Echo

Lately I've been feeling like ideas and dreams from long ago have caught up with me again.

Echo necklace

Art as a magnet

Artists and craftsman! Read this business blog post for a shot in the arm.

Fest

I'm coming up quickly on my only show this year. New Freedom Fest, celebrating small town life happens right in my small town, New Freedom PA on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 10am - 4pm. (For reference we are 1 hr. directly north of Baltimore, MD.) There will be music, games, food and a farmer's market. And at my booth (#22) there will be sales (!) and new work. Stop by and say 'hi' - I'd love to meet you!

My husband lamented that he didn't have a Jibby and Juna piece to wear...so I fixed that situation.

Personal museum

With Ema leaving tomorrow and school starting for us on Thursday we're in clean up/re-organized mode. I realized its terribly sad that the natural history (aka treasures, aka stones and sticks) that I've collected from two continents and three islands have been sitting in plastic bags in a cupboard. Decided to rectify.

Only smaller bits fit on the narrow shelves created by hanging a printers tray side ways.

The house we rented this year in Maine had a private beach that was littered with huge mica flakes. I wish I could figure out how to set this one in a bezel.

The tiny collection.

The best of the heart stones.

Fossils from Calvert Cliffs.

Off you go...

Our daughter leaves for college one week from today. (can this really be happening?)

I made this necklace for her (and a couple like it for the shop). This type of beading is rather calming when the world feels like its rushing by.

So very timely...found a back to school treasury I was in over at The Handmade Gift Guide today!

Into the woods...

School starts in 2 weeks so we're packing in all the fun. Today - sailing. Tomorrow - the zoo. I'll probably only have a couple more full days in the studio.

A belated thank you to Heather Kent! It was very nice to find a photo of my work over at her blog last week. She has nice interviews too. Below is one of her new hand painted lockets - I lean toward all things woodland. She has a wide variety of images (from hedgehogs to red velvet cake) available on pendants, rings, earrings and even cufflinks.

Manifesto

Last year sometime I heard someone (and I honestly can't remember who) say slightly snidely "Well! You don't want finger prints in your polymer clay!" and that did it for me. I started working on beads that had my finger prints as their texture.

Lately I've been wrestling with the big ideas of copying and being authentic and how can any of us ever be sure we aren't unwittingly using too much of someone else's idea, what with the overwhelming number of visual images we have access to EVERY SINGLE DAY. Angst.

It seemed like the right time to finally complete and post this necklace. The white beads are made with my finger prints. No one can copy my fingerprints but if someone would copy the beads they will be forced to use THEIR OWN finger prints. I enjoy the irony.