Happy New Year!

Here are some new little silver things i've been sawing out.. still getting my work area fixed up, it is very exciting~

Wow, i cannot believe this year is over! i have been singing Ella Fitzgerald's version of "what are you doing new years eve" to myself all day.... and to answer her question, i'm going to get some of my favorite wine (Il Muscato), heat up some lentil soup i made this morning, and snuggle on the couch with Jeremy and watch season 2 of the Office (we are hooked!) and drink our wine til midnight! fantastic!!!

I have had a really wonderful year.... this morning i found myself looking fondly back at all the great aspects of my life and how well the store has been doing... cant' wait to see what will happen next year!!

Happy Happy Holidays!!!

I had the most lovely day today! it started with re-discovering a christmas gift from my dear friend in my box of wrapping paper where i had cleverly stored it ;) then all my shop neighbors came by to wish me happy holidays and bring me treats--soooo nice. and then most of my favorite customers came in and told me how much they loved my shop. it was so re-affirming and lovely. thank you!

Indie NC Blog and Shop

I was so honored to be asked to share my inspirations with the nice editor of the blog Indie NC. it is a wonderful collection of hip art, music, food, and lots more from the very talented Triangle Area in North Carolina.

check it out:
http://blog.indienc.com/

through a glass brightly

i am remiss for not posting these great photos that hannah took at John and Elizabeth's wedding party. we made some honey almond goatsmilk soaps for their favors, and i got to do some invitation labeling. they very nicely envited me along too. it was a beautiful ceremony, fantastic local food, beautiful hammered dulcimer music in the background... just great!

these photos are of jasper looking very pimp-ish in a snazzy herringbone jacket, Neko (pj's son) one of hannah and pj (looking unusually earnest) and one of yours truly!

new product???

check out these new awesome little ipod/digital camera holders i made!! the eiffel tower one was made entirely out of thrift shop sweaters that i felted up and cut up. the other one features some great thread from a wonderful trip to Napa CA with my good buddy Ariel and some cool buttons from the habitat store. i'm very pleased with them!

mom and the christmas rat

my mom with the christmas tree

my mom got a tree for her birthday this year! had such a great time helping decorate it. do note the "comet" of the red star and swirly cluster of bright lights coming down from the top. too cool! i'll be posting some photos of my phantasmagoricaly bright tree soon!

blowing leaves

today is a wonderful blustery day! leaves are racing down the main street in front of my shop. you can really hear them because there are so few cars parked on the street :) actually, i've had some very nice customers today and i've managed to get so many things done! lots of bird prints framed and loose ends tied up. here is a new card i've been making that goes with the day, i think!

Scarborough Fair

this is a new platter continuing my Flora Series. the name comes from the Simon and Garfunkel song with the chorus "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme" all of which are still growing out in the garden now. i also made a larger version that would perfect for serving a thanksgiving turkey on!

New Silver Earrings

this is a prototype of something i'd love to keep making, and making it better. my jewelry teacher encouraged me to make this a signature thing..... we shall see!!

mixed bag

ah, so much has been happening, and it seems to be fluctuating between good and bad within each day.

some things that have been getting me down this week are that my buddy across the street Leslie who has the craft gallery fusions is going to close. i was very sad about that for sevral days, but she's going to let me sell her new sweet little blown glass vases. they really suit my store. the other bad thing was getting an email from my old employer and favorite bead store The Original Ornament saying that they were trying to raise 10 thousand dollars by Oct. 25th to re-negotiate a loan. check out www.theorigianlornament.com to donate to keep a wonderful local and independant business open.

some good things though are that i unloaded a kiln full of good stuff last week and i've been making some great new jewelry. this morning the best thing of all though was that my parents and i went to a great tag sale and i got some amazing handmade, very old doilies for pressing in clay and other decorations, and some amazing hand painted eggs that also have crochet around them. they are so amazing. i almost couldn't even study them closely because their details were overwhelming. but best of all was that as we were leaving my parents bought me an amazing stout jewler/machinist table that is fantastic! can't wait to hook my rolling mill to it (also thanks mom and bob) and get a torch and then i'll be in business! i'm looking so forward to unveiling some fine metalwork for the holidays. well, i'll end of that good note, shall i?

Lovely Stories

recently i've discovered a wonderful new podcast from themoth.org. folks get up on stage and tell true stories without notes. it is soooo wonderful! i've becomed very intrigued with the NYC playwright Edgar Oliver~ what a wonderful unique person! he's really too complex to even begin to explain, but he is very inspiring, i think.

Slow Days....

boy, September has been off to an amazingly slow start sales wise. i listen to Marketplace on NPR with such trepidation lately... sighhhh. at any rate, it has allowed me to get a lot done, and start getting stock ready for the Holidays! yay! hannah has been coming in twice a week to make batches of wild soap (new fragrance blend of frankincense and myrrh with golden sparkles in it!) she also made a bunch of buddhas.. prompting her to start singing "golden buddhas fill my mind...."

rainy days.....

we've been having hurricane rains come through lately, it has been very very slow at the shop this week! but i have been able to get a lot done, including getting a lot of soap wrapped up and Hannah made a new batch of wonderful lip balm (most of which is now labeled! yay!)

i've also been working on a bunch of new card ideas.....mmmm. stay tuned! above is one i've been so excited to make, i finally got my japanese maple leaf punch--i've had the lovely red vellum for some time now.

my first design project!

oh, this was so exciting! last week i had a very enthusiastic customer come in my shop (which is always great) and like it so much that she called me the next day to see if i would design a logo for her new project--a scarf felting project! her description of what she was going for was so wonderful, i sat right down and sketched it out, and she came in a few days later and LOVED it! i was so thrilled.

best of all is that i'm trading my services for one of her wonderful photographs. it features a lot of green moss and reminds me of my dear friend Ariel. plus, i found out later that the picture was actually taken in Napa California where Ariel took me on my most recent visit! too cool!!

check out more great photos at annwilkinsonphotography.com or annwilkinson.etsy.com

her new project is called "Carpetbaggers felting Project" toooo cool. i'll post links to that as soon as she gets it up! the scarves she makes are amazing.

with the Goats!

one fine evening last week Hannah invited me out to take photographs of her animals and family (Jasper). it was wonderful! Jeremy went with me and i had a blast trying to chase them and get a good shot. they were all actually very photogenic!

Hannah makes wonderful goatsmilk soap from Rosie's milk and other fine ingredients. she is constantly coming up with ways to make soap from local and natural ingredients that will not disrupt one's endocrine system. it makes my shop smell wonderful and gives me an excuse to buy paper to wrap them in.

"flora" ceramics

So busy the past few weeks! it was Jeremy's birthday week and i also had my aunt brenda in town for a visit. she is not only very fun to be around, but she's my best patron! luckily we fired a kiln load full of things before she got here.

i've been continuing my series of flora impressions with more queen anne's lace, some neat weed that had wonderful little leaves.. yesterday i did two great platters with some tiny white clemetis from my grandparents porch and some memosa leaves--which made a very strange and soft impression. i also did some platters with re-created lotus blossoms after they fell off my plant. very curious as to how they will turn out!!!

Metalsmithing Class

this week i started a little jewelry class for cutting, forging, and soldiering metal! a local lady teaches at her home studio which i very nice and perhaps even messier than my studio! very encouraging. last night was my first class, a birthday present from my parents!

i got to use a roller that allows you to transfer patterns from objects (leaves, sandpaper, cheesecloth, onion bags, etc) onto your metal of choice. i can see getting very addicted to this tool! i opted for a cheesecloth gauze on brass circle and sandpaper on copper for the triangle that was supposed to end up on the bottom. i didn't like the design from the beginning, but it was the assignment, and my triangle looked very silly (although nice texture)... so i took them home, took them apart, added some lovely little vintage german glass beads on gold, and voila! i also etched "lurve always" on the back and plan to give them to my mom :)

can't wait to go back!

Ad in Bust Magazine!

what a momentous day this is! i sent off my payment (ugh! although very reasonable) and the digital files of my first ever ad in a national magazine--the fabulous Bust Magazine!

very very very special thanks to my talented buddy Logan for his amazing design. he crafted something so beautiful out of a really bad photo and some random comments from me. but it suits the magazine and it suits my work sooooo perfectly.

check out the Oct/Nov issue! should be awesome!!!!!

New Colors! Yay!

this weekend was spent happily sprucing up my second room in my store! the room has two window bays (where it used to be an exterior wall, now there is a resturant beside me) the previous folks had put in some adjustable shelving that was never level, as well as looking strange at the bottom of that huge space. after i saw a picture in real simple i was inspired to paint the window bays. the walls had been the same color of pale blue (first photo) but now it really pops! the wall looks more blue too, which is really nice. i also painted this strange strip of trim that ran across the wall halfway up with my new trim color (churchill hotel navajo white) (i picked it for the name, mostly) and that also looks very very nice.

Fortune Cookie Pictures

this is what came from my conversation with Jeremy! fortune cookie pictures! not only have i collected many through the years, but i recently got two really really good ones. i also have had these playing cards (from either china or japan, i forgot now...) and they seemed to go so well! the one on the left has a fellow on horseback holding a bow and arrow but he is looking back over his shoulder (at a fellow who appears to be singing, Jeremy pointed out to me) at any rate, his fortune (which i rewrote to try to look brushstroke-ish) is "you always know the rigth time to be assertive, or to simply wait" and the other one has a lovely lady kneeling by a cherry branch, looking pensive, and hers says "there appear to be many clouds; but they quickly pass". really like that one.

also a qlimpse at one of my workstations with my trusty cup of tea, pva adhesive, and fresh x-acto knife.

Positive Feedback

what a wonderful day i had on Tuesday! Hannah, my good buddy and store soap maker came to work, but we didnt' get much done for all the customers coming in! so many people in one day came in to tell me how beautiful my store was. it was so affirming and inspiring! thank you thank you.

yesterday was a wonderfully rainy day-no customers-so i got a lot done. i recently made some incredibly delicate porcelain earrings. just simple leaves, so lightweight. they make a neat tinkling sound against the ear hooks. i also made a very lovely plain porcelain branch which i attached to chain with blackened silver wire. such a nice contrast! i will post photos this afternoon.

last night a conversation with Jeremy prompted me to come up with a great new idea for a card! i'm so excited and hoping to try it out today!

Cantaloupe Smile

such a wonderful day today! i helped my mom paint the basement after an unfortunate incident with an air conditioning unit that was installed upside down and backwards poured water into her office. but it speeded her along in painting it an incredible yellow. a very happy and creative yellow. we made plans for re-arranging some shop equipment as well. we have a magical basement. the house is built into a hill, so the basement actually has windows all along one side and big glass doors. a wonderful place to work. we have currently a stained glass shop, two sewing areas (one for industrial projects, and one for clothes), a ceramics studio with a glazing area, and a paper cutting area/office. we listened to Rosemary Clooney sing WWII songs (lovely and sad, but full of life) it was a very hot and steamy day here, but everything is still amazingly green but with haze on top, so it just seems surreal and nostalgic.

we also unloaded the kiln and i was amazed to find that *finally* about 90% of it was sell-able!!! woo-hoo!

i think i am going to try to record in this blog some items or places of beauty that i see and appreciate each day, as it is personally very important to me, as well as being the goal of my shop to pass along things that invoke beauty.

new pottery line featuring pressed flowers and leaves with further imbellishments. possibly to be called "Flora" (stay tuned for Fauna, i think it will feature birds. actually, some of the soap dishes already have birds... so there you go!)

Beginning

oh my goodness.. i can't believe i just started a blog. whew. have a little bit of a funny feeling in my stomach here. deep breath..... and..... go:

i am starting this blog as a way to further push myself out into the world. i am wanting to push myself out into the world because i have started a really wonderful business wherein i make really beautiful things, and collect beautiful things from others to sell, and i'm ready for more people to know about it!

i hope i can look back on this someday and say "boy, those were trying times.. but now look how i've got everything sorted out and things are going great!"

yeah! can't wait!

the trying times refer only to the business aspect of my life. otherwise i am completely happy and having a wonderful time living. i live in a wonderful small town, have a business in same town, walk to work every morning. i actually live in an incredible Bed and Breakfast in exchange for checking in late arrivals and helping people unclog their toilets or remove Japanese hornets from their rooms at 3 o'clock in the morning. i share a small space (used to be a side porch) with my sweetie Jeremy and all of his large pieces of technological equipment and all my dishes and pictures on the walls. i only wish my stove was a little larger and gas instead of electric. my parents live not far away, but out in the woods, and i still have a surprisingly large number of my things and my auxiliary studio (for messy work) out at their house.

my store is called Vespertine and my website is called vespertinecafe.com. i also recently joined Etsy under the seller name ginnae.