An Ode to Handmade

Part of the reason I got into the business of making and selling my jewelry was simply because I love to create things with my own two hands. I love the art of the handmade, the process from start to finish. I especially admire the crafty and cunning folks out there who through one way or another attempt to thoroughly immerse themselves in the process. Whether it's a jewelry maker who creates their own findings rather than simply buying pre-made ones, or the artist who creates their own poster designs and then screen-prints them themselves in their kitchen (yes, most of those close to me probably know who I'm referring to: Jeff of Crumble Diamonds), they all have earned my deepest respect and admiration.

Besides wearing my own handmade jewelry, I love donning the wearable of art of others'. It's a good feeling knowing that I was able to help someone do what they love to do by purchasing one of their gems. Because what I do is made possible by the hundreds of folks who decide they want to wear what I make.

This outfit is from last weekend (I get so horribly behind on posting to Wardrobe Remix). My parents came out to Oakland for the day. We did some shopping at bookstores in Berkeley and my mom and I went to our favorite bead store in Berkeley as well, Baubles and Beads.  (My dad also helped me install my torch! Eek! I'm so excited to start using it! More details to come on that later. . . )

You can see them better in the first shot, but I'm wearing earrings by Molly M Designs and a feather hair fascinator by Remastered Virgins. You can find Molly's earrings and other jewelry at stores all over the east bay, but the feathered hair piece is another story. The two girls I bought it from were selling at the Telegraph Avenue holiday fair in Berkeley and they pretty much only do fairs, but their work is really lovely and they combine unusual elements in their hair-pieces like driftwood, pieces of fossilized coral, even dried mushrooms!

That's the great things about selling at so many craft fairs: you get to meet other creative folks, some of them doing it for a living, some of them clearly just doing what they do because they HAVE to, as in their conscience and their soul wouldn't have it any other way. The two girls with the feathered hair-pieces seemed to be those kind of magical people. I loved their work so much I bought 3 of them. Maybe they'll be selling around here again soon.

All of these shots were taken in the backyard of my Oakland home:

outfit details:

skirt, blouse ~ thrifted

stockings and knee socks ~ Hue

necklaces ~ Tangleweeds

earrings ~ 

hair fascinator ~ Remastered Virgins

bangles ~ all thrifted or gifted

booties ~ DSW shoes 

Have a lovely day! Time to get back to making some more jewelry.