A Little Bit of Nothing

Photo taken in Tucson Arizona of my great-granddaughter, my grandson and me and my fantastic hubby (we've been married now for 45 wonderful years).

So what have I been doing ?  It's been months and months since my last post and all I have to show for that lost time is . . . well very, very little. 
Over the past few months I've been trying to find resources in which to sell my handcrafted jewelry.  My primary source, a studio/gallery in Bradenton's Village of the Arts, has moved and the owner is no longer maintaining a gallery featuring items made by local artists.  Keeping all of one's eggs in one basket is never a good idea but I really didn't want to have to keep track of inventory scattered about in several different boutiques and galleries, it was hard enough keeping an account of pieces at just one venue.  Perhaps I'll post more about those trials and tribulations at another time.

Recently I had a heart stopping experience.  One of those moments when that little voice inside my head screams out; "OMG !  What have I done ?"
A couple of days ago I decided to delete an old email account that I never use.  I sat up the account with Gmail because , at that time, I wanted to open another Etsy shop and needed a second email address in  order to  do so.  That was several years ago and the GMail  account was never used.  Since it was occupying space on my computer desktop it seem logical to delete it.  A couple of days later I tried to access my blog and got a white page informing me that ABeadersBlog did not exist and did I wish to use that domain ?  That's when my heart went crashing down to my stomach. Good grief what in blazes had I done ?  Unfortunately when I thought I was deleting my GMail account I was inadvertently deleting my whole Google account instead . . . including Blogger!

Therefore my blog vanished from the Internet for several days before I discovered what I had done.  Trying to restore one's Google account is doable but believe me it is one big, freakin' hassle.   I went around in perpetual circles, like a dog chasing its tail, and was getting nowhere.  Time and time again I went through their procedure to restore my Google account and spent hours accomplishing nothing.

To make an extremely long story shorter, let me just say that through some bit of Google website magic the mysterious "verification page", that I had so vainly sought, finally appeared and allowed me to submit my request to restore my account.  All of this required my changing my password a couple of times, filling out a form, getting an automated phone call with a "magic" code and then inserting said  "magic" code into its proper box.   Afterwards my blog reappeared as did several new gray hairs and a couple of wrinkles that I didn't have before all of this rigmarole !
But an invaluable lesson was learned;  Look, not once but twice or even thrice, before hitting the delete button !!!

 

 

The Oxymoron of Manufactured Handmade

Photo above - Small seed beaded earrings featuring a pumpkin motif. 

 

There have been distractions lately.  Normally I handle distraction well but for the past few weeks I've chosen to ignore them.  Rather than dwell on these distractions  I've buried myself in making jewelry.   I find it calming, this simple task of beading.  Concentrating upon  an intricate peyote pattern, counting the beads, like counting stitches in a cross stitch pattern, relaxes me,  occupies my hands,  keeps my mind busy and, most importantly, satisfies that spirit within me that craves to create something. 

 Photos above and below - 2 drop peyote bracelet, in progress.  Holly pattern courtesy of  Fusion Beads.

I don't think  I am an odd-ball to feel this way,  I'm sure most of you can relate to this feeling of serenity as you paint, sketch, sew, crochet, knit etc. etc.  The mind seems mesmerized by what it's doing and all that other "clutter", those shouts that echo and ricochet from one brain cell to another, are temporarily silenced.

Photo above - Seed bead hank put together using my bead spinner

 

Photo above - For some reason, to me anyway, these seed bead hanks remind me of Egyptian jewelry - very regal.  I made one necklace using these beads before and thought about offering these as destash on etsy but lately my etsy shop has been like a morgue -  really, really dead. Hanks are 22" long and contain 12 strands.  If anyone is interested send me an email with your inquiry.
 

Ah yes and etsy!  Etsy's been one of those distractions that I've been trying not to dwell over.  All of etsy's changes, their  embracing of big handmade "manufacturers" ,  it's something I am still having a hard time assimilating.   How can something be handmade if the construction of the item is farmed out to others for  mass production ? 

When handmade becomes manufactured it loses its heart and soul and also its worth vastly diminishes.  It becomes no different than the items one would find on the shelves at Wal-Mart.  Mass produced, manufactured goods are not crafted with the devotion and passion as that of a product made one at a time by one person.  Would a Picasso painting be worth as much if Picasso had a factory manufacture his masterpieces, cranking out hundreds at a time ?  Would people value them as much?  Would they be willing to pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars for these knock-offs?   

We all pretty much know the answer to that.  No!  No one would pay the same price for a Picasso that was not painted by the great  twentieth century artist himself.   

So why would anyone wish to purchase somebody's stuffed armadillo toy that's manufactured in China and pay the same price as when it was lovingly handmade by the artist ?  Well that beats me, I really don't know.  Perhaps they don't realize that what they're buying is no longer truly a part of the once vibrant and untarnished Handmade Movement that once  flourished on etsy? Unfortunately on etsy that movement now appears to be drowning in a rising sea of manufactured "handmade" products.

Photo above - Pumpkin motif seed beaded earrings.  These were fun to create and I confess I ended up creating several in Christmas colors of red, green, white and or gold.  Some had candy cane stripes, some had diamond designs or hearts or holly berry motifs, but they all kept me happy and busy.  For anyone that lives in my neck of Florida all of my seed beaded holiday earrings can be seen first hand at Sandra French's Gallery in the Village of The Arts in Bradenton Florida.

Village of the Arts

Took a refreshing break from my computer yesterday and day-tripped over to Bradenton's famed Village of the Arts. A friend of mine, Sandra French, was having an exhibit of her stained glass art. Sandy's exhibition was housed in a small studio behind the larger gallery house. Though her studio is small and intimate it is charming and blessed by the fact that it's surrounded by an equally charming garden. Like most artists, Sandra was very optimistic and could envision how she would, eventually, decorate and organize her new studio. To get an idea of Sandra's amazing work please visit her web at http://sandyfrench.com/page0.php
Saturday was my first foray into this enchanting enclave known as The Village of the Arts and treasures awaited me behind every door and every turn. A district of quaint older houses rescued from the ravages of time by the hands of artists and crafters, some homes were loving restored and renovated, others repaired and "Artistically Enhanced".

Perhaps Florida's spat of cold winter weather is finally over as Saturday's temps hovered around the low 80's and the sun felt almost hot, should have brought a hat (and my camera). Ahhh warm sunshine, fresh air, live music and a cornucopia of arts, all wrapped up in the most delightful package of older homes dripping with character, vivid colors and lush landscapes...couldn't think of a grander way to spend the afternoon. Too bad I didn't think to bring a camera but below is a link to that eclectic slice of paradise, should you care to do a bit of exploring. Next time I will bring my camera, and yes there will definitely be a next time.

http://www.villageofthearts.com/index.php