Show Review....

This pendant is part of my "giggle" series. It's sterling silver wire twisted together in a fun way that just makes me happy to think about. It's sort of what I think a laugh looks like visually. Vintage crystal is the dangle. What would a belly laugh be without a dangle!

It's getting toward the end of show season, so it's really in my mind this week, everything I need to get done to get through this last real run of shows. I have a few shows sprinkled in Oct-Dec, and I'm thinking of doing a few others.. but for the most part I'm done at the end of September. Boy though, How busy I am til then!!

This Weekend is Market Day . I really like Market Day! It's a fun, easy to get to ( just a couple of blocks off Downtown Farmer's Market!) and there is always this amazing group of people to talk to.. both the customers and the other artists! Market Day Started last year and is apart of the growing local independent art scene here in Des Moines. Market Day is mostly arts and crafts, with a dash of vintage goods thrown in. If you are in the Des Moines Area between 10-2pm, be sure to stop by! I promise it's worth a trip, and if you are going to Farmer's Market, it's not out of the way!

The first Weekend of Sept is Mage Con. Now this is not my normal venue - art shows and farmer's Markets - as it's a game convention. I love going to them because I get together with my good friends Sue and Cathie and while we usually make just enough to cover costs, it's well worth it for reconnecting with friends! It's almost like a working vacation, as we gals sit together, gab, eat, and bead the whole weekend away. I often use our time together to fill in inventory holes and gear up for Christmas items. I've already started to pull projects for this weekend, and I can't wait to see my best friends again, it's been since June! ACK!

Next up, Sept 11Th is ARTapalooza on Main in Cedar Falls Iowa. This is such a lovely show, I wish we could make it every year! The organizers are just about the nicest folk period, and it's well supported by the community. I'm really looking forward to well run art show.

Sept 18 & 19Th is Riverssance in Davenport IA. This will be the first year I've been at this one, so I'm very excited! It's a huge, long running show, and I'm sure I'll have a great time and a great show!

Sept 25Th is my last Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market for the year.

See, busy busy busy! but I plan on having bushels and buckets of fun in the process!

more musings and mutterings...

Today I got my studio back, more or less. I'm of 2 minds of that.

For those coming into the middle of this, We got new family members not quite 3 weeks ago: Kya and Kassanova. Two sweet little kittens! Our two older cats were not so happy, so the kittens have been living in my studio. We have brought the cats into the studio to visit the little guys, and we have been bringing the little ones down for longer and longer periods of time. While the big cats seem to want to ignore the kittens intirely, the kittens want to make friends! Mostly they get hissed at, and being wise little kittens they go away at that point. It seems that both parties understand the rules of co-existance, so today we decided it was time, and moved the kitten's kitty litter and food to the first floor, and left the studio door open. So I've been thinking of my littles off and on all day at work. When we got home they were downstairs, all 4 of them. Again, the big cats seem to be willing to tolorate them as long as they stay out of the way. I hope that in a few months they will be more friendly, but it's a big change for them! We are all trying to give them extra love, so they don't feel 2 left out.

So, this means I can, with more caution, start up glass and metals projects again. If I want to leave a project out, I will have to keep my studio door shut.

So while I'm glad I can do what ever projects come to mind again, I'm sad because I'm losing my company! I've grown quite attached to the little fur faces, watching their antics while I play with wire, and it's so sweet when Kass is ready to take a nap, he marches up to me, and on me ( leaving a trail of claw marks.. we are working on that) and curls up on my chest to sleep.


These 2 pieces are "redos" . The main wire bendy parts on both of them were once another bigger pendant, but I never was quite happy with how it sat on the wearer, and the bindings were not as nice and tight as I wished. And the one of the beads on it got broken! Since I wasn't happy with the design, I didn't want to repair it, so it's been sitting in the "what next" pile for some time.

So a couple of weeks ago I pulled it apart and reused the heavy wires with new beads and you see the results. It's good to reuse materials! With sterling you have the choice to recyle the larger peices in new pieces, like I did here. The smaller binding wires on the original pendant are in my scrap pile. At some point I will either swap it for new wire, or I'll melt it and reuse it that way. It's easy to recycle something like silver, not so easy on other things. What would you do with broken pencils, worn dice and a washer nut?

There is a growing market for "found" object art, even in jewelry. (Some folks call it mixed media jewelry)

Even when I see some of this mixed media stuff, I just can't help but think, well, that's kewl and interesting, but it's just not me. Probably the cream of the crop is Susan Lenart Kazmer . Again, some of her pieces are beyond incredible! Check out her website, you will be amazed at her creations! Like good art, they evoke emotion from me, but no desire to follow her style.

To be honest, I like the flow and gleam of sterling best, the almost liquid look you can get when it's all bright and shinny! and Crystals and pearls, all that magpie sort of stuff! I love to reuse sparkies and bits from old jewelry, but it's usually stuff that is all ready, well, PRETTY, all by it's self, without any help from me. Or at least there is a great deal of potential.

I was talking to some fellow jewelry artists about what materials "call" to us as individuals, and what it says about us. I have my theories, but I want to hear from you.

If you are a jewelry designer, what materials do you like to work with the best?

Why do you think?

Does your favorite materials shift by mood?

And if you have bought a piece of jewelry from an artist lately, what about the materials of the piece most called to you?

Did the component parts factor into your buying the piece?

Post Script: I guess I won't be as lonely as I thought. Kass came upstairs and jumped right up on my chest and demanded attention. I didn't get much done for the next hour or more, but somehow I don't feel bad about my lack of productivity!

Listening to my Gut

OK I'll stop whining about the ear infection now. I'm much much better today, and boy, do I like drugs! LOL Still, I'm absolutely amazed how good the drugs work. I spent 3 days in agony! Go to the doctor again and got steroids, antibiotics, and pain killers and I am so much better 36 hours later... I can't hardly believe it.. but I'm very happy it's so. I'm also glad I trusted my gut.. I knew Friday night I was worse than I was Thurs.. so I went to the doctor again just as soon as I could on Sat. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you gut says go to the doctor, even if you were just there, do it!

It's good advise in general.

Sitting here typing this more or less pain free ( but not able to drive heavy machinery, seems a fair exchange!) I just realized it's really good advise for the Artist. And something I forget from time to time, especially when I'm in the last 3rd of show season and I'm just trying to hold my head above inventory levels! My gut talks to me about my art all the time, but I get sooooo busy I don't always hear it against the backdrop of day to day life.

Below is a recent example of me listening to my gut though! This fused glass cab is sort of a happy accident. I was going for one look, and ended up with this tacked fused cab in 3 levels. I really liked how it looked, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to wrap it up like. So I set it aside for a month or so, and finally my gut said border wrap! Border wraps take longer, and they suck down tons of wire, which means I have to charge more for the piece. And the fact that I can make 2 or 3 "simple" wrapped pendants in the time it takes me to border wrap, logic dictates that when I have limited time and inventory holes, I need to either do it simple, or set it aside for when I have more time.

But I listened and found a compromise that I could live with. I took it along with me to a couple/3 of lesser traffic shows, and worked on it then. That way I didn't feel so "guilty" I wasn't using my time more effectively, but I wasn't saying no to my artistic heart. It took longer to get done that way, especially since I had to "start" and "stop" so often, but I so pleased with the results! The wrap was especially challenging because the shape is odd and has fairly "sharp" corners in it, which are tougher to do a border wrap in. My next show is Downtown Farmer's Market this Saturday, but this bad boy is going to The Art Store gallery sometime this week! ( I was going to deliever it last week, but well, let's go over the whole racked with pain thing again!)
Speaking of Cabs, I have just today started listing my glass cabs for sale to fellow artists/hobbyists today on my Etsy Site! I've been wanting to sell them but I wanted to get a good selection in hand before I offered them to the general public.

wow, chatty Cathy tonight, aren't I ? I'll end on this note, a favorite quote of mine:

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

- Mark Twain

OK so it's nothing about following your instincts, but it's true!

wheeee! Pain Pills, part 3 of ear infection...

I'm feelin' good now, infact, approx 45 minutes on pain pills, I'm feeling GROOVY! and tired....

I woke up this morning.. well woke up is probably not the right word, as I'd had yet another night of very little sleep. and I just couldn't take it. I've been on the antibiotics for 2 full days and I'm worse than when I started. The whole left side of my face is swollen and painful to the touch. try to sleep like that! Add in my CPAP head gear, which I've not been able to wear properly for 4 nights running now. I'm TIRED, I'm SICK, I'm in PAIN and I"m getting CRANKY!

So I went back to the doctor this morning. Fortunately my normal doctor's office has Saturday Morning hours, and they got me in at 945am. My regular doctor wasn't in, but the Doctor I saw was very kind, very understanding, and talked loud, so I could actually hear him! ( I think he know I had trouble hearing at this point)

He gave me another antibiotic, steroids and pain medication. He warned me the pain medication was very strong, could make me alittle loopy and I probably won't need them for more than a few days. The infection has spread to my lymph nodes, that's why my whole left side of my face is so swollen and painful. It's not just an ear infection now. He told the steroids and antibiotic will take probably 24 hours before I see any progress, but on the pain medication I won't care. Sign me up!!
Most importantly, by Monday morning I should feel much better, and able to work. I can't afford to miss another day at work, so I'm very please that I went back into the doctor today! Mean while, the pain med is really kicking in, and I think I might try to take a nap... I'm not sure I'll get any designing done today ( though it might be interesting on the drugs I'm on!) I'm hoping tomorrow maybe I'll feel enough better that I'll get some studio time in. I've not been in the studio Since Tues! I want to make something! Not sure I'd trust myself with cutters right now!

Pictured is a copper, sterling and pearl set I made a month or so ago. All cold connections. I'd write more but I'm really getting tired.... and it's hard to focus! But no PAIN! Yeah!

Ear Infection part II

I suppose I'm a pain wimp... but short of the birth of my child I've never been in so much pain! Today has been horrible. I've never had an ear infection make my face so swollen before either.... the entire left side of my face is "puffy" and some of the swellings are sort of hard to the touch. I'm on antibiotics, I've been using a heating pad, I've got some over the counter ear drops for pain, and I'm maxed out on ibuprofen and Tylenol. there were times today when I just sort of sat in my chair and cried. I can't even eat properly, I cannot completely close my teeth all the way.. the swelling/pain is 2 bad.

Around 6pm I started to feel alittle less pain, but now at 1018pm it's starting to come back.. thankfully I can take another Ibuprofen and another ear pain hit.

It kills me that this weekend was suppose to be a studio weekend, and instead it's going to be a "hold the heating pad up to my ear while I take drugs intravenously" weekend. What a waste! Little girl is off on adventures, so I was going to have guilt free studio time. Maybe I'll finally feel better tomorrow. Maybe I'll get more than 2 hours of sleep tonight. maybe maybe maybe....

Ear infections, and why do we get so stupid /lazy??

It's 405am in the morning. I probably shouldn't be bloging, but I'm looking for distractions - any distractions! I've been up since 1am with intense ear pain. Anything I can do to keep my mind off of it until 7am when the urgent care clinic opens up... well I will do it. I'm so tired, but if I try to lay down, it hurts worse, though it's strumming so much right now, it's hard to believe it. I have a hard little knot just behind my ear... and my ear is so swollen it's at a different angle than normal. It looks like it's trying to detach from my head!

It's my own fault, my ear has been achy the last few days, and that usually means an ear infection is coming. I didn't want to believe it was coming, because I've not had an ear infection for 2 years. In the last 4 years I've only had 2-3 ear infections. In case you are scratching your head, let me explain.

I have allergies, my sinsius are shaped funny and I have asthma to boot. This means that my sincus/ears/throat systems get backed up easily, and at one point in my life, I had 4-6 ear infections every year, and probably 2 bouts of broncitis. And I was generally misrable, with constantly ringing ears.

After one very bad ear infection, the nurse practitioner I got instead of my then normal doctor suggested a neti pot.

It works! as long as you use it. Over the last 4 years I've only had 2-3 ear infections, and 1 bout of bronchitis. Some of this might have been luck... but I've had plenty of flu like episodes, I've just not going upper respiratory like I used to. I still have the ear ringing all the time, but if I'm using my neti pot regularly, it's not as bad.

This is major for me!!!

Anyone that has problems with allergies/colds/sinus issues I hardily recommend the neti pot. Most drug stores carry them now, and they don't cost much, usually $10.00. And instead of buying those fancy expensive packets I just use kosher salt. One $2.00 box lasts a really long time..

So why is this ear infection that is making me tear up my fault?

Because I get lazy, and don't always use the neti pot like I should.

When I'm not sick, I try to use it in the morning before work, and once in the evening at least 1 hr before bed. If I'm sick you can use it up to every 2 hours. Any time I start feeling more stuffy or the ringing gets worse, I try to use it more in the evenings.

But the last few weeks we have been traveling on the weekends, and even though I took the pot with me, I didn't use it like I should. That helped get me out of my good habits.

I like to use it at the kitchen sink the best, so sometimes especially at night, I'll skip it because it's too much bother to go downstairs, or it's already bed time and I don't like to use it right before bed.. my nose is alittle runny after using it, and as I have a CPAP machine, well, runny noses and CPAP hoses don't mix. And if Jerry and I are running late in the morning, it seems very easy to skip it, even though it only takes 3-4 minutes to do.

All bad excuses, and I swear, on my current ear pain, I will not be so lazy again!! and I swear, the next time my ear get's twitchy like this, I 'll go to the doctor before it hits psycho lunitic pain. I just can't believe how fast it goes from twitchy it kind of hurts to full out, swollen red pain!! I felt ok (just achy) until about 9pm last night. By 1230am I knew I had a serious problem... I gave up at 1am, I've taken the max I can of Ibuprofen, I've been doing the neti pot every couple of hours, and I've been using heat which helps. somewhat. I wish I could make jewelry right now, but I'm so tired and groggy I'd probably hurt myself. So instead I wait, wishing I could sleep, wishing I could at least lay down, trying not to concentrate on the pain because that makes it FEEL worse.

It's now 431am.

more pendants

I actually have a break this weekend from shows, so I"m thinking of working on something larger than earrings or pendants, just not sure which of the many ideas floating around my head will actually happen..

Of course I feel like cutting glass or even doing some soldering, but until the "old" cats like the new kittens, I can't do anything up there that might hurt them! We have gotten the older cats to at least allow the kittens within a feet of them now without hissing, so we are making progress!

Don't feel bad for me, I have 2 wonderful kittens to play with, and I still get to play with wire!
So until I get my studio back, here are 2 more wire pendants. This first one I made using 21 GA wire for the bail, and 16 GA for the wiggly front piece. Since I love dangles, I added a blue crystal to match.

This one I wanted the bail part of the design, it's the back loop you sort of see sideways. It's in sterling and Indian glass.

new pendants just in time for West Glen Tomorrow!

While the kittens have been delightful distractions this week, I have gotten a few things done, honest! Here are just 3 of them! First is a really lovely, high-quality Turquoise donut wrapped in Sterling. I didn't want to cover too much of this lovely stone, it really is gorgeous! Next is "mystery stone" in sterling. OK it's probably a jasper, I bought it last year at the gem and mineral show from one of the random stone bins, so I am not sure exactly what it is, other than beautiful shades of color!
Now this last one is really interesting, it's a replica Greek coin I bought a few weeks ago at a antique mall. I bought a bunch of foreign coins to wire wrap, and it was in the mix. It's very kewl, and it's wrapped in sterling also.

Now to see these in person, just stop by tomorrow 10-2pm for West Glen Farmer's Market!

Why I'm not productive this week......

but I don't mind at all! We picked up our newest family members last Sunday. Meet Kya and Kassanova (Kass for short) they are 8 weeks old, lovely, lovable and cute cute CUTE! and they have very sharp claws!! I forgot the really sharp claw thingie, but they are already learning to not claw quite so much. And they are into everything.. at least in my studio! See, we have 2 other adult cats, Jupiter and Jeezibel, who are 10 years old. We are slowly and carefully introducing the "old" cats to the new, and while they are getting to know each other, we are keeping the kittens in my studio as it's the largest area with a door. That Jupiter can't open.
Don't ask. This means that until we can let them have the run of the house, I cannot do any glass work or metalsmithing. I don't mind the sacrifice, and despite my title, I"m getting stuff done.. I've been working on more wire pendants, rings and anklets mostly this week. But as you can see below I"m getting some help!

I'm also taking lots of health breaks in the form of Kitten Therapy, and I couldn't be happier!!

This is just for my Daughter....

Hi my baby! Here is the latest batch of our Kittens!
In this first pic, you have Kya on the left, brother spot in the middle, and my Kass on the right. Here is another angle on the same trio!Tammy couldn't get a great face shot of Kya this time around, but check out Kass up close and personal!!

Here is all the kittens together, for the last time! Tammy tells me the 2 black brothers are going to their new homes this weekend! We will get Kya and Kass sometime in August after you come back home.

I love you baby! I hope you are having a great time on your trip!

the Kittens are soooooo cute!!!

In these Pictures Kya (Left) and Cassanova (right) are exactly 1 month old! I think the cutest pics in the latest batch is Kya below, it's such a good clear pic, and she's so intent on whatever she's looking at. I can't wait to get our little ones, it's looking like the first or 2nd week of august.

Earrings on my brain...

This first pair is made with PMC. I made a bunch of "charms" a few months ago, and I'm just now diving into that pile and making things with them! I love this 2nd pair, there is a story behind them! These are a redo... I had made these as an experiment, and the pearls were wrapped directly on the ear hook part. They looked pretty good, the hook was long and straight down. (I wish I had a picture, I don't think I'm describing it well) Unfortunately, while the earrings looked great, they were unconformable, the long hook poked the customer in the face! Now it's possible that they would have worked for another customer with a different face shape, but I'm all about wearable art, and I want only HAPPY customers. So instead of taking the chance, I redid them. I turned the hook into a twisty wire wrap around the pearl, added a cute swirly part and presto! cute, WEARABLE earrings that anyone can enjoy!
This last pair I just made in the last couple of weeks, and haven't shown up yet in a show, I might have to dig them out for tomorrow's West Glen Farmer's Market . These are vintage Japanese glass cabs wrapped in sterling wire. It's hard to wrap cabs for earrings, but boy, what fun!

Anyway, West Glen tomorrow is my last show until August! I'm super busy with family and work these coming weeks, but don't worry, I'll make time to make more great stuff!

sales taxes and farmer's market....

This little guy is sure cute huh? I sold it already, to a very nice little girl in Omaha... it's sterling silver and the pretty little dragon is polymer clay, made several years by a Internet friend of mine. I traded for 4 of the dragons. My daughter has one, I have one, and the other 2 I finally pulled out and made something with. This is the last one I had....

Been doing sales taxes today, ugh! Don't get me wrong, the state of Iowa makes it as easy to pay sales taxes as any of the 6 states I've had to pay sales taxes to. It's all online, and if you have all your papers lined up takes 10 minutes. It's the lining up of all the paperwork that takes time! Course doing quarterly taxes I go ahead and update my business records and back up my computer at the same time.. doing business stuff like this quarterly saves me time at the end of the year.. I just have to put my 4 quarters together. I would still rather make jewelry like the little guy above!

This weekend is West Glen Farmer's Market, 10-2pm. Hopefully tomorrow will be a studio day, since I got my paperwork done today! If so, I'll have new pendants and anklets and rings for this weekend! See you there!

glass bowl updates

Farmer's Market went really well today! The weather was perfect, everyone was happy to have such good weather... just a good time had by all! I even had a "moment" you know, that perfect little section of time that crystallizes as a permanent favorite memory in your head? This morning just around 7am (when the market opens) I was trying to finish my set up, as I always run alittle late at Farmer's Market. It usually takes me a good 90 minutes to get completely set up to my satisfaction.. tent, displays and jewelry... but Farmer's Market I have just around 1 hour. So I'm always pressed for time when the Market first opens.

Anyway, I'm trying to do all the last minute touches that make a booth a home for 5 hours, and I hear this guy on saxophone, playing "oh what a beautiful morning" . Man, it ever was! Later in the morning, when I got a chance to walk around I gave the guy a nice tip... it was just perfect hearing that song, on a saxophone no less, right at that moment.

I really love that song, I always have ( it's from Oklahoma, great musical, and I have a thing for musicals) but I"m never ever going to look at that song in quite the same way again. From now on, when ever I hear or think of that song, I'm going to hear that saxophone.

Anyway, on to less than perfect, here are pics of my finished blue bowl. The inside pattern didn't work as well as I hoped, but I have ideas on how to improve that for the next time.

I'm very pleased that my circle is much more of a circle this time, and the edges turned out great! I'll be doing more bowl in the future, and at some point I'll hopefully be willing to sell them. For now, if you are a family or friend, you can pretty much guess what Christmas/Birthday presents will be for the next year or so! LOL

Red, White & Blue

I took a day off from my "day job" and since the Kid is happily re-watching favorite movies downstairs, I'm upstairs making things. Tomorrow I will be at DownTown Farmer's Market , and since it's the day before the 4th of July, I just had to make something for the holiday! Here is just a sample.. I'll try to post more things later, but now it's hammering time!! I have some textured by hammer pieces doodles in my brain that have to come out, NOW.

Upcoming shows....

I just updated my website
so now all of my shows through October are showing. Wow! Boy I'm busy, almost every weekend is full!! I still have room for home or office parties though, so if you are in the Des Moines Area, let me know if you are interested in your very own art show in your living room! You invite a bunch of friends, serve wine and crackers, I bring the art jewelry. You get free jewelry as your hostess gift. The more you invite, the more I sell, and the more free jewelry you get.

My mercenary tendencies aside, home parties can really be fun, and a great way to spend an evening with your friends.

Ok, this post's pictures: all feature sterling silver wire. First one is a mystery jasper trapped in wire netting.

Blue Adventurine directly below is doing a fair impression of nautilus, which is what I was thinking of at the time.
Last is another in my series of wire and colored crystals, this time in a fun free form squiggly shape.

West Glen Tomorrow, and you can find my Jewelry at a new location!

Wow! it's been a busy few days! I've been gearing up for my very first West Glen farmer's Market tomorrow ( I should be more or less in front of the frame store) and I got a call from JoAnne at The Art Store.
you see they recently started to feature jewelry artists' work on a rotational basis, and they wanted me as one of the artist! (YEAH!) Originally my work wouldn't be in the store for another couple of weeks, but my case came available 2 weeks early. JoAnne wanted to know if I could bring my stuff in now, instead of 2 weeks. EEP!
I had to think about it... I've ordered new earrings cards specifically for my gallery representations, and I was going to order some new displays. I don't have the new cards yet, and I'd not placed the display order. They wanted me to come in Fri afternoon, which was less than 24 hours from the time of her call!!
After considering it, I decided I would try, warning Jo Anne that I might not be able to get a full display going yet, since it was such short notice.
I stayed up rather late picking out jewelry for the store, tagging it with the Art Store's codes, picking out the displays from what I had, without shorting my booth setup. I did a quick side trip to Hobby Lobby to get special back-drop fabric.
I'm very proud of myself, I got 58 pieces ready to go! So here is how my jewelry display looks: I am hoping to tweak it as I get the cards and possibly new displays in. Stop by and check it out... and of course, stop by tomorrow at West Glen 10-2pm and say Hi in person!

Getting ready for Farmer's Market at West Glen and the Big show downtown!

This pendant is made using a huge Chinese crystal and sterling wire. It's a lovely shade of pink, hard to tell in this photo!
This weekend I'll be at West Glen Farmer's Market
10-2pm. I'm really excited!! This will be the first time I've been at this farmer's market! I've heard really good things about it, so fingers are crossed for good weather and crowds and I can't wait! This is a busy week for me personally and for Des Moines in General. If you are in town, are you hitting the big downtown arts' festival? I hope to at some point, and I love the slogan this year! "get your art on"
I sooo want the t-shirt or the Bag!!

One of my favorite parts of the art festival is the Emerging Artist section, which features only Iowa artists. Lots of photography this year, which I find very interesting. It's good that the festival gives back to local artists this way! If you stop by there, you might as well hit what used to be called "the other art show" but now is called ArtFest Midwest. There is more Iowa talent at this show, it's in air-conditioning at the state fair grounds, and they have the best darn hot mini-chocolate chip cookies in the concession area. They also have shuttles running between this show and the Downtown one, and they are free! So Sat head out to the West Glen Farmer's Market, say hi to me, then hit the art shows and eat a cookie in my honor.


This lariat is made with fresh water pearls and sterling silver. it's 3 feet long, and can be worn in several different ways! Pearls go with everything!

Bowl in progress...

This is my Bowl in progress. I'll get a finished pic soon, I cooked it Thurs night, and it turned out great! this is the "inside part" where I did frit decoration. the flip side or "outside" is lovely blue streaky colors. the glass is in 96.

introducing the newest family members.......

aren't they cute? The top kitten is Kya, Jesscera's birthday present, and the bottom kitten is Kasanova, My birthday present. This picture was taken today, and they are 8 days old, and just opening their eyes! They won't join the family officially yet, as they still need mommie's tender loving care for at least 7 more weeks. We are looking at getting them in early August.. I can't wait!!! I'm sure that our other fur balls Jezzibel and Jupiter will love them, at least eventually. Originally we weren't going to get any more cats after Kisa passed away last year (Feb 2009) but it's been long enough, and when my friend Tammy posted pics of the kittens, Jesscera and I just had to have one.. or in the case two. Cats should always come in pairs. That way they don't get lonely! And it's kind of nice having another boy/girl pair. After they come home, we will get them fixed, as while I love kittens, 4 cats in the house is plenty. I'll post more pics as I get them.

busy replacing tags.. still...

I'm afraid most of this week has been cleaning, retaging and repacking jewelry and displays from the rain last weekend. I'm done with displays ( I was able to save them all, and no stinky icky mildew smells, yeah!) and about half way through the jewelry. I've had to replace EVERY earring and pendant card.. hopefully I'll get this finished tomorrow night. the upshot is I've not made any jewelry this week.. I've only set up 1 glass load, I made my 2ND bowl! yeah! I'll get a pic up soon. Here is the glass load from last weekend. Some of these turned out so great, I can't wait to wrap them! This one is my favorite.. it's got gold, pink, teal, green, and orange tones glowing inside, and light purple stripes on top in a clear coat. I don't think the pic does justice! Maybe I'll have time to wrap this this weekend after my show Sat (Art Store parking lot, 10-5pm ) If you are in the Des Moines Area, stop by!

I made the paper!!!!!!!

I'm so jazzed, I'm one of the 3 featured artists in the life section of the Des Moines Register today! you can see it here, at least for the next 30 days!

Not the best farmer's market ever, or how to turn a negative into a positive

Well Drat. It rained so hard this morning at Downtown Farmer's Market they actually canceled it. In the 6 years I've participated in farmer's Market, they have canceled it exactly once before to my knowledge. That was in 2008, when the downtown area was flooded by the Des Moines river. I got up at 5am in the morning, got to the market at 6am, set up from 6-7ish while being rained on, and then about 720am it started to REALLY rain. And it got Windy. Jerry and I spent the next 1-1/2 hours holding the tent town, and catching jewelry and my inventory got flung around by the wind. it's amazing how aerodynamic jewelry displays are. Those suckers can really rack up the hang time! Then the police came by and said to pack it up.. they were closing the market early because of the lighting. Did I mention the lighting?

Packing up early is all well and good.. except despite our best efforts we were soaked, my jewelry was soaked, the displays where soaked. Jerry and I were standing in about 4 inches of water ( I wrung water out of my soaks when we got home.. ugh!) as the street drains couldn't keep up with the water level.

So we got home wet, and discouraged. We brought in all the displays and jewelry and such and started to clean up and dry everything. Right now all my jewelry displays are laid out on my dining room table drying. Most jewelry displays are thick cardboard with something over them. I think a couple are past redemption, but most of them are drying nicely. My jewelry is spread out all over my studio floor, drying out. It's all OK, my jewelry is durable, but the hang tags are not. I'll probably spend most of the following week re-tagging most everything.

Worst issue is my tools. I always carry a nice selection of my tools, and they got soaked also. Tools and moisture do not mix.

Since I needed to dry them out I decided to make the best of a damp situation, and do a full on out tool maintenance session.

Most pliers will rust over time, and you sand down the rust, and then oil them to protect the metal. it's a good idea-- at least if you are a jewelry artist -- to periodically sand/steel wool your tools and then oil them. Especially as a wire wrapper, most of my pliers I've lightly sanded the edges down anyway, to reduce tool marks.

So now all of my pliers and a few of my hammers have been sanded down ( I use 1000 grit for tool cleaning, unless one of them is really bad) and had the joints oiled. Then I rub oil over all the metal surfaces of the tools, and then wipe most of it back off.

The 2 pendants pictured are fused glass and sterling wire.

Farmer's Market this Saturday!

Gearing up for farmer's market this weekend (7-12, downtown Des Moines, the BIG one!). I need to make more rings, and more magnets.. cause I have a coupon on magnets this Sat. only! You can check out my coupon at the Farmer's Market site (along with directions and other vendors.. if you haven't been before or for awhile, come down this weekend!)

With coupon in hand, you can either pick out a TOTALLY free magnet made by me, with fused glass, or you can get $10.00 off a purchase of $25.00 or more. This is sort of an experiment. I have maybe 50 magnets made up right now.... so I bunches of people show up with a coupon and either buys a magnet or uses the discount to buy something .. maybe one of my fused glass pendants, and then I can make more fuse glass pieces!!! Now that would be totally kewl... an excuse to make more glass. Well, ok, I guess I'm gonna do that anyway, but it would be good to have an excuse!! LOL

I haven't had earrings on the blog for a while....

First up, sterling silver sheet cut in vague moon type shapes, then hammered and bent every which way with pliers. Then polished liked crazy... these babies gleam!!
Next up, vintage crystals paired with vintage chandelier parts makes for a very dangle-ly, sparkly treat!
Last it's pearl time. Stick pearls combined with MOP flower shapes with more pearls as accents on them.

All three earrings have major dangle factor... they swing and sway under your ears!!

This Saturday is Downtown Farmer's Market . Stop by and say hi, I'm usually on 2ND street by Uncle Wendell's BBQ ( but not always... I go where they tell me to go!) See ya there!

More Pins....

I've been on a real pin kick the last few months. Here are 3 new copper pins.. 2 of them with sterling wire as an accent. The bottom pin has a blue lace agate attached to it. If you would like to see these in person, I'll be in Omaha this weekend at the CountrySide Art Show.