Archive for musing

Dec Your Neck

July 6, 2009 Jewelry, musing No comments

To make up for not updating for so long, I’m going to do kind of a glut of posts all at once here.

To start off, this one is about a couple of my favorite handmade necklaces.

Like most of the things I know how to do, I mostly taught myself with a lot of reading and trial and error. I’m sure there are things I do “wrong”, but oh well. I tend to be happy with the results and that’s the important thing, right?


I really like the look of a large focal pendant, and a lot of the ones I use are kind of sentimental. Both the pendant above and the one below I got while shopping with my mom.


Before I moved, we would have a “girl’s day” every other Friday that usually involved lunch and a trip to some type of craft store, where we would do our very best to focus on one thing for more than twelve seconds. (My mother is not blessed with a lengthy attention span when it comes to craft supplies or stores full of cute things, a trait I seem to have inherited. Thanks Mom.) My trips back to California and hers to North Carolina to visit me involve lots of craft shops and then plunking down at home to make things or teach each other new things. It’s one of my favorite things.


The pendant above I got on my trip to New York with Bats this past December. For some reason, Bats felt that walking for blocks and blocks in a snow storm was not only a good idea, but an “experience” we should have. Luckily I found a small bead shop where I could warm up for a few minutes. They had a great selection and awesome prices, and I grabbed a strand of probably fifteen of these for just $8. Each one is different, some are green and blue and solid and some are milky and translucent.

I think a lot of the reason I craft is to make my ideas and experiences into something concrete. There are lot of supplies I have, especially fabrics and beads, that are tied to memories for me. Crafting with these is like carrying a little memory with me, and I’ve always been sort of a random hoarder with things like that. (I know I have rocks and shells from beach trips in my closet somewhere…) I can wear a necklace and remember walking on a beach in California with millions of tiny shells or freezing my ass off in New York. I can carry a bag that reminds me of thrift shopping with my mom in Morro Bay.

"Tone It Down"

October 4, 2008 crafting, musing No comments

I’ve been freaking out a little trying to get things ready for Craft Attack. This is my first craft fair and I really want everything to go well, so I’ve been finishing up some things and making some new things to try and have a good selection of items and prices. I think I’m ok, I have items ranging from $1.50 to probably $35 (still have to price some totes eek). I was showing off my pillow covers and he mentioned that I should think about toning it down to appeal to a larger audience.
While I would love it 85% of people would want to buy my stuff, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. Everything has an audience. People will pay $50 for a grilled cheese sandwich with a religious figure on it. People will pay good money for a purse with a little vagoo on it. Some people like to make little plush mufflers with faces. And that’s ok, that’s awesome! Everyone is different and everyone has different tastes and what makes one person gag may make someone else stupidly happy. That’s what I want. I don’t care how much I sell, I want to make things that make me happy and that makes whoever buys it happy. You can go out to the store and buy a tote bag with your favorite sport team or a pillow with a teddy bear on it, where can you get a little sushi pin or a sushi monster or a stuffed zombie? From me, and THAT is why I make things. To have a little bit of me in the form or fabric or beads or clay. For the community. To see what little bits of themselves other people make.