In Preparation

It has been a busy week as I have been preparing for my sale at the Mill City Farmers Market and creating a new line for the Voltage Fashion Ampliefied show at First Ave. both happening Sat. June 8th.

 This past weekend I participated in my neighborhood event known as Johnstock. It takes place on Johnson St in NE Minneapolis. There were over 40 artists and crafters selling their wares, live music and lots of activities for the kids.

I will admit I've been hesitant to look at the weather forecast for this show because lately it seems like every Saturday in Minnesota has been less then desirable with cold and rainy or god forbid cold and snowy? (Think of our early May surprise). 

So I was a bit disheartened at the news of a solid rainy, gloomy and chilly Saturday.  However, when I woke  up that morning I was stunned to see clear blue skies and sunshine. It was actually WARM out!  

Well that set the tone for a good day. I got to vend next to my friend Megan of Gold Hoax who hand etches designs on vintage glassware. You can see her work at her etsy. 

At this event I decided to try arranging my tables differently. I did this with the pretense of keeping everything in the center and out of the rain. (And it did rain!) I do like how my display worked and I plan on doing something simulation at my next Mill City Farmers Market sale this  Saturday June 8th. Again the weather promises to have some rain but I will be crossing my fingers for some much needed sunshine.

Tales from the Bench "Spinner rings"

This ring is quickly becoming a favorite of many of my customers. It begins with metal sheets and 14 kt gold filled wire. I forge the metal using traditional metal smith techniques. I texture the silver then form the ring. Next I form the bands that slide over the sterling silver base.

The gold bands I allow or be a bit organic during the forming process. Sometimes they want to have more movement with subtle waves and some designs work with a more structured straight line.

The flare to the ring band adds comfort and is smooth over the finger.

One woman told me a story she read about a spinner ring. That it can be used as a tool in meditation or to simply pause before making a decision. She said she pauses and spins the inner bands three times when in a decision making dilemma.


While this style of ring is not an original idea, I always strive to add my own unique look. I will continue to make these rings using a combination of metals and textures making each one subtly unique from the next.

Connections

A month ago I was asked to create a custom pair of necklaces based upon one of my designs. While simple in structure a lot of heart and intention went into these particular necklaces. What began as metal wire and chain was soon to become the linking symbol between two women from two different parts of the country.

One was going to adopt her first child, the other was the birth mother. I thought about both women through out the creation process. I personally knew the one adopting had gone through a lot of disappointments trying to conceive and having made the decision to adopt brought such a wave of relief upon her. However the adoption process had opened up new worries...what if the birth mother changes her mind?

I thought about the birth mother. I knew that she made the choice to place her child for adoption with the full support of her husband. They just weren't in the position to raise a child at that point in their lives. I was told that she was a positive and up beat woman who truly believed that "God brings people their children to them in many ways". I knew that the right connection was made and my friend was going to have a baby.

Jewelry is a great way to celebrate special connections like this one. I was told that the birth mother loved her necklace and so did all the nurses and those from the agency who placed the adoption.

A simple circle, representing unity and a deep connection was made.

Around that same time I was also asked to make necklaces for two sisters both names began with an 'R'.  Again I based the look of the necklace off one of my designs but I just had to make them slightly different from each other...so each sister sharing the same intitial would have their own unique piece from Aprilierre. 

Meanwhile at another trunk show I had displayed my sterling silver Asymmetrical Circle necklaces and the irregular shape making each one unique yet uniform as a whole collection attraccted one of my customers who immediately bought two of them one to wear for herself and one to send to her sister accross the country.  Again a simple but meaningful connection made and I am honored that my jewelry is becoming a piece linking these connections together.  

Aprilierre Redux

I have been working hard the past four weeks trying to squeeze in as much extra time into my studio space and build new pieces for shows.  I had three events and one spontaneous trunk show in March.  All very successful.  It's nice to come into spring feeling a renewed sense of confidence in my work and in my goals as a business.  I have decided to do a little bit of re-branding with my logo.  It was a tough decision but after spending the past two years with the vintage glamour girl as my main logo I decided it was time to change to something a bit more soft.  My work has evolved so much since the early stages of my jewelry creating.  While I will  likely use elements of vintage pieces in my work when they inspire me so much more of my jewelry has transgressed into more sterling silver and gemstone designs.

My next show is Saturday April 13th at the Mill City Museum. It is the final indoor "winter" (please be spring by then) market. The event goes from 10am until 1 pm and I promise there will be lots of new lovely spring themed pieces gracing the table.

Marching Towards Spring???

It's been an extremely long winter in Minnesota and I am looking forward to seeing green again. I wake each morning with the hopes that THIS will be the day that gets to 40 degrees. It never does. In fact it's been going quite the opposite direction and it will be below zero wind-chills tomorrow morning. (sigh) It's been a bit disheartening.

However, I have been keeping busy with my jewelry work. Every second Saturday of the month I've been participating in the Mill City Farmers Winter Indoor Market. It has been great so far. Just being around the vendors that I see every summer has helped make this prolonged winter more manageable.

Meanwhile, to combat my winter blues I have been squeezing in time at my work bench when I can and here are some of my latest designs.

The "Heart" of the matter is...

Remember how exciting Valentines day was when you were in Elementary School? A few days before this legendary mini holiday the classroom would smell of fresh cut construction paper and paste as the children excitedly assembled their shoebox which would be receiving tiny little envelopes of sweetness. (The best ones of course included the candy!)

For me the "sweetness" of Valentines day dissipated over the years. I began feeling the social pressures of finding the "one" as more and more friends of mine were married or in serious relationships combined with my general loathing of a "holiday" that at the time I felt was essentially promoted by the capitalistic retail companies. Yes indeed over the years I kept finding the concept of valentines day to be less and less appealing. I heard one radio DJ coin it as "Single Awareness Day" (SAD) that actually made me laugh.

Lately the artist in me decided to revisit the concept of "the heart". For so many years my inner motto was "I just don't DO heart jewelry". Yet at some point during my sales season I would be asked if I would do something with hearts. So for the first time I decided to give it a whirl.

A heart, is a simplistic symbol. It's one of the first things a child learns to draw, it's symmetrical and is easily cut from paper by folding it in half. It's message is equally as simple that being "love". So why had I such disdain for it? I mean my own last name has a "Hart" in it. Perhaps I should give it a second chance.

Valentines day a simple day that does drive consumerism. But really what is wrong with that? It sets aside a day to remind someone just how dear they are to you. It provides a reason to decorate a home or a class room, to create fun little crafts, to indulge in delicious chocolates and it gives an opportunity for artists (like myself) to gain a bit of business during what would normally be a slow time of year. It's fun to think that a piece of jewelry that I spent time hand crafting may become a special trinket expressing love for someone.

I decided that I wanted to design some heart jewelry but needed to express it in a unique way. First I spent time looking up ideas for "abstract hearts". However a heart can only be manipulated a couple of ways. My first design became my "eclipsed hearts" necklaces. They are two over lapping sterling silver hearts with a faceted stone.

My second design became a simple heart ring...but I wanted mine to be different. So I decided that my hearts were going to be oxidized sterling silver making them black, with a contrasting sterling silver shiny "button" soldered on to it which gives an asymmetrical look that I like.

Each heart is shaped by hand and no two will look exactly a like. Which makes the piece extra special. A unique gift for a unique person.

After making some creations that I swore I'd NEVER do I decided that I shouldn't loath Valentines day. I may not have found a special "valentine" in my life yet but that's ok. One should just focus on the positive meaning, remember how it makes a child smile, or simply enjoy a piece of chocolate and pamper your self with a little love.

"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead." Oscar Wilde

Winter Sparkle

Winter in Minnesota can be brutal at times. January is one of my least favorite months as there are no more major holidays to look forward to. Temperatures plummet and the windchill picks up. It hurts to be outside for any significant amount of time. (Gee can you guess that winter is my least favorite season?)

However being an optimistic type of person I also look for the silver lining that winter offers. That being beauty in its starkness. When the sun shines upon freshly laden snow the ground and trees become illuminated with glittering sparkles.

When I was a child I was enchanted by these tiny glittering snow crystals. I was amazed that while standing in the snow I was surrounded by millions of these sparkling wonders yet unable to pick up and hold a single one. When I was in fourth grade I had to write a story that explained something like a myth or legend. I imagined a story of how these tiny little snow sparkles came to be....

It began with a princess (as most stories do when you are a little girl). This princess of course was beautiful and was given everything she wanted. But she was not happy. She wanted to own all the diamonds in the world and begged her father the king to have everyone in the kingdom gather and bring all the diamonds in the world to her so they would only belong to her. And it was done. The princess had an entire wing of the castle with rooms and rooms filled to the top with glittering diamonds.

Then one day a young child had been sent from a nearby poor village. He approaches the princess and asked if she'd be willing to share one of the beautiful shining diamonds with his village. The people of the village were falling ill and one diamond could afford them all food.

The princess refused to part with a single diamond. And sent the child away! The next day an old woman arrived asking the same favor and again the princess sent the old woman away. Day by day she continued to send away people who begged for her to share just one single diamond. Until one day she refused a weary old man who then turned into a magic sorcerer. He was angry at her for he had given her many chances to show kindness and selflessness and yet she continued to refuse to share her diamonds.

With the wave of his wand all her diamonds swirled up into the sky creating a large sparkling cloud. The princess leaped forward in an attempt to grab the magic wand. Suddenly all the diamonds turned a bright glowing white and gently fell to the ground. She immediately began to scoop the up but each time she did so, they'd sparkle in her hands and then melt away.

The sorcerer laughed and said "Let this be a lesson to you. You will no longer be able to keep a single diamond for yourself. Instead you will share them with the world. Every time the snow falls your diamonds will appear with such grand sparkle for all to enjoy"

And that is why the winter snow sparkles.