Jan Finnell is Over the Top

Travel

2017-07-24T13:11:00.001-04:00

In late Spring or early Summer I made my first trip to Chicago! Hard to believe that in my years as a costume designer that I never did a show there, so it was time for a visit. Here are a some pictures from a really great trip with excellent weather. My first stop was the Art Institute of Chicago, where I spent the day. What an accessible museum, full of wonders, but not exhausting, as my local

Activism

2017-04-18T22:28:00.000-04:00

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything on this blog - since last fall. Between all of the social media I feel obligated to participate in, real life, work and the news, I am stretched a bit thin. But one thing that has kept me going is activism against this terrible new president and his life-denying Oval Office and Cabinet appointees. I was never much interested in politics, but

2016-11-28T16:54:00.000-05:00

It's shameful that I haven't posted since August! It was a busy summer and it's been a busy fall, too. I wait all year for fall and this one, while balmy, contained enough cool days and nights to finally give us some great local color. I was up in Rhinebeck, New York, for the Sheep & Wool Festival in mid-October, and we were blessed with a fabulous weather weekend with gorgeous foliage.

New Work

2016-08-12T15:46:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd show you some new work that has been taking up some of my time this summer. I've been using some of Gem Show booty, trying to make a dent into my stock that threatens to overwhelm. I went back to some of my older styles as I have a ton of pretty glass and gemstone beads that should be out there adorning you! Rare old Bohemian glass beads made for trading in Africa in brilliant

Remembering Desmond Heeley (1932-2016)

2016-06-12T18:55:00.000-04:00

As a young teen, I joined a high school theatre party in the early 1970s to see a performance of the new Broadway musical, Cyrano, starring Christopher Plummer. I was experimenting with costume design at my arts high school but was pretty sure that it was what I wanted to do. Seeing this show clinched it. Desmond Heeley, the visionary theatrical designer, designed the costumes; I devoured

Trunk Show - April 30, 2016

2016-04-29T20:24:00.001-04:00

I have been a very poor blogger, and only thought to post this the night before a trunk show at a local gallery/shop in my 'hood in upper Manhattan, the wonderful Inwood UpstART. There will be new pieces not yet in my shop, such as these word rings: I'll be there from 11-3, looking forward to meeting my neighbors!

Gem Show Haul

2016-03-17T16:21:00.001-04:00

Last weekend the JA/MJSA Show loaded in to the Javits Center in NYC. Many of my favorite vendors were there but I didn't have time to visit them all. It's so overwhelming and I didn't want top overbuy, but sometimes you just have to jump if you see something that may never appear again. Maybe I'll travel out to Edison, New Jersey next month for that extravaganza? Here are some jewels that I

Summer Is A Comin' In

2016-03-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

It's been warm summer weather where I live, so I decided to re-introduce some non-wintry glass button dragonfly necklaces that I remade the other day. At one time I amassed a pretty colorful collection of these painted beauties and only have a couple left. At one time I was doing a lot of filigree wrap. I filed the glass shank off the button backs and used some epoxy to hold them in place before

Space Rock Meteorite Necklace

2016-02-04T14:01:00.000-05:00