Comments (0) Here is my latest piece. I just love it! I have started using real flowers and leaves in my work. The “wings” on the heart are actually impressions of a fern leaf from my garden! I made it in fine silver. It looks like a fairy garden treasure.
I Just got these out of the kiln today! Im so pleased with how they turned out. Now to make fun designs with them! Im glad i got to it when I did because there isn’t another lilly of the valley to be had. Season closed!
Comments Off Here is my latest project just waiting to be put into the Kiln. They are blossoms of lilly of the valley I picked while i was on a walk the other day. I painted them in silver and they are patiently awaiting a trip to the kiln before they will be turned into pretty things to wear. They are going to have to wait for me to get back from my trip to Kansas City though….gotta fly!
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Winter is never going to end….. It is nice and sunny every time I leave town but as soon as I get home its “unusually cold”. How anything can be unusually cold in Minnesota is kinda beyond me… but anyway…. when i leave out of town for work, it warms up and when i get back it gets too cold to wear cute dresses… So Here i sit with this great new design and its too cold to wear anything that will show it off! I actually designed this piece for work. I’m hoping they like it enough to turn it into a kit. I have a few of my designs as kits for them and it is fun to see the customers like it enough to buy it! Cathy wanted something done with her Bottle cap Beads. I just love these guys and I think they show off how cute those beads really are. 
Comments Off So today I am focusing on getting my store emptied out and ready to shut down in a week. I am so excited to end this chapter and start focusing on my passion for designing jewelry!
I thought it was going to be hard to see my stuff go out the door at 60% off because now I’m loosing money on the it, but I am actually just really anxious to get it over with! I have just a few days left to wrap up this store, finish a grant and pack for two weeks in Tuscon, AZ , where I will be working a bead and gem show for a friend of mine!
Not freaking out!
Keeping my eyes to the future: its kind of like not looking down when experiencing high places…Im not looking down…
Comments Off Going to whine about something so don’t read any further if that will annoy you.
So I have tried three times to get a blog up that:
1 is spelled correctly
2 has the URL I want…which I am not able to have I guess so I had to compromise…annoying
3 is the only one I have as an account…deleting blogs is hard too.
So here I am. and I hope this is really it.
My store had been packed today and there is still lots to sell! I did manage to sell the last big hutch though and I’m sad to see it go…it was my favorite piece I had in the store.
8 days left as a boutique owner.
9 days left until I leave for Tuscon.
52 minutes until I get to eat Indian food for dinner!
Comments Off So I spent the better part of yesterday working with a friend of mine, who is helping me set up a new website, etsy page, facebook page and blog that will all be interconnected….my brian hurts just typing all that out. I dont know what exactly she has going yet but it is gonna be amazing when its finished! Oh and a new email…..
The most fun part of yesterday was when while working on my grant at the same time as all of this other stuff (multitasking award goes too…..) we got it all configured and beautiful and well written and pretty much all done, when an evil computer spirit, jumped into her computer and stole it. So we lost it and have to do it over again….sigh.
So here’s to today being productive and successful. I have started off with making two pairs of earring and a necklace all before going to feed my horses and get to work…
So whats this new website you’re wondering in anticipation to see? www.jlarts.com I don’t know if it all works yet though so if you try it and it says no then try again soon and be amazed at what a girl who knows nothing about computers has been able to pull off….here’s the secret…keep your genius friends happy in pretty sparkly things and they will be glad to help out.
Comments Off What AM I doing today? I am hoping to send off more of my work with a man who is trying to sell it for me. I am going to sit in my store that is just skeletal remains of its former self and try to get through without leaving early. That’s pretty hard for me…I’m ready to be on other adventures but I have to see this one through to the end…so I sit.
Comments Off I am trying to get a lot of new pieces made to send off with someone who is going to show it to stores. Im currently using beautiful beads, handmade by my friend Cathy Collison, who owns the Glass Garden in Northfield. you should check out her website… www.glassgardenbeads.com I get a ton of my goodies there!
So my new stuff is whimsical and colorful…in contrast to all the white around us… too much snow. I am eager for spring so I’m creating it in my new work. If I cant have spring when I walk out my door, I’ll make it and wear it around my neck!
Comments Off I got a camera last night! I am going to now be able to take pictures of my work and put them up on the website! Big step forward! Good looking pictures at last! I was using the little eye on my computer to snap shots of stuff before and that just simply will not do.
So I revisited my schedule for the next few days and I lost a day! I thought I was leaving town on Wednesday…turns out I leave on Tuesday! Ahhhhhhh! So I have one less day to get everything done! Wow I cant wait to be past this part! To anyone looking to be in business for themselves I suggest you have a VERY clear plan for how you are going to get out…not that you will need too but should you, you will just follow the plan…That is my gift to the world; that little piece of advice. Totally Free.
So I guess I had better get to all those things I dont feel I have time to do….until next time….
Comments Off I am a terrible blogger. there it is. Apologies to any who care. So I guess for the update on me and my work I have to say that much has happened from the last post to now. If I list out everything I have done in the last four months I might actually pass out from exhaustion. Rome wasn’t built in a day but at the pace I’ve been moving, I’d say it could have been done in about 4 months. I closed my store, have been to about 6 different states doing trade shows, helped my mom get her new place ready to move into and mine into a livable condition. My new life as an artist has been mostly about everything but my art but I am moving closer to being able to get work done. The good news is that I got my grant! (thank you Semac and the Mc Knight fund for artists in southern minnesota! check them out at semac.org) Im going to be making totally original works now with the tools I have been needing to do so! I will post the story of what my work will be later as it is fleshed out. I look forward to being able to work with some people who know scads more than I could ever hope to and cant wait to see what I am able to make with their help and guidance. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it takes a village…
Comments Off I received my order of PMC to start working on the new line I want to create! Its been awhile sense I have played around with that stuff but I cant wait to see what comes from it this time. I love how much control I have over that form of creating! I am going to have to experiment first to get back into the swing of things. Wonder what I will come up with… I never have a strong plan before I start making something. Even if I do have a plan I always end up somewhere totally different than where I began; That can make it hard to get started but I just have to let go and remember that its about the process and not the result. That’s how I work. I need to trust in that.
I finally got up the courage to open my PMC! I went over to my friend Leannes house and played with her in her studio. I have found that I work much better when there is someone else in the room with me. I’m not really sure why that, is but I can focus a lot better that way.
So I started the day making molds of an antique pickle jar holder that I got a long time ago from this cute antique store in oronoco mn. I had the clay with me but I wasn’t sure I felt ready to use it as I didn’t have a strong idea of what I wanted to create. After making twenty or so molds, Leanne suggested I get into the clay. I held my breath, tore open the package, pulled out a lump of the heavier than it appears it should be substance and rolled it out without any idea of what I wanted to make. Then I remembered that I actually work better when I don’t restrict myself and just started to play. I am happy to report that I am now working on at least four strong pieces! I don’t have the whole thing figured out yet but the parts are coming together and I will find the finished product only if I keep working.
Comments Off Work, work, work! I have been as busy as I can keep myself, working on my line of jewelry im creating for the ever approaching gallery show I have in October. I am near completion on a few pieces and have a few goodies arriving in the mail to help me complete the rest.
The biggest thing with finishing a piece is learning all the techniques I need to know in order to get the look I want. I am all over the map with that as well! I just want to know how to do it all! Yesterday, my pal Cathy taught me how to enamel onto silver. I made some cute little doo-dads that will add a fun element to an upcoming piece. I have learned fusing silver from my friend Lori and keum-boo from my friend Leanne! The biggest lesson i have learned in all of this is that it takes a village! I would not be able to be even a step closer to where i am from where i started without all these wonderful people i have around me!
Back to work!
I spent the weekend working the craft collective show in St Paul. This was a different kind of event than I am used to working because its filled with artists of all kinds not just beads. The energy was great and the creative jucies were flowing all over the place. The one thing that was really different about this show though was how many times I heard the word “blog” used.
“do you have a blog?”
“check out my blog”
“have you been following so and so’s blog?”
“i really need to be blogging more than i do”
“i dont have a blog because i dont know what i would talk about” (tourist. haha)
Anyhow, it was crazy and i guess i thought i should come home and blog. It was a weekend at the church of bloggers. I dont know but im starting to think that if you dont have a blog you better get out there and start one or you are barely even alive let alone with the times were in.
So here i am giving it my all haha. Though shalt blog! Thirteenth commandment perhaps?
On a secondary note, im working on my final pieces for my art show in just a couple of weeks!!! I really need to figure out how to get images into my blogs…. Ok enough of that! I officially dub blog a bad word. Its ugly at best….
Night all!
Do you ever find yourself in a recording of what you are “up too lately”? I am asked that a lot. I have a practiced answer for people I bump into on the street. I tell them I’m keeping busy with work and then they ask me where i work now, or if they know, they ask if I’m still working for Cathy.
Then i tell them i love my job because i get to travel all over the place and then they ask if i still make jewelry and i tell them yes and that im going to be in a gallery in Owatonna Mn. in October and that my opening is the second and reception on the fifth. That is my whole life according to the public eye. By public i mean the two blocks of a small Minnesota town.
I think that is all very strange. I used to be on display everyday at 420 division st. People didnt ask how i was or what i was up too lately. Guess they could walk by and see.
Im going to have to put together a new recording soon. I need new stuff to talk about once i have my gallery show. Guess that’s motivation enough for today. Get up and start working on whats next!
Heres to today making an interesting answer for a few weeks from now.
So I am in Tuscon Az for a second year, buying treasures. I focused on unusual stones this year. I have found some pretty nice strands and I cant wait to get home and make stuff! This last year I focused on growing my skills and feeling out my voice as an artist. Tis year will be more of the same but I want to push myself further and challenge myself with trying things I dont see myself as good enough or knowledgable enough to do. There are so many tools and techniques I want to learn. For example, my kiln; I didnt dare touch it because I was scared I would break something or do it wrong…. It needs to be programmed and the book is a bit tricky to understand but with some help I got it going and now It is my new favorite toy and I cant wait to find out all the fun things i can do with it!
I also want to work on getting my stuff out there. I am in a couple locations right now but I have not done any research on how to get into small shows and what other places I could go to get my stuff seen and sold. Its fun to make but a girls gotta eat…..
So thats where im at! With my face in the Arizona sun, looking at a year of possibilities!
Here Is my first project for Allegory Gallery. I was selected to be on their design team last year and I eagerly awaited my package of goodies that I would be using in all of my pieces. In this piece I used the Blue, Swarovski crystal square in the center of the flower I created using the glass leaves that were also included in the package. The light blue fire polish beads were also among the goodies I received. It was fun to open the package and find a pile of beads that were in no way my normal palette. At first I looked and got a bit freaked. I thought “blues and browns and GREEN!” I never use those colors ever! not because they are bad ones…there isnt a bad color out there…its just that i have a tendency to stay in my comfort zone; color wise…
So I sat there and looked at my challenge and I thought to myself…”if project runway contestants can turn newspaper and caution tape into an outfit that would make the greatest of fashion divas drool, then I can certainly go outside of my comfort zone with color and come up with something I am proud to display for Andrew and his cool new Gallery”!
So here it is! Project number one! Ill be posting for him once a month. I hope you enjoy what I create!
So I have been on a non stop run of shows for the last month. Ive gone from Texas to Iowa to Detroit to Santa Fe and now Im chillin in a hotel in Madison. Im tired just thinking about it! This last month has had its ups and downs and excitement and dull down times….just like any other time I guess but the constant is always low funds.
I am a starving artist!
I should mention that the shows I do are for my employer, the Glass Garden. I am not on the road with my work at the moment. So at least I have some income but its seasonal and I’m trying to supplement with my art….that’s where the starving part comes in 
I have this conversation from time to time with those I meet along the way and its always fun to see what other artists say about it. I mean, if we are all so poor, why do we keep doing it?
Today I happened to stop by the booth of another vendor while wandering around the show I’m working and we got onto this topic. With times being so hard its a common one I guess… Anyway he smiled and said “…the choice is between getting a job or just accepting life as a poor person”. Then he went on to say that if he chose the path of working for someone else, the next choice would be of what type of gun to buy! Meaning that working for someone else would lead to the desire to shoot oneself!
So if any of you reading this, wonder what drives a person to becoming an artist even if they don’t make much money I can offer you this answer… For some it is a matter of life and death! The thought of being on someone else’s schedule and doing things the way another person tells you too is worse than death itself! (I’m very fortunate that my job allows me to do almost everything the way I want and besides the show schedule, I’m livin pretty free with lots of time to work on my own art)
So these are my thoughts for today. Heres to the search for happiness and living it my way! There really is no price tag for freedom of expression.
So here is project number two for Allegory Gallery. I worked on this piece while sitting in hotel rooms, on the road for my job with glass garden. The major advantage to this is that I can just hop around the show and find interesting elements to add to my work and then at night pop them into it. So this is my crazy show schedule necklace! I started with some chain I already had with me and a couple of elements from the package that was sent to me from Allegory. This time I chose to use two different fire polish beads they sent as well as some czech glass leaves and a striped seed bead. Those were the base elements. Now it was time for the hunt! I was super excited when I found the enameled flowers at my friend, Tanya McGuires booth! I instantly fell in love with the speckles of color and knew I had my focal piece! Next stop was easy to figure out. I ran to my friend Saras booth from C-Koop and grabbed up some enameled cogs, rings and a fun clasp from her. Diane Hawkey Is the artist who made the Ceramic bird I added for whimsical fun and finally there was my booth. Glass Garden makes the COOLEST recycled glass components and I just had to add this tumbled glass ring, cut from an old coke bottle, to my piece. So there you have it! Project number two! Not possible without the artistic genius of some amazing ladies I have been fortunate enough to get to know through my travels.
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