TOUR SEKY Appalachian Craft Fair

I have been working feverishly for this one day event on Saturday, June 30, 2012.  I never seem to get everything done that I envision.  One thing that worries me is that I have not heard anything from the organizers since I sent in my application, but then I tend to live in a vacumn sometimes.  Hoping for a good turnout, especially since it is so HOT right now.  It has been over 100 deg for several days now.  This show is inside the Rural Center for Development in Somerset, thank goodness.  Here are a few of the new pieces that I have made: 

 

Dogwood Blossom Necklace

 

                                                              Antique Heart Necklace

                                                                    New Bracelet Style

                                                               I love this new glass.

                                               Inspired by an outfit my daughter was wearing.

                                 This is etched and I love the olive green and ivory combination.

Let me know what you think.

6th Bead Soup Blog Party

My Partner for the event is:

Cory Celaya, Art With Moxie

I am so excited to have such a talented artist as my partner.  Check out her blog. This is the third Bead Soup Blog Party that I have participated in and they are such fun.  My reveal date is 7/28 so I better get hopping, beads go out on 7/2/12.  

State Conference for Teachers Sorority

Just got through with a 2 day show at a local hotel.  It really was not what I was expecting.  Sometimes you just have to live and learn. I sold everything I was going to sell in the first 10 minutes of the show. Some of the other artists did well but my location in the room was not the best.  The room being overcrowded did not help either.  This type venue may not be for me although teachers have been my best customers.

This is a necklace that I have made as a gift.  I really love it, I hope it is what she had envisioned.

I may make another one of these for me.  I enjoy the bubbles that the brass shavings make in the beads.  I have a pair of earrings out of these beads and wear them a lot.


Sorry I have been neglectful in posting.  I just get overwhelmed at times.  Trying to plan what shows to do this year and I have applied to the Kentucky Crafted program this year which requires a fair amount of effort,  I hope it will be worth it. 

Studio Revamp

Torch, kiln and concentrators

New bead bench, the bead racks that my husband made to hold the plastic bead boxes, fit perfectly under the new bench.

Old bench, new metal bench.

A picture from the doorway. This really is a wonderful space and I never get tired of it. I really am so lucky. I have a very supportive husband that has made this new space possible. So many lampwork artists have to deal with weather when making beads and I have both heat and air conditioning.

I Love Key Necklaces

I thought I would post
all of the pictures in one spot. A year in Keys.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I know (as my son in South Korea reminded me) that I have been absent for the last two months. In my defense, a lot has been going on, mostly positive. I have been very busy with jewelry commitments. I decided to participate in the Sheltowee Art Fair in early November. I did horrible last year, but have learned a lot since then and decided to give it another go. Well, it went much better and gave me a renewed sense of purpose and confidence. Thanks to all that visited me there.

First we bit the bullet and bought a tent. I do think it made a difference.We also added more lighting. I Think we may even add some more, made a big difference. I Think we may also add one more banner with some more color.

This is a two day show (Saturday and Sunday) Danny helped me set up on Friday and sell on Saturday. We were fairly busy on Saturday so I thought Sunday would be calmer. Wrong, and I gave Danny a break and he just came to help me tear down. I was extremely busy and felt like I could not devote enough time to everyone that stopped. One big surprise was my zipper pulls they really sold well. Everyone was wanting them for stocking stuffers. There were not as many artists as usual at this event which was a little disappointing, hopefully next year artists will come back, the more the merrier. Here are a few pieces that I made for this show:


After that show was over the marathon began. The local guild, Mountain Heritage Artisans, had a awesome opportunity to open a holiday shop in downtown London. We were offered a building that needed a whole lot of work. Everyone pitched in and we were down to the last few days and the roof litterly fell in with a hard rain. We moved everything and started over down a block. Actually some things happen for a reason, this ended up a better location. This venture took a lot of my time but was well worth it. We were open every Friday and Saturday in December through Christmas Eve. This venture netted several custom orders and I loved the challenge. I got to demonstrate on one Saturday for 3 hours and loved it. With this exposure I was asked to make some custom pieces and I love custom orders. They usually force me to think outside of my comfort zone and that can lead to some new discoveries. Some of the custom work that people wanted for Christmas were:
This is a pile of beads before etching and prior to assembly. I absolutely loved them unetched and even etched.



I was so pleased how these turned out. I hope the the individuals that received them as gifts were as pleased.

I wish to thank all of my family and friends for their support in this endeavor, I could not do it with out all of you and I am enjoying every busy minute.

Halloween Ghosts

Halloween is my nother daughter 's favorite holiday. Last year I made her this bracelet and she would not even give it back to me to adjust the size until this year and then really didn't want to. So while I had it in my possession I took this picture. This year she helped me figure out my new phone, so I made her some ghost earrings to match. I was pretty pleased with both so I made myself a very similar bracelet and earrings. Of course I will only get to wear them a couple of times before it is time to put them away until next year.

I know it has been awhile since my last post, but that doesn't mean I have not been busy. London, KY's claim to fame is the Chicken festival. I usually avoid it like the plague. Well long story short, I had a booth this year in the Mountain Heritage Artisan Guild's tent. I was not expecting much, since most of the crowd is into blow up machine guns and such. I was pleasantly surprised, my husband was really successful on Saturday and Sunday in the sales department. Thursday and Friday were definitely very slow and miserable. Would I do it again, probably.

Back in the summer at the Gathering I purchased some metal clay powder. I purchased one pkg each Bronze, Brass and Copper. I have just now gotten to play with the first packet. I tried the bronze first, since it supposedly is the most forgiving. It is a long process. Wednesday after work I mixed up the clay and cut my pieces. I put them into the dehydrator until Friday after work. Then I put them in my kiln and did the first firing on a shelf to burn off the binder. Saturday morning, I took them out, they looked like charcoal briquets. I put them in coconut charcoal in a stainless steel pan and back in the kiln they went. They were in the kiln from 9am and were finally finished at 10pm. I opened the kiln and finally got to see them Sunday morning. We still didn't have a product that looked like metal. I put them in a pickle solution for awhile and then into the tumbler with stainless steel shot and water and dish soap. They tumbled all day, and Wa-la, bright shinny metal. I am very pleased and can't wait to try the other two metals.