Trunk Show

The trunk show went well today. A reasonable number of people came by - maybe they were all at work!! It was the first time the group had done a day time slot!

As the theme was Mothers' Day, I showed three lariat style necklaces. The first one was the mother's lariat charms:


This reminds mothers of the times when we were young and innocent and cute and easy to please!!!

My second piece was going to be my "comfort" hand piece but it sold as I listed it yesterday! So that was good. Instead I chose "in safety's keeping" in recognition of the safe place that mothers provide us - that little bit of safe haven:

My third piece was "home is where the heart is". I've done quite a few variations on this design as they always seem popular. It needs no explanation why this would be appropriate for mothers' day.


The whole trunk show is a lot of fun. People comment all the time, some people speak, some are on camera so you can see them...and participants can "throw" hearts or cupcakes or penguins or whatever to people or items being shown. This may not make sense - but if you go to one, you'll see what I mean. If you missed this one - try another in the future. It's a fun experience!!!!

There's a place....

Here's a new brooch that I finished this week entitled "There's a place".

The title may make you think of "there's a place for us"...the song from West Side Story, but that song actually inspired another song with these starting lyrics:

There's a place
Where I can go
When I feel low
When I feel blue.....

This brooch shows a little person tucked safely inside a silver purse. Just his head peaks out and his hands hold on. For me, it makes me think of how you sometimes want to just hide away in a cozy safe place....maybe that is underneath your favourite blanket in the corner of your favourite chair, or in someone's arms, or..... Anyhow - I think this little guy has found his place. He looks quite content, safe, and protected.

I love wearing brooches - and do frequently, but I think they are an underused item of jewelry. So many people I know don't have any and have never worn them. I just love them on a jacket or coat - and this one has a lot of silver in it - so it needs a coat or jacket (- not for a delicate blouse.) Maybe we should make 2009 the year of the brooch and lariat!!! I wonder how we could rally together and get these lovely items of jewelry back in adorning people. They have so much to offer..... So all you jewelry makers out there - ideas on how to promote lariats and brooches please!

Anyone can....train a dog

Dogs.....oh how I've been wanting a dog........A cute dog that will travel with me in my car. I just love to see dogs in cars with their heads out of the window, the wind blowing back their ears....it's just a picture of pure joy! And I've never seen so many dogs in cars and trucks as I have in California. The dogs here must just love the weather and the "wine country living"! You see them yapping in the delight of it all. I've mentioned to some of my friends my desire of having a dog passenger in my car and that maybe I could borrow their dog sometime and take it for a drive.........

All this talk of "borrowing" is because I can't have a dog of my own :-( Yes, we have a great lawn that it could run on....but we do travel quite a bit...and so I've been "told" it just isn't practical....and also, we grow grapes and grapes are poisonous to dogs (but loads of wineries have dogs????). Anyhow - right now, it's not dog time for me - (although one day I will replace my husband with a dog.............)!

So currently, I just enjoy other people's dogs - like KJ, and Scout......and those that I see in cars in trucks!

As I can't have a dog - I thought maybe I could live vicariously through "anyone". So my latest "anyone can...." piece is "anyone can train a dog". But Anyone isn't content with commands like "sit"..he is much more adventurous! This is like agility training!!! Anyone is teaching his little dog to jump through hoops!! Way to go anyone!!!!

It is a lariat style necklace - and features "anyone" holding the loop and then the little dog - with one ear up and one down jumps through the hoop and hangs down below. There is a little hook on the back of the hoop to secure the chain at the length you like.

This was my first attempt at sculpting a dog and it was an interesting process! I first tried making a dog in regular clay...and it took a while to find that the nose was an important feature that distinguished it from some other animal. Once I cracked the nose (so to speak) I tried the dog in the silver clay. I was thinking of adding silver wire legs with hammered feet - but when I tried that - they looked too skinny. So I made some legs from clay and attached them...along with a curled up tail.

But it looked like a pig!!! So I figured it must be the tail...the ears looked good...the nose looked good....so I pulled the tail off. I tried another tail curling up - but it still looked like a pig.....so off it came. Then I tried a stubby tail like lots of dogs have. It looked like a dogs tail alright - but it still looked like a pig.....

So I started working on the back legs....making them more muscley where they join on to the body......but it still looked like a pig!! What was it???

Then I got it - he didn't have any paws!!! I'd done legs but not little paws...so it looked more like trotters and thus a pig!!! It was interesting how one characteristic can change an "animal" so much. The face was a dog, the legs were dogs, the tail was a dog.......but it was still a pig!!

So, I gave him four little paws and Anyone now has a dog!!! And a name for Anyone's dog.......??? How about Doug the Dog....(as in "dug"??!!)