What a Month!

I have been so busy this month, and so full of new ideas and plans that I haven't even taken the time to blog about it!

So, a quick overview. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend two days with Thomas Mann at East Stroudsburg University early in February when he came out to the Poconos to offer his Design for Survival seminar, and to present Storm Cycle, his exhibition of art focused on his home city of new Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I met and reconnected with so many people from our local arts community, and I immersed myself in the many opportunities Tom offered to help artists create lasting businesses based on their art.

A few short days later found me in Philadelphia at the Buyers Market of American Craft show, overwhelmed with the opportunity to learn the business of marketing wholesale crafts first hand, from some of the best known names in the crafts world. During the weekend, I was treated to the hospitality and fine business sense of a good friend and jewelry artist in Philadelphia.

From Philadelphia, I drove down the east coast to Chesapeake Virginia, where I was privileged to spend five days with good friends who all happen to be ... wait for it... jewelry artists! Do you sense a theme here? On my way back up to the Poconos, it was a treat to spend even a short visit with another friend (and yes, a jewelry artist) in Wilmington, DE. He helped talk me down from my jewelry high. Thanks, Gary. I needed that.

What an amazing month this has been. I have hardly begun to process all that has been presented, but I sincerely believe that my future as an american handcrafter and business person has been strongly shaped by what I have learned this month.

Details and photos to follow, so check back!

Crafting as a Business

Crafting As A Business by Wendy Rosen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I just picked up a copy of Crafting as a Business, by Wendy Rosen. It's great, different than (and an improvement on) many other craft business books. Her insight and information base is amazing. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.  I would have given 5 stars if it were more up to date, since this is from 1998 and there has been a huge change in the internet and internet based business and marketing since that time. Everything from show applications and photos to wholesale practices have changed due to online and digital innovations. I would love to lobby for an updated version!




Whether you are just starting out in a craft-based business, or have been working at one for quite some time, I thing the perspectives here are excellent. Many well-known and highly experienced artists share their ideas and opinions here, making it a fascinating and valuable resource.  and it was only $4.99 from Amazon!! That makes it even better.

View all my reviews

Skytop Holiday Arts Festival 2011

Skytop Lodge

Last year I came out of “show retirement” for the first time in about 5 years to show my jewelry pieces at the Holiday Arts Festival at the Skytop Lodge in northeastern PA. After being out of the loop for so long, doing a show took a lot of preparation, but it reminded me of the things I enjoy most doing shows. I like to meet the people who are interested in my work, and I like to chat with show-goers, because they tend to appreciate the same things that I do – well-made fine crafts. And of course, I really soar on all the compliments I get!

Silver Vine Jewelry at the Skytop Holiday Show

I decided to do the show again this year, and again, I put in a huge amount of pre-show preparation. I do think the booth ended up looking quite nice! It was a lovely weekend, and we had large Saturday crowds walking both the show aisles and the exquisite grounds of Skytop Lodge. It’s an impressive place, made of natural stone and timbers, set in rolling hills dotted with lakes. Fine art and craft are a perfect fit with the picturesque surroundings. It was a beautiful show, and a fabulous weekend.


 

Skytop from the air

Earring Time

I have started to roll out some finished pieces of jewelry from my new cab haul at last month's Beadfest in Philadelphia . These cabs were cut by Jerry from S and S Lapidary, who is becoming a source for more and more of my earring stones. He does love to cut beautiful matched pairs for earrings!

The River

Here's a brand new pair featuring some gorgeous crazy lace agate. Keep an eye on Etsy in the next week or so; these, and more, will be coming up.

The Cosmos and Malachite

 And here is a pair of posts with a beautiful and unusual cut of malachite:

With a Llittle help from My Friends

On the left is an earring sent to me by a customer. This is a nicely made sailboat, obviously fabricated, with silver sails and an amber boat. But there is only on earring. An emotionally charged piece, one of the pair was lost and I was asked to make a new pair as a close replica. I took on the challenge.

Really - how hard could it be?







The first step was to buy, cut, aand polish amber for the boats. One road trip later, I had a little (well, a lot!) of help from my friend Sue and her husband Tom. They shared a great meal, lots of wine, and lots of fun, along with their lapidary equipment and lots of support. I left the next day with a handful of polished amber boats, a new lapidary passion, and the feeling that the tough part of this job had been accomplished. Only the silver sails were left to make now. Not a problem.(Can you sense the set-up here?)

 Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought.Due to a fragile ego, I left out the photos of the mangled sails. No need to share all that. Everything kept falling apart. Nothing seemed to work. So what to do? Get a little help from my friends!

I passed around my sad, mangled sails at a dinner get-together with some jewelry buddies, and I listened to several possible solutions. Thank goodness for friends! A couple of mangly (yeah, it's a word. Now.) attempts later, I came up with the reasonable replica here. Whew.

My customer has happily asked for three pair of earrings to be sure the sentimental piece is always available. Here are the almost finished sails and boats for the 3 pair. At the left is the original earring, with a new bail for it's future life as a pendant.

Stay tuned to see the shaped and cleaned up pairs.
Boy, will I be proud (and relieved!).

NLP Mindfest

NLP is a powerful and interesting series of techniques to help gain control of your mind, reduce negative emotions, change old unwanted habits, and more. Listen for free for the next 10 days and learn along with me!

http://www.nlpmindfestevent.com/

Straight from Iceland

 

First sight in the airport. We missed him SO much!!!

My son has taken the past 6 months to travel across the world, attending a semester of college in New Zealand, hiking, distance running, ice climbing, and helping with repairs through numerous serious earthquakes in Christchurch. On his roundabout way home, he visited Thailand, Greece, Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, and more. I'm pretty sure I missed a few countries in there. He returned to the states after spending several days in Iceland, his last stop,

Lava beads from Iceland

 

Dendritic Opal from Germany, in a lovely leather case!

Among all of the cool and thoughtful bits he brought home to share his trip with us were head scarves from Poland, a reindeer hide and amazing sea glass from Iceland, and candy from everywhere. (I now love Minties from New Zealand.)









And special for me, there were lava rocks straight from Iceland!! Cut as beads, he said, "Mom, I didn't see cabs, so I got you flat beads. I figured you could do something with them."

Some earrings made with Icelandic lava stones

How many 20-year-olds would end their trip around the world by buying stones for Mom's addiction? I ask you? I am SO proud. He done growed up good.