Finally!

Whew. I got my blog back. I was 'flagged' as spam for three days. It felt kinda dirty to be flagged like that when all I had written about was bread and and jewelry!

Anyway, I'm back, and I have more people I want to feature in my blog, and more stuff to scribble about.

Against the Grain

I don’t have Celiac Disease, but I do seem to suffer from gluten-intolerance and so I try and avoid wheat and other grains that contain gluten. It’s a little bit of a sacrifice for the sake of my health as I absolutely adore crusty artisan bread full of wheat and yeast and nothing can really replace that for me. Since I’m also currently doing the Atkins diet (it works for my body chemistry and blood type) I’m just avoiding all carbs anyway, except the green leafy buddy kind (i.e. broccoli, cabbage, kale, chard, salads, etc), so it’s not been an issue of late. I find avoiding carbs means I don’t crave them.

However I did just recently meet these folks and I can tell you that their product is delightful: Against the Grain. They are makers of excellent baked products to replace wheat-based goods. I think their bread tastes like Yorkshire Pudding but that’s not a bad thing in my mind; particularly as most gluten-free breads taste like cardboard or Styrofoam. They also do pizza crusts for those of you who just cannot do without pizza! I tried a slice of their crust with some yummy toppings the other day and it was darned tasty and really close to the real thing. They are a small company operating out of Brattleboro, Vermont, but they are starting to distribute to a larger and larger audience so look for them coming to a food store near you soon. If you’re lucky enough to live in their distribution range right now and unlucky enough to have Celiac Disease or be gluten intolerant check out their web site for stores near you.

Ooooh Thanks Juliafinucane!

Just a nice little promo here: For the Love of Jewelry

It's so nice to be noticed - thanks Juliafinucane!

More of Julia.

It was an interesting weekend – productive, but perhaps illuminating as well.

I talk about being a magpie a lot in that I am attracted to all sorts of bright shiny things and hence I have started stringing beads on string (there is a certain lesser status to the combining of elements already in existence if you didn’t have to hammer, bend, weld, cast, or otherwise get physical I have recently discovered), but my magpie nature goes beyond my desire for acquisition of lovely objects whether they be stones, plants, books, artworks in general…

I have a tendency to do a lot of things too. So my weekend consisted of a street fair where I took my jewelry to the sidewalk and was roundly ignored. Not really surprising in October in Vermont. It was terribly cold outside and even the band hustled off early, as did I after zero sales. I did manage to force one business card on a doughty tourist so maybe she’ll discover Etsy from my efforts.

I also worked in my studio painting – which is always good on the mind and hands and terrible on the wallet. I know I’m not supposed to think about such things, but I do. Bills must be paid and where is the justification in a canvas for thirty-five dollars and all that oil paint when no one will want to hang the finished work, let alone pay me for it. Oh… I’m not whining. Really. I’m being realistic. How many of us can afford to buy art just to hang upon the walls, and if we do we want something that will go with the décor. I just can’t make myself paint that stuff. But I don’t blame anyone for wanting it – I want stuff that is soothing to the eye too! After all when you’re home you want to relax, not think. Like one of my favorite painters is Francis Bacon, but hang one on my wall? I think not! I might for Lucien Freud but even then it might be pushing it… his nudes are so heavy, vulnerable, and confrontational; really in your face, mister.

On Etsy I managed to get a bunch of photos done of a bunch more of my stuff (some of the re-shoots after learning all the stuff I did wrong the first time) and so I have my listings in my shop up to a reasonable number finally – and at the same time I finally got some interest from browsing shoppers (rather than people I sent to etsy, which is fine, but I’m trying to increase my exposure, obviously). That was very exciting and encouraging. I hope to get another set of photos done soon, particularly as I created two more pairs of earrings in my floral series. I have some more ideas around that whole series and so need more supplies…

I sell to make money for supplies! I’m an addict. We need a support group.

I Took the Pledge...

Yes, of course. Not only do I make handcrafted things, but so does my partner and half my friends, and this year I plan to make the holiday resplendent with beautiful handmade things. I have encouraged family and friends to either shop at local galleries, crafts shows, or go online to www.etsy.com. I also support Fair Trade and will allow items made by craftspeople in other countries as long as it's fair trade.

Featured Fellow Etsian : Mildoo & Moss

I came across this artist in a treasury, an excellent Etsy.com treasury, and I am now coveting one or more of these delightful creatures for my own (that's Hortense on the left). One of the appealing things about what this artist does in their listings is to show the little critters in a natural habitat peeping above the flora. It really brought them to life for me and made me laugh - out loud.

This is a new seller on the craft site etsy, but I sincerely hope that Mildoo & Moss becomes a successful one, if only for the very selfish reason that I want to be able to shop there for one of the little creatures when I can afford to indulge myself. These are not toys for kiddies, but toys for the young at heart, toys for artists. Each one has a unique and distinct personality that is engaging. Apparently you can hang them, but I think a spot on the couch would work just fine if I could just make sure that the cats didn't deposit fur on those lovely designer fabrics or hook a claw in the cloth! Ah, maybe the top of the dresser... I'm visualizing the spot now.

Featured Fellow Etsian : Nomeworks

I love this particular piece, a slice of pink tourmaline framed with a tendril of sterling silver, by Nomeworks. The jeweler behind these one of a kind individual crafted and silver-smithed pieces is a personal friend of mine, but also a fantastic jeweler that really doesn't need me to tell you how original she is. Just looking at her original artworks gives you an idea of the creative juices flowing in that fertile mind. She finds inspiration in a number of difference sources but nature must number one. In this series of works that she has listed for sale at Etsy she is inspired by the twists of the Banyan tree.


She also works in gold, and her work is shown in Brattleboro, Vermont at the Gallery in the Woods, a wonderful cornucopia of delights - local artists and outsider artists, local furniture makers, painters, designers, as well as folk arts from around the world. For those of you that don't know Vermont Brattleboro is one of those places you should go for the weekend and check out all the great art. Every month they have a Gallery Walk on the first Friday and many of the downtown shops, galleries, restaurants, etc., participate in the event. The streets fill with people wandering from exhibit to exhibit.