Catch my work in Colorado

Those of you from Colorado, or folks just visiting the outdoor mecca of Salida this summer, can now find my work at The Rosy Finch.  They're in the process of moving to 139 F St., excited to be sharing the big, old downtown hardware store with Yospun yarn shop.

The owner, who's been so great to work with, used to live just 20 mins. from me but we never met. Now, when she's 1,689 miles away, we found each other on the internet. How do these things happen?

Shops closing soon and one...more...sale.

Thanks to everyone who made purchases during the past week and to everyone who has taken the time to reach out with kind and encouraging words regarding my upcoming trip to Saint Helena! You guys are wonderful! 

Both my shops, the regular website and my Etsy shop, will be closing in less than 48 hours and as it stands now they will be closed until the end of the year. If there's any piece you've been interested in, now's the time.  I expect the next six months to be a period of growth as I learn and explore new materials. No doubt older designs will be culled in the process. 

All the earrings here are from my one of a kind Redemption Series made from recycled polymer. There a little smaller than some of my pieces, very approachable, very light in weight. I've marked then all down by $10 - no coupon code needed.

All purchases will be shipped before I leave for Saint Helena of course and you will still be able to reach me if you ever have any questions or concerns about your jewelry as my website and email will remain active.

Have a great week! 

Shop site success

My NEW SHOP is open!

I decided to take the completion of my Longest Year line as the time to make the move to shop space independent of Etsy.  Its connected to my website as is the Etsy shop but this way I won't be putting add my eggs in one basket as it were. I'm not sure right now exactly how the division of shops will work but all new work from now forward is going into the new shop.

Reversible necklace

And now, after all the website wrestling, I really feel like its time to just concentrate on the work. Thats where the pleasure is for me, designing and making, and with some different autoimmune symptoms surfacing in the last 2 months anything that reduces stress is literally what the doctor ordered.

I specifically chose to limit the first installment of the Longest Year line to 12 pieces, one for everything month of the year since my diagnosis. I hope it doesn't seem overly sentimental because it was actually more a matter of practicality - I could have designed and designed forever just using this limited selection of shapes.

I've loved the process of limiting myself and then seeing what I can do within that limitation. The shapes in this line are all variations on one, the "mountain" shape in this necklace (save for here and there such as the bracelet toggle which I couldn't seem to resolve any other way although I'll tell you I really tried to make that a little mountain as well).  And for now I chose to limit the palette too except for color on a couple pieces.

This is a brooch/necklace combination. 

What I found, much to my delight I have to tell you, is that rather than running out of ideas, I couldn't find the end of ideas! I could probably work for another year and just keep pushing and pushing this one shape. I'm not sure I will (would I fall out of love with the shape? would I still be able to sell work?)  but I could.

The original necklace where this whole line started.

But at any rate, for the sake of getting a this body of work together I needed to draw the line somewhere and 12 pieces for a line called The Longest Year certainly made sense (Although...there are more pieces already started and sitting on my work table today ;-)

Four stranded necklace - you change the strand that's worn in the back from the black to the longest translucent. 

I'd love to get your feedback on my new work and the shop! I'd also love to hear if any of your who are artists have ever limited yourself this way and how it affected your work.

New on the horizon

Happy New Year to all of you! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

I spent January 1, 2014 getting my Big Cartel shop up and running. Eventually I'd like to make this the shop that links from my website. Once I learn to customize it even more (or I should say once my daughter helps me customize it more) it should be a seamless transition for shopping from that location.

I won't be closing the Etsy shop anytime soon though because there is just too much traffic there and I'm hoping that having two shops will provide more benefit than it makes work.

My ankle is on the mend and I've started 6 weeks of physically therapy that will help me regain my strength and full use of the joint. Thanks to everyone who emailed to wish me well!