I’m STILL Blog Hopping for the Bead Soup Party – it’s taking me awhile to look and read. Thank you to everyone who left comments for me.
Meanwhile, I’ll be off to the Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson, Texas this weekend. I’ve made a lot of new pieces, and if I can get to it tomorrow I’ll give you a peek. Otherwise, hope to see you there if you live in the area.
My recent show schedule has been intense. Two weekends ago we were in Fayetteville at Art Walk, and last weekend we were in Dallas (Richardson) for the Cottonwood Art Festival. We applied to Cottonwood for six (!) years, and were finally juried into it. The show was fabulous. A beautiful park setting and the weather, except for some wind gusts, was perfect. We saw some old friends and customers, and met lots of new people as well. The good part – we sold a lot of jewelry- and the other part – my stock is depleted – adds up to more intense work ahead. In order to have great new jewelry for our upcoming show in Kerrville – the Texas Arts and Crafts Festival – Jim and I are both working long hours. He’s on his bench pounding away making silver settings, and I’m at the torch every day making beads as quickly as I can.
A two2 day show actually takes us six days. A day driving there, a day setting up, two days showing, a day driving home, and day six for recuperating and doing paperwork, order assemby, etc. But the time away from the torch and our benches sets our creative juices afire. The wonderful art we see at the shows inspires us, as do the sights we see while driving and visiting cities so different from our tiny town. By the time I’m home my sketchbook is brimming with ideas. So some fun new jewelry will be coming to Kerrville.
Here’s the e-mail ad. I’ll give you a real sneak preview later after I take some photographs.
Fayetteville Artwalk is April 30th – May 1st (starts day after tomorrow) and Cottonwood Art Festival (I’m in for the first time!) is the May 7th and 8th. Did you notice they are only one week apart? I did! Therefore I have been making beads and jewelry every day since I hit the house back from Lubbock. Hardly anyone has heard a peep out of me because I’ve been too busy creating.
What I have cooked up will need to stretch across both shows. (I promise I will hold some really good pieces back just for those of you planning to come to Cottonwood.) I’ve made lots of earrings, and double the amount of bubble necklaces with my new popular wire ” Scribbles.” Here’s a peek.
Lot’s going on behind the scenes here. Finally, after years of searching for an agent or large press I am publishing my book, Go Anyway; Sailing Around the World Despite Parkinson’s Disease. I’ve already gotten a proof, and the finished book will be here soon – before the end of March! The book’s web site is almost complete, and as soon as the books arrive, I’ll go “live” and you can buy it. I’m assuming that if you read my blog you know what the heck I’m talking about. If you don’t , read this post, and this one . They will give you a hint about the 12 years my husband and I lived aboard a sailboat and sailed around the world.
I’m still hopping around to the posts of the participants in the Bead Soup Party. I will get to visit you all.
And I am also making jewelry for the upcoming show in Dallas: Artscape, A Fine Art Fair in the Garden. I’m out of here and back to my torch, and later my beading bench.
Welcome to the 3rd Bead Soup Blog Party!
The next party’s sign ups begin August 1-3, 2011. Don’t miss it!
The Gallery at Round Top is having a Kimono show, opening February 5. There will be traditional Kimono and Obi, as well as contemporary interpretations in raku, paintings, silk – and jewelry (mine). I have been working like a fiend on making the beads, and the finished jewelry. I have old silk kimono scraps that I am cording, and making tab type bales. I’m using antique buttons for embellishment, and then of course, my beads as the centerpieces/focals. These are some of the kimonos – no pictures yet of the completed jewelry.
The Huffhines (Dallas) show was just right – any more business and I might not have had enough stock, any less business, and I might have been disappointed. As it was, we vendors had our challenges – tornadoes and rain. The rain all but closed the show on Saturday, and tornadoes were in the radar all around us. Jim and I dogged down our tent, put the jewelry away, bought some Italian take-out, and snugged down in our hotel room to wait it out. Luckily the storms blew on by, and Sunday the sun peeked out, as did the customers.
I finished up my custom orders, and now I’m at it again, getting ready for my last show of the year, The Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival Holiday Show in Albuquerque. It starts the Friday after Thanksgiving, and is held indoors (horay!) in an expo building at the State Fairgrounds. I’ve got about 15 more days in which to make beads and jewelry, so I am torching every morning, and creating jewelry every afternoon.
Well, torching almost every day – I took a road trip Saturday with my sister and the local quilt guild. The guild rented a bus, planned the trip, and got our tickets to the Houston International Quilt Festival for us in advance. Going with the guild really made life easy and fun = no driving, no parking, no long walks just to get to the entrace to this humongus, fabulous show. What a feast of talent and inspiration. Photos were prohibited, so I don’t have any. I did come home with a few purchases – some ribbons, a knitted vest/wrap/shawl garment, and a “kit” of preselected yarns formaking a sweater. I can hardly wait to dig into this scrumptious yard to crochet something for myself after November. Just can’t start that yet, got to keep working at my job (some job huh!? getting to make beads all day).
My head is swimming with inspring visions and memories from what I saw at the quilt show. So I decided to make my own little quilt. I went outside yesterday, and snapped some photos within a few feet of our front and back doors. The colors of fall in Round Top, Quilted Inspiration, right here at home.
Well, y’all, I am scrambling again. Think I was a wee bit optimistic when I scheduled four shows almost in a row: Midland, Antique Weekend in Round Top, Bayou City in Houston, and now Huffhines Art Trails in Richardson. Having successful shows is a good problem though – right? Right! I’ve made five new necklaces today, and over the last week or so 36 pairs of earrings! Tomorrow will be photography day, and packing for the drive on Friday. Several people who saw us during set up and break down in Houston said they didn’t realize how much work it was. Yep, it takes us about 3 hours to set up the tent and display cases. And if there is an artist pile-up like there was in Houston, make that set up 5 hours. Luckily, not every set up happens at midnight and takes that long. Then, on the opening day of the show it’s another 2 hours to arrange the jewelry in the displays.
We haven’t done the Huffhines show before, so we don’t know what to expect. If you are in the area, come on over and see us. In spite of everything, I do have some fun new designs – especially in the earring department. Here’s one new necklace I have photographed. I’ll post more photos tomorrow for a real sneak preview. Meanwhile – back to the bead board …..
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