All has been quiet on my blog and what a shame because it has been anything but quiet around here! Since I last posted, I have moved into a new house. So, the apartment studio that you got to peek at during Apartment Therapy’s Small, Cool contest had to be dismantled and reinstalled in pieces inside my partner’s existing home. Since there isn’t really a dedicated space for me to work, he set to designing me a superinsulated hut in the backyard.
It still has a long way to go, but slowly, we are creating a space that will be the new home of Adorn Jewelry. From here on out, I will be posting regularly to keep you up to date. But first, let me catch you up on what we have done (with a lot of help) so far…
Preparing the site was the first task at hand. We decided the building should be set back away from the house behind a large existing concrete slab. The ground there sloped from the slab to the fence and so needed to be graded. Since the hut will rely heavily on passive solar heat gain, we also had to cut down a large tree that would have obstructed most of the sunlight. Someone we knew came and took the tree down and we were left with tons of branches, which took the better part of a couple weekends to bundle and clear out.
Once the ground was mostly graded to the level we desired, the digging for the concrete footers began. Our plan was to pour six concrete footers to hold two huge beams which would form the foundation. If you have ever seen the huge drills that can create holes for footers in 10 seconds flat, you will realize that machine really does win over man. Two people plus a manual post-hole digger does not a quick hole make. We had to dig six holes 4 feet deep and 10 inches across in earth that is made up of old fill from days gone by. What that means is that it can be going pretty easy when suddenly you hit a brick on it’s edge. Now you need to dig sideways 7 inches to get around the brick to get it out. One photo I won’t post is of me upside down with my body 3 feet into a hole trying to saw through a 4 inch wide tree root. Though there was mostly junk to be found in the fill we did hit upon some treasures as well. Jon and I pulled out a couple of intact glass bottles, one which read “Lydia Pinkham’s Medicine.” Now if you ever never heard of Lydia Pinkham, and I had not, her story is a fascinating read. Lydia and her medicine are even memorialized in folk songs “The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham” and “Lily the Pink”.
Once the holes were dug, we rented a concrete mixer to help us with the pour. Just getting the dang thing picked up and into the back was a hassle, but the machine itself was a life saver. Too bad we picked the only 102 degree weekend to pour them. One thing you need to remember is even though Jon has done a lot of reading on building superinsulated buildings and he did a lot of work on his own home, most of this business is new ground for us. So many mistakes are bound to happen. Sometimes they are easy to fix and sometimes they aren’t. One thing we didn’t count on happening was the concrete curing in a couple of hours. So the brackets to hold the beams on didn’t get set into place on time. Now we had ten inch screws we needed to drive into the concrete! So, a big shout out to Jesse Peterson and the use of his hammer drill.
I am contemplating submitting a piece for auction to Bird by Bird. For the show, artists make art in response to the avian data collected by the Audubon Center of the North Woods and the notes from the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden & Bird Sanctuary at Theodore Wirth Park. Check out their website for past works and current submissions.
You need to claim the data that you will be working from so I have been reading through the reserve’s journal entries. It is making me want to go for a stroll…
I was invited to participate in the Walker’s Jewelry Mart for local artists. There were sixteen local jewelers and it was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who came to shop! See here for a review from Ponoko’s blogger Kristen Turner.
If you have been to visit my Etsy shop lately, you may have seen some of my new designs for spring. As it gets warm enough to leave your window open, you may be lucky enough to hear the song birds welcome in the spring. Crocuses and other early bloomers are beginning to push through the top soil.
I know it is getting warm out because my little visitor is back- the squirrel who wants to come into the apartment. However, I doubt that this harbinger will inspire any photo pendants.
While I may strive to bring you a little moss carpet to wear upon your finger, Makoto Azuma, in collaboration with Unitika Ltd., have really brought the moss indoors, constructing an actual carpet. Terramac® is an eco-friendly 3D knitted and spun biodegradable plastic fabric that holds the moss roots while holding it together.
With the popularity of Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, stop animation videos have been getting a lot more attention as of late. Enter Angela Kohler, who is responsible for the dreamy Kindle commercials.
To me, the commercials sell her aesthetic more than they sell the product itself, which may be part of their branding. All I know is they seem a throw back to an older, less polished technology which is more in line with reading a good book rather than curling up with a cold Kindle.
Needless to say, the videos stand alone as an example of her beautiful art work. If you have reservations about loving advertising, check out her short video “Lost Things.”
Bands have been utilizing stop animation to create videos for years, often because they can do it on a relatively small budget. Here is one of my favorites, Oren Lavie’s ‘Her Morning Elegance.’
Now that I have you hooked, you should really watch this incredible commercial for natural gas. I will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Guaranteed.
With emptier wallets this year, many folks are hand-making gifts and cards. But not everyone is that crafty. So, local crafts shows are the next best thing to find affordable, well-made items imbued with hand-made goodness.
I will be doing three holiday shows this year in three different cities. Two are happening this weekend in Minneapolis and Chicago and I will be sharing a booth with my sister, Jenny, of Orange Peel Enamel. No-Coast Craft-o-rama, headed up by the super crafty group Crafters Local 612, will take place this Friday and Saturday at the Midtown Exchange building. Hours are Friday from 3 to 8p and Saturday from 9a-5p. The lovely Miss Allysen Hoberg will be running the booth so stop by and visit her. Download a vendor map here. Our booth is E26.
The second is Renegade’s Chicago show which will be held at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. Saturday and Sunday, it will run from 11a-7p. Plan to spend some time here as they have filled three floors wall-to-wall with crafty goodness!
Download a vendor map from here. We will be Booth 124 in Room 207. The final show, 3rd Ward Handmade Holiday Craft Fair, I will be flying to Brooklyn to participate in. With over 120 artisans, free coffee, and live demos, this is a must-visit! It is one day only so don’t miss it!
Most of the shows will be giving away swag bags to the early birds so make sure to check out the details of each event to get your hands on some free goodies.
Adorn Jewelry can now be found in three local shops in Minneapolis: the Walker Shop, Soo Visual Arts Center, and Patina’s new Shoppe Local. All three are awesome places to pick up some holiday gifts, so go for a little drive around town and get your shopping done! Some of my favorites I stumbled upon at Shoppe Local: Lake Calhoun topographic cards, mohawk baby hats and jars of honey with honeycomb. And at Soo VAC, I found creepy doll buttons, Ashidashi paper and pencil socks, and matroyshka measuring cups.
If you were to walk to the Walker, as I do since I only live a few blocks away, you would notice the circles of turf that emerge from the cement walkway out front. When I first moved to Loring Park, the circles caught my eye. I felt inspired to create a piece that utilized the grass but also incorporates the flush cement. Working together with Nancy Gross of the Walker Shop, I created rings and pendants that will be carried exclusively in the shop. Go and visit the museum to see the newest exhibit, Benches and Binoculars, and do a little holiday shopping while you are there. There are many great gifts to be founds, including Melissa Borell’s Pop-Out Jewelry, Cardboard Safari taxidermy and Tokidoki blind box Cactus Pup figures.
Adorn Jewelry has gone global! While many of you lovely customers from around the world have purchased Adorn from my shop online, this is the first time that Adorn Jewelry will be available for direct sale outside of the United States. Heaven in Earth is shop in New South Wales that specializes in garden accessories. The new addition to their shop? Garden Jewellry! Check out some of my favorite items that they carry: Gift Tags with Seeds Imbedded $1.50 Paper Potter Tool $31 Handblown Glass Droplet $4 Jocelyn, the shop owner, does a fabulous job of promoting all of the items that she carries, as evidenced by her impressive list of press she has received.
And already the jewelry has begun to create a little buzz down under, with the Circle moss ring being featured on Magnolia Square’s blog Snippets.
