Current Theme Song

"Every Other Way" by BT on These Hopeful Machines

Heart don't fail me now  
'Cause there is no time to waste  
Don't shut me out, we shouldn't wait another day 
I've searched for you, on my heart's high speed chase  
Hear me out, may be the only chance to say  
"Hold me now"
I've said it every other way

Forging Entrepreneurs: a lesson in what it really takes

This past Sunday, I had the great pleasure of attending a SNAG sponsored symposium in Pittsburgh at the Society for Contemporary Craft: "Forging Entrepreneurs."

And even though I learned a great deal (topics of the lectures were diverse, ranging from how to define success to a crash course in 3D printing) and I had a great time with some of my SNAG family, I really feel like the experience has thrown me into an identity crisis as far as my work goes.

Geez, I just got finished telling you that I'm in love with what I do... and now I feel like a hypocrite.  I'm still in love, but now I'm wondering if I have been unfaithful in some way.

By the end of the day my circuits were so fried I wanted to come home and have a nervous breakdown.  I looked around at what I was making and none of it felt good enough.  It felt like "amulet" was just another label I was trying to impose on myself.  Yes, I am interested in how we use amulets to shape our thoughts and actions, but are fancy titles really that important?  Now I think that all this "experimentation" with my ideas and materials was just another mask I was trying to put on instead of doing the hard work of trying to find my own voice, a distraction rather than a journey.  What am I most excited about creating?  What do I really care about saying? What can I uniquely offer?

Dammit, those are hard questions, and I don't have the answers.  Soul-searching time.

I love working with enamel most of all... molten glass makes me feel like a bad ass.  And I have to admit, I really (really) enjoyed taking a hammer to that stained glass... I never get to break things, ever.  To break something in an act of creation felt really contrary and freeing.

I love symbols... I'm really Jungian in that way.  I believe that symbols help us make sense of our world, but I've been too hung up on the idea that my audience has to know and understand the symbols that I'm using.  The one luxury I'm afforded as an artist is that I don't have to explain myself... so, I am going to stop explaining my own symbology.  It's personal.  If you really want to know, you can ask.

The things I really care about making aren't the ones that have fancy or expensive materials... I like unique stones, I like getting dirty, I like feeling a connection to the earth.  The things I really care about making are the things that are about the journey, about the hard-fought steps and the simple, unadulterated, solitary triumphs.

I feel better.  Thank God.  That's a decent start.  Let's get moving.

I'm In Love With You

I don't just love what I do... I am IN love with what I do.

My work is the one aspect in my life for which I have infinite patience, infinite excitement, infinite curiosity... infinite everything.  In this area of my life, I feel powerful and whole.

This is not to say that I have no fear.  Every day that I'm in my studio, making the things that I envision in my head, I face the questions that scare me: why am I making these things?  Where should I look for my customers?  Will I be able to support myself with the work of my hands?  Am I good enough?

But here's the thing: if there's no fear to face, no change to embrace, where's the challenge?  What's the point?  I promised myself a long time ago that I am going to be the hero in my own life.  And the absolute truth is that I'm happiest when I'm learning things, and by choosing this path of "artist" and "entrepreneur," I have infinite opportunities to learn and grow.  If I flop, it's on me.  If I succeed, it's on me.

My destiny is in my own hands... I'm in love with what I do.

Spotlight on Fordite

What the hell is Fordite anyway? Would you believe car paint? It's true.

This "stone" is not a stone at all, but layers upon layers of paint from the spray booths in automotive factories which has been gathered up by lapidary enthusiasts and turned into cabochons.

Also known as Detroit Agate or Motor Agate, this material is considered eco-friendly as it is an up-cycled material that otherwise would have been tossed in the trash. This stone always boasts an array of fun and interesting colors, but the most sought after stones are those which have vintage or famous colors like the paints from say the 60s or from Corvette factories.

Definitely a weird but cool material suitable for a wide range of jewelry and projects.

Current Theme Song

"Say" by OneRepublic on Dreaming Out Loud

Well, all I need
Is the air I breathe
And a place to rest my head

BMAC ≠ Big Mac

BMAC = Buyers Market of American Craft

Every year at this time, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hosts the Buyer's Market of American Craft, a wholesale arts fair aimed at bringing artists and buyers together. Both groups are from all over the country.

The premise is simple: artists from America and Canada bring handmade goods (jewelry, ceramics, glass work, fiber arts, woodwork, furniture, home goods, paintings, photography, sculpture, and multimedia art) to the Pennsylvania Convention Center and set up booths to entice buyers (gallery owners, buyers for major store chains like Anthropologie or L.L. Bean, etc.) to, you know, buy.

This year, I had the great pleasure to visit the Buyers Market as a visiting artist. I got to see some fabulous art, and learn a ton of information about what it takes to make it as a wholesaler. Good times had by all.

For more information about the Buyers Market and all the awesomeness, please visit their website: http://www.buyersmarketofamericancraft.com/

A Moment of Clarity

Believe me when I tell you this: it is incredibly difficult to write a poem of brevity AND beauty.

But here I give you Don Wentworth, a Pittsburgh poet who writes Haiku-like poems that are both stunning... and short. I heard him read recently, he called them "poems of a single breath." Poems located both here and nowhere, he writes lines that have incredibly immediacy... moments of clarity in a single breath.

His chap book, Past All Traps, can be purchased on Amazon.

So you know exactly what I'm talking about, here is my favorite:

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mistake after mistake
after mistake, adding up
to just the right thing.

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