simple truths::modern wisdom

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."

~Oscar Wilde

{simple truths::modern wisdom}

Last fall I embarked on a journey to developing my own line of jewelry. Now I am finally ready to unveil it.

When I joined the Working Artists Initiative group in September we had to set goals for our 7 months together that would culminate in a body of artwork. My focus included creating a line of jewelry components that I would sell in the spring. My plan included developing a cohesive idea; selecting different mediums to experiment with; conducting market research at shows, through the Gallery Q sales, and through my blog; seeking the feedback of trusted bead artist and designer friends; and culminating in creating jewelry with the components for sale as well as selling them individually.

My goal is to sell 100 of the pieces (either as finished jewelry or as components).

I have been selling these as finished pieces of jewelry since the beginning of the year and so far they have been popular. I love this piece called 'fly high on love' with a sweet little robin. These pendants pair well with so much in my stash, from different metal tones (copper, silver, gold) to the beautiful array of Czech pressed glass to art beads from other polymer to ceramic to glass.

{a sweet little robin on a branch, for sale at Gallery Q}

 I started by making initial pendants for my niece and daughter for Christmas and a special necklace for my sister-in-law Mary who has done so much for our family and our kids.

{Christmas present for my sister in law Mary who loves teal and brown}

{the back, with the message 'life is grand'}

I have made custom pieces, like this pair of necklaces that are a remembrance of a young girl named Holly who died in a car accident right before Christmas. These two matching necklaces were given to Holly's mom and sister as a way to remember her always, the message in French says 'do not forget me'  and one small crystal to represent a tear.

{'non m'oubliez pas' - do not forget me in remembrance of a life cut short}

Or the mother's necklace for a girl I work with whose first child, Zayden, was born in October. And I even made a custom piece for my dear friend Kari as she starts a new chapter in her life, this piece has a dragonfly and the message 'every thing happens for a reason' and coordinates beautifully with Heather Powers' Humblebeads.

{for my dear friend Kari who is starting new - 'every thing happens for a reason' paired with humblebeads}

And I am currently offering a special semi-custom order form for these pendants as simple necklaces featuring my daughter's dance school logo on one side, and their initial or the name of the show on the other ("X" as in ten) and their favorite birthstone all as a fundraiser to celebrate Dance Education Center's 10th anniversary.

I am well on my way to selling the 100 pieces for my goal.

So, what is the concept and how did it come about?

I was inspired to create these pendants and charms, most of which feature a positive message, after reading a book by Patti Digh called "Four Word Self Help." This pithy little book is a great motivator. The idea is that by coming up with your positive message in just four words and carrying it with you, that it will manifest in your life. You know I love words. They hold so much power and presence for me. I pick a word to frame my year and I have quotes and snippets of poetry that mean something to me all over my life. So when it came time for me to settle on a direction for this line, I knew that words would play a big part.

Combining my love of words and jewelry has been a dream of mine. I like things that look old and worn, have a sense of wit and whimsy, and speak a deeper truth. I wanted to create components that I could use in my own jewelry, but also that others might want to put their own spin on. It would give me great pleasure to see what others would do with these!

{my initial prototypes included tiny dog tags - these are popular but not my favorite}

I started with metal. I stamped words on individual tiny dog tags, hammered them for texture and oxidized them for interest. People really liked these, and I still do them on request, but there are a lot of people who do stamped words so much better than I ever could, so I would have a hard time standing out in the Etsy Ocean. So, I will still hammer metal, and probably offer these through Gallery Q, but this idea was too much like things that have already been done and I wanted it to be my own.

{I love using resin and combining these fun pops of color with the words}

I also did the same thing with resin-filled bezels. I layered Japanese chiyogami papers in the bezels and then floated the words in the resin. I liked the colors, but no one really purchased any of these in my market research. So, I will still use resin, and it helped me decide that I wanted to bring color and whimsy to the pieces, but this idea didn't pan out for the components.

I really thought that etching the metal would be the way to go. But I couldn't come up with a plan that would make it easy, even with the E3 etching system. So, I will still experiment with etching, I do have a custom order pending for the dance studio using etched pieces, and I still want to try out all those patinas that I bought from MissFickle, but etching just wasn't it.

Then right before Christmas, Heather Powers had a little tutorial on little bezel bobby pins as last minute Christmas presents. Even though my plan that week was to have 10 pieces etched and patina-ed by Monday, I went out and bought polymer clay instead. Of course. Makes perfect sense. I used the bezels I bought in the fall for the resin experiments and started coming up with my own ideas.

{hoots - available on Etsy}

Each 'simple truths' pendant or charm is lovingly hand made by me using polymer clay set in bezels then detailed with paint and buffed with Renaissance Wax. I love the mixed media feeling of these and they have a painterly quality that I adore. Some are one sided with just an image or a combination of words and image, some are double-sided so that you can choose which side is facing out. Or hold the words close to your heart.

Each one is different and there are no two alike. I like it that way. I am not a machine, and I don't really have an interest in making dozens of the same charms. Who really wants to see the exact same pendant used by someone else? I made the decision to hand craft each one individually, and that is how I do it. While I do carry around a little notebook that has ideas for the words, I am never sure what the image will look like until it is done. Perhaps it isn't the most efficient way of doing things, but that is okay. I like them organic, growing from the work of my two hands, and lovingly painted and sealed.

Because I will make these in small batches, I plan to have updates from time to time. If you are interested in being included in a simple truths pendant update, please fill out the Treasures Found Nation form in the sidebar. I hate being spammed and I promise that I will only use that email to communicate with you about pendant updates or special subscriber only deals and discounts.

{what would you do with 'bloom where you are planted'?}

In honor of the big release of these pendants/charms (already selling - thank you!), I would like to give someone the opportunity to win a simple truths pendant of their very own. And I would really love to see what you would create with it (or if you are not someone who makes beaded jewelry, then I will provide you with a chain so you can wear it out of the box!). Leave a comment below to enter. That is all there is to it. You don't have to be a follower, you don't have to sign up for the pendant updates, you just need to leave me a comment, like...

Tell me what you like about these...is it the colors? the metals? the words?
Tell me what quote or phrase or word you would like to see on future pendants?
Tell me what colors you would like to see them painted in?
Tell me what type of beads you would pair with this pendant if you won... art beads? glass? pearls? gemstones?

I will pick a random winner from all comments on this post by 02/14/2011!
Do tell!

Enjoy the day!