AdornmentCraft

We’re moving out-of-state next week and I’m in the process of packing all of my office and studio gear and supplies for the trip. When we came to Seattle three years ago, I had to pack quickly to get ready for movers who would swoop in on one day and carry everything out. As a result, I arrived here with lots of unlabeled, disorganized boxes of supplies - and I never really had time to recover from it.

For this trip, we’re using moving pods; those containers you get delivered outside your house and fill up with boxes and furniture at your own pace. This is giving me a chance to go through all of my supplies piece by piece and reorganize as I pack them.

It’s a time-consuming process, but one I highly recommend! As far as I can tell, when I arrive back in California and unpack, I should be able to get things up and going again in no time. I’ll also have reduced the amount space I need for both my office and studio, since I’m finding lots of things to consolidate, throw away, or donate while packing.

If you’re not moving anytime soon, see if you can schedule a major “spring cleaning” for your office and supplies (even if it is fall . . .). Give yourself at least a few days to devote to reorganizing, labeling, and prioritizing. As you find things you don’t need anymore, consider offering them on eBay, donating them to charity or a local school, or posting them on a Freecycle list, if you have one locally.

That’s enough on this almost-off-topic topic - time for me to get back to packing!

Interweave Press recently announced the launch of its new “online community” site, Beading Daily, so I paid it a visit.

It’s a really nice-looking site, full of a lot of free projects and ideas. In order to access the project instructions, you need to register on the site with your email address. This makes you a Beading Daily charter member.

Unless you opt out of emails, you will also receive a daily email newsletter that contains blog posts on three days of the week. On the other two days, you’ll receive “cool information about Interweave books, magazines, and events that may be of interest to you” (according to the Beading Daily FAQ page).

For now, all the projects are free of charge, but in the future some will be available for purchase. The project library is a combination of tutorials previously published in Interweave magazines and brand-new projects.

I know that a lot of beaders are always looking for new projects to try (especially free ones!), so I suspect that Beading Daily will become a popular site.

If you knit, you may also be interested in Interweave’s similar site, Knitting Daily, which launched earlier this summer.

I just returned from my trip to Las Vegas, and I thought I’d jot down my impressions of the current jewelry trends on The Strip. I found them to be typical of the trends we’ve seen over the past few years in other parts of the country, with just a touch of extra Las Vegas bling.

First, not surprisingly, glitter and sparkles are everywhere. I saw crystal rhinestone jewelry on display in lots of shops, as well as rhinestone-encrusted other-things, like little boxes and handbags. I didn’t, however, notice too many women actually wearing rhinestone jewelry. (One notable exception was a pop singer performing onstage.)

Big, chunky, faceted, translucent faux-gemstones linked into chains were displayed in most of the boutiques. To me, as a jewelry artisan, most of them (even the expensive ones) looked to be lower quality than necessary.

The most common metals were gold and bronze-tone, although I also noticed some interesting copper-tone pieces and a decent amount of silver-tone.

Layered necklaces and multi-strand beaded bracelets were everywhere, as were multiple, eclectic charms and drops.

Earrings were mostly large and bold, and very-large hoops were especially prominent. I noticed them both in the boutiques and being worn by many of the women wandering The Strip.

Most finger rings featured over-sized, faceted jewels - another trend we’ve seen a lot of in past years.

As for other accessories, I’d say that flip-flops (some with rhinestones, of course!) and over-sized, high-end sunglasses were the biggest must-haves.

By the way, The Strip itself has undergone significant changes in recent years, with big, new, clean casinos and lots of fun boutiques and shops. If you haven’t been there for a while, consider paying a visit. I’m not a big gambler, but I really had fun (and the food was fantastic).

Here’s a recent clip from the Seattle Times which ran with an article advising readers to wear more “trendy” pendant necklaces this season.

Is it just me, or are these styles becoming boring beyond belief? (Sorry that sounds so negative . . .)

I especially cringe when I see that little rose pendant, which, granted, is cute, but it was also the “hottest” retro-trendy pendant design a full five years ago.

I wonder if people who wear jewelry, but don’t design and make it themselves, are starting to feel the same way about fashion jewelry trends? (I’ve been making jewelry long enough now that I guess I don’t remember what it’s like to be . . . a normal person . . .).

In comments to a past post we briefly discussed jewelry-crafter burnout related to relying too heavily on current jewelry fashion trends. There could be several reasons for this. Here are the two that I suspect are the biggest factors:

Stifling of creativity - In order to keep the so-called creative juices flowing, you need to exercise your creative ability all the time. It’s not always easy (I think everyone gets creative “blocks” from time to time), but the more you sort-of force yourself to be creative, the more creative you become. You may be familiar with this general vibe if you’ve read The Artist’s Way.

Frustration over competition - Unless you tap heavily into a big, local market, or sell quite a bit to your friends, it can be nearly impossible to compete price-wise with the mass-producers of trendy fashion jewelry. This struggle can be very discouraging, especially if it remains a problem over a long period of time.

For my designs, I think I do consider fashion trends to some degree. I say that because I believe I’m influenced by fashion because it’s so prevalent in our culture. But, as I’ve grown as an artist and begun to “discover” my own personal tastes (and, hopefully, as I become more creative), I think my designs noticeably vary from the trendiest designs out there.

I guess at this point, I’m just trying to allow myself to create designs that “feel right” to me. I’m relying a lot on instinct - and crossing my fingers that the results will be positive.

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