Kristen's Blog

 

Last week I attended the funeral of one of my very first and most special customers.  Kind and beautiful, she and her husband encouraged and supported my business from the very beginning.

At my first arts and crafts festival nine years ago, I was still learning about the logistics of working a show.  I was under-prepared for the strength of the wind that day and was spending more time holding down the tent than talking to anyone who entered  the booth.  This couple and their daughter each held a leg of my tent until I could get things under control.  After that they quickly became frequent customers, coming to the house, instead of the studio, for orders and purchases.  My children knew them and loved to hide the minute they pulled up.

At her service I was profoundly moved by the way her family embraced me.  They shared with me how much her jewelry meant to them, their memories of her wearing it and the way it was now a means to help keep her close.

This is no small thing.  I truly believe that the energy and love we put into any act of creation is passed on.  For me, if it's a bad day and I am not feeling it, I put down the hammer, drill, pliers, torch.  I find something else to do or a way to center myself again.  Every piece has to go out with Love.  Last week I remembered why.

I ache for her family, for the loss everyone who knows her feels.  But I am comforted knowing that they have small tokens to help them feel her spirit.

Everything we do matters.

To creating with Love,

K

Since my business began, my jewelry making has been a metaphor for my life. At first, hesitant, unsure, following what's already been done. Gradually finding footing, becoming more independent and beginning to recognize my own unique abilities and gifts. Eventually, learning to express myself, taking risks and accepting the consequences...creating with gratitude, openness, love and passion.

It's easy to become content with the status quo. You blend in, you're easy to get along with and there is little chance of rejection. In many ways, life is easier. But there is also, for some of us, a nagging feeling of emptiness, a longing. What does it take to live out your passions, to allow your beliefs to become actions, to take a chance and not always be the person everyone expects you to be...to be the one only you were created to be?

I remember her, the girl with unwavering convictions, with crazy thoughts and a knowing that she could change the world around her. Then the world brought her to her knees, picked her up and led her into a world of contentment. A place full of ease and gratitude, a cocoon preparing her for the next phase.

So, I have cleaned out closets and drawers full of the old, laid it bare for others to claim, and feel more freedom to pursue my passions. I can't wait to introduce my new jewelry line in the fall! It will have more of me in it than anything I've offered before and it will be made with love and conviction.

 

I am so excited about my new piece, "I Know You By Heart."  There are two things that I love about it.  The first one is that it is completely not the piece I had intended to make.   I love that-- all of our planning and designing and intention take us to a place of newness, something completely unplanned.  It reminds us to loosen the reins, the process will unfold and take us along.

The second thing I love about this piece is that it has its own theme song.  Every time I began to work on it I heard Eva Cassidy singing, "I Know You By Heart."  I wish I could post it for you here, but I strongly encourage you to search for it.  I still remember the moment I first heard her singing "Fields of Gold" at a small art show in Decatur.  The show coordinator was playing Eva's cd as we all set up for the show.  I immediately stopped unpacking and went to find her...I had to know who the artist was, I cannot remember ever feeling so moved by a voice.   She left us much too young, but she leaves the gift of her voice...pure and beautiful.

This piece will be featured at our 8th anniversary show this Saturday 2/25 at Tannery Row.  I have been here for almost half of those 8 years.  My gratitude for this space and my fellow artists grows every time I walk through the doors of this profoundly historic building.  I hope you can help us celebrate Saturday night!

Who do you know by heart?

 

The kids were with their Grandmother and we had the day to focus on taking new pictures for the web site.  We had our studio cat with us, borrowed professional equipment and a pledge to be kind, since my photographer and I both have a tendency to be a little head strong.

I have learned from previous experience that the recipe for a difficult day of photographing jewelry is to be under prepared.  So this time I had all of my pieces ready (duh, I know, but sometimes things happen), I prepared a spreadsheet to organize what to photograph as well as how to photograph it and I had the background and display all set.  My charming photographer was patient and determined to have a finished product that I liked.  Despite almost dropping the camera and spilling about 1 lb of river stones onto the wood floor (which I am still finding in odd places), it was our most productive and congenial photo session to date.

Things had gone so well that the next day we went to the studio to attempt a new head shot since my current one is a couple of years old.  This is never easy, regardless of the amount of planning I put into it, and ended without a new photograph.

I need some suggestions...how do you capture a photograph that conveys who you are, has an artist edge and  expresses more personality than perfection?

 

 

There is a feeling that runs through me as I am driving alongside the railroad tracks and that image of the tannery first comes into view.  The beautiful old 4-story brick building is home to many things, including Tannery Row Artist Colony which is where I have my studio.

I started my business 8 years ago, but I feel that it really began the day I became a resident of Tannery Row.  That gave me a space to call my own, made it all seem official and surrounded me with art that both inspired and humbled me.  It has given my jewelry direction and it has reminded me that I aspire to be a part of a creative process, creating images of function and beauty and technical precision.  What began as a relaxing hobby has deepened into an undercurrent pulling all of the strands of my life experiences into one pool.

 

 

 

 

 

I am trying to be more open. Don't get me wrong...if you are a trusted friend or part of my family I am transparent. But opening up to customers (unprofessional) or to strangers on my web site (creepy) is new for me. I am one of the last people to have a Facebook page. I proclaimed it was a fad. If anyone wanted to know how I was they could pick up the phone and call me or even just reach out with an e-mail. Needless to say...the phone was not ringing and my husband was updating me on my friends. I gave in and decided it might be a good idea to let people know that I have been making jewelry, running a business and balancing it all with my most important job--being a mom and a wife.

I want to start a blog for several reasons...to allow people who like my jewelry to understand what lies behind it, to know that this isn't mass-produced substandard jewelry or a get-rich-quick scheme (trust me). It is a serious career path I've chosen, or been chosen for, and I am changed by it.

If I am putting my heart and soul into my work then maybe it's okay to break down the walls.

I hope you will join me on the journey and take a chance...