A little Birdie Told Me

There were birds taking over my leather shop!!!

Three More Days!

The handmade video portrait of me goes up Friday, not sure of the exact time of day, but there will be excitement in my heart from 6AM to bedtime, I am sure.

To clarify what this is: It's a five minute video that takes footage shot over the course of two days when Tara ( Weirdwolf on Etsy ) came over and peeked into my life!

You know that weird feeling you get when you hear yourself recorded and listen to your own voice speaking? I know I'll be feeling that!!

I also know this is something I can show my children. If you get a chance go HERE and see some of the the other videos: Tara is incredibly gifted and has a way of editing that gets into my heart.

Special Indeed

This opal is special. It is wild and unpolished and even still its fire is really powerful in its rainbow reach.

It pulls at something in my heart in a way only certain stones can: I feel very lucky it found me and I am very excited for its proper owner to find it in return.

It is OVER HERE.

Create:Fixate

What a wonderful show. I got the chance to meet more amazing women and the men who love them last night. There is a certain gentleness to the women who frequent my table and even still I find myself bone-achingly shy.

Why?

I made these things in front of my arms displayed in a lovely rectangle of real estate. All those hours: all that love - and there I am, shy as a daisy.

Questions make me blush.

Inquiries make me stutter.

My kingdom for a piano at those moments: no matter how desperately shy I am before a musical show I sit my bum on my piano bench and feel the rush of sure-ness.

I did well last night: I made several koi that I didn't list on Etsy and it's a good thing: they flew away, along with some other koi that had been in the Etsy shop and a few silver pieces. The theme was definitely in favor of the fishee!!

The event itself brought out the most interesting, fashion forward people and reminded me in equal measure of my love/hate relationship with this amazing city called Los Angeles.

Some of the hippest, most bad-ass looking folk had these gentle hearts that made me feel so safe and open, and yet there was an equal number of hungry-eyed beautiful ones with disdain on the tip of their tongues: angels and troubled souls abounded each time I looked up.

I am taking today to rest as I have the energy only to post a blog and check to make sure everything's humming on the sitelets. I am considering closing the metal shop after January to keep costs down and keep my focus on the leather: I am burning the candle at all kinds of ends and some things are suffering.

Must get to figuring.

Wonderment

I got a convo from Ed, who runs Etsy lapidary shop called  Stones In Motion  speaking of the stones I use and our common love of opals.  We are on the same page. I am obsessed with stones, from ocean jasper to turquoise, Australian opal to Alabama Paint stone. Lately all kinds of jaspers have been  catching my eye.

The biggest draw? King Cobra Jasper. I cannot seem to find a cabochon that hasn't been snatched up immediately, but I was lucky enough to find a slab on eBay a day after I got my first convo from Ed.

I wrote to him asking if he would be interested in working with me on this rough slab and we found the perfect agreement. When these cabs come out you are going to freak out - the cabs this stone creates are magical. 

Mama Peacock Feather Eye and Her Brood

I am working overtime to get everything ready for Create:Fixate. I keep reading more about it online: it is really an amazing cultural event that takes place 4 times per year: I will be one of only 7 jewelry designers present: that's amazing.

I am working to beef up my stock ( no pun intended as I work with leather ha ha ) and in the process have had no time for fun and lovely things like blogging. I'll be posting a few things and both of my shops will be closed Saturday after 2PM until Sunday at Noon - I cannot stress enough that if you love a certain stone, nab it up now. If it's leather, just write it down and I'll find the inactive listing and make it for you!! I think this event is bigger than I even thought!!

YIKES! :)

Now Is The Time

Dearest readers,

I am doing a show on Saturday called Create: Fixate. I get the sense that it's pretty amazing - you can go see what it's all about HERE.

I feel there are one of a kind things that may sell: if you have your eye on something between now and Friday may be the time to snatch it up.

I don't want to jinx myself by seeming as if things will fly off my table, but I also want to give very fair warning just in case: a body can never reproduce a unique stone - the leather stuff is more fluid in its ability to be redone, but the jewelry is more difficult and some times impossible.

Also, the Etsy Handmade Life Portrait of me? December 12th :) I am seriously beyond excited over this and how AMAZING that it almost coincides with the day in which my album, 'Steady Heart' will be in my hands at last!!!

Om

First of all, let me just preface this post with the mention of my adoration for you all. The comments ( even if there's no time to respond to everything ) make me feel like there's this amazing sisterhood out there: I feel a deep understanding between us.

Second of all, not only is Jillian a silversmith of the highest caliber, she also makes grape jelly from her own grapes. I was lucky enough to receive a parcel of it and it is HAUNTING. 

We had a grape vine in our back yard when we were children ( my sister and I ) and not only does the taste bring back vibrant memories of that wondrous and healthy time, it also makes me wonder if perhaps there is anything this woman CAN'T do. It is splendid. Times twenty. 

Third of all, I have been taking a lot of yoga lately and my very favorite part of the classes are the "OM"s. As a singer I love to find the note the instructor is singing and join them on that very lovely and deep sound. It makes something really wild happen on the top of my skull!

The first 'om' opens the class and releases me from my own self-imposed stress to practice poses and dedicate myself to my body's well-being.

The second 'om' closes the class and locks in my peace like a zip lock baggie 'locks in freshness'.

Here is my silver dedication to that wondrous word.

Royal Blues

Old Becomes New

There is something that most people don't know to expect when we've known each other for some time as we do, readers... I am sensitive and emotional and intuitive as any woman is, but I am lacking in sentimentalism. I don't keep Christmas cards or knick-knacks that aren't useful. 

I am not a pack rat, nor do I support having drawers full of things I do not often take out. Every three months or so I pack up the clothing I don't wear and give them to Goodwill - even if I still love it I am not wearing it, so out it goes ( with a couple of lovely exceptions ). 

When Anthony moved in with me he had boxes and boxes of toys and doo-dads he certainly doesn't play with and I think he found me rather ruthless in my desire to keep our new home streamlined ( we have very little storage ).  We have made peace about it all - he understands the reason I cannot cling to things: we cannot take any of them with us when we ultimately depart.

I have a way of giving all things personalities: teddy bears, pieces of favorite jewelry, coffee mugs, etc, and that road ( if travelled down too often or over-indulged ) can lead me to a place of desperation and tears because I love this particular life and this earth so much that I fear the thought of leaving. Especially the thought of leaving alone and empty-handed.

Giving things away or cleaning house is a mini-death every time and keeps me focused on simplicity and freedom from grasping - a spiritual exercise of sorts. A reminder ( and God knows I do love reminders ). 

The sadness in my heart at the departure of that Broadway Playbill or my favorite keychain from my teenage years is soon replaced by an expansive rush of air and.... freedom. A deeper breath.

My first piece of jewelry was adorable and a lovable fail: I took a six week class every Saturday morning for two hours this time last year. I did all the filing and drilling and polishing and my instructor did all the soldering. There were 9 other students and we spent most of our time vying for his attention in a small line around his soldering bench.

The idea of the piece was to cover it completely in silver balls and opal, but much like sitting down at a piano as a beginner and trying to play Mozart, the result was thin and disappointing.

I realized as I watched him solder how far I had to go and how much I'd have to get over my fear of fire (deep, deep fear) and all things heat-related. 

In the spirit of the strong desert wind that I often invite in to sweep out my life, I am using my prong-bending tool to take out those opals and put them into something new and vibrant.

It will mean the monument to my first silver experience will be but a photo-memory. It will mean that as I pry the metal off of the stone a few tears may fall in remembrance of the strong desire that wrapped them into existence. My heart will do its very familiar constriction as it dances with the sudden, practiced realization that this is a dress-rehearsal for a bigger letting-go.

Ten fingers will revolt as they do with every dress I put in the bag for someone else...

every old dish I ate off of as a child that gets put into a box for someone new...

Each book already read that needs to experience the world through new eyes...

My brain will scream, "Nooo!!! Cling tight to the firm reality of this piece!!"

My greater self will unbend the metal and unbind my freedom from my possessions once again, as patient and kind as a mother to a child who falls and gets caught in the grief of gravity's unexpected force.

Guiding lights will lead me to the idea yet to be born: a new setting for the opals, a new peace with setting suns and aging parents.

In rushes the deeper breath: out of the green woods comes my freedom once again.

Ring Ring

The Melting Continues

Oh, how I adore watching the edges of silver curl into themselves.... it's positively romantic!!

This necklace above can be found in the Metal Shop!

Affordable and Luxe

Old West Bracelets!

Available in The Leather Shop!

Behold the Bag!!!

She can be found HERE

Scarab Cuff on Sale

HERE