Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry

When a potter friend and I used to sit together with our wares at the local farmer's market, she invariably used to sell more than I did, so to make it up to me, she would sing a little jewelry sales chant under her breath: jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. (Set to whatever music suits your fancy.)

Later, we went on to found The Artisans' Guild shop together, which is where most of my jewelry ends up these days. I used to make it all the time (and do lots of craft shows, and had pieces in shops around the area), but most of my time and energy is now taken up by writing. Which basically means that about a month before Black Friday, I sat up and said, "OH NO, I need to make jewelry!"

Luckily, that happened to coincide with a rare lull in the writing push, so I've been madly stringing beads almost every day, singing the jewelry chant under my breath. Folks have asked me to post some pictures here, and not just on Facebook, so here's another bunch of finished pieces. [Any day now, in theory, I'm going to get a few of these up on Etsy, but in case I don't, just yell if there is something that catches your eye.]

Amethyst and hematite

malachite

aventurine and Venetian glass

aventurine stars

picture jasper stars

Long, large turquoise and black stone necklace

One of my favorites--black onyx and silver collar

black onyx and silver with a very cool face

black onyx and garnet with a dragon!

the dragon reminds me of Chudo-Yudo :-)

black onyx and snowflake obsidian, with a very cool agate slice that has a crystal in the middle

So tell me--which is your favorite?

The Day Job: Happy Anniversary to The Artisans' Guild

Most authors will tell you that their dream is to be a full time writer. And I would certainly like that, in a perfect world. On the other hand, I am lucky enough to like my "day job" a lot, so I don't mind working at it until I become a rich and famous uber-successful author. Or find that sugar daddy I've been looking for... (not).

Twelve years ago today, we opened the doors of The Artisans' Guild for the first time with 30 artists and not much idea of what the heck we were getting into. Which was probably a good thing, all things considered.

Co-founded by me and my friend Ellie Stromberg, a potter, the Guild is a not-for-profit shop that features the work of 50 local and regional artists and craftspeople. We've got pottery, glass, wood, fabric arts, candles, chocolate, soap, baskets...and of course, jewelry (including mine).

My official title is Executive Director, but basically I manage the place; juggling scheduling, doing paperwork and accounting, decorating the front windows every month, rearranging displays and generally keeping the shop running as smoothing as possible. It isn't always easy (managing 50 artists is a lot like trying to herd cats), but the variety and the challenges suit me. And I'm good at it, which never ceases to amaze me, since my educational background was in psychology, theater, and English Ed., with nary a business course to my name.

I don't get paid a lot, because I don't work full time and we're a not-for-profit, which means almost all the money goes directly back to the artists. But I enjoy it, and not being full time gives me the time to write on the side (and on the top and the bottom). Pretty close to a perfect world after all.

Happy anniversary, Artisans' Guild! And if you're in the Oneonta area Friday night, stop by from 5-8...we're having a party to celebrate.

http://www.theartisansguildoneonta.com/

A Good Day

Okay--not entirely good, since I am either fighting a little cold or dealing with the ragweed allergy attack from hell (or both), but some good stuff happened today:

1) I did the monthly redecoration of the shop's front windows with pal and Artisans' Guild co-founder Ellie Stromberg. When we first started the shop almost 12 years ago, we spent so much time together, when I called her house, her husband would say, "Ellie, it's your wife!" But we don't see as much of each other these days, and had a lot of fun giggling and playing as we did our best to make the shop "shiny."

2) Came home to find my biannual royalty report from Llewellyn. For those of you who don't know about such things, that's the report that tells me how many of each of my five books I sold during the last period (in this case Jan-June this year). The check for same won't arrive for another month (another good day), but the numbers were better than I expected, and the best news of all, I had sold through the advances for all five books--including the two that only came out last year. If you're not an author, take it from me...this is a GOOD thing.

I'm not going to get rich off of these books, or be able to quit my day job. But it is satisfying to know that people are enjoying my writing. (And did I mention there will be a check?)

3) I got to gab with my lovely critique partner Lisa DiDio on the phone for WAY too long this afternoon. We communicate pretty much every day, often multiple times, but usually be email. It was great to have author chat, girl chat, and more giggling.

So cold or no cold, it was a good day.

The Artisans' Guild

As some folks know, in my "day job" I run an artist's cooperative shop featuring the work of 50 local and regional artists, located in Oneonta, NY. In case you were wondering, this is what we're doing in December:

The Artisans’ Guild, located at 148 Main Street in Oneonta, will be hosting their first ever “Customer Appreciation Day” on Sunday, December 5th, from 12-4. Refreshments will be served, and there will be a 10% off sale of almost everything in the shop. During the Downtown Open House on Saturday December 11th, the Artisans’ Guild will have free gift wrapping, thanks to the local food pantries. Bring in a nonperishable food donation and volunteers will wrap your small or medium sized gift from 10 to 3. From 3 to 5 on the 11th, come in and sample the wonderful beers of Brewery Ommegang! The Artisans’ Guild’s 50 local artists hope that you will shop locally and support your community, and thank you for your ongoing support. Happy holidays!

Fabulous First Friday and the Spiritual Arts Fair

I have been putting a lot of time and energy lately into being on the committee for a new venture in Oneonta: Fabulous First Fridays. The idea here (which has been done very succesfully elsewhere) is to have a number of arts and culture related events on the first Friday of every month to draw people downtown.

The kick-off date was last Friday, May 7th, and it went pretty well. The Artisans' Guild (the shop I run and have my jewelry at) held a "Meet the New Artists" reception, featuring the seven artists and craftspeople who had joined the shop in the last year. Here's a pic of me chatting with a few of the other artist-members of The Guild.



The next day, Saturday the 8th, was the 6th annual Spiritual Arts Fair, held at the local UU Church. I took a bunch of books to sign, and did mini-tarot readings all day long. That's a fun activity--but a lot more draining than you might think, especially when you run into a streak of people with real issues, as I did this year. Still, at least I could help.

The highpoint of the day for me was getting to hang out with Pagan author pal Gail Wood [check out her books, if you haven't already and you're interested in Witchcraft--they're wonderful!] and blogger Rebecca Elson from the Magical Buffet http://www.themagicalbuffet.com/. Both ladies live just far enough away that I only get to see them on rare occasions. So this was a real treat.



That's Rebecca on my left, and Gail on my right. The next time we'll be together will be at major multi-author booksigning event that Rebecca is putting together for the Barnes and Noble in Saratoga, on September 11th. I can't wait!

Of course, the downside of all this activity was that it seriously cut into my writing time.

Twitch, twitch.

Luckily, I made up for it with an unusually productive burst on Sunday, ending up with 5K words by the time the day was over. That's possibly a personal best for me (I usually average 1,500-2,000 words in a day). This puts me well over the 2/3rd mark on the manuscript at 68,500 words. I'm aiming for about 88K, which should take me about 2 weeks to hit, if all goes well.

I'll keep you posted!