A sad day in Anoka...

Thanks to everyone who came to visit me at Riverfest in Anoka... those who didn't, missed me looking like a lobster! (Once again, living in Minnesota because I hate heat :P ) I would have been under my lovely new EZ up tent... but, the darn thing broke as we put it up in the morning! I was so bummed out... it is only the second time I have used it and it totally fell apart. I am hoping the person I bought it from is willing to take it back and give me a new one. It was an ebay buy from someone who had over 99% positive feedback and sold many of this model. It just goes to show that you really should be cautious when you buy large items off of Ebay.
So I sat in the sun all day, but was able to recover today. I don't know if I will be doing any more art fairs except maybe the one in Jordan next year. I have found that my work is not really what people there are looking for. I work hard to make sure each of my pieces is one of a kind, creative and as fully hand made as possible. I carefully select my glass (some of it is quite rare) create anything that is embedded into the piece and then carefully sculpt any of the findings (such as bails) that will be seen when it is worn. My bails (the part that connects the pendant to the cord or chain) are secure because I have created a way for them to lock around a portion of the glass without having to go around the entire outside of the piece. The chain or cord with it's lobster claw clasp is the only premade thing that I buy. Because of this, I just can't compete with those who buy glass cabachons in bulk from China (or just slap a couple pieces of glass together without finishing the edges) and glue on a base metal or silver/gold plated bail to the back and then sell them for $16 each. I will be looking for different venues because I know there are people out there who will want to buy my work, I just have to find them.
So, keep checking my website for additions to the events and shows page because I am hoping to list some gallery representation to this page as well... and as soon as possible.
Thank you again to everyone for your kind words and undying support :)

Custom work...

I love to do custom work because it provides me with a challenge but also gives me guidelines... plus I have to make something that my customer will like. A woman approached me asking for a match to be made to an earring that was missing it's mate. I recognized the top piece of glass to be black mardi-gras glass, and the base was a copper dichroic. Seemed simple enough, right? Well, I found that it was amazing how many different colors of copper/orange/yellow/gold and combinations of all of these there are. I finally fired every single tiny piece of dichroic glass that I had that could possibly have worked! I think I counted 40 little pieces and none of them were correct! I ended up having two pairs of finished earrings and mailed both to her with the hope that she will enjoy at least one of them. It was still a good challenge, I just hope she feels like she got more than she was hoping for.
If anyone out there sees anything that they think would look nice with a different design, color or image... I would love to try to make it for you. I want my work to feel personal to those who wear it. I want it to feel like they have a connection to the piece they purchase. Sometimes that happens by just seeing something that catches the eye... but sometimes it takes a match between the minds of the artist and the customer.
I hope you are all doing well!

Too hot! :P

Okay, I live in Minnesota because I don't like the heat... thanks to global warming, high pressure weather systems in Nevada, the return of the Sasquach or whatever, it is hotter than hades out here! Needless to say I am inside today in the air conditioned comfort wondering how the heck we made it through without ac back in the day?
Oops, this is my jewelry blog... I have listed 7 of my pieces on the great Etsy website so far. You can get to it by typing in www.uniqueinalltheworld.etsy.com I just love that website, it is for people who create just about anything creative to sell their work. If you have never played around on that website you should try it. The coolest thing to do (next to looking at my shop of course) is to click on "buy" at the top and then use the various tools for finding cool stuff such as by color, by your interests, etc... and when they bring up the images... if you don't like it you can use your cursor to throw the image off the page! Pretty darn cool!
Well, I have to finish attempting my domestic duties, stay cool everyone :)

Welcome to my blog!

I thought I would keep everyone updated on what I am doing, how my jewelry develops, where I plan to be showing and any other tidbits of info that I am in the mood to write. Last night I spent many hours in front of my torch making beads and have been trying to make the smallest beads I can (this is a much harder task than one would think!) I decided that I needed to make some small spacer beads so that I can use them with the larger ones to make finished jewelry. Making glass beads has been the most amazing process. Imagine staring into the fire (with special glasses on of course) while melting and manipulating glass the consistency of honey... until you take it out of the flame. So many colors at my fingertips! If anyone has some ideas of things they want to see here, please let me know, until then I will continue to talk about my process and plan to add some photos soon.
Best to all,
-Kirsten