Looking Ahead...

Welcome 2013!  Clean slate, metaphorically speaking, right?  Clean work bench at any rate....new designs brewing in my brain, anxious to become reality.  Got a fabulous package of goodies from Becky Nunn of Nunn Design, to stock me with the very latest jewelry components from their soon-to-be-released 2013 catalog.  Yes, I am so happy to be a part of the 2013 Nunn Innovation Team!  Becky also sent me a PDF preview of the catalog and I drooled all over my keyboard.  So many lovely design elements!!  Many included with the 2013 stash she sent me.  Already been busy, effectively destroying my clean work surface in a creative frenzy.  I can't share photos of the new stuff yet, (I send the finished designs to Becky first and she promotes for us--SWEET) but I can tell you about my favorites so far...first off, the brass elements coming out for Nunn are FABULOUS and I've been cold connecting like mad (made a gorgeous cuff).  Deep bezels in many sizes (great for us mixed media, assemblage folks--I made two really cool pendants filled with this and that), tons of unique, detailed stampings, new clasps, closures, chains, findings, chatons, settings, bangles, and SO MUCH MORE.  I have included here some photos from the catalog of finished designs from the Innovation Team, including some of mine.  Becky has a great team and the photography for the catalog is to die for.  

So, get to the Nunn website and go crazy!  She offers wholesale accounts for designers and links to retail outlets that carry the products.  You won't be disappointed! 

Embarrassment of Riches...

I must say, I was feeling pretty down in the dumps these past weeks.  The holidays and hideous world events sort of sucked the life out of me.  Then, I wake up to wonderful virtual support.  First, a great comment on my blog, then, I find a favorite ring design of mine featured in Jewelry Making Daily, AND today MaryAnn Carroll featured my designs using her GORGEOUS enamel copper discs in her blog, Love My Art Jewelry.  If that isn't enough, this cold full moon is just overwhelming.  Thank you all so much.  I feel ready to sit down and create something to show my appreciation...something related to this moon, perhaps.  I'll keep you posted....

Holidays, Get Thee Behind Me!

I know that the holidays are a time for family, food, giving, receiving, and fellowship. They are also a time for stress and chaos, so I am glad to be on the other side of Christmas. Especially this year, so full of tragedy and pain for so many. I’m not sure our country will be able to truly celebrate this season for a long, long time.

 

So, we reflect, stiffen our spines, and move on. Searching for beauty in the madness, we must somehow energize our souls and replenish our spirits as best we can. Art, in it’s infinite forms, has always been a tonic to sooth my battered psych. A way to refresh my mind and bring inspiration when none seems possible. Art, and the ability to express myself through it, has saved my sanity on more than one occasion.

 

Yet, this time, this time we live in, weighs so heavily on me now. I am struggling to find the spark, to put my hands and heart to work again. The furious flurry of creative activity leading up to Christmas was exhilarating and joyous for me. From my hands I created thoughtful, beautiful gifts, and found myself exploring new designs and mediums with ease and inspiration. Not so now, and I am having a really tough time re-starting my “engine”.

 

I have commitments and deadlines and promises to keep. I have been so lucky and blessed to be chosen to continue as part of Becky Nunn’s 2013 Nunn Design Innovation Team. I have projects that will be published in the coming year, something that has never happened for me before working with Becky. I am so thankful (and a bit terrified!).

 

My goal is to try to begin as fresh as I can. Today, I attack my workspace to simply clear it and organize. If that is all I accomplish today, that’s fine. I hope that each day I will be a little clearer, hopefully a little lighter in spirit. I will not push, or stress myself right now, no matter how I long for that feeling—that magic when time blurs, hours fly, and suddenly you hold in your hands something entirely new and beautiful. It will come, I hope, soon.

 

I would like to hear from other artists…how you deal with times like this, when it seems impossible to see beyond the chaos. Please share, and I wish you all the very best in this coming year. Peace for us all….

 

 

Re-defining Art Jewelry

What is art jewelry?  What is fine jewelry?  Can inexpensive jewelry be considered "fine"?  Hmmmmm...There are many different "levels" in any art form.  With jewelry design, the terms are tricky and sometimes prickly.  I once had my work refered to as "costume jewelry" and it pissed me off, because for some reason I associated that those terms with cheap, mass produced jewelry.  I consider my work to be "art jewelry".  That being said, there are all sorts of other catagories--"fine jewelry" being at the top of the heap.  I consider fine jewelry anything made using precious metals and gemstones.  BUT, that doesn't mean there isn't a ton of mass produced, crappy fine jewelry out there--just visit WalMart and BEHOLD...

The reason I bring this up is because my work doesn't exactly fit into any category.  Sometimes I use precious metals, most time I do not.  Sometimes I use fine gemstones, most times I do not.  My goal is to create original, AFFORDABLE art jewelry with whatever materials strike my fancy.  If I make something using sterling or gold, I can assure you it is only because I was able to purchase said sterling or gold SUPER CHEAP.  Affordability is really important to me, probably becuase I have never been able to afford what is considered fine jewelry.  Luckily, I also don't really care for that stuff anyway.  I have always been attracted to the unusual, the pieces that are obviously designed and hand-crafted by an artist thinking outside the conventional jewelry box. 

So, I may use base metals or really inexpensive elements in my designs, but don't call me cheap!  The end result is always a singular design, well-crafted and carefully constructed.  I once was hesitant to use nickel silver or pewter in my work, worrying that it would "cheapen" the finished product.  STUPID!  I encourage everyone to explore working with these materials, and to come up with original designs that bely the inexpensive componants.  Bottom line, I want my work to be worn, to be purchased, to be enjoyed by as many people as possible.  Sure, I can make you something using only sterling silver or fine gold, but the cost (too me) outweighs any design benefit.  Plus, it somehow seems unseemly to be setting fake grass or coyote teeth in 14k gold....just saying...

There are so many innovative, inexpensive design elements out there for the picking that translate into personal, inspirational designs.  I am a mixed media fanatic, and there is no button, photograph or dried leaf safe from my resin-coated fingers, and don't get me started on bone, feathers and fur...It's all in the translation, the way you work with common elements to create something uncommon and beautiful.

So, hit your local Michael's Craft Store and dig through the bead section.  Then hit the scrap book section, then hit the floral department.  Then head for your local hardware store and bring home some copper pipe and a pipe cutter.  You will be amazed at what you can create if you take a big step outside that jewelry box...

These three rings were made using inexpensive elements and componants including base metal ring blanks, copper washers and pipe, etched brass discs, and faux flowers and grasses.

Dreams Become Reality

I'm always designing in my head.  No matter how busy I am, my thoughts inevitably turn to some sort of creative endeavor.  Sometimes being too busy to actually sit down and create can be a good thing.  This pendant, "Arbor Boy" is a good example.  I'd been imagining this pendant for weeks, going over every detail in my mind, but had no time to actually work on it until yesterday.  When I finally sat down to make it, the design flowed like water!

I created him from a tiny antique porcelain doll head set on an etched/heat treated copper "stage".  A hand made tree grows from his head, and below an antique sterling silver fork acts as roots, holding a French blown glass level.  Copper, brass and pewter gears accent. 

Arbor Boy represents my belief that we must think and live  "green" to restore balance to our planet.

So, don't be too impatient to create your next big idea/design.  Let it live and grow in your imagination for a bit, and the final result may be all the better for it.