Wedding jewelry, sea glass from Bermuda...and some snow

My boy and I just got back home to New York City from a very snowy wedding weekend in Massachusetts! My poor parents are still driving themselves home to North Carolina, trying to escape the cold. We would have stayed in Sturbridge another night, but the power went out at the hotel last night just as we were coming home from dinner. We called around to other hotels, but everything was either booked or had no power. So we all slept with at least four blankets piled up on our beds, and left as soon as we could drag ourselves out of bed this morning. It was a lot of fun though--definitely a very memorable trip! As a transplanted southerner, I still think that snow is lots of fun, which almost everyone else in New York City vehemently disagrees with. And I loved seeing snow over the weekend, but I know it wasn't fun for everyone--I hope that everyone in Massachusetts is doing well, and is keeping warm tonight!

Luckily, the wedding happened before the snow, although it was still really, really cold. Here is a picture of the jewelry I ended up wearing (albeit not a very good one!). About ten million pictures were taken at that wedding, but somehow none were of me--or at least, I haven't found them yet! As you can see, the gold did not end up happening. Neither did the exact outfit I had picked out beforehand. It was just too cold for my southern transplant blood! And, this pendant just looked too good with my black dress (and giant black boots). Which although I don't have a picture of, I'm sure you can imagine. This is one of my vintage watercolor soldered pendants, and instead of listing it on my etsy site, I decided to selfishly keep it for myself for occasions such as this. It just had to be worn--it was absolutely perfect with the rest of my outfit. I will make up for it by wearing something special and gold later on this week. I was glad that I wore this though--I got a lot of compliments on it, and I gave out some business cards, which I think is always a good thing. My mom suggested that I try to expand my line of soldered pendants to include ones that can be customized with names, dates, or specific images. It's a great idea, and I think I will at least definitely be making something like that for a few of my friends for the holidays.

And now, about that sea glass!

One of the most fun things about the wedding was seeing all of the extended family that I rarely get to see. I completely forgot that my aunt is an amazing stained glass artist, and she very generously gave me lots of glass from her collection. I would have posted pictures from her wonderful basement studio, or of the beautiful piece she is currently working on, but the power was out, so we spent time in her studio with a small, sketchy lantern, which was not at all conducive to photos. One of the coolest things she gave me was a large bag of sea glass and pottery shards that she and my uncle found along the coast of Bermuda. You can see some of it in the picture--it's on the top left. The pieces are such different shapes, sizes, and colors--I really am astounded at how much they found. I absolutely cannot wait to wire wrap and solder some of the pieces. It was like Christmas morning as a kid--I packed my parents' trunk (and now, our tiny apartment) full with all the goodies that she gave me. I'm going to go back for another visit in a couple of weeks when the power is on--my aunt offered to teach me how to cut glass, and then give me some sheets of glass and cutting tools to take back to the city. Needless to say, I am thrilled and can't wait to go back. The glass that she works with is beautiful, and I'm dying to use some of it in designs. And, despite my best efforts, I just can't quite figure out how to successfully cut any kind of glass. So I've got a lot to learn! I am sure that I will be posting updates on my glass cutting for sure....hopefully there will be pictures of some successful designs very soon!

Gold v. Silver

I am one of those people who has always loved silver. I've also pretty much always been at least a little bit wary of gold. When I was a kid, I was pretty extreme about my distaste for it, going so far as to refuse to wear anything with any kind of gold color to it. My parents once bought me a delicate sapphire ring--it was gorgeous--but of course it was gold, so I hid it in the back of my jewelry box and never wore it.
I actually found the ring last year while my parents were selling their house and I was going through boxes of all my old (mostly silver) jewelry. Now it is finally getting some of the wear that it deserves. As I've gotten older, while I've had less of a distaste for gold, I have always maintained a strong preference for silver. It's just what I've always been comfortable wearing, what feels like "me." Since starting out as a jewelry designer, I have found myself having the same silver-focused instincts. I was surprised my first week at The Market when people gravitated towards my gold pieces--it's almost like I forget that anyone in the world has different preferences than I do and would prefer gold to silver. And a funny thing has been happening as a result of all my jewelry making... Believe it or not, I've actually started to like gold. I can't believe it, but I'm actually planning to wear gold accessories to the wedding I'm going to this weekend. And that is probably a first for me! Which is pretty amazing when you think about it, because I am 27 years old!

This past week I have really been on a mission with gold in terms of jewelry making. It is truly amazing to me just how much I've started to enjoy using it--well, it's mostly brass that I'm working with at this stage, not real gold, but it's just so different from silver--so much brighter, "flashier," and it interacts with gemstones in a different and really beautiful way. I am even--gasp!--thinking of making pieces that mix silver and gold, something that I never thought I would not only tolerate, but actually be excited about exploring. My golden horizons are finally expanding!! My next challenge with gold--well, with silver too--will be using more precious metals. Moving from brass and gold-plated to 14k, from nickel and silver-plated to sterling. I'm actually already using a good bit of silver-plated and sterling, but using real gold is something that I'm more afraid of. Also because it's significantly more expensive! But maybe once I start making some more sales I will invest in some real gold wire and chain.... For now I will stick to my brass and gold-plated wire!

For the wedding this weekend, I haven't decided yet exactly what jewelry I'm going to wear, but I am particularly in love with the pieces on this page. I am going to be bringing gifts for some of my female relatives, so if I don't end up wearing these, then I think at least one of them might end up in a gift box. And of course, there will be some silver gifts given too.....I'm not THAT obsessed with gold! But I'm glad that I have finally started to appreciate it. Will post pictures of what I end up wearing for the wedding!

Another great weekend (and a great pair of hot pink earrings too!)

My little bezels from the other day turned out great!! There's a learning curve to placing stones inside the bezels and pouring in the glaze without it being overrun by bubbles. But overall, I am pleased with the results. The Diamond Glaze did dry a little cloudy, which looked cool on some pieces and not so great on others. I bought some EasyCast resin at Blick (an amazing local art store) awhile ago, and it's just been hanging around my house ever since. I debated using it last week for this project, but it's just so hard to work with harsh chemicals in such a small apartment. Also, the warnings on it kind of scared me and convinced me that I would die of suffocation and go blind from using it. Neither of which is probably too great of a risk as long as I'm careful, but I have to admit that I got a little scared! I do happen to have a wonderful little backyard though, so maybe I can give it a try one sunny, warm(ish) day.

Both the pendants and the rings really were a hit at my jewelry booth, which was very exciting. I will have to make up some more of them very soon, especially with the holidays coming up!

Overall, I was very proud of myself this weekend and think being at The Market was a great success! I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm getting more comfortable and having more fun with it each time I go. I also had the added bonus of taking home an awesome pair of earrings with me from the vendor who was to my left. I traded him one of my soldered pendants for a pair of these earrings. You can't really appreciate them in this crappy picture, but hopefully you get the idea. They are really incredible--large, hand carved hot pink plastic with gold and pearls. Amazing. All of his work is very distinctive, and I was surprised to learn that the only place he shows his pieces is at The Market. He doesn't have a website, which I think is crazy, because if he did he could make a ton more sales. Although, it's not like he's lacking in making sales! People are always drawn to his pieces. I think I was very lucky to have been next to him--not only was he very nice, but his booth was very popular and he definitely brought customers over to the area.
Even without him, though, I really did luck out with my booth placement. I was initially set up on one of the far aisles, but at the last minute I was asked if I wanted to move into the center aisle AKA the best location at the fair. So that was great! I really hate that I have to miss next weekend, but I have an out-of-town wedding. Truthfully, it's probably good for me to have a weekend off. I will have some time to recharge and prepare even more thoroughly for the weekend after. And, of course, the upcoming holidays. I have a lot of jewelry to make here in the next two months!

Alright, I guess I'm off to ebay to try to hunt down some good deals on bezels....

what i've been up to--bezel rings and metal earrings!

I have been busy this week! I decided to do The Market again this weekend, so I've been preparing. I made twenty (!) soldered pendants in one eight hour marathon session the other day. I'm still adding beads and chain to some of them, but I was impressed with my productivity. I also have had bezels and Diamond Glaze sitting around for ages, that I finally decided to use. My wire rings were popular last Saturday, so I thought now was as good a time as any to diversify my rings for sale. I made up a tray of ring and pendant bezels and spent the day making little works of art to go inside them. I finally poured the Diamond Glaze about twenty minutes ago, so now I am just waiting to see how they turn out! It is, believe it or not, my first time doing this. I certainly hope they end up looking good! Although I guess we may not know until tomorrow.....

I will definitely post an updated photo once they're dry! Can't wait to see how my little creations turn out...








I also had my once a week metalsmithing class yesterday at the jewelry studio. I really like the place and the class, but I get frustrated at least once every time I'm there about how long you have to wait for instruction/help sometimes. Actually, not sometimes, ALWAYS. They just don't have enough instructors for students. There's no "one-on-one" anything--it's two (one and a half, really) instructors for the room of twenty. So every time you need anything, you have to wait in a line of people to be heard. So annoying. I think if I was one of the daily students it would bother me less, but I'm only there three hours a week! I need that time to count! Plus, it's not like that class didn't cost $650....

However! I did finally finish some awesome earrings yesterday (took me two classes to do it!). I wish I had my own personal jewelry studio so I could design and make my own pieces like this. Or, you know, I'd take free studio time anywhere :)

Sometimes I go on craigslist or nyfa.org's studio listings just to imagine that I can afford to rent one of my own. Someday! For now, I just need to keep making as many sales as I can. And, of course, continue to have fun with this and see where it can go!

The Market NYC!!

Yesterday was my first day selling jewelry at The Market NYC and it went really well.  I was nervous about how the booth would look, since my apartment is way too small to practice the full set up.  But I was really proud--I think it looked great!  It was Nick's idea to have a banner made up with my logo on it, which was brilliant and ended up really taking the table to the next level.  Check it out:

The woman in the striped shirt in the background was my neighbor for the day.  Her name is Stella Page and she is a really amazing handbag designer who just moved to NY from LA.  She was amazing, and I'm glad we were set up next to each other.  I was really impressed with all the vendors there actually--everybody was incredibly talented and super nice.

I've decided that I am definitely going to go back next weekend!  And I'm going to be there both Saturday and Sunday.  I would have done it this weekend, but I didn't know what to expect or how it would go.  There are definitely things that I am going to change about the display and the products that are laid out....so much work to do, and only six days to do it!  It was interesting too because I learned a lot about the pieces that people gravitate towards.  It's really interesting the way that everybody is drawn to the same two sets of earrings, or one particular ring.

I also met a really cool photographer and blogger, Laurie Reeves, who photographed my work and ended up publishing one of the photos on her blog, Latte Village.  All in all a very successful day!  Can't wait to do it all over again next weekend :)

the creation of a jewelry booth

This has been a big week!  My etsy website is finally launched--which I am super excited about--and to top everything off, I am participating in my first craft fair this weekend!  Well, I don't actually know if "craft fair" is the right term....I'm going to be selling at a weekend indoor event called The Market NYC, and I'm sure there is some better/fancier term that someone will probably correct me on, but you get the point!

Anyway.  I am actually feeling a little bit intimidated about coming up with a design for--and then actually managing to set up--my jewelry booth.  They're providing the table/chairs (thank god--this is NYC after all and I was really hoping not to have to purchase a folding table, drag it crosstown, and then try to find a place for it in my tiny apartment afterwards!), but I've still got to provide, obviously, the jewelry, and come up with some way to display it attractively that is both affordable and doesn't take up much space (again, the tiny apartment).  I mean, I'm a crafty person, and I like DIY projects.  Also, I did actually come up with a pretty basic, cool display once before for a yard sale my boyfriend had in Miami.  Which kind of counts, although I didn't end up making any sales, and somebody actually stole a pair of earrings while I wasn't looking.  I don't really understand who goes to yard sales to steal things (!), but yeah, I managed to make negative sales that day.  Which hopefully will not happen on Saturday!!

I actually did find a lot of creative, inspiring display ideas online the other day with just a simple google search, but a lot of them either had some wall space for hanging/leaning (I won't) or are much larger (my total square footage is 7' x 5').  So I've got some problems to solve, and three days to do it!  In addition to all the random thoughts I keep having, like what if I have to pee and I don't have someone else there?  Am I allowed to eat lunch at my booth?  I am definitely not emailing that list of questions to the people at The Market :)  

A few friends have offered to spend some time with me at my booth on Saturday, so hopefully I will be covered for all my bathroom and theft-prevention needs.  I know that I can't plan for everything, and I'm sure I will mess something up this Saturday.  But it will be a learning experience!  And I know that worst case scenario, I can lay the pieces flat on the table, and it won't be the end of the world.  Maybe I will even make some sales :)

Anyone have any interesting advice/tips/ideas for a first-timer like me???

the first one!

This is the first post, which is a little intimidating.  I guess a good place to start is with who I am, what I do & what you can (maybe) expect from this blog!
My name is Eileen, I'm 27, & I make jewelry (pretty obviously, i think, my new jewelry-making business is called imprint by eileen!).  My background is in theater--I moved here to NYC in 2006 to do an internship at Juilliard & try to work full time in theater.  Since then, I've worked as a lighting designer, producer, & technician all around the city.  Long story short, I got laid off from my full-time theater job in June, & it's the first time I've had a "break" from theater, long enough to stop and think about what I want to (& can & should) do.
imprint by eileen is the result of this break--& actually, I think, a sort of culmination of years of learning & honing an array of technical skills.  As I have happily discovered, there is lots of sawing, drilling, & hammering in jewelry!  I mean, it's all working with your hands.  And I certainly know how to work with my hands.
I hope that I just keep finding ways to keep learning (and not be afraid to test out new skills/ideas, possibly even publicly) & also to keep creating interesting things & to keep meeting interesting people.
Here on the blog I'll be doing some tutorials & also featuring some interesting artists & fellow jewelry designers that I come across.  If you are an artist or a jewelry designer, I'd love to meet you & will hopefully have a chance to check out your work.
In a nutshell.....This blog will be partly about the journey of creating a business, partly about interesting people, products & techniques, & part of it I will make up along the way.  And hopefully you will come along for the ride!
Thanks so much for being here for the first post.