and more work!

It is amazing what goes into putting together a display for a show when it comes down to actually doing it. I have been happily puttering with my jewelry for several years, doing a custom job now and again, and more recently, posting on Etsy and making some sales there. Now I am preparing for my first show and sale. I was invited with about 5 weeks leeway, and kicked it into gear. But, I had to rethink packaging and still must think about pricing and display. There is an amazing web site that I'm sure anyone searching for packaging and display ideas could find with a google search by Rena Klingenberg at http://jewelrydisplayideas.com/ that has been helpful.

For packaging, I was using a fairly time consuming process with a (not sure what to call it....) puffy box that I was cutting, scoring and folding myself, then wrapping with a paper ribbon and sticking my card in it. Looked good, but not doable for a show, especially when I am not the one doing the packaging - the show has a central check out station.

So.... I bought some kraft boxes and I am circling the cover only with the paper strip. I also got some sticker paper, and printed up my name and email to stick on the cover of each box.

Display - have a table, but no cover. I bought a large black 'wedding' table cloth on ebay to cover the table. More to do and think about, but I will have to do that later in the week.

Earring cards and display - designed some earring cards (pictured, except the background image of the tree is fainter) , and will need to come up with a display hanger. Have an idea for using picture frames.

It's been a while

since I've sold anything on Etsy, but I sold a pair of copper earrings yesterday. I have been busy getting new inventory ready for the Holiday sale and have not posted new items or done any pr to attract buyers.

My living room is overtaken by trays of jewelry parts, wires, beads, threats, tools and you name it. Thank goodness dh is unfazed.

And in other news, the mild weather continues to hold. 50's in November is a treat. The deer hunting season started today, and puts a dent in the outdoor activities I feel comfortable doing. No walking in the woods for me. I don't even like running by woods at this time of year.

oh, and new earring design!

not a good photo - just snapped a quick one so I could remember the design after I sell the earrings. These particular pairs won't be going on Etsy. I won't be posting on Etsy until after this Holiday sale, so if there are requests, please make them as custom order requests.

Plugging away

at getting enough stuff ready for my first sale .... Holiday Art Show at the Cafe Wren. It is exhausting to work full time at the 'day' job and then try to do jewelry work at night. And the weather has been so blasted NICE! No, that's not really a complaint - it's just that it's so hard to stay inside to work all day on the weekends when it is so unseasonably warm. Another two weeks and I can let down a little. I think!

Holiday Art Sale

coming up at the Cafe Wren in Luck, WI. A great place to get much of your shopping done, the show will run for two weekends. 25 area artists are participating. Wares include jewelry, stained glass, aromatherapy lotions and soaps, framed art, pottery and more!

I will be posting photos of some of what I will have there soon.

Join us and spread the word!

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

In my daily job as a reading teacher, I teach the kid's to ask themselves two questions while reading to check understanding: who? and what? So, to ask these questions of Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. Who? A painting.

A painting? The who in the book is a painting? A reading teacher may suspect a problem with comprehension. We usually expect the book to be about something living - a person, or animal, perhaps. Or maybe even about a place.

In Girl in Hyacinth Blue, the main 'character' , so to speak, is indeed, a painting. A painting that may or may not be a Vermeer. There are only 35 known Vermeers in existence, and the fictional painting in this novel, is suggesting it may be the 36th. The painting evokes strong emotions and reactions from nearly all who view it.

And to ask "What?" Through a series of engaging stories that trace the history of the painting by beginning in the 21st century and working back through time, the painting changes hands and circumstances throughout the years. We meet a introspective man who is obsessed by the painting, while being haunted by what he knows of how is father obtained it during war time in Amsterdam and a struggling farm family where the wife tries to resist her husband's wish to selling the painting for a pittance although her children need food and warm clothes. The painting sits sentry over the memories of a first love, watches as a marriage unravels and provides the only warmth and light in a home no more than a hovel.

The last story answers some of the mystery that surrounds the artwork through the years. But many of the questions linger. What is the true value of a work of art? Is it monetary or is it the feeling and emotions it provokes? How can an inanimate object inspire such extremes of emotion? And finally, the question posed by the artist himself, "Why does the world need another painting of a woman alone in a room? Or a hundred more paintings?"

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books I have finished and then turned back to the first page and started reading again. This is one of them.

(Note: This book review will run on Tuesday in the Wisconsin Etsy Seller's Moo Crew Blog, with a chance to win a copy of the book. Here is a link to that entry with the details about your chance to win at the end of the entry.)

Pendant class worked out better

than the photos of the work! I did remember to bring my camera this time, but the florescent lighting in the school art room did nothing for the pieces. Well, you can get the idea. The students did great work. All pieces were a success! I think the participants went home happy. I know they went home wearing their pendants.

a surprise for me

this morning ... my set of fine silver stacked rings in featured in a treasury on Etsy, right here. The theme is a selection of Christmas gift ideas from Wisconsin artists, and titles, I'm Dreaming of a WI Christmas." Treasuries with lots of views and comments get moved towards the front pages of the treasury listings, so if you read this,take a peek at the treasury and make a comment if you wish.

Ornament Swap with the MooCrew

I wish I would have looked at the pictures I took before I sent the ornament, cuz I didn't get a good one. It looks better in real life, as things often do. But, it's off in the mail to the recipient - mailed it a day late, but got 'er done!

I will have to take a picture of the one I received, too. ... it is very unique and beautiful, of cloth, I think, almost in a glued patchwork style, and shiny!