cycling legends

I'm loving this poster by Copenhagen Cycle Chic. It totally embodies an idea I'm playing around with right now. (More on that later.)

And my apologies to anyone who views this blog through a reader and may have seen this post several times - technical difficulties.

project runway recap

Note: A little PR spoiler below the picture. Don't read if you haven't watched.


How much did you love Leanne's dress last night? I'm so happy she won. Can't you just see Heidi wearing that dress? I haven't been super impressed with PR this season, but I have been rooting for Leanne.

And don't forget to check out Leanne's Etsy shop. (Thanks to Annie for the link!)

scribble

The organized chaos of necklaces in production makes me happy.

my dining room

I love my dining room table (especially when its all clean like this). I first fell in love with this table in an issue of Martha Stewart Living while I was in grad school, and discovered it was made by Crate and Barrel. Sadly, it was out of my budget. Then, one day while shopping with the girls, we discovered the floor sample of my table on sale for $350! What luck! Its such a beautiful, solid wood table - without a doubt one of the nicest pieces of furniture I own.

a little sunday morning eye candy

This lovely vinyl decal by Single Stone Studios.

By the way, does anyone know where you can get your own designs made into vinyl decals?

free pizza

A little fun for your weekend. How I do love the Mac commercials.

new york gift wrap-up

Well, the show is winding down, and since I'm bored out of my mind, I thought I'd do a little recap now. These are my thoughts in no particular order.

display - I'm really happy with how my booth turned out. Having the person next to me have the same curtains turned out to be a good challenge - I LOVE my Ikea curtains layered with the black. When I had hard walls black at ACC, I had toyed with the idea of painting my hard walls black, but had chickened out. Now that I see how the dark makes my displays pop, I'm inclined to try it next time I use hard walls.

finding my niche - I also think my overall presentation positioned my work to a target audience - one with a design-savvy eye. I'm totally ok with this, because that market appeals to me. However, I'm curious to see how I could market the work to a more fashion oriented buyer simply by staging the booth in a different way. This is something I might consider if I'm looking at other shows.

location, location, location - My location at this show did not help my cause, particularly because the buyer I'm targeting might not think to go to this part of the show. I'm definitely going to try to move to another area for the January show.

promotional materials - I have a postcard that I love (and got lots of compliments on), but its time to work on putting together a catalog. That's my goal for the January show.

Overall, despite slow sales, I'm leaving the show feeling good. I've definitely been in a slump these last few months, going so far as to wonder if this is what I wanted to be doing. But being here has energized me - I'm heading home with a clearer perspective on my audience and my work, and I can't wait to get back in the studio. This is what I want to do, and I'm going to reinvest my energies to make it as worth while as possible.

resistance is futile

I joined Twitter today. (It's Jan's fault.) You can follow along with me here.

stupid people

This made me laugh, but not in a good way. More the exasperated, what were these people thinking kind of laugh.

via TreeHugger

metalsmith EIP

Yesterday, Gabriel posted on Conceptual Metalsmithing regarding an ongoing (critical) discussion of Metalsmith's most recent Exhibition in Print. I left the following comment on Gabriel's post, but wanted to include it here in case anyone missed it:

"Gabriel - thanks for bringing this discussion to everyone's attention.

I must admit that I had to go to the bookstore to pick up the magazine after I read your post because I let my subscription expire. Oops!

I only had the attention span to read through part of the discussion, but one of the major threads I noticed was the complaint that much of the work in the EIP wasn't made of metal. To that, I can only reply that there is a long history of jewelry made from other materials, and anyone who thinks that Metalsmith should cover only metal jewelry should pick up the book Africa Adorned.

But onto the bigger issue, which is SNAG itself. I don't think SNAG needs a name change so much as a reclarification of its mission. (What is SNAG's mission anyway?) There is no way that SNAG can please every category of jeweler/maker/metalsmith/etc. and its stupid for them to even try. If SNAG/Metalsmith wants to focus on conceptual or academically minded work, more power to them. If SNAG decides it wants to focus its energies another direction, that's fine too. If you're a SNAG member and you don't like the direction SNAG is heading in, either work to change the organization or start one of your own.

Ah, but I can hear the arguments forming now. SNAG's in debt, if they narrow their focus and lose membership, they will really be in trouble. This is where I think Metalsmith can take a lesson from American Craft. Instead of creating a publication that exists to serve a very, very small community, start to examine the ways in which art jewelry/metalsmithing are relevant to society as a whole.

We need art jewelry and conceptual metalsmithing just as we need other forms of art to help us navigate the world as it is and to examine the inconsistencies in our daily lives. If SNAG and Metalsmith did a better job of linking the objects we make to the larger world, the magazine would be far more compelling.

Perhaps I'd even take the time to renew my subscription."

(The above image, Hearing Implements by April Wood, appears in the current EIP.)

speaking of stylish cycling...

One of my new favorites blogs is Copenhagen Cycle Chic. I rarely look so cute, especially on my bike! Now I've got something to aim for.

the cutest bike helmet

I usually wear my bike helmet when I'm riding around, but I'll admit its about the least fashionable thing you could ever wear. That's why I was psyched to discover Yakkay. They make practical helmets and covers for them that look like adorable hats. I really like the Tokyo and Paris covers.

Unfortunately, they are only available in retailers in Germany and Denmark, but I'm trying to find one that will ship to the US.

UPDATE: Scandinavian Objects in Berlin, Germany will ship to the US. You just need to email them at info(at)scandinavianobjects(dot)com.

woops!

Well, I fell off the blogging wagon hard. But sometimes a girl just needs a little break. After returning from our annual trip to the lake, I had a busy week between starting cross country practice (I'm coaching again) and getting ready for New York Gift.

But now I'm at the gift fair, with plenty of time to kill. The above picture is the view from my booth. At least I get to watch boats go by on the Hudson. This huge cruise ship came in this morning!

The photo below is my booth set-up. I had a moment of panic when I arrived and discovered that my next-door neighbor had the same curtains as me. Aack! So it was off to Kmart to pick up some black curtains to break up my other panels. But I think it turned out rather nice, don't you?

vacation!

Joe and I are leaving this morning for our annual vacation at the lake, where I will remain blissfully in denial about the fact that New York Gift is less than two weeks away.

Have a great week everyone! I'll be back on Friday.

just like a real jeweler

I got my castings back today, and sat down at my bench with my saw frame and new flex shaft, just like a real jeweler.

And just like a real jeweler, I felt like I got nothing done all day. Its been so long since I worked with silver, its like a foreign material to me. Its too soft and bendable. I like solid, reliable steel. Plus, all the new stuff is so small. And my hands are too shaky. And don't even get me started on soldering.

Needless to say, I think I'm done in the studio for the day.

On a happier note, I ran 11 miles this morning. And a lot of it actually felt good. (Or at least a lot of the first 9 miles, the last two were a little tougher.) I'm really happy at how well my run went. I feel like I'm getting stronger and will be ready for the half-marathon. Plus, its fun to think about what you can eat when you burned an extra 1100 calories this morning.