A digression before bed

So every time I open my image edit program, my computer starts popping warning messages saying that my start up disk is full. Meaning that until I come up with an external hard drive, I probably won't be taking, uploading, editing, saving, or posting pictures... oops.

BUT. I had this one already lying around on my desktop. A piece STILL ON DISPLAY at Sparkle Plenty (Quirk Gallery [Richmond {VA.}.].) Till 12/26/09.

It's a brooch that has it's own wall display/holder. Take off the window bars, wear it as a pocket protector (it is fairly sharp after all,) put it back on the brick wall at the end of the night. You know, when the bad guys start coming out. Luckily, this window has been in a friendly place long enough for a happy little vine to make a home. But I digress.

I mean to say that this month has gotten away from me, and I shall return anew (like the year) in 2010. If not before. I do have some exciting commissioned rings to show off soon!

Last week to ship in time for Christmas!

Just a friendly reminder that if you have your eye on a piece of jewelry from my shop, you have to order by THURSDAY 12/17 to have any hope of it getting there before Christmas! I'll even gift wrap it for you and write a little "merry christmas" note with your name!

Xela-made jewelry finally online!

Found this online today!

These are some of the earrings I designed and taught to women in Guatemala, back in the summer of 2008. Alternatives, a fair-trade store in Richmond, Virginia, now has a website with some of their most popular and socially-beneficial gifts, and a lot of the jewelry my girls made is on there. Lupe and Ben, the founders of the Highland Support Project, own AlterNatives and use it as a marketplace for many of the traditional crafts of the indigenous Guatemalans they've dedicated their lives to helping. Spread the word, support the cause!

New Jewelry

Just in time for Christmas! These newer, smaller, more affordable birdies are ready to ship!

Check them out at my Etsy shop.

Also, as always, I would be happy to make a custom item or size- all you have to do is send me a message! *** caities@hotmail.com ***

Garbage Man Astronaut

My bff/former roommate Matt Williams just moved into the Everett Station Lofts (click for wikipedia entry) in Portland, Oregon. He is in the applied craft graduate program at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, a new program offering a cross-disciplinary approach to craft and material studies that seems like the answer to many of my frustrations with graduate school. Anyway, he and jason lee starin moved into this loft, which has a street front gallery below, and living quarters above, and have opened the space to the public with the moniker Garbage Man Astronaut Project Space. (Click for the BLOG.) If you are ever around Portland, go there! Through December, they'll be having a holiday sale of their and their friend's work (mine included!) Help me and these kids make money, get gifts for your friends and family, support the Portland art scene.

Entrance.
Building.
Gallery under construction. (handmade light fixture!)

Sparkle Plenty

About a week ago Sparkle Plenty 5 opened at Quirk in Richmond, Va. This invitational show included some of my work, and I was able to attend the opening right after I moved to North Carolina. I actually used the event as an excuse to unload a storage space I've had in that town for almost 2 years. If you ever feel a need to be reminded how special your possessions are (or extraneous) lock them up in storage and live out of a suitcase for 2 years. Then, when you come back, unpacking those boxes will be like unearthing treasure! (or you will find yourself loaded down with all the garbage from which you freed yourself 2 years ago... [nothing's ever easy, is it.])

This was the majority of my display. My current body of work is inspired by Guatemala, and my sketchbook/diary from my 4 months there was displayed with my jewelry.

My pigeons were also hangin' out.
This is the nice, clean, open space the show occupied. It was interesting to see how the mixture of work spoke to each other, and to see such a broad display of work from each exhibitor. I was also incredibly honored to have shared the space with fellow jewelers such as Amy Tavern, Joanna Gollberg, Biba Schutz, Sharon Massey, Sandra Enterline, Blanka Sperkova, Lori Talcott, and Marlene True.

Alive and well in North Carolina

Trust me, the only thing keeping me from shoving pictures all over this blog is lack of convenient internet connection.

Some things that have happened lately:

Hugh and I bought a used minivan.

We got hitched at the court house.

We quit our jobs.

Packed up the cats, my studio and our clothes, loaded them into said minivan.

Drove 2,045 miles. insert flat tire.

4 days after leaving Montana, arrived in Asheville NC. Promptly got lost.

Amy Tavern gave me directions to my apartment.

Joanna Gollberg brought me an air mattress and cake.

Hugh and I lived in an unfurnished apartment with 2 cats, my jewelry tools, and an air mattress for a week.

After enough days of that we drove to Williamsburg, VA to the inlaws.

Pre-opening at Quirk in Richmond VA

First friday opening for Sparkle Plenty at Quirk. Talked to everyone, drank wine, loved art, exhausted myself.

Next day rented UHaul truck, emptied the storage space I'd had since before I went to Guatemala in April '08.

Visited with parents for first time as husband and wife.

Drove Uhaul to Asheville. unloaded. collapsed.

Got job at local florist's.

can I get a "you go girl!" ?

I done got hitched!

Just a few wedding pictures, because we're so darn happy! We had a little ceremony with Judge Pete Howard at the Teton County Courthouse. It was so much fun, and so perfect! Thanks to Angela Bouma for the pictures, Joanna Gollberg for the rings (pictures to come,) and my family for not freaking out about us eloping!

New Vendor: Fancy!

Fancy, an art jewelry gallery and retailer, is now selling some of my work! Along with some of my production work, I sent two one-of-a-kind pieces, these two guys below.

Arabesque and Vine Necklace, sterling silver and steel.

Vine Earrings, sterling silver

If you love them, want them, have to see them, contact the ladies and gents at fancyjewels.com, or stop by the store at 1914 2nd Ave in Seattle, Washington.

PRESS

Look at me! I have press!

TheCarrotBox.com featured me on her blog, all about the glory of hand adornment. Check out her website, dedicated to non-metal rings. Oh so fabulous (and amazingly affordable!.) I drool.

In other news, the "contact" tab on my website is not forwarding emails! If you'd like to contact me, throw it at caities@hotmail.com

Blooming Rose Foundation

I just checked the website, and it looks like BloomingRoseFoundation.com is up and running! This is a new non-profit that helps the families of those with cystic fibrosis. My friend Kat started the organization after her daughter, Maylie was diagnosed at age 3.

The foundation social worker takes a “Bloom” basket to each family along with a list of positive contacts and resources in their local area. The foundation has been blessed with the support of some well known, established companies collaborating together to advertise on a national level. These companies are launching products using our logo to raise awareness and funds for the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. The foundation also have been given the rights to a beautiful line of rose shaped jewelry made in Montana. The Blooming Rose foundation will send 100% of all donations after yearly operational costs are met to aid in research leading to the inevitable cure.

The jewelry pictured above, as well as similar styles and sets, are available at The Blooming Rose Foundation website.

commissions

Here are some pieces I made this summer for others. I love it, keep them coming!

My mom and dad found this sapphire in the attic of their house here in Montana right after they bought it. They kept joking about the 100 year old house having hidden treasure in the walls, and they found it! Mom gave me the stone 2 years ago and asked that I make specifically a ring with a design inspired by Choteau. We decided to incorporate the leaves of the cottonwood trees that line the streets here. Happy birthday, mom!

These are zero gauge (8mm) ear plugs that I made for my friend and former roommate, Kristin. They were for her heartbreakingly gorgeous wedding held in Virginia in June. I've never made plugs before! Such great low-tech hollow form practice. Kristin is a talented graphic designer, and her wedding invites had a special feather adornment that she designed. The stone settings on these were loosely inspired by that line drawing.

Scarves for sale

Yes, folks, we had our first frost here in Montana, officially marking the first day of scarf season. In honor of it, I rounded up Hugh (and all his natural dapper-ness) for a fall photo shoot. Along with the two hand-woven alpaca scarves I've offered previously, I'm now including one of my art scarves from an installation I did in 2007. The first picture of the three seen here is from a series featured in FiberArts Magazine (Nov/Dec 2007,) and also recently exhibited in a juried craft exhibition in Rocky Mount, NC, where it received a juror's award. Please check it out, tell your friends, check out some of the jewelry (some pieces are still on sale for as low as $22!) at CaitieSellers.etsy.com

Trauma

I have been working on this collar for something like 3 weeks now. I don't get very many hours to work between all my other jobs, all of the errands and planning Hugh and I have been doing, and keeping my house in order. This is my last big piece to finish for Quirk, and the others aren't actually done yet either, but I have needed to get through this.

This picture is from last week. I finished all my soldering and forming, and only had some finishing and polishing to do.

And this is from yesterday. Funny how 3 weeks worth of work can be mangled in a tenth of a second by the polishing wheel. I am an idiot.

The good news is that it has since been salvaged, but it will never be the same. I have had to embrace it, and change my concept a little bit, and work through my ideas around this piece again. You can call it a creative challenge. I suppose it will be better for it. There was about an hour there when I was trying to put it back together that I just knew it was hopeless. Bawling doesn't make jewelry, though.

A look at what's up in the studio

Here's a sneak peek into my soldering process.

This is one of the pieces I'm making for the show I have coming up at Quirk in November. This is only one third of its final length. I'm using steel binding wire. I line up all my lengths by measuring and marking onto a soft, impressionable fire block, and shoving in holding wires that pin my important pieces in place. This way they don't move or roll around when I heat them. I pick solder onto each connection, one at a time. In one of my bracelets, I roughly calculated somewhere around 500 solder seams. Luckily, I'm a huge fan of repetition and tedium. I only really get frustrated when the rhythm gets broken.

"I'm helping!"

Meg comes to Montana

Just getting around to posting some pictures from when my sister was here two weeks ago. I miss her!

"Our Lake" or Hidden Lake, depending on how confused you want to be.
Prancing in Fairy Land.
$2 freak show at the Montana State Fair
Fancy chicken judging at the Fair
Mule trying to eat Meg's head.

ps- Meg, I would love to have pictures of you in your altered 70's 2nd hand clothes! I think that qualifies as an artistic endeavor worth documenting.

belated carnival photos

a few of my favorites:

View from Parque Central

New piece!

Big, exciting things, happening all the time!

How do I start?

Quirk is this fantastic gallery in Richmond, VA that specializes in fine craft, particularly jewelry. Every November since they opened they have an invitational art jewelry show called Sparkle Plenty. Quirk opened at the same time I moved to RVA for school, so the Sparkle Plenty show was one of the first fantastic things I came to love about Richmond. I've worked with Quirk on occasion, and I've always looked to them as where I'll have pieces when I'm finally an Artist (with a capital A.) Last fall I met the best jeweler-friends a girl could ask for during the fall concentration at Penland- Joanna Gollberg Stirling and Amy Tavern. They were my teachers while I was studio assisting, and their influence and enthusiasm lit that fire that made me finally believe I could do this Art thing. This all comes together when Quirk has Susie Ganch curate the Sparkle Plenty show, and her system was to choose 5 artists, and have them choose one artist that they'd like to be in the show as well. Joanna was one of the 5, and Joanna chose ME! So come to Richmond on the first friday in November, and see this thing!

Here is a small preview of one of the pieces I'll have in the show- come see it in person for the full effect!

I'm making 6-8 pieces for the show, and very few of them will actually be wearable jewelry. This piece is for the wall, and measures 5"x6" and 3" deep.

This is the first piece, and I'm all tingly about it. I've struggled for years trying to think 3 dimensionally. I have forced myself to do it, but it tends to lean toward stacked silhouettes and layers of 2d pieces. Maybe, though, all I needed was the right inspiration. All my pieces for this show will draw from my sketches of Guatemala, as I've been working for a while now, but instead of limiting myself to architecture I'm working hard to include more of the life of the place. I want to highlight the little non-important bits that blend into the scenery, and spotlight them in their gritty, rusty, complicated glory. My plans and half done pieces include pigeons, house plants, and window bars of course.

The Carnival comes to Choteau- movies

I suggest muting your volume, it's much more magical without the hum of diesel engines.

Excitement in Montana

Here in God's Country, we love America. The July 4th celebration in Choteau was bigger than anywhere I've ever seen, from a town of 1,500. It was entertaining, exhausting, and really.. REAlly bizarre at times for this city girl. Here are just a few photos of the last two weeks, before, during, and after America's birthday extravaganza.

Apparently I have to upload these things in backwards order, and I'm just too lazy to fix it... so we're going to go backwards.

Mountain goat family in Glacier National Park. 7/9

Dude riding a cow in the parade 7/4.

boxing match- "the Smoker" with local guys beating the ..er.. tar.. out of each other.
Beer keg hockey- 6 guys, 2 fire hoses, 1 empty beer keg. 7/3
Rubber duckie race- winner gets $400, 2nd place $200, last place $25. 7/3
On top of priest butte 7/1
Homeland security helicopter above our house. The two guys hanging out the window had machine guns. 6/31
Drug bust right off my front porch. Narcotics agents pull a motorcyclist over with pulled guns for what turned out to be negligible amounts of marijuana.

I swear I'll start talking about art soon again!