favorite poem

Desiderata

Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Pricing

I love to look thru Etsy, Artfire, 1000 markets, et al.  but, it just makes me crazy to see some of the prices…I saw a ring today that I thought was just great, the description read “hours of meticulous work” and it looked like it – sterling, no solder blobs, no visible seams, no file marks, etc…. $60. $60(!) for hours of meticulous work, design time, finishing, materials, time to photograph & photoshop, time to list, listing fees, etc.  $60….

It goes the other way too – last week, maybe two weeks ago I saw an Etsy store with some really unusual and pleasing jewelry pieces with prices that fit.  However, upon a closer look at the pictures, the craftsmanship was awful, just awful – one ring in particular was ridiculously bad – the solder seam was actually split – not a visible seam, the join was split open.  I know I tend to lean toward black and white, good or bad, this or that – but no one could look at the ring and think “that’s ok” and it was priced as if it were perfect.  Can someone talk me down* on pricing?

*unabashed liberal who loves Rachel Maddow

Something new for the new year

I am quite facsinated by filigree work mostly because I don’t have the patience to do it.  All those little wires…shaped, put into place and soldered – egad!  However, I love decorative wrought iron, think New Orleans and have always wanted to emulate that look.  I tried etching, carving wax, roller printing – nothing gave me the feeling I was looking for in the piece – these earrings come close.  They are light and big, almost 2 inches across and from the top of the finding that holds the ear wire to the bottom of the Akoya, they are about 2.75 inches long.

Here is the first pair I made, they are almost what I wanted, but they are a little too heavy (for me) and have a glaring mistake with bothers me no end…still…I wear them for a few hours here and there.  The next pair will be better.

1.20.09!

For three years my email signature has been “looking forward to 01.20.09″,  for most of the last four years my car has had a sticker with the same sentiment, and here we are 1.20.09.   I grew up during the war protests, the Kennedys, Dr. King, the woman’s movement, the beatles, stones, led zepplin, bowie, janis & jimi – I believed it all – equal rights and all you need is love…{so young and so naive}.  My idealism got the shit kicked out of it {more like stomped on} over the years especially the last eight years, but  – this election, this day – I’ve re-discovered my foolish, youthful ideas of power to the people, hope, optimism, we are all equal and  love is all you need.   Here’s to US{A}!

Goodbye Mr. Bush!

finally….eight very long years – goodbye and good riddance.

Vacation/Tucson

Thirteen days and counting….’till vacation! Yessssss, vacation. We (spouse) are driving to Arizona on February 1, first stop Flagstaff for a few days – no particular reason, probably drive down to Sedona, maybe over to Kingman. Then, off to Phoenix for a couple of days – never been other than the airport. And then….{drum roll please}… Tucson (happy chair dance!) for three days. I am really, really looking forward to this trip. First, I love spending time with my husband (sappy, but true), love getting in the car at the crack of dawn with steaming hot coffee and just heading out for sights never seen, and then being in Tucson with all types of jewelry people and jewelry sellers – it’s getting hard to wait. …got my AGTA pass yesterday…(more chair dancing…). Chrysoprase, a couple of files, a goldsmith and raising hammer, forming mandrels, south sea and Akoya pearls, cabochons, 2mm diamonds, 2 & 3 mm colored stones, maybe some tubing if I can find it & some 3mm 14k gold beads – that’s my shopping list.

High on my Tucson to do, to go list is taking a morning walk in the Saguaro National Park. The last time we were in Tucson we stopped at the park on the way out of town, it’s incredible. From where we were standing, I could see quite a few locals park their cars, get on their bikes or just walk this particular trail we were standing above. I was so envious, the sky was bright blue and clear of smog, the air was just cold enough to remind you it’s winter in the desert, the ground was baked into beige and yellow rocks, and the Saguaros were everywhere you looked; sentinels I have to see what they’re guarding. Tall, short, armed, no arms, bright green, old and decaying, arms going off into crazy directions, I felt very much at home there and I need to go back. I have thought of that place countless times since my last trip to Tucson, I’ve taken that walk in my mind many times and I’m longing to feel and hear those rocks under my feet.

Sloppy work

This is a vent, a rant, a pet peeve….sloppy work. I hate it. I’m specifically writing about jewelry, but the same holds true for any type of work. Visible seams, lumps of solder, file marks, etc…doesn’t the fabricator see these problems – don’t they think ‘we’ will see the problems? Gawd…no one is perfect, no thing is perfect, but at least try for something that leans toward perfection. Hammering a lump of solder doesn’t make it go away, it just flattens that lump of solder – take a file and remove the excess solder, takes no time and the piece will look so much better. Handmade work doesn’t have to look handmade.

Rant over.

Mistakes, omissions and outright lies

I read a lot of jewelry making forums, participate in a few and find myself often times on the wrong side of popular opinion.  Admittedly, I lean toward black and white, I can see the shades of grey on most issues, but for the most part it’s right or it’s wrong.

I was reading a forum post today stating that since lab-grown stones have the same mineral composition of naturally occurring stones, the post’er felt is was perfectly fine to omit the ‘lab-grown’ part in the description that related to the stone.   Several people replied agreeing with the OP that since the mineral composition was same in a lab-grown stone and natural stone his/her opinion on the subject was correct, I was the lone dissenting opinion.

At a jewelry trade show I found some really pretty tanzanite bead strands for a very reasonable price – I was waffling and the seller pounced – he told me the stones were genuine and color was natural – continuing on to tell me that the stones come out of the ground that color…{seriously, really}…I couldn’t decide if he actually believed that or thought I didn’t know enough and could tell me anything that popped into his head to sway me to buy.

I love Etsy, but that site is littered with misrepresented stones – naturally occurring hot pink chalcedony anyone? Natural purple turquoise?  How about goldstone tagged as stone? And, what is candy jade!

Mistakes? Omissions? Lies?  Hardly, most if not all of the violators are big sellers, I’m not talking about the person who bought too many strands of beads at a gem show and now is trying to resell them.  These are resellers with thousands, probably hundreds of thousands dollar of merchandise to sell, surely they know what they are selling.   While I believe we are all responsible and should know what we’re buying, since when is outright lying to customers ok?

New year

Do you make resolutions? I do, quite regularly – annually, seasonally, a couple times – daily.  …not always great at keeping them, usually too lofty.   This year’s goals:

This year I resolve to put more effort into the  business side of my jewelry.  I subscribe to all sorts of newletters that advise on SEO, clicks, tracking, alerts – frankly I have no idea what most of it means.  I signed up for Google alerts, I regularly get Google Web Alerts for khmetalwork, for the life of me I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to see/understand/use from the alerts.   By the end of the year (hopefully sooner), I’ll know.

I resolve to risk embarrassement/humilation/feeling of not being worthly and contact galleries and stores and see if I can get my work into a few places.  I’m beginning to loathe doing shows; it’s a lot of work to find the right shows, apply, pay, set up/break down, travel, etc…I’m tired of it.

I resolve to work on the creative process even if that means not making finished pieces.   I found that just sitting at my bench with some metal, wire and stones without a goal or idea for a finished piece is really quite fun.     Lately, fun is often missing when I make pieces, that stops today.

Lastly, I resolve to master the art of making socks.  I want to make, no I want to master hand knit socks.   I have visions of chunky, cotton, turquoise socks with orange polka dots.

Happy new year!

Politics and work

I struggle with the decision to let my political views be visible to the public or leave the subject politely unspoken. I have a sticker on my car, I have a signature on my outgoing non-business email accounts that clearly indicates my political bent, but I feel like a total fraud by carefully editing my views from my public business profile. I’m thinking about this topic because I feel compelled to make some political pieces, but putting those pieces for sale would without a doubt establish my political point of view. Are those of *us* who sell for a living, does keeping our politics out of view make us pragmatic or lacking in conviction?

Taking it a little further, does being polite, avoiding all public politic conversations for fear of insulting others or showing ourselves in a specific light contribute to the absolute morass *we* find ourselves in as it relates to politics and our politicians? The fringe of both politic parties introduces *us* to our political choices…while the middle stands politely mute.