Cabbage Rose

I could tool roses all day. Every day. There's such a method to the folds and peeling back the layers of the flower...it feels religious, like discovering God is in nature. Lately all the work I am doing feels so reverent, because it's all nature-inspired.
I need a Pennsylvania wooded hillside and an afternoon. I would just sit really still and watch things live.

Huminna Humminnnna

I feel strongly about this necklace. I almost want to hug it, as it reminds me of seasons I no longer experience, becuase I live in paradise. Wah. ;)
I am truly the luckiest son-of-a-gun I know and I don't take my luck for granted, but there are days when I want to see the sky grow dark with clouds that promise the first snowfall...the first day when the fall jacket has to become the parka...the first morning coffee that's just as much for warmth as caffeine. And then I want to go back to California where, even in the height of the chilly winter nights I could still maybe possibly get away with flip-flops. Maybe not. It's summer, I can't remember anything but 85 and sunny :)

Overwhelming Thought...

Every second of every day someone is creating something, certainly there are times when that idea is a fraction of what's really happening: perhaps 2,000 works of art in one second? Who knows, really....it makes me think of a giant rose constantly blooming, a rose the size of the sun, lit like it had 100,000 candles inside making a noise so bass-rich and slow-motion-crackly that you have to cover your ears if you're close enough to see its motion...
Creation is never ending. I was looking in the mirror tonight, checking the way a newer necklace sits so that I can safely list it on Etsy and I thought, 'This particular design and particular combination of tooled leather, shell roses and antique brass chain has never existed before.' A small thought, but then it made me think of all the other artists all over the world marvelling over the fact that they had created something where there was previously basic elements to work with.
It's so overwhelming and gratifying. Even as I wrote this, 10,000 beautiful things were born out of patience and inspiration.
How sweet is life?

Blue Day

Under my nails, around my fingers and almost on the side of my nose is a slight tint of blue I cannot seem to wash off. Perhaps I need to wear gloves when dyeing things. I hate not being able to feel exactly where the color is going. It is by "feel" that I color leather. And sight, yes. So the flowers I have been obsessed with? I made them cobalt and attached them to a leaf and made a daisy chain belt. It winds and weaves and is totally asymmetrical, which, like imperfections, I have a thing for :)

This is the belt.

Obsessed

When I was little I had a thing for color in fashion...if there was a shirt I wanted to have it in three or four colors, if not more. I remember when "the Limited' was the big store in my neighborhod, and they had these layering henleys...one summer vacation the whole ride home I dreamed of which colors I would layer and which I would put around my waist...
I made this flower necklace in peach and white and discovered a way to make a bracelet from the same design in pink and white, and now all I can think of, salivating, are what color combinations are next. The flower design and the type of leather I am using gives all choices a softness I covet. I am dreaming of the colorful possibilities of this bracelet like the Outback Red henleys of my youth. I guess that means I have to make one for myself :)

Going back, back to my roots!

Yes, I am a redhead, believe it or not. I am giving up the blonde for a little while: we'll see how long I can go :)

Captured

The sun rose, I photographed and listed the bracelet...I feel attached to it, as I do when I create anything that feels dear or important or which has been swirling around the head for a long time...there's an intimacy there. I might need to make one for myself, too :)
I love getting up in my PJs and setting about to photograph and list...I have been finding a ryhthm to this shop-owner experience, and mine begins at 8:30 with the listing of last night's creations. I say 'last night', but in reality it was FINISHED last night and most likely began days before. As much as I am diligent about customs I also have to be able to suss out dreams and continue realizing ideas, or I'd feel deadened.
After the listing there's breakfast and showering and going to the Post Office to mail out the things I sold, and I so need to start writing out fashioned letters. Side-Noted.
Then there's customs, working a bit on a few at a time so the design stays fresh and there's some variety of tools being used: keeps things sharp :) I am loving deeply what my custom customers have come up with lately: so fresh and fun.
Then there's reading break, and a walk on the beach if I can and then socializing with Schmilly or travelling to see a girlfriend and then at night I tool more than ever....why? I wonder. Perhaps my days are now longer than eight hours, but it's my dream and so it feels effortless.

Pre-Etsy

I made my first picture bracelet, something I have been working on developing for a while now: I have to wait until morning to list it, taking good pictures and finding the right paper background...until then, grainy and horrible though it might be, my Mac photo is evidence that it exists.

Last night's earthquake really....er...shook me up, for lack of a better term. I want things to be concrete, though the place I live in has constant seismographic movement. Could I really trade this city for stability somewhere else?

There is always a trade-off in life :)

The Pretty Girl

**Happy Sigh**

One full day back from NYC and I am full of gratitude for a trip that was so perfect, even in 95 degree heat...and I came back to my Schmilly and Jane and Jones and my studio, full of wonder at how good life is. I survived and thrived in the featured position: I have a long list of customs that I am diligently working on, and I am restocking all of my pretty packaging: the last seven or so packeges went out in bubble wrap. I love having them ship in little white boxes and cotton clouds. Not that there's anything wrong with bubble wrap...
I am also restocking findings and such, and I feel like a little squirrel getting ready for winter. I plan on having a deliciously full shop for the holidays, and the new ideas that are coming are just so much fun.
Here is a picture of my prettiest koi maybe ever, color-wise. I love them all equally, but she is really colorful.