New Stuff!

Hey People!
The store is officially open for business! Above is one of my favorites from my new and limited jewelry line, all inspired by roses. I am working as a florist these days after all. These earrings and others are all for sale at Etsy.com. PLEASE check it out! (I need the money but more the affirmation!)


In other news my new studio at 420 Main Ave is nothing short of delightful. I love being in there, I love my tools, I love that space, I love the light, I love the air, I love everything but the shag carpet! I think I'm going to have to name it and start making ritual sacrifices to it, because it's eating my earrings.

We've also ripped out the orange shag in the living room (pictured in a previous post) and found GORGEOUS wood floors under there, so there are some dudes refinishing those as we speak! I can't wait to see them!

Enough for now, thanks for reading!

Love the Soldering, Hate the Torch

I bought my torch from an old retired jeweler here in Montana, and I'm now wondering how long I'm going to get on it before I need to replace it. It's an old Smith mini-torch, and everything's a little worn. The hoses are stiff, and I'm a little scared of them being brittle. The hand piece gets hot while I'm using it, too. It's never gotten so hot that it hurts, but I've never used it for extended periods or at high temps, either. The most irritating thing, though, is that it won't keep its levels. I think the oxygen nozzle is worn out. It won't keep at the level I want, it keeps backing off till my cone is gone, and when I back it off to turn off the torch it increases and pops out the flame-every single time! The noise doesn't surprise me anymore, but it's starting to hurt my ears! I'm going to try going to a smaller tip, since I'm using a very low flame, and maybe it will want to work with me at a lower take of oxygen.

In other news, I'm going to be participating in an arts, crafts, and consulting show in Great Falls, about an hour south of here. I talked to the organizer and it's a long running show, with other high-end jewelers, and it will be inside the mall, so I will definitely have some customers. I'm a little nervous about getting stuff together for a show that's only 2 months away (May 1st-3rd) but it seemed like too good of an opportunity to miss! The booth is cheap, and I need something to work towards. The woman I work for at the flower shop said I can borrow any furniture she has, so tables and chair are covered, and another guy I work with that decorates all the weddings around here has lots of displays and decorations I can use. Now I'm designing, which I am having SO MUCH FUN doing, and where the torch troubles come in. Next after that are displays and packaging.

I sold an order on ETSY.com, and that money is just begging to be spent on a tumbler, so I'm off to call Rio!

Thanks if you're reading!

Word

Although I know that I'm totally writing this for myself, this being my first post ever, first real blog ever, and me being insignificant to the blog world and all, I guess I have to start somewhere.

I'm planning this blog to be a documentation simply of how I am learning to feed myself. I'm a jewelry and textile artist from Richmond, Virginia, where I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Craft/Material Studies. After I graduated, I worked selling jewelry at the mall, repairing oriental rugs, doing private contracting jewelry work for a local artist, and making whatever art I could manage the time for between those 3 other jobs. In April 2008 my now fiance and I flew to Guatemala and lived there for 4 months. I volunteered as a jewelry designer and teacher to various groups of indigenous women in the isolated highlands to make a line of fair-trade jewelry. If anyone wants to read the book on that, I had a blog while I was there.. or ask me. It's more than I can say in this brief history.

So after Hugh and I got back from Guatemala, I was a studio assistant at the Penland School of Crafts, for Amy Tavern and Joanna Gollberg's beginning jewelry class. Again, another book. Those two women are probably the reason I'm here, doing this, writing this, being this.

Now I am living in Choteau, Montana, a tiny 6 block long town in the North Central section of the state, on the steppes of the Rockies. This is the middle of a horrible recession, and Virginia had nothing for us. No apartments, no jobs, no sweet neighbors to help you saw up the tree that fell across your driveway. So here we are, for a multitude of reasons, the best being why not?

This begins week #3 in this foreign land, I have a tentative job at the local flower shop, one day a week for $7 an hour, and a prospective job at the little hotel 3 blocks in the other direction as a desk clerk, 2 days a week, for 8. Recessions suck everywhere. At least being a hotel clerk in this town doesn't involve sitting behind bullet proof glass.

I'm also opening a studio in the laundry room, which is where I really hope to spend my time. I have the bench and most of the tools, I just need a safe place to put my torch, since next to the gas water heater with the ever-threatening pilot light doesn't make me comfortable.

I hope one day someone other than my mom and my cousin reads this, but until then, yes, mom, I'm doing fine, say hello to dad for me.