a brief diversion ... what I'm loving today

Today I'm loving the audacity of Regina Dabdab's jewels seen via Robin Richman's blog ...

Which would look very cool with this from Share Spirit...

 or even more better with this from forme d'expression ...

while gazing at the almost surreal interiors of Aurelie Alvarez like this one ...

 or this one ...

 or maybe looking for inspiration and lovelies for my more mainstream homefront at I Gigi ...

scrumptious eye candy ... loving all of it.
okay, back to work for me.
ttfn - kvk

forward progress

Well progress is being made and I'm pretty sure this is the home stretch - lord I hope it's the home stretch.  I've had my head down, plowing forward for so long ... when I do look up or take a break I get a bit wobbly.  That's the big problem when I get in this mode - driven and obsessed.  I've taken virtually no 'me' time ... no yoga, no meditation, lunch out here and there, the grocery store or maybe the library.  Time off is pretty much fixing dinner and watching a movie at night.  I actually made a quick dash to the gem show yesterday.  I think I was there for maybe 45 minutes and that included stopping to chat with a friend.  It was worth the trip as I found pearls in the size and colors I've been using with large holes already drilled - PERFECT!  And great timing, as today's tasks include pricing all the new work ... going to be an interesting undertaking as the price of silver is about a third more than the last time I figured my pricing.  I'm thinking it will be prudent to strike a compromise in there somewhere ... pricing is always such a challenge.

This is how my days have been starting -  the first of three ...

This morning I actually took time to make some fresh juice.  My body was craving the extra boost and I do love looking at the layers of color and texture.  Celery first, then beet, then carrot, which leaves a lovely 'crema' on top.

So, the pictures have been shot and shopped.  That's 3 month's work on those velvet boards.  BTW - I hate velvet boards, but it's what the reps like to use ... boring beyond belief, but what's a girl to do.

And the catalog layout is progressing ...

And in the 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' category - I'm loaded up on silk.  It feels like a small fortune sitting here.  Definitely true in relation to time spent, but also true in dollars spent in the search and final decisions.

This little post is falling into the 'me time' category and, as I look down at the time, I'm starting to feel itchy.  Time to get back to it. 
Onward ....................

blessings - kvk

liminal ...

... of or relating to a sensory threshold;  of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition

I think it started last night after reading Lynne's post about those small-eyed boys slipping between dimensions ... the return of a particular awareness, the subtle knowing that we have the ability to travel between plains of existence.  The feeling remained this morning.  When this awareness takes hold, it leads to shutting off the outside world, turning off phones, putting on music that facilitates this tangible need for deep introspection.  It's such a strange feeling, hyper aware, my skin almost tingling, a delicious sense of anticipation resting on my shoulders.  I squeeze through the opening and listen for clues of where to go, what to do, cherishing my time here for I know it is fleeting.

I'm wondering if taking the time to write this down will snap me back to my normal operating mode.  
Not yet ... better stop now.   

upon further consideration ...

Good thing I'm not a terribly rigid sort, exceedingly particular maybe - well no, exceedingly particular definitely.  Once I got started making cord with the Halcyon silk, I decided it was somewhat lackluster, literally.  See what I mean?  Habu in front, Halcyon in back.

The Habu silk has such a beautiful sheen and that's been my number one requirement.  Of course when I go to load up, it's out of stock - sheesh!  Hopefully I have enough on hand to hold me until the back order arrives.  Then yesterday I decided, this is bloody ridiculous.  So I proceeded to order, wherever I could find them, as much of my Gudebrod colors as I could afford.  In the process I made a great discovery.  Big Stone in Houston is working on their own version, samples are in hand and they hope to be stocked with the replacement silk in November.  They're also pretty nice to deal with (always a big plus) and way cheaper than the lady on Ebay (who's running out of stock anyway).  Okay, so that's enough about silk ... I promise!

On a happier note, this past weekend we headed up into the mountains to the annual Spruce Pine Potters Market.  We found out about it last year - too late.  So this year it was an absolute must.  It's an extraordinary gathering ...  artist organized with 28 potters from two counties.  Thing is, these two counties (Mitchell and Yancey) probably have more world class potters per square mile than anywhere else in the country.  There's so many they have to rotate who gets to participate in the show.

We got there about an hour after it opened on Saturday and were pretty much overwhelmed by the crowd.  The parking lots were jammed and it was a total feeding frenzy inside.  We made a beeline for our favorite potter, Nick Joerling, and wormed our way into his small, very crowded booth.  That's Nick kneeling down in the blue shirt ...
 

We were hoping for small bowls, maybe another mug and definitely another plate.  No bowls, but we did come away with a couple of treasures, some to keep, some to share.

Then we went back to the beginning and started to weave our way through the impressive array of work.  Local legends were on hand ... it was amazing to see basket-maker Billie Ruth Sudduth chatting with Cynthia Bringle or Jane Peiser.  Three legends in the world of fine craft, wise women all, each so very direct and down to earth.   I love this quote from Jane, "When human beings go from speech to song, something wonderful happens.  I don't achieve that very often in my work, but it's what keeps me trying."  I have known some amazing potters - Daniel Rhodes, Vivika and Otto Heino are some of the most noteworthy.  Vivika was probably the most influential.  Her grace and willingness to share her knowledge has stayed with me through the years, a constant reminder of how to be in the world.

Cynthia Bringle ...

And Billie Ruth in the plaid shirt ...

Then there's the next generation ... One of our favorite sculptural potters, Melisa Cadell ...

And a couple of new discoveries.  Susan Feagin's handbuilt pots are just plain crazy, but straight away, I was smitten ...

My new patchwork mug, so very strange, but such great inspirational juice ...

Our other discovery, Lisa Gluckin.  Lisa's my age, an absolute delight and one of the resident artists at the Energy Xchange, an arts studio and craft business incubator program.  They run their kilns and torches off methane from the old dump in Burnsville - how cool is that!  Here's the goodies we got from Lisa ...

 

"God is in the details" ... I love the base of this little tray ...

All in all, an inspiring day.  Topped off by taking the scenic route home via a winding mountainous back road.  Cooler temps, no traffic, up and down and round and round with a splashes of fall color here and there - perfect!

So now I really have to get back to work.  I'm closing in on finishing my samples - finally!  Then pics, then catalog, then website.  Hallelujah progress is being made!

ttfn with blessings - kvk

p.s.  another one of those simple pleasures - fresh boxes of Ticonderoga #2.5 pencils ... don't you just love the smell of new pencils???

salvation on a spool

Oh my sweet relief ..................

The mail ran about 10 minutes after I finished the last post.  I peered out the window waiting ... it seemed to take forever, the scanning and sorting and whatever else my postal person had to do before stuffing the rather large priority mail parcel into my just big enough mail box.  She drove off and I immediately flew down the stairs and out the door, the enormous question looming ... would this be IT?

YES!

As the song goes, what a long strange trip its been.  My silk road ...

 To start with, small quantities of 3 colors and 2 sizes.  Strange as it sounds, my salvation is on a spool ... 

I was a bit worried at first - it was looking like that 'fuzzy problem' might be an issue.  Testing ensued.  Turns out if I wind it tight enough, there's barely any fuzz ... a huge sigh of relief escaped.  So the basic 3 colors are pretty good in person.  Sadly, there's no dark gray and their 'red' is more ruby.  I was hoping for a nice 'Chinese' red.  There's a dark blue that I'm leaning toward and not sure what else.  But for now, I'm a happy camper ... I have my silk.  Ah, I almost forgot ... the home of my salvation is in Bath, Maine - Halcyon Yarn.

Hallelujah!  Let the production begin!

with such enormous gratitude and many blessings - kvk

the silk road - the kvk version

"Your item is out for delivery at 9:51 am on October 05, 2010 in ASHEVILLE, NC 28803."

So here I wait ... hoping that the solution to my quest is in transit to my little studio.  My mail doesn't usually arrive until after 3 at the earliest, so I figured I'd zip out a bit of an update in my silk road saga.

The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions and questions.  One question that seems to stand head and shoulders above all the others is, "Why does it have to be silk?"  Why can't it be nylon, which would be super easy, comes in every color you can imagine, long wearing, 24/7 capabilities and is CHEAP?  Why can't it be linen?  Not quite as easy, but readily available in lots of nice colors, plus it's a natural fiber, very good price ... okay, so it's fuzzy when made into cord, but still.  Or why not bamboo?  That might fit if I wanted to plug in a green or sustainable note.  Colors are not quite as good, but it's also readily available and well priced.  There again, with bamboo, is that "fuzzy problem" in all it's marvelous connotations (thanks mansuetude for the perspective).

I've lost count of all the trips to town in search of potential solutions and have been whining to anyone who'd listen - how tiresome is that!  I've ordered silk from China and New York.  The Chinese silk had great potential.  Thing is, it's embroidery silk and comes in relatively short skeins of insanely fine thread.  Gotta say, it was pretty comical to watch me - first figuring out how the 400 yard bundle was assembled, then carefully separating each little skein, then figuring out how to support it while I wound out what I needed to make a length of cord.  It would catch on my calloused fingers, snag on the side of my worktable and my feet kept getting tangled in the very long pieces I needed to make a decent length.  Basically a beautiful mess.

The silk from NY was lovely, but only comes in three colors and was fairly thick, pretty pricey and, bottom line, just not "it".  Again, why does it have to be silk?

Well, I'm afraid the best answer I've come up with is ... It just does!  It's me, it's what my jewelry represents, it's my customer and it's my look!  Everything else I've tried doesn't come even close to the luxurious qualities that only exist in fine silk.

So what's in the mail today, for which I'm waiting ever so patiently, is what I'm hoping to be my salvation.  That last trip to the local fiber supplier provided the key.  I left with another way to search for the silk I was hoping to find.  When I plugged in the new keywords, it was like finally discovering the secret password. Straight away, top of the list was the online supplier I'd been hoping for - in the U.S., English is their first language, silk made to their specifications in a nice variety of gorgeous colors and several sizes, available in bulk and on spools (for a tiny bit extra) and bulk pricing available.

I'm feeling quite confident and sort of patient ... that Christmas morning kind of anticipation and excitement is threatening to take over.

Deep breaths, less than an hour to go ... I'll keep you posted.

blessings - kvk