   If that didn't translate, I feel crappy, moving hurts so I might as well not move.  Hope your days are going better.