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Moonspinner

Artisan Jewelry by Michaela Batstone

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Vignettes of a Creative Space

March 20, 2017 ·

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

Comments

  1. Jill says

    March 21, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    So beautiful! I feel like every piece of the jewelry you create carries the warmth and inspiration from your studio with it.

    • Moonspinner says

      March 21, 2017 at 2:19 pm

      You’re such a peach, Jill. I can’t wait to see you in your future house and see what you make of it. <3

  2. deb says

    April 3, 2017 at 6:53 pm

    loved seeing little snippets of your beautiful studio!

    • Moonspinner says

      April 4, 2017 at 11:23 am

      Thanks, sweet friend! I am hoping to post here regularly because I feel like it is important for people to see that there is a real human behind the work. 🙂

  3. Stef says

    April 4, 2017 at 10:02 am

    Your room looks so wonderful. Great place to create. I also prefer alone time for working.

    • Moonspinner says

      April 4, 2017 at 11:24 am

      Thank you! Color is essential to me, color and solitude.

Unless otherwise noted, all images, designs, and writing is property of Michaela Batstone. All rights reserved.

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Greens upon greens upon greens in the northern for Greens upon greens upon greens in the northern forests of Maine. 🌲🌿🌳
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#livefolk #staywild #quietinthewild #exploretocreate #countryliving  #folkgood #livesimple #optoutside #foundforaged #earthspirit #natureinspired #getoutside #forestlife #forestcore #wearewildness #intothewoods #seeksimplicity #hikenewengland  #appalachiantrail #hikingmaine #maine
Thank you to everyone who raised their hands on my Thank you to everyone who raised their hands on my call for how many of these necklaces to make. It is such a help! 

If you have a preference, do you prefer oval necklaces, or teardrop shaped ones? It's now time for me to choose from my gemstone collection. 

I think I will be able to make juuuust enough necklaces, though as always, everything will be first come first served.

Stay tuned for more previews!
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🌲 North Woods Collection: Date TBA 🌲

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🌲 A call for ring sizes for the first design of 🌲 A call for ring sizes for the first design of my North Woods Collection! 🌲

Generous slices of moss agate, each unique and holding tiny forest-like worlds. Set atop an undulating bark edge base, textured and sawn to look like a tree slice. 

These also have a secret message inside the band.

I have about a dozen more of these in the making, all with wonderfully different gemstones. 

If this ring calls to you, let me know your ring size! They will still be first come first served, but I will try to make the most requested sizes. 
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#moss #mossterrarium #mossagate #agate #agatejewelry #gemstonejewelry #gemstones #terrarium #terrariumjewelry #mosslove #mainemade #madeinmaine #maineartist #forestcore #forestlovers
🌲🏔 We have begun hiking (in most cases “re 🌲🏔 We have begun hiking (in most cases “rehiking”) the Maine 4,000-fters with the goal of consciously ticking them off starting now. 

What a gift it is living in this area for the summer. Towering granite cliffs and each road a tiny corridor through endless green. 

It seems every moment my fella is dashing out the door to mountain bike or hike part of the AT or fly fish his favorite river or go running on the trails.

And I have been gathering up the entire valley in my arms, the one our cabin is nestled in, to spin it into a bold, rugged collection for you.

We been relishing all the clearwater, bluebird-sky moment of these north woods. (Despite those early summer black-flies.)

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#livefolk #staywild #quietinthewild  #countryliving  #theartofslowliving #folkgood #optoutside  #earthspirit #appalachiantrail #getoutside #forestlife #wearewildness #naturelove #intothewoods #seekthesimplicity  #wildandfree #natureisbeautiful #naturesbeauty #beautyinnature #mainelife
I am gathering up the forests of northern Maine an I am gathering up the forests of northern Maine and translating them into a big, earthy collection for you. I hope you will love it!🌲💫
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#moss #mossterrarium #mossagate #agate #agatejewelry #gemstonejewelry #gemstones #terrarium #terrariumjewelry #mosslove #mainemade #madeinmaine #maineartist
🌲 I have been soaking up so much chlorophyl, I 🌲 I have been soaking up so much chlorophyl, I must be nearly drunk on it by now! 

Being in this cabin near the Bigelow Preserve has been like a tremendous exhale. The first thing we did when we got here was to turn off the alarm clocks on our phones, and now summer stretches out like a yawn. I feel like I am 8 years old again with a summer vacation just beginning.

#moss #mossagate #naturelover #wildflowerseason #getoutsidemore #mosslove #mainelife #naturegram #beadedlily #lilygarden
My endless thanks to those of you who plucked some My endless thanks to those of you who plucked some amethyst earrings! About three dozen pairs were claimed, and are waiting to be packaged up. 💫
💫 Everything is in the Etsy shop, sweet friends 💫 Everything is in the Etsy shop, sweet friends! 💫

The easiest way to see everything, is to click the * Violet Linings section on the left in the Etsy shop! 

(Direct link to the shop is on my profile.)
Goodness how these earrings glow! For these summer Goodness how these earrings glow! For these summery earrings, I sawed a tiny window from the back of the sterling silver base so that the light comes pouring through while being worn. I hope you love them as much as I do!
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🔮 Violet Linings Earrings: TONIGHT at 7pm EST in the Etsy Shop 🔮
💜 👾 Amethyst Vines and Stranger Things 👾💜
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Goodness how I love these earrings, I am wearing my pair as I write this. 

Light and long, they twirl with the wind and make the gentlest susurrus. These will all bloom in the shop in two days!

Until then I will be eating vegan peanut butter cookies and rewatching Stranger Things (currently on Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer) before we hop onto Season 4. Have you watched it yet? (No spoilers, please!) 

Also, I rather enjoy giving my posts chapter titles, a la Stranger Things.
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🔮 Violet Linings Earrings: Sunday, June 5th at 7pm EST in the Etsy Shop 🔮
“Morning Glories” by Mary Oliver Blue and dar “Morning Glories” by Mary Oliver

Blue and dark-blue
rose and deepest rose
white and pink they 

are everywhere in the diligent 
cornfield rising and swaying 
in their reliable

finery in the little
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all caught up in the cornstalks. 
The reaper's story is the story 
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work careful and heavy but the 
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year after year 

taken with the serious tons 
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🔮 Violet Linings Earrings: Sunday, June 5th at 7pm EST in the Etsy Shop 🔮
We are fully ensconced in a cabin for the summer, We are fully ensconced in a cabin for the summer, tucked against the Bigelow preserve in northwestern Maine. 

Long verdant days tinged with birdsong, and crisp nights, full of stars and mountain wind. 

And coffee has never tasted so good.
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