Charmed

My friend Carol wondered if I could make volleyball number charms for her college-age volleyball-star daughter and her two best friends. Something fairly simple…but maybe a little different than the charms we’re seeing everywhere lately. Nothing babyish, as this was to be presented at college graduation. Carol and I got together and played around with ideas. First I tried just a simple sterling disc with a number on it. Way too boring. We doodled and played some more, and we came up with this!

Copper and sterling charm – stamped, soldered, and oxidized – hung on sterling ball chain. A tiny round sterling charm hangs alongside, stamped with the teammates' numbers, one on each side.

Carol loved the charms. I told her not to get TOO excited. Her daughter might not share our enthusiasm! But last I heard, the necklaces were a hit. Whew.





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Whining

I’ve been whining a lot lately. “I just want to make stuff” is my perennial refrain whenever it’s time to open my studio to visitors. You’d think by my 6th Art A Whirl I’d have the process down pat but nooooo. Every year I’m compelled to reinvent my selling space. Then, instead of making jewelry, I make jewelry displays. I wake up in the middle of the night and begin gathering random pieces of furniture and accessories. That wooden bathroom shelf thingie we found in the junkyard at Ikea – how would that look, say, on its side, as a jewelry display? And that mesh wastebasket – could I hang earrings on that? And so on. Until I’m batty.

Now Art A Whirl is over and I’m beginning to list items on Etsy again, trying to stick with it this time. Etsy marketing articles say things like, “Tell your story; share your creative process” and “You need to try and become ‘friends’ with everyone you have ever met, and then send them an invite to become a fan of your shop. Now is not the time to be shy!” ARGHHHH. I don’t want to bother people. I just want to make stuff!

So anyway, here goes. And I hope it doesn’t bother you as much as it bothers me.

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