guest star friday #38...janine berben

coral brooch

i was very happy to find today's guest star friday last night as i was searching the internets for something new. i found janine berben on flickr through one of my contacts. janine makes wonderful felted jewelry in soft colors and lovely organic forms. they are also a bit on the creepy side which i like very much.

rings

fungus collier and ring

you can also find janine at her blog.

thanks for reading.

something new...part 2

i've been working on some new ideas since moving to penland. i've been thinking about lines and different ways they come together, especially borders and other outlines. when i was flying a lot in the fall for my west coast trunk show tour i became increasingly fascinated by the outlines of farmland and the meandering patterns of roads. also, around election time, i looked at the blue and red map of the u.s. a lot and really began noticing the shapes of the states. i think between my birds eye view from the plane and that map, these shapes developed.


as i am sure many of you can relate, i have to be thriftier than usual right now. i had all these little circles in my scrap bin that were the insides of my flat egg shapes. instead of recycling them, i just started cutting them up. what came from that light bulb moment are these shallow domes. all this work is for the acc searchlight show at the end of the month. i will also be bringing lots of line drawing pieces.
thanks for reading.

supermarket and lucky magazine

my very thin yellow gold rings made it into a little blurb in this month's lucky magazine as part of a feature on supermarket and other online hot spots for shopping. unfortunately, the picture is barely visible and my name is not included even though they do refer to the rings in the write-up ("dainty gold stacking rings"). press is so strange sometimes. strange but good, don't get me wrong.

can you see them?

thanks for reading.

congratulations, warm earrings!

my warm earrings (this month's jewelry of the month) made it into 30 minute earrings! they are very happy.

30 minute earrings, an upcoming lark books publication, is a how-to book that will include some 50 different easy-to-make-fast earrings. sounds like fun to me.

thanks for reading.

buyers market of american craft revisited

i am attending the buyers market of american craft next week. this will be my second go after my first experience there in august 2008. preparations this time around have been completely different, easier, cheaper, quicker. i had to create my booth from scratch last year but this year all i had to do was repaint my earrings stands. (they got a little beat-up during my west coast trunk show tour). i'm scaling back a little on the display, too. after my 4 show tour in the fall, i figured out a more streamlined approach. i'm using the same props for the most part, minus a few. most of my collection items are already made this time. i only spent a day or two making the missing pieces. i still have one necklace to make and two of my very thin gold rings. it's still funny to me how little room my inventory takes up. its all in these boxes!
finally, all my printed materials (wholesale line sheet, contract, postcards, photos, etc.) are done with a few needing a little update. i just need to make copies of some of those. i am really appreciating all the hard work i did nine months ago right now as well as the lists and notes i made during the show. they have made things so much easier.

oh, one more thing...the february show is longer - 4 days instead of 3 and in addition there is a jewelry preview. it seems a little grueling to me as i don't have much experience with shows like this. even though the buyers market is only open to retailers and not to the general public, here is the info:

2/12 jewelry preview 4-7
2/13 show opens 10-6
2/14 10-6
2/15 10-6
2/16 10-3

i think i'll go back a reread all my posts from last year's show now.

thanks for reading.

happy blogiversary to me

my blog turned one recently and i have to say it's been really fun and a great challenge for me to write my posts over the past year. i remember thinking i would never have a blog, but now i am so glad i do. i've learned a lot about my work and the work of others, why i make jewelry, and why i love it all so much, just from writing about it regularly.

to celebrate and mark the occasion i pulled together a list of my absolute favorite jewelry sites i found over the last 365 days to share with all of you. this list includes 25 of my favorite jewelers, jewelry designers, galleries, blogs, and shopping sites. i like them for a variety of reasons, the work mostly, but also the design and functionality of the site itself...here they are:

22 design studio
edith bellod
gallery loupe
erie basin
ela bauer
fingers gallery
anna lorich
rachel weatherall
jane yarborough jewelry
marianne anderson
kathryn bentley jewelry
klaus burgel
tony duquette
iggy & lou lou
barking irons
papa stour
erica weiner
jacqueline ryan
nutre arayavanish
caroline gore
katy hackney
lina peterson
christine kaltoft
aesthetic outburst
grijs

i also want to mention something new i will begin with my sophomore effort this year and that's to write about a favorite artist each month who is not a jeweler. i don't think i'll have a set time for this new feature. i'll just choose someone and write when i'm ready.

thanks for reading over the past year.

february jewelry of the month

for february's jewelry of the month i made these warm earrings to help us all get through the cold. the earrings are constructed of covered buttons, woven gray wool, and sterling silver findings. i love making covered buttons and enjoy using them in different ways, not just as buttons. i think my warm earrings are the perfect thing for this time of the year.

i made 6 pairs and they measure about 2" long x 1" wide.

the warm earrings are $42 a pair and each comes with a numbered and signed card.

you can read more about jewelry of the month here.

to join my mailing list to received advance notice and buying power, please visit my website here to sign up.

thanks for reading.