Countryside Art Fair in Omaha NE this Weekend!!

watch face, brass

IF you are in the Omaha area, stop by Countryside mall this weekend for the art show!  it looks like this weekend might actually be decent, so it's the perfect time to get some art.....

what's gonna be jewelry someday....

I'm guessing 20-30's sewing machine, but I haven't found the serial #' to confirm yet.

strange little adding machine...

brass clock pretty new, maybe 1980's!

I am sooo in love with this clock .. it's turn of the century.  I cannot wait for Jerry to take this beauty apart!

here is the back of my over 100 years old mantel clock! drooolllllll

Altimeter from 1898.  Not sure there is much inside of it for jewelry components but the box is so damn kewl and steampunky.  Might make them into displays!

the timing of love

Long view of my love timing necklace.

 OK, I got this love o' meter via B'sue.  it actually spins ! It's all about love and how much you do.  The cool bit is it's in french on the back.

I got one of these in her muse packages a while back, and it got me to thinking about how timing is sooooo important to falling in love with someone.

I dearly love my husband-- I think we were meant for each other!!  But the sad fact is if I'd met him earlier or later it probably wouldn't have worked out.  Where you are in life is so important in how likely your heart will open to someone. 

So I added a heart that says serendipity  (cause love is all about finding that lucky open door and then walking through it!) and a clock, because timing is everything.

better view of the front

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