Taming the Tangle

Grip Tip for pliers

Today I found a new use for a tool that I don't use very much: gator skin. It's a lightly sticky bandage wrap that only sticks to itself. I figured it would be good to have in the studio, especially in the winter with dry skin... lotion is the bane of a wire-wrappers existence because it makes your skin too slick to grip the wire. Apparently I've gotten used to dry skin... I don't wear lotion while working so have never gotten into the habit of putting on the gator skin.

I've been tackling the seemingly impossible task of making several sizes of comfort-fit jewelry bands from half-round wire (shown on the right). The bands curve on the inside for comfortable wearing, and there's a flat edge on the outside as a quiet backdrop to my charm rings. I start the bands in typical forming fashion by hammering the wire around the ring mandrel. The problem is that the wire distorts, making it difficult to get a perfectly even join for soldering. I often resort to wrestling with the wire with my pliers (still a more natural forming tool for me rather than a hammer), which leaves all sorts of nicks to clean up and file away. I'm persnickety about wrapping masking tape around my pliers because I have an aversion to sticky residue and hate cleaning them off... well, that's where gator skin comes in! A few tight wraps around each side of my pliers gave a perfect grip without marring the rings, and the gator stuff slides right off the tips when done.

Give it a try and let me know what you think, or let me know your suggestions.

And if you haven't seen me at a show lately, here are some of my charm/bundle rings. I've had two custom orders for rings with only 3 dangles, making them more wearable and practical for everyday but still fun. When I figure out my band production, you'll see more of those cropping up at shows and stores.

Playing Catch-up

Sometimes Dan, my husband, will ask me: are you always working? I'm at the point with my jewelry career where the answer needs to be "yes" because I'm playing catch-up with the business side of jewelry. Last fall I took some great entrepreneurial classes at the Women's Business Development Center in downtown Chicago. Boy do I wish I had taken these classes before I left my graphic design career in 2005, but I didn't. My business counselor reassures me that everything is okay and it will all get done in due time. So now I have grandiose to-do lists and am working on everything from cash-flow projections to choosing new gem colors to use in my designs. At any given point my head is spinning!

When that gets to be too much, one of my favorite past-times is catching a movie. I love renting movies and watching TV shows on DVD as well, but actually going to the movies is still a treat. On Saturday Dan and I caught "Juno" on the big screen in a still-crowded theater. I've been hesitant to run out and see it after so many people have shared their opinions with me, and after seeing a run of seemingly-similar quirky independent comedies ("Super Bad" and "Knocked Up"). But I loved it! The character Juno really captured my heart, even with her snarky, at times smarmy, attitude. Somehow it was all endearing and hilarious to me. It was also interesting to watch a coming of age story that wasn't preachy or delivering a particular message.

Dan is actually on the fence about the movie, which is even better because then we have lots to talk about. Nothing is harder to discuss than "I loved it" and "me too,"  so it's making the time between grocery shopping, doing laundry, and prepping for our Cooking Club's Moroccan night more enjoyable... and it was the perfect distraction from work, even though my to-do list still has plenty for me to tackle.

Making Connections

When looking back at a show to evaluate its success, it's important to look at connections in addition to sales numbers.  Shows are the time when you are really putting yourself out there, and you need to be open to all different opportunities. It was the summer of 2005 when a representative of Lark  Books saw me and my work at the State Street Art Fair in Ann Arbor, and that discussion lead to my book, Elegant Wire Jewelry, which was published last year.

Beyond my own book, being in touch with Lark prompted me to ask about another author and jeweler, Joanna Gollberg, who looked a lot like someone I went to high school with in Asheville, North Carolina. It was her! When I traveled to Asheville for my book's photoshoot, we only spent a few minutes catching up on high school, agreeing we'd rather focus on where we are at now and relish in knowing another jeweler buddy. Joanna has a great website filled with stories of her travels, and I finally got to see a full display of her work in person when our paths crossed at the Buyer's Market show in Philadelphia. We had a couple of minutes to re-connect and admire each other's work and give pep talks where needed.

This year in Philly I had the opportunity to meet many other jewelers, which is a comforting way to start building a network at a show with hundreds of artists. After hours we would meet up at the Loew's Hotel for happy hour, and, if we had the energy after that, smaller groups would break off and head to dinner. For our last night there, my roommate Olive (center) and I joined up with a group and walked over to El Vez restaurant. This was my favorite meal of the whole trip... I went decadent and ordered the braised short ribs with horseradish sauce. yum! No wonder I put on a few pounds this trip despite all my best efforts to workout every morning.

El Vez happens to have an old-fashioned photo booth... there were 9 of us at dinner, and we managed to get 8 of us into the booth at one point. I'll spare you those blurry cheek and forehead shots, but wanted to share these fun shots. Dawn Benedetto (on left) and I had a trunk show together a few years ago at Virtu in Chicago. Her Poppi rings are addictive, and she has a new direction to her work that is just as fun! Her giggle is infectious. She is fun to hang out with, and I have a lot of business acumen to learn from her... she has a helpful website and lots of great show and business experience in the jewelry field.

You can see I got roped into the photo booth unexpectedly where I then took out Olive trying to find the camera... we finally got our act together in the last shot.

I will weave stories of other connections throughout my posts, both of jewelers, artists, and galleries.

Booth Design in Philadelphia

One thing I forgot to mention in my Meltdown post this morning is that one of my procrastination projects was redesigning my booth for Philadelphia. Well, not so much redesigning as tweaking... last year I rented a teal carpet and utilized the silver drapes provided by the show mangers. This year I wanted to come in with my own flooring and my own drapes to create an eye-catching presence overall.

My husband Dan keeps asking me how such a project can be considered procrastination? Well, it took me a while to decide on fabric color (I chose cinnabar to look like my logo color), and then I got excited about buying fabric on ebay because it was relatively inexpensive, and then I realized the hidden cost of ironing (most of the fabrics in the right color were cotton... who wants a wrinkly booth?) so opted for a beautifully textured upholstery fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics, which luckily went on sale for 50% off... but then I had to wait for the special order to come through. Needless to say, it came in on Saturday, which left 2 days to cut, sew, grommet, and fire proof the whole thing (and did I mention that I needed to repair my sewing machine?). This task could not have been completed without Dan, and in the end I'm very happy with the results. Of course now I want to design a small display table, and possibly add a hanging light... my next big show is in April, which means means the week before I'll be running around trying to make all that happen.

Here's how my booth looked in Philadelphia:

Any feedback you have is appreciated... booth design is always a work in progress. There are some amazing booths at this show. To protect the artists and their designs, photography isn't allowed except by permission. I didn't want to push my luck with anyone, but as promised, here's my friend Olive's booth. We shared a room together in Philly and got to know each other better. Her jewelry is so much fun and made of interesting found objects... her booth is one of my favorites because it captures that same essence of the jewelry itself.

When I last mentioned Olive, her website was not yet launched... but check it out now... visit O-liveland and enjoy exploring.

Technology Meltdown... or just Meltdown

Last Monday (more than a week ago), I was making my final push to load the car, pack, and generally get ready and organized for my trip to Philly. Suddenly I found myself totally unprepared and ended up being at the studio late to wrap up final details of things that just couldn't wait a week for my return (paying bills!), and to top it all off, my traveling computer had a meltdown (in the Mac world it's call "kernel panic," my new favorite term). Finally I forced myself out the door, leaving my computer behind... I was sure I'd be able to find some computer time somewhere in the city... but, alas, my hotel's option was $30/hour which just didn't fit my budget.

Luckily Allyson, my studio manager, stayed connected for me, and there weren't too many emergencies. Now I'm playing catchup on email as well as blogging, and soon I'll be figuring out if a portable phone/internet device is the right direction for me (if anyone has opinions on companies or devices, please let me know... I'm happy with Verizon for my phone but T-Mobile is also looking good).

Looking back to my hectic departure, I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. Technically January and early-February are my "down" time of year in the studio, but it's really the time to regroup and make pushes on some of the big behind-the-scenes projects rather than just making the jewelry itself. This Philadelphia trip also officially kicks off my travel season; for the rest of the year I will have 2-3 trips a month. I think I got lulled into my comfort zone of working in the studio and having a fairly regular schedule there and at home. My procrastination of getting ready was a sign that I wasn't ready to leave, but I had no choice but to start driving at 6am Tuesday morning. Frenzied is not my favorite state of mind, and apparently it rubs off... the computer that had the meltdown and didn't want to restart is now working fine. Which, to bring the cheesy metaphor full circle, is also true for me. I came back from my show re-energized for travels, new designs, and for wrapping up those behind-the-scenes projects that didn't quite get done. I'll be posting more updates tonight and throughout the week.

Customizing a piece of jewelry: nest earrings

In December at the One of a Kind Show here in Chicago, Ellyn Robinson walked into my booth with her mom. They had fun walking around and holding up earrings in the mirror, but Ellyn had a specific necklace she wanted to find earrings to match and wasn't having any luck because she needed a brushed finish to the piece, which is not part of my regular repertoire.

Yes, we all love it when we can walk into a store or booth and find exactly what we are looking for, but isn't it great to also have something made especially for you? Many people cringe at the idea of custom design, fearing that it is very expensive. At times it is; it all depends on what's involved in the process. But in Ellyn's case — luckily she didn't cringe at the idea and had plenty of time in her schedule so we could work together in January after my holiday rush — we decided that what she needed was not so much truly custom as a modified design that she already liked in my collection.

That's the way to save money on getting what you want; in my case I was happy to modify a design to suit Ellyn's needs because it didn't compromise my artistic integrity, and she didn't have to invest a lot of money is design time, meetings, and concept generation. Customizing often allows me to see my own work in different ways, or practice a technique that I don't use much.

What did Ellyn want? She had a necklace from another artist and didn't buy earrings at the time of purchase and now can't find the artist's work anymore. She loved my nest earrings but wanted a brushed finish on the wire to match the finish of the necklace; she also wanted to larger pearls in the middle so that the earrings would stand out more against her hair and complement the larger pearls on the necklace. The final modification? Dangle the nests from simple posts to work with her lobe shape.

We were both thrilled with the end result, although, as I mentioned to Ellyn and her husband Don, I probably won't be introducing brushed finishes to my nests anytime soon because it was a detailed process to get that finish on such a complex form.

If you are ever interested in a custom piece, whether truly custom and designed for you or simply a "custom modification" as some of my customers like to call it, feel free to email me, give me a call, or talk to me at a show. Time is usually the biggest factor... if you are not in a rush, I will usually be  able to handle your request.

Suggestions for Philadelphia?

On Tuesday I'm heading to Philadelphia for the Buyer's Market of American Craft, one of the wholesale shows I attend to meet more galleries. This show happens twice a year, in February and August... I'm hardly a veteran, this February being my 1 year anniversary!

The one thing that makes me sad, though, is that my friend and fellow jeweler Janice Ho has moved from Philly, so I don't have a resource for wonderful restaurant suggestions. Anyone have any ideas? I love all cuisines (but not all price points... consider the artist budget) and love walking, so somewhere within a mile of the convention center would be great.

Last August I met up with Olive, who makes studio jewelry and one of a kind stuff out of found objects... I love her rubberball bracelets, and that her booth design is just as fun as her jewelry (I'll try to grab a shot of it when I'm there). Our booths were on the same aisle, and we hit it off (both being newbies to the show). We have decided to share a hotel room together so we can stay right downtown... having that to look forward to will hopefully make the 12 hour drive just fly by on Tuesday. Having a roommate also makes me more adventurous to head out to dinner rather than order room service, so please do send me some ideas!

Sneak Peek of the new KathyFrey.com

For those of you who subscribe to my newsletter, you know that I have been teasing you along about the re-launch of KathyFrey.com. In my highest hopes it was to launch in late October 2007 in time for the holiday season, but that was when I was finishing my last showpieces for my debut at SOFA Chicago... which obviously took precedent.

When that deadline went by the wayside, I knew it was a lost cause to pull the site together while I was traveling to holiday shows and filling orders until the last minute. But here it is February... where is the time going? Well, the end is in sight.

Why is the new site taking so long? The new site is going to have more functionality that my current KathyFrey.com, so the content is taking a while to pull together. In January I built the FAQ section, and wrote text intros to all of the informational pages like "Where to Find" and the show listings. Today I pushed myself to compile the press clippings that have piled up over the years... that was a big hurdle.

The final phase is to put the finishing touches on the shopping portal and the jewelry gallery aspects of the page. I want both of these areas to be more dynamic so new pieces can be added and featured as they are designed.

With that said, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of the new look of KathyFrey.com so you can see the some of the changes before the site is launched. I've reached the point where I want the site to go live this month and finishing touches and tweaks can be added after the launch. Even with my background in graphic design, I'm surprised how long the process has taken me... it's been a year since I knew I needed a new site. Thanks for your patience during the process!