Studio Time: Sedona Ranch Necklace

This piece has been waiting in the wings for over a month. It's adorable. I love it for the connection it makes me feel to the Southwest U.S. And yet, as I offer it here, I realize I've grown in my skill. I see little bits and pieces that I've already learned to do better. But, I think it's a beginning of a foundation of my style that is evolving and growing and it makes me quite excited.

For a saucy cowgirl...laid back at Sedona Ranch...swirls of light and dark turquoise mixed with deep Sangre reds, evoking the southwest...rich, colorful hues in a swirled floral disk on twisted sterling silver wire hanging from a stout cord of leather.

The leather is unfinished and meant to be tied off at the back to vary the wearing length according to whim. All glass beads are hand-made by me and properly annealed in a digitally controlled kiln.

A Marketing Lesson: I recently had some of my friends stay with me. They saw my pile of jewelry and I started talking about glass, jewelry, and silver. Simply explaining the process of how to make glass beads was actually fun. I have a bunch of jewelry I had made before I was able to get my lampwork station setup. However, when I offered each one a gift, they wanted the one with the glass beads I made. Here in HK, beads and findings are common...you can pick up jewelry very cheaply...but the lampwork and handmade glass is less common, and therefore, more special. The marketing lesson: art becomes important when it has a very personal connection to the artist. Jewelry is common. You can buy that at a store. A connection to the heart and the ideas of a piece gives meaning and connection. It moves beyond a piece of jewelry. When you create that personal connection, it becomes a piece of art with personal meaning...whether it's with the artist who created it, or because it evokes a sense of feeling and being that the art wearer wants to feel with that piece.

Urban Primrose got tweaked and sent off as a gift to one of my old roommates...in fact, she's the roommate who inspired my "urban" theme. She had requested silver with clear beads. It took me awhile to finally do some clear beads...I did faceted beads and a tiny floral. Photos can't capture the light refraction, but it is very dreamy. I like it better than the original...

I wish I could afford to give all of my jewelry away...but I can't...

Note: I'm on a lampwork hiatus due to the untimely demise of my kiln. May it rest in peace. (I put that little machine to work! I think it got tired.) So, I need to order a new kiln. I had all the glass laid out for the Designer's Inspiration Challenge for this month, but I'll have to keep you posted on when that will actually happen. So sorry! I finally had energy, but my kiln didn't.

Lastly but not leastly...do you like the new backgrounds, blog banner, poster at the beginning of this post? Yes? I can thank Marina H. for all this work. She achieved my vision I had in mind for my Southwest theme. I have much more in mind for her in the long run. Thank you, Marina!