Curve balls and life goes on

Man, just when I thought my days couldn't get any busier, life comes along and turns things upside down. I'd rather not get into the details of it here, maybe it'll be a post for another day and time. In the meantime, here are some snippets from the last week and a half in the life of Ms. Tangleweeds. . . 

assembly line at my workbench

craft fair display

at the PG&E building in SF for a mid-week sale

new earrings - variations on a theme

butterfly and valerian flowers in my backyard

at A Fair to Remember in Jack Kerouac Alley in SF

filling Etsy orders

And speaking of Etsy orders, I'm still having my three-year anniversary sale in my shop, probably 'til next Monday. Simply use the coupon code "birthday" for a whopping 35% off your entire purchase. 

Time to go watch some trashy tv and hang out with my kitties. Oh, and eat dark chocolate covered cherries from Trader Joe's. Yum Yum.

Jewelry, Baby Spiders, Busy-ness, Life, May Day

At the risk of sounding like a whiny baby, I'm just gonna say it: I am busy all of the freaking time! Sometimes it's too much. Sometimes I just wanna lay down in bed and eat a pint of ice cream and watch Mad Men and sip on some tea with my cats at my side and NOT be beleaguered by a gazillion and one thoughts about all of the things I should be doing at that very moment. This constant state of buzy-ness is mostly brought on by the running of my one-woman business. But it is also brought on by my desire to do, to accomplish, to always be proving myself to myself. And that part of the equation has got to go. Or I'm headed straight to burn-out and not successful jewelry designer/entrepreneur. I may be in need of some self-help books. . . or just more pilates, yoga, and meditation.

K, vent aside, I have instagram photos for all you lovelies. I almost want to apologize for not having "better" photos, but I must say I really like instagram and really like the way you can make your photos look with the various filters and what-not. It's probably an affront to professional and artistic photographers everywhere, but it serves it's purpose for me.

I bring you a hodge-podge assortment of snippets from the last week in my life. . .

-baby spiders in my backyard-

Don't get me wrong. I am incredibly grateful for the simple fact that I get to work for myself creating jewelry I love.

-jewelry components - handmade-

But what I did not realize, heading down this winding path, was just how little time I would have for the many other facets of my life. I do feel that I bring this up on my blog quite a bit, and while I don't want to beat a dead horse, I think it is the number one (or at least very important) thing someone considering creating their own handmade business should consider. Do you highly value having lots of free time? Do you highly value being able to do whatever you feel like on the weekends? If you answered yes to these two questions, then you'll want to take a long and hard look at this business you are considering.

-huge hunk of rutilated quartz at the Margaret De Patta exhibit at the Oakland Museum-

With that said, I don't want to scare off potential crafty business folks. Running your own business and creating the things that will be your bread and butter is so fulfilling. It fulfills me in a way no other job ever has. 

-trio of Featherlight necklaces-

I think I bring up all of the many facets, the reality, because I am someone who is always looking at things from a gazillion angles at once. That analysis does not stop with my own life. I am constantly considering how I can find more balance. I weigh the pros and cons of most of my decisions carefully. Right now I now I am sticking with this jewelry biz. I quit my "other" job back in September of last year. I want to give myself at least three years on my own before I consider a different career choice. 

-crystal and brass rhombus necklace available at CH Good Stock-

And therein lies the difficulty: I do not want another career. I love love love what I do. But eventually the sacrifices may mount to too much. Talk to most any vendor working the craft fair scene and they will share a similar story: one of constant work, sacrifice, striving to find balance, giving up on finding balance for a while, coming back around to it. There are sore backs and sore muscles, sun-burns and chapped lips from the many days spent outside. 

-display at the Glen Park Festival (from Sunday)-

But, ahhh, there is the good, the wonderful, the sublime. When people love your work. When someone connects with a piece that you just made and were so happy with the way it turned out (see the earrings below for a personal example of this.) When someone insists that they don't want the 25% discount that you're offering because they know how hard it is and they want to do their little part to support you.

-brand-new! the ones on the left have already sold. the ones on the right are still available. I'll have them out at the next First Friday in Oakland-

The good keeps me going. 

I hope everyone has the opportunity to find meaningful work in their lives. I am beyond fortunate to have found it for myself. Yesterday was May Day and it has me thinking and considering the many facets of our "work" lives. Life lived with intention and love and compassion - these are my over-riding goals with Tangleweeds and everything I do in my life. 

-I made a bunting banner (finally!) for my craft fair booths-

With all of that said, craft fair season has just started for me. Mid-April basically marked the beginning for me and it's been off to a great start. I'm feeling really positive about it and am excited to be getting back out to my gypsy-jewelry-travelling ways. You can check here for updates on my next month of fairs.

Have a great Wednesday everyone! 

Setting Aside

I broke my chasing hammer yesterday. Hrmph. My third one in the last two years or so. And all because I haven't been able to afford to buy a well-made one. All I can afford are the cheap-o fifteen dollar ones that you can find at the local bead and jewelry supply store.

Needless to say, I am determined to set some money aside for a quality one!

I'm working at CH Good Stock today. I'm here every Thursday from 11am to 6pm. I love visitors =). While I wait for some visitors. . . I finished my taxes! I owe this year (ugh) but I'm postponing the payment 'til the 17th just to postpone the pain. The first four months of this year (my first year of solely working for myself) have been seriously tight on the money front. Which I'm sure many of you already know, I think I complain about it a bit too much. Well, 'tis my reality these days. Hopefully I will learn something from all of it and plan ahead this year for this time next year.

dark brown (up-cycled) mottled leather, hand-forged brass pieces, triangles of smokey quartz

My lesson for the first quarter of the year: set more money aside for the unexpected! Or, maybe just for everything.

I've mentioned that there are lots of new designs in the works for Tangleweeds. Yesterday I wrapped up some new leather feather earrings. These lovelies aren't in my Etsy shop, but they are going to be available at First Friday and Saturday.

sandy brown (up-cycled) leather, hand-forged and oxidized copper bars and diamonds, quartz crystals

orange leather (up-cycled), hand-forged brass bars, tigerseye beads (this pair is actually at CH Good Stock)

I made a few more pairs but my camera battery died before I could snap some more photos. I do want to share more of my work with you guys, both the in-progress photos and the finished work. The thing about selling at craft fairs is I don't always take the time to photograph pieces before they sell. I'm trying to establish a new routine for myself. Freshly photographed pieces every week!

And, speaking of this weekend, if the First Friday crowds are too much for you, think about stopping by here:

For those of you who "like" Tangleweeds on Facebook, you may know that I was looking for someone to work my table for me this coming Saturday. Well, that conflict has been resolved and I am now planning on being at the collective both days. It really is a fun place. If I wasn't selling there I'd probably go as a customer every month if I could!

Lastly, did you catch this story about the newly hatched peregrine falcons in San Francisco? It warmed my heart so much. I am amazed and touched that there are people who will sit and essentially have a vigil for these birds in the hours leading up to the eggs hatching. Amazing. That kind of just sums up how I want to live my life. Which may or may not make a whole lot of sense to all of you. But I think it does. It's about setting aside the time to honor and take care of what is worth taking care of. 

On that note, I hope everyone has a lovely day!

New Trails

This month is turning out to be fiery and full! I can't believe how many of my days are already spoken for: craft fairs, birthdays (including mine!), work, fun, dates with friends, dates with Jeff (but not enough), part-time jobs (CH Good stock on Thursdays, assisting at an after school art class on Tuesdays), pilates, and time to take care of myself (not to be forgotten.) Throw in feeling more and more like a bona-fide "step-mom" these days and my days run from 6 am to late (but not late by many people's standards) pretty quickly.

some earrings for an Etsy order this week

Oh, where am I going with this, you ask? 

To this point: I'm kind of tired of blogging in the style I've been blogging. I'm not trying to be a trend-setter or a taste-maker. I'm not trying to make sponsors happy. When I started my blog (wait, I have to check) three years ago (yesterday!) what I really wanted was a place to tell stories and share the creative work that was currently happening in my life. 

mystic lady necklace ~ there's been a lot of experimentation going on in the Tangleweeds studio lately

I realized quickly that telling stories took time. Telling stories and including awesome photos takes even longer. But I quickly became overly concerned with posting here as often as possible. Recently, I even came up with a schedule for myself: Style and Reason Mondays, Etsy Trio Tuesdays, and so on and so forth. 

new leather-feather earring designs

At first, keeping my blog simply "active" gave me some satisfaction. Until I realized I was dreading everyday when I needed to sit down and draft my next blog posts. This is what I want (and I hope what some of my readers will enjoy): to blog less often but more meaningfully. To share pictures of my works-in-progress with all of you, the stories behind them, to share more of my life. I may offend some people, but I'm gonna try to not worry about that too much seeing as I think I already worry about that too much =). 

kitty whiskers - a close-up of my studio kitty mr. "little kitty."

As I venture forth on this experiment, I'll also share my creative experiments with you. Of late I've been itching to branch out a bit with Tangleweeds. Try some new things. Take some classes, gain some new skills. In the past I've often taken a leaning towards mixed media and altered art jewelry. Some of my new work will most likely fall into these categories. 

new earrings featuring my own scavenged bits of sea glass

The older I get the more I want true intention to infuse what I do. I think when I was young if something didn't feel right, but I felt like I "ought" to be doing it, I was more apt to stick with it. But that way of living a life takes little pieces of one away from oneself and over the years it adds up to something big. Yes, at this point I'm speaking about more than just blogging, I am, in a way, touching on my bigger reasons for pursuing this "working and supporting myself as an artist" gig. 

But that is a tale for another time. Maybe a three-parter. It's a long tale =)

Current Work

Experiments in jewelry making. . . 

Fair-trade African ceramic beads. The brass shapes I hand-cut and then stamp. The red lines are the patterns I later stamped into the pieces.

A twist on an old design.

These earrings are part of a new series of pieces I'm making. I'm using old cookie and candy tins and cutting them apart for jewelry. All designs are one-of-a-kind given the limited availability of the tins. I love these and their "art-deco-y" feel. 

More work in progress. . . 

Steel circle earrings with stone daggers. These aren't available in my Etsy shop, but they will be available at First Friday!

Brass ear cuffs. You can get these in my Etsy shop!