Lilacs

Hugh and I are finding ourselves in much better spirits lately. Rachel's visit (and her squealing excitement over everything that caught her eye) helped remind me how extraordinary this place I live in is. And the amazing sunny weather hasn't hurt either! I've switched shifts around a bit lately, so that I only work evenings at the hotel, which means I have till 3 in the afternoon to work in the studio or soak up the fresh air on the front porch (you can guess where I've been more.) I'm replenishing my vitamin D, god knows I've been deficient for the last many months!

Our front porch, like most in town here, is shaded by a massive lilac bush. After so much snow and cold, the fireworks display of blooms mixed with the scent and warm breeze of the last few hot days has made me blissful. The ratio of happy travelers to grumpy businesspeople has swung in summer's favor at the hotel, so even work is somewhat more pleasant.

Some lilacs:


Mr. Saddlebags McBee


(yay new camera!)

I'm going to North Carolina for two whole weeks!

I'm taking a class at Penland! It's called Steel This Jewelry, taught by April Franklin.
Some of April's work:




I'll be there from June 5th to the 21st, learning forging and smithing, how to work with steel, how to make damascus.. I am so excited! I've been lifting weights in anticipation of throwing hammers around! Hooray!

Rachel Rader in Montana!

My very good friend and talented artist, Rachel Rader, came through Choteau today on her way to the east coast! I'm so happy to finally have a friend out here! These were some of our adventures:






Photo credits go to Rachel! Thanks for coming through! It made me so happy!

PS. Click this link to see Rachel's glass work- It is AMAZING!

I am full of caffeine and excitement

Joanna Gollberg, one of the teachers I assisted at Penland, has given me an opportunity to exhibit at a fantastic gallery for a well known annual art-jewelry show! *!!exclamation points!!* I love you, Joanna! More information on that when plans get finalized and I know I'm official!



The other terribly exciting thing that has happened for me is a development involving my line of rose-themed jewelry. While I was participating in the craft show in Great Falls, I met a woman named Kat, who introduced me to her daughter Mayley. Mayley, I should mention, is 3 years old, cute as I've ever seen in my life, and she introduced herself by saying "Hello, Caitie, my name is Mayley. I'm pleased to meet you!" That comment just about floored me! She's so quick! The heart-wrenching part is that Mayley has cystic fibrosis. If you are like me, and know very little about the disease, check out the wikipedia entry here, it will fill you in. CF is generally regarded as a childhood disease, most cases are diagnosed between birth and age 3, and because cystic fibrosis is almost impossible for a new-talker to say, children are directed to say "I have a disease called sixty-five-roses." So there's where the rose theme comes in.

Kat is a mover and a shaker! She used to own a business in downtown Bozeman, MT for organic baby and mother products. She also developed her own line of organic baby slings, etc, stressing the importance of knowing what the things you buy are made out of, and who it is that's making them. Visit her website: Bella Madre Organics to see just how dedicated to artistic integrity and quality craftsmanship it is! It's a beautiful site, even if you don't need baby stuff. Kat had to give up the businesses when Mayley was diagnosed, and now she says she can't imagine doing anything that's not to help her "little peanut." So she is setting up her own charitable foundation for CF research! She is calling it the Blooming Rose Foundation, and she will be developing lines of Made in Montana products to be sold in boutiques, online, and retail stores, and all proceeds go to the foundation. She asked if I would be interested in dedicating my line of rose jewelry, and the design associated with it, to the foundation, and I have whole-heartedly decided to do it.

So my line of roses will be temporarily taken off the shelves, given a makeover, and will come out on the other side as a vehicle to help little Mayley and her peers. I couldn't be happier to do it. The same graphic designer that developed bellamadreorganics.com is working on the website now (pro-bono!) and when it's all set up, I will be plugging that link like crazy!

Being an artist has the potential to become such a self-absorbed way of life. The way I make art, and the reason I make it, is to help myself and figure myself out, but I'm always dismayed by the bigger picture and how I make such a small impact on it. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to do what I love to help someone else.

Camera Angst

I want this camera! But! The reasons I want it are because it's cheap and pretty. I'm not sure if I'm ok with that!

I'm having angst over this decision! I absolutely must buy a new digital camera in the near future. I have a Canon Powershot A530 that only takes about 25 pictures before the AA batteries die (I think they may have a contract with Duracell.) And, in the last year, it's developed a dark patch in the lens that I have to account for in all my pictures. I have to center my jewelry to the right of the patch, so I can crop it out later. It's a pain, it's getting worse, and I can't live with it anymore. So there's why.

But what!?

I have heard from two different people that they love coolpix cameras, but then there are so many different models S's and L's and 220's and 610's. I'm heading towards the s220 just because it's the cheapest. And I like the green! I feel like I have to spend a huge amount of time with a camera, and honestly, I'm almost always totally stressed out when I'm using it, so why not have it be visually pleasing? Although I hate playing into the whole marketing electronics towards women by making different colors thing. I've been reading review after review, and nobody mentions a macro lens, either, which is what I'm most interested in. I hate the idea of getting a camera that I'm only somewhat happy with. I had a Sony Cybershot that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED, but I had to give up Sony after their lens broke, then the repair company switched my well-taken-care-of camera with one that had plastic gems glued to it, then they bought me a brand new camera and the lens broke in the same way AGAIN. So I can't do it anymore! And the Canon! A black patch on every exposure? 25 pictures per battery? I can't do that anymore either! It seems I'm being led to Nikon by elimination. I don't want anymore crap. A cheap camera is going to be crap, and I'd like to spend more, but I can't! Augh. I hate the electronics game.

Starting the wholesale process

Well folks, it's about that time. Time to go global! Or something. Anyway, the deal is that I'm putting together wholesale lists to send to every retail store imaginable. What this means for me is more excel spreadsheet experience. bwa bwa. What this means for you is a price change. Since I haven't had to share my earnings with a storefront, I haven't been accounting for it in my prices. But now that's got to change. SO.

On June 4th my online shops will temporarily close while I restructure my price scale, go to North Carolina (more on that later), and fill orders. I probably won't open back up (except for special orders) until mid July.

This whole business thing is new and uncomfortable for me, and pricing has felt impossible. I need to go pore over bills and do some calculations of microscopic measurements of wire and pieces of minutes. No fun.

In other words: Go to my store and get what you like before June 1st, because not only am I offering FREE SHIPPING through the month, it's your last chance to get it at this price!

I love you all,
Caitie

Website Update

Hugh and I have DSL at our house, now, so all of the internets are being updated!

Caitie Sellers dot com

I'm also trying out a new selling venue called 1000markets. They have an interesting style of store layout as well as a cool system of "markets" where you can connect your shop with others of similar interests. I love this idea because you can then belong to a network of art that compliments your own, almost like a mixed-artist gallery show, that's not necessarily of the same medium. It kind of seems like more of a social club than a sales venue, but I'm curious to see how it goes. They also have an approval process for new shops, so bad layouts, pictures, and shady policies won't drag down the reputation of the site. One day I'll post a link to that too.

I also have a plan to start featuring other artists on my blog, since I've been very self absorbed lately. I'm going to start with my friends and work from there! Coming soon!

New Jewelry Now On Etsy

See more here!

Production Jewelry, now on sale!

Just a few new things going on around here. I'm slowly taking pictures, editing them, and posting them on the etsy site. These two have been around for a little while, and I'm still developing more.

Two big things:

1. In honor of all the NEW STUFF, I'm offering free shipping through the month of May!

2. I am no longer using steel mixed with silver in my production work. Darkened silver will take its place. This not only adds that little bit of material value to the piece you're paying for, but also eliminates this pesky recurring nightmare called copper plating that's been haunting me. Stay in touch, something fun is bound to happen with the discontinued jewelry, and you'll find out when I'm done listing the new pieces!

Spring Happenings Craft Show

Behind every successful woman is a handsome man.

The craft show is officially over! All the bloodshed and tears! I made some much needed and well appreciated contacts, and met some unbelievably amazing people, and I made back my immediate expenses, so I will say that I am happy with it in the end. I busted my *ahem* rear-end to put together a huge amount of inventory (just in case) and buy as many chains, displays, and materials that I could have ever needed, and that was all probably a little unnecessary. I just didn't go through much jewelry. Now I have a lot of jewelry and nowhere to get rid of it. I understand that as my first venture in a new craft-based business, I should expect to not really make a profit, but it hurts my ego a little and my wallet a lot. I do know now, though, that there is nothing to be afraid of, that it is better to be over-prepared, and that the craft community is as warm and inclusive as I had hoped, and beyond that. Everyone at the show went out of their way to let me know that my presence was respected, and everyone made sure I understood that I shouldn't be disappointed if I had bad sales. I will make the suggestion to all my craft friends: think hard before you do a craft show in a mall. You end up spending three 12 hour days watching teenagers make out on the escalator. yuck.

But thank you thank you thank you to all you wonderful people who stopped at my booth to chat, whether you bought something or not, or whether you were a fellow vendor or not. Thank you to my new friends in the booths around me, you made me feel so accepted and at home. Thank you to the promoters, I know you did a fantastic job organizing and advertising, at least we know the mall's not it. Thank you to those of you who bought something- I really do get flattered when I know my work is appreciated. Thank you to whomever took a card and went to my website and ended up here, stay in touch!

One more blizzard picture

House burrito