I’m so excited about the new work I’ve just put up on the website, particularly about the “Aquarium” necklaces.  They feature “Lodenite” stones — rocks really!

Each Lodenite stone tells a story, visually speaking, with a different shape/size and with a different colorway.   Each stone is clear and domed and so refracts its bottom rock layer into a scene.   Peering into each stone is similar to the experience of being drawn into the exploration of an aquarium.  Here’s a close-up of one such stone, but unfortunately none of these pix does justice to the mystery in each of them.  (You may view this close-up by clicking on either or both of the links listed below.)

So, I grouped five stones in each necklace, using stones to offset their colorways.

One necklace pairs dark amethyst crazy-cut amethyst beads with hammered light amethyst beads, alternating with small purple-dyed pearls and finished with a new find in closures:  agate closures in different hues, this one with some amethyst shading.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=152&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

In another necklace, responding to the coppery sort of colorways of the lodenite, I used rough-hewn red quartz stones and light peach natural tailed and circled pearls, alternating with tiny Akoya pearls and the agate closure in orangey hues.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=151&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

I have another lodenite necklace in the works set off with natural pearls and a pearl closure.  My favorite, I think!

Do they look as exotic to you as they do to me?  By the way, they’re not heavy pieces!

Artist Made

Last evening, I attended an event at the New York Public Library featuring the author, Barbara Kingsolver, promoting her newest book in nine years, The Lacuna.  I’ve been to many such events, but was captivated by this intelligent and charming woman.  She began by discussing how the public, before the advent of radio, used to read books for pleasure and how this particular pleasure has largely been replaced by radio, tv, and the internet. She went on to describe her involvement with her work, the research done, the trips made, the notes taken and consulted.  I was struck with the thought that this description of her craft was very similar to that of artists of handmade art.

Recently, I watched the new series on PBS, Craft in America. I marvelled anew at the work done by “craft” artists, at how they invest themselves in each type of material they touch. These are potters, glass blowers, wood turners, and, yes, beadworkers, each of whom has spent most of their life pursuing their craft, because they HAD TO do it. I have often mused that so much of the buying public simply doesn’t understand or appreciate this inherent value — the investment of time, love, emotion, with which any artist, including Barbara Kingsolver, infuses their work.

A somewhat apocryphal tale has often circulated among beaders, about a bead artist who was selling her beadwork at a fair.  A visitor stepped up, browsed through the work displayed, selected a piece, looked at the price, and, complaining that it was too costly, insisted that she could replicate it with one hand tied behind her back!  In the blink of an eye, this consumer totally negated the time spent learning and practicing her craft, her investment in time and materials, her dedication to the work.

Yes, we are in hard economic times; yes, spare cash is hard to come by; and yes, artist made works generally cost more.  And in the upcoming holiday season, consumers will have the choice of buying decorative glass, wood, and pottery items as well as jewelry at the big box stores that have been spit out of foreign factories for pennies;  or of purchasing handmade items at fine craft galleries or at holiday craft shows, such as the one mounted in Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library.  Perhaps, but not necessarily, a consumer will pay more for handmade — but won’t both gift-giver and -receiver appreciate the unique quality of a handmade gift of art?

What a word: Artisanal. Artisan. Artist. …. The article in today’s New York Times Style section, by Tim McKeough, page D4, is entitled “Artisanal Treasures” and subtitled “Valuing the personal in an era of mass production”. Yes! Amen and Hallelujah! Not a concept as compelling as it should be today, especially in this down economy.

“Valuing the personal” — knowing that an artist’s eye was captured by the materials and compelled to create from them; knowing that an artist’s hands produced the treasure, rather than a machine; knowing that the treasure is a unique object — perhaps one-of-a-kind or of limited production — rather than having been mass produced.

The profiled entrepreneur, Stephen Burks, begins by saying: “Modern manufacturing processes are good at churning out one identical product after another. But shoppers in search of a little more character are increasingly drawn to objects handmade by artisans around the world.” Are you in search of “character” in what you buy?

Each piece of jewelry I produce is personal, each has a history of some sort, each piece is handmade painstakingly — an investment of time and love. Everyone asks how long it took me to make the statement piece “Be Mine” — but how can I begin to quantify the wealth of energy and commitment, no less the pleasure, inherent in its creation, or the ease of simply wearing it with something simple and black and standing out in the crowd? I assure you: I did not churn it out.

Mr. Burks continues to talk about treasures “having that immediacy of making, and that direct connection to people and community groups” – isn’t that what we are searching for these days with our Facebook and Twitter postings and connections? So why not in the treasures that we buy, wear or live with?

– vintage jewelry that is! I adore vintage beads and cabochons of all kinds. I seek them out wherever I am shopping for beads, anywhere from online to the Paris Flea Market, and everywhere in between. It awes me that they are old — sometimes older than I am!

My absolute favorite of all my vintage pieces is called “Games People Played“. This necklace is perfect for the big spender, with a big strong ego! It’s a large, double strand necklace formed with a bolo and fringe, completely made from vintage beads representing all types of gaming pieces — cards, chess pieces, dice, horseshoes — plus vintage Japanese plastic red beads and vintage French silver beads (from the Paris flea market!) — all crocheted by hand into a magnificent, one-of-a-kind, showstopper! The colors – white, black, red, silver — can go with anything you would want to pair with it, so while its large, it’s versatile.

Do you love vintage jewelry as much as I do?