1200 degrees on my kitchen counter

A few weeks ago I finally got up the nerve to try the new kiln, and it's amazing!  For a relatively small piece of equipment - about the size of a large microwave - it really knows how to heat up.  I did three firings of silver clay pendants and beads at 1200 degrees, and the outside of the kiln was barely warm.  It was exciting to finally craft metal pieces from the beginning (a disc of clay about the size of a quarter) to end (a shiny new pendant) in my own kitchen.  I also have a tumbler, which is a drum-shaped container attached to a motor.  After the pieces were fired, I placed them in the tumbler with metal shot and some detergent mixed with water.  About 45 minutes of tumbling action polishes the silver to a high shine. 

Bead Hunting in NM - and my own kiln!

This was an extra-special holiday season.  My husband and I spent almost two weeks in New Mexico and we were in Santa Fe for Christmas.  We've loved that area for years, but this was the first time we had visited during the winter.  It was quite cold and very beautiful, with snow everywhere.

And two days before we left, my kiln arrived!  We were so busy that we didn't unpack it until we returned.  Now it's sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to be tried out.  (My husband wonders if we could use it as a crock pot.)  It's honestly a little intimidating, but I'll try it first with some pieces of clay that I saved when some of my thinner pendants were too delicate and broke too easily.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe have an amazing number of  bead shops and I didn't even attempt to get to all of them.  For quantity, Kamayeb in ABQ has the most beads I've ever seen.  A lot of them were ho-hum rounds and not unusual, but there were also some more interesting shapes if you kept looking, and the more special stones are in glass cases.  They do a lot of wholesale business, which may account for the relative lack of variety.  Glorianna's on Marcy Street in Santa Fe, on the other hand, was big on quality with a very wide selection as well.  The strings are hung behind a counter and the staff brings you the ones you want to look at - which was initially off-putting but I ended up spending a lot of time there so I guess I got over it.  It helps them keep everything in order, which I understand.  I may have bought more if I could have gotten closer to the selection, though - there probably were some "finds" that I couldn't see from across the counter.  The owner has been in the business for a very long time and seems quite knowledgeable.  Affordable prices are NOT the shop's strong suit, but then again, it is Santa Fe. 

November/December = Craft Shows

I'm looking forward to showing my new jewelry designs at two (!) craft shows this week. I've been playing around with my swirl pendants in fine silver clay, changing the regular loops into a more freeform design that wraps around the necklace like a vine.  At least that's the idea - some have come out better than others.

The wonderful women in the MDI Rotary Club have put together a jewelry party, "Baubles and Gems," to raise money for Rotary International's effort to eradicate polio in the four countries where it is still endemic.  Thanks to innkeeper Michelle, this fun evening is going to be held on Tuesday, November 29 from 5 to 7 at the Holbrook House Inn in Bar Harbor.  Kim Harty and I, both Rotarians, will show our work, and we've invited other artisans to participate: Vicky Fernald, Linda Perrin, and Sydney Roberts Rockefeller. Benni McMullen is is also contributing vintage jewelry from her mother's estate. We're all donating 15% of our proceeds to the polio campaign.

On Friday and Saturday, December 2 and 3, the annual Island Arts Association Holiday Fair will be held at Atlantic Oceanside.  This was my first attempt at a craft show in 2009 and I've loved doing them ever since.  The IAA holiday fair is a terrific show with a variety of crafts in all media.  An MDI holiday tradition, it attracts a good crowd of shoppers who are looking for unique, locally crafted gifts at reasonable prices. The IAA is a great community of crafters, all willing to help each other, and backed by the seemingly tireless staff of the YWCA, Benni McMullen and Abby Robinson.

A (Craft) Fair Day on Bar Harbor's Village Green

Yesterday (September 3) brought perfect weather for the craft fair on Bar Harbor's Village Green. The Green's walkways were lined with Island Arts Association members (like me) and other area artisans selling all kinds of crafts. Labor Day Weekend brought a crowd of people "from away" who wanted to buy locally-created gifts to take home.  Some interesting conversations:  "I've been seeing a lot of signs for sea glass. What is it?  We don't have it in Key West."  People who had just come from the YWCA's whoopie pie contest down the street described the various entries:: "One batch was made with red wine!" Many friends stopped by, and there was just about every breed of dog imaginable lounging with their humans. My new PMC silver pieces - "scroll" pendants and "swirly" pendants - got a lot of nice compliments and some of them found new homes.  Truthfully, our golden retriever, Eden - who is my business's namesake as well as my greeter and customer service representative - got more attention, which is never surprising. (See photo.)  Having finished the new pieces the night before the fair, I haven't had a chance to get them photographed and posted on Etsy, so that's high on my to-do list.

Today I had a wonderful experience, taking a ride on Seal Cove Road in a 1911 Stanley Steamer. The Seal Cove Auto Museum held a "steamer" day featuring expert Sue Davis giving talks, tours, demonstrations and rides. Sue founded the Stanley Museum in Kingfield, ME, and probably knows more about Stanleys than anyone else alive. The Seal Cove museum has a stellar collection of Brass Era autos - elegant vehicles from 1896 to 1926 - and terrific programs to go with them.  People like me who are most definitely not car people can find much to enjoy from the standpoint of turn-of-the-century history and culture.  Plus the autos are simply gorgeous.

PMC and more PMC

I used to hear crafters talk about being "addicted" to Precious Metal Clay silver.  After working with this terrific medium for a few months, I'm devoting more and more time to it and love its versatility. Now, will someone please invent a PMC silver that doesn't cost the Earth?  I've tried bronze clay, which costs about 1/9 as much as silver.  It's fun, too, but it doesn't have the creamy feel of silver clay and isn't as easy to work with. And for my taste, it just doesn't have the beauty of silver.  I'm experimenting with pieces that use less silver clay but still have the impact I'm looking for.  Also, I'm creating barrel beads and other elements that enhance gemstones so I can go back to working more with color.

It has been a good summer.  I had a brooch in the Alone Moose Gallery's 36th summer show of  "36 Brooches."  What a fun exhibit!  All were crafted by artists from this area and the variety was wonderful.  I also had a pendant/brooch in the Friends of Acadia Benefit Auction.  My next show is the Island Arts Association craft fair on the Village Green in Bar Harbor on Saturday, September 3 - with good weather, and huge crowds of people in town, it will be a great show.

Hill Tribe Silver

When it comes to silver beads, Thai Hill Tribe silver is the most addictive. This beautiful work is handcrafted by people of several tribes in Northern Thailand, who have a long cultural tradition of working with silver. In modern times they have been encouraged to develop their silver craft as a source of income. The quality of the silver is very high -95%-99% pure silver as compared to sterling, which is 92.5%. Hill Tribe silver is softer and easier to shape, so it is available in an incredible variety of designs. It can be etched, printed, hammered, scratched or folded like origami. Many beads and pendants are inspired by flora and fauna, but others are more abstract and some reflect tribal traditions. I find that by adding just a few elements of Hill Tribe silver to the natural gemstones in my designs, I can create very distinctive jewelry.  It is such a pleasure to work with!

I've loved jewelry for as long as I can remember. Every time I go to a craft gallery, museum shop or craft show, I head straight for the jewelry cases. (If time and energy permit, I might check out something else.) Jewelry to me is like works of art that you can wear. A few years ago, a friend and I were visiting a gallery and drooling (quite literally) over some gorgeous and expensive necklaces. She had been making jewelry for a while and she pointed out that although the materials and designs were really special, the construction was pretty simple - something that either of us could do. A few months later, she took me to a bead shop for the first time. After three hours I was still wandering around in a daze. So many options! Thanks to her teaching, I started making a few things using beads from old necklaces that I took apart. As I became more confident, I started buying new beads and gradually using finer materials. At some point I discovered Etsy as an online source for an incredible variety of beads at reasonable prices. But there's nothing more fun than exploring bead stores, checking out the shops as I travel to other towns and states. I had a wonderful experience last November when I visited the Bead Museum in Glendale, AZ, with beads from every place and time!  (Did you know there is a natural blue coral?)  Sadly, I just learned that the museum is closing and the collection is being transferred to the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, where it will join a fine collection of folk art, craft and design.