shoes and such

i've found a few new pairs of fun shoes! hope you like them! the second pair is my fave!



remember back when i complained about nicole richey and her new line of jewelry? well, here it is! wow! i've always loved it when people use themselves as their model. just kidding!



things on this end are growing quickly. faster than i could have imagined. less than a month to go!


we had a lovely christmas here with debby, larry, and matt. hope everyone else had a greta day too! now that it is over we are trying to figure out what to do for new year's. it will probably be a quiet night, as most of our nights are nowadays.


my friend kate had her baby, a little boy named max! one day he was inside, and the next he was outside! we were super happy to have her and max over for christmas eve dinner. welcome, max thomas!




not much jewelry going on due to the carpal tunnel issues i am experiencing with pregnancy. i am working on one thing right now, but it is a gift, so i'll post a pic later when i've given it! i must say that the cortisone shots i got a few weeks ago have been so helpful and i am sleeping normally without any hand pain or hands falling asleep at night. i think the combination of cortisone and lots of acupuncture has really helped alot.

best wishes to everyone for a most delightful, inspiring, and fruitful new year!

fermelenge!

brrrr!

people, it has been a cold day! we are all huddled up inside the house, covered in blankies. steve, the cat, even has his blankie on!

penland turned out to be an intense experience. Amy and i had some great students who made fantastic work. each of the students developed their own jewelry style, which was fabulous and exciting to see. really, i was truly blessed to meet some wonderful people, and reconnect with others i already knew were great. i am glad to be home, back working some in my safe studio here in asheville, though.

now i am just filling some orders i have gotten from The Artful Home catalog. i had 2 pieces for sale in the catalog, and it is exciting to have people order my work in that manner! The artful home features all handmade work, both on the website and in the catalog, so if you are looking for some quality handmade gifts, i suggest you check it out.




i also am super excited that i have been accepted into the Klimt Community, an online exhibition space and community. I have long admired this website, and actually never thought i'd be a part of it. well, i will be shortly, as soon as i get my act together and send them all the necessary info and pics. check it out in a couple of weeks. i'll remind you.

i also discovered a new jewelry book that i am super excited about. My new friend Mary Hallam Pearse introduced me to this book, and i came home and ordered it right away. it arrived this afternoon. it is called The Fat booty of Madness, and it features many jewelry artists from all over the world. it a fantastic book for eye candy, ideas, laughs...i just love it! charon kransen sells it for $75 + shipping.



i am reading barack obama's autobiography, Dreams From My Father. I highly recommend this book, as it reads like a novel and also is so informative. Wht a great guy our newest president is! i am thrilled to learn more about his fascinating life. can you still believe it? i am so proud of us for voting him in, finally. it feels good to be proud of something our country has done when i have been embarrassed for so long.



lastly, check out this toilet. it is a tree toilet for camping. how lovely.



fermelenge

almost forgot!

wow, i guess today has been overwhelming with the traveling and all because i forgot to say what happened yesterday and the day before!

wednesday afternoon i got a call from dana moore at penland school of crafts, asking if i was interested in filling in as the metals instructor for fall concentration. this is an 8 week class. i have a lot going on. i said i would be happy to help in some way but that i could not teach the whole time.

dana asked about amy tavern, my studio mate and friend, and i said, well, she's sitting right here next to me! so the 2 of them talked, then amy and i talked, and we figured out that amy would take over the first part of the class, and i will take over the 2nd part of the class. 4 weeks and 4 weeks. wow.

so yesterday we went up and met the class and talked about their expectations and introduced ourselves and whatnot...and now...this fall is set on a different course! how exciting for both amy and me, and i hope exciting for the students! amy and i are both super excited to be able to be up at penland!

i will commute some of my time there, so i can come home and be with jamie. i also have a lot of other work to get done during that time as well, for 3rd Ward Jewelry in Milwaukee and for DeNovo in Palo Alto. not to mention working on my new book!

so, in a couple of weeks i will get to be part of my 2nd fall concentration as an instructor at penland! yee-haw! penland has been such a great place for me, and i look forward to the peace it brings. i think amy and i will make a great teaching team!

boise day 1

hey all,

i arrived safely in boise. had a great lunch with 2 of the ladys from my class whom i remember from being her 2 1/2 years ago. super nice people!

they dropped me off at my hotel so i could chill for the afternoon. i am super glad to have this afternoon to do nothing, as i was up at 4:45 this morning and will be up til 11 or so NC time. my normal bedtime is 10pm, so it is late for me to stay up past that, and i have to teach all day tomorrow. so this afternoon i have laid about in my kick ass motel!

i am staying in the Modern Hotel. it is an old motel that has been redone mid-century modern style. fabulous! the room is simple and luxurious, with all mid-century repro furnishings, a delightful waterfall shower that come right out of the ceiling, aveda hair products, a flat screen tv and an ipod docking station. needless to say i have already been quietly rocking out to some "Om Shanti Om." AND i get internet access from my bed! sweet!



the only negative about being here so far is that i am gonna miss the debate. dammit! but i am sure i will find out if there is anything good said. this election has gotten me riled up, people, riled up. to the point where i honestly feel that if you plan on voting for mccain and palin, you are not bothering to really think about the future of this country, and i have lost respect for you. seriously. i mean, did you even see ms. palin talk about the proximity of russia to alaska and what that means to her foreign policy experience? puh-leeese!

so, tonight i give my lecture, which is just a slide show about me and my work. then tomorrow we begin making our hinged lockets!

fermelenge!

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we went to the mountain state fair on friday evening. jamie had never been before. i'm never one for the rides, due to motion sickness, but we did go on the ferris wheel. we also went to the petting zoo, where we saw this camel. i got to touch his face! he was a very nice camel, unlike all the ones i have met in real life before, who were mean and liked to bite. we had a good time looking around and people watching and such.



we decided to paint one wall in the baby's room orange. looking good. jamie did a quick paint job on it this afternoon. i am not a huge fan of the baby pastel colors, so we aren't having any of that. just making the room a nice place for us to hang out and for the baby to sleep and play. should be cool when we're done!



i've been working on a group of new work which i will send to Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusets for their Mid-Century jewelry show that opens in October. here are some pieces i made last week that i really like!



i found this website that is interesting: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government. They have compiled a list of the 20 worst congressmen-- very interesting, shocking, and disappointing. i am getting worn down by the lies, the twisting of the truth, and by the general american public who is willing to believe all the lies as well. sigh.

fermelenge

and time passes still

namaste!

i read this interesting article about the indian vogue today. check it. below is a pic of the photo shoot.




i ran across this most colorful picture on somebody's blog one night. i find it interesting because i, too, have been learning how to place colors next to each other. there are many ways to approach this, and it is fascinating and fun!




here's a fun shot, too...stolen from myspace. cuteness!




things in the jewelry world are moving along at a snail's pace. this is my year of rejection. i got rejected monday from an online exhibition. sigh. it makes me nervous to apply to other things and even get my hopes a little bit up. but if i stop trying, then i have no chance at all. i think my new work is really great, but i need it to DO things for me. like...get me into the smithsonian craft show again! like...make me money! compliments are great, but they sure don't pay the bills. if i could get into the smithsonian show, then i wouldn't have to do any other shows for the rest of the 2009 year and i could chill making jewelry and staying home with the baby. keep your fingers crossed for me. here's a pic of my new work, taken by stuart o'shields.




on the other side of things, i have signed another contract with lark books. this will be my 4th book with lark, and i am excited for the opportunity. the tentative title is "the jeweler's bench reference". it always changes, and i don't have much control over it. i do, however, have more control over how this book looks and how the content is presented than i have before. i am super excited to be working with my editor, marthe levan again...as well as the best art director at lark (in my opinion!!) kathy holmes. i am very, very lucky to get to work with these two women, as together we three are going to make a fabulous book! and perhaps after much time passes, we can use the royalties for a college fund for little stirling.

today we are at 19.5 weeks. almost halfway there!

that's about it for now.
fermelenge

deaths and birth

i've been devouring a most excellent book called "animal's people" by indra sinha. it is a fictional account of modern day survivors of the bhopal disaster from 1984. for those of you who are unfamiliar with this disaster, it occurred in central india, in the town of bhopal, where Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) had a pesticide manufacturing plant. The people of bhopal ironically were led to believe the factory made medicines. one night in 1984, the plant malfunctioned (rumor has it that a disgruntled employee possibly began the disaster) and poisonous gas filled the city of bhopal, killing 22,000 people in their sleep. the gas burned people's eyes, lungs, throats, skin. many people simply dropped dead immediately, while others suffered months & years of painful dying. the employees simply abandoned the plant, no clean up has ever been performed, and the chemicals to this day sit in piles in the decaying factory, filling the ground water with poison and maintaining generations of physical disorders and malformities for the people of bhopal. Dow Chemical AKA Union Carbide has avoided court for over 20 years and has not been required to pay for medical care or retribution in any way, except for a measly $500 for some of the survivors.


currently, there is a fast in Delhi to protest this, hopefully to call the indian gov't to action to hold accountable the executives of dow/union carbide. the people who are protesting walked on foot over 800 miles from Bhopal to Delhi for the protest. many people have been beaten and jailed during this time.

you can sign a petition and send a fax to the indian gov't here. it only takes a sec, and why not? you can also make a donation to the survivors here.

in lighter news, i finished my cufflinks for the cufflink show at Heidi Lowe Gallery in rehoboth beach, de. these are my lime candy cufflinks.last but not least, yesterday began the 1st day of my 13th week of pregnancy! the baby is due january 24th. so far all is going great, except i feel like crap most of the time. it is getting better, but not totally better just yet. jamie and i are excited for this next new part of our lives!

fermelenge, mera dosti!

yes, it's been awhile

jamie has been after me to post a blog. i don't know what the problem is, but i have just not been in the mood! but, here goes!

we went to virginia beach to do a craft show a few weeks ago. in the past i have done well and even won awards at this show. this year, it was so miserable that i will not go back again. although it is a nice venue, the people ( as you can see below) are not my customers. this year i truly felt the judges were not qualified as well. i was shocked at some of the items they picked for the substantial cash awards. i am a craft fair craft snob, but i feel this would make me an excellent juror!


i have been making some new things that go with my stone jewelry. super fun! i chopped up a bunch of quartz crystal recently and made 3 brooches from them. i also am in a bracelet show in milwaukee at 3rd Ward Jewelry...here are some bracelets for that.



this is the bracelet i made to donate to Penland School of Craft's annual auction. hope it sells!



we went camping again last weekend and again it was great. nice to be able to get in the water from your campsite. we ran into our friend brenda while we weer boating out to the campsite. she was in her kayak! what a surprise! i had fun swimming over to her promontory and chatting with her. claire and julian came out as well, and it was fun to hang with them.

jamie has been playing his guitar and learning songs. he's doing great. he's out on the porch as we speak, singing his sweet heart out.

i thought i might start adding a new feature to the blog. an intermittent toilet discussion! so, here is my 1st one. this is a hybrid toilet from india. it was in my guesthouse in Bhuj. i say hybrid, because it is designed basically like a western toilet, but with no seat. however, it has the footrests like indian squatty toilets. is a person supposed to climb up on the toilet to stand on the foot rests? or does one sit on the footrests, western style? i hovered. furthermore, to flush this toilet, you filled the little cup with water from the spigot, and threw it down the toilet. this is the typical indian way to flush. i am not sure what the large bucket is for, i used it to wash my clothes. often it would be full of water, and you could just dip your smaller bucket into it for flushing/wiping. this was a nice bathroom; i especially liked the green color of the toilet.

well, that's it for today.
hope everyone is doing great!
fermelenge!

mostly about some aminals, but also about some jewelry.

we saw this across the street a few weeks ago. it was a very exciting, yet friendly chase!

at the same time, we had our neighbor's cat, peaches, on our porch, as usual. we have had some very strong winds recently, very windy. the wind came and blew the cushion over onto peaches. oh well, we just left her that way. she gets our dogs too excited and we do not encourage her presence at our house anyway. i like to spray her with the hose.

we went to chapel hill last weekend because i had a class to teach for the NC Society of Goldsmiths. It was a super fun class, and my students were great! we stayed with jamie's mom and jamie got to fish all weekend in the lake behind her house. lots of catfish! i caught one too.

jamie's mom, debby, has 4 cats. she got 2 of them at the same time and named them waylon and willie. both are orange. waylon is slim with a nice long tail, and willie...well, willie is fat as shit. debby says it is because he has some disorder, that he eats the same amount as everyone else in the house. i loved his fat self, i wanted to hug him and pet him all the time we were there. watching him run was one of the most genuinely funny things i have seen in a long time. apparently this happens to orange cats the most. interesting.

these are from the work i am sending to the Shaw Gallery for the Pop Culture show. i am so excited about this work. i really spent some time making this, thinking things through, and working in a way differently than normal because i was following a theme.

"I Want To Be Just Like Her!" (look closely) "Gotta Love the Gossip!" (britney spears musical box, it plays a song when you press a button! ) "Exchangeable Husband & Wife Pendant" (you can exchange boxes in the carriage to trade out.)

i will be sending these off to sam shaw on monday! hope he likes them!

i also realized that i have a craft show coming right up. i will be in virginia beach the 2nd weekend of june, and i have been making things bigger and more expensive than i imagine people will want at the craft show, so i need to get my arse in gear and make some craft show jewelry. here is my 1st one...i tried to mix some of the stone stuff i have been doing with some production design. turned out well, i think.


that's about it for today. i'm trying to get back in the blogging mood. it comes, and it goes.

blue one

i just wanted to get this up, the blue and white necklace...modeled by ms molly dingledine.



we are off to vote. i will leave you guessing who we are voting for. *sigh* i frankly am embarrassed for both of them. but the worst thing i have heard so far is the idea of repealing the gas tax for the summer. which is a MOOT ISSUE, seeing as neither of them will be president this summer. so stupid. and shouldn't we be focusing on driving less, coming up with alternative mass transportation methods instead of just saving a small amount of money?

have a great day!!!

randoms

well, this weekend was spent in a large part on the computer. i've been re-doing my website....again! i am liking it. i still have a long way to go...as usual, but i think it is streamlined. i can't seem to pare down on the images, though. have a look and tell me if i am just giving too much information, or tell me if you like to see all the pics. it would be helpful to get some feedback. thanks! here is a pic of a brooch you might not have seen, but one i like very much.



in the last issue of american craft magazine, there were some handmade dresses that i loved! i thought i would repost the pics for you. these are RISD students' work...RISD turns out some creative and talented people! see more from RISD online here. (that would be Rhode Island School of Design...)

(love the zipper dress, love it, love it!)

i found this kick ass website, that gives you the color palette of different outfits, one per day. it is really neat to see how different colors look together, and just might possibly be helpful to me in mixing up the colored stones i have been using. although i must say i am pretty good at trusting my own sense of design and color, but i thought this was fun!


i also found this kinda neat japanese website that has lots of interesting ideas and pics and how-to's about craft and design. they had pics of fancy nails you can wear for your wedding or for just a fancy party. i thought they were very special. you know how i can be obsessed with fingernails...or my lack thereof.


i worked a bunch in the yard today, hauling rocks and doing more digging. i banged my finger up pretty good, and it hurts right now while i am typing. i rubbed it right away to prevent serious swelling and bruising, and it seemed to help. i heard a little "pop!" when i banged it and i was afraid i had broken something!! but i think it is ok, just a little sore. the rocks look great if i may say so myself. a lot different than before...and hopefully better. i'll post a pic later on.

i hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, and is ready for the week ahead! i know i am; my hands are itching to get back in the studio....had some more ideas for more prong jewelry this week, can't wait!

ttfn