Award winning weekend and other art fair adventures!

My dear blog...my how I have ignored you! It was all in the name of art, I swear. I recently ended a busy summer art fair season and am taking a little break before the fall/holiday season kicks in. I had two shows in July and it all ended on a very good note. First there was my two art fair weekend with shows in Dixon, IL and Dekalb, IL. Sales-wise it was OK but award-wise it was fantastic! I have dubbed it my 2-award weekend.

Dixon "Nuts About Art" awarded me 2nd place in the 3-D division and I am not sure what I won at Dekalb but it came with a decent size check!

The next weekend I was off to exhibit at the Madison Art on the Square. I was a first-timer there and had been told by many what a great show it was. Everyone I spoke with told me to bring help and lots of jewelry. So I did! I convinced my BFF Kim to go up with me. I feel like I torchered her...with the long days, time away from her family, and by far the crappiest motel room we had ever stayed in. In the end we had a blast, she was a huge help, and sales were excellent. The day after the show we stuck around Madison and treated ourselves to pedicures, manicures, and shopping in the downtown/University area. Hope I get into that show next year!

Mutual Admiration

In the indie art world there is often a sense of mutual admiration....here is one case in point:

Neawear is the store of a Canadian jewelry designer Janick. I greatly admire her bold use of non-traditonal materials to create truly dramatic jewelry. The mutual part comes in because Janick is a valued customer of mine and has collected my entire line of Rox jewelry. Below is a pair of earrings I just have to have from her Deploy line!

Something Just To Start (Virtual Art Gallery)

I've been featured! Check it out today on:

Something Just To Start (Virtual Art Gallery)

I love this blog. She has a great sense for style and jewelry. I say that not because I am featured but because I admire so manu of the other jewelers she has on her site. I am truly honored to be there.

New Designs for Spring and Summer

I have been busy in my shop creating new designs for spring and summer. From my head - to my bench -to you.

Great Finds for Interior Designs

It has been some time now since I bought my home so that fun period of decorating is behind me, but, it doesn't mean I don't fantisize about making things over. I found these items on Etsy and can see them fitting perfectly in my imaginary reworked living room.

From the floor up:

Funky Modern COFFEE TABLE... Retro 50s 60s with Contemporary Twist - Table by MeliaDesignsUK

White Porcelain Dot Vase - Vase by juditavill

Dots - Painting by lvhdesigns

Nature vs. Nurture

My daughter has really embraced drawing these days. I am told at preschool it is hard to get her to go to any other learning center. As someone who has loved art all her life, I am one proud mama! I guess you never know exactly what your children will pick up from your genes verses the environment you create for them but with a child that is adopted (like mine) it is all a big mystery that unfolds before you. Score on for nurture in this case!

Over the last two weeks she has started drawing elaborate flowers and trees, added houses to her repertoire and even started putting clothes and jewelry on the people she draws. My favorite thing is that she has started designing rings. They often look like rings I make...so cute!

When It Rains It Pours...and you get the flu!

I haven't showed this blog any love for the past few weeks but I have a perfectly good explanation...I have been hit with the flu despite that trusty flu shot I subjected myself to. It literally ran its course through my entire family...parents, brother's family, and now me. To make matters worse (or some may say better) I have had orders to complete, requests for more work from two galleries, preparations for my first art fair of the season, and my day job with more than enough to keep one person busy and a bit stressed. Trying to keep up when I really want to be in bed trying to shake this thing has meant lingering feelings of ickiness and constantly feeling tired.

Enough whining! On to the good news...Rural Abandon Jewelry will soon grace the shelves of MoCo Market in Madison, Wisconsin. MoCo is a new take on the old general store catering to the environmentally conscientious customer commuting to work via foot, bike, and public transport. They are now including a spot in their store to feature artisans from Etsy living and working in States within 100 miles of the store. The idea being that the less distance the items need to travel to get to their shelves the less polutants enter the air and natural resources being used. A win win for local crafters and the environment! MoCo looks fabulous so if you are in the Madison area check it out.

Store Location:804 Williamson StreetMadison, Wisconsin
Hours:Monday - Friday (7am - 8pm)Saturday (8am - 5pm) & Sunday (10am - 5pm)

Precious Metal Costs Up - Jewelry Artisans Down

Jewelry artisans around the world have been wincing at the rapidly rising price of precious metals. With no end in site, designers are at the mercy of the markets. Many artists are wishing they would have bought a little more wire or sheet metal the last time they ordered their supplies. The rise in prices cuts into the independent artist’s ability to make a profit and poses a challenge to educating consumers. With precious metal being a commodity traded on markets around the world 24 hours a day, no other craft is as susceptible to price fluctuation. Take silver for example, the price of silver in 2000 was just $4.60 an ounce, in 2005 it was $8.83 per ounce, and at the time of writing this article it has risen to $17.69 an ounce. This is just the price of the raw materials. On top of this, there are fabrication charges that one pays in order to get material in useable forms like sheet, wire, and casting grain.

What does this mean for the jewelry adoring public? When you are buying jewelry in precious metal you are investing in something not only beautiful but with real market value. Metals like sterling silver and gold, can be sold back to refining companies or melted down and repurposed into entirely new pieces. This has been done for ages and will continue to be relevant in the future.

Some artisans will choose to respond to the increase in prices by using more affordable non-precious metals. We will likely see more and more costume jewelry on the market, however, most metalsmiths will continue to work in precious metal because as the name implies it is precious!

This is just the beginning folks!

It is 2008 and time for me to jump into the blogoshere! Form here on out I am making it my mission to bring you great indie finds from my own studio and others. So let's start with me...












I'm happy to announce a new line of fresh, fun, and affordable jewelry at Rural Abandon. It is called the Rox line because it Rocks! Yes...I know Rox is the wrong spelling but it is so much more fun to use an x. For the Rox line I have played with faceting the metal to create more surafce for light to bouce off of. The result - BLING!