kathy van kleeck

anticipation

2012-02-07T08:19:00.000-05:00

New steel components waiting to compose new work ... this is my palette, my starting point ... delicious anticipation ... sweet surprise awaits ...

pebbles

small rings

wedge nuggets

spires

vertebrae

nuggets - cubes and pebbles

pendants

wafers - the darker ones are what the steel looks like straight out of the kiln ... love the contrast

back to work for this little peep .......

l i g a - kvk

knuckling down ......

2012-02-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

Closing in on our Trunk Show ... still so much to do.
Working on the on-line aspect and I'll post details in a couple of days. For the time being - our flier is lovely ... not bragging or anything.

ciao for now ......

l i g a - kvk

sunday morning inspiration

2012-02-05T10:39:00.001-05:00

Woke up thinking about our 2010 trip to Provence ... I'm still so inspired by our photos. A while back I 'shopped' some of my favorites ... these are the ones that are inspiring me and my work on this bright Sunday morning .........

Bonnieux rooftops

Lacoste archway

Roussillon clock tower

Lacoste stairway

Bonnieux stairs

Lourmarin teal doorway

Ancient steps and craggy archways - still making my heart sing .......

l i g a - kvk

feedback please ... techie ideas

2012-02-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

So a friend and fan of my work suggested we do a Skype video conference of our trunk show. I'm looking into it. We could do a day pass on Skype that would allow 8 - 10 people on the call at a time. There's another free one, Videoconference.com that has potential.

Anybody out there have experience with this sort of thing?
Anybody interested in joining in?
Feedback, advice, help .... please!

the trunk show is a week from Sunday - yikes ... got's so much to do!

l i g a - kvk

gaussian to laser

2012-02-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

Today ...

streamlining

shifting focus from gaussian blur to laser

ditching things that annoy or don't serve

honing in

standing tall

shoulders back

moving forward

unapologetic

determined

seeking the edge

being brilliant and authentic and true

onward

l i g a - kvk

thanks Danielle for the kick in the pants reminder

the new look

2012-01-30T11:44:00.000-05:00

Okay, so instead of working, I decided to try taking a self portrait ... not an easy thing for me. Anyway, I figured since my new hair do was freshly washed and looking kind of sporty, I'd give it a shot.
... my new profile pic - whaddaya think?

now back to attempting productivity ....

l i g a - kvk

hrrrmph

2012-01-30T10:06:00.000-05:00

Looks like I got a bit too cavalier in my firing efforts .......

Not 100% loss, but pretty darn close. I did manage to salvage some of the rubies. This is what's left after a second firing with fine silver pmc inlays (the white stuff). First thing to note, I had tumbled all these pieces before re-firing, but I didn't really check them to make sure they were fully sintered. Funny how pieces can go through the tumbler for hours, come out looking just fine, but when you give them a good squoze ...... pfffftt - they break right in two or three or four.

What I should have done was really check them before re-firing. My successful test pieces were definitely fully sintered, these I just don't know. Like I was saying, I got a bit cavalier.

The last few days weren't a total loss. While the steel components were firing, I had an urge to make a chain link necklace. Okay, so at one point I did get distracted and thought I had quenched a piece of 14gu silver, picked up the screaming hot piece with my right thumb and index finger (I'm right handed), dropped screaming hot piece onto the carpet, melting the bit where it landed, managed to pry it up with tweezers and chuck it into water where it was still hot enough to sizzle a bit. Then, checking out my poor fingers ... looked like I'd branded the skin, ran under cold water for a bit then slathered the burns with lavender oil and popped a couple of ibuprofen. I don't burn myself very often but, as burns go, these were pretty interesting ... no blisters, just a couple of fried indentations. By the end of the evening and repeated lavender rubs, there was virtually no pain - only if hot water hit the burns. That was on Saturday and today, I can feel but barely see the wire brands in my fingertips ... amazing.

After all that, I do like the chain. I call it the "intuition chain." I had no plan making it. I just kept cutting 14gu wire and putting it together until it felt done.

Today, well, I don't know about today. I've got a few more steel pieces ready to fire, the remaining ruby and pmc pieces are in the tumbler with the intuition chain and I have a handful of steel components that did sinter and are ready to go into the abrasive shot. Needless to say, I'll be a bit more mindful about firing from here on out ... focus and not try to do three things at once.

The last couple of days ... it's been a bit tiresome. Sails full and feeling exuberant, sails flat and feeling thwarted. Now comes Monday and I'm trying to find some motivation and direction. Not sure what to do, what to work on. My body is telling me to get off the computer and give my shoulders and wrists a break.

I don't know ... rethinking, regrouping, reevaluating.
Deep breaths ........

l i g a - kvk

p.s. if you like gentle ambient, electronica blended with acoustic music ... check out General Fuzz. He's got a slew of albums free for the downloading and only asks for a contribution. Really great background for working.

morning delights ... sunday radar sightings

2012-01-29T10:47:00.000-05:00

A rather long and thoughtful day yesterday.

Today I woke to a brilliant and frosty morning, strong black tea, heavenly croissants from Tod's with just right scrambled eggs. Then up to the workroom and, of course, checking email and FB and a bit of surfing. So many delights have I found ... now I'm positively busting with inspiration, doing a quick sharing of these exceptional radar sightings and getting back to work on the new steel components.

I started here with this exquisite video of a Rodarte museum installation ....

Rodarte: States of Matter from MOCA on Vimeo.

Then, Helen James took me to Trend Tablet ... this will be me squealing with delight ... pages and pages of enticing content. Trend Tablet got me to Lorraine Pennington and her assorted galleries, blogs and on-line markets ... another large squeal. Check out these ... Modern Surfaces Art Gallery, one of her blogs, a modern life 2, and this looks really interesting, Project Artisan.

Oh and yesterday, I found a sumptuous new magazine, Glass - British and Chinese and lush. And I keep meaning to say how gorgeous and exceptional the costumes were in The Secret of Moonacre. Not an exceptional film, but visually stunning.

Jolly good fun ... off to polish some steel!

ttfn

l i g a - kvk

thrown for a loop

2012-01-28T13:20:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I'm fairly addicted to this dern computer. Most nights before going to bed and shutting everything down for the evening, I check email and FaceBook messages one more time ... you know, it's business ... in case something has sold on Etsy or a customer has written or whatever ... I'm addicted.

Last night when I logged on to check FB, there was a new accepted friend request. The friend is someone I knew 35 years ago, someone I've thought about through the years and wondered where she was, what she was doing, did she stay married, have kids ......... Looking back to those wild and crazy days in the mid 70's, I realized she was my only 'normal' friend. I've never had lots of friends and only a couple of close women friends at a time. Back then, my 'friends' were the people I worked with and then went out with every night until all hours. Vicki was different and for years I've regretted losing touch.

So, a while back I tracked her down and found out she was on FB and I sent a friend request with a short note. Now, months later, she's accepted my request ... and what's really surprising is reading that last night threw me into a total tailspin. It's brought up all that old nasty baggage and a whole world I thought I had put long behind me. Of course I wasn't thinking baggage when I sent out the request, just a dear friend from long ago. It took me hours to fall into a restless sleep. I guess that 'thorn' wasn't fully extracted and healed after all.

Today is a day of processing and it feels like an old, long buried wound has been opened and given an opportunity to finally heal. Amazing how much those memories still hurt, but just as amazing is the other FB message I had at the same time. A jewelry artist in a group I've just joined wrote to tell me how appreciative and inspired she is by some links and advice I shared. We had been convo-ing back and forth a bit and it warmed my heart to the core to hear that I might have helped another artist.

I love the point/counterpoint of those two messages. Light being shown on the old me and the me of today. Worlds apart, but never separate ... a unified whole.

Onward .......

l i g a - kvk

we'll see

2012-01-26T17:58:00.000-05:00

For someone who's s'posed to be staying off the computer, I've sure been on this thing a lot. Oh well, I just had to share what I've been working on.

If it works, it will be a river of rubies in steel .......

I'm hoping to fill in the series of holes with fine silver pmc. I'm also planning to leave the steel just as it comes out of the kiln - kind of rusty, corroded looking, then spot polish the fine silver parts. The pieces will be joined by sterling jump rings and then I'm not sure what else will be involved. But right now, it's looking bloody cool!

Like I was saying - we'll see ...........

l i g a - kvk

one more

2012-01-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

Just as I was sitting back down and getting to work, UPS came with the leather I bought on Monday. It's 20+ sq/ft, over 70" long and about 35" wide, dark chocolate brown, pretty heavy (5 1/2oz).
Can you say belts?

okay, really shutting down this time.........
l i g a - kvk

minor diverson

2012-01-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

So my intention was to stay off the computer today ... as you can see, I'm not doing so well.
Stopped for lunch, went outside to uncover my potted plants - it's 61 degrees for heaven's sake. Under the protective plastic were my perennials and remaining annuals in various stages of growth and decay. Seemed like a photo op to me .........

exquisite beauty in all phases of life ... n'est-ce pas

shutting back down ....

l i g a - kvk

morning inspiration

2012-01-25T09:19:00.001-05:00

Good morning my lovelies!
My beloved friend, Marilyn sent me a link for an excerpt of a short film on Peter Donnelly. I've been glued to YouTube watching all the variations. This one's my favorite ... aside from a wee ache in my heart missing the sea and salt air, this makes me so very happy ....

Have a beautiful and inspired day!

l i g a - kvk

p.s. thanks for your well wishes with my new treasure trove - feeling loved and enormously blessed!
p.p.s. - still not feeling terribly photogenic, so pics of the new 'do' are yet to come - me likey, though.

the motherload!

2012-01-24T17:57:00.000-05:00

Yippee doodle! It's Christmas here in my little studio ... I just got a 'pick box' from Barbara at Basha Beads ... the motherload - I'm tellin' ya. Rather than her first run beads, I asked for odds and ends and miscellaneous things she might have laying around. I am absolutely giddy with delight!

See for youself .......

Everything from little bitty ones to some big honkin' focals. Of course, there's no way I'll be keeping all these, but I'm pretty sure I'll be spending more than I first thought ... color me surprised!

a closer look .........

closer look view #2 .........

I've also got a 20 sq.ft. section of chocolate brown cowhide coming. That should be here before week's end. Planning on some belts and wrap bracelets and who knows what else. Of course, this is all in preparation for our upcoming Hearts Aligned trunk show.

Only problem, I've been feeling stretched a bit thin. I think I've just about gotten all my pesky errands and chores out of the way. I'm more than ready to get back to work ... hopefully tomorrow. Nothing like a monster selection of Basha Beads to inspire a girl!

I'll keep you posted ........

l i g a - kvk

thinking ahead

2012-01-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

Yes we will ... one more time - with gusto!

l i g a - kvk

Hearts Alligned ...

2012-01-19T12:31:00.000-05:00

... that's the name of our Valentine's trunk show. It fits in lots of ways. Three artists with very similar approaches to work and design and then the Valentine's message.
Here's the approved postcard for the show .......

It took me a good part of yesterday to figure it all out, but I'm quite pleased with the result. I love the title font, the "hearts" are heart rocks that I photographed, cropped and then hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button on Picasa, extracted from the background in Photoshop Elements, plugged into Publisher, made the background transparent and did some free rotations. I'm sure there's easier, more direct ways to get to this effect by people that actually know what they're doing with graphics software, but I plug along with what I know. That's the thing with being self-taught, I eventually get to where I want to go, just not in a straight line.

I'll post more about the trunk show when it gets closer. Right now, I'm being drawn to haul out my sewing machine, so I've chucked all my fabric yardage in for a quick wash (actual care instructions thrown to the wind) and I might bop down to the fancy fabric store and see what sort of patterns they have on hand.

Oh, and my hair turned out pretty close to great. Not sure what it is with these stylists, but they seem to be obsessed with angle cuts. It's less than it was and definitely more chopped and pretty darn short! Not feeling very photogenic today, so self-portraits will have to wait.

ciao for now ......

l i g a - kvk

btw

2012-01-18T17:09:00.000-05:00

I'm at it again ... another trunk show is in the works.

Once again with Cara, but this time we're joining forces with fellow jewelry designer, Stephanie Onel. It'll be right before Valentine's Day, February 12. It's all coming together in splendid synchronistic fashion ... I've been following Stephanie's jewelry since we've been in Asheville. We've been Etsy and FB friends and I'd seen pictures of her but we'd never met in person. The other day at the gem show, I saw this woman that looked familiar and then realized it was Stephanie.

I went up and introduced myself - kind of strange meeting someone face to face when you've known about each other for a while. Anyway, we got to talking and I was going on about trunk shows and she allowed as how she knows a couple of women who've recently opened Working Girls Studio & Gallery and they just mentioned they'd like to host some events, you know like trunk shows and maybe Valentines Day would be a good time to try one out. So, me being me, I immediately said, "yeah buddy, we gots to get on that one" and of course volunteered Cara. I'm incorrigible.

Stephanie contacted the Gallery and the three of us have been working on all the specifics. Then Dave and I were downtown on Monday and cruised over to Battery Park and and the gate to the studio/gallery was open and we went on up and got to meet Lynne Harty, a really excellent photographer. Also got to meet her gallery partner, Eli Corbin, a painter (haven't perused her work yet). So, mission accomplished there ... it's a great space and has a very nice vibe, we've got a date and time nailed down and may even get a bit of TV coverage via the gallery ... we'll see.

Like I was saying, it's all coming together.

I'm the computer/graphics expert of this trio and I've spent the better part of today working on the show card. Thing is, I didn't have anything sparkly or Valentine's inspired, so I started the day putting together a new piece ...

I got to use some of my new gemstones, the sanded quartz nugget and a tourmaline slice, with a lush Basha bead. Thankfully, I had all the steel and bronze components on hand.

The show card is out for a vote, so when I get the okay, I'll share it. Right now, I'm going to stop and give my eyes a rest and maybe get and early start on dinner 'cause I've got a big night ahead. The other crazy thing that happened on Monday - I got stopped on the street by a woman that works at a local chi-chi salon. She was headhunting for volunteers. I debated a bit, but decided, what the heck - a free haircut at one of the better salons in town! I'm scheduled at 7:30 tonight to get an "edgy bob" haircut. I'm going to shoot for something that resembles an "art project" - that's Cara's descriptive term and it's perfect. I'll let you know about that as well.

Grand experiments happening all around!
ciao for now .......

l i g a - kvk

guest posting

2012-01-16T15:44:00.000-05:00

I just did a guest post on Love My Art Jewelry, called "Passionate Exchange." Writing to an audience that mostly doesn't know me from Adam. An interesting and fun challenge ...check it out and let me know what you think and how I did.

l i g a - kvk

renewed perspective

2012-01-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

clearing sorting pondering rethinking renewing ... passion
relinquishing ... control > gaining + renewing ... perspective

Most of my piles have been sorted. Some of the repairs and some of the special orders have been completed. Things are shifting. We just handed in our cable TV box and have switched over to a streaming device - a brand new paradigm in the VK household. A small thing, but I'm thinking any change is important when stirring up the energy of our home and routines.

simplifying paring down ordering prioritizing

Funny that after a short rant on FB about the monetizing of every little thing, I succumbed to temptation and took Danielle up on her "pay what you can" Spark Kit offer. It's, well, it's vast and voluminous and loaded and we'll see if I get through it. I was an early FireStarter client (April '09) and have felt like a super underachiever ever since ... on WhiteHotTruth - so many success stories, so many opportunities to compare myself and come up short. So I'm not sure why I decided to plunk down a small chunk of my small winter budget for something, the likes of which, I was just complaining about the day before ... curious ... curious indeed.

But I gotta say, Danielle asks really good questions. She's in your face, not shy, brassy as all get out, smart as a whip, tapped in and on trend. I am all about being direct and authentic and she is all that. As for my new Spark Kit, I'll keep you posted.

And then there's the stirrings of creative urges. Spurred on by my few, but very lovely purchases from the gem show. There's very little that piques my interest at these shows, but I did come home with a couple of sweet finds ...

faceted nuggets of moss aquamarine, iolite and hammer faceted sanded amethyst

delicious little slices of watermelon tourmaline, opaque and translucent ...

and these sanded faceted crystal quartz nuggets are going to look amazing with the steel metal clay ...

There's lots going on right now ...

paradigm shifts world altering passionate exchanges perspective renewing

And seeing this helps ...............

The Great Bell Chant (The End of Suffering) from R Smittenaar on Vimeo.

onward .......

l i g a - kvk

cruising the edge

2012-01-11T13:45:00.002-05:00

I think about this often ... cruising the edge, my edge, my own avant garde. I really don't want this to sound elitist, but through the years I've noticed a trend in my work ... I tend to be a couple of years ahead of the rest of the pack. I've actually found it kind of annoying, not too many people 'get' what I'm doing. I end up feeling like I'm temporarily visiting from Mars.

What got me to thinking about it this time is I started in on sorting through my piles of piles. Resting in one particularly dusty folder I found this sweet little remnant from my PMC team player past - the rejection letter from Lark for a book proposal about all kinds of ways to use metal clay in mixed media projects ...

Considering how many metal clay books are out there these days, this really gives me a good chuckle. Oh well, wasn't meant to be.

But what is starting to happen and what I'm really enjoying in the last few months ... my Urban Primitive series is getting a very nice response. People are buying the work, I'm getting lots of Etsy 'likes' and into some cool Treasuries and I'm meeting some like minded people on-line ... very encouraging ... very gratifying ... as a matter of fact, I'm feeling very blessed. Maybe I'm not really from Mars after all.

Okay, heading back to my piles.

l i g a - kvk

paralyzed by piles

2012-01-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

It's been 2 or 3 weeks since I've actually sat at my worktable to work. Over the last few months, I've been collecting inspirational articles, get your game on links, how-to books, personal improvement programs started and stalled, guided meditation MP3's downloaded and not yet heard, interesting and usually expensive magazines - that's an ongoing addiction - unread and lord knows what else. I feel like I'm drowning in piles. There's also the various piles on my worktable ... jewelry repairs - I'm a horrible slug when it comes to repairs, Dave's new britches that need to be hemmed - well to my credit I've done 3 of the 4 pairs, custom work that needs to be mailed, my new order of steel metal clay that hasn't been unwrapped. And the problem is, I can't seem to settle down to do anything with any of it.

Itchy, that's how I feel - well itchy and tired. My intention has been to get up when Dave leaves for work at 7:15, brush my teeth, rinse my face, either do a bit of yoga or sit down for a morning meditation before making tea and turning on the computer and getting sucked into emails and blogs and facebook. What I've been doing instead ... going back to sleep and not waking until 8 or 8:30, brushing teeth, washing face, making tea, getting breakfast and parking my backside in front of this bloody computer for at least a couple of hours before I come to and realize I should be doing something productive. Then I've had to go out every day this week for some errand or something and once I'm out of the house, I can kiss studio productivity goodbye. Like I said ... itchy.

So what am I doing right now? I've snapped a couple of pics of my piles and am sharing them here ... I'm hoping to stop this annoying cycle, start sorting through my piles and see what's there.

the worktable piles .........

the computer table piles .......

the piles of books and printed articles and magazines - front ...........

and side ...........

I'm wanting to learn more about leatherwork, so I've been checking out all the books at the library pile .....

and then I'm switching sales reps, so I've go my samples that need to be cleaned up and new trays ordered for a new presentation and catalogs printed and all of it boxed up to ship back out west .........

All that momentum from October and November ... pfffft ... gone. Maybe it wouldn't feel so annoying if it wasn't the New Year and everyone's making lists and planning and strategizing and I'm just sitting here paralyzed by my piles on top of piles.

I know this will pass. The ideas and inspiration are still there. It's winter and this is a natural cycle and I probably go through this every year. The planets are probably lined up all weird or something or hormones are shifting or my body is just recovering from all the holiday overindulging or whatever ... cripe ... doesn't make it any easier to be wallowing around in it.

Stalling out again ...

time to stop, change my focus and see if I can find some motivation for something ... anything.

deep breaths

onward

to be continued ......

l i g a - kvk

glorious New Year's greetings!

2011-12-31T15:46:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a year, hasn't it? And, in our house, it's ending on such a glorious high ............
So much to be thankful for, so much to look forward to - feeling very blessed and very inspired and ready to move forward with a ginormous great leap.

The year's also ending with a couple of really exceptional radar sightings. Thanks to Clara for telling me about Bill Cunningham New York ... if you love fashion and New York, you have GOT to see this documentary - it is an absolute delight!

And then Cara told me about Urban Style Emporium ... the home page makes me want to swoon! A favorite is BNG - Design from Istanbul ... so bloody cool!

And then Current-Obsession is looking pretty interesting - here's a couple of very cool necklaces. One by Nick Mullins .....

One by Philip Sajet ...

And thanks to my family who's been very generous with gift cards, I'm over the top excited about a couple of new book purchases ... both of India Flint's books, Second Skin and Eco Colour. I'm hoping to dive into some fiber experiments this year and these are going to be hugely inspirational!

I'm thinking that's it for now. We're not big party-ers, but we are heading out to an early dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, then back home before all the crazies hit the streets.

I am so enormously grateful to everyone who follows this little blog and my amazing clientele that supports my work ... I am one fortunate woman.

So here's wishing you all a safe and blessed New Year.

l i g a - kvk

holiday blessings ........

2011-12-25T13:25:00.000-05:00

No white Christmas this year, but here's a little something that we always listen to on Christmas day. Please listen for a sweet reminder of the true meaning of Christmas, John Henry Faulk's "Christmas Story."

be well, be safe ... with deep gratitude - kvk

radar sightings

2011-12-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

Just a quickie, 'cause I've got so much to do today .......

Just discovered Spencer Herr at the American Folk Gallery ...

And this is in beta, but The Cools looks like a potential alternative to Etsy. Not a lot of jewelry on there yet, but I like the aesthetic ......... we'll see.

Always forget how much I like Sydney Lynch .....

And Terri Logan is doing some interesting new work with more nuggety stones set in concrete ... the link's for her work at Bellagio ....

And of course I love her pebbles in any form or combination ......

And I needed a small dose of Aurelie Alvarez this morning before I get to work .......

And don't forget our Trunk Show on Saturday!

ciao for now!
l i g a - kvk

TRUNK SHOW!!!!!

2011-12-07T09:26:00.001-05:00

.........round two. Cara and I are joining forces with mutual friend and fellow jewelry artist, Tamela Wells, for a second installment of our Urban Primitive Trunk Show. And we're' going to the birthplace of our creative collaboration - Niche. We're keeping it pretty simple - champagne and truffles, grapes for the non-sugar types and spiced nuts - well that's the plan as of this morning. Join us if you can. The last one was hugely inspirational and such good fun. I know this one will be as good or better.

Lots to do, so back to work for this little peep!

l i g a - kvk

p.s. the QR code takes you to our FB event page - aren't I just au courant?

scurrying about + radar sightings

2011-12-01T09:58:00.001-05:00

Hey ho! What's up?
As for me ... I'm still catching up from being gone for a week. I've got a stack of debit receipts that would choke a horse, my worktable looks like an explosion, I've got a stack of new magazines I'm dying to dive into and, the most important thing on the agenda ........ our second trunk show to work on.

But before I dive into all that, I've got some radar sightings to share.

First on my list is the clothing line Hannoh. New to me, but of course Cara's been following him for ages.

And I've really been enjoying my daily dose from Trendland which is how I found out that Bjorg has a new collection and lookbook. See if you can figure out why I love her work ... silly me.

Cara sent me the link for Pip-Squeak Chapeau, which I have had very little time to peruse. And WeTheUrban looks like it has some potential.

Pretty funny that I found my way to Apparet, a site for international contemporary jewelry designers, and I went straight to one of my favorite jewelry designers, Darcy Miro. I want to just call it a day and be done when I look at her work. Here's her website with an extraordinary video and her full range of work ... makes me swoon.

And for a fun little educational break ... my friend Cindy sent this link this morning. Really fun, really well done and as Cindy said, essential viewing ...

Okay, back to work for this little peep.

l i g a - kvk

p.s. two more sites for some information that's actually useful ...
How To Raise Your Vibration , Healing your shadow and Earthship, tons of cool information.

a timely voice

2011-11-20T10:31:00.000-05:00

I'm not a very political person ... I vote and I have opinions, but I'm not one to organize or pursue causes. The whole Occupy Wall Street (OWS) thing has me interested yet confused. One thing I'm feeling is a similarity to the organization efforts of the late 60's. There are lots of things about right now that remind me of that time and I am encouraged by what I see ...

At our trunk show we talked to so many women who are finding their voices, their passions, their soul work. Amidst all the world chaos inspired art is being created, people are waking up. Energetically, we're in the middle of an enormously powerful time and, while I'm not quite on the crest of the wave, I'm not feeling overwhelmed. More likely, I'm on my way up, gathering kindred spirits and momentum for what promises to be an exhilarating ride.

What's got me all pensive this morning was watching a documentary on Pete Seeger last night. Throughout the film I was struck not only by the power of his passion, but the complete lack of venom in his words and music ... an overarching sense of what's right, what's wrong, his belief in the basic good of humanity and his deep love for this country.

I have no tolerance for the mean spirited spewing and constant spinning that consumes the mass media, so I'm not really up to speed on the OWS movement. But a friend sent me this link and it seems worth sharing. Maybe a Pete Seeger for 2011?

blessings ...

l i g a - kvk

the day after

2011-11-19T11:46:00.001-05:00

Well, our Trunk Show was a resounding success. The ladies of Moda have a luxurious and ever so elegant shop to complement our wares and put out a lovely spread of munchies. And so very cool that blog buddies and Etsy friends came and, even more wonderful, bought some treasures - heartfelt thanks to Diane and Jen and Anne and Vanessa and Pam and Catherine and everyone else that came to chat and braved the crazy parking and support our work.

Here's my set-up ...

I had the copper pipe already, then a blitz trip to AC Moore for pre-stretched canvas and plate stands, then the plumbing isle at Home Depot... I love the pluming and electrical isles ... a pipe cutter and some on-hand copper connections, some florists tape, a few layers of paint, some on-hand davey board stapled to the canvas backs and, voila', necklace and earring displays. The flat pieces are from my craft show days - copper mesh over plywood. I had several people complement me on my creative displays and it reminded me of a plan I had a while back to develop a display consulting side-line. I love designing and making unusual props for jewelry and clothing ... may have to give that some more thought. Feedback most welcome!

Cara and I sold exactly the same dollar amount of work, had time to chat with lots of wonderful women and a couple of interesting guys and even better, got to talk to each other and find out the common ground between is pretty astonishing. The pic is kinda blurry, but this is Cara ....

So now, I've got to unpack and get to work on a wholesale order to ship on Monday, then clean house and get ready for our housesitter to move in and take care of little Zoe so's we can head to Nashville to pick up my brother and then head south to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving with my whole family. Lots to do!

Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I, for one, have so very much to be thankful for this year.

with deep gratitude and heartfelt blessings .........
l i g a - kvk

the day

2011-11-18T08:20:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not the mother lode, but it is what it is. I am quite pleased with the work ... just wish there was a whole lot more ...

the earrings

and the necklaces

I've only got a couple of bracelets. That's the thing with designing all this new work ... sometimes it flows, sometimes it doesn't. Bracelets weren't flowing.

My goal for the day is, above all else, to have fun. Gots a ton still to do, so wish me luck and I'll see you on the other side!

l i g a - kvk

forward progress

2011-11-16T09:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday - long but fruitful.

Not the best photos, but some of what I accomplished ...

I'm quite pleased ...
Now - back to it!

l i g a - kvk

before

2011-11-15T12:02:00.000-05:00

Shutting down electronics, focusing, designing and making and creating and taking lots and lots of deep breaths. Our Trunk Show is on Friday ... let me just say, I've got a lot of work to do............

my delicious palette of components ... so so inspiring

Can't wait to see how it's all going to come together ... but come together it will.

Onward.

l i g a - kvk

thought for the day........

2011-11-12T14:58:00.000-05:00

l i g a - kvk

diverge ...

2011-11-09T10:06:00.002-05:00

... from the path of least resistance.

Embrace the road less traveled.

'nuff said.

l i g a - kvk

cleansing

2011-11-07T08:39:00.000-05:00

Laying low ... doing a bit of a cleanse ... getting ready to switch into high gear as I'm all of a sudden rather busy. Just found this link on FB ... such a lovely way to start the day.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

l i g a - kvk

Participation appreciated

2011-11-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

My friend Stowe is closing in on her deadline to fund her album. She's an amazingly talented singer/songwriter with an even more amazing story. Check it out, help her reach her goal.

You can read more about Stowe's incredible story here.

Many blessings and deep gratitude.........
l i g a - kvk

mark you calendars!

2011-11-03T17:13:00.000-04:00

Going to pull this together in a hurry ... November 18th - yikes! ... Cara and I are doing trunk shows! We're very excited to be showcasing our artistic visions and forging a new friendship along the way.

Our first one will be at a women's boutique at Biltmore Park in Asheville, Moda ... I'll have my new steel and bronze jewels and maybe some fine silver and Cara will have scarves, wraps and sweaters. We're doing another trunk show December 3rd and details will follow for that one. I just finished the announcement for the first one ... me likey very much!

I'll post a reminder closer to the event, but if you're in town please stop by and say HI!

l i g a - kvk

contemplation, writing + ruby & ochre continued

2011-10-31T13:07:00.000-04:00

Lots to think about these last couple of weeks. Things in the works, new friends, new directions. Some things changing, some remaining steadfast.

My setting to work on Danielle's Authentic Dreaming Worksheet ... contemplating: "why do I want what I want" and "dreaming extreme"......

Welcoming guests for a five day stay ... an exercise in faith.

And being in a pensive mood, sharing my growing collection of ruby and ochre images ..........

Heading back to a quiet day in the studio...........
l i g a - kvk

p.s. special thanks to all who've responded to the call for volunteers!

volunteers?

2011-10-20T13:03:00.000-04:00

I got this email from a customer and thought I'd pass it on ...

"A friend and I are doing our diligence in having a platform for women where women in disadvantaged places around the world like haiti, brazil, rwanda would provide some materials (like painted acai berries or prepared recycled material) that would be then incorporated into pieces handmade by local women artisans. The umbrella organization is called Mothering Across Continents (www.motheringacrosscontinents.org). We are in search of local artisans that would be willing to make a piece(s) for our test trial to see how the concept is embraced. Would you or do you know anyone that may be interested in participating? "

If anyone's interested, leave a comment and I'll send you Courtney's email address.

Thanks!

l i g a - kvk

transitioning

2011-10-19T17:49:00.003-04:00

It was such a weird day. Well let's just say the Atlanta Apparel Mart is not a good fit ... literally nothing really handmade, no artisan work of any kind ... at least we didn't see anything. We left the house at 6:30 to head down there for what turned out to be a 3 1/2 hour drive - not so bad. We tried 3 times through the morning and early afternoon to check into the motel, but no rooms were ready. We ended up staying at the mart for about an hour and a half ... and that was a stretch. There were some nice showrooms, but nothing for us and then there was way too much really scary stuff. After bailing on the show, we thought we'd go to a museum that looked like walking distance - it wasn't there! What up with that? Back to the motel. If we left the parking lot, we'd lose our parking space and have to wait until after the show closed at 6 to have any chance of parking.

So about 1:00 we decided to head to a section of town we remembered as having cool restaurants and shops. It's been about 10 years since we were in Atlanta ... things have changed. Lunch was okay, the once progressive, interesting shops are gone and the new ones were mostly geared towards the college crowd. But I knew for sure, one favorite shop was still there - Mooncake. If you want to see the kind of clothing they sell, it's kind of an east coast version of Kati Koos. I wanted to see if it might be a good spot for my jewelry. This is where the day turned around and what the Universe must have been trying to tell us all day ... go to Mooncake! The owner was there, we chatted for a good while, she loves my work, we exchanged emails, plus I got some much needed feedback.

After that, we were done. I called the motel and cancelled our reservation. I called the housesitter, apologized profusely and said to pack up, we were coming home early. We got home just before 8, exhausted, but confident we had accomplished our goal of finding a place for my jewelry.

That's the challenge, isn't it? Creating work, designing and making and putting your heart and soul into pieces. You get to a stopping point, gaze upon your creations and then have no idea if there's a market for this body of work. I have to admit, it's happened to me more than once or twice, nobody gets it ... at least nobody I know or have access to. I've spent the last month completely absorbed in my new collection. I look at it now and there's many elements that are the same or similar to things I've been doing ... but for some reason, it just feels very different ... more raw, more true. I've been exploring the envelope's edge, well, my edge. I've slipped my toe out there - just a wee bit. Getting such a positive response from a respected shop owner was a huge boost to my confidence.

So what's next? Good question.

I've got the Etsy shop loaded up, but things have changed there as well ... I need to figure out how to raise the profile of my shop and get the work seen. I'm sort of ... no, I am ... following my nose and my heart. Just taking one step at a time, and staying open to opportunities ... saying yes a lot more than usual. One thing, though - I'm hesitant to get any deeper into the world of steel metal clay until I see if this work sells. I might change my mind. I've got so many ideas for bigger, bolder, genuine envelope busting work. Hmmm, as I write this, I can see that - yes, I do need to go further, get fully acquainted with that edge, push my boundaries. I've got a good start, a delicious taste ... don't stop now. Onward ...........

Here's a peek at a couple more pieces...

That's it for now ... brain freeze has set in.

l i g a - kvk

forging ahead

2011-10-14T17:43:00.001-04:00

Goodness, I've managed to get a few pieces of the new collection up on Etsy. I got sidetracked and slowed down with things like updating my shipping profiles and charges and getting the images just right and then ended up with some really great jewelry shots, but the ones of the jewelry on me are less than wonderful ... self portraits are not my strong suit and they'll have to do for now. But in case you haven't clicked over to see the new listings, here's a wee bit of a preview.

I've got more jewelry to list, but have just run out of time ... thing is, we're heading down to Atlanta tomorrow to walk the Atlanta Apparel Show. Of course I'm going to wear the full ensemble to walk the show. Can't wait to put my new sweater with this piece ...

... and layered with another top favorite, one of the 'Elevenses' series ...

Here's a sneak peek at a couple of pieces still to be listed ...

It will be Monday before anything else gets listed ... remember, patience is a virtue!
Okay, I'm kind of cross-eyed and pooped and am going to stop for now. But when I return, I'll have some new radar sightings to share along with more steel lovelies.

Have a beautiful and safe fall weekend.
l i g a - kvk

et voila - the collection

2011-10-12T11:08:00.000-04:00

I think I'm done ... at least for the time being. I've got a few components that I haven't used and I have yet to make earrings or bracelets, but I'm kind of fried and need to stop.

But, gotta say, I really do love the look of this work ...

After deciding on the closure (BTW - thanks again for your comments and opinions!), I did some final tweaking and fine tuning on a few pieces. One noticeable change, I switched out the Ghana glass for Basha beads that I had stashed away for something special ... I think these super chunky applications fall into the 'something special' category.

Here's the three Basha beads I used. I also got onto a theme for the number '22'. I've been seeing 11:11 a lot and I decided to put that into the work. The two necklaces on the right are "Elevenses", 11 metal beads, 11 fossils; then there's the piece on the left with 3 mondo turtle shell fossils and 19 bronze discs.

A close up of "Elevenses" ...

Of course, I absolutely adore the way the bronze and steel cubes turned out. Really exceptional ...

So, what's next you say? I'm going to see what I can get up onto Etsy in the next two days for a bit of a test drive ... see what kind of reaction I get. Then, this weekend, we're going down to the Atlanta Apparel Mart to walk the show. I'm looking into doing the show in February and want to get a feel for where my work would fit. After that, I'm not sure. I'd been talking to Colleen at Niche about a trunk show of the new work, but if that's going to happen, I definitely need to flush it out with the earrings and bracelets. I mean, after all, it was finding that sweater at Niche that started this whole new direction.

Okay, time to do some picture taking and pricing and all that ...

So, if anyone is lusting after any of these, check my Etsy shop later today or tomorrow.

with much gratitude and heartfelt blessings ...

l i g a - kvk

HELP! need feedback

2011-10-09T17:31:00.000-04:00

Everything was going along fine and then yesterday we went up to the Penland area for an annual potters' market and to visit a couple of galleries. So of course I had to put on my artist duds and test drive some of my new pieces. I had in mind to wear a couple of the raw cube necklaces. I wanted them to be long and sit one just above the other. That's when I realized the lengths needed to be adjustable, or at least I'm thinking that the lengths should be adjustable. I love the look of really long pieces ... you know like 36" and more. But that was way too long to wear with my inspiration sweater.

Here's the three I had to choose from ...

I thought I had the whole closure thing figured out. But I'm not feeling so sure right now ... amazing how difficult it is to design and engineer interesting, clean and elegant solutions. Kind of surprised, but this little conundrum has me kind of deflated.

This is how I thought I would finish most of the new work ... a fixed closure, the necklace cords are long enough to just slip over the head - I was making these pretty long - 32" to 36".

I've been in a bit of a snit all day trying to take a step back, not stay annoyed and solve my design problem. This is the adjustable closure I came up with a while ago. It still slips over the head, but there's an overhand knot next to the fossil that slides on the cord.

I thought this looked pretty cool, fit in with the overall theme and functioned well. Dave, who has a pretty good eye for design, wasn't convinced. He didn't think my customers would want to mess with adjusting the cord ... I'm not so sure.

He was thinking I should do my regular button/loop clasp ...

For years, my closures have always been a KVK button and loop or the forged hook and link (which is silver and doesn't fit in with this work). I really want something different for this collection.

HELP! This is where living in a near vacuum has its problems. Any opinions here? I'm definitely not usually one to design by committee, but I would very much love some feedback, opinions, insight ... hmmm, insight's probably my responsibility, but feedback would be lovely.

with deep gratitude ...
l i g a - kvk

the evolution continues

2011-10-06T11:34:00.007-04:00

It's been a week of experimenting, trials and triumphs. A few pieces have come together almost instantly, others over days. Each element is tested, assembled, taken apart, reassembled, hung on my in progress wall, where I leave it rest overnight and come back the next day to see if it still works.

Hanging against my inspiration and where I am as of this morning .........

And, of course, if you've been with me for a while, you'll know how I struggle with cordage and the vehicle for assembling my pieces. This collection is no different, although it's been a much less painful road. Remember, I had decided on my color palette, the starting point being my beautiful sweater's ochre and linen. Black and dark brown are always an easy option and readily available in any fiber I might desire. Ochre or antique gold, not so much. Tuesday, I decided I needed ochre cord or thread or something. So I trotted down to my local chi-chi yarn store and fancy fabric shop in search of my vision. Zip, zero, nada, squat ... nothing at all.

I already had 'plan B' in mind ... purchase some white Habutai silk yardage, cut into ribbons and dye the fabric. Head over to the cheapo fabric store to buy dye and they've got a very minimal selection of basic old Rit dye. BTW, I could have gone downtown to the real fiber store and bought fancy dye, but I wasn't up for that much of an adventure. Alchemist Kathy goes to work ...

It took a while, but after a couple of tries, I got from "golden yellow" mixed with varying amounts of "dark brown" to this ....

The cord on the right was my inspiration. Recycled sari silk that was the perfect look and perfect color, but beware - that stuff has literally no strength and I easily ripped this cordage in two. While I was at it, I chucked some taupe Habu silk in the pot to see what would happen. I knew I was in for a big mess, but I secured the little bundle of yarn as best as I could and went for it.

Not quite the mother of all tangles, but close ...

Side note ... I'm one of those people that actually likes to untangle things. I can remember way back in my teens when I was working at a department store and the jewelry department got a shipment of chains that arrived in a big mess. Everyone took turns trying to untangle the enormous pile. Not so sure anyone else was enamored with the challenge, but I loved it.

Okay, back to my cord choices.

After much deliberation, I decided that, even after several washes with extra rinse cycles, I was still concerned about the stability of my dyeing efforts ... maybe I should have gone to the real fiber store after all. All right, so it's not like I didn't already have a pretty decent assortment of options on hand.

Right now I'm okay with using several different fibers for the cord and so far they're all pendants. I still want to do some 'not pendants', but I'm running out of components. This is most of what's left and I've still got bracelets and earrings to consider ...

I've also been working on a lot of different ideas for closures. One thing with the pendants, the cord will be long enough to just slip over the head, so there won't be a clasp. Some of my test closures ...

I've decided to go with the waxed linen wrap, second from right. One little detail I like is the way I can include my KVK tag when I make the cord - very clean and minimal solution.

So I need to finish up here and get back to work. But, of course, I want to share two of my favorite pieces. Every day that changes. This one reminds me of an ancient stone henge ... the way the two center pieces of fossilized bone fit together so beautifully.

How is it that pieces that look so simple and minimal take so long to compose? For me, it's all about editing. I put pieces on, add on, subtract, change the size of the accent component. There is asymmetry, but it is balanced. Still, it always surprises me how long it takes to get to this point.

And then this piece ... oof! I played around with those long curved steel elements all week and then yesterday this piece came together. It took a good part of my afternoon, but I'm so very pleased with the result ... especially the way the fossils mirror the shape of the steel pieces and the way I wrapped the cord to secure the fossil in place. This is steel, fossilized bones and Roman glass on hand plied nylon cord.

Rightio! There's work to be done, more jewels to create and plots to be plotted ... all happening with my evolving ambient/Stephan Micus Pandora station in the background. One thing I love about Pandora is discovering new artists ... my new fave, Bonobo.

ttfn

l i g a - kvk

p.s. apologies for the erratic spacing ... something going on with Blogger won't keep my edits ... annoying.

the further evolution of a new collection

2011-10-01T21:08:00.004-04:00

Well, it's been a week of experimenting and learning with sore fingers, some near misses, some great successes and a disappointing failure.

I've figured out a fair amount in the steel metal clay world. Interesting that the only pieces that didn't sinter properly were from my first traditional method firing ...

I was pretty excited about my raw ruby and sapphire focal pieces. I thought they had fired just fine until I was really pressing down on them with my steel brush and then ... pop! The ruby piece had already broken in half during the firing, but then it broke again while pressing down on it. It's really interesting ... the outside is fired and polished, but you can easily see the core is not sintered at all. Turns out the sapphire piece was the same. Needless to say, after seeing this, I did some serious reefing on everything to make sure the pieces were fully sintered.

After that first firing, I found out about Hadar's updated faster firing schedule ... worked like a charm for all the other firings ... and there were at least 4 or 5. I was also taking some liberties in how I loaded the fire box - no problems at all. Big caveat here - I'm pretty sure this works because my kiln is larger and the fire box sits well within the kiln elements, back from the cooler front of the kiln.

My week's work - 150 grams of steel metal clay plus some regular BronzClay .......

Some of my favorite pieces are those cubes. Unfortunately, there were problems with some of them. I got the sides a bit thin and during the firing, they cracked and separated a bit. I could have fixed them with more steel clay, but by then I'd used it all. But necessity is a great source of creativity and I remembered I had some first generation BronzClay in the refrigerator. Okay, so I'm pretty sure I bought this clay before we left Port Townsend ... 3 years ago. I brought it across the country, tightly wound in plastic wrap, in the cooler with Zoe's food, and it's been in the refrigerator ever since. One little bit was kind of dried out, but the bigger chunk was in pretty good shape. I took some small bits and filled in the cracks and reinforced the back sides and, lo and behold, if these aren't just some of my favorite pieces ...

I was really doubting the whole steel clay decision, but after seeing it with the bronze ... I don't know, there may be more steel clay in my future. BTW, I fired this batch using the kitchen oven burnout phase - perfecto! And that's the old bronze that is supposed to be nursed along through the firing. You can see the other pieces I made at the same time in the terra cotta dish on the right.

Here's a couple of my favorite focal pieces of the steel ...

This is the biggest piece I made. It's about 48 x 23mm. The texture is from a fossilized turtle shell and a lot of smushing ... that's the technical term.

The pendant on the left is textured with that same turtle shell fossil and is about 34 x 20mm.

I've taken apart most of the fossil pieces I'd made a couple of weeks ago. One thing I've found through my years of designing ... when I start working in a new direction, I'll make a bunch of pieces and then leave them be for a bit. When I come back to them, more times than not, I end up taking them apart, starting over, re-working the concepts.

For me, that's the key to developing a cohesive collection ... edit, edit, edit ... re-think, re-work, re-configure. Turn it sideways, what if I flipped it over, how would these components work this way rather than that way. I'm really looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow ... a brand new day, a brand new perspective, a brand new batch of exceptionally delicious components. Oooh, boy howdy, fun fun fun!

And here's some musical icing on the cake ... today I was listening to a little bit of Fever Ray ... alternative, kind of punk, kind of like the direction of the new work ...

Back with more as the collection evolves ...

l i g a - kvk

holding pattern + radar sightings

2011-09-29T12:19:00.002-04:00

I'm waiting for the kiln to fire ... again. And I'll be waiting through today and tomorrow as well. I love the idea of steel metal clay, I really do. But the reality of it's limitations pretty much assures this will be a very rare component in my work. Yesterday I tried Hadar's speedier firing technique which, I'm pleased to say, worked. Considering I've got 100 grams of steel metal clay components to be fired ...

And this is all I can fire at one time ...

... it's going to take me a while. If you've read Hadar's instructions for loading the fire box, you'll notice I'm taking some liberties. I'm basing my quantity decision on two things - the dimensions of my kiln, which is fairly deep, and the shape of my fire box, which mirrors the shape of the kiln and can be situated well within the heating elements. It worked yesterday ... really hoping it works again today.

So while I'm waiting, I'm doing a bit of multi-tasking. Yesterday I washed all the windows and screens in my house - never done that before. Pretty amazing this morning with the sun streaming through relatively streak free clean windows ... clean windows, what a concept. I've also been collecting some new finds to share when I had some time ... got some time, so here's my recent radar sightings.

What I'm listening to right now ... Peter Gabriel's always a good choice for a creative boost. That man just exudes creativity, plus I always love what he wears - this suit really reminds of of Studio Rundholz.

An image that's inspiring me, from Volga Linen. I love the way these coverings are stitched ... raw edges, heavy thread, long stitches, plus the colors are gorgeous ...

We're big David Byrne fans. Dave's in charge of keeping up with his new projects and this one looks pretty dern cool. Ahhhh, David Byrne , always a good one for challenging one's perspective.
We have this DVD otw ...

I could totally rock this look by Sula Clothing ...

And if I could be in Woodstock, NY on October 15th, I'd be at Galerie BMG for sure to meet up with one of our favorite artists, Kamil Vojnar. We met Kamil in Saint Remy de Provence last year and purchased one of his smaller pieces. His work is photo collage - minimal, somewhat haunting yet exquisite.

Okay, I think that's it for now. Back to ... I don't know ... back to waiting. I'll keep you posted.

l i g a - kvk

uncertainty and the evolution of a new collection

2011-09-27T11:35:00.003-04:00

These last days have been something of a roller coaster ride. I've been alternating between wonderful creative bursts during the day and nights that have bordered on "dark night of the soul" depression.

I go from feeling terribly uncertain about where I'm headed, what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, wandering around the house trying to do something productive, to sitting back down at my worktable, pulling out components, remembering bits and tucked away fragments, assembling prototypes and experiments, seeing potential and direction and focus and then realizing I've come around to something that feels like hope.

Here's where I am right now ...

As I sit here trying not to get lost in my feelings of uncertainty and inner confusion, trying to stay positive and know that it always works out, one thing I'm really looking forward to is the release of Jonathan Fields new book, UNCERTAINTY, Turning Fear & Doubt Into Fuel For Brilliance. Here's the exceptionally well done and really inspiring trailer.

Could the timing be any more perfect ... I don't think so. I had an advance digital copy that I only got part of the way through, so I know what's in store and I'm excited. The timing is, well ... timely.

So while I'm still wafting around in my own uncertainty, I have been making some headway in putting together the new jewelry collection. I thought I'd share some of my process and the unfolding evolution of this collection ...

You may remember, the gathering of inspiration started with the purchase of Cara May's sweater from Niche. While chatting with the artist, ideas for jewelry started to flow fast and furious. I got to thinking about that bag of fossilized bone I'd been hoarding and decided I needed more! That led to putting in a request to my in-laws to see if they'd like to part with some of their stash. Here's my massive haul of fossilized treasure. The starting place for my new jewelry collection ...

The sweater is knitted in part with wool coated steel wire from Habu Textiles. That led me to ordering Hadar's steel metal clay. Okay, so the jury's still out on steel metal clay. It's a total pain to fire and, while almost everything has survived, it's not a for sure guarantee that everything will fire properly. Just when I was ready to hate it and chalk my $50 investment up to experience, I decided I actually like the look of the pieces. I'm still figuring it all out and it's a pain, but I'm going to use the 150 grams I bought, turning it into a very limited collection.

The progression so far ...

One thing I had read but forgot, the steel tends to warp and curl, a very nice thing in my book. Only thing, these pieces curled the wrong way. So I wet them down and put some card stock over them to flatten them back out. I really do love this shape - long, thin, curved and slightly textured.

This is my first batch of components ready to fire. I've got some experiments happening here. I've embedded raw rubies and sapphires in a couple of pieces and wrapped a bit of the clay around a couple of forged bailing wiring rings ... all of which should survive the 1700 degree firing. The pain part of the firing is that you have to fire in two stages, one to burn out the binder and the higher, sintering phase and then you can only fire a few pieces at a time ... these pieces took two firings.

I'm still trying to figure out the finishing of the components. The pieces emerge black and crusty. Here's the contrast between straight out of the kiln and sanded with polishing paper. The rubies survived but the piece broke in half; I'm thinking I'll still be able to use the pieces.

I tumbled everything in various ways ... steel shot for several hours gets rid of the crusty look, but my usual abrasive media is just not abrasive enough. My 400 grit polishing paper seems to be the best follow-up to the steel shot, but I really want to try a steel brush and coarser sanding paper. I've also put a coating of Renaissance Wax on everything ... just in case.

Now I've got the core components - steel and fossils ... what next? That's been the big question and a contributing factor to my mood swings and ponderous navel gazing. So I've been taking a few breaks to let the ideas rest, the juices mingle and stew. Yesterday, after a short burst of cleaning and some de-cluttering, I headed back to my worktable.

I'm thinking it started with pulling out those luscious teal glass beads I bought in July. Then drilling a big chunk of bone and remembering those other big Ghana glass beads I had stashed here and there and oh man, what about those vintage Venetian glass beads I've had for 15 years and can you believe it, they've got that same teal in them and oh yeah, don't forget those big chunks of Roman glass and doesn't this all look just amazing with the ochre of my sweater and lo and behold ... I have my color palette.

teal Ghana glass and bronze metal clay spacers

vintage Venetian glass, Ghana glass, fossils

Roman glass and ochre, rust and ruby bead drawers

figuring out how it's all going to go together ... flourite, Roman glass, fossils, steel

some prototypes against my sweater ... a very promising start

So that's where I am right now.

Goodness, this has taken a really long time to put together and those beautiful components are calling me back to the worktable. Plus I want to use up the other 100 grams of steel clay, 'cause it's going to take a couple of days to get it all fired ... still not happy about that, but I'm just going with it for now.

Let me know what you think!

l i g a - kvk

... and the winner is !!!!!!!

2011-09-21T11:38:00.000-04:00

LeAnn from Summers Studio!

Congratulations, LeAnn!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to check out my new website and leave a comment. I am honored and so very pleased with your feedback and praise. It really does mean the world to me ... really.

It's such a challenge to create worthwhile, inspiring content for the internet and you all make me feel like I'm succeeding. I definitely think I've got a good platform to launch into the next, albeit currently unknown, phase of my business.

Many blessings and deeply heartfelt thank yous!

And, once again ... Congratulations LeAnn!

l i g a - kvk

new website + my 1st ever giveaway!

2011-09-14T14:30:00.001-04:00

Hallelujah!!! I am ever so thrilled and very very pleased to announce my new website is up and running! Here's the home page ...

I'm really quite pleased with the look ... it's clean, very very clean ... plus I've added a couple of fancy schmansie details (well fancy for me). With the very patient help of my beloved, we figured out how to add my KVK favicon to the header and from that I figured out how to link my PDF price list to the site. Plus I cleaned up all the old site pages that had been lurking around since 2008! Such a relief!

I'm not going to put the shopping cart feature on there for now and I don't have my Talismans on there. The Talismans need something special and different and I want to spend some more time figuring that out. I'm pretty cross-eyed right now and have been tweaking it for the last two days. I'd love it if anyone has the time, give it a good perusal and let me know if you find any typos or non-functioning links or glitches or whatever.

As a bit of incentive and to celebrate my big accomplishment, leave a comment about the new website or any feedback and I'll throw the names into a hat for a chance to win a pair of Pinched Donut earrings (worth over $100) ... my first ever drawing for a freebie! I'll draw the winner a week from today, Wednesday the 21st.

So let me know what you think!

l i g a - kvk

the dreamtime

2011-09-13T09:07:00.000-04:00

I had the most amazing dream and I needed to write it down so I thought I'd share it here.

You know how dreams are ... wafting around in all sorts of things until one scene stands out and I remember it when I wake up. The main thing here was being in a room with 2 or 3 women, one that I thought was a psychologist. I thought I was undergoing some kind of personality test, but the woman came forward with a ... hmmmm, I'm thinking it was a crystal wand. She taps me on my forehead and I stand there. She taps me again and I bounce up a bit. She taps me again and again. Each time I bounce higher and higher until I almost hit the very high ceiling. From that high vantage point, I notice that the room is very ornate, sort of French baroque. As I settle back to the ground, one more tap and I'm set free. I begin to soar into an astral realm, flying over what looks to be a cloud or blanket of intense color and light. It's a short flight and I'm somewhat disappointed when I come back to earth. But I realize I can now go back whenever I set my intention.

When I return to the baroque room, the women are there smiling and joyous and I realize they are something other than what I first thought. They are healers and are exclaiming, "she's one of us, she's one of us!" I realized they were balancing my chakras and when all was aligned is when I was set free.

I looked for an astral plane image that had the feeling of the dream and came to this site and this image.

I'm not sure what this means. Do I need to work on my chakras or did they do it in my dream? I'll have to think about it as I head out into the cool morning air to work in my front flower beds. Whatever it is, it feels very auspicious ... it feels very good.

l i g a - kvk

gathering

2011-09-12T18:05:00.001-04:00

It started here ...

I couldn't help myself. It was just too perfect in its crazy really un-perfect way. I found this amazing sweater at Niche here in Asheville. I was in need of inspiration and was wondering around downtown, just seeing where my feet would take me. I got a nice boost of juice from a visit to Origami Ink, perusing their selection of fine papers, gorgeous fountain pens, very cool art with everything exquisitely displayed ... I am such a sucker for good display.

Next, on the owner's recommendation I headed across the street to Cafe Ello for an iced coffee. Side note - we went there Saturday for breakfast and it was really good. Thinking this will be our new favorite breakfast spot, especially 'cause they open early before all the tourists are out. So then I wondered over to the Grove Arcade and headed down to Niche. Hanging across the front windows were these amazing sweaters and I knew I was in trouble or better yet, in for an enormous treat ... yes, that's much better.

The artist who makes these wonderful creations is named Cara May. She works part time at the shop and was there as I was going bonkers over her treasures. The owner of the shop, Cara and I chatted for a good long while - nice for me as I really don't get out much. Here's the back of my fabulous new sweater ...

Turns out, one of the yarns that Cara uses in these sweaters is fiber coated steel from Habu Textiles. I saw it last year on my silk quest and was very curious. The steel yarn got me to thinking about Hadar Jacobson's steel metal clay. Standing there chatting, my mind started going crazy with ideas for designing a whole group of work based on Cara's sweaters.

Then I got to thinking about those big chunks of fossilized bone from my in-laws in FL. So when I got home, I ordered steel metal clay and emailed my sister-in-law to see if she had any more big chunky fossils she'd be willing to part with. And look what I got in the mail today! OMG - a jumbo treasure trove of fossilized booty!

This was six pounds of fossils and she's putting more in the mail today. I think that big piece in my hand is turtle shell and then there's all kinds of bone chunks and shards. She's also going to send a little flyer with descriptions for identifying the different fossils from that beach. Here's a few more pieces ... they are seriously cool.

And I'm not sure if I'll do anything with this or not, but the recycled sari silk I just got for packaging looks pretty wonderful against a backdrop of ancient bones.

I'm working on how I'm going to connect these pieces into jewelry. What's going to be a good complement to the steel and bone? It needs to be very durable and abrasion resistant, so I'm thinking about nylon but also about leather. Then I had this crazy idea about getting rawhide and dyeing it with walnuts. I've got lots of walnuts in my yard, remains from that tree we had removed. I don't know, may be kind of crazy ... may be kind of fun.

Only thing slowing me down is the steel metal clay is coming from California. But I gotta say, I'm feeling a lot of potential here .... lots and lots. I'll keep you posted!

l i g a - kvk

for your consideration

2011-09-09T09:28:00.001-04:00

Stowe Shockey's a friend of mine and has just launched a fundraiser for her new CD. She's truly an angel on this earth with a beautiful message to share. Check out her videos and see what you think. Plus, she's got great taste in jewelry - she's wearing my Diamond Shard earrings and Medallion Talisman!

bountiful gratitude and blessings......
l i g a - kvk

low pressure images

2011-09-05T11:38:00.000-04:00

Low pressure, planets lined up funny, bio-rhythms off, seasonal shift? Some images of how I'm feeling today - transitional, pensive, decay and rebirth in shades of ruby, ochre and green ...

be safe, be well ...
l i g a - kvk

food for thought

2011-09-02T15:26:00.000-04:00

I got this list from the September newsletter of Colette Baron-Reid. Seemed like a good thing to share ....

What is the relationship to my service and my beliefs about prosperity?
What is sacred to me?
Do I trust and believe in what I say?
Do my actions reflect my truest motives?
In what way do I choose to dim my light rather than face disapproval from others?
If I could do anything to change my life what would it be?
Do I take responsibility for my part in disagreements?
How does fear show up in my life’s expression?
What do I love to do in my life?
What makes my heart sing?
What actions can I do to ensure my well-being?

After a morning full of appointments and feeling completely distracted, I'd like to accomplish some little something this afternoon.

l i g a - kvk

well, it's a start ...

2011-09-01T15:16:00.000-04:00

As of right now, I've just finished listing 7 pairs of earrings. I've got three more pairs to photograph, but I think I'll wait and start working on the 18 or 20 necklaces ... holy moly - surprising even my own self with so much work.

Here's a couple of close-ups of what's been listed in my Etsy shop thus far.

Shark fossils with Roman glass and pmc

Forged bailing wire with sparklies and assorted goodies.

Okay, back to it for this little peep!

l i g a - kvk

how sweet it is ...

2011-08-31T18:02:00.000-04:00

... or to be more exact - how sweet are these? I'm running low on silver spacers, so not sure how many more pairs of earrings I'll get done. But these were just so cute, I had to share them. I'm hoping to load up my Etsy shop by the weekend. I'm thinking I should see if anyone else likes this new work as much as me before I get much more carried away.

I can see lots of possibilities and have lots more ideas and so many pieces I'm wanting to make. I really hope the feeling's mutual. Especially with my new drill!

A thing of beauty and a joy forever ... for sure I am a happy happy jewelry girl!

Stay tuned!

l i g a - kvk

nerve wracking

2011-08-30T12:53:00.000-04:00

Today is tree removal day. Two "large weed" trees, and two more problematic trees. One leaning at a precarious angle in the back yard and the other a walnut that's too close to the house and has been dropping walnuts and breaking our siding.

I hate loud noises. Dave usually does the vacuuming while I hide - can't stand the sound. So the unloading and running of heavy equipment, chainsaws and a really huge chipper has me completely undone. Not to mention I hate the idea of taking down trees in the first place. So very distressing on most levels.

Saying goodbye to the walnut ... I loved peering through it's too close branches into the back yard.

Thankfully, our tree guy is a consummate professional ... rock climber, very strong, seriously safe, expert and fluid in his movements. Still, the whole thing sucks royally.

Deep breaths.
l i g a - kvk

the end of the day

2011-08-28T22:11:00.000-04:00

Doing a post this time of day/night is against my normal m.o., but my mind is still designing and I'm hoping getting it out of my head will help ...

Working with new components and combinations is never fast. It's always try this, nope not that, oooohh, how about this, what if I put these here and not there, would that be a better balance, oh I've got to switch tumblers, what was in that one, oh yes, I remember - ear wires, oh and don't forget to shorten that chain which will need to go back into the tumblers and I'm really liking that combination and didn't I have some big lavenderite nuggets that would look really cool with that big bone fossil and what time is it, oh just a few more minutes 'til I need to stop and get dinner going. Always hard to shift gears after a long day of focusing on new work.

I was on an earring binge for a bit ... remember my forged bailing wire? Here's a few finished pairs - I'm quite pleased with these - they're all jangly and very much fun ...

Rock and roll and asymmetry - plus I love the hammered green amethyst nuggets ...

Jumbo mystic topaz and raw diamonds ...

And here's a pair with the shark fossils and Roman glass...

The necklaces have been taking a while to figure out what components I want to use and then it always takes a while to get the balance right with all the little details. I started the day with delicate and ethereal ...

And ended with seriously bold. The piece on the left is a jumbo chunk of fossilized bone with a beautiful Basha bead and one of my sapphire studded beads and the right hand one is this lovely fossilized fragment of a shell that's kind of a dusky blue, combined with more fossils, mystic topaz, iolite and flourite...

Okay, I'm tired now. Time to shut down, do a bit of reading and see if I can get to sleep. My week ahead is going to be crazy - 3 doctors appointments, the tree guy for some yard work and ending up, thankfully, with a haircut on Friday ... ending with a bit of pampering after a week of being poked and prodded and accosted. BTW - just way overdue annual check-up stuff. I'm extremely healthy!

Nite nite!

l i g a - kvk

chillin' in my happy place

2011-08-27T17:45:00.000-04:00

Since I was on my ocean inspired design burst, I pulled out some beach glass to make a few of my Sea Goddess components. Here's the before ...

And the really excellent after ...

Interesting that one of the green pieces changed color a bit. That's what I love about doing these, it's always a surprise! I think I'll do finished pieces with the two pendants and I'm planning to list the other componenets on Etsy. This coming week is going to be crazy busy, but I should be able to squeeze a photo shoot and some 'puter time in there somewhere.

I've been working with my mondo pile of shark fossils and enjoying myself immensely! My soon to be replaced cheapo drill has actually been cooperating and I've been able to do a bunch of drilling. The only challenging part with the fossils - some are not so fossilized and crumble or break when I'm drilling them. The good ones make a lovely ringing sound when they click together. Happy sounds are always a good thing in jewels. I'm having so much fun with these ... I can't believe it took me 3 years to get these out and start experimenting. Gotta say, on the whole, they're looking very cool and I'm quite pleased.

I took a couple of days and made a bunch of teeny spacers and accent beads. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love making these tiny beads. And when I've got them all sorted out, well sort of sorted, and in my little bins ... that's a sight that makes me ever so happy.

What I've started with is these really simple necklaces with stacks of silver alternating with the fossils. I'm debating about adding some sparklie bits, but keep going back to the simpler versions. These are on the nylon cord I'm making. I'm liking the thinner version for my own self, but can see that thicker cords will be good for the guys and the heavier pieces.

I'm planning on spending most of tomorrow working on these. There'll be earrings and bracelets as well. Oh yes, that will be me ... chillin' in my happy place!

Sending out prayers to those in the path of Irene - stay safe!
l i g a - kvk

good morning, inspiration!

2011-08-24T13:11:00.000-04:00

Welllll, I'm sure this is not going to be a surprise to anyone ... that where my mind has wondered and what my hands have plucked out to play around with are remnants of the sea - in particular, fossilized shark's teeth and bones from the SW coast of Florida. Okay, so I didn't collect these. My brother-in-law and his partner sent them to me, embarrassing to say - about 3 years ago. That would be when we were still in Port Townsend. But boy howdy they've been whispering to me since I got back home and since yesterday, it's been rather more insistent.

I've got lots to work with! Here's some of the big pieces I culled ...

... from here. A nice big zip-loc of inspiration. There's a mix of fossils, shells and pebbles. Some with lovely holes worn through - tailor made for jewelry! Can't you just see a whole bunch of these tiny fossils, drilled and interspersed with my metal clay spacers and chunky bits? I'm thinking an urban update to my beloved puka shells from the early 70's.

And here's some of the really big pieces - bones and teeth mostly and a few of the smaller, exceptionally cool pebbles and shells.

I'm seeing these paired with some of my jumbo gemstone nuggets ...

... or maybe with my metal clay/beach glass pendants ...

And if I get bored with any of that, it's September Issue season! I've been buying the September issue of Vogue since I was in my early teens - a beloved annual tradition, my seasonal foray into absolute excess. I did a quick perusal of everything on the shelf at B&N and decided to stick with my top two - W and Vogue. Might have to check out the movie again - I can absolutely live without Anna Wintour, but Grace Coddington is a total inspiration.

Okay, time to do some drilling! Which reminds me, gots to order more diamond drills. And all my writing and introspection is back on hold ... inspiration calls and I must answer. Like Andrew was saying in his current post, "I can talk about my ideologies and weave elaborate sentences to bolster my opinions... but without action behind those words, they might as well not exist at all." Well said, Andrew!

Wish me luck!

l i g a - kvk

lizards and bears and earthquakes ... oh my!

2011-08-23T17:28:00.001-04:00

So I've really been trying to stay focused and write and have some extended ME time. What's a girl s'posed to do when there's earthquakes - that 5.8 in VA sent a pretty good rumbling down this way and, on top of that, I'm still kind of rattled by the bear sightings in our back yard ...

This must be the guy that took out our bird feeders the day we left for Florida. He came back this past Saturday hoping for seconds on the smorgasbord, but the buffet had been dismantled. He came out of the wooded area just behind our house and when Dave started hollering at me, he was about 10 feet from the downstairs bedroom window. BTW - he was BIG!

Luckily he sauntered on off, but I'm still not too excited about going outside.

Happily, we did have a lovely short stay in Florida. Early morning walks on the beach every day, the last day we headed out in the rain, but the beach was empty - perfect! And, silly me, I didn't take my camera onto the beach at all. I was planning on swimming and didn't want to mess with it. Unfortunately, we discovered there was a large influx of plate size moon jelly fish. Not terribly dangerous. But Dave brushed against one that first morning and had a big itchy circle on his chest for a couple of hours. The jelly fish also thwarted our snorkeling adventure, actually okay by me as I'd never been snorkeling and they added one too many challenges for little ol' wimpy me.

We did spend the better part of one day at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Del Ray. Really really hot, but absolutely lovely. Seems the theme of the day was reptiles, well mostly lizards ... small, medium, large, greens and browns.

small and brown

green, medium sized and, from what sister-in-law Kim says, mean and agressive
(btw - gorgeous huge bamboo!)

this one was medium sized brown and relatively sedate

then there was fearless and jumbo and green ... this iguana walked within about 3 feet of us ... beautiful

I love iguanas ... my fourth grade class had a pet one named Lurch ... very silly

As for my ME time, my attempts at interviewing myself haven't been as productive as I'd hoped. Yesterday, I did a bit of the write a question with my dominant right hand, answer with my left hand. I'll look it over again tomorrow and see what I had to say to myself. Today I was mostly distracted and trying to resist the urge to run errands that could wait until tomorrow. Then there was that silly earthquake and then I spent the rest of the afternoon thoroughly distracted, so I figured I'd edit a few pics and say HI.

One thing I've decided ... the (formerly) wounded child me is doing just fine, the adult me seems to be pretty good as well, but there's a part of the artist me that's still in hiding. She's the one I'm trying to coax out. Judging by today's high level of distraction, she's not wanting to budge. But I'm going to be gentle and nurturing and soft spoken and see where that leads. Keeping my fingers crossed.

l i g a - kvk

genius moment

2011-08-21T12:26:00.002-04:00

Just had a flash of brilliance! I'm making an appointment with the part of me that's been hidden ... tucked away, buried ... for - well, seems like forever. We're going to have a nice long chat, see what she's like, where she's been, would she like to come out and play and be a permanent resident in my waking life.

I think we'll be best friends from here on out.

holding pattern

2011-08-11T17:51:00.001-04:00

So I finally got the steel pieces to where I want them, but then life got in the way...

I've left these lovelies on my soldering station just so's I can look at them and plan and imagine......

I already know they're going to be gorgeous when dangling from these ........

But now it's time to start getting ready to head south for a few days of visiting Dave's family on the east Florida coast. Dave's mom is about to bust, she gets very excited. Mom/Janet is 75 and has more energy than I'll ever have. A slow day for her is a 16 mile bike ride before work - she's a bagger at Publix! I always wanted to be a bagger.......

Anyway, we're flying down to visit for a few days and I'm shifting my focus to this ......

....... sea blues. We're staying in a hotel on the beach (it was cheap!) and I can't wait for early morning walks and diving into the salt water, Gumbo Limbo Park and fresh seafood. I'm in serious need of a saltwater fix.

Hopefully I'll be back to work later next week. So for now, the bailing wire series is to be continued ............

l i g a - kvk

steel and lavender oil

2011-08-09T13:25:00.002-04:00

Welllll????
I'm close, really close to figuring it out. The two pairs of earrings 'I thought' were finished ... well I realized I hadn't run them through the stainless shot/lavender oil combination. Consequently the area where the earwires had been soldered to the steel is starting to rust. That rust works FAST which is okay by me. I know within a day if the pieces are good to go.

And the pieces I tumbled yesterday ... well I should have put a bit of oil in with them for that last run ... rust is setting in around that soldering area.

They're very close, though. So I took the embellishments off the 'finished' earrings and have chucked everything back into the tumbler - stainless steel shot with a squirt of lavender oil in the water - one more time. Feeling like this will be the one.

And while the tumbler's running, I'm heading off into a completely different direction and have hauled out my treasured little sewing machine, 'Bernie' the Bernette.

I love this little machine! I've had her for about 17 years. The best part is, I bought her with money I made from selling jewelry to a sewing class that was happening the day I went into the shop to make my purchase ... total serendipity! I was making this crazy jewelry - little flakes of slate wire wrapped with base metal wire and beads and little hammered wire doo-dahs. I had just been to a gallery to sell some work and had my travel case with me. The owner of the fabric store was a friend and urged me to bring in my wares to tempt the students. Et voila', I sold enough jewelry to buy my little machine ... and she's a peach! All metal gears, no bells or whistles. Basic, very basic. The only 'fancy' features - she does button holes and the top plate slides off to do shoulder seams.

I had bought two colors of linen to make napkins to go with my new table runner and turns out I have enough left over to make a skirt out of each color. And since the napkins will take a while ... all that mitering of corners and such, I'm going to work on the skirts so's I'll have them to take to Florida. Sweet!

Oh yes! ... a special Thank You for your comments! I really do love comments ... it's so very very nice knowing I'm not carrying on to just my own little self.

Okay, from the soldering station to the cutting board ... it's all creative!

l i g a - kvk

p.s. check out this trailer for Jonathan Fields' new book ... can't wait to get my hands on a hard copy.

steel and sparklies

2011-08-08T09:59:00.000-04:00

A wee bit further on the design trail. The thing slowing me down this morning is trying to remember the combination I used for tumbling/finishing these pieces. I made these bailing wire/mild steel components at least a year ago, maybe two and they've never rusted. I know it involved putting some lavender oil in the tumbler with the stainless shot. But I had an unattractive mess this morning when I opened the tumbler ... so now I'm running it again with borax to clean everything up and will see how it looks at that point. Can't remember if I put the pieces through the abrasive media or not. Maybe I should write this stuff down .........

When I do figure it out, and figure it out I will, here's a couple of possibilities for the finished product.

This pair of earrings has blue topaz & labradorite dangles and wraps of raw diamonds

This pair has tiny wraps of raw diamonds ... minimal, but I think they look very cool

I woke up kind of grumpy, so I'm trying to not succumb and keep moving forward. The swings of that dern pendulum are kind of narrow right now ... not happy about that. Seems like one day up, one day down, half a day up, half a day down. Little pin-pricky annoyances that mean nothing, but still annoy. Deep breaths.

onward ......

l i g a - kvk

raw materials

2011-08-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

Too funny ... yesterday I was all kind of "woe is me, I'm not feeling creative ... it's okay, I'll just sit here and plonk away on my computer until inspiration strikes." Then this morning when I sat down to work on my website, I started thinking about forging out some bailing wire to put with all those gorgeous faceted stones I just bought ... especially the blue labradorite and moss aquamarine and silver earwires are such a lovely counterpoint and maybe some silk or linen accents or maybe some silver rivets and I do love firing the forged steel with pmc, ooohh I could try it with the sterling pmc I made and it really does look amazing after it's been tumbled and what about, what about????

Feeling delicious potential ... maybe I'm not in such a slump after all.
This will be me chuckling.

l i g a - kvk

test driving

2011-08-05T18:06:00.000-04:00

I've been in something like the doldrums ... pretty sure it has to do with Mercury in retrograde and I know I've just got to ride it out. This doldrum thing has also affected my responding to email and blog comments. So a big huge THANK YOU to Andrew and Hillary and Glitz and caRol and Janet and Sally for all your comments on the last couple of posts! Times like this it might be hard to tell, but I really do love comments.

Mostly I've been putzing around, not accompishing much of anything. I strained my knees last week getting too enthusiastic with my new workout DVD and took to swimming laps at the Rec Park in hopes of easing the pain. They weren't any better after several days of that, so today I decided to not do anything ... well except I decided to go downtown and cruise around a bit. Unfortunately, the stairs at the parking garage were no picnic. I was really hoping to find some little treasures to share - some new magazine or tasty little something - but sadly I got skunked ... phooey!

But it's not been all awful. I've taken some time to read, which I never do and, interestingly enough, I have had a couple of bursts of creative energy. Mainly, I wanted to test drive the new nylon cord. Here's my three trial pieces - two on the cocoa cord, one with all silver and one with silver and some of my stash of real live Roman glass beads and the other one on the indigo with my favorite 'elephant' beads - 'cause they look like the wrinkled skin of an elephant's legs.

I've had those Roman glass beads for at least 10 years. After doing a bit of online perusing this morning, I'm realizing I better hang on to them ... they were never cheap (I think I paid $50 per strand way back then!), but they've gotten really expensive. As for the cord, it was feeling less than wonderful right at first. But after wearing it for a bit, getting it wet and all that, it's not too bad. Not as nice as silk, but I'm looking for durable and weatherproof here.

It's been ages since I wore any jewelry 24/7. I used to wear a slew of things ... rings, necklace, watch, teeny earrings in my second holes and most of all, my signature, seriously long beaded wrap bracelet ... I call it my armor... because it really does feel like protection when I don everything. I think I've posted this before, but I'm pretty sure this was the longest version of my infamous wrap - somewhere around 16 feet ... hmmmm, I wonder how much it weighed?

I think I took everything off about 3 years ago. So, it's kind of strange to be wearing my little test pieces today. The design still needs to be tweaked. I'm liking the idea and the look of really long cords with just a few beads or doo-dahs, but I'm finding the spacing is crucial. If the weight is too centrally located, it pulls the remaining cord tight and the beaded part just hangs and it gets pretty uncomfortable. Since I'm not into S&M jewelry, I've got some work to do to get the balance right.

But this break is a good thing. Come to think of it, I tend to do this in August. Funny, I hadn't realized that until just now. The break will continue for another couple of weeks as we're heading to south FLA next week to visit Dave's family. It's only for 4 nights and I know, we must be crazy to go to south Florida in August, but that's the only time Dave has off from school and work. This time of year is also why we got a hotel on the beach for $64 a night. Gotta say, I'm really really really looking forward to early morning beach swims. It will be especially nice not to worry about Zoe ... I met a wonderful woman that is going to house sit for us. Granted, she's getting paid, but it's so worth it to have a grown-up and not a semi-spacey college student looking after our little girl.

Speaking of my muffin ...
Little Zoe says HI!

with deep gratitude and bountiful blessings .........
l i g a - kvk

acquistions part 2

2011-08-01T17:22:00.002-04:00

Well, I know I said I was taking the day off and really I am, but I wanted to share a couple more things ...

First thing, if you don't already know or haven't figured it out, I have a strong aversion to synthetic ... well synthetic anything ... in all its connotations and permutations and variations. So for me to go where I'm going is a big leap, but I'm fairly sure a necessary one.

I made a bracelet for my mom-in-law for Christmas using the silk cord I've been making. A very simple wrap with just a few beads and silver elements ... which she just mailed back. The silk broke at the button. Anyone who makes things for a living really hates it when our creations break. I can't abide the idea that I've created something that might be substandard. But the problem with the silk or any natural fiber, is ... well, it's natural. It's not made to last forever.

Granted - Mom's been wearing the bracelet non-stop for 7 months, but that doesn't make me feel any better. So I went to a trusted website to look for ... gasp! ... synthetic alternatives. Enter Marion's Jewels in Fiber. I had this site bookmarked from years ago for Chinese knotting cord and then on my horrible quest for silk last year, a blog-buddy recommended her as well. From the descriptions, I decided on Vintage Mastex Nylon. I ordered four spools which arrived today. Amazingly, the silk and nylon colors are virtually identical. Plus, the nylon shouldn't fade like the silk.

And it plied into a nice strand of cord. Okay, so it definitely feels like nylon, but either my friend or the site said it will soften with wear.

I've actually been thinking about adding synthetic cord to my repertoire, so that's why I ordered four colors. I've looked at gore-tex/Tenara but it's just too bloody expensive and the few colors it comes in are really hard to find. Kevlar only comes in yellow and has its limitations. So nylon it is. Now I can offer a choice - especially nice for people who never take their jewelry off. The colors I ordered (btw - the photo is not accurate) - rust, chocolate, black and indigo ... of course I had to get some blue!

And since we're talking about supplies ... if you were around last year when Gudebrod silk started disappearing and followed my expensive and panicked search for a replacement ... well, it was all for naught. Turns out a supplier in Texas went to the trouble to have their own version manufactured ... pretty much all the same colors and sizes as the Gudebrod, especially my beloved charcoal. Even better, it's less expensive than the original. Only thing, it's made in China, but it's a core element in my wholesale line, an absolute necessity and there's literally nothing else like it on the market - believe me I know! So, if you're looking for high quality silk thread here's the link - Big Stone Inc. and they have free shipping for purchases over $100. I have lots of charcoal now and don't need to worry any more.

So that's really it for today! I'm heading off to my silly novel - a totally beat mass market paperback (which I rarely buy) that I read years ago and liked and have hung onto just in case I needed a good summer read - Crown of Columbus. A review said it's a cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Possession (an all time fave).

Once again ... bountiful blessings.
l i g a - kvk

delicious acquistions

2011-08-01T14:22:00.000-04:00

So I'm still on this blue thing. I just cannot get enough blue. Case in point ... my trip to the gem show in Franklin, NC last week. Notice a trend?

ghana glass, blue labradorite, iolite, mystic blue topaz, moss aquamarine, blue flourite, more moss aquamarine, 2 regular labradorite and 2 pyrite cubes.

And the other thing is, I want BIG stuff. I've been buying teen-Intsie gems for the last two years and now I'm obsessed with this big chunky stuff. Go figure. Here's a closeup of some of the new treasure.

If I haven't blown my budget at the gem show, I like to get a little treat. Well this time I went into my 'secret stash' and bought these ancient Indian coins.

They're quite small, about the size of one of our dimes. The one in the package is about 1500 years old and the other one is 2500 years old. I saw these at the last show in May and I couldn't get them out of my head. I went online and researched them a bit, downloaded pics and have not stopped thinking about them since May. Of course, the one I really wanted was $600 - minted by the Buddha's father - not going to happen, but this little one I could do. It's the shape that gets me mostly, but the patterns in both coins are pretty compelling as well.

And one day last week I popped into one of my favorite stores - the Screen Door - to look for display props. I've been wanting something body-like to hang necklaces on for photographing. I'd love to have a dress form, but I don't really have any room and the only cool, inexpensive one I let Nina buy - it was just too perfect for her. Seems all the interesting ones I see these days are in the $300 - $400 range ... not a chance. So what I found instead was an old grain scoop - for $24 ... much more better. What do you think?

Then there was that little parcel of blue tourmaline I found on Ebay - very inexpensive, so I didn't feel too guilty. I have no idea what I want to do with these, if anything. They may just sit on my worktable in a nice little pinchpot.

And then somewhere along the line, I got obsessed with vintage French textiles - mainly homespun grain sack yardage. I got a 2 1/2 yard piece from here. I cut a yard and a half for a kitchen table runner. I pulled several rows of thread for a fringe and then zig-zagged the edge. Just beautiful! Here's the one yard piece that's left.

And then doesn't everything look ever so beautiful all together?

This would be me, such a happy little camper!
And even more amazing than all of this gorgeous treasure, I'm giving myself the day off! I'm not working AT ALL ... and even better, I don't feel guilty about it one bit. I might even read my no-redeeming-value novel.

bountiful blessings to all!
l i g a - kvk

a mindful step

2011-07-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

In between setting up computers and working on orders, I've been planning the further adventures of my Talismans and Reliquaries. It's always interesting to me the timing of how things unfold. I thought for sure I'd have the whole concept and design and supporting details for my Talismans all nailed down long before now. But everything moves at the appropriate pace and I'm very much okay with that.

Last week I made a couple of non-specific Reliquaries ... non-specific in that I want to use these as samples. The idea all along has been to design a series of forms and surface images/symbols - I think I've got 5 different shapes and the imagery is still being developed. A person will select a shape and symbols and their own intention or prayer that I'll write on onionskin paper and fire within the piece. I'll still be doing finished pieces, but these custom pieces are a vital piece of the concept.

Here's the front and back of two sample Amphoras and one Heart ...

What hit me a couple of nights ago is the potential emotional challenges this project presents. Remember, I'm pretty close to being a hermit. Between our work and Dave's school, we have no social life, which is really okay with us. I have a very few close friends, avoid crowds and big events. I guess that's a pretty common blogging profile.

But the responsibility of what I'm taking on started to register after reading a couple of intensely moving blogs and some comments from followers. I live an incredibly blessed albeit incredibly sheltered existence. We are not suffering financially, we are extremely healthy, we live simply with virtually no drama. What I'm realizing as I move forward with this project ... my intention is that I will be engaging with people from many walks of life, with varying circumstances, that I am stepping straight out of my very secure comfort zone.

Such a blessed awareness now, to step ever more mindfully forward, to engage and embrace the unfolding.

l i g a - kvk

opinion please

2011-07-22T17:11:00.000-04:00

Just curious ... I get wonderful comments and praise and beautiful thank yous from the people who have bought, wear and love my jewelry. Back when I did my FireStarter session with Danielle in 2008, she said I absolutely MUST put those on my website. I have resisted and continue to resist. These comments and feedback just seem too personal, so maybe that's a problem ... maybe I view my business on a much more personal level than others. I take the praise into my heart and it feeds my soul. I'm afraid it would diminish the beauty of them if they were plastered on my website as just another commodity.

So what do you think?
Do you have a place on your website or blog for "what they're saying"?
Inquiring minds and all that........

l i g a - kvk

discombobulated .......

2011-07-21T17:36:00.001-04:00

and I'm not sure why.
It's not that I'm not getting things done or that bad things are happening or anything I can put my finger on. I guess I've got a lot on my table, literally.

It's just been things like closing out and reconciling the consignment account at Artisans on Taylor that really make my head hurt. Probably why I hate consignment.

Then there's the new computer - lord mercy that's a lot of work and is still very much a work in progress. Little things like my old accounting software won't work on Windows 7, so I bought new software which is just sitting there because it's an absolute blank slate and I've got a ton of info that has to be plugged in before I can use it. Today when I needed to print an invoice, I had to alter an old purchase order form and plug everything in manually. I've got a 60 day money-back guarantee, so if anyone has any opinions about Bead Manager Pro, I'd love to know.

And then there's this inexplicable obsession I've got with the color blue - you know that luscious dark blue with a bit of green in it. What is that color? Not really peacock, darker blue but with more green than the indigo ... where's my box of Crayolas when I need them? I think it started with my need a few months ago for Japanese indigo cloth. I do love these panels - that's my "self-portrait" in cloth behind me ... vintage Japanese indigo dyed hemp, raw linen from Provence and unbleached muslin ... stitched together with red silk up my "spine", studded with raw diamonds. The muslin's the old me, the linen is me as I am now, all of it held in the embrace of a dark blue sea.

But the blue thing is quite strange. I've always thought when somebody said their favorite color was blue, that was kind of like saying you like music - well, duh ... can we be a bit more specific here? But I am full on obsessed. I've got some blue tourmaline crystals OTW and, since the gem show is next week, I'm trying to hold out and not buy the faceted ones on Etsy. If you look at my Etsy favorites, there's a slew of blue. I just ordered some traditional striped Provencal napkins and table runner in blue. And here's my new product packaging. The midnight blue tissue paper and the chocolate brown pillow boxes are gorgeous. I ordered them from 800Gift Box. The company I've always used has cut way back on what they offer and I found this company which has a great selection, good pricing, reasonable shipping and very fast.

Of course, I'll have to redo my labels, 'cause they just don't show up on the dark brown boxes. And then there's this predominantly blue tile image that has found its way onto my Talismans hang tags.

Here's the card with the faded out tile image in the background and a not quite so faded image of an astrolabe.

And then there's all the other things waiting in the wings ... I'm dying to get going with the How to Rule Your World book and audio sessions that I won from Hiro's June give-away and then I'm trying to muster my focus to dive into a new exercise program.

And a major theme behind all of this new stuff is the absolute knowing that I'm getting ready for something big - but I don't really know what. It's like packing for a trip but you don't know where you're going. I'm laying the groundwork, bolstering up my infrastructure, designing all the bits and pieces and merging them into a coherent whole. I'm just going with the flow and seeing where it takes me. I'm also working on some new medallions with the words feet downstream stamped in the back. I love that image. It's one of the few useful things I picked up from all those years of working at the Nantahala Outdoor Center ... when you fall out of your raft or boat, get on your back and point your feet downstream. A good thought to end with.

This will be me signing off, going with the flow ... feet downstream.

l i g a - kvk

p.s. tomorrow's the last day of my Etsy anniversary sale - 31 years, 31% off!

ANNIVERSARY SALE!

2011-07-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

I just realized our 31st wedding anniversary is coming up this week! So to celebrate, I thought I'd share some love and put on a sale in my Etsy shop ...

So from today, July 15th through next Friday July 22nd, purchase my jewels on Etsy and get 31% off. There's a coupon code there to plug in to receive your discount. It's a rare opportunity, so enjoy!

l i g a - kvk

tiny synchronicities

2011-07-07T12:59:00.006-04:00

Little things lead to other things and then to a few more ... tiny bits of synchronicity that bring small smiles and deep appreciation.

Watched Adjustment Bureau for the second time last night. Loving the movie and especially loving the part that contemporary ballet plays in the film. Which led to looking up the ballet company. Turns out they used the real company name and dancers in the movie. Also turns out that Emily Blunt went from never having danced at all to an amazing performance - the DVD extra about her training and transformation is really inspiring. The dance company is Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet ...

So looking up Cedar Lake, I found out that the company is going to be on So You Think You Can Dance ... tonight. Amazing! Haven't been following it this year, but will definitely watch it tonight.

Side note ... what I first wanted to be when I grew up was a dancer. I love dance, not so much traditional ballet, but contemporary ballet and modern dance and hip hop and God I loved MC Hammer and Fred Astaire ... I took tap in my early 20's and can still do a pretty good time step and a mean set of back flaps. Also in Emily Blunt's interviews for the movie, she talked about her physical transformation and mentioned Tracy Anderson as the facilitator of said transformation. Which led me to looking up Tracy Anderson. Okay, so it's got a money back guarantee and I figure what the heck, if not now when ... I ordered her 90 day Metamorphosis program. We'll see....

Somewhere in there while looking around on the dance company's site and then looking at my blog and website and back to the company site, I was taken by the very organic, but equally contemporary look of the costumes, same thing with the music - color me surprised. Which led me to see the little bit I needed to tweak on my website redesign. Here's the home page as of right now ...

Okay, so it's pretty stark. But what I remembered I had in my bag of tricks were those graphite lines ... much more better than than the computer drawn sterile lines I had in there at first. The whole look of the site is pretty much a 180 degree turnaround from where I began. All the little quirky things I had planned looked dreadful and the images I had shot as 'cover' images just didn't work and since all the jewelry is in Portland with the reps, I had to go with what I had on hand. With the props I used, the images are pretty busy and have dictated the overall look of the new site. Hence, ditching all the quirky elements. A big switch is my font choice for my name and the headers, Opera ... it's kind of frilly and thin and rather elegant ... a big departure from Times New Roman. The KVK icon is the same as it's been for a long time and won't be changing any time soon. Even though I've been told I should use sans serif fonts I'm still using TNR for the text and sidebars. I much prefer serif fonts and that's just the way it is and I am, so there.

So that's where I am this morning ... website is coming along nicely, looking forward to more dance tonight, Metamorphosis program is OTW, I've made a long overdue dr's appointment for a full check up, I've got a friend that's going to wear some of my jewels in her photo shoot and interviews for the launch of her new book (more on that when I've got the details) and the wholesale orders are still coming in. All my consignment jewelry is in transit from AOT back to here and, once I see what I've got, I'm going to schedule some sort of trunk show. Looks like I'm going to be busy for awhile.

Okay, back to work for this little peep ...
l i g a - kvk

programming note ... there are no rules

2011-07-03T13:46:00.002-04:00

A conversation with my sales rep on Friday made me own up to the fact I really do need to update my website. I've done bits and pieces here and there, but basically it's way out of date. So, redesigning my website ... you know how one thing always leads to another, well this one thing's turning into quite the row of dominoes. What sort of feeling do I want to convey, what fonts do I want to use, what's my color palette going to be, do I want to take the time right now to set it up for the shopping cart, etc, etc, etc?

I shot all the pictures last fall, but they still needed to be sized down to web-size, a monumental task all by itself. So I finished resizing the photos, then I started working on the home page and came to a screeching halt. I realized I had a chorus of voices in my head telling me what to do and how to do it and this is the best platform to use and this is the best approach and you always should do this and never do that and none of those voices were my own. I started to wake up to this awareness in my response to Hiro's giveaway , which BTW, I WON, but that's a story for another day.

I've been in business for over 15 years. While my jewelry is very much my own and speaks very clearly in my own voice, my business model is something else entirely. Growing up, I watched my father's heartbreaking financial and entrepreneurial struggles. The overarching theme for most of my life has been the feeling of scarcity, there's not enough. I had no confidence that I'd ever be able to figure out how to run a business on my own. So when I began to sell my own wares, I always deferred to the "experts". And all these years later, I'm still deferring.

No more ... I am done.
To give you some idea of how big this all feels, this is the card I just drew from the Daily Wisdom Pack.

I have stuck to my guns on some things and have listened to my heart on a few more. There have been moments of clarity, but mostly, it's like I've been in a fog or some kind of daze. I don't feel guilty, just kind of sad, for all the unheeded red flags. Note to self ... if anyone says, "this is the only way" to do whatever ... run away.

So, now I'm going to dive into my redesign. What do I love, what colors do I want, what fonts do I want to use and then a big one ... on to what sort of pricing model feels best to me?

One important thing here ... for people starting out, there is a wealth of information on just about every aspect of doing business - on-line, in books, community services. I do not want to discount any of these, they are vital to learning the basics and then some.

What I do want to say loud and clear - do not lose yourself in your decision making and especially, don't ignore your heart in any part of your business. There is no one, right or absolute way to do anything. Those old rules no longer apply ... the new rule is there are no rules.

l i g a - kvk

pattern recognition

2011-06-26T11:56:00.000-04:00

Much of my work is based on the repetition of form - my stitched coins, stacks of discs, cairns, pickets. Which is only natural as it's a long held obsession of mine - collecting objects, both natural and man made, that embrace my passion for repetition. I've been thinking about this for awhile and thought I'd take a short break from my Etsy work and share some of my collection and thoughts.

It seems so much of my collection is in the form of shells.

I love that there is great precision in patterns placed by the creator.

Exquisite perfection ...

But equally compelling are the random more chaotic patterns created in the decay ...

Within the precise creation pattern exists the chaotic decaying pattern ...

And of course we humans are ever driven to emulate nature's perfection and chaos ...

Here, I've laid down relatively precise dots of pmc slip on a thin black clay slab. The metal clay is over fired and starts to curl into mercury like balls of fine silver ... the section with the broad brush strokes has reverted back to it's preferred pattern of chaos.

Chaos leads to form to repetition to pattern recognition to decay and back to chaos ... perfection.

l i g a - kvk

p.s. paper and fiber artwork by Lynne

p.p.s. one of my favorite books is all about repetition of pattern - the Elements of Design

oooohhhh .... ahhhhhh ..... pretties

2011-06-24T17:59:00.001-04:00

In the midst of everything that I've been supposed to be doing and actually have been doing ... wholesale orders are out the door, but the scary pile of debit receipts and the checkbook balancing and housecleaning will have to wait for another day or so... I managed to squeeze in some extracurricular projects. I mean, I was in production mode and I did have to fire the kiln several times, so why not throw in a few fun things.

Like reworking some pieces for Etsy. I added the l i g a blessing to the Starry Night Cross, really just needed it, I changed the green garnet in one piece from that same post to a lovely translucent green amethyst, I've made several of the listed components into finished pieces, just had to do it and put together a few more pieces with components that I've had for a while and I finished this absolutely gorgeous piece. I really really love this necklace. It's 36" long and uses four lengths of tiny rolo chain with green amethyst and moss aquamarine.

The Sea Goddess necklace .........

Here's a closeup of the silver shell pieces - these are sterling silver pmc and very thin ....

I'll be listing and re-listing a bunch of stuff and updating Etsy this weekend. Here's a preview ....

And then for something completely different ... I had some pieces of beach glass that I had drilled ages ago. They've been sitting in one of my bowls of rocks and glass and I just had to make pendants out of them.

The really great thing is plain old white glass like this .......

...... gets fumed by the silver and changes color - like this ..........

After tumbling and oxidizing, they are absolutely transformed ........

More often than not, you have no idea what the source glass is, so it's always a surprise as to how the glass will change color. This batch was especially exciting - I got two pieces that turned kind of a peach color. White has always gone amber, so the peachy color was a nifty surprise. Amazing, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone else doing this - pmc wrapped beach glass - can't imagine why. The finished pieces are just so bloody cool!

Okay, time to get dinner on the table ... taco Friday with anasazi beans that have been cooking all afternoon! yummmm!

l i g a - kvk

last week at Artisans on Taylor

2011-06-23T17:17:00.000-04:00

Just a quick reminder ... If anyone happens to be in Port Townsend, WA before June 30th, sashay into Artisans on Taylor and snag some KVK jewels before they head back east and make good use of our "Au revoir PT" 20% discount. Here's the original post and some lovelies that may or may not still be there. Or if you don't happen to be in PT, here's my artist's page for some on-line shopping.

This is all part of my big shift, creating a new business model and creative paradigm. Embracing chaos and disorder and discomfort with a deep knowing the answers are within.

l i g a - kvk

crushing realization

2011-06-23T10:49:00.010-04:00

I've got a slew of pictures and new work to share and lots and lots going on. But what's been niggling my brain is a follow-up post to Hiro's challenge. Through the day and every night when my head hits the pillow, I've been considering and composing. So this morning, the tumblers have an hour to go and I figured I needed to get this out of my head and onto the page, well the virtual page.

Here's my original post. My follow-up ...

So much to consider … knowing the shift has begun. Looking at what has come before, pondering what is ahead. Coming to the realization that my entire model for business is based on what I’ve been told is the “proper and accepted” way to do things, this is the best formula for pricing your work, this is how you interact with your clientele, this is where you sell your work, this is how it’s done.

With minor exceptions, everything about how I’ve run my business has come from outside of me, from the experts, the respected elite. It’s no wonder I am feeling a big disconnect. My throat is closing and tears are welling as I write this, but what I now know is … I am not the ruler of my business. I’m not sure I ever have been. That’s a crushing realization.

I’ve been in business for 15 years but, in many ways, I feel I’m just beginning. The learning curve feels horribly steep, the rules have changed. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any rules. So here I sit, trying to get to that quiet place in my heart, trying to get out of my Type A head where I’ve always been able to ‘figure it out’. Not feeling so joyous about my grand leap, just feeling overwhelmed and confused and kind of sad. It feels like more of a slog through the mud than a leap.

But the light, the spark, the desire to move forward is not diminished. I know I’m on the right path; it’s time to ascend to my throne.

Okay, the tumblers should be done ... back to work for this little peep.

Onward ........

l i g a - kvk

in the studio

2011-06-13T14:27:00.001-04:00

Woke up feeling a bit out of sorts and have been struggling to get things done. I've made tea and showered and got the tumbler going and fired a new batch of sterling pmc and picked flowers for a couple of small arrangements and downloaded some new tunes and checked email and checked a couple of blogs and switched tumblers from steel to finishing and made some more tea and then took a few photos to chronicle my scattered thoughts. Looks like maybe I have been getting things done, just not in any order.

So here I am doing a blog post, like that's really on my official to-do list ... trust me, it's not. But I'm going to make a serious effort to hunker down after I finish here and there's a couple of things I was pretty excited about and I'll be better able to focus when I'm done ... really.

I just plunked these new sterling pmc components into the tumbler. It was tempting to leave them as is, but the Angel Wing is a special order, so traditional finishing it will be. It's about 4" long and I tucked in a tiny raw white sapphire at the top - not sure why, it just seemed like the thing to do. It kind of takes my breath away ..........

And I've been thinking about this shape for weeks. Inspired by another shell I picked up on the beach in St Augustine. They're about 3" long and quite narrow. Also, sterling pmc allows me to work very thin - really loving that. Can't wait to see where they'll go .............

In my morning's agitated state, I couldn't decide what I wanted to listen to. A favorite song popped up on one of my Pandora stations and I realized that was it. So of course, I had to download what I could find and have had this song on repeat for the last couple of hours ... Ulrich Schnauss, Stars.

You can get more of an idea about my widespread focus (or lack thereof) by my current stack of reading material...

I'm a huge fan of Sibella Court and have been dying to get my hands on her new book, The Stylists Guide to NYC. To order from Sibella from Australia, it was going to cost a small fortune. There was one or two from Amazon sellers for even more astronomical sums. Then I happened to check one day and there was one in the UK for $28 - I snagged it. Of course if I'd waited 6 weeks there's a bunch of US Amazon sellers that have them for $24. Oh well, I'm still a happy camper aside from the fact I really haven't had time to do a thorough perusal. It's a great format, designed and set up for use ...

... and the pages are dark and lush and full of tantalizing little details - ABC Carpet and Home, one of my top five places to hit next time we're in NY ...

So what I'm really supposed to be doing is this ...

... a nice big wholesale order. If I don't get my distracted self to work pretty soon, I may be working nights for the next couple of days.

Okay, I'm better now ... so back to it for this little peep.

l i g a - kvk

really really sidetracked

2011-06-09T17:56:00.000-04:00

It started off simply enough. Do a bit of dusting on my worktable, you know spruce things up a bit before sitting back down to work. Let's just say I got kind of carried away ...

Thing is, I had so much stuff on this big ol' table. Bowls and bowls and rows and rows of stuff. Bowls of pearls and partially dismantled jewelry, bowls of rocks, more bowls of rocks, rows of rocks and more rows of rocks and ... well you get the idea.

See, I've got a lot of stuff! Thing is, to get to all that dust, I needed to move all that stuff. And while I was at it, maybe I should practice some of my own preaching and get rid of some stuff.

I think it was right around this point where I was also getting things going on the stove. I was doing the quick soak thing for black beans, I set the timer so I'd check back before they started boiling and well, with the fans going and me completely distracted by moving all this stuff ...

I ended up with a righteous mess - this was one of my best boilovers yet. Sheesh, set pan aside to cool down and do that one hour soak and then come back later after the burner cools down to clean up the thick crust of black bean goo.

And then while I was waiting for the burner to cool down and the beans to soak, my OCD really kicked in and I decided this would be a good time to re-do my creative engineering hammer storage. You see, it was all held together with nasty old silver duct tape and packing tape and was kind of embarrassing and I'd seen colored duct tape at the hardware store the other day and if I went to Lowe's I could also get little ceramic thingies to put under my mondo flower pots before we put them back on the newly stained deck. Yes, an excellent use of my time. And I was thrilled to discover that Lowe's had white duct tape - even more better! I do love my little storage gizmo - pvc and duct tape, yeah buddy!

And now my worktable is all shiny and clean and organized and ready for slackdog me to get my sorry back side to work ... tomorrow. Okay, there's still a lot of stuff, but most of my little bowls are empty and the stuff that's there is the stuff I use regularly, well except for my rocks - there just weren't any that needed to go away. Isn't it pretty?

Along the way I also put up some feng shui prosperity measures - a couple of ropes of citrine and Chinese coins. One more thing though, I think tomorrow before I sit down to work, I'll ring my Nepali bells around the house and disperse any little remaining demons.

Okay, I'm better now.

l i g a - kvk

sweet blessings and tiny reminders

2011-06-08T13:53:00.001-04:00

I've been working on getting to work ... after a couple of days away from the studio it can be such a challenge. But as I've gone around the house tying up loose ends, doing a bit of cleaning, mailing orders and repairs, I decided the house needed some fresh flowers ... a reward from my all afternoon in the blazing sun efforts of yesterday flushing out my front flower beds. So I picked out a small vase for the kitchen window and selected a few blooms along with some peppermint which got me to thinking about all the little blessings that surround me on a daily basis ... which led me to this blog post.

The little vase was a gift from a dear friend in Port Townsend, the flowers a gift from my flower beds.

Once on this track, I headed up to my worktable to marvel at some of the treasures that surround me each day while I work. There's the little Christmas ornament that's a permanent resident, reminding me to never forget whimsy and silly good fun.

There's the gyroscope adorned with some favorite earrings from another PT friend. The gyroscope reminds me that it is entirely possible to stay centered in the midst of an ever changing world; the earrings remind me of eccentric, joyous creation.

There's the little photo transfer of Archangel Michael from years ago ... I'm never alone.

My collection of hammers, some purchased new, some antiques, one hand forged, and the one I use most often that belonged to Asheville architect and benefactor, Anthony Lord - a gift from a friend ... these keep me aware of the lasting heritage of craft.

A very special treasure, a heart bead from my dear friend Lynne, a soul mate and purveyor of unconditional love.

My worktable is fairly loaded with treasures. These are the ones that spoke to me today. Their messages of sweet blessings and tiny reminders ring clear ... I am never alone and have ready access to joy and whimsy, I make work that is lasting and well-loved, I am surrounded by exquisite gifts from beloved friends and from nature - I am enormously blessed.

l i g a - kvk

new member of the family

2011-06-05T17:40:00.002-04:00

Okay, so not a living, breathing member, but an important one. You see it's like this ...

By far, hands down, without a doubt, the most used small appliance in the kitchen is our beloved juicer. It was an enormously generous housewarming gift from a very dear friend. Here's the problem, while I was in Nashville, my ever enthusiastic dear husband decided to make some juice on his own. I say enthusiastic, because really, it's one of my favorite things about him. He just goes at everything in a big way and juicing's no different. So like I said, while I was in Nashville, he mentioned his juice making efforts in our evening conversation and that the chute had gotten kind of clogged up and then the motor sort of made this strange sound and then the digital readout came up with a big "E". That would be "E" for error, "E" for dead - bummer. The closest authorized repair place was in NY. With back and forth shipping, it would cost about $120 - $130 to replace the motor. Major bummer. And I was on such a roll - making a gallon of juice at a time ... hmmm, guess that makes me kind of enthusiastic as well. Turns out, when I was talking to the repair guy in NY, he allowed as how, those juicers aren't made for that volume of juicing - well, that's not what the product info would lead you to believe. Phooey.

So I ask the repair guy, "what would you get?" He said, without a doubt he'd get an Acme 6001. And he would be happy to set me up with one for about $200 including shipping. "Thanks so much for the info. I'll be in touch." ... or not. I just wasn't feeling like this was the right time for a $200 expenditure, but I hated not having my juice! I decided to do some perusing on-line and see what I could see. Turns out, I found one on eBay - $45 plus $15 shipping = $60 = a whole lot less than $200. So, it's used, but the repair guy did say I'll probably die before the motor in one of these gizmos gives out.

Please welcome the newest member of our family - our unknown vintage Acme 6001 juicer ...

Actually, I can probably find out how old it is by the serial number. I was the only bidder on this one and the seller even had a 14 day guarantee. I'm quite pleased.

The other thing I like is this - I'm pretty sure this is the same kind of juicer my grandfather used back in the early 60's. Oh man, so many memories - our family of seven was living in one side of my grandparents' duplex - 2 bedrooms for all of us. And my older brother had his own room! We had fold out couches in the living room for my sisters, my little brother was still in a crib and, for the life of me, I can't remember where I slept. I do remember on cold mornings, standing next to the gas radiator behind a chair in the living room to get dressed.

But going next door to my grandparent's side, grampa was always concocting something. He was either making some nasty juice mix, you know like beets and onions or maybe working on a poultice of fenugreek and golden seal that he'd put in an old white hankie to put on his head - to grow hair. He actually did get a bit of peach fuzz going. Grampa was a small, relatively frail man, bald as a bat with not a tooth in his head. Apparently he'd had some teeth made at some point and would joke about putting them in for a "Christmas trick." I never did see those teeth. He'd sit in a kitchen chair trying to convince my full-figure granny to sit in his lap, all the time saying, "Come on Mama, give me a kiss!" Granny and me would be laughing to high heaven.

This is my Grampa - photo by my big brother and master photographer, Gene, the one who had his own room.

Oh golly, I could go on. Funny thing how something so simple as a juicer can bring back so many memories. Looking back, living in that duplex was probably one of the most influential times in my life. I'm pretty sure there's a book in there somewhere. One day I'll figure out how I want to write it.

But for now, hope your weekend was grand.

l i g a - kvk

au revoir Port Townsend

2011-06-03T11:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this has been a very difficult decision. I've been this close so many times and, well .. it's finally time. June will be my last month at Artisans on Taylor in Port Townsend. It's been a great ride and it's still a good source of income, but the bottom line - I really suck at managing consignment inventory. It's a disservice to everyone - me and the gallery and the customers - the way I struggle with keeping up or more accurately not keeping up with keeping the gallery well stocked. That's a big clue that I've been ignoring for a long time.

So here's the deal. I was going to pull everything the end of May and decided to give everyone a month's notice instead. So Anna and I are going to offer and "au revoir" 20% discount on all my work through the month of June. There's some pretty special work out there, so it's an opportunity to snag some of my one-of-a-kind pieces with a bit of a discount. Here's a link to my gallery page.

Please check with the gallery first, but here's a couple of pieces that may still be there ...

It's a strange feeling, but it's time to move on. I really do know that when one door closes another opens ... still. Deep breaths. It's not really an abyss, it's an opportunity.

l i g a - kvk

sidetracked

2011-06-02T11:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I got a little sidetracked this morning. I'm supposed to be taking pictures and listing new work, but I popped over to Hiro Boga's blog and got absorbed in responding to her giveaway, http://bit.ly/getyourheartsdesire

Here's my contribution:

For 15 years, I’ve been in the business of making ‘stuff’, beautiful and well-crafted stuff, but stuff nonetheless. 2008 saw the beginning of a shift in my work which led to my spiritual coming out party, the debut of my Talismans for Fellow Travelers series. That spirit infused work has continued but it’s not been the bread and butter work.

The economic slowdown has given me the time to rethink and refocus my business priorities. What started as a series of seven themed pendants is now growing into a fully realized body of work. I’m still making the b.n.b. work, but my heart and mind is consumed with this new direction. My intention is that a Talisman might start a conversation, create an opportunity to share an intention, a prayer or belief, spreading the love and spirit behind the piece, creating a spiritual chain reaction.

I make jewelry and I blog with the awareness that one person really can make a difference and to “be the change I wish to see in the world.” I have three foundation words - congruent, gentle, loving - which I apply to my marriage, how I interact with friends, family and strangers, how I buy and prepare my food, organize and decorate my home and especially, how I operate my business.

The blessing I include on each Talisman and the message I want to share is to have faith, you are surrounded by love, infinite grace and abundance. Expanding the Talismans feels like the missing piece in making my life and business more fully congruent and promises to take my business to unknown and exhilarating heights.

A joyous leap of faith.

Okay, I'm better now. Back to the day's work.

LIGA - kvk