Tinkering

Remember the hand bracelets I made a few months ago?  I took them to the Bizarre Bazaar in November and although people were definitely interested in checking them out, they seemed to be more conversation pieces than wearable jewelry.  So I decided to retool them so they would be more wearable.

The sterling and copper hand bracelet became a cuff.

And the silver hand bracelet became a bangle.

Winter slump.

It happens every year: the activity of the holidays dies down I have no interest in making new jewelry. But no matter how predictable the slump is, I can't help wondering if I'm ever going back to the workbench. The last couple of months have been a big push on the jewelry front - custom orders, the Bizarre Bazaar, gifts - and I'm not feeling particularly inspired to get back to work.

What I've learned about the slump is not to fight it. If I make myself go out to the bench to try to produce something it generally doesn't end well. So instead I use that time on the weekends going through old articles and books, cleaning in my work area, or trying to make some improvements to the marketing side of things. Eventually, I know (hope) I'll feel like trying something and will wander back out there.

Speaking of marketing, I have a small collection of my broomcast and fold formed pieces in the gift gallery at the Lincoln Art Center and am their featured artist for January! If you *happen* to be driving through north central Kansas and feel the need to browse some handcrafted items, stop by and check out the gift gallery.  Here are a few of the items I have at the Art Center:

The holidays...condensed.

The last few weeks have been busier than usual, so this is a quick catch up post.

In the week before Christmas, I had a couple of custom orders for rings that I needed to get done.  The first was a sterling ring with a copper spinner on it that looks a lot like this one:

...and a set of personalized sterling stacking rings that were a gift and needed to get to California by Christmas Eve.

We made our annual gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.  I baked and assembled the house and then Ben did the decorating.  We made a smaller house because he wanted to focus more on the yard this year.  I think he did a fabulous job!

We had a great holiday break with family and are finally all back in our routines - work, school, the regular stuff.  At the end of the year I ordered some new tools and materials for silver and glass projects that I'm excited about.  Maybe after I actually take down the Christmas tree, I will get back out to the workbench...