Octavia's Beads

link love?

2010-03-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

I know I said I was finished with this blog, but I don't think I am. I may try to "double fist" the blogs for awhile. I have an odd increment of time on my hands this morning: we have a 10:30 AM playdate, but we slept in until 6:30, so I don't feel like we have time to go to the Y, the library, get a shower, and make it to the playdate by the appointed time, so I decided instead to work on some "link love" on Facebook. I have discovered that it's not really my thing.

I have, right this minute, 71 fans on my FB page. I know most of those people. Mostly they are existing clients, friends, family members of friends. I only have a few people on there who I don't know at all. I don't think randomly fanning pages accomplishes anything. Okay, some people have 800 fans, but many of those people just want to have 800 fans on their own pages. Do they immediately hide your posts? Do they ever look at your Etsy shop when it's time to buy gifts? I decided to only fan pages that interest me. People can make self-promotional posts on my FB page all they want--I'll check it out, and if I like their work, I'll let them know.

This, of course, goes along with the whole "not lying" thing. I don't tell my child that a monster will get her if she doesn't brush her teeth. If she asks what happens to the cute baby cow she is petting, I let her know that it will be probably be someone's dinner some day. I try very hard to be kind yet honest in interpersonal relationships. Some people live by the ten commandments. Great if it works for them, but I live by the nine noble virtues. I have found that when I rediscovered my faith and stopped trying to keep silent about what I believed, in order to blend in with the Judeo-Christian matrix of our society, I became much happier. Truth, honor, and fidelity are the most important to me, though all nine are interconnected and work best together.

So there. That's my preaching. I never say these things to people unsolicited, because that's just as bad as knocking on doors with pamphlets. You made the decision to read this, though, so. . .thanks. And if I like your work, you'll know. :)

new blog

2010-02-16T18:13:00.000-08:00

Here's what I plan to do: I'm going to start writing a new blog. The reason I started this one is that every helpful selling strategies email from Etsy says that shoppers love blogs, and good sellers write blogs. That may be true, but I think the problem with mine is that of all the things I am thinking about minute to minute, rarely is making jewelry or accessories among them. I still create things, because I enjoy it. I am no great photographer, so when there's 2 feet of snow outside it's hard for me to photograph anything since I have not yet found a feasible way to put myself inside a lightbox. My main Etsy shop will carry on, and I plan to add some of the more eco-conscious things I've been working on to the other Etsy shop, Duck & Cover,like recycled yarns, but this blog is dead. nobody needs to listen to me bitch about the things and people that annoy me, or to read the myriad ways I can grasp at straws as I try to relate what I'm actually thinking about to my shop.

So here it is: I give you. . .

The last Octavia's Beads blog post!

Making yarn is my new favorite thing. I spun some nice super bulky undyed yarn from some wool roving that i picked up at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival last weekend. I knitted a few rows with it and it is soft, cuddly, and amazing. I was so proud of myself. I also bought some pinkish-peach and cream roving with bronze glitzy-stuff in it at the PASA conference and I think the two combined will make a stunning wrap.
At the K&C festival, I took a class on recycled yarn. Some of it was probably common sense, but as I have none, I needed this class. The instructor even pointed out that all of the things she taught were available to learn from youtube, but I am not likely to pay rapt attention to youtube for more than a few minutes. To be fair, though, that is how I taught myself to use a drop spindle. That and a library book from the U.K. which was published in the 1960s and never checked out before. I'm certainly on the crest of a trendy wave, aren't I? Anyway, T-shirt yarn, plastic bag yarn, leather yarn. . . it's all possible, it's all doable, and it can look really fantastic. I knitted a headband out of T-shirt yarn that I made while I was there that day.

So. . . if you'd like to see what I make with the yarn, to find out what I plant in my new, bigger garden and how I plan to add wheat, nuts, hops, and kiwis, read the new blog. If you want to follow the drama and the learning curve as I manage my first multi-farm CSA group this summer, read the new blog. If you're curious about how much of one family's food supply one person without training or experience can produce from an acre of challenging clay soil, read the new blog at http://www.finianvalley.blogspot.com. Thanks!

rock and a hard place

2010-01-27T03:14:00.000-08:00

You know how they (whoever "they" are)say that there's just no pleasing some people? I suppose I'm one of those people. I moved away from the city because I was tired of being harassed by crackheads at the laundromat. I left because people saved their parking spaces with chairs. I left because in just one neighborhood there were enough seats in bars for EVERY PERSON living in all of the 90+ neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. I left because I expect to speak English to most people, in most situations.
When I left, I left a lot of friends behind. The really fun people. The people who were/are really important to me I have kept in touch with, of course, but it's the loss of a hundred or so aquaintainces that makes the move to the sticks really bitter.
I am so pleased to have enough land that I can grow (a lot of) my own food, but I miss being able to go out for Thai food at 10 P.M. with drunk psychobilly kids. I am so very happy that I have a driveway rather than on-street parking that must be secured by way of various intrigues and diversions, but I miss all the crusty, badass old bikers. It's surprising that this town can support three tattoo shops, yet somehow when men (even young men) see my arms they can't stop themselves from telling me that tattooed women have never been their thing, or that their fathers would scream if they brough a girl home with that much ink. It's great to live right on the water, but it was also great, in the past, to be able to go see a decent live band every week. I love it that my kid can go outside and literally hug a tree, but I hate it that here in the country where you can actually feel nature, all of the earth-religion people (aside from a few eccentrics at a Unitarian Church) are in hiding. The overwhelmingly oppressive conservative Christian atmosphere is suffocating. I have a pair of friends who have a child about the same age as mine, and they are great playmates. We agree on many parenting issues, and the Christianity-in-your-face environment is difficult for them too. I think that they are planning to move away from this town within the year. Not because of that--it's the whole 'rural living' package, I think.
The other thing about being here is that it's difficult for someone who works from home to make friends, and damn near impossible to find someone interesting to date. The pool of single men is pretty small, and when you remove all the miserable bastards, the men afflicted by paralyzing shyness, and everyone with basic interests so different from mine that it just can't be ignored, that leaves. . . well. . . let's just say that I'm not dating anyone and the last guy I dated turned out to be a train wreck.

Haiti Relief

2010-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

It may be a bit after the fact, but I'm sure the need for help in Haiti isn't going away any time in the near future. Doctors Without Borders could use your help, and so I made a section in my Etsy shop that's a fundraiser. 20% of profits from everything in that section go to the Haitian Relief effort through Doctors Without Borders. There is also a special vintage item in the Duck n' Cover shop that's a similar fundraiser.

This is the special vintage item.

up early, again

2010-01-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

Good morning, everyone! It's only 7:18 A.M. here, and I have already had breakfast and put yesterday's dishes away. Laundry has been started, my pot of coffee is half gone already (note to self: figure out how to get into the building where they sell the organic coffee and undercut the grocery store--the building has about eight doors, but where in the hell is the actual store?), and my plan for later is taking the crib in my daughter's room apart. Our babysitter returns from winter break today, so am looking forward to three hours of getting my own work done. That is, of course, assuming that she doesn't have a meltdown because she hasn't seen this girl in a month. We'll see.

For about two months I haven't been bending over backwards to make new jewelry and hair accessories. I had a lot of work to do for the co-op until the end of December, and for the last few weeks I just wanted a break. I am, however, trying to sort out which festivals I will be doing this season, so I wanted to start making some knockout pieces to draw people in, stuff that will photograph well and look good in applications. A craft supply store nearby is moving to another location, so I picked up piles of beads and chain for next to nothing. It's not super high-quality stuff, but for pretty costume jewelry, a person would be insane to pass up those deals. I've made some sentimental Valentine's Day-themed stuff out of these beads. My thinking is that sane people don't need to buy sterling heart charms to wear one week each year, so why not resin and base metal with sparkly bits thrown in?Below is a work in progress. I plan to add hot pink ribbon and bows. I'm nothing if not classy. . .

My favorite early Spring festival has been cancelled this year, which blows me away. I thought it was a great success for vendors and the community. It's the Kaleidoscope on Main event in Slippery Rock, PA, and it's part of the month-long Kaleidoscope Festival that SRU puts on. The reson I was given was "inadequate event staff." Um, hello? Bad answer! It's a university, full of young people grudgingly completing community service requirements, and you expect people to be satisfied with "inadequate event staff" as an answer? Grrr. I'm especially annoyed about it because it's 3 1/2 miles from my house and has been suprisingly lucrative for me.

I've made the decision to forego festivals over Memorial Day Weekend in favor of cleaning out my garage for money. What I mean is that after two years of having a little being in my household, I now have so much stuff in the garage and the attic that it's almost difficult to believe. It's insane! I'm only going to keep what has sentimental value, especially since it would take divine intervention for me to have another child at this point. That sort of thing doesn't happen on its own, you know. Anyway, my neighborhood has a big, well advertised yard sale every year that weekend, and while I'm okay with giving some of the surplus kid stuff to charity, some of it is definitely worth selling. I will probably have to do more preparation for the yard sale than for a festival and I will almost definitely make less profit, but festivals don't clean out my garage!

Random on a Monday

2010-01-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

Above: fascinator I made last night and listed on Etsy today.

Firstly, some random information that I must get off my chest:

I cannot think of a piece of meat that isn't improved by boiling it in beer, preferably with jalapenos.

I completely understand, after getting 'help' from a 2-year old while making pumpkin bread, why people just go buy a bag of Chips Ahoy.

I'm going to the PASA conference, taking a class at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival on making recycled yarn, and going to my first Penguins game all during February. I am making up for lost 'adult time' all in one go, apparently.

Am I the only person who thinks that my time and effort are important enough to be certain I have given accurate invoices to the people who sell me stuff? Our co-op has far, far more surplus money as of 31 December than we should, presumably because I have not been giving the growers credit for everything they sold. Why, you ask? Because quite a few people have been selling themselves short by giving me incomplete invoices, and then apparently they never realized. Money is too tight in my world to make that sort of mistake!

I know I need to make more jewelry and fascinators. That's my primary occupation, and in the depths of frigid Pennsylvania winter, my commission from the co-op isn't going to be much for the next few weeks. I don't want to start preparing for spring and early summer festivals, though. I want to go through all my seed catalogs, decide what type of chickens to get, buy a drop spindle and try my hand at some other fiber arts, make soap (properly) for the first time. . . there's no time in all of that to string beads and glue feathers to things. I'm knitting my daughter a pair of socks. Without a pattern. I'm about to make a batch of root beer for the kid, since just making beer for myself doesn't do her any good. . . I'd like to try my hand at making mead, but thirteen pounds of honey doesn't just drop on one's doorstep!
People seem to think that being self-employed means that you have nothing but free time. Absolutely wrong! I probably work more hours than alot of people who work for other people. I love having this part-time job for the co-op, in spite of the problems we've been experiencing with our supply chain recently, but sometimes that job on top of everything else is a bit much for me to work with!

Gasp! Nail Polish?

2009-12-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

I was looking through stuff from the EWG and other groups who focus on green products, trying to find the safest nail polish. I usually use OPI, and happily, it's among the best.There's another company out there called Suncoat that makes water based polishes, and their colors are not bad, but what I want more than any other color is agreat matte gray--no pearliness. That's why I just spent $26.50 on Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy polish. It damn well better be everything it's reviewed to be! And it has the same set of non-toxic claims as OPI, by the way.

Winter holiday

2009-12-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

Solstice came and went, Christmas came and went, and Yuletide is drawing to a close. I'm excited to report that since I decided to not give everyone I know a plate of baked goods, my holiday work load decreased dramatically. I made pizzelles to sell at our co-op's winter market and I made another batch last night because they are so good, but that's about it. Instead of handmaking ornaments for my aunt's family, I spent $20 and made a gift basket of organic snack foods, which I know they will enjoy more anyway.

I made a duck, which I stuffed with mushrooms, cherries, apple, and onion, and then sprinkled with poultry seasoning. The pan I roasted it in was bowed a bit, and so some of the fat burned in the corner and smoked horribly. Other than that, a success!

Our winter market at the co-op went wonderfully. Linda Mickley made wonderful butter, the day before I bought it, from nothing but cream (probably raw) and salt. Nothing else. Christmas morning I made french toast and enjoyed it with some of Linda's applebutter, which is possibly the best tasting thing in the entire world.

I found an e-mail in my spam folder today (oops) from someone at gardeneggs.com asking me if my co-op sold chicks, and if we might be able to put a chicken tractor on display and take orders for them. I think it's a great idea! I'd love to see as many people as possible be able to keep chickens at home, and group ordering of assembled, portable hen houses is a great way to facilitate that.

I had given up on making jewelry a few weeks ago, which was obviously the best strategy. I have gotten so many orders by word-of-mouth and made a few surprising Etsy sales, and so I decided to start making an effort again. If I don't, I soon will have nothing else to sell!

Today I discovered this amazing new website, called soopsee.com. You can create your own page for free, and it links multiple Etsy pages and blogs. There's a few basic themes, and it's yet another great way to get more exposure. I'm really pleased with my soopsee page. Of course, I just ordered new business cards, and it would be nice to have my new web address on those cards.

No whining, period.

2009-12-10T10:25:00.001-08:00

Ok, no more whining. About anything, period. I'm done. It doesn't help. I am very happy that the crazy windstorm we had yesterday did not break any of our huge, ancient windows. There were trees down everywhere, a co-worker fell in the mud horribly while trying to push someone else's car out of the mud. . . it could always be so much worse. It is now time to buckle down and do some serious, serious crafting for holiday gifts. My gifting list has been abbreviated slightly, and that helps. I really wasn't as excited as I pretended to be about making two dozen totally handmade bird ornaments, anyway.
Both open houses went well, I received a few orders, two of which are already finished. I have discovered that ruby Swarovski crystals no longer exist, apparently, and that complicates one of my existing orders, but I can improvise! I gave Lily a haircut that isn't at all terrible.
I bought myself a pair of pearl earrings today, which is a big deal for me. Whenever I needed a pair, I would borrow them from my mom, and let's face it: I'm far too old to be doing that, regularly anyway. Nobody other than my father has ever given me quality jewelry, so if I can't make it and I want it, I'm buying it for myself from now on.
I'm looking forward to the fashion show at the Associated Artists of Butler County on Saturday. I'm looking forward to having some big people time with a very fun friend. High heels will be worn, wine will be enjoyed, and there will be much rejoicing.

Time will pass

2009-12-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

Some things have been happening in my life lately, some good, some bad, some uncertain. I am still working for the co-op, and that is turning out to be a little bit more profitable than I had expected. That combined with what I've seen at Target and JC Penney lately (in terms of jewelry and hair ornaments) has convinced to me hang up the ol' glue gun for awhile after my second open house is over. Though people do value handmade items, I cannot make my prices competetive with mass-produced items at this time. Until the early springtime festivals begin, it's hello, agriculture, and goodbye, handmade. At least I'll get some knitting done.

I'm facing 2 problems here: a feeling of loss, and a feeling of uncertainty. First, the uncertainty, because that's easier to explain. I decided months ago that if my jewelry business hasn't taken off by the time Lily starts school, I'm going back to college for another degree. In recent months I had decided that I was interested in the sustainable systems program at SRU, and I wanted to focus on agriculture. Last Wednesday (first full moon of this Blue Moon month, and a terrible day all around) one of the awful things that I had to deal with was the realization that SRU has discontinued the agriculture aspect of that program since the entire program has been moved from the Parks & Recreation Department to the Geology Department. So now if I want to be formally educated on that subject, I have to go somewhere else. It will be farther away, and I may not be so lucky as to be able to go directly into a master's program: I think I may have to go get a B.S., since a B.A. hasn't prepared me with basic information I would surely need.

I'd rather not do all of that. I'd like to get some practical experience with vegetable, grain, and livestock farming. I'm considering going away for a little while, but it would be very difficult to do with a toddler. I can't imagine any scenario in which raising Lily and working on some farm in whatever random, far-flung locale can co-exist. I asked sincerely to be hired part-time by someone who means alot to me, but I don't think that is going to happen. That's part of the "feeling of loss" component.
This person asked me a few weeks ago where I've been, where I am now, and where I'm going. I used to have a pretty straightforward answer to that, but now I'm not so sure.

I want to work hard. I want to learn. I want to be a mother and a companion. Family is the most important thing in the world to me, above any employment goals or worldly possessions. My daughter is my family; my mother is my family; my very dearest, oldest friend is my family. I want more than that for my daughter someday, though. No matter how much education you have, no matter how hard you work, no matter how long and sincerely you pray, no matter how much money you have, there are some things that happen on their own schedules.

That brings me to the loss portion of my week. I gained and lost something indescribably amazing within the last month. I cried about it, I had irrational ideas for making it all work out the way I wanted, I worried that I wasn't good enough, I worried that I had been lied to from the beginning. . . then I got over it. None of those thoughts are helpful or rational. Time will pass. Things will work out for the best eventually, and trying to force the hand of fate could very probably cause the entire situation to explode in my face. I understand that I have to take care of myself to stay healthy and happy. I understand that moping doesn't fix anything. I need to just put on my big girl pants (in this case, Dickies) and deal with it. Maybe someday I'll get to try again. The one thing that is killing me about this is that I didn't get to tell this very important person something, and I know that if he doesn't know this, I will feel like I could have tried harder to be a better friend and a person with more integrity, somebody who deserves the respect shown to me. What I want to say is this:

I want you to know that the reality of your situation finally sunk in. You were right when you made one particular decision for me: I would probably be very unhappy and angry if we were together while you were going through the things that your lawyer suggested. Thank you for that decision, and it really didn’t take me too many days to agree.
There’s something I hope you keep in mind, though: you told me a few weeks ago that I was giving you the strength to not be sucked back into an unhappy situation. You used the exact words “you’re what I need.” So I understand that I can’t be with you right now because it’s a very stressful and complicated time, and neither one of us could give the other what we would in different circumstances. I’m at peace with that, though it is sad. I want you to remember, though, that even though I cannot be physically near you or whisper words of encouragement to you, please remember that I think your lifestyle is amazing. I think your work is valid, important, and fascinating. I think your home and your surroundings are beautiful, peaceful, and comfortable. I think you are a good man who has been through some sad, lonely times and that you deserve more. I am not asking you to rekindle our relationship right now. I am asking you to remember that I care for you and truly appreciate the person you are, the entire package, and I wouldn’t change anything about you or the life you lead. You deserve a life in which no one asks you to become someone you are not.

And that's how I feel right now. Time will pass. Stick with me while I figure out what to do next. I'm looking for local work that's related to sustainable agriculture, and I'm going to continue raising my beautiful daughter. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm no tree-hugging hippie, but I want to do my part to protect our soil, our air, and my daughter's future health and well-being. Anything else that comes into my life will be an added bonus, and will make my life fuller and happier.

Obligatory Post

2009-11-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here's what I can tell you today: I don't have anything profound to say because I have been busy. Most of it I have brought upon myself. I can't stand it when people whine about how busy they are, how little time they have for themselves, etc., when they are the ones who agreed to do five oil changes, buy groceries for their deadbeat brother, pick the neighbor's cat up at the kennel, wash the car, and make bread, all before lunch.

I found this picture today on b3ta and it cracks me up.

See? Share the work, share the joy.

This weekend I did very little housework and I felt like I was on vacation. I had what I like to call a "come to Jesus meeting" with my mother last week about the sour, miserable mood she's been in and it really made a difference in my life. The last straw was when she manipulated me with guilt to make me trim the hedges, which for some reason gives me an instant sore throat. Apparently I'm allergic to juniper. So she helped me with Lily this weekend. On Friday I got to go out and have dinner with other adults, in public. I was in the car by myself. . . after dark!I got to spend time with one of my favorite people Friday and Saturday evening, which always puts a smile on my face, and it's nice to have Mom watch Lily while I enjoy that special adult time. I knitted part of a scarf that I'm going to felt and turn into a glorious neckwrap that won't be a gift and won't be for sale. I haven't made much of anything for myself lately, especially anything knitted, other than the very basic neckwrap I finished a few days ago.
Yesterday morning the sitter came and I posted five new things to Etsy, did the Winter Market order for the co-op, and made a great new peacock sword fascinator.

My mom used to have this country-decor, watercolor-embellished poem framed in the kitchen with a line in it to the effect of, "if the doorknobs don't shine then their eyes will shine instead." It was a little hokey, but there's a certain amount of truth to it. If I had made myself crazy cleaning the house to a high shine, Lily would have missed a lot of quality playtime with me, and she would have gotten underfoot often. I was able to create stuff for myself, too, since I wasn't obsessing about the dishes and laundry.
That being said, though, if I don't do it the vast majority of it will not get done, and this is far too small a house to tolerate clutter. It was sort of like a mini-vacation, letting the drudgery go for a while. That keeps a person sane, I think.

Cyber Monday Sales

2009-11-19T04:51:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's some Cyber Monday sales that other FAM Team members are having on November 30th.
http://newenglandquilter.etsy.com BOGO 1/2 off - See shop announcement for full details!

www.hotpinkchick.etsy.com 10% off one item - 15% off two items - 20% off three or more items

http://www.octaviasbeads.etsy.com free international shipping over $40; 20% off all purchases over $30

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BerrysweetStuff - 2 FREE Candy Cane Bath fizzy Powders on orders over $25!

http://www.pinklemonadeshop.etsy.com - I'll be running special sales and giveaways all day Monday both at my Etsy Shop and at my Main Store - http://hyenacart.com/pinklemonade

▶www.rachelherzog.etsy.com FREE US SHIPPING WITH purchases of $15 or more, FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING with $30 or more

http://dlcdesigns.etsy.com BOGO 1/2 off and free shipping entire store

Open House

2009-11-18T08:45:00.001-08:00

I'm planning my holiday open houses this week, and like most everything else in my life, I have made it more complicated than necessary. I made some square invitation cards with a new font that I downloaded specifically for earring cards & stuff. I had to print, cut, paste, scan, print, cut, and stick them in envelopes. I realized after a few that it was an absolutely absurd amount of effort to put into something with a fairly low expected return. My open houses usually draw the same core group of loyal customers. I could send their invitations on cardboard scraps with the dates written backwards in crayon and they'd still come. So anyway, I came up with something easier that actually looks better, anyway. I buy giant quantities of blank cards on clearance at Michael's and use them for thank you cards, birthday cards, invitations, everything. I printed the info on pretty purple paper and glued it into the cards.
A friend of mine who is a dairy farmer in the Co-op I work for makes raw milk cheese, which is really, really excellent, and I asked for a sampler tray to share with my guests. He ships cheese all over the world, too. Check it out. Another friend of mine, Deb Mercer, is going to be doing seated massages for my Saturday open house. I'm having my mother bring out her higher-end textile hats and bags to fill out the space a little more. All of my previous in-home parties have been great, highly profitable and enjoyable, so hopefully this winter's ones will be as well, so if you're planning to be in Western Pennsylvania on December 5th or December 8th, ask me for directions and come check out our stuff!
I'm also running special Cyber Monday sales in my Etsy shop. Free international shipping on orders over $40 and 20% off all purchases over $30. I am blatantly promoting myself here, but that's what the internet is all about, right? Well, self-promotion and ineptly trying to keep your porn addiction a secret from your girlfriend (come on, we all know that guy. Later on I'm going to post holiday sales from other members of the Fabulous Artistic Moms Etsy team, and possibly from Etsy Team Exposure if those girls are running any specials.

fashion & the definition of luxury

2009-11-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

I have been so busy lately!It's been that kind of busy that makes it difficult for me to think of any new designs, because by the end of the day I'm so worn out that I just want to have a glass of wine in the bathtub and go to bed. On Friday, though, I was on one of the machines at the gym and I had a great idea for a fabric cuff. Do I make cuffs? Not yet, but I think I'm about to. I have piles of brocade and velvet fabric cluttering my house. A few buttons and some narrow lace could help turn all that fabric into wonderful things. Yesterday when I was in the garden fighting with my tiller (it was way, way too muddy to be doing what I was trying to do)I had a brilliant idea for a blog entry. I have forgotten most of it, but the high points are as follows:
High fashion is amazing. I love the excess, the frivolity at times, the grave seriousness at others. I adore the international exposure and influence of haute couture. I can say that the Christian Dior Spring 2007 collection has influenced my work.

I believe all women should thank Coco Chanel for making fashion more wearer-friendly, even though she wasn't exactly a fan of ready-to-wear items. All of that being said, however, none of that fits in with my current position in life. Nobody gives a damn if my handbag is out of season, or if my shoes are so-last-decade. The places I usually go, people are pleased as long as I'm relatively clean, and sometimes that's negotiable, too. I'm pretty sure that my well-worn harness boots and NRA coffee mug got me a date last week. No one needs extra adornments, right? It's an expensive luxury during a time of economic hardship.
Well, that's silly. Art is not a luxury, and while we're at it, let's ask Mademoiselle Coco about luxury:
"Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity." To me, that means this: who cares if you're overdressed? If flowers in your hair make you feel lovely, wear them. If you want to redo your makeup and hair at 10 P.M. (even though you have to be in bed by midnight if you want to make it through the next day), go for it. You don't need a special occasion to wear that fabulous Mod party dress hanging in your closet. Even if your dance card is empty and all you do is go to the grocery store and playdates, wear your five-inch plaid peep-toes whenever you feel like it. Nothing shapes a woman below the waist better than high heels worn confidently anyway.
In the spirit of adding more beauty, fashion, and art to every day, I redesigned my earring display cards and designed cards for my mother's brainchild, Sane Hats (you know, Mad Hatter, insane. . . you get it), over the weekend. It's a small step, and I know my work is becoming more neo-Victorian every day rather than high fashion, but I still think these ideas are valid.

Winter Market

2009-11-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

I realized recently that I need to pick up even more streams of income if I want to continue to work on my own schedule and keep my daughter out of daycare. The thing that motivates me above all else is the desire to teach her myself, nurture her myself, while she is a very young child. After all, I didn't have her so that someone else could raise her. That's why I started my own business. That's why I teach classes at a corporate craft store. That's why today I started my new and exciting part time job as Winter Market Manager for the NWPA Growers' Co-op store.
It's a really fabulous concept, and for anyone in Butler or Mercer County, PA, it's convenient. My responsibilities include signing up new members, getting product availability from each farmer, adding that to the online ordering system, opening & closing the web store at specific times, reporting the orders to the farmers, and dealing with any irate growers/customers that an error (anyone's errors, not just my own)may have caused. It's not paid hourly; my pay is based instead on a percentage of what is sold. I'm having quite a bit of anxiety about possibly dropping the ball in some way throughout the season even though I should know that I can handle this. I do well with people, especially older people. I know that deep inside I am actually a very old woman, so I am at home bluffing my way through a conversation about quilting or canning or knitting. I do know a bit about all three of those things, but nearly as much as a "real" old woman knows!

I'm excited about this job. What I'd love to do is have some obscenely wealthy person fall in love with my work and bankroll my design house. . . assuming that scenario will never play itself out, my second choice is having a small farm. I'm seriously considering buying some pheasants and quails for feathers, eggs, and meat. How great would it be if I could tell potential clients that I knew exactly where every feather in their custom headpieces came from? And I could eat yummy game birds. . . mmmmm. Let's pretend for now that they kill and pluck themselves.
Working with these farmers is great experience. I have already learned so much during the summer CSA season from one particular farmer who is a grizzled, kind older man with a big laugh and an appropriate anecdote for almost everything. He explained why my vining crops failed this year; he encouraged me to give my daughter raw cow's milk instead of goat milk, and it worked amazingly; he helped me decide which tiller to buy for my garden.

I'm so thankful and pleased to be involved in this. While it may take about 12 hours each week away from jewelry & accessories design time, I think it's the best, wisest choice for me and for my family.

Etsy sellers

2009-11-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share a lovely creation by one of my fellow Etsy sellers. Check these pillows out, the fabrics are goregous.

Leaves

2009-11-01T17:26:00.001-08:00

I love autumn because it's not so wretchedly hot anymore, because everything smells better, because the trees are goregous. I like to do yard work, too, so even though we have more than a dozen giant, ancient trees on our little plot of land, I can only complain so much about leaf cleanup.
The thing about having a big yard is, though, that nobody wants to rake all the leaves to one place. We left most of them beside the creek, put some in our bonfire pit, and the rest we decided to burn behind the house. In defense of burning, I say this, by the way: I shop green, eat organic, buy local, reuse, recycle, compost, make my own beer and bread, grow my own vegetables, and buy my raw milk, free range eggs and certified organic meat from the farmers' co-op I work for. I do not, therefore, give a damn about that once or twice a year activity that slightly enlarges my carbon footprint. Screw it.
With a tiny bit of gasoline, a crotchety metal rake, and a lighter, I had a big, slow burning fire. My daughter is too young to be trusted near an open fire, so she was with grandma. This is where it gets better than good: I spent more than an hour alone outside in the chilly air stirring the fire, watching the thick smoke curl skyward. I put out some extra birdfeeders so we can see the birds from most windows of the house throughout the winter. I ran inside for black lentil curry and a beer, and came back to watch the fire some more. I watched a downy woodpecker and a red bellied woodpecker come to the suet feeder over and over again. Chickadees and female cardinals swooped around the seed feeders. Bluejays picked at the corn tied to a nearby lamp post. It was an hour of absolute joy and relaxation.
Chores like leaf cleanup are the best. There's instant gratification: there were piles of leaves here, and now there is a handful of ash. The colors and textures of fall inspire much of my work throughout the year, but especially now. That explains the twigs, leaves, and feathers.
Perhaps winter will help me move on to a new color scheme or technique. . . time will tell.

Picture day

2009-10-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

This morning I hosted a pinecone birdfeeder making party for my daughter and her friends, and for my friends who are her friends' mothers. It went so well, and everyone looked like a tourist all morning, with cameras everywhere. The result was fantastic photos of everyone.
In the afternoon, Laura, who writes a great blog and features lots of her photography on it took photos of me and the little one at the nature reserve down the road. It makes me so happy to have really excellent photos of us that really capture our personalities.

This project has bite

2009-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

True, it's almost Halloween. Also true is that everyone including me has fallen in love with the Twilight saga. Not everything involving teeth is about vampires, however. A few years ago, a former employer gave me a gallon-size bag of teeth. She thought they were from India and were either from cows or water buffalo. I quickly found that they were incredibly easy to drill, so I made many of them into beads and stitched some of them to my straw cowboy hat, which has since been crushed to the point that it's unwearable.
Lately I've been making things with feathers and artificial twigs. Real twigs dry out and break, so I avoid those. I remembered that I had piles of teeth sitting around, and so I made this hair clip.
It isn't morbid. I have many other bones and teeth that are my personal collection, not for jewelry use, stuff I've found in the yard or in the woods. Bones are eventually all that's left of living things for a very long time, and then even bones crumble to dust. They're a nice memento mori. Teeth make it possible for people and animals to live, and to put off the inevitable reduction to bones awhile longer. Teeth let us chew, let animals hunt, defend what is theirs. . . When we get close to teeth and bones, it can be a good start toward getting closer to our roots in the earth and the natural life cycle.

Rejected!

2009-10-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

I found out today that I was not accepted into the Handmade Arcade show in Pittsburgh. Though I sort of expected it, and though I can absolutely use the $70 that I will be getting back, it makes me sad. They said that 3 times as many people applied as they could accomodate, which means that I'm not in the top third. I am not accustomed to being worse than the top third. I have never been turned down for anything based on the quality of my work, and it's depressing. A little humbling, but mostly depressing. I was hoping that doing that event would bankroll Christmas around here. It kills me that my last full car payment is due five days before Christmas.
So what does this mean? It means that instead of doing one open house, I will maybe do two. It means that (this is a good thing) I can push the open house back to the first week of December rather than trying to cram it into my schedule before Thanksgiving. It also means (bad thing) that I don't realistically expect to have any disposable income before the weather goes to hell.
Last year, a friend who also has a little girl and I would go places all the time. We'd take the girls to orchards with petting zoos, go shopping, go out to eat, go to museums. . . And I had breakfast dates every week with another dear friend who has since moved across the country. I have not been able to do those things for months because I simply can't afford it.
The car payment is the big culprit here. I only bought it to get me to and from a job that I was guaranteed to have through December. That, folks, turned out to be a huge lie. I bought the car in February and by April that job was no more. The lesson here is to never, ever work for family without getting everything that was agreed upon in very detailed, legal writing before you agree to anything or risk any of your personal assets.
That being said, however, my daughter just turned two. She won't remember not getting the Mickey Mouse train she keeps pointing at when she sees it in magazines. She won't remember that I didn't buy anyone anything. What she will remember as she gets older is this: That she is loved. That her mother and grandmother, that her "aunts," that her sort-of grandpa figure loves her. She will have the stuffed spiders and owls that I made her, the hand-appliqued apron I made her, all the jackets and hats my mom crocheted for her. She will remember that throughout her childhood we exchanged handmade gifts because they are more thoughtful and personal than purchased items, not because mom couldn't afford store-bought toys. It might take a few years, of course, because kids want bought toys. They all do, it's part of childhood, and I wish I could give her that wooden Mickey train set she covets. But she will look back when she's older and see photographs of herself sticking bows to her head and getting piggyback rides from Mommy. She will remember waking Grandma up and making pancakes together. That's what's important.

80 photos

2009-10-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took almost 80 photographs of headbands and earrings, trying to bulk up my Etsy page and clear out some neat pieces that have, for whatever reason, not sold yet. I realized that the display item I chose created a series of pictures that one could easily call "Please God help me sell these earrings."

Work in progress

2009-10-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of a work in progress that I started today. It was a plain headband with only a few leaves and feathers. . . it needed personality. I have yet to decide how much more personality it needs.

Welcome!

2009-10-26T19:11:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of myself for having taken the leap into what is, for me, the Great Unknown. I find HTML to be extremely daunting. I have typed things already and asked myself where they went. I know, however, that I am going to come to understand and enjoy writing a blog. I want people to know why I create the jewelry and hair ornaments that I do, and to understand what goes into them. Please stick with me and my fledgling blog as I work out all the bugs!