Thoughts on the year

It’s a very quiet day on the lake today. Hardly a ripple in the water. It always amazes me the changes in that huge body of water from day to day and how the water seems to set the mood for the day.

With that in mind, it’s been a very contemplative morning. Our time here is almost over for another year. But I’m leaving here well rested, relaxed, well fed in many ways and nicely centered.

This has been a year of changes, most of them just small but significant. For the first time in 15 years I chose not to do a wholesale show. This was huge since it meant I would have very little wholesale unless I chased it down myself – which I knew I wouldn’t. I needed a break to recharge my creativity. There’s a certain comfort in making items for an order. It doesn’t take a lot of thought since they’re pieces for which you’ve already worked out all the kinks. It’s just making the pieces to the best of your ability and making sure it’s a nice, cohesive grouping when you’re done. But I needed time to stretch, try new things, try new shows.

So I did. I tried lots of new retail art fair across the country. I started a couple new lines with price point in mind, more sterling and less 22k gold. This was tough for me since I so love the 22k gold!

Did it work? Who knows. This year has been very strange at the retail art fairs. Crowds are way down and temperatures have been way up. When the crowds were good, they just walked by, not looking left or right, just walking through. Guess it calls for more thinking. For now, I'll just enjoy the lake...

44 hours left

I'm sitting in a local coffee shop sipping a lovely concoction and checking my e-mail. Very peaceful, very relaxed. I've picked up the local papers and next is the grocery store. There is no way I'm ready to go back to the real world yet but it's coming quickly. In 44 hours to be exact. Then I have 3 days before I head to Lancaster for the Long's Park Art Fair. Much left to do before leaving. But nothing has to be done right now so I'll go back to sipping my coffee and enjoying myself. Putting off the real world a little longer...

I'm a maker of things

Since the very beginning, I've loved making things. Growing up with a Mom who was an artist and a Dad whose joy was woodworking, I was destined to make things. And I have.

I've gone through all the phases. Sewing my own clothes to needlepoint from my own patterns. I had a rug phase, a knitting phase as well as the candle phase. In high school I bought a length of silver wire which I turned into a twisted bracelet in my Dad's wood shop. I wore that bracelet every day for years. Never realizing it was the beginning of my life's passion for metal.

When I started making jewelry, Dick saw it as just another project he was going to have to step around on the living room floor. Something I would eventually lose interest in before moving on to something else. I kept insisting that this was different. This was me.

It's now 34 years later and making jewelry still brings me joy. I'm on vacation now, spending my time thinking about what I want to make next when I'm back in the studio. Please let it always bring me joy and feed my soul since I'm forever a maker of things...

Vacation...

First day of vacation I napped to the sound of crashing waves that were supposedly 7' - 12'.

Second day of vacation I figured out what to do with my display that just isn't working for me right now. And that was before breakfast! Amazing what you can accomplish when you free up your mind. No phone, no internet. Everything else falls away. I'll get a lot figured out during my time here...

Morning Glory Art Fair

I love shows put on by artists organizations as this show is. The location is lovely, bathrooms are close, clean and air conditioned. The last of which was really appreciated this past weekend when it was once again, overly toasty out for my taste.

Breakfast was served both mornings with fresh fruit, spinach quiche and more. Even Lox on Sunday!

Lot's of nice work I haven't seen before. Seemed to be quite a few locals with day jobs mixed among us as well.

It's a hard set-up because you have to schlep everything in from a distance but it is over cement which helps. Thank you to Jon and Pat for a very easy take down, getting me to the ferry in plenty of time.

So why didn't it work for many there? The heat and humidity? The PGA Golf Tournament nearby? Maybe for my media it was the 29 jewelers out of 140 booths??? At a time when jewelers are fighting out of sight material costs (gold over $1200 @ ounce), why do shows insist on overloading with jewelers???

Whatever the reason, the show didn't work for me this year, even though I enjoyed it. Try something new next year I guess...