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Archives for March 2017

Vignettes of a Creative Space

March 20, 2017 · 6 Comments

I believe that Virginia struck an essential truth when she wrote that one must have a room of one’s own in order to create art. I suppose some forms of art are formed best in the presence of others. But not the art that I am interested in making. In my process, creation is a wholly personal and private act. Even when the fella is in the studio, I can feel myself questioning design elements as he picks up unfinished pieces and turns them in his hands. When someone flips through my sketchbook, the renderings look particularly rough and hasty. Whispers of doubt in concept and skill.

And that is why a room of one’s own is so essential. In that private sanctuary, the work needs not please anyone but the maker. Paint can be mixed and dashed in bright, new ways. Clay can be pushed and pulled outside of the prescribed shapes. And of course, metal can be fired until bright pink, recklessly sawn, and sung into any imaginable form. Days spent out in the world, soaking in shape and color and theme, followed by precious evenings and weekends spent in my creative haven emptying pockets full of ideas and questions.

“Therefore I would ask you to write all kinds of books, hesitating at no subject however trivial or however vast. By hook or by crook, I hope that you will possess yourselves of money enough to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future or the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream.” (A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf)

In my little room, Joni sings on the record player, Clover sleeps indifferently in her basket, and I am able to follow any strange path my mind leads. Life residue collides with the limits of sterling silver, and I am able to create honestly.

I can dream up a thousand lives, and create pieces for each of those imagined women. A moss agate cuff for she who idles afternoons with her toes in a stream. A delicate opal set in gold for she who takes lavender scented baths and only reads Edna St. Vincent Millay in the springtime. A generous slice of turquoise for she who knows the velvet muzzle of a chestnut horse better than she knows her own face.

Without this space, I wouldn’t be able to create quite so freely. Sprinkled with pleasing art, feathers I’ve found in the grass, and pieces of furniture I’ve lugged around for years, this room allows my hands to twist wire and swing hammers with abandon, and I love it dearly. Every part of it important to me.

The printers cabinet full of carefully collected and sorted gemstones.

The tremendous Maine pine stump on which I’ve struck and formed hundreds of pieces. (It is going to break my heart to leave her behind when we leave New York.)

The colorful splashes placed around the room that serve to hearten on even the dreariest of days.

Gifts from beloved and dearly missed friends.
(They make such a comfortable chatter as I swing my mallet.)

Apple orchard crates full of my mother’s records, and tools that allow me to preserve nature in my work.

Endless vases and jars and canisters and salt dips to hold all that I drag in from the outdoors.

Tools waiting to be learned and wielded, hopeful in their corners.

And of course, endless twinkle lights. What does your space look like? Are you able to create surrounded by people, or do you need a room of your own? Tell me, friend! I’d love to know.

Lately:
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Listening – to Bloc Party, because road trips to Canada, mishaps with roman candles, tiny basement punk shows, and nostalgia.

Watching – Fairy Tail, because here at the end of winter, I am craving color and cheer, and I cannot think of anything lighter and brighter than this anime. And with hundreds of episodes, it will serve to pull me out of many years worth of late-winter glumfests.

Reading – The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder, because wanderlust and cabin-fever are sitting heavy on my shoulders right now.

Inspired by – fictional impossibles, such as alethiometers, Elessar, golden apples, time turners, and Borrowers. Oh, and inspired by Virginia Woolf, always always.

Filed In: At Home, In the Studio, Uncategorized / Tagged: artisan, artist, artists, creative process, inspiration, lifestyle, metalsmithing, studio

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💜 I kept a pair of these for myself, and it fee 💜 I kept a pair of these for myself, and it feels perfectly right that they wanted to wait until it was a bit more summery. 

☀️ They drink the sunshine and brush bare shoulders, perfect for long summer days. 

🌸 Keep an eye out for more of these and one other amethyst earring design! I couldn't finish them in time for the amethyst release, but they are finished now and begging to be plucked. As soon as we are settled, I promise! 
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#uniquejewelry #artisanjewelry #heytheremaker #makersvillage  #ardentfinds 
#handmadejewelry #bespokejewelry #persuepretty  #modernmaker #justmyart  #jewelrywithintention  #everydayjewelry #craftsposure #mainemade #thatsdarling #meetthemaker  #shopsmall #seekinspirecreate #inherstudio #handmaderings #femalemade #womenwhocreate #standwithsmall #cottagecoreaesthetic
🌿 The shop is officially shuttered and the sign 🌿 The shop is officially shuttered and the sign on the door reads "Back in 5" while we move house. 

🌲 Three days from now we will be tucked in a cabin up north, and I will be dreaming up new designs for you.

💌 All orders placed during the sale will ship over the next day or two. Thank you, my sweet friends, for keeping food in my kitties bowls and the lights on here at Moonspinner Headquarters. You are just the peachiest!
🌟 Sale ends tonight, sweet friends! 🌟 - - - 🌟 Sale ends tonight, sweet friends! 🌟

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#uniquejewelry #artisanjewelry #heytheremaker #makersvillage  #ardentfinds 
#handmadejewelry #bespokejewelry #persuepretty  #modernmaker #justmyart  #jewelrywithintention  #everydayjewelry #craftsposure #mainemade #thatsdarling #meetthemaker  #shopsmall #seekinspirecreate #inherstudio #handmaderings #femalemade #womenwhocreate #standwithsmall #cottagecoreaesthetic
D R Y A D L E A F E A R J A C K E T S 💫 Per D R Y A D  L E A F  E A R  J A C K E T S

💫 Perhaps my very favorite design I have ever created. 

🌟 Leaves sung into silver and prehnite gemstones made of the first spring leaves. 

✨ Made for dryads stepping out of ancient oaks.

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#uniquejewelry #artisanjewelry #heytheremaker #makersvillage  #ardentfinds 
#handmadejewelry #bespokejewelry #persuepretty  #modernmaker #justmyart  #jewelrywithintention  #everydayjewelry #craftsposure #mainemade #thatsdarling #meetthemaker  #shopsmall #seekinspirecreate #inherstudio #handmaderings #femalemade #womenwhocreate #standwithsmall #cottagecoreaesthetic
🌟 Heads up! My Spring Cleaning 25% Off sale end 🌟 Heads up! My Spring Cleaning 25% Off sale ends Thursday. 💫

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#uniquejewelry #artisanjewelry #heytheremaker #makersvillage  #ardentfinds 
#handmadejewelry #bespokejewelry #persuepretty  #modernmaker #justmyart  #jewelrywithintention  #everydayjewelry #craftsposure #mainemade #thatsdarling #meetthemaker  #shopsmall #seekinspirecreate #inherstudio #handmaderings #femalemade #womenwhocreate #standwithsmall #cottagecoreaesthetic
🌟 Just a reminder that the 25% sale will end in 🌟 Just a reminder that the 25% sale will end in a few days, and then I will be buttoning up my shop so we can settle into our summer place!

🌟 Cheers to everyone who has stopped by the sale so far! I am so pleased that so many of you have been able to pluck some pieces you’ve had your eye on for a while.

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#amethystjewelry#amethyst#amethystring#amethystcrystal#crystaljewelry#crystals#handmadejewelry#handcraftedjewelry#witchyjewelry#witchy#witchyvibes#witchythings#handmadering#sterlingsilverjewelry#jewelrymaking#bohojewelry#instasmithy#seekinspirecreate#femalemade#womenwhocreate#cottagecoreaesthetic#everydayjewelry#jewelrywithintention
🌟 Cheers to everyone who has caught my spring c 🌟 Cheers to everyone who has caught my spring cleaning sale so far! 🌟

It is such a joy seeing past designs being plucked, like they were waiting for their intendeds all this time. And soon all of those claimed pieces will find their people: owls will fly off to the post, tiny icicles will form below ears, lucky feathers will settle around necks, and last year's violets will bloom atop hands. 

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#amethyst#springfashion#handmadering#sterlingsilverjewelry#jewelrymaking#bohojewelry#instasmithy#seekinspirecreate#femalemade#womenwhocreate#cottagecoreaesthetic#jewelrywithintention#everydayjewelry#amethystjewelry#amethystcrystal#springtime#springjewelry
✨🌟 S P R I NG S A L E 🌟✨
 As we pack ✨🌟 S P R I NG  S A L E 🌟✨

As we pack up our home and take endless trips to the summer cabin and our storage unit, I thought “what better time to have a spring cleaning sale?” 

I don’t often do sales, but I am so appreciative of your patronage, and relish the thought of making space for new work on the shelves. And then I can also purchase some yummy gemstones I have been eying for a summer collection for you! (I spent one single morning with my sketchbook, and now this summer is looking quite foxy.) 

🌟 The sale includes all my older designs, as well as pieces from Part I of the Violet Linings Collection from last summer. 

🌟 No need for a code! Everything that is included in the sale is already marked down. 

🌟 My shop will be open for a few days, and then I will put it on pause while we get settled. When it reopens, the sale will be finished and we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

Cheers!
🌟 Life Update 🌟 We are in the process of mo 🌟 Life Update 🌟

We are in the process of moving house, so life is rather akilter at the moment! 

Our 9-month lease ends this month and doesn’t pick back up until September, so we decided to spend the summer at a cabin in northern Maine. My fella is taking a much deserved summer off to spend his days hiking, making wood-fired pizzas, fishing, reading on a sunshiny deck, mountain biking, all the best woodsy things. I am bringing my studio with me, so I will be spinning silver for you all summer!

I will be taking things a bit slower than usual, days spent reading my back-log, and sipping coffee, and napping with the cats, and taking pictures of funny mushrooms, all the usual things. 

The shop will stay open for as long as I can tuck orders in the mail, I will give you a heads up if I have to put it on pause. 

I still have two lilting earrings designs to share with you that are just about finished, so keep an eye out for that!

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#uniquejewelry #artisanjewelry #bohemianjewelry #prettylittlethings #etsyhandmade #heytheremaker #ladysmith #makersvillage #instasmithy #silversmith #crystaljewelry #ardentfinds #bohoinspo #modernmaker #justmyart #madewithlove #jewelrywithintention #standwithsmall #everydayjewelry #etsyjewelry #seekinspirecreate #inherstudio #handmaderings #amethystjewelry #springjewelry #springtimejewelry #springtime #cottagecore #cottagecoreaesthetic
Packing up your orders is always such a lovely tim Packing up your orders is always such a lovely time for me. 

I get to greet familiar names, and many new ones. Often I can remember what pieces from past collections these familiar names had caught. I can imagine their growing collections of my work, the specific-to-them pieces that called to them from my studio. 

I imagine personalities based around the pieces claimed. “I bet she puts her hand on the bark of every tree she passes.” “They would totally have a pet crow named Copernicus.” “She probably wears all my pieces at once, like beautiful, feminine armor.” 

You, my sweet friends, are the best.
Our sweet, little, dorky menace, Finn. ✨ Our sweet, little, dorky menace, Finn. ✨
Everything is in the mail, sweet friends! If you p Everything is in the mail, sweet friends! If you placed an order, your violet should be winging its way to you as we speak! ✨💜
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