Getting Ready for the Holidays

I'm currently making a ton of fun jewelry to get ready for a holiday show in November in Bloomington, Indiana. The Bloomington Handmade Market is my first juried art show and I'm so excited to be a part of it. I'll post more details about the show as it approaches. For now, check out the show's blog.

I Make Like I'm a Little Deer

I am so excited with the new direction of my silver work. I am trying to create little scenes made of silver. I was really pleased with how it turned out. I'm still experimenting with this style, but right now I'm really enjoying it.

This particular pendant was inspired by lyrics from a song by one of my favorite artists, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. In the song, "Babe, You Turn Me On" one of the lyrics is, "I make like I'm a little deer, grazing on the flowers."

The pendant is made completely of sterling silver. The birch trees are made of varying gauges of silver wire that have been hand filed. The deer is hand-drawn and cut out of sterling silver sheet. A patina was applied to the piece and then the raised areas were hand polished to produce a bright silver finish. The entire piece was then coated with wax to seal the patina.

It can be purchased at www.quiteclever.etsy.com

Getting Creative With Displays.

I recently submitted an application for an art show that required a picture of my booth display. Since I have not yet participated in a traditional show, I had few display items prepared and I only had a couple of days to put the entire display together. This means I had to get creative.

I ended up going to Jo-Ann's and I found a bobbin rack, a wooden Halloween tree decoration and some wooden boxes. I also found some small ceramic dishes. I ended up painting the Halloween decoration and the bobbin rack black. I placed necklaces on the Halloween tree and rings on the bobbin rack. I painted the ceramic dishes black and silver and set river rocks in the silver dishes.

I used some of the earring trees, busts and bracelet displays I had to fill in the rest of the table, and I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think.

What unique display ideas have you tried? I would love to hear ideas.

Birch Bark Studs

I am so pleased with the way these birch bark earrings turned out. They are made out of one piece of extremely thick sterling silver wire. The wire has been filed to create notches all around the surface. The silver was then blackened using a patina. The patina was then polished off of the smooth exterior to create a silver finish with black notches. The result is little earrings that look just like birch bark tree trunks. These can be purchased at www.quiteclever.etsy.com.

Quite Clever Etsy Shop Finally Open

I officially opened my Quite Clever Jewelry etsy shop for business. I am currently posting an item a day to get better exposure and to ease into my selling. I will be creating and updating a lot over the next couple months.

Other than that, I am still finishing up the painting and arranging of my studio. Right now half of the studio is functioning and the other side of the room is filled with paint cans and tarps. With a little work every day, it should start to look great though. I will post pictures as soon as I get the whole place up to snuff.