Holiday Pottery Shop in Hallowell, ME

Woah has it been a long time since I've blogged! It's been very busy around here these last few months. Right now I am concentrating on my newest designs, which I call "art cluster earrings." Basically I'm "painting" with my materials to create an image of a place, a moment, an energy, a person… I love it and I'm so happy with how they are turning out. Today, while looking at my materials to get inspiration for a new design, I looked up and BAM! A gorgeous sunset. Off I go, grabbing my pallet and getting ready to shape my earring sunset.

And all this creating and building and working is in preperation for the 4th Annual holiday Pottery Shop that I am lucky enough to be in this year! 142 Water St. in Hallowell, a little pop-up gallery for local artists to sell for the month of December. GORGEOUS pottery, textiles, photography, ornaments, tons of gift ideas, jewelry and sooooo much more. I am too excited! I'll be working in the gallery four days during the month, which I'm really happy about since it's been quite some time since I've worked in a gallery, and I have to say I miss it sometimes!

I hope that people recongnize how important it is to shop locally made in this economy. It is the fastest way to fix what is wrong! Keep your money circulating in your community instead of into the pockets of CEOs!! http://thinkshopbuylocal.com/ Check this site out for some great insight on the topic.

Well that's it for me. Wenesday I'll be going to the Holiday Pottery Shop to set up my display and attend our staff meeting. Yay!

Already getting ready for the holidays?!

Amazing but true, it's already time to get ready for the holidays. So much to think about and do! First I'm happy to say that I've already ordered my gift boxes and intend on including those with every purchase. Second, building up inventory and starting to branch out to sell in other venues. Not only am I on Etsy, you can buy from the restaurant I work at (Calzolaio Pasta Company = best food ever), a shop in Wells owned by my good friend Eben (Caraboo & George Antiques), First Friday down in Portland (find me near Exchange Street in that little park across from Starbucks), and my best friend Jessica is planning on having an earring party at her home to help sell my earrings! I honestly think that these earrings make a wonderful gift for any woman, from teenager to grandmother. I'm always expanding my style to include everyone while still staying true to myself as a designer. And really, what could be easier than giving someone a pair of beautiful handmade earrings already wrapped in 100% recycled material?

New!

New earrings I made today! Not posting these on Etsy quite yet, going to see if I can sell them at the Portland Art Walk- First Friday on Oct. 7th. I also have a friend who wants some pieces for his shop. Would love your feedback, what do you think?

EcoFabulous

When ordering anything made of paper for my business, I wanted that paper to be 100% recycled. So when I went about ordering business cards I looked into an eco-friendly company called Green Printers. The kicker was it really wasn't that much more money!

Now I want jewelry boxes… so I'm searching around on the internet for those when I come across Nashville Wraps, which we used in the gallery I worked in. They have a large selection of eco-friendly packaging and these boxes are 100% recycled paper, 80% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine-free, manufactured using renewable hydro-electric power, AND made in the USA! And did I mention they are less expensive than the regular ones??

How could I not order this kind of stuff? Also got some all natural 100% recycled gold raffia which will look excellent with my chocolate brown boxes.

Gift wrapping eco-fabulous style, here I come!

Here comes the fall...

Just got back from camping this weekend and WOW is it getting chilly! I can't believe it's here already! Luckily for me autumn is my favorite time of the year, even though it is hard to get used to the cold.

I've already made some pieces that have been inspired by the changing colors. These are made of recycled glass beads.

Some textural mossy green and green turquoise beads dangling from brass chains.

Inspiration

     Every artist knows that inspiration can come from anywhere; a pile of crumpled papers to a ripple in the water. My work so far has been driven by the materials at hand, I let the beads and rings dictate what the piece will look like. Now I want to challenge myself by creating a collection of earrings inspired by the photos I took on a walk through the woods.

     Although it is not technically fall yet, the colors are already arriving from turned leaves to sprouted mushrooms. I let the camera do most of the work so that I wasn't so much focused on the composition of the photograph as the element that I was drawn to. I found amazing patterns and textures on mushrooms and in water as well as spectacular colors.
     Autumn always brings out earth tones and bright warm colors in fashion and in nature. I want to take those elements that I found out there in the woods and bring that essence into my earrings, from color to texture and shape.
     To see my full collection of photographs that I will be using as inspiration, please see my flickr page: click here to see the full album
      I think it would be fun to put a picture of the finished earrings next to the photo that inspired it. I'll keep you posted when I do that.

0-60 in two weeks flat...

I have been surrounded by small businesses, and the artisans who own them, my whole life. I've watched my parents put everything they have into their businesses and pick themselves back up and dust themselves off after the most devistating circumstances. I've known for a long time that owning your own business can be a dream and a nightmare all rolled into one. It's a dream because you can make your own hours (although those hours seem to be every waking), be your own boss, do your own thing, and hopefully do what you love. The nightmare can be the money and time put forth and waiting and hoping for a return, the fear that no one is going to like what you do and certainly not going to pay that for it, that you are making a huge mistake. I've had many doses of all those feelings in the past three weeks. That's when I decided that I love making earrings and that I am going to do this for real. I'm going to start a business and dive head first into it. At first it's like, "Oh yaaay! I have 35 people who 'like' my jewelry's Facebook page! Oh, wow! I sold a piece to my friend!" Then it turns into, "I haven't had any views for this piece on Etsy and it's been three days. I haven't had a 'like' on Facebook in a week…" Those little daggers of doubt start raining down upon you. And however much I adore making these earrings now I'm starting to think, was this all a mistake? Am I throwing all this money down the drain? But I think that we all, as artisans and business owners, go through this fit of panic, probably in those first few weeks of start up. I feel like I've gone 0-60 in my life. I used to just sleep most the day, lounge around the house until work at 4pm. Now I jump out of bed and can't wait to work on my earrings, and I have to admit, I enjoy the business end of it too. I love this and all I can do is keep working as hard as I can to make it happen, so I can keep loving it for a long time.