Hello MaryLou, Goodbye Heart

I have a thing for dinosaurs as you may remember! So when I saw this stegosaurus by sugarsusan I had to build a treasury around it!

So I collected a bunch of black and white pictures.


Then I recalled that MaryLou of time2cre8 loves black and white together! She's a fellow EBW member and an all-around great gal!


So I named this for her.

Also featured from EBW Team are Odds and SandFibers. I'm planning a SandFibers treasury next! Can't leave my pal Carol Dean out!

For the next two days you can see all these beauties up close by clicking the picture!

Focus On: Adina Halpern

Profile: Adina Halpern

http://www.adinahalperndesigns.etsy.com/

http://knitstripedfrog.blogspot.com/

Adina is a fellow member of the EBW Team on Etsy.com. She has a hip easily recognizable style. This is her latest piece, Dreamy Summer Night.

Tell us about yourself. What makes you, you?

Good question! Well, I'm twenty-four years old and I've lived in six different cities. Right now I live in New York City, but my parents live in Sydney, Australia, and my younger sister lives in Canberra, Australia's capitol city. I've worked as a paralegal for the past two years, but I'm looking forward to changing paths some time in the near future. (Which path I take, I have yet to figure out.) Arts and crafts have always been a part of who I am. I also love running, and I love teaching people all different types of things, including arts and crafts! In college, I majored in anthropology, and I am fascinated by different people and cultures.

Do you see yourself as an artist or craftsman or both?
I see myself as both! I've always held the belief there is art in everything, and everything is art. The work I do (not only the work I sell!) is mostly one type of art – crafts!

What made you want to be an artist/craftsman?
I have always loved arts and crafts. My mother taught me how to make all kinds of things when I was young, and I would work on these projects for hours.

Why beads?

I have literally been beading ever since I can remember. I must have been about six years old when my mother (a child of the '60s and '70s) showed me how to make daisy chains. She had collected many, many beads in her youth, and had stashed them all in empty medicine containers. I loved beading so much that my mother found some other patterns at a craft store (JoAnn Fabrics, I think) and taught me how to make those. When I was about twelve, I figured out that I could make up my OWN patterns, and from then on, I just couldn't stop! I love all kinds of crafts, but I sell my beadwork because beading comes the most natural to me, and because my beading designs are unique and I want to share my creations with others!

How do you see your style?
Aesthetically speaking, I try to keep things relatively simple. I like working with different shapes and colors. One of my goals is to make jewelry that works for all occasions, including everyday wear. My jewelry is delicate looking, but at the same time, it is funky and fun.

What's the most wonderful thing you've made? The oddest?

Most Wonderful: Probably a silver, gold, and black cuff that I made for my grandmother. It made my grandmother so happy, and that is always my ultimate goal! :-)

Oddest: When I was about four, my mom had me in a little kids' pottery class. Everything I made was odd for the simple reason that I refused to paint anything any color but olive green! I even made a little clay bowl with clay cheerios, and painted it olive green! As far as beads are concerned, I made a pretty odd bracelet for my friend once. (This is pretty hard to explain, but I will try!) I like to play around with different levels of peyote (a stitch that kind of looks like rows of bricks on top of each other) stitch. (The only way I can really convey the type of thing I'm talking about is to show you something similar.) This bracelet was very asymmetrical, and kind of went up and down her wrist. But then, my goal was to be funky, and my friend really did like it. It was odd, though. I've made lots of other odd things unintentionally, but I don't usually end up finishing them!

What inspires you?

Lots of things inspire me! Different shapes inspire me. Other kinds of jewelry (usually metal) inspire me. Colors inspire me! Seasons inspire me! Feelings inspire me!

What scares you?
I guess I'm kind of scared that Etsy will take over all aspects of my life! (But it kind of already has…) Or the opposite! That I'll end up with a career that leaves me no creative time. But to tell you the truth, crafts don't scare me – life scares me!

Tell us about your creative process.

My creative process starts with my inspiration. As I'm making one piece, I'll often become inspired to make another piece that differs slightly from the first piece, and that piece will inspire me to make another piece that differs slightly from that second piece, etc., etc. I also get inspired by all kinds of jewelry that I see – usually things made out of metal. I'll see something and think, "I wonder if I could make something similar out of beads!" After I come up with my initial plan, I usually sketch out some sort of pattern in a sketch book (or, occasionally, a scrap of paper!), pick out my colors, and from then on it's usually pretty relaxing. I like to bead while watching TV or listening to music or while my boyfriend plays the guitar, which relaxes me. I only need silence when I have to count beads or work out mathematically what will work and what won't – that can be very frustrating at times, but is usually more than worth it in the end!

How did you get on Etsy and where else do you sell?

I occasionally go on another crafting network, craftster.org, and last year, I found a discussion about Etsy on that. After that, I thought about setting up an Etsy shop for a while, and in April, I finally did it! When I was a teenager, I used to sell my work at local markets in Sydney, and to friends. I never made a lot of money doing that, but I always had a lot of fun. Right now, Etsy is the only official place where I am selling, although I have recently sold some pieces to different people I know personally, off Etsy.

Describe your shop.

My shop is full of my beadwork. It is fun, funky, and wearable. I like to think that my own personality is reflected in my shop. Even though it is technically a "virtual" place, I like to think that it is a friendly place!

Make a recommendation.

I recommend this, because I think it epitomizes my shop. It is fun, funky, pretty, and perfect for a day at the office or the mall, or for a more formal event.

Tell us the answer to a question that we didn't ask, but should have. If you can't think of anything, tell us something random.

Well, usually when people ask me to tell them something random, I tell them that I made beaded jewelry! But since you already know that by now, I'll say that I wrote my college senior thesis on the anthropology of knitting and knitting groups! I got to participate in and observe all kinds of knitting groups and knitting clubs and then write about them! It was an amazing (and fun!) experience! I'm always interested in the social aspects of crafts, and modern online crafting culture fascinates me! :-)

Finite Hearts that Yearn

Unwritten Poetry - Ink
Originally uploaded by Samyell

At almost 30 I'm coming into that portion of life where growing has slowed down long enough for me to focus on knowing. The person that we are at 8 is so different from who we are at 18, and at 28 the mind boggles at the things we did and said and felt when we were 18.

Art has always been a huge part of my life, but more so now than ever.

I'm learning that I'm more sensitive than I ever thought and that I'm more stubborn than I ever thought, that I'm both more fragile and more determined than I ever suspected.

Tuesday a friend said, "Part of the reason most of us get married is that we feel incomplete as person."

I stopped the thought, solidified it in my mind, examined it from this angle, and that. And I realized that I may never get married. For real. I don't feel incomplete as a person. The very thought is alien to me.

No man is an island, and I'm certainly not. I love my family and spend *a lot* of time with them. I love and need my God, my friends, my cats, my books and my art. But it's not because I'm not a complete and whole person. It's because healthy, complete and whole people know that relationships and goals and interests outside themselves contribute to a happy meaningful life.

I've always loved Browning. If you're not familiar with him, you've probably heard the line "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." That was written for him by his wife, Elizabeth Barrett I love pretty much anything he wrote. My first acquaintance with him began in school with 'How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix’ and 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin'. I memorized the first one. He was my kind of poet!
Later I discovered 'Two in the Campagna', which is only, to my mind, the most romantic poem ever written! That she completes him is obvious. He expresses so much adoration that he wants to be his wife, he wants to be so tightly bound up with her that they are the same, one complete person. It's a physical, but not essentially sexual yearning:

I would I could adopt your will,
See with your eyes, and set my heart
Beating by yours, and drink my fill
At your soul's springs, - your part my part
In life, for good and ill.

He can't of course. His human nature limits him to being with her, and loving her. His human nature leaves him wondering what's going on inside her head, as we can never fully know with another. Even if they tell us, what they are trying to say will never be exactly what we hear.

As with our art, what we try to convey will never be exactly what the viewer, buyer, owner feels. As even with this poem.

My favorite part of the poem expresses frustration and resignation at that, but also such beauty:

Only I discern-
Infinite passion, and the pain
Of finite hearts that yearn.

We're all capable of seeing glimpses of infinity, and certainly of wanting it. But we're only capable of doing so much despite our yearnings. I read this, and where before I always wondered what it would feel like, now, truth be told, I'm kind of glad that my yearnings are artistic and spiritual. There's only so much of that infinite stuff a physical body can take.

External/Internal (Art as Personal Validation Series-- Article 2)

Validation carries the thought of being authenticated, verified and proven worthwhile. In my first post on this blog I made the statement that selling art was about personal validation.
Don't believe me?
It's not about making money-- because there are much easier ways to do that.
It's not about making people happy, or we'd give our art away.
Not that those two things don't come into play-- but that's not what it's about.

See if this is familiar. You've make something incredible and you just know it will be be snapped up by one of the first 10 people who sees it. Eagerly and with anticipation you can feel down to your toes, you lay it out on your sales display and no one even looks at it, or worse, you put it out on the Web and no one looks and you sit there checking it every five minutes for an hour and then twice a day for a week and not only does it get ignored-- it sits in your house for years.

And you look at it and think 'well maybe it wasn't so great after all. Am I fooling myself? Are my family and friends too nice to say my stuff is crap? Are all the artists on Etsy just yessing me?'( Which we do have to watch by the way. Hearing that our art is great by people who don't truly love it isn't very healthy. We know they don't truly love so it diminishes the validity of the heartfelt comments we will get.)

On the other hand-- something pricey sells, a stranger blogs about us, we're juried into a show, published, galleried, commissioned and oh my, we're sky high! Our art is brilliant, it's loved, it's worth something and because it's so much a part of us, we're brilliant, we're loved, we're worth something-- but nothing real has changed!

It's the same painting, bead, bracelet, hat or sculpture it was when it was sitting in our house for three years. And we're certainly the same person that we were two seconds before it sold.

It's a pitfall. Seeking external validation can motivate us and right or wrong we're going to seek it, but we need to be aware of that and balance it out. Alone, it can leave us insecure, negative and needy, with no creative direction. Being conscious that external validation must be balanced with internal validation will help keep our creativity free for creating!

Think of Van Gogh-- he got so little external validation, yet he painted the most incredible work. If you ever have a chance to see his work in person, nab it. Pictures don't show the texture and scale which make his work truly awe-inspiring.

He was driven from the inside to create something beautiful and nothing on the outside would stop him. His art was important to him. His validation was internal. That's key-- our conviction that we are authentic and worthwhile and that our art is authentic worthwhile must be more solid and real to us than the conviction of others or their lack there of.

That personal conviction will show in our lives and our art. If we aren't desperate for external validation we'll be able to genuinely enjoy it when it comes our way. (Who enjoys their dinner more, the well-fed man or the one who's literally starving for it? There's little joy in desperation.)

If we balance internal and external validation we'll be healthier, happier, have more creative energy and better able to stay true to our own vision. That will result in art we love and that others love too!

New Challenge Theme: Art Deco

Entries for the EBW Team June Midsummer Nights Dream Challenge are due the 5th and Staci of Pink Pooch Designs has announced the July Challenge Theme: Art Deco!

So inspired! I'm a huge fan of Alphonse Mucha and the Art Nouveau movement he popularized. Art Deco is about as close as you can get without actually being Art Nouveau. Both movements were decorative, without much in the way of political or social intentions (though the same can't be said for Mucha himself).

Art Deco took root around the turn of the 20th century and peaked in the 1920's. It took fluid Art Nouveau and sharpened it up with Cubism, Modernism and Futurism. What I like about the movement was that it was also influenced by Primitivism. The art of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Aztec Mexico was all incorporated into this elegant, dynamic, colorful movement. My favorite part of Art Deco is Egyptian Revivalism.

So, that's what I'd like to explore in my piece and I may use this cool little scarab I found on my own Egyptian adventure!

Collaborations

Yesterday I got an inquiry on my Primitive Series-- Catching Gray Earring. A very kind customer had the brilliant idea of offering interchangeable stones! I plan to start doing that today!

Then as he was showing his prospective purchase to a friend and she asked if I did ear cuffs.
Well, no. I've thought of it, but never gotten around to it. But I told him I'd give it a shot and see what I could come up with.

In short order I had two awesome little designs that I just love!

I'll be making more and putting them in my shop today!

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It's worth mentioning that though the Primitive Series was an idea brought on by a visit to the Met, almost every design in it has been created in response to customer requests. That includes the Catching Gray earring that prompted this delightful exchange!

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As I sit here wearing my two new ear cuffs, I reflect that this whole thing is a brilliant example of how collaborative handcrafted jewelry is. It connects the maker of the piece, with the person who chooses that piece to say something about themselves, with the persons that contributed to the very traditions that we base our designs on.

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It's part of our heritage of art and craft, our human heritage, and it should be celebrated.

Connections

Is it news when we spend money? It's complicated. A few months ago I bought some beads during the LEST sale and I made Thalassa.

When I listed it I sent a note to the artist, Carol, of CarolsGlassCreations. She sent me back a note telling me that she'd showed it off on lampworketc.com.

Well I got a bunch of hearts from lampwork artists almost immediately. But yesterday I got a heart from Paul at FireDanceBeads. And oh my word! His stuff is fabulous! So wonderful that I was afraid to show off my faves in a treasury for fear someone would buy then out from under me. My connection with these beads is physical. I *had* to have them! I'm a little mad that I even ever saw them because I don't need more beads and I don't need to spend more money. But I had to have these. Aren't they wonderful?