Recovery NOW!

What is exhausting, I've discovered, is standing in one place for hours during a show.  A week later, despite good shoes, despite sleeping with feet raised, and despite being off salt for years, my otherwise skinny ankles are still a bit puffy.

The Ann Arbor show ran 4 days, opening at 10 am each day; closing at 9 pm but for the last day, when it closed at 6 pm.  That's four 11-hour days (not counting partial setup and takedown each day.)  It also doesn't count the heat and humidity and the RAIN!  [Mercifully, when we had a deluge overnight, my neighbor had a sump pump.  He used it to bail out the backs of both of our booths.  Apparently, we were in the lowest part of the street, and the water rolled downhill right into our booths.  So glad I'd picked up the carpet!]

Nonetheless, it was a very successful show from many perspectives.  My work was validated and valued by my colleague artists, which is most gratifying.  Sales were better than they've been for at least the last 18 months (but then, again, so were the crowds, probably since it's a free show of very long standing).

And Ann Arbor is a GREAT town!  Stucci's ice cream (so fresh, such unusual flavors, so MELTED!).  The pilgrimage to Zingerman's  deli where they serve corned beef that is the next closest to New York City's that I've ever had. Wonderful dinners at great restaurants -- including two meals I received in boxes after John went to dinner with our midwest relatives who visited.  Clam pie from Mani Osteria was particularly remarkable --even tepid/cold!  And we met the most incredible, friendly and wonderful people, whether other artists or locals.

I must say, the shows really know how to make it comfortable (relatively, given that we're talking an outdoor 4-day show) for the artists.  Breakfast is available for us in the morning -- coffee, bagels, muffins and other goodies.  Staff bring around ice cold bottled water during the day without asking.  Booth sitting is readily available and the (ahem) facilities are very clean and tidy --and include sinks and recycling, too.

What you see to the right is the view I had from the BACK of my booth. It's the University of Michigan "Diag"(I assume, short for "diagonal.")  Out front, in addition to my wonderful "across the street" neighboring artists, is a stunning old church (barely visible in one of the pictures).  How much better could it get?!  Not much!

I do hope to return next year.....perhaps at a different place to lay my head.  The B&B was nice, but the large dogs, turn-of-the-century AC (and I mean 1800 to 1900!), shared bath, and the fact that I left before breakfast made it just OK. [That, plus the fact that being accepted late meant we wound up sharing a double bed.  We're small, but it was small for even us!!] But all of that is a year away......
In the meantime, I continue to rest my sore tootsies and stretch my seriously compressed spine, a problem that I can't afford at only 5' tall!

We have a WINNER

And the winner is.................
    The Reef.  NOTHING else ran close....

Since the product is a bracelet, we MAY expand the name to "A Reef Around the Wrist"

Why did I want the BEST name possible?  I'm going to be submitting the bracelet for possible publication in a beading mag.  The better it sounds, I think the better my chances.  I've been published in scientific journals, in women's mags (ghostly wonder who I am), and in books.  I've even edited a few.  But NEVER before have I even tried to get my beading designs published.  So, fingers crossed and wish me luck.

AND COUNTLESS THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR SUGGESTING WONDERFUL NAMES!
We shall see if the winning name gets published as the moniker for this unusual bracelet!!!  Of course you all will be the first to know (well, at least right after my mother and husband are told!)

Oh, and another bracelet in the Under the Sea line -- my sea urchin bracelet -- is being put together as a kit for those of you with an interest in DIY.  Keep an eye out on my website and here on the blog!  I should have it up (with a few different kit colors) later this summer!!

And I was just minding my own business......

So, there I was, minding my own business, editing a newsletter and checking my e-mail.  Got an invitation from the American Craft Council to apply for the 2013 season.....ok....nothing to jump up and down about, just something to which I need to pay attention.

BUT THEN.......
I clicked on the following attachment, the prospectus for 2013 proposed exhibitors

http://craftcouncil.org/sites/default/files/2013-Exhibitor-Prospectus.pdf

Well, you need to go there and turn to page 4!!!!!!  THEA FINE, BEADING DESIGN is in the prospectus!  OMG, OMG, OMG.
While I do like MY picture of the necklace better than the one taken gratis by the ACC folks, this is SOOOOOO cool.  WHADDA YA THINK????


Here's MY picture to compare.

Creative Block--Breaking Thru?

  Well, the annual case of "it's almost summer" malaise has hit.  My creativity has shriveled to a nub of its former self; I repeat previous designs in limited edition while I await the muses to regroup and rejoin the community of art and color that populates my studio.
   In the meantime, projects already in the midst of completion are receiving attention, but no new work is being incubated.  Much of my one-of-a-kind work takes weeks, if not months to gestate and then come to fruition. So when NOTHING is in the containers that incubate the work -- beads come and go along with add-ons to the focal piece--I get seriously worried.  Of course, that only serves to amplify the angst and worry that go along with the dearth of creative thinking...
  To jog the mind and jumpstart the vision, I've taken to looking at nudibranches (see picture above).  They're sea slugs, if you can believe it.  According to Wikipedia, they begin life nude and plain and evolve over time -- much like my jewelry.  Their colors are remarkable and, at times, absolutely surprising  (such as the case of these two).  I've been pinning them to my Pinterest page as creative juice, along with some other visuals that I've found online in an effort to energize the synapses that extend beyond the replicative movement of the hands to bead mindlessly....
   The other thing I'm doing is writing up directions for the sea urchin bracelet.  It will be offered in classes for those nearby who learn best in a class environment; it also will be available on my website in kit format (in a limited assortment of colors only).
   Stay tuned....We WILL jumpstart the muses -- I'm working on food as a means of luring them back home for the summer season.

More show news!!!!

NEW SHOW ON THE WEBSITE CALENDAR: Check it out! October 19-21, 2012. I'll be at the National Guard Armory in Morristown,New Jersey for the 36th annual Morristown Craft Mart. Don't know the booth number yet,but stay tuned. Check out the website for further updates on this and other upcoming 2012-2013 shows.

I'm on the WAITING LIST for Fall Paradise City shows (Massachusetts) and WAITING LIST for One-of-a-Kind Show in Chicago (December). Let the show organizers know you want to see me there if you can!!!

One day more.....Come on down!

Sugarloaf continues. I'm cleaned, dressed, pressed, bedecked and bejeweled and ready to grab a bit of breakfast before heading to the show....and ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!  The clock radio in the hotel room is off by an hour.  It SAYS it's 7:24, but, in reality, it is only 6:24!  No wonder I'm still so very tired!

The solution?  More beading time!  I can finish up a necklace before I head off to the show....It has been busy, but nowhere close to the definition of busy during the fall holiday season.  I've even got a "booth-and-a-half".  While in the middle of a row, I've been able to configure the space to provide the illusion of a corner booth, allowing beaucoups of additional sunlight streaming in from the window nearby.  Wonderful!!!  AND I've got a bit of extra "leg room" behind to provide a nice little storage area!  Wowzers!

The only thing that's missing is YOU!  So come to visit!

Set up at Sugarloaf Craft Show complete!

So, I'm at the hotel, with my feet up, having spent the better part of the day setting up the booth at Sugarloaf.  PHEW!

Poor John had to go back home on a "pick up what Teddi stupidly left at home" mission.  The velvet shelves on which the jewelry sits were left in the basement! DOH!  So everything WAS good to go EXCEPT what was necessary to display the jewelry!  Double DOH!

But we're all set up now; he's on his way home. I'm trying to figure out what to do for dinner....perhaps a salad from somewhere or other....MUCH to drink -- water, that is!

I'm surprised by how empty the show seems to be; but I remain hopeful that this will be a good one for me.  On the bright side, the booth is larger than usual, leaving me storage space and the ability to create the illusion of a corner booth.  Sunlight streams in and helps reduce the need for extra lighting.  A good thing!  HUZZAH!  A freebie, too!

COME TO VISIT! BOOTH 107!  Sugarloaf Craft Show Montgomery County Fairgrounds, Gaithersburg MD!

Sing Along...."An-ti-ci-paaaaaa-tion....."

      There's only one thing more disconcerting than receiving a "Thank you for applying; it was a hard decision, but, we're sorry to say..." letter from an event.  At least when you get one of those you KNOW where you stand.
      I just got ANOTHER of those "waiting list" letters!  OY VEY!  It's neither a "yes" nor a "no" and that leaves you....well, nowhere.  So how does one plan?  Simply put, one doesn't.   BUT having been scooped off the waiting list for ACC, I'm hopeful that the One of a Kind show in Chicago (December 2012) will do the same!  After all, I sent along the same pictures and text as I did to ACC....
     And while I wait to hear about this waiting list, I'm also waiting for Craft Boston in the fall (another waiting list!) and whether I'm in or out for a number of OTHER shows beginning Labor Day through the end of the year.
    The GOOD news:  I'll be in Ann Arbor, MI in July for their HUGE four day show.  A series of shows occur simultaneously and totally overrun the University's main campus.  I'll be there!  On State Street, booth 104....YAY
    The even BETTER news is that I've got a wonderful barn finch nesting at the top of the pediment that holds up our porch roof.  It's the second year the pair have graced our home.  I can't wait to see the little ones!  [And I can't wait until they leave and I can clean up the guano, too!]  I also think a duck may be nesting in my holly near the house wall -- if not, they're just visiting my little front yard more often than ever!  I'll try to get a picture.
   EVERYTHING is GREENING!  And that's so very wonderful.  Even my tiny indoor fig tree (sent bare stemmed just 2 weeks ago) has leaves AND a tiny dwarf fig.  So cute....Perhaps I'll do a bead shaped like the fig leaf; so unusual and undulating......
     Keep thinking good thoughts about future shows for me.....I'll think good thoughts for everyone else!!

   

A Teaching Gig! With more to come......stay tuned

I'm going to  be teaching a weekend class--Circling the Stone Times Three--June 30-July 1-- at the Gem Cutters Guild of Baltimore on three ways to create beaded bezels around their freshly cut gems.  If you're in the area and want to participate, check out their website (below) to get more info. And while you're there, check out the other classes on their website (http://www.gemcuttersguild.com/classes.html).


Now the challenge is MAKING THE INSTRUCTION SHEETS!  Any creative ideas? I KNOW I'm going to take some photos to add to the document, but the graphs are the part with which I will struggle! LOL, I'm so good at MAKING the jewelry, just not at drawing diagrams of HOW I make it!   Once I get that worked out, doing the class should be fun.

Now, for your eye candy for the day, I present an additional picture of the famous VW that has been beaded inside and out by the Huichol tribe of Mexico and on exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian.  There are over 2.27 million seed beads, weighing over 200 pounds that have been set in resin on the "bug." The symbols depict culturally important ceremonies, events and designs.  It too 2 families over 9,000 hours to create!.  SO COOL! SO CREATIVE!  And signed just above the bumper, or so it appears.

 Thanks to my hubby, the docent at the Smithsonian, for taking the pix for me one day when he was "at work."

FOG

It is dark, and it is foggy, much like my brain this morning.  It is also unlike the beautiful fog in the picture taken on the Rhone during our Provence trip last summer. 
I've been at a loss for creativity, blocked, hitting a wall. Colors won't come; the field of new project ideas lies fallow. Even my half-sewn beading projects languish, despite the fact that they require the less than average use of arty grey matter.  


The ennui extends to other aspects of my life. I've been reading and re-reading all of the  scientific articles that I need to understand and explain in plain English in a press release.  The result?  Poorly conceived drafts in need of reworking.


It happens to all of us: the muse evades us for a while.  What to do about it?  Surround yourself in visual, auditory, tactile and taste-worthy sensations.....And that's precisely what I plan to do today.  The music will be ON (probably classical or folk of some ilk); the beads will be OUT on the counters to be put away in vials (seeing the colors touching the colors helps), the knitting will be picked up as will the artisan bread baking habit.  All of this contributes to a mindfulness about my actions, whether kneading bread, sorting beads, finishing the baby sweater I'm knitting for a friend's new grandbaby, or even just closing my eyes and listening to music.

AND WITH LUCK, the Muse will return to touch my art and creative spirit again very soon.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! LOL

Getting Noticed vs Staying Under the Rock

She got noticed! Running up and down the stairs in Lyon, France

So, how DOES one drive people to one's facebook page AND website? Seems that I'm writing for me and a few friends....which is ok, since I love to write. BUT the purpose IS to promote the business and, more important, the jewelry itself.....Any ideas?