a little bit of happy.

so, funky finds was great. sxsw was incredibly busy. and now i'm in the lull between those and the upcoming renegade craft fair. i'm trying to pace myself....preparation-wise. i always procrastinate and then spend the 4 days before a show pushing myself to the breaking point to get enough things made. i don't know why....but i work best under pressure. always have. anyway, things are a bit different this year. since i have starting peddling antiques at Max's Haus in New Braunfels, i've spent alot of time junkin' and 'restoring' my finds. also, curating my little space at the shop....which is one of my favorite things. i think since i started officially junkin' i've been happier than i've been in a long, long time.

what i'm getting at, in relation to my show preparations, is that my hands are totally full. i'm constantly working on something....whether it's sewing, jeweling, hitting up estate sales or picking old barns, cleaning my finds, or arranging them in displays....i'm always busy. which i guess is what makes me happiest. i can't stand boredom, sitting around, watching tv, doing mundane things. i like to be out, on the road, getting my hands dirty, hauling furniture, and of course my old habits of sewing and jewelry making.

which brings me to another point....etsy. sales started dropping off dramatically about 9 months ago and have seriously dwindled (online-wise). at first i blamed the economy. but then i really started looking at etsy....more and more i was seeing not only a saturation of the jewelry category (it's only natural) but i was finding commercially made, mass-produced CRAP left and right. i'm familiar with this type of jewelry not only because i have formally studied metalsmithing (essentially, i know how shit is made) but also because many years ago i bought cheap-o costume jewelry for my brick-and-mortar store (this was way before the whole handmade movement, so don't hate). i 'flagged' everything on etsy that i could find that i was also able to find on ebay and wholesale/import websites. did it ever disappear from etsy? no. this shit drives me crazy because not only is it NOT HANDMADE, as etsy claims all items sold within its interweb walls are, but it's clogging up the category in which i offer most of my wares. long story short, yesterday i took matters into my own hands and made a 'treasury' (a curated picture list for those of you not fluent in etsy speak) that basically contained about 10 of the same peacock bracelet offered by different (overseas) sellers. i threw in a few other peacock bracelets and a brooch or two that were also commercially made just for variety's sake. now, i know these bracelets were totally not handmade. they were cast base metal with glued-in rhinestones and soldered to hinged bracelets. nevermind the fact that multiple sellers were offering the same thing, even if it were just one it's not the sort of jewelry that is 'handmade'. i'm aware that people cast metal and set stones....but it doesn't take much of a trained eye to recognize factory produced wares. for 15 hours the peacock treasury was within the first 4 places of the entire treasury list on etsy. everyone saw it. i attribute most of the excitement to the fact that i posted a link to it on Regretsy's facebook page (71,000+ readers, hey-o!) what surprised me the most (other than the fact that it took etsy admin more than 16 hours to pull the treasury and send me a scathing email about how i shouldn't abuse the treasury to call out sellers in a negative light, but that PEOPLE WERE ACTUALLY DEFENDING THE JEWELRY. people were tsk-ing me in the treasury comments....there were over 100 and many of them were waxing poetic about the beauty of the bracelets, the elegance of peacocks, and HOW DARE YOU STIR UP NEGATIVITY! gasp! i responded to the flying tomatoes with something along the lines of, "you people should be angry that etsy allows this junk to bury your handmade art," etc, etc. i received hate mail and someone even took it upon themselves to compare my bee necklace to that of other sellers offering essentially the same thing and proclaimed that basically i was just as bad as the resellers. sure, i may put a simple gold bee charm on a gold chain and call it handmade, and it is. if you want a longer chain, a shorter chain, a different chain, a stone added, i can do that. it's not like i order 50 bee necklaces premade in a factory, paying slave wages to children that wrap them in a cellophane wrapper and dump them in a box so i can mark them up 25 times and proclaim them handmade. no. the majority of my raw materials are purchased from ethical suppliers here in the US, many subscribing to 'green' business practices. every chain is inspected and finished by me, i ensure that jump rings are tightly closed, there are no rough edges, charms (if multiple) all face the same direction, etc. and if there is ever, EVER a problem with the jewelry the buyer can return it to me for repair. additionally, i like single charm necklaces to layer with other jewelry and it's also a cost-effective item for folks that maybe can't afford a hand-linked wire-wrapped gold and topaz necklace. i can't even believe i'm having to defend my 'assembling' of jewelry to anyone. the point is, sure anyone can put a charm on a chain....but not everyone has the time or even wants to. some folks just want to buy the finished product and i'm here to offer that along with options for customization. also, i would welcome anyone into my studio to see how i 'assemble' any and all of my wares.

MOVING ON. it's spring and the citrus trees have been blooming like mad. the smell is the best in the world. sweet little honey bees are everywhere and this is the first year that i've finally been able to get some poppies to grow in my yard. it's just excitement all around, y'all.

this friday is First Friday at Max's Haus, which is always a treat. from 5:30 'til dusk we'll have refreshments, specials on select merchandise, and a GYPSY TENT chock full of beautiful old junk that you most assuredly will want to purchase and take home for yourself. last month was my first experience with this little soiree and it really was a lovely time. i really can't explain how happy it makes me to meet up with other lovers of junk...and i really have come to enjoy thursday and friday mornings...waking up at the crack of dawn, mapping out a path to the best estate sales, finding wonderous treasures, and then unloading them with the other junkers at the shop. it's really a treat to get to peek at everyone else's finds and talk about what we're going to do with them. i feel a bit sappy saying it, but so far this year...i feel really blessed.