candygram.

Coming soon to the shop:

no. really?

Has it actually been over a month since I posted ANYthing here? That's no good. Especially since I've been working on lots of new designs, reading stacks of good things, and working on embroidery projects. There's lots to catch up on. I've also inherited a pile of back issues of Poetry magazine and plan to start posting some oldies but goodies here (from back when Tess Gallagher had new volumes being published and Billy Collins was but a gleam in the eye of the University of Arkansas Press...).

Until I actually get on that, though, I have nothing to offer you but sneak peeks. Coming up in tomorrow's shop update at urban legend, we have a Bunch of Pink Things, and A Few Things That Are Less Pink:

local love

This weekend, I have the honor of being the featured showcase artist at RR#1 during the West Town Art Walk. RR#1 was my first wholesale account, and they remain my biggest fans and best supporters in my small corner of the handmade jewelry world. The shop is beautiful. Housed in a former apothecary, it retains the original wood and glass fixtures, rolling ladders and tin ceiling, and is home to a meticulously curated collection of gifts and papergoods. (The RR is for Red Rooster.) I’m proud of my long association with this lovely shop, and I’m so pleased to be participating this weekend!

The West Town Art Walk will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 22-24. Details and a list of participating businesses can be found on the Facebook page for the event.

I’ve made lots of new pieces for this weekend, almost all of them one of a kind. You can see a small sample in the sneak peeks below. I hope they’re tempting enough to bring my Chicago fans out in the heat to enjoy some music and shopping (in air conditioning!).

I’ll be at RR#1 on Friday night from 7-10, and I hope to see you there! The shop is located at 814 North Ashland at Ashland and Chicago.

promises, promises.

In which I swear to do real blogging soon. It's summer and I have things to talk about. This one, however, is a quickie. I finally listed some new designs at Leaves of Glass today - lots of light & dark contrast, with my trademark grit & sparkle. Here's a peek, and you can see all the new pieces in the shop:

glassy sneak peeks.

Last weekend I was finally inspired with some fresh ideas for vintage glass designs. I like bold colors and mostly simple lines at the moment (although there is one pair of messy mismatch in here, and I'm really pleased with them). I was thinking about an idea two of my friends have for superhero school, and the classes that would need to be offered, and suddenly I was off and running with ideas. Don't ask me how it works, I don't know...

Oh, and a tiny taste of urban legend, for good measure:

postcards from the playground, week 3.

This week, chestnut brown patina was my constant playmate. Useful because it's a fairly neutral finish, but much richer and softer than the oxidized finish produced by liver of sulfur. I used it to darken and roughen the blinding bright copper leaves I bought some time ago, and I used it to make two nostalgic pieces in soft colors. I'm not 100% in love with the balance on the cluster earrings, but the rule was that I'd post whatever I did during playground month. So here they are. I do think the colors are lovely, and the vintage brass ball weights on the bottom are one of my most treasured finds. I also made a sweet little pair of sugar bead earrings in the same palette, but without patina.

And never fear, I played in the plastic sandbox too. Here's a peek at some of tomorrow's upcoming candy goodness:

that was fun.

I spent the weekend holding metal over a flame and then dropping it into a cup of brightly colored liquid, where it sizzled and spat and hissed and clanked. Then I fished it out, and repeated the process over and over and over until I had a whole sheet full of vintage metal and chain covered in lustrous colors. These components still need to be sealed, but they'll start turning up in new designs in another week or so.

In other productivity news, here are a couple of things that will be posting in tomorrow's shop updates.

hello, 2011.

What's that you say? The party is over? The leftovers are all eaten, and the house is clean? I was certain the invite said "Begin the new year fresh, January 20!"

Oh, my friends. I had such blogging plans for this week. It's exam week at Anytown High, a traditionally easy week sandwiched between two long weekends. Perfect for Achieving Things. He

re's what I achieved: bronchitis. I nailed it, too, thank you very much. I Achieved Bronchitis like a champ. Of course, that meant that all my other plans fell by the wayside while I huddled in bed and called Leslie to bring me sick person supplies (while she felt lousy herself, so she gets champion points). So the several charming and informative blog posts I had planned are hereby shortened to this one list of (still informative) bullet points.

1. Leaves of Glass is 4 years old this week! I opened shop on January 16th, 2007. This year, I celebrated by moving most of the rest of my inventory to the new store on Big Cartel, and I'm having an anniversary sale there through Saturday, January 22nd

. Use the code 4MOREYEARS for 25% throughout the site.

2. I'm working on updating the design of my Lucite necklaces at urban legend to make them more durable. The original is quite sturdy for regular wear, but it won't stand up to tangles or toddlers, and I'd like it to do both. I've finally found a chain that's stronger but still slinky and flexible and narrow enoug

h to fit through the beads, and am testing a couple of designs with new chain and clamps. Look for them on new designs in the shop - all of my necklaces will eventually be made with the new chain, but I'm not going to be able to update all the photographs. Here's what the new stuff will look like:

3. New Year's Resolution: Do Not Buy Any Vintage Glass Beads For As Long As I Can Stand It. I know that sounds dire, but it's not as bad as it sounds. I have boxes and boxes of beads that I've never used, and the purpose of the resolution is twofold: a) I've been feeling stale in the design department, and usually I fix that by shopping. This time I'm going to try to jostle out of it by wrestling with what I have on hand and hoping that redirects my thinking. b) It will lessen the amount of stuff I have to move when I'm finally able to pull up stakes and head out of town. Which brings me to

4. My great project for this year is to prepare to move away from Chicago. Once the last of the bronchitis has disappeared, I'm going to start unpacking my storage space and selling stuff on eBay. This is the year for paring down. Selling it if I don't need it. Packing it for moving if I'm not going to need it for a while. Traveling to Portland to visit Shana and Shawn, and to see if it is indeed the right place for me. I'm writing this here and saying it out loud as much as I can so that I believe it's true, and I keep working like it's true.

5. Last but not least, sneak peeks. I'm trying not to put too much on my to-do list until I'm completely healthy, but starting next week there will be some new designs up in both shops. I wish you a happy and healthy and seriously belated New Year; enjoy the eye candy!

serving two masters.

Traditionally it can't be done, but I'm stubborn.

I have a small business that I need for my personal joy, and a full time job that I need because it pays for things. I'm also single, so everything that happens in my life is done by me - taking out the garbage, cooking dinner, answering email, designing the next crazy asymmetrical pair of earrings, remembering to order tissue paper, picking up prescriptions - whatever it is, I do it. (Except for driving to work. Sometimes Leslie does that. It makes a nice break, and sometimes I read to her in the car. Or making Saturday dinner. Shawn & Shana do that.) So I often run into situations where I have to serve two masters simultaneously, or drop the ball on something. Today, for instance. There was a storm last night, and along with a lot of very cold rain there was a strong wind and some biggish hail. When I got home, I found that my cable was out - internet & TV, thank you very much. The day before a weekend. When I had thought it might be nice to do a sale. I also have some new pieces I wanted to put up for sneak peek posts. The cable was still out when I got up this morning, so I grabbed my camera and several pieces on the way out the door.

It's been kind of a hectic week at work, and I had a deadline for this afternoon. I spent the morning doing the job-work (as a side project, I also spent a lot of time explaining to people that the chocolate cake on the counter behind me wasn't in celebration of anything - Steve brought it in because he likes cake and thought we might, too. It's surprisingly difficult to get people to embrace occasion-less cake). I met my deadline and emptied my inbox. I then spent my lunch break taking pictures. I'm now spending what should be work hours blogging and editing said pictures, in the hope that some of them are kinda pretty. And I'm answering work email and trying to anticipate anything I might need to address over the weekend, since I may not be able to get online for a day or so. I'm fortunate that my employers are very tolerant of my side projects, as long as I do what they actually pay me for.

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...and now I've edited as best I can, and the sneak peeks are here. Really, of course, this post is a lengthy and roundabout excuse for why these pictures are not all that great. But the beads are extra cool, especially the red cotton ones. Look for these and other new designs soon, and have a peaceful and happy weekend. Two days with just one master, in my case.