Beadless Life

After my son was born a little over a year ago, it became harder to find time to make jewelry.  Then, with the economy the way it is, my craft shows weren't as profitable as they had been in previous years.  For the past two seasons of craft shows, I sort of struggled through, receiving lots of compliments and admiration on my jewelry, and having people make small purchases, but nothing like other years.  After talking to other crafters, including those who make and sell  jewelry, pottery, knitting, soap, candles, etc., I discovered I wasn't alone in having slow craft shows.  Lots of people were attending shows, and lots were looking, but they were either not buying or only making very small purchases, like one pair of earrings.  This, after years of people buying two and three necklaces and five pairs of earrings at a time.
So,  after this last season I decided to take a break.  It's one thing for me to do a craft show and spend the day not selling much but making more jewelry and enjoying conversations with people, but when I have to ask family members to help me set up, borrow their truck, and watch my children, then not have much to show for it, it's disheartening.  Plus, most anyone can string a bead.  Craft shows have become inundated with jewelry.  Jewelry crafters who have been around for years are being lost in the massive wave of new, bright-eyed, optimistic beaders.  There is nothing wrong with new beaders, I was once new on the craft show scene, though I've been beading since the mid 80s, but when there are so many new jewelry people and many craft show coordinators don't put a limit on the amount they allow into a show, it ruins it for everyone, especially crafters and shoppers.  And honestly, I'd rather not be accepted into a show because there is too much beaded jewelry rather than be accepted and swallowed into the craft show sea of beaded jewelry.  People go to a craft show looking for variety, not to a craft show where there are five jewelry booths for every one booth of another kind of craft.
I know my jewelry is different from everyone else's, but until I can find a way to make my jewelry stand out in an ocean of beads, and until the economy improves, I am taking a break from the craft show scene, at least this year--2012.
I will miss chatting with people, whether they buy or not, and I will miss visiting with other crafters, but it's reached the point where it's simply not worth it.
I will say that the Caledon Arts & Wine Festival in King George, VA, usually held in November, has done an excellent job of having a variety of talented, quality crafts at their shows.   Here's a link to last year's show  http://caledonnaturalareafriends.webs.com/artandwinefestival.htm
That said, I'm going to go make some jewelry for a friend....
And I'm not even going to edit this.

Angela's Adornments Protests The Protect IP Act

Many websites are blacked out today to protest proposed U.S. legislation that threatens internet freedom: the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). From personal blogs to giants like WordPress and Wikipedia, sites all over the web — including this one — are asking you to help stop this dangerous legislation from being passed. Please watch the video below to learn how this legislation will affect internet freedom, then scroll down to take action.

Starry Night

Here you have it. This is the necklace I entered into Stringing Magazine’s beading Challenge for winter ‘09. The theme for the challenge is “Inspired by Art.” Instantly I thought of all the star beads I had and my favorite piece of artwork: “The Starry Night.”
Now, I’ve come to realize that these challenges often end up to be a popularity contest: How many friends do you have with internet access and who are willing to vote for you? And, unfortunately, sometimes: How many different email addresses do each of those friends have? I would certainly ask my friends to vote for my jewelry submission if they liked it the best. But I would neither expect nor ask them to vote more than once, because first of all, I wouldn’t feel right about it, like I was cheating or something. Second, if by chance I won, I wouldn’t enjoy the victory knowing that some people voted more than once. Be fair! It makes everyone happy. And if someone is competitive in an unhealthy way that might make them feel it’s okay to cheat, well then I don’t know. I guess they have personal issues. Anyway, I know I am too honest. It can sometimes be a bad thing. I’m working on it.
But here you have my necklace, which is almost like the design that popped into my head when I read what the next Stringing Challenge was going to be. I had more stars in my bead boxes than usual because I had intended to enter the previous challenge, which was “All Around the World.” For that challenge I envisioned an earth-looking pendant with star beads all around it. Stars are all around the world. I didn’t manage to get it made in time, because the design wasn’t working as I planned and the closest thing I could find for an earth pendant was glass with a blue swirl. I had some limited resources at the time, in addition to lack of time.
But it worked out. I had all the beads I needed to make this “Starry Night” inspired piece. It may not be the most beautiful necklace in the world, but I think it’s pretty cool-looking.
Oh, I must add this: My other idea for the “All Around the World” Stringing Challenge that I missed was to have big orange and blue beads with lots of dangling chili pepper baubles. That didn’t work out as it was in my head, and didn’t look right any way I tried it. So then I thought I’d just do a bunch of hanging chili peppers on a chain, but then the deadline passed. I was also trying to get ready for my once a year big craft show at that point, so I was pressed for time. But do you get the reason for the chili peppers in my 2nd idea for the “All Around the World” challenge? Because when I saw the title for the challenge, I immediately thought of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
song “Around the World.” But I wasn’t too sure if anyone else would get it. I’ve learned over the years that oftentimes not many people think like me. I should have taken a pic of the necklace with the Red Hot Chili Peppers album cover. That might have helped. Oh well. I didn’t enter anything for that challenge, so it doesn’t matter now!
But here is my “Starry Night” necklace. Vote for it!
Link for voting to come in a few days. As soon as www.stringingmagazine.com makes it available on November 18.