It's been crazy busy lately. Either that or it's just taking me an awfully long time to get anything done. Actually I think it's a combination of the two. My chronic fatigue has kicked up big time in the last couple of weeks. I'm trying to scale back and conserve energy but, in the words of Oklahoma's Ado Annie, "I'm just a girl who can't say no!" Well, I'm working on it...getting better at it, but still a work in progress.One good side effect of working on conserving energy is that I've been able to make a few pieces of jewelry I really like. The process just takes me to another, more peaceful, place. I know that when I'm feeling overwhelmed, I just need to pick up some beads or clay and I'll feel better. Here are my latest creations:Barnacles Bangles and Necklace
Aztec Bracelet
One very exciting thing happened for me last week. I logged in to my email and checked out the latest edition of Beading Daily and, lo and behold, there I was! A while ago I had sent in a response to a request for music inspired jewelry pieces. My friend Mary and I had designed and made pendants for the 60+ members of our choir. She had shown me her design for a treble clef pin and I had the idea of attaching two treble clefs, reversing the orientation, and then we had SS for our phenomenal women's choir, Shout Sister. We are led by the very talented Juno award winner Georgette Fry. The selection of music is quite meaningful and special, and when our voices come together we seem to transcend the daily grind and all things seem possible. Here is an example of the pendant and earrings I made myself:
This is a pretty busy week, so I probably won't get a chance to create much. Of course, now that I have my computer back, I am also spending far too much time on it.
I have a few ideas clanking around in my head. On the weekend I couldn't sleep one night, so I got up and sketched out some ideas for polymer toggles. I conditioned the clay, so now I just need to set aside some time to try them out.
My best ideas, however, seem to come while flying along on the 401. It was a beautiful drive back from Kingston today. The sun was shining, some Spanish guitar was playing on the car stereo, and visions of polymer clay danced in my head. I have a cheap watch that I really like. It is a cuff style made of engraved coppery colour rectangles. Every time I look at it I think about making a polymer clay tile bracelet in a similar style. Well the rest of the idea has gelled, so I best get a sketch made up before I lose it.
The latest idea this evening came from an alchemy bid on some dangly circle earrings I was preparing for ETSY. By the time I had completed the sketch to send with my bid, the bid had closed. I got a good idea out of it anyhow. I'm finding that happens a lot. I prepare a bid for someone's request and, whether or not my bid is successful, the potential customer has inspired a new idea. I hadn't anticipated that side benefit.
I happened upon a new artisan show in Ottawa next month. On Sunday I just found it by chance, and the deadline for applications is Thursday. Thankfully I already had some photos prepared from other applications so I was able to express it yesterday. If I get in that will be my first show. I'm looking forward to finding out if people who are in the market for artisan jewelry will actually buy mine. On Etsy and Icraft finding me is like finding a needle in a haystack so, like many, I have had very few sales there. I have made some sales to friends and acquaintances, but not enough to be confident that I can really make a go of this. I get a great many admirers, but not so many buyers. Are they just being polite, or will they actually remember me and make a purchase when they are looking for a gift or accessory? I figure the craft and art shows should give me a better idea of what I am doing right and what I need to improve.
