material

i checked uniform studio's most recent post tonight - after spending the last few days thinking extensively about the power of the material-choice in my work. (funny how thoughts mingle!)since the Walker chose to keep the majority of my wood necklaces and earrings, the response i've been getting from people (desire for the wood) has been heard loud and clear: people like the wood. i like the wood, too.














not unlike martha's Random Fold dress in wool, there is a different depth and warmth and tactile quality to the TOPO necklace in wood compared to the acrylic....same with the Hollow necklace... the color of the acrylic is so powerful in its own way - and i've found the combination of wood and acrylic to be the most dynamic thus far.

which makes me realize that i have pretty much spent the last 4+ months exploring different material choices and material combinations for only four necklace designs --- which is quite different from my normal creative tendencies: repeatedly designing variation after variation of a formal idea or quality of an object, instead of committing to the form and investigating another aspect of the design. (perhaps this means that i am finally satisfied with some of my form-decisions??)

anyway, it has spilled over into my ornaments, too. my friend, berry, does paintings on thin sheets of plywood (her material of choice) and threw out the idea of making the ornaments out of plywood. of course i had to jump right on it - and they are quite beautiful, i must say -- a very different quality than the punchy-acrylic. they are softer and warmer .... the light wood is somewhat "personable" if that makes any sense... perhaps humble is the word i'm looking for? but the darker/burned edges add a refinement that was entirely unexpected. --->next step of exploration ... color/stain??? hmmmm.

under cover ...

a friend was in town from san francisco and made a stop to see my jewelry at the walker and got reprimanded for taking this photograph with his iphone. ---

WALKER & ETSY

My work will be "under lights" in the Walker Jewlery Case -- as they have chosen an assortment of my jewelry to keep in the case through the holiday! (possibly through Valentine's Day if things go well.) I am so grateful for their interest and willingness to give me & my jewelry a chance! This is a sampling of what they will have in their case.

In the mean time, I have begun posting jewlery that the Walker is NOT carrying - in our ETSY shop. You will also find our "Trendy Tannenbaum" and some new tree ornaments in our shop.

WALKER show

the show went really well on friday. i can't tell you exhillerating it felt to have MY jewelry in the WALKER case! everybody at the walker were soo nice and welcoming. it was a lot of fun! wow!

thank you to all who came out to support me - it means a lot!

The official WALKER card is out!

inspiration

I was one of 4 women who presented their work & discussed the topic of COLLABORATION at a panel discussion on Monday evening at the College of Design at the University of Minnesota - sponsored by Women in Architecture. I spent a lot of time thinking about our collaborative process at silvercocoon and tried to illustrate it through the evolution of the design of our modern tree. I also touched on the idea that inspiration can come from working with other people - on other projects. I find this to be true with my jewelry...although inspiration comes from many places - some of which are easier to illustrate. These are a few of the images that I prepared for the talk - and thought I would share them here - as it gives you peak into the ideas spinning around in my head about some of the pieces I've created. (the middle b & w image is of one of my son's car-stacks - i am so enthralled with the way in which he plays!)

ANNOUNCEMENT

as part of the WALKER's membership appreciation weekend, they have trunk-shows in the WALKER SHOP featuring one artist's work on friday, one on saturday and one on sunday. i will be the artist featured on friday this year! i am very excited and honored (and nervous) and have been working hard to refine my processes and systems in order to produce the best product possible and enough of it to feel prepared for anything. it's hard to know what to expect...which makes it all the more interesting!

red

you can see both the shiny and matte version of the red in the above image of the CIRCLES necklaces. i love the *punch* that the shiny version has, but the matte has certain velvety-quality in person that makes me think i should offer both versions.

NEW - blue