September

From last September when I was still pregnant

It's September and I haven't had the energy or creative spark to make a piece of jewelry.  Baby A. now sleeps at a somewhat reasonable hour but doesn't nap in her crib, so my off time is spent unwinding or frantically cleaning our place little by little.  Not an easy task for the introverted.  Therefore, new jewelry will have to wait until I am fully in the creative flow - when meticulously designing, making, photographing/editing, and writing listing descriptions do not have to fit like a jigsaw puzzle piece into my schedule.

I know I say this often, but I mean it: thank you for your support.  Customers old and new have given me the momentum to simultaneously be a shop owner and a mom.  Your kind words do not go unnoticed.  For instance, I recently sold a pair of winter-inspired earrings - whose entire proceeds were donated to Feeding America - to a new customer who thanked me for shipping so quickly...a handful of days after her purchase.  Needless to say, your understanding is very much appreciated!

Although I don't have new jewelry listed for sale, I have recently renewed a few paper goods, including this fall favorite.  In addition, my content writing services are available for purchase.  When I make new jewelry, which I hope will be soon, you will be the first to know here.

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Almost There!

One sale away from the big 1,000th on Etsy!

Buyer of my 1,000th sold item will receive a free piece of my jewelry.
Thank you for all the shop love!

Back at It

Trying to get back in to making jewelry.  I even set aside the above stones, looked at them glinting gloriously in the light, and then of course - like the tentative dreamer I am - put them back into their respective little containers.  Still, these stones sit on my desk (in containers), so I'll wait for inspiration to light a fire under me before I break out the sterling silver wire and actually make something pretty.  My goal: something different, color driven, and effortlessly autumn - but wearable all year-round.  At least I'm actively thinking about jewelry making, right?

Stones shown here: peridot, peacock pearl, labradorite, citrine, opal, hessonite garnet, white moonstone, carnelian, kyanite, smoky quartz, amethyst, and heliodor.

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Thank you to my wonderful buyers for sticking by me and continuing to support my ever-evolving vision!  My shop was first a jewelry shop, then I added wedding goods, and finally quality writing services after I received my MA degree a few years back.  I'm still amazed that I have return buyers (half-kidding here).  Lastly, I'm slowly taking shop inquiries again, so if you have questions please ask.

Brainstorming a New Year

Is is already one week into the new year?  People say that the years go by faster when you're older, and I think they're right.  As for the shop, I have to get moving on designing some new jewelry designs that I've, over the past few days, been diligently brainstorming.  Also on the to-do list is to take photos of an evocative interchangeable dangle set that I hadn't gotten around to photographing during the busy holidays.  If you're interested, the two-dangle set is garnet and smoky quartz (rustic, dark, and lovely!).  The weather here has been rainy and the sky a brilliant-though-muting gray, so a photo session will have to wait until there's some sunlight.  Natural light will make the photo angles and colors pop on this lush piece.  Been rewriting content on my blog pages for clarity and relevance, too.

Now that it's the new year, and I've been making jewelry for over five, one would think I'd have a handle on these shop-related tasks.  Ha!  It's almost as if each year follows the beat of its own drum--some years are more productive than others, and each has its own fine-tuned focus while should-be focuses blur into the background.  Only to find themselves at the forefront, once again, when the creative process shifts.  Same goes for my writing.  As the pendulum swings.

via Instagram

One thing that fortunately doesn't fit this go-with-the-flow mentality is my focus on custom orders.  Whether for writing services, jewelry, or wedding goods, I keep up with the momentum; I do not fall behind.  I stick to deadlines, give each order my all, and maintain an intense, sustained focus that I later wonder about and attempt to replicate with brainstorming and making new non-custom pieces.  Nothing builds determination more than a deadline.  I've learned that honing a craft takes much practice, and this practice comes in many forms--one just has to persevere through the creative process, find equal footing through it all.  Generating ideas is one form of practice; actually sitting down to create a piece is another.  I'm still learning about sentence structure and timing when I work on writing orders, still learning new jewelry-making techniques even after five years.  I'll take the daily grind of life over its grandeur any day.  

On Writing More

This blog entry was increasingly difficult to write, so bear with me.  Creativity is a potent drink for magical thinking, but it can also be the source of all-encompassing agony.  It makes one person cry, while another buzzes with inspiration, and yet another metaphorically tears out her hair in frustration.  Over the process and its tumultuous fits and starts, the (in)ability to surmount an artistic blockage.  For the difficulty is always this: the process.  By making art, sometimes more of our imperfect inner selves is revealed than we can handle, and as a result, leaves us emotionally and mentally drained (and feeling vulnerable...).  Yet, when we can harness our artistic natures and surmount that creative block, oh, is it crafty magic.  If I could somehow distill creativity and inspiration into a bottle...

Sometimes I forget to draw a line between work and life, between obsessing over the details and just fully living each day.  It is a decision that can be difficult to make.  This is why I write and make jewelry and book page goods: tedium is released, the once-academic in me gets some mental exercise, and new jewelry ideas again surge with productive energy.  Writing tends to center me, while jewelry making is an energetic task.  Basically, I love them for different reasons.  It would be easy to concentrate only on jewelry making (and wedding goods), but I continue writing because it keeps me sane, endlessly inspired, and still.

Stillness is particularly important for those like me with ever-roving minds.  With stillness comes the ability to concentrate fully on the task at hand; this is especially helpful when it comes to writing.  Through personal writing, for instance, deeply held words are dripped onto paper out of my subconscious--I am often left wondering, after jotting them down, where the words had come from.  And with my writing services, a bit of myself is poured into this work, whether it is a well-turned phrase, a particular word choice, or even a stylistic lilt in sentence structure.  Every writer leaves her mark in subtle ways; I can tell when my writing has been modified by others for their own gain--but that is (kind of) not the point being made here.  The point is: by occasionally changing up my shop goals, the energy and mental clarity that is tapped into positively shifts my perspective on both work and life.  As a refreshing result, there is less obsessing over the creative block, and more constructive assessment of the direction of things.  I know that I am not alone in experiencing this.

Also, I know that balance is needed in all aspects of life if we are to function as the complex human beings we are.  After an intensive flurry of jewelry making, I am, humbly, writing more (present tense).  If all goes well, I will share some of that writing here.  Unlike my grad school days, writing more is no longer a chore; I no longer liken writing to the pulling of teeth without anesthesia.

Instead, writing is catharsis: it is the lifeblood of my existence.

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I've also written about the writing process here and here.