humbled

I don't normally do this, but I was so moved by this letter from an Etsy customer, I just had to share.   Inspiration and motivation can come from many places and the generous souls who purchase my work are an essential component.  I create work that pleases me, but bottom line, without you, it would seem mere narcissism.  My jewelry is made to share, to spread the love and good intentions I work into each piece and when I receive letters such as this, it is blessed affirmation that what I do is understood and appreciated.

These are the pieces that were purchased and sent off to Athens, Greece ...  

 Gemstone Ocean Cairn, blue labradorite, mystic topaz and iolite

vesuvianite and raw diamonds on forged steel earrings

The letter from Greece:

"My dearest Kathy, i received your lovely jewels about a week after you sent them.
and i was very happy to have them.

the necklace: i wear it all the time since that day even when i sleep. labradorite is my friend, iolite is strong and helps me to purify myself, and mystic topaz, they say, has the power of directing energy. we ll see. silver disks are like water, giving motion, reflecting the sun and the moon, like small lakes under waterfalls and all these hanging from a nice black cord, your urban primitive style which i love.

the earrings: i wear them a lot. everyone notices them. whether you believe it or not there is a story about them. vesuvianite has the power of carmic justice, diamonds have the power of accord and the circle above them is the circle of samsara which is open when you realize the mistakes you repeit through lives.  in addition your earrings are the symbol of consious feminine.

Thank you deeply for all these. you have a gift.
maybe you can make a mediteranean sea neckace and put all the blessings for my people here in Greece. i am not saying i ll buy it because we re having a hard time here but anyway...

and these words may all go to infinite now.."

I am truly humbled ... with a tear in my eye, a bit of a knot in my throat.  I'm thinking I will definitely work on a few pieces for the people of Greece.

l i g a - kvk

p.s.  I don't always consider the metaphysical properties of the shapes and gemstones I use.  It seems I have an intuitive ability to put things together in a powerful way.  I very much like that it's not a conscious thing ... it feels more genuine, not contrived.

the day after

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

sweet blessings and tiny reminders

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

lucky girl

Funny thing ... I love doing things for other people, being the sleuth, creating and mailing off little surprises for friends and loved ones.  It just never occurs to me that anyone would do that for me.  So I let out a bit of a squeal when I checked my mail yesterday.  For parked right there in my mailbox was a little surprise package from Andrew.  I dashed inside and headed straight for the scissors to slice open my unexpected goody.  An even bigger squeal came when I emptied out the contents - carefully labeled ziploc bags with beautiful gemstone nuggets.  Oh my, they are so very lovely ...........

There's two kinds of amber, smooth and really rough and crystal quartz, jumbo faceted and hammered nuggets, jumbo citrine, amazing green garnet and top-drilled sunstone - just check out the copper shiller of that front piece of sunstone and how translucent the amber is.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled.  I've got my new cache of treasure sitting front and center on my worktable, visions of new creations beginning to form in my little head.  Delicious!
Thank you Andrew!  You are a gem.

with deep gratitude and many blessings - kvk

postscript

Well, the pearl necklace was an enormous success and I quote, "I'm never taking these off ... well except to take a shower."  I'm happy and my sister's happy. 
Perfect. 
Need to do more of this sort of thing - lots more.

blessings - kvk

call to arms

Hmmmm, maybe it should be call to, I don't know - gratitude or human kindness or equanimity.  Jonathan Field's current post examines this and it's an ongoing challenge for me and a lot of people I know ... how to operate a forward thinking, successful and heart based business in this world where the mean-spirited and underhanded is celebrated and emulated and held up to be the standard mode of operation.

I had lunch with the Thorntons today, Cynthia and Andrew, and of course we got around to talking business.  We've all been in the biz for a good while and got to swapping a few horror stories.  Lord mercy, the things we've seen.  Those stories got me to thinking - Why does it seem like the trend is towards the dark side?  That Darth Vadar has the upper hand and Obi Wan and Yoda are struggling.  Am I wrong or missing something?  Now, I have no delusions that the world will ever be all good or all bad.  I guess my main hope is that we might find our way to some kind of balance, no not balance.  I'd like to see it weighted towards the light, towards that equanimity.

So here's the challenge ...
  -  How can we shift the balance from dark to light?  
  -  Anyone have suggestions for new paths to blaze in the world of heart centered business?
  -  Anyone have ideas for subversive techniques?  For instance, I think the proliferation of yoga classes is an excellent subversive technique.  A good, solid yoga practice first changes you physically, but it ever so slowly changes you emotionally and spiritually ... very very sneaky that way.
  -  How do you stay focused, awake and aware?
  -  How do you avoid the intoxicating and alluring world of gossip and reality TV or would-be snarky friends - you know those black-hole people that live in a dreadful mean vacuum and want to suck you down with them?
  -  Can we be straightforward in our approach or does it call for being sneaky?  Hmmm, probably a combination.

Inquiring minds (me in particular) want to know!

I firmly believe in and make every effort to operate from a place of deep love and gratitude.  That's what I want to share, that's what I want people to feel about my work, that's really the only reason to do anything - spread the light.

One more thought - viral gratitude?

Wanna join the party?  Yeah, buddy - jump in ... the water's grand!

with deep gratitude and multitudes of blessings - kvk

p.s.  don't forget - these guys are doing it - the Daily Good: News that Inspires
p.p.s.  thanks to Cynthia and Andrew for the exceptional meal and inspiring conversation

inspiration download

Thursday, during my morning meditation, I got what felt like a big ol' inspiration download.  Images of two necklaces and a matching bracelet flashed into my, aspiring to be empty but definitely not, mind.  It was a tough one ... I wanted to jump right up and get to work, my breathing grew short and my pulse quickened.  I took some deep breaths, acknowledged and thanked the universe for the new ideas, managed to calm myself down and returned to something of a quiet mind.

Yeah, but when that half hour was up, boy howdy I headed straight over to my worktable and started hauling out components.  The resulting pieces are what I'm pretty sure will be the theme of my KVK Luxe series.  They feel luxurious and kind of over-the-top.  No scrimping on materials, no worrying about the cost, no hesitation ... and I am thrilled with the results.

I debated and debated about where, if anywhere (for right now), they should go.  My first thought was to hold onto them and build the collection.  Then, after our morning outing for breakfast and a blitz trip to the used bookstore, I came home and decided to put them on Etsy ... kind of a run the flag up and see who salutes marketing approach.  Here's the first three pieces of the collection:

the Vertebrae Pendant

 

the Standing Stones Pendant

The Vertebrae Bracelet will be listed tomorrow

And for the same reason, I also decided to list the Starry Night Cross ... ahhhh, it is just lovely.

I've also got the prototypes for another new series adding to the Talisman Elements collection, but you'll have to wait a day or so as I nail down a few more details.

Goodness, so much to share!  I've still got St Augustine photos and stories as well ... so look for more posts to follow.

with deep gratitude and many blessings - kvk

shredding the veil of mediocrity

So I really honestly do know that I am not, nor have I ever likely been, mediocre.  But there does seem to be some lingering spider webby bits of a veil that was thrust over me in my early years.  I'm scrubbing hard and am tantalizingly close to shredding the last remnants.  And while I also know that everything I need is within me, words of encouragement along the way are a nice pat on the back, a pleasant nudge to stay on track.

Today's horoscope:
 "More than ever before, you'll feel as though it is time to take matters into your own hands and build your own career future. You are fed up with living on hope and putting off your happiness until tomorrow. Your determination will be so strong that you may even surprise yourself. Tomorrow, you'll refine your approach and make it more concrete. Today is the first day of a new life for you, dear Sagittarius."

And from today's Abraham quote ...
"Everything in its perfect time. Everything is unfolding. And I'm enjoying where I am now, in relationship to where I'm going. Content where I am, and eager for more,"

onward ......
blessings - kvk

so much

So very much to be thankful for, to share, to reflect on, to do.
Life's been something of a whirlwind since my last visit.  The greatest blessing right now - I've been able to maintain a new-found sense of resolve, the line has been drawn in the sand, the time is now, no longer when.

Inspiration has been coming from so many angles.  There have been two really exceptional audio downloads from WhiteHotTruth.  One a 20 minute conversation with Hiro Boga, I am now a big fan.  And then an equally excellent mass phone call FireStarter session with Jonathan Fields and 2 brave volunteers.  So much food for thought and good content.  I've been 'stumbling' onto some great magazine and newspaper articles.  Today's NY Times had two little jewels in the Style section.  Here's a link to one of them.  And a trip to Barnes & Noble resulted in a three gems, an Architectural Digest snippet on Donna Karan's new tabletop line, the Artful Blogger for some research I'm doing on an undisclosed future project (titter, titter - have to wait and see about that one) and finally, a lovely issue of American Craft.

We've had some glorious sunny days and Zoe's doing really well, as evidenced here ...

I've had an opportunity to revisit some old friends, jewelry component friends that is.
A surprise order for jangly bones gave me the opportunity to do some updating with new components.  Must say, I still really love these components ...

And I've also revisited my Woodland series from two years ago.  The first incarnation came into being soon after we moved to Asheville, inspired by these old mountains, the winter landscape and visions of woodland tinker folk and the land of faerie.  I had made a lot of the components and sold several of the series, but ended up collecting all the unsold pieces and dismantling them, regularly gazing at the bits and pieces in my storage bins wondering how they would get reincarnated.

Then last week, I had one of those late night epiphanies.  Languishing on my worktable was a bowl full of large would-be sterling chain links.  A fair amount of silver was there and I knew I'd use them up one day and that day turned out to be January 27th.  The idea - double up the long links to join the metal clay rings.   

These were good ...

But I think these are so much more better ...

Cleaner lines, earthy but still contemporary and interesting.  Next, I still liked the idea of the leather, but again wanted a cleaner silhouette.  I sat at my worktable all last Sunday afternoon, cutting leather strips, gluing them together, figuring out the whole glue thing was in there as well, choosing the silk to wrap and then hours sitting there playing around with endless combinations for how the pieces would close.  I needed a clasp that was low-tech, direct yet interesting, easy to operate and appropriate to the piece.  After all those hours of diddling around with scraps of leather and silk, I am enormously pleased to share the delicious fruit of my labors.  Here's the first version, about 19" long ...



And the clasp on the second one has a bit more of a flourish and the piece is 21" so that it can be worn as a bracelet, which looks amazing.  Here's a close-up of the clasp ...

And a little different angle of the finished piece ...

It's hard to complain about a rotten night's sleep when this is the result.

And then there's so much to do!
I'm still itching to get back to my cast glass experiments, but they'll be on the back burner a bit longer.  I'm pleased as punch to say that, after a seven year absence, Gallery of the Mountains at the Grove Park Inn is bringing my jewelry back in - the order is in progress on my worktable right now and I'll be heading back to it shortly.  I've also figured out how I want to use the channel set gemstone pendant, the corkclay base is drying as we speak and the new metal clay bail design will get fired along with the GOM components.  And as if I don't have enough to think about, I'm starting to look into creating my own line of perfume - how's that for random?  I've got a friend from Port Townsend that used to make the most exquisite blends and my last little vial is running low and she's out of the perfume business.  So's I emailed her yesterday and she emailed back and I've got a starting place.  This will be a pretty long wait and see, but I think it's got potential.  Then there's that aforementioned undisclosed project, which is going to remain undisclosed, that is in the infant stages of R&D.

Oh my yes, so much ... so very much.  Blessings are raining down upon me and I'm about to bust.  Ain't it grand?

sweet blessings to all  - kvk

delicious transformation

One of my favorite things  ~ opening the tumbler and sorting out the fresh batch of treasures ~ and always a nice way to start my morning.  Delicious anticipation and delicious transformation.  I am never not amazed at the finished components and their amazing transformation from clay to fine silver - after all these years, a wonderful thing for sure.  My fresh batch of lovelies ...

Ever one to go on word association journeys, this morning I've gone from transformation to catalyst,  thinking back on my own on-going evolution, thinking about what have been the catalysts along the way.  Through the years, these catalysts tend to be either people or places and once the lessons have been learned, the new awareness firmly absorbed and assimilated into this body and mind, it's time to move on.  Washington state has proved to be a powerful catalyst in my life.  For some reason, living in the Pacific Northwest is like jumping on a bullet train for transformation, for Dave and I both, and probably why it seems that Asheville is so slow.

Turns out Provence was another such catalyst.  Looking at my little pile of lovelies, the influence is quite tangible.  I worry that the Provencal spell will wear off, but now I'm thinking the magic of that place has been absorbed and assimilated and has established permanent residence in my psyche.  I'm thinking, yes!

So in anticipation of the catalysts to come and paths unknown, today's Abraham quote seems very timely ...

We would begin saying, "I'm not ever going to get it done. I'm an eternally expanding Being, and I'm doing great where I am, and I'm so eager about what's coming." That's the essence of the vibration that keeps adventurous things coming, keeps you feeling always excited, stable and secure, keeps you feeling in love with life. All day, every day, count your blessings! All day, every day, make your lists of things you appreciate. And as you keep activating what is working in your life, then more pleasing things on all subjects will flow to you. 

with deep gratitude and joyous blessings - kvk