Dear Hoarders.....

You know those beautiful shabby chic studios with a place for everything and everything in it's place? Where the walls are painted a pleasing shade and tabletops are cleared, just waiting for new trinkets to be created? Mine is not one of them. Which would suck less if I didn't have the fabulous Sherry and John Petersik from Young House Love (this is the link to the blog where they crashed our house!) actually come in and give amazingly clever ideas to de-clutter and re-design the space. (white washed walls are coming any minute guys I swear!) My friend Maryellen's studio is what my studio wants to be when it grows up:









Maryellen's space is clean, inviting, organized and chock full of beautifully created pieces. Now for my space.....

This here is the room where the pool table lives. Memories of raucous pool games long in the past, it's now the land of the misfit pieces where various necklaces and earrings go to die.
Note the orange sticking out by the bottom right hand corner. It's a bulk box of Ramen noodles. Um...doesn't everybody have a bulk box of Ramen in their studio? My campaign to find the pool table a new home where it's owners will actually use it for it's intended purpose and it can be happy is so far unsuccessful. (we can do this the easy way....or the hard way...it's your choice husband:)
Please come along and visit my quaint little space upstairs or as it's called in every other house...the attic:

Ah yes....this is where the magic happens. This is where I go to torch things because everyone knows that you should keep your torch in a room surround by untreated wood. This room is uninsulated as well so there are about 2 months out of the year that it's comfortable to solder. The other months can find me sitting Rapunzel like in my tower either sweating buckets or bundled up in a winter coat shivering. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I understand how lucky I am to have any space to work and a husband that doesn't complain about all the crap....I mean gorgeous pieces in the making lying around everywhere. I am just hoping that by sharing these photos with you I will somehow shame myself into cleaning, organizing and making a pretty, pretty grown up studio which I can be proud of.

These are the people in my neighborhood....

About once a week I get fed up with the hermit-like existence of working at home with only the latest book from audible.com to keep me company (right now it's Andrew Morton's biography of Angelina Jolie which is disturbingly addictive). When cabin fever becomes unbearable I make the trek to Strawberry Fields for friendship, laughs and caramel macchiatos. At my great friend Deanna's flower and finds shop I have my own little desk where I can sit and create and visit with all the people that come through the store. It often feels like our own little Mr. Roger's world with people ranging from the editor-in-chief of Richmond Magazine to the man that cleans the windows.
Here are some pictures from yesterday:

This is Wendy Umanoff the rock star merchandiser and design stylist that works with Deanna to make the shop look so gorgeous.


This is the owner (and my friend Deanna), artist and floral designer Theresa Wizard and Maggie the mail lady who's golden doodle often has playdates with my favorite golden doodle Marvin!












This is me faking work while Deanna takes a picture! (convincing...no?) I love having this place to go to when I am fed up with the hours of alone time. I may not get as much jewelry making done as I would like (that caramel macchiato isn't going to drink itself!) but it's a great way to connect with friends and feel like I am part of a community!

Going back to where it all began....

When I first began making jewelry I was a flight attendant in a small town in Wyandotte, Michigan in the Detroit suburbs. There was a lot of sitting around and waiting to get assigned a trip as what the airlines call a "reserve" flight attendant and I was bored. I decided I wanted to try my hand at jewelry and as the only place to get supplies was a local Micheal's with a very teeny jewelry making section, I got the basic tools there and then headed downtown to a couple of antique shops armed with my imagination and a little cash. The first thing I noticed were the rosaries. This being a large Catholic community there were a ton and I figured if I said novena before using them it would be ok to use the beautiful chains of beads to begin learning how to make pretty jewelry. Along the way I would pick up rhinestone pins, old watches, military buttons etc. and add them to the jewelry not really knowing what I was going to do with them. Cut to today. Searching for inspiration I looked at the pile of of odds and ends I have been collecting over the years and decided to make some one of a kind, artsy pieces. This is what I ended up with. It was a blast!

Bibbity, Bobbity, Boo

With my first upcoming event of the year looming, a trunk show at the fabulous Ciao of Carytown, I am staring at piles of sparkly bits and pieces foraged from thrift stores and antique shops over the course of last months travels (Vermont, California and Rochester, NY) and waiting for inspiration to hit.

When I am stuck in a creative vacuum I turn to a few tried and true sources to spark my imagination. As you can see in the upper right corner, there is a pile of Belle Amour Jewelry back issues. I have such gratitude for the artists that publish in this journal and allow their work to inspire others. Through Belle Amour I have also had the great pleasure of learning about and then meeting some of my favorite jewelry artists such as Richard Salley and Stephanie Lee.
Googling my favorite eras in jewelry can also provide ideas about color combinations and design, my favorite being the Victorian era. Here are a few shots of my kitchen table right now and what I will be staring at and creating from for the rest of the night:

For those of you that were brought up Catholic as was I (though a little lapsed these days), yes those are rosaries and just so you know I say a novena to St. Theresa before I use them so it's all good!

The thrill of the hunt

One of my great pleasures in jewelry design is going in search of odds and ends to create one of a kind pieces. On a recent trip to California my husband and I stopped in small antique store on the way to hike at Joshua Tree National Forest. It was on the side of a long stretch of road winding through a very small dessert town and to be honest I didn't have much hope for finding much in the way of treasures. Eric, on the other hand, started talking to the very nice owner and she went into the back and bustled out with a box of sterling silver antique spoons. I was trying not to show how excited I was while negotiating the price, but inside I was freaking out. She gave us a great price and I about cleaned her out. I can't wait make the gorgeous pieces into beautiful spoon bracelets. (inspired by Stephanie Lee)

Credit where credit is due....

People have been making jewelry since the beginning of time. Since the first cave person saw a red berry, thought it neat and dangled it from their ear, we have been inspired by others to create and imitate. I have always believed that there are no new ideas, only new interpretations of old ones and yes, I have felt the sting of getting knocked off with no acknowledgement of being an inspiration. You have two choices in that instance, you can be a pissy jack- nog threatening law suits and hissing at fellow jewelry designers at shows, or just come up with new ideas. I chose the latter. (and have met those who have chosen the former. hating makes you age!) I have been inspired by SO many other artists, I learn from them in classes and see fabulous examples of work that they are generous enough to share in magazines and online. Here are a few of my favorite people:

Richard Salley (holy crap! a genius in found object jewelry and all around cool guy)

Stephanie Lee (she is a rock star in jewelry, in writing, in painting....etc.)

The Victorian Era (in general)

My husband (ridiculously great ideas on what direction in design I should take when stuck)

Every customer who has suggested tweaks to jewelry

Lara Gibson (genius use of color)

Thomas Mann

Chan Luu (the mother of contemporary crocheted/hippy-chic/bo-ho designs)

...and countless others! You will never see a post or picture in my blog that does not bow down and kiss the feet of people who have inspired me in the design of a piece. Check back tomorrow for some earrings that I totally loved making inspired by the front page of a fab mag....

K

p.s. When I can figure out how to link directly to the websites of my inspirational gurus I will do so!

Aim Low (or New's Year Resolutions for 2011)

In honor of the New Year I am going to create a gentle, kinder and flexible list of resolutions:

1. Lower my expectations:

I was hyper ambitious this year in regards to my show expectations and nearly drove myself and loved ones of the proverbial cliff by freaking out over having enough inventory, the right kind of inventory and a kick ass display. In the end it was the smaller, indie-vibe shows that rocked for me and inevitably everyone ended up wanting whatever I had made the least of. (girl plans, Gods laugh) I will not mention the HUGE show I got into where the promoters promised me a great first building spot (We are SO excited to have you! Of COURSE we'll take care of you, you fabulous local girl!!!) and then stuck me in an small dark corner with no Internet capability with which to run credit cards on my pricey system that I set up specifically for the show. (Nobody puts KSHO in the corner)In the end? Wasn't. Worth. It.

2. Work out.

I am not saying everyday...wouldn't want to fail before I started, but my gym membership needs to be more than a generous donation to the kind folks at American Family Fitness.

3. Keep my website updated with fresh designs that are actually for sale and update my blog.

After becoming addicted to a couple of blogs and checking day after day for new updates I realize the importance of keeping up with this for anyone that's interested in the minutiae of my day to day life.

4. Learning, learning and more learning.

You never know what classes will spark inspirations for new designs. I have a tool making class, a PMC class and a plaster class lined up in the next couple of weeks.

5. And for number 5?.....drumroll please....(I never said I would have 10!) I want to have my designs in 5 new stores. I may already be one down with an amazing store on Catalina Island, Ca. that I visited on vaca this past week. (um....I worked so I can write it off...right?)

Happy Belated New Years...I will now honor #2!