i have moved.

hello there! i am writing to tell you that i am no longer here. if you are looking for me, you can now find me at my new home, silversparrowdesigns.com. it's very exciting over there, you should come check it out!

i love telluride!

as i have told you, i've been doing the telluride farmers' market this summer. i have been doing it about every third week. it has been SO wonderful! not only has it been a full time job for me, working as much as i can in between shows to keep up my inventory because i practically sell out each time i go up there, but i have perfected the art of set up/take down, and i have really built up my confidence and skills as far as selling goes. i feel so much better about interacting with people and selling my work. it really is the type of thing that only gets easier with practice and i have had a lot of practice this summer. this weekend was the telluride film festival and the market was especially hoppin'. film stars and producers everywhere. (apparently jennifer garner and one of her daughters bought kettle corn from my dear neighbor.)

this is a design that does quite well in telluride, the three little stones on a ring, with matching earrings.

AND, check out my new banner! isn't it fabulous? a sandwich board is coming next. i feel so professional...

this was a big hit this week too. the "build your own charm necklace" option. ladies (and even men) had so much fun digging through the dishes and designing their pieces. i will be hard at work making lots more charms for the upcoming durango arts festival.

i also got some new displays. see the individual earring displays? and the larger ones that showcase the necklaces with the matching earrings? i love them.

and... this is bailey, my fabulous new apprentice! she is hammering stacking rings for me here. i have known her for years; we used to work at the bead store in durango together. she still lives in durango and will be coming over once a week to help me out in exchange for learning silversmithing skills. she has already taken some classes so she's quite proficient already. i just love her!

also, my friend doug is still working on the all new silversparrowdesigns.com. i am meeting with him tonight to work out some details. very exciting! stay tuned...

...until you take flight...

it's been a while since i have done a post about my process. i was very excited about this bracelet so i took photos as i went. i am realizing that a bracelet is an excellent canvas for stories, for a progression. first i drew the above picture, to scale, ready to be glued onto silver.

i forgot to get a picture after i pierced out the birds, but here is the back, with the solder ready to go. it probably seems like a lot of solder, but it's necessary.

and here are the tiny little pieces that have to be soldered on separately.

here it is, all soldered.

this is the back.

then i hammered it on the mandrel to shape it.

then i heated it up to anneal it and hammered it some more. i repeated that process several times.

then i oxidized the entire piece, hand-buffed the raised areas, and...

the "until you take flight" bracelet.

this bracelet represents a progression, from a little bird who is resisting flying...

to a bird that is considering it, but hesitating...

to a bird that is poised and ready to go...

to a bird that has launched...

to one that is soaring...

...you never know how high you can soar until you take flight...

so where are you in this progression? are you resisting? do you have a reason for not wanting to fly? are you afraid? or are you considering flying, but just not sure if you're ready? or are you ready? ready, poised, but just need a little push, something to encourage you? or, have you launched? launched, but still nervous, flying low to the ground? or have you done it? have you made it through all of those stages and now you're really soaring? you finally made it?

photos!

so it turns out the reason i couldn't post any photos was that i had reached my limit for my blogger account, which is 1000 photos! that really put it into perspective for me how much i've put into this here blog. pretty cool. i just love that i have this record of our lives and of my work, what a wonderful thing. anyway, i realized that i could go to my picasa web album and delete some to free up space here and that's what i did. so here are the first day of school pics.

i almost never dress them in matching clothes. but patty and i took the girls back to school shopping in nearby farmington and when i saw these dresses i had to have them. i think some family portraits may be in order soon as well. please note junebug's choice of footwear. and how freakin' TALL hazel is!

of course her blanket, "tinky", went with her.

she's so proud of her little first grade self.

and here is my new office! it is fabulous. the main framer, woody, told me today that they are almost finished framing!

this is the view if i am standing right outside the door to my shop. that big space there will be french doors leading out of our bedroom. above that is a big window that you can't see because of the tree. next summer glenn will build us a beautiful flagstone patio outside those doors. it will be so fabulous!

how's everybody doing? are your children back in school? what is the end of summer looking like for you?

first day of school!

i am so bummed. blogger here will not let me upload ANY more photos, which means i cannot share any pictures from hazel and june's first day of school today. but believe me when i tell you it was pretty darn sweet.

i also cannot show you how the remodel is coming along. although i have been referring to the girls and i as renovation refugees, and doing anything i can to keep us out of the house while they are working, mostly because it is so LOUD all the time, when i climbed the ladder up into my new office today, i almost cried. it is going to be so amazing!

my good friend doug is working on getting my new site up and running and i will share the link with you very soon.

several folks have asked about the renovation, so i thought i'd share some photos. (the weird thing is, i just got a message from blogger saying i have reached my limit; i can no longer upload photos to this blog. which is very interesting because i had just made up my mind to move to my silversparrowdesigns.com wordpress site. will you all follow me over there when i make the switch?)

anyway, here's the house after they tore down the mudroom.

they only just poured the concrete yesterday and this is what it looked like today when i got home.

that's our future bathroom.

and the future bedroom. it will be 15' x 20', 300 square feet. our bedroom right now is 12' x 13', which means we are doubling the size of our bedroom. it is hard to believe!

very exciting, we just cannot wait!!!

for your wrist...

always when i do shows, people ask me about my bracelet, and want something similar. the durango arts festival is quickly approaching, so i thought i would start working on some. this is what i came up with so far:

this one is my favorite. emily had a fascinating wizard of oz pop-up book, by richard sabuda. the images in it were remarkable, and very inspiring. i had to create this bracelet. it is for all my wandering friends. the image is of the scarecrow, dorothy, and toto wandering through the forest, as it was the scarecrow, hoping for a brain, that dorothy met first.

on the back, i stamped a line of conor oberst's, "there's nothing that the road cannot heal." because what is the wizard of oz about if not being on the road? the yellow brick road is a symbol of everything wonderful about traveling- freedom, adventure, challenge, chance encounters, new friends, lessons... everyone on the journey got something so much greater than they ever expected out of it. it was never about the wizard after all.

this bracelet is heavy, comprised of many layers. i have a special connection to this piece, as my middle name is dorothy and wizard of oz/ kansas/ toto/ there's no place like home comments have followed me around most of my life.

this is the "raise your head high" bracelet. as a totem animal, an ostrich is said to help with grounding. this particular ostrich is struttin' her stuff, with her head held high and a sweet little moonstone soul. i like her as a reminder NOT to bury your head in the sand. to raise your head high and face the facts. to see the world as it really as, to not purposefully shelter yourself from the facts.

a beautiful fire opal accompanies her.

and the labradorite marquis magnificence bracelet,

with the very most incredible labradorite

it is simply gorgeous.

these will be in the shop tomorrow!