Santa Fe

I just spent a week in Santa Fe. I'm pretty exhausted right now. I was looking forward to seeing some jewelry and making some connections out there, but barely succeeded.

The jewelry I saw was all the typical turquoise and silver work. Unfortunately, very little of that interested me. I was looking for new/inspired/ingenious designs that might be found in a very artistic and creative community. Almost everything I saw was homogenous. The same thing over and over again. I was a little depressed at the sight of the Native American market in the Santa Fe plaza. I did get one smile from a Native woman whom I complemented on her wire work with her earrings. I attempted to share with her that I do wire work as well, but didn't really get a response.

At the ancient Pueblo, in Taos, we did find one friendly jewelry artisan who talked a little bit about his work. It was only after we left that I thought of a dozen questions I would have liked to ask him. "How long have your people been working with silver and turquoise?" would have been one of them.

I manged to make almost a connection with a Santa Fean. She does glass bead making, and combines her glass pendants with tiny little porcelain bottles for display/storage. We were going to try to network with a sharing of beads/jewelry/porcelain bottles, but on my last day in town, she was not around. Sadness. Perhaps I'll be able to get in touch her.

Sterling Silver Dust

My lap is covered with sterling silver dust. Currently taking a break from working on an almost record number of ear wire orders that came in this weekend. Enough orders to pay for 1/2 of my plane ticket for my upcoming vacation! Woopie! A lot of work though. I've blogged before on just how much work ear wires are, for the little money that I charge. And it's been a while since I've had so many bulk orders.

I have to work on these orders in batches, otherwise I'll do damage to my hands which will last for a few days. It's the filing of the ends that creates all the silver dust! I wonder if it's harmful, and if I'm actually inhaling any of it. It certainly doesn't brush off of the clothes very well, tends to stick. I had a pair of pants that actually started to get a tarnished silver colored section, from all the filing that I was doing while wearing them.

I probably shouldn't be working over my lap anyway. I've temporarily moved my "studio" into the kitchen yet again. Better air flow when it's hot (my "studio" is a tiny spare bedroom that has the climate of an attic in the heat). AND the kitchen is closer to my computer and online pandora.com radio station that I am addicted to.

Can already feel my hands stiffening up. Time to package up two of the completed orders so that I can get them to the post office after work tomorrow!