ch-ch-changes.....

Once a month, members of the EtsyMetal team are given a topic or question and then are requested to blog about it simultaneously. This month's topic is:  What In The World Are You Doing?
...Please share your "goings on"!

Well, in my case it is a matter of what I am doing and what I am NOT doing...

• For starters, I decided to take a sabbatical from all wholesale trade shows in 2012. This will be the first time in 15 years that I did not exhibit at the Buyers Market of American Craft! This has left me with both a feeling of apprehension and relief. I am still taking wholesale orders, I am simply not traveling to the wholesale shows. Everything else is business as usual.......well, sort of......
• I will be discontinuing many designs throughout 2012. All good things must come to an end, right? Since 1995, I have successfully built my jewelry career on my "Abacus Collection". Even though I have added new items every year to keep it fresh and new, after so many years, I have simply grown tired. I have decided that I need to revive my artistic juices and to truly do so, I must put things that I feel are holding me back to rest. Once my supplies run out, most of this collection as well as other older collections, will be retired. (Stay tuned for news of flash sales on these older items!)
• I am continuing to develop new work as well as my eco-friendly engagement and wedding ring lines. This is where I have focused my energy lately and I am really enjoying it!
• At the beginning of the year, I was awarded with an Artists' Ventures Initiative Grant from the SC State Arts Commission. The purpose of this grant is "to encourage and enable the creation of new artist-driven, arts-based business ventures that will provide career satisfaction and sustainability for South Carolina artists."
• With the help of the above mentioned grant, I have started to conduct "Make your own Wedding Band Workshops!" Yes, you read that correctly....I am assisting couples with no jewelry-making experience. From raw material to final polish, they spend the day under my tutorship creating perfectly made wedding bands. They learn how to melt, mill, measure, cut, form, solder, sand and polish the rings to perfection. It is a romantic gesture and a lifelong memory above and beyond a trip to the jewelry store!

Julie & Eli working hard at their recent Wedding Band Workshop

Please follow these links to read about my fellow EtsyMetal members' "going ons"
Laney (aka silentgoddess)
Evelyn (aka markasky)
victoria takahashi (aka experimetal)

Miranda (aka Gracebourne)
Beth Cyr
Rebecca Bogan (aka AdobeSol)
Anne Walker
Erin Austin
Nodeform

This Week At the Bench...150 Penadnts...

I have been working non-stop for the past week to get 150 Square Abacus pendants finished, bagged, boxed and shipped. My fingers hurt and my eyes are tired. I would have never been able to get them done so quickly without the help of my husband, Ben. Thank God I married a fellow metalsmith!

These pendants are on their way to a the Lakewood Ranch Country Club in Florida for their annual Men's Invitational Golf Tournament. The pendants will be given to the participants' significant others during a formal 5 course dinner at the conclusion of the tournament. I can't describe my surprise and happiness that the Golf Shop Buyer expressly wanted to promote handmade designer jewelry, rather than mass-produced jewelry from a faceless company. She has an art background and as a result is an art advocate. A big thanks go out to her! Buy local, buy handmade...now is the time!

150 Square Abacus Pendants - finished

150 Pendants - bagged

150 Pendants - boxed

Valentine's Day Jewelry

I'm really not one for holiday themed jewelry or hearts, however I always bring these Abacus Hearts Pendants out at this time of the year. They are currently available in my Etsy shop for a limited time. See them here."How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death." -by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Some more Web Press...

I'm happy to announce that my Abacus Wave Cufflinks were featured in blufuse: a new, hip blog featuring modern men products. Very Cool stuff in the blog!

My Midnight Marquise Bracelet was also mentioned on dianalerias.net in the post Jewelry: Favorite Picks. Thank you!

Recent Advertisements...

Here are some recent ads I've participated in...
This was a co-op ad with Etsy.com. It was in the June/July issue of
BUST magazine. Can you see my Abacus Bracelet? It's pretty small...but it is a full page ad in a national magazine!

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This is another co-op ad I participated in. I went in with 3 of my galleries and it was in the August 2008 American Style magazine. Thanks to Gallery 50, Allanstand and MARCHi!

Featured on Posh Mama!

My Round Abacus Pendants were showcased in an article in Posh Mama titled "Circles and Dots" written by Capitola Girl, a fellow Etsy artist. Posh Mama is an online magazine for women only. You can also view the article on Capitola Girl's blog.

Front Page of Etsy x 2!

I was on the Front Page of Etsy TWICE on Sunday, April 20! WOW, What an honor! Thanks to formfireglassworks and ElementsbyDawn for chosing my pieces for your treasuries! My Abacus Earring #5 and my Abacus Earrings #3 were the featured items.