Today I put my hair in ponytails and threw on a hat... I'm running out the door to an early morning composting workshop. Instead of feeling tired and frazzled, when I looked in the mirror I suddenly felt like my friend Anne Leuck Feldhaus, who I've often seen in ponytails with a snazzy hat and awesome glasses. She is a fun fashion maven, so I'm happy to be channeling her today :)
Have you ever had one of those days where you get the same message repeated to you in various forms? Well, by the end of yesterday I was saying "Okay! I get it!" and my mind was shutting down from all the information processing... needless to say it was a very good sleep.
It started early in the morning with a call from a friend to go for a walk followed by a birthday breakfast for one of her friends at a local restaurant. We walked and talked and got our day off to a lovely start. We both admired the idea behind the breakfast: her friend simply posted on facebook and made a few calls around to let people know she would be at the restaurant and would love it if anyone who wanted would just show up, wish her a happy birthday, and enjoy breakfast. She knew what she wanted, asked for it, and got it! It was such a wonderful opportunity for an interesting cross section of her friends to meet as well... there was so much wonderful networking and storytelling.
That was when the message started for me... it was there under the surface all along in various conversations, yet when Reinette (a friend of the birthday girl's and our town mayor actually) mentioned the time when she did the Iditarod alone (yes! I can't wait to hear about this story at her performance on Saturday night)... well, she said she was just recently enlightened to the idea that she wasn't alone at all. She couldn't have finished the race without all the help of the villages and villagers along the way who taught her skills and helped her achieve her goal.
This struck a cord with me because that's the way I have felt about my life and especially my business. There are so many people who help me and have helped me along the way in various forms. After breakfast I received an email from a fellow jeweler who is thinking of hiring some helpers. I gave her some pointers from a business perspective, but definitely encouraged her to do it. I'm not always sure why our American culture wants to put so much emphasis on doing things alone or being the best or trying to do it all. I'm a huge fan of teamwork or delegation and being proud of it. That's why my website isn't just about me (I am in the phases of simplifying it for various reasons, but I still acknowledge other people who help me on the In the Studio section of my website.
The rest of my day was filled with business errands and various emails. I was surprisingly exhausted from the early part of the day yet knew I needed to keep my energy up for the evening event at the APPLE Center where See Jane Do was hosting an event. Eleven women stood up for 5 minutes each speaking about the projects they are involved in, mostly based around food, the environment, gardening, and community. It was a powerful night, and each speaker acknowledged that she was merely a leader who brought other people together (actually, most of them didn't even feel like leaders since they were all deeply involved workers in their projects). There were no loners in this group, and each person made an appeal for volunteers and thanked the community for its various forms of support and encouraged everyone to get involved on some level.
Soon after I had to head home just to crash, but first a phone call to a friend who reached out in a time of needing an ear. To wind down I crawled into bed and finished the book "When Everything Changes, Change Everything" which ends of the note of "you can't do it alone," and why do that to yourself. Sometimes to not be alone you have to be the one who reaches out (and don't we all want people to reach out to us and know just when we need to hear something? well, people aren't mind readers, and to get what you want you have to go for what you want). The writer (Neale Donald Walsh) clarifies that solitude and meditation are different from being alone. Often times to be alone is an effort where you are shutting yourself off. When you have gratitude and appreciation and understanding of what your soul needs, you will not be alone.
That's hardly the message of the whole book... it's very interesting if you need more control in your life based around changes that are happening to you (it turns out you are making them happen!) or simply to change your perspective on all the change and turmoil happening in the world. The end kept emphasizing the "not alone" message, though, which was just interesting based on the events of the day.
I received another how-to inquiry for a project not in my book, and here is how I responded:
The Riverstone Bangle is not in my "Elegant Wire Jewelry" book because it's an advanced project that required soldering, whereas the book is geared towards people who want to do wirework easily at home. The idea is the same as my other projects, though -- you build an under-structure first. I do this by soldering 3 individual rings, 2 that are the same size to fit your hand as a bangle (with a little added room for the wrapping) and 1 that is larger to add dimension. I then create some bracing wraps in copper around the frames to hold them in place -- this is hard to do and takes patience because you are holding 3 rings in one hand while wrapping with the other. The wraps do not have to be neat because you will cut them off. So, when the structure is stable enough to let go of, you can start wrapping with the sterling silver wire; as you approach a section of copper, cut it off.
Here are just a few more pics I took around here, of my fairy cottage and studio cottage... wanted to grab them before all the leaves are down. Pruning season is coming up, so I'm hoping to get a few areas around my cottage looking a little neater when the time comes. I posted these pics on facebook, too, if you want to link up with me there for shorter tidbit updates (please write me a message letting me know how you found me, thanks!).
the side view of my cottage
the backyard hammock
the tree I park under
greetings at my front gate
before you get to my front gate... lots of crazy bushes
my front yard is very shady... perfect for art
my studio cottage, just a stroll through the garden and the pine forest
Over the years many people have asked me "how do you do it all?" when referring to my business. Well, I've never kept it a secret, I don't do it all alone. Well, I almost feel like I'm doing it alone now. Back in 2006 while writing "Elegant Wire Jewelry," I realized I couldn't tackle that project and fill all of my show and store commitments. That was the indicator that pushed me to a decision point: I could hire someone or cancel out of shows or not write the book, etc. There were many options, but I liked the idea of growing my business.
Last year was a tough year. I had built my business so that 5 of us could work as a team, until the economy came to a screeching halt. The timing was such a bummer... I had just moved into a new studio space, hired a new employee, switched payroll services, set up a phone system and lots of infrastructure. I wasn't reading the signs correctly of what was happening now, instead I was relying on what had always happened. Orders came in, my business kept growing, etc. Well, that was a novice's mistake to be sure. I'm still learning everyday about how to own and run a business.
Now I'm at a point where I have one part-time employee, Katie (she is on my website). She's still in Chicago, but when I have time for training everything will move here. Or maybe I will try to manage everything myself? That is hard to do. One thing I learned is that I do like having production help for wholesale orders as well as bookkeeping help -- removing these 2 responsibilities from my plate opens up my time for sales calls, new design time, and marketing... things that I am much more adept at (well, I'm good at production but not so great at data entry with my hunt-and-peck typing method).
The other thing I learned is that I have to let go of ideals a little bit and look at reality. Ideals are great to strive for... I'd love to have a studio that can offer benefits and pay a salary, but I've learned that I need to understand my exact expenses, so for production I now have a set cost I pay for each piece. Apparently this is a standard manufacturing practice, but not having studied business... well, it took me a while to learn something so basic.
Right now I'm being cautious like everybody else. I'm going to look at the numbers and the orders comng in and wait until I'm at an obvious point like I was back in 2006... it would be great to feel pushed to the edge like that again, don't you think?
I received a request from one of my "Elegant Wire Jewelry" book readers to explain my gradient patina technique. Here's a verbal rundown... let me know if you want to see or learn more.
Have you used liver of sulfur before? That's what I use for all of my patinas. It comes in a dry chunky rock form, which is the best. I put a few chunks in a glass container (sized to fit the piece you want to oxidize; for big ones I have a round casserole dish that's pretty deep). I then fill the container with boiling water and use a little stick to stir the chunks so they dissolve. There's no exact science of proportion... the more chunks, the stronger the solution and the darker/faster the results. You might want to play around with some scrap metal to see how it all works.
Anyway, for the gradient, I dunk the piece very, very quickly and immediately plunge it under cold running water. The first dunk I go as high as I want it to go before I leave part of it silver. Then I dunk it again, leaving a little of the already slightly oxidized portion exposed -- also very quickly and then immediately rinse. Just keep repeating this process moving down the form until you are at the part you want the darkest. It may already be as dark as you want (the liver of sulfur builds up), but if not go ahead and dunk that part and hold it until it's the color you want then do a final rinse.
If you hold the piece too long in the liver of sulfur it gets a matte finish. You can then brush it with a brass brush to bring up the shine again. If you want to seal the patina so it doesn't change, you can try lacquer. I have played around with various types. I don't really love any of them so I just accept that it changes over time, an artful process. Some people have suggested a wax seal but I haven't tried anything like that... too hard to do on wire.
For the last 2 weeks I received at least 1 wholesale order every day. This week has been a little quieter with 3 retail etsy sales and 1 more wholesale order, but this is the most activity I've seen in a while. I'm hoping that means some economic recovery is in sight. It probably means that many stores looked around and realized things have been selling and all of a sudden they need some new fresh work for the holidays (and for their repeat customers, which is who we are all catering to).
I am thrilled to feel so busy. Nothing like in the past where I had enough work for 4 employees, but the base is building back up. The part that is killing me is that all of these calls have come to me... I know that I should be calling all of my accounts to check up on them... even just to say hi. I'm trying to work this into my schedule but other things keep taking precedent, which is probably a bad priority since my livelihood exists on orders being in the queue.
The daunting part of making calls is the shear number of galleries I need to be in touch with. I need to create a list and maybe tackle just 2 or 3 a day. I have about 60 active galleries, not counting the ones that have fallen by the wayside for various reasons. We all know it's best to break a large project into small bites, but the practice is sometimes hard to get started. The funny thing is that I love talking to my galleries! They know what's going on, and it's fun to build a relationship.
Some people think 60 sounds like a lot of galleries (I still agree), but other people think 200-600 is a better number. In talking with a friend a couple of weeks ago, though, he explained how 60 is better than 3. Sometimes we get caught up with trying to find the 1 big client that will keep us afloat, but then we might as well just work for that client. Having a large number of clients reduces reliance on any 1 income source. I'd rather have 10 little orders sitting on my desk like I do now than 1 big one because it shows that the economy is opening up around the country. The orders are small and conservative, but they add up. It also prevents me having to sit and stress and wait for the 1 check to come in; multiple orders improve cash flow. A large number of accounts also means that 1 client doesn't have too much ownership in my company. It's interesting to look at income from clients as percentages of ownership or interest in my business.
