Proof that embracing our ugly side can be therapeutic

Today felt like a ride on a rollercoaster.

It all started when I couldn't fall asleep last night and spent a good hour and a half tossing and turning, thinking, over-thinking and stressing about my upcoming move. When I awoke this morning my brain was still in high gear and I felt incredibly anxious about all the details and the many MANY things I have to do in the coming month. Thankfully Dave, being the calm, patient person that he is, successfully talked me down from my ledge this afternoon and we worked out some of the issues concerning me. An ice cream outing with my sister helped also ;-) as well as visiting with my neighbors and holding Victoria, their ten month old daughter. Her beautiful smile and infectious giggle was enough to remind me to slow down and relax. To take things O N E S T E P at a time.

Another highly therapeutic activity I felt entitled to indulge in today - given my schizophrenic state of mind - was: embracing my crafty side. While relaxing in what I like to call my "garden room," (aka: where I have to quarantine my plants from the four legged beasts I co-exist with) I remembered that I had wanted to make a hanging planter to replace an ugly plastic hooked one I had (the kind plants are typically sold in.) So I marched into my studio, grabbed some copper wire, a plastic planter, and my costume jewelry junk beads and went to town, stringing and singing and feeling rather crafty and happy. While the result of my little "Arts and Crafts hour" is quite honestly pretty hideous, at least my new kitschy beaded planter is a decent alternative to - and a step up from - those hippie/grandma macramé plant hangers commonly discarded at thrift stores.




(Note to friends and family who frequent this blog: Fear not, you will not be receiving one of my beaded monstrosities for Christmas this year.)

Word of the Day: Sporadic

: occurring singly, or occasionally, or in scattered instances.

The two groupings of new work for Delaware and Chicago. They are practically almost finished now!

OK, I couldn't resist including this pic of my nephews that my dad passed on to me. Smiley little buggers - Jackson on the left and Carter on the right. Too cute!

Filing My Nails

Fortunately I've never been one of those girls that cares much about what my fingernails look like, because the occupation I've entered into virtually guarantees their appearance be ragged and torn. I'm pretty sure most people don't get too excited about having their nails sawed off, filed into, cut, torn, drilled, or otherwise damaged…

Exhibit A:

(and really this pic taken with my phone hardly does the damage justice - lucky for you)

…However for me, when my nails look awful, it's a good sign. It signals progress. I know that when they start to look nice and groomed I haven't been working in my studio nearly enough. They're a mess today. Not to mention the blistered, calloused skin on my palms as well. It makes me feel like a "rough-and-tumble" kind of gal, one who's not afraid to get dirty.

Yeah.

So anyway, as promised I have some studio pics to share… enjoy

My score from last week's thrift store hunt - all blondes.

Bench

Work Table

Drawing Table

…More pics tomorrow!

Productive weekend

This weekend was a very busy studio weekend for me and I was able to get a really good jump on the work I'm creating for two new galleries I've taken on: The Delaware Center for Contemporary Art (DCCA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (MCA).

The work is coming together quickly and efficiently for a couple of reasons. For one: it consists mostly of pieces I've made before, the beginning of a mini "production" line of sorts which I'm creating for venues such as these museum stores. In other words, the work will be different than the one-of-a-kinds I sell in the three Art jewelry galleries that represent me. It will allow me to make multiples and sell things that I repeatedly make such as hand and eye earrings.

And the second, and more important reason I believe it's all coming together quickly this time: I'm willing it to. I promised myself I would not get behind and I'm sticking to that. At this rate I'll even have the work done BEFORE the due dates I set for myself. I must say, it feels pretty darn good. My plans to move to Brooklyn in June are also encouraging me to move things along quickly so that I may concentrate on that as soon as possible.

In other news, Dave, (the Fabulous) surprised me with a very special gift:


A signed copy of the new Dresden dolls CD!! OMG, it's AMAZING. Even better than their debut in my opinion. Soooo good. Among my fav songs so far: Backstabber and Delilah. Check it out if you get a chance, cause it's so worth it.

It was a wonderful weekend indeed. Pics of my studio to follow shortly… stay tuned ;-)

Cats and Dog

Yesterday I spent the day/night in Saratoga dog-sitting. It was gorgeous outside, in the 70's, so Buster and I went on some long walks and I tried to take some pics on my camera phone of all the gorgeous blooms we encountered, but these are the only ones worth sharing…

Buster the Beagle! Such a cute old man. Boy, am I a sucker for that adorable little beagle-head-tilt-begging thing he does.

I'm in the process of training my cats to acquire similar skills of cute-ness and manipulation. Charlie (of course) has been making some progress…

Smudge, well… not so much.

He wins me over in other ways.

Midge

A few pics found…

The Hunt

Well, it's time to get back to it. I had a lovely weekend away from my studio and now I'm fully re-charged and ready to get back to barbie. While rummaging through my stash of dolls in search of the next set of eyes to carve out, I realized I'm getting quite low on my stock. Spring is indeed in the air, and cropping up amongst the crocuses and daffodils, forsythia and tulips, are my other favorite brightly colored objects… orange garage sale signs.

My Saturday routine was one I grew very fond of. I used to wake early, fix myself a glass of iced coffee to-go, head to Stewarts for a newspaper and pillage through the garage sale section, armed with my yellow highlighter and area maps for reference. After I established my route, it was off to Lox of Bagels and Moor in Glens Falls (BEST damn bagels. Period.) for an everything bagel with bacon scallion cream cheese. Then… I was READY.

I've always been a sucker for the sort of treasure hunting involved with garage-saling, but in order to be a successful hunter one must learn to master their environment as well as hone their hunting skills. For instance, the art of bargaining. It's a delicate art form, and certainly an important aspect of the process when on a mission for specific items such as these. When done correctly, however, it can be what makes the whole experience so rewarding.

Learning the natural environment of your prey is also key. I learned to recognize which neighborhoods were most likely to have barbie dolls in the best condition and in the largest quantities. It also became a good rule of thumb, that before even stopping the car, hot pink sighting was a must. No hot pink = no little girls. No little girls = no barbie dolls. So it was on to the next yellow highlighted garage sale ad on my list. No sense wasting time on ping pong paddles and lawn chairs, I was on a mission.

Some days were considered "slow days," where I would return home with only a handful of dolls, (and the occasional random non-barbie garage sale find - if I allowed myself time for such distractions) This was typically due to one of two things: misleading garage sale ads, ie: "lots of kids toys!" - only to find a handful of crusty stuffed animals and endless plastic knick-knacks. OR, just plain ol' bad luck.

But what made it all worthwhile were the GOOD Luck days. Sometimes I would come home with 25-30 barbies - a score - purchased for about a $1.00/ea or less! Or even better, a mixture of colors, years and styles and maybe a few ken dolls thrown in! The feeling of bringing all those dolls home, dumping them out on my studio floor and carefully assessing each dolls' valuable attributes while stripping them down to their birthday suits for cross-categorizing in their appropriate bins, well… I can only describe it as an intensely satisfying experience. The indulging of my inner child. The little girl in me who wished she could own all the barbies in the world, making her dream a reality.

sniff, sniff

… spring is indeed in the air, and I can once again smell those garage sales blooming amongst the flowers.

Completion

In Threes Brooch

Make-a-Face Brooch: Nadia

Happy Smiles Bracelet

Lavendar Eye Earrings

Think Pink Necklace

I thought I'd offer up the first peek of the newest work in the series, before I officially post the images on my website. I'm actually proud of how this grouping turned out in the end, and I hope Cervini Haas Gallery in Arizona is pleased with their first order.

More importantly, I feel like I can breathe again. I promised myself I would start in on my next group of work immediately so that I don't go crazy trying to meet my deadlines. It's so hard sometimes. As a wise friend of mine says: "Life gets in the way." It's probably best for me to keep the momentum going and I have a few new ideas I'd like to explore so that's a good sign. It's funny, I started this blog with my first entry talking about how I was feeling uninspired and questioning the future of my Plastic Body Series, and now here I am, feeling re-charged having this work behind me and ready to move forward with it. I honestly am not sure I know why or what the difference is in myself? All I know is, I like this feeling and I hope it sticks around a while.

A peek

A creative solution for not being able to afford a "real" jewelers bench: a computer table with sliding drawer used for keyboard, cut away and fitted with a scrap pouch for catching filings. Works wonderfully.

This is the pendant from an earlier post. I've been playing with it, setting it up in various ways to explore the possibility of making a choker with similar elements at some point.

How great are these shoes?! I have to find a use for them. Perhaps another leg bangle, this time with plastic shoes instead of sterling silver? Hmm, we'll see…

More images of the completed new work to follow shortly!

Calla

Pics of the newest addition to my garden room:

"Calla lilies were first imported from South Africa to America in the mid-nineteenth century. Meanings: sophistication, beauty."

Important Links

I wanted to share a very important website that has made a world of difference to me in terms of the business end of my art jewelry…

www.artbizcoach.com

It's Alyson B. Stanfield's website, an art coach. She has a FREE weekly "Art Marketing Action e-newsletter" full of incredible business advice for artists. It's really worth subscribing to. She also offers all sorts of classes, etc. so bookmark her site! I constantly read her blog as well:

www.artbizblog.com

Also, if you're a metalsmith and you don't know about this website, YOU SHOULD:

www.metalcyberspace.com

Yes you are Ken, who are you kidding?

Found this online and thought it was cute and sort of funny given that I literally make Ken into an accessory on a regular basis:


The new work is coming along and hopefully I'll have pics to share soon. The new Make-a-Face brooches are quite fun for me. It's been interesting to see them develop from where they began over a year ago as simply a few combined face parts:

To where they are now:

A bit more sophisticated I think.

Barbie and Ken castings

I found this while searching google images - I think they're hot and cold faucet handles?! They were from the Kohler website I believe - so wild. Not sure I like her hair though, I feel like it's too much. Maybe they could've tamed it a little? It's a bit stiff. haha

Now with more Gerd!

Here's a few more Gerd Rothmann pics, as promised:

jewelry for the heel


a very unique take on wedding rings


I love this bracelet


the "finger cap" I mentioned


fingerprint necklace