My Jewelry Is In a Store!

Today I had the great pleasure of meeting with one of the lovely ladies that run The Bag Lady store in Charlotte, North Carolina. The store features hand-made artisan items made by and with the purpose of uplifting women. I've carried prayer malas in their store before, and they also carry my poetry chapbook. Now, they have some of my new earring looks, many inspired by my trip to Mexico. Here is just a sample of what I'm displaying. If you're in the Charlotte are, check out the store. The address is 1710 Kenilworth Ave, Suite 200.

Travelin'

For the past 2 months I have been traveling and picking up all sorts of good inspiration for the year of jewelry making that I have ahead of me. With nothing more than a white hand towel and a bag of seed bead tricks, I set up my work stations in Cali, Mexico, New York, and North Carolina. I had fun checking out the jewelry scene in all of these places. I was able to pick up some cool new gemstones in Cali, which I’m super psyched to work with. The most inspirational place, however, was Mexico. I was there for almost a month, and had the chance to travel around and check out the seed bead scene. From Quintana Roo to Chiapas, the inspiration was flowing. Here are just a few pics of those journeys and what is coming forth.

Enjoy!

Coming soon: Info on Monthly Auctions

Workshop!

I've been meaning to post these pics for a while. Over Spring break I had the pleasure of doing an upcycle workshop with some of the lovely ladies at Laura elementary school. Most schools in Majuro don't have a budget for arts education, so the kids are really eager to do arts projects. About 18 students, their teacher, and I crammed into the school's office to make upcycled earrings from soda cans and magazines. It was a lot of fun and girls came up with some beautiful designs.

Thanks to Katie for lettting me come to her class and for taking such great pics! Keep crafting ladies!

Repurposing

As I stated in a previous post, I've got a deadline for an art show approaching and am trying to find inspiration where I can. This post is about repurposing beads from other pieces of jewelry. I usually don't go for taking things apart, but lately I've been coming across some great bead necklaces at rummage sales that are ripe for the picking. I just finished a necklace from some funky glass beads that came off a fun little $1 number.

Funky Beads!

Le'funky Necklace!

Are you a repurposer? If so, how do you re-rock your finds?

Making It New

Despite my love for my little seed beads, I've found myself in a creative rut lately. With a deadline for an art show approaching, I've been scouring bead mags, blogs, and the jewelry section of local stores to find inspiration. There's always something new going on in Marshallese handicrafts, and my latest creation is a riff on my fave pair of Marshallese style earrings and my fave pair of seed bead earrings.

Take a dash or Marshallese pizzazz,

and a pinch of Mexican sazon

and you get these lovely pinwheels.

Do you have any remix projects in your stash?

What's Your Vibration?

In Aboriginal Dreaming,

every meaningful activity, event, or life process

is believed to leave behind a vibrational residue.

Jambo Arts Show Part 2

Ahoi hoi beaders, Just wanted to let you know that I'm preparing for another big art show. I hope to be posting some new work soon. Hold on!