Time for a Contest

copper, bronze, amethyst, citrine, smokey quartz & apatate wire work necklace

One of the hard parts of being an artist who always has a brain spinning full of ideas (which may or may not turn out to be as creative as they seem) is settling down enough to pick one thing to work on. Okay, I'm pleased with myself if I can even narrow it down to three or four things at once. 

gold-filled, smokey quartz & cat's eye necklace

This week I planned to get all my artwork together for a show that will start as soon as I get back from spring break. I also wanted to get ceramics sorted for a "no jewelry" show that will happen shortly after that. And I need to update my website, and my other website, and my other website, and my social media (oh yeah, and make a list of all my social media for people I meet at shows who want to follow my stuff), and I've got easily two dozen projects that need to be finished. This includes a tray of ceramic jewelry elements that I spent ages making and can't wait to work on. I even have sketches of what I want to do and how amazing everything will be when I'm done. Also, there’s the ever increasing pile of applications for shows and contests I’d like to be part of, though I only get to a tiny fraction of them. And in the midst of these plans a friend invited me to go to a wood shop and learn to turn wood pens on a lathe. Well, who could turn that down! 

druzy & sterling silver wire wrapped necklace

So, today’s Friday and this week I managed to get my work together for the museum show after break, make two rather attractive wood pens and an awful mess of the living room with my pottery. I also got in some applications and entered one contest. When I sat back and looked at my entries I was surprised to see I had a theme. Necklaces that took a really long time to make. But they’re also some of the pieces I’ve enjoyed the most this year. Maybe that’s why I picked them.  Anyway, here they are – I hope you like them!

coral, onyx & forged, dyed copper necklace

Teaching in Tucson

cat's eye cabs in silver-filled wire

I had a wonderful time meeting people and teaching at the JOGS show in Tucson a few weeks ago. I was part of a team of instructors invited by JewelryTools.com to come and instruct small groups of students in jewelry making techniques. Part of what made it so much fun was that we had the freedom to teach whatever we wanted and use whatever tools we wanted. They had all the tools we requested out for us when we arrived to set up. It was also great to meet the other artists from all over the world. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We all have our specialties. They showed me what I still need to learn.

tangerine tree branches wit nests

I decided to teach four classes, each focussing on different aspects of wire work. I showed basic wire wrapping techniques with a straightforward cat's eye pendant and expanded on these skills with the more complicated floating teardrop pendants. The nests and branches classes were perfect for those who wanted instruction on on wire sculpting.

In addition to teaching, I got to explore some of the Tucson gem and mineral shows. The sheer scale of everything was amazing, with over 40 venues to attend. I barely scratched the surface. Even so, when I didn't have classes I made it to three shows and bought some awesome supplies and gems.

floating teardrop pendants in copper, agate and jade

silver-filled and pearl nests

with the matching earrings