3.30.2012

Daytime Date Adventures

The other day Jo and I set off to run some errands, I needed a new torch, we were hunting for a mirror for the bedroom and one for the studio, and a few other stops here and there.  Along the way errands turned into random driving through an industrial part of town, checking out warehouses, enjoying the discovery of new parts of town that neither of us had been to.  These are my favorite "Dates" with my lady, its all about the random that pops up along the way and generally enjoying each others company...

One turn down a small side street turned into afternoon cocktails at La Mariana, Honolulu's original tiki bar and sailing club, opened in 1957!



Lilikoi margarita, frothy, icy, tart and with a salted rim...YES!



Post lazing and cocktailing we headed to the local recycled building materials warehouse to hunt for I don't even know what...I kind of just like to get lost in there and browse all the old stuff and wait for inspiration.  I need to create some frame like display things for my table at the market, not really sure of my vision exactly, so I was just having fun soaking it all in for inspiration!  We did find some tiny turquoise glass tiles that I fell in love with and have no clue what to do with...Might have to go back for those!






These random date days are always the best, most often they take us places we never would have gone had we set out with a plan...for some reason it's always so much more enjoyable when it's a surprise!  Jo admitted later that her secret plan was to take me to La Mariana, and POW...it happened!  Love that lady!

Later I cracked out on re-"planting" some air plants and a tiny jade plant in some treasures I picked up at the market last week...vintage tiki cups!  RE-arranging plants always turns into moving around all of the decor in the living room and adding and subtracting tchochkies in every corner, on every surface...It's so nice to come back into the room and see it with fresh eyes, newly loved and curated!

The perfect hairdo for the tiki dude!


This little guy is my fave.  Hand made tiki cup with a great scary little face!


I've got a handful of half finished silvery bits on the bench, a few custom orders, and a head full of ideas...I hope to get some work done after I get home from "work" tonight so I can have some fresh, new creations for the market tomorrow! Sending love for your Friday...Aloha!



3.23.2012

Words Only Emotional Brain Dump

 Last night I did my third month in a row at our local crafty/rummage/thrift sale/event thingy, called ART and FLEA.  As I've mentioned before I am feeling at the cusp of developing my business and just breaking the ice in terms of sales and exposure.  Last night was another one of those slow times, I sat at my table, smiled and chatted up everyone who stopped by...I love seeing peoples reactions to my work, their smiles when something catches their eye, and of course the compliments that come along the way!  That in itself is so rewarding!  Sales continue to be slow, and while I am so incredibly grateful for each customer that spends their hard earned money on one of my creations, I am trying to battle the doubts, and negativity that creeps in.  What's missing to turn all of the praise and compliments I am receiving into actual sales?  Nothing really...I think it must be a matter of timing, patience, and getting my work seen more and more.

I experienced such a rush of love from my "girls" who came out and brought a few of their friends last night, they were my only sales all night, and the warm fuzzies, and full hearted love I got from them is enough to ride high on for days!  I feel so lucky to have these women in my life, that appreciate the work of my hands, who beam with smiles as they toss their hair and show off their new earrings!  Seriously people, I'm tearing up just sitting here typing this...Maybe I'm just PMS'ing, but I can feel how much they believe in me and want me to succeed.  I can literally feel it in my chest, along with all the hopes and dreams, plans, ideas, and wishes...Today this presence is so physical that it almost hurts, and in this case is causing liquid to express itself from my eyeballs!  It fills my chest and weighs on my mind, I can't stop thinking about it!  I suppose that all this means that this whole process is so important to my soul that it is affecting me physically, that my thoughts and emotions have to process themselves and find a way to manifest outside my mind so that they can come to life! 

One of the best things about setting up at this market is the camaraderie with other vendors, and meeting people I would never know otherwise...Oh, and the people watching is about one of the best spots on the island.  I like to sit back and take it all in, making new friends along the way and learning about who my customers are...

I received two of the most wonderful bits of feedback last night, from two very different and stylish a women.  About an hour apart from each other, they both remarked that my creations are so different from what they see around the islands, and that they love that it's not so "islandy" with shells and rainbows...This, I told them was the best thing I could hear and at the perfect time!  I often feel like nobody here is interested unless it's "Hawaiian"  jewelry, and I always get the comments about "oh, you should totally add some shells or feathers to your designs".  Sometimes people show up in your life and tell you just what you need to hear at just the right time.  Thanks ladies for the vote of confidence...I really really needed it!

OK, that about does it for Friday's brain dump...maybe I just needed a good emotional moment with my cyber-sisterhood!

I have a drill press to put together, with instructions that seem to be barley translated from Chinese...wish me luck, I really need to use it this weekend!

3.21.2012

The Colorful Goodness of Nature!







It rained like the sky was falling...And then these sprouted up all over fallen logs and tree stumps!
Oh the colorful goodness of nature!!!!

3.14.2012

We got a new addition to our little family of vendors at the Saturday market...




This thing is seriously pimped out on the inside, complete with full size espresso machine, refrigerator, sink and linoleum tile floor!  We are all beyond stoked to have coffee at the market...and it's really good coffee...A rarity here on the island, (OK maybe not rare, but my former Seattle dwelling coffee snobbery is tamed by the deliciousness of their Americano!)

In, other weekend news...It was a bit slow this week, so I brought something to keep me busy while sitting at my table at the market.

I recently bought some waxed linen cord to experiment with and made these and a few others while sitting at the market.



Tomorrow is Jo's birthday, so we took a little stay cation and went up to Waialua and stayed at a beach cottage for a few days!  The absolute best part of this is that one of her co-workers owns the place and let us stay there for free!!!!  All I have to do is give her and her husband a massage in return for letting us stay there!  Totally worth it, and maybe I'll get some new clients out of the deal too!

Trying out my new silvery polish for the weekend!
And, sporting a new earring creation...I am newly obsessed with making tons of earrings based on this design. And yes, I realize the photo is not so great!
Caught in the act of happiness...    

I have to admit that since we don't have television at home, we tend to get a little excited when we stay somewhere that does...This turned out to be the beginning of a late night Golden Girls marathon, accompanied by a large glass of whiskey! 

Getting out of town and having my love all to myself for a full 48 hours was just lovely, I made my famous lasagna, and Jo's favorite carrot cake for her birthday dinner.  We obviously enjoyed ourselves because I have almost no pictures from the weekend, a sure sign of time well spent with the one you love!

In rehab news, I just finished a little session of living room yoga.  I've been really stiff and having some nerve pain in my foot...totally to be expected and totally annoying!  My range of motion is really small on my left side so I just kind of muddled my way through some of the poses that were a bit difficult.  All in all it felt good though, and I know if I continue, it will only improve!  (that was me using a bit of positive re-enforcement on myself).  OH!!  I almost forgot!  I rode a bike this weekend too!!!!  This is quite a big deal in the land of recuperating from my accident, it was fun, comfortable, and actually not painful at all!!  Actually, it was more comfortable than walking...Lesson learned?  I need to ride a bike more often!  I felt like a real human again, doing things that normal people can do...I even pulled Jo on her skateboard!  FUN! 

So, things are rolling right along...I hope all is well in your worlds, thanks for stopping by!

3.06.2012

It's been raining like a tropical monsoon for a few days now, last night I saw the biggest display of lightning light up the entire sky over the city.  Driving home from dropping some new friends off at the airport, Jo and I saw a HUGE lightning bolt flash horizontally across the sky from way up in the mountains all the way across town and over the entire city!  It was amazing!  The dog did a bit of freaking out at the thunder, proceeded to shake for about an hour, and then finally fell asleep between us in bed.

The rain stared on Friday, and we went camping on Saturday.  We headed up to the North Shore early and I did the market as usual...dropped off the crew at the campsite to get set up while I spent my time at the market chatting with new friends and trying to stay warm and dry...We got pretty lucky and stayed mostly dry at the campsite!  Good timing I guess because by the time we left on Sunday it was raging all over again!

Sunrise light on the way to N.S.




Blurry, yes.  Awesome, also yes.






Last week I had a few custom orders to work on in the studio...It's so awesome to have these special request projects to work on!  I LOVE making something with someone specific in mind, I find myself thinking about them wearing it, loving it, and generally being stoked on their new one of a kind creation.  As someone who is starting to scratch the surface of a successful indie business, I can't possibly express all the ways it makes me feel when someone chooses to spend their hard earned money on something I made!!!  Every time I make a sale, I am so thankful and get super fired up for all the ways I want to see my business grow. 


Two custom order spinner rings, and one heavily textured wide band ring.

Some of the new cards that I just got in the mail!

Beautiful mess.

These little ladies were my grandmothers, I remember them always sitting atop her dresser with all her jewelry boxes.  
 I forgot to take pictures of the "after"...as in, with oxidation.  The spinners have happily flown away to their new owners, the wide band ring, I still need to photograph and get in the shop.

In other studio news, I had one of those nights last night when my soldering skills were failing me...I had to take a few deep breaths and move on to other projects.  I'll get back to my bezels later on, and hopefully they will decide to cooperate!

Until then, it's lots of sawing, shaping and planning for the next batch of creations...And, lots of dreaming, planning, and manifesting some of the plans I have in my head.  I have a million wants for my business, and so many of them I don't know how to go about creating.  Today I feel full of doubt, uncertainty, and wonder at how in the heck I'm supposed to go about getting all these topics sorted out.  I wish I had a magical guru/mentor/advisor to answer my questions.  The bottom line is that I want to get my work seen by more people, whether that be in retail locations or getting more traffic at the market on Saturdays.  I've been scoping out some local shops and making lists of places I think may be a good fit for my work.  I fear that my best market/customers/locations, are not really the kind of places that we have here in Honolulu. The retail scene here is small aside from the chain stores at the mall, and the local boutiques and galleries are so focused on either very "Hawaiian" jewelry or the very trendy stuff that can be found anywhere...I know I may be extra pessimistic today, but I can't help feeling like I'm living in the wrong town for the ultimate success of my business. 

Whew...that sounds really bad, but what I mean is that I realize that my opportunity for exposure here is more limited than if I were living back in Seattle, with weekly craft markets frequented by thousands of people, and tons of boutiques that thrive on the products they carry being unique, handmade, and one of a kind.   I love living here and wouldn't trade back if I could, it just means I have to be even more determined to get my work out there, and even more motivated to MAKE IT WORK!

Thanks cyberfriends, for being an ear to my thoughts, ramblings, and general brain dump today!
Aloha!