A Wonderful Friend and Artist

Bonnie Johnson Wyatt is a preschool teacher with the patience of Job. This patience also appears in her wonderful baskets. She takes a deer antler and sees a basket, WOW.

Bonnie comes from a cultural heritage of hunting and enjoying the outdoors for all it is worth. I believe this is reflected in her work.



She is the only person that I work with that is interested in a creative pursuit, even though it is a completely different we can enjoy and encourage each other. I believe that unless you have that kind of support you are not near as motivated to continue.



She is currently making the most awesome napkin rings using some of the tips of the antlers.
Now we just need to get her an online presence. She lives on a beautiful piece of Kentucky land in a beautiful log home. She has so far resisted cable, dish or internet. Now I know to some this is insane but she has access to those things in other places. She is quite comfortable with her choices.

Some Recent Work

The above bracelets were not purchased at my last art fair. I think I like polka dots. I found a lime green t-shirt, I think I will keep that one. The white and black one also looks like it might be a keeper. I usually do not wear bracelets, but they tend to sell better than necklaces. When I try to figure out what to wear when I am trying to sell my jewelry, I struggle. I need to wear more of my own jewelry. I can not expect people to buy my jewelry if I don't think enough of it to wear gobs of it. The orange one is a bit of a push for me, although I do have some orange polka dot earrings. Now to make sure I have matching earrings and necklace to go with them. I guess I will need a couple of options since most shows are multiple days.

The above paragraph is a poor attempt at justifying me keeping some of my own jewelry instead of selling it. How did I do??

MHAG Art Show

The Mountain Heritage Guild of London KY put on it's first Art show in conjunction with the Redbud Bike Ride. I think all went well for both with the exception of the weather. Severe storms went through the area overnight but storms still came up suddenly throughout the day. There was lots of foot traffic at the Art show both from the race and from our local area. We had lots of variety in the artists, painters of all kinds, woodworkers, a copper artist, a folk artist, photographer and a wonderful basket maker. Bonnie Wyatt was my partner in crime and neighbor. The show was enjoyable because of her friendship. Her baskets are just unbelieveable. She did not sell as much as I thought she would. I have been in her shoes only it was a three day show. At least this one was very affordable and only one day. I think the more she gets her baskets out there the more they will sell.
I did better at this show than I have in the past but earrings were the biggest seller. I did sell a couple of key necklaces. I was very happy with my setup and could not have gotten that accomplished with out the help of my best friends. Barb, Vicki and Stacy all were up and at them at 6:00AM to help me setup. They were just marvelous. Barb went and got breakfast and Vicki delivered lunch to Bonnie and me. When it was time to pack up, Barb was at work but Vicki , Stacy, Evan and Zander were right there and it was packed and loaded in about a half an hour.
Again I have learned a lot from this show and next time I will just keep tweeking until I get it perfect.







This is one of Bonnie's baskets. it is really much prettier in person. One man in the guild had seen her work but thought for sure the baskets had to be made by a man. We got a big laugh out of that. Bonnie and I saw a lot of people that we work with at school. That was really nice that they came to support us and the other artists.

Beautiful Saturday Beads

I made a slew of beads yesterday. It was a beautiful day but I knew if I went outside and worked in the yard that I would not feel like making beads and I really need to get busy. My first show of the year is in one month. I really like this frit, but have struggled to find a base that I like it on. I think this might be it. It has some blue jean colors and some browns in it. Now to find a design that suits them. Since it is now spring, I thought I would try a bird bead. I am thinking now that she needs a nest. Maybe the two together would make a nice pendant. What do you think?I have been trying to find items that have a lower price point for art fairs. I think these may be one solution. Push pins I hope are still being used in this electronic age. I think these turned out pretty cute. I tried another Julie Nordine style focal. Hopefully I will get the hang of it soon. I am still not getting enough of the blue/purple effect that I would like.

Lucky Me

The other day I received a wonderful package in the mail. I was the lucky blogger from the Bead Soup Blog Party hop that commented on the blog Pretty Shiny Things. She had a 1000th blog celebration giveaway of a bracelet or earrings made from her Bead Soup Party beads. It was very hard to choose. I loved the way she designed the bracelet, but I don't wear bracelets very often, so I chose the earrings, which I will wear often. Her partner was Kate from Tropical Blonde. The earrings are the product of both women. Wonderfully light, with loads of color and movement. At this moment I am plotting what to wear with these new dangles. Marianna and Kate make a great team. I am such a lucky girl. The package came in a box with a bright wrapper and a very creative business card. If you wish to visit two very talented women's blogs and etsy stores just follow the above links.

This week I also was asked to make a bracelet and necklace for a friend's daughter for her birthday. This always makes me nervous because she gave me such latitude, with only the colors for direction. I hope she likes them. She is 32 but very young at heart. These colors are the ones from our middle school and high school. The necklace is something I really had not tried before. So I look forward to trying more like this. I think I may make similar pieces for the Art Fair in town in April and maybe even include some of the competing high school's colors. What do you think?

The Glass Bead Publication

The Glass Bead is a periodical that is published 4 times a year to members of the International Glass Bead Society. I received winter issue for 2011 the other day, and started to read it but laid it down unfinished. Yesterday I picked it up and much to my surprise there was a tutorial for Making Glass Utensil Handles, by Julie Nordine. This tutorial was not even mentioned on the cover. Well it so happens that she is one of the glass artists that I admire most for her style. I don't have any utensils to make but read the tutorial anyway. I took some of the information from the tutorial and made a focal bead yesterday. It pales in comparison to her work but I will wear it proudly until I get the chance one day to own a real Julie Nordine bead. I hope to take her technique and make it my own in some way. With this one article my membership dues was really worth my money.


The blueish purplish color is a silver glass called Psyche by Double Helix. Stop by Julie Nordine's web site if you get a chance http://www.creditriverartglass.com.

Portland Trip

A few weeks ago Danny and I visited my father and Karen in Portland for his 80th Birthday. As always they are wonderful hosts. We had a great time and it wasn't our celebration. We had a wonderful dinner at a very different Mexican restaurant with family and friends. It was great to see my cousin Jeanie, my god parents Barb and Dix and our good friend Robyn. My sister and her family and Karen's sons family were also there. We did not get to visit with them hardly at all due to a very long table. My father and Karen sat in the middle so they could visit with everyone. I think my father had a wonderful Birthday. The only bad part was my brother was unable to make it. Would have liked to see him.
As always Karen can find awesome stores in Portland. I of course had very little money. So these treasures were picked because they were cheap and useful. These buttons came from yarn stores and are going to make great clasps.





These are watch parts that we found in an awesome salvage store. I think with a little help they will make great earring components with my beads of course.









I found this little clasp for, get this, $1.50. I wish I had bought a couple of these. Too cute. Can't get to many unique clasps.






Then I found these silk ribbons that I think will maybe look good with my key beads or even woven in some chain. We will see.







Then as we are getting ready to go home, I find a sweet thank you note from Karen with these two beautiful clasps inside. There is nothing I like better than a leaf clasp and the ribbon looking one is just plain wonderful. Portland really does have some great shopping for the beady girl. Awesome trip. Thanks Dad and Karen for a wonderful trip. Thanks Dad for having a 80th Birthday.