of the season is on Saturday. I’m a little nervous – I only participated in a couple of shows last year, so it feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve done one. If you’re in the suburban Philadelphia/Main Line area, come see me at the Devon Whole Foods. The store is celebrating their 15th anniversary, and they’re having a swell do – fine crafts, music, food, etc. For more info, visit Devon Whole Foods.
(a shot of my booth display - Milla by Mail Event spring 2007)
I was thinking today about the earrings I was wearing and the compliment I received. It made me think of the times I’ve used the topic of jewelry to create or extend a conversation. There have been several times at the library when I was helping a female patron and it was difficult to get anything out of her. Then I would notice that she was wearing an interesting ring, or an unique brooch. I would compliment her on the piece and immediately she would tell me something about the piece, and would warm up and open up.
I have several regular patrons who know about my love of jewelry (and Coach handbags) and who always make a point of stopping to talk to me, especially if she’s wearing a new piece. I’ve also been able to find other people who share my interest in jewelry-making at the library. It’s wonderful how I can manage to combine my two big interests – jewelry and books.
(amazonite, smoky quartz & freshwater pearl bracelet)
After an extremely long day at work, I have no clever quips of my own, so I will let someone else speak for me.
“The jeweler allows me to wear the sapphire blue lake on my finger, the emerald green leaves around my neck, and take the citrine sunset with me wherever I go. Jewelry has become my daytime link to nature in an office with no windows. And if I have to work late, there’s nothing like diamond stars and a pearl full moon against an onyx night sky.” ~Astrid Alauda, Office With No Windows
(flora – enamel, neon apatite, green tourmaline & freshwater pearl earrings)
to have a new piece of jewelry – I don’t really want something of mine, I’m looking for something different. I was browsing on etsy earlier, and found 4 pairs of earrings (besides the things that I’ve 
‘d). So many choices, so much money to spend. One of my favorites is from Freya, the designer of Tiger Burning Bright, a jewelry designer living in Edinburgh. There are so many elements to this design that I love – her distinctive wrapping technique, the colors of the gemstones, even the name of the design (India is one of my favorite places.
(Indian Parasol earrings by Tiger Burning Bright)
I still can’t decide on what I want. I guess I’ll have to do some more research – looking at jewelry is such a drag….
I thought today would be devoted to names – I’ve had a word in my head all day to use as a name for a design – “calypso”. I try to name each of my designs after completion. My mother came up with this idea; she thought that if each piece had a “persona”, it might be more attractive to a buyer. I started this concept with no idea of what it would eventually involve.
At first, it was pretty simple – if I made a design for someone, it would get named after them.
(carolyn – peridot & freshwater pearl earrings: named after my mother)
After a while, I started running out of easy names – I kind of gave up the naming task for a while, but once I opened my etsy shop, I started up again. Now, I spend almost as much time looking for names as I do making the jewelry. I have a few baby name websites bookmarked, and I research girls’ names. It’s actually kind of fun, now that I have the baby name websites – I can search for names based on a meaning, so I try to pull out some characteristic of the design to find a name. I’ve managed to find all kinds of wonderful, exotic names for my designs and the searching keeps my reference skills from getting rusty, while the library is closed for renovations.
|
dawn boyer jewelry on Facebook
