Summer is Here

I just started reading the “Song of Ice and Fire” series, and had to put a different twist onto the North’s infamous saying of “Winter is coming”. Hehehe, yes, I am a dork and I love it.

Summer definitely is coming. The weather is warming up to the point that we need to start turning on the AC when we go to bed.  There is a reason my baby is always dressed in footie pj’s at night.  My cupboards are bare, stocked with only baby food and canned goods such as beans for soups, chili, and hummus. My freezer is out of ice cream and all the tasty frozen snacks from Trader Joe’s. I made my garlic tomato dip twice last week, because the Roma tomatoes are finally up to par and beg to be diced and spread over toasted bread smothered with cream cheese. Jesse.1 is coming on today and staying with us until we drop her off at her great grandmother’s next Sunday somewhere north of Fresno. Jesse has a college reunion next weekend, so this will be a good chance to get away for a little while. Yes, while it is Fresno, it is a mini-vacation and should be treated as such. I’m just happy Jesse.1 will get to spend some time with Jesse’s paternal grandmother once I figure out when we get to go see her.

I’ve been super busy with the day job, as well as cranking out another Spiral 6-1 necklace order. I finished and delivered another jewelry order over the weekend to a very happy customer (see picture above). Hehehe. So it’s been busy, busy, busy. The next big thing I’ve been developing over the past few months is figuring out how to put together a collection. A collection is defined as “a line of products produced for one season”. While this is true, I’m stretching the notion of collection to be a more permanent thing than an once per season thing. I should have a collection of one of a kind pieces just because it would be nearly impossible to track down some of the more rare stones I adore. The best part about this month has been watching Season 4 of Gilmore Girls and going to town with my chainmaille. Having background noise is great when I’m simply building, not designing.

Organized thinking is certainly a new challenge. My “Ooo shiny” brain just wants to flit from here to there life a hummingbird determining its next snack. It takes more energy for a hummingbird to stop and sit on a branch than it does flitting here and there. But I’m getting more and more settled into this new way of thinking. Once the dust settles, I need to take the Spiral 6-1 pattern and tear it apart and put it back together again with beads. That’s what I do best… I use my engineering mind to rip the chainmaille to shreds like how a direwolf eats its chicken (again, too much “Game of Thrones”) and then give it my Hui-twist by adorning it with stones, crystals, and glass. Allison reminded me of how *that* is what makes me me. My affinity for both beads and chainmaille and putting them together harmoniously.  I get tunnel vision and get stuck focusing on minute details that is negligible compared to the big picture.  Sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn’t.  Learning how to weed through that is just another piece of the puzzle and keeps life interesting.

June Nostalgia

I gave Allison probably about 99% of my jewelry box last month to photograph and indirectly force me to think about my lack of everyday jewelry.  And the pieces I’m willing to part with and the pieces I need more of.  I really need to start making a pile of Perfect Rings, simply to have them on hand and in stock.  That may help keep the flow of sales going and it would definitely be easier to “pimp” them out while I’m out somewhere in person.  There’s always a mountain of things to do, so much that it reminds me of taking a quickie time management workshop during college orientation.

June has been making me nostalgic with a warm and fuzzy feeling.  I met Jesse 4 years ago during the month of June and the necklace shown above was what I was working on when he called for the first time.  I wore it on our second date to Thai food and strolling around Laguna Beach.  We were comparing and contrasting the differences between engineering and hard sciences, discussing the need for a masters and/or a PhD in either field, and walking along a moonlit beach talking about positrons.  To say he brought out my inner nerd would be an understatement.  But by no coincidence, he also brought out more of my creativity through his undying love. ♥

We met up with my Engineering Council activities chair and her man for dim sum yesterday.  She wanted to meet her new boyfriend (aka Hui.1).  We hadn’t seen each other for 8 years!  We kept in touch through Facebook, but holy crap, 8 years is a long time.  I’m married with 2 kids already (one acquired and one I made)!  Looking back, marrying Jesse has been one of the best things I ever did for myself.  :D

So no, I can’t part with that necklace.  But I will make more because I really love the design with the pearls.  I need to make more things with pearls.

Starting a 6-1 Spiral Chain

Okay, let’s do this!  Boys are still asleep and I’ve eaten breakfast!

Okay, I have 4 rings inside each other… oh, there it is!!! (place to insert next ring)

Oh shoot, I dropped it…

/deep breath

THERE IT IS!!!

Oh wait… something’s wrong.  I’ll keep going, maybe it will stabilize.

Ugh, this is not it.

Ohhhhh, I didn’t attach something to the end I started on… oops.

What was I thinking?  I should go back to bed.

Okay, okay, I can do this…

THERE!!!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I DROPPED IT AGAIN!!!

There goes another ring on the floor.  I need to pick it up before the baby gets it…

That looks better.  Hmm.

I need to stop death gripping my pliers.

Ooo, that’s it!

Is it?

Another ring on the floor…

Evil Elmo says “F— you.”

I GOT IT!!!  I GOT IT!!! I GOT IT!!!

Ugh, can’t go back to bed, need to go to yoga in an hour… Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wholeness

I had a chainmaille demo on Sunday in Long Beach at the Patchwork Indie Craft Show.  It was a blast to hang out with so many talented ladies who are part of the little shop we all rent space from.  Come check us out if you’re ever in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach!  Connecting with the artistic community like that has been something I’ve been missing ever since my local bead store stopped hosting their “Bring Your Own Project” night around the time I moved closer to the area.  Long Beach also seems to have a very friendly community, so it was nice to be part of that as well.  I also finished my new Perfect Ring just in time for the show.  Thank goodness because my finger has been feeling naked.  I think that helped “seal the deal” for all the joy that came out of that day.  ♥ ♥ ♥

Jesse had the baby for the day, so I was free to run amok.  On the drive to the show, I found it strange that I was going by myself.  Usually I would have had a friend or two accompanying me on adventures like these.  Usually baby goes everywhere I go so that definitely added to the vibe.  I think the worst thing was realizing I couldn’t use the carpool lane.  But things change, friendships fade, life gets in the way, etc.  To be driven by fear is no way to live, so I acknowledged that twinge of strangeness and carried on.

The area of Long Beach the show was happening in is such a cute area.  Of course, the houses cost around 800k-$1.3M, and the houses fronting the main street had docks because of the marina.  I parked in front of this house… had I gotten there a little bit later, I would have gone inside to see the Open House.  Hehehe.  I even had time to snap some photos of the rose bushes as I walked towards the show.  I love how the flowers in beachy areas adore the salty sea air and bloom just a little bit brighter.

I feel “whole” again.  Connected to a community that’s more than just my usual circle of friends and family.  Connected on a slightly larger scale.  And seriously grounded from kundalini yoga.  It’s easier to be happy, as well as celebrate the life we have now, instead of constantly mourning the life we used to have.  There are days when I reminisce about “the good old days” and how things used to be.  But then I look at where I am and the woman I’ve become and I feel accomplished.  No one likes change, let alone dealing with change.  I still fret and scurry a little bit when change happens, but I’m getting used to it more and scurrying a lot less than I used to.  Yay for evolution of the  soul.

The Perils of “Ooo Shiny”

The problem with being an artist is all the different directions the muse points you in.  My biggest struggle as an artist has been trying to keep some consistency within my designs.  Sometimes I think I have too many loves… chainmaille, rocks, Swarovski crystal, artisan glass beads, etc.  But, I am making a conscious effort to streamline as much as possible, even if it means sticking myself in a box (i.e. a jewelry collection) then telling my muse I can run as far away from the box so long as I stay within the lines of the collection.  It seems counter-intuitive for an artist to be tied down even in the slightest, but as an artist and a businesswoman, I need the constraints to think even more outside the box and not be a “starving” artist.

I miss my desk when it was like this.  It was focused and exclusively used for reading and making jewelry.  As hard as I’ve tried, my desk is still the most comfortable place for me to create.  My jewelry supplies have migrated back here, even though the weather is slowly starting to warm up.  Soon, I’ll have to move back into the other room.  Jesse has convinced me to abandon this desk when we move, with the promise of a luxurious, exclusive jewelry desk made of solid wood from our local wood furniture store.  It’ll be hard to let it go when we do eventually move, but one thing this marriage has taught me, is that we don’t need to hold on to our worldly possessions as tight as we do.  Styles change, bodies shift, furniture becomes old, worn, or in need of replacing.  In a way, this next move will signify another chapter of our lives together.  I’ve already weeded through my clothes a few times, and I know I’ll be weeding through it again.  I haven’t gone serious clothes shopping in quite awhile, simply because I don’t need to and I pick up a few pieces here and there.

XCVI started a brilliant idea of “pop up” shops in order to get more exposure to themselves and cater to the die hard fans like me.  They’ve opened lovely temporary stores in Seattle, Portland, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Mission Viejo, etc.  This gives the locals a chance to sample the delights of their clothing without the pain and sweat of searching for online shops that carry their clothes.  I’ve only gone to the Mission Viejo store once, but I did just score some sweet deals at Last Call!, Neiman Marcus’ clearance outlet.  Whoo hoo!

But yes, my husband is helping me not be as much as a hoarder as I used to be.  The minimalism will benefit my jewelry business as well as the rest of my life, and my children’s lives as well.  Or here’s hoping it will.

Design Lessons

I’ve been getting a new lesson on design from Allison. Collaborative, creative chaos can be a good thing at times.

I started my Chinese Knot earring like this, but the transition between the Maille and the bead was too stark and not smooth enough. The chi wasn’t flowing as perfectly as it could. So…

Hmm… the knots on the ruby made it too bulky for such a dainty piece (these are 20g rings with 22g connectors). So, in untypical Hui fashion (usually I hide while I’m creating), I started colluding with Allison about it. After a lengthy conversation consisting of “Hmmmmmmm” I finally came up with this.

I have to admit that I was initially hesitant to try what she had suggested, but biting back my pride and ego, I went with it. And holy crap, watch out because what started as a simple earring has turned into a necklace and bracelet design. It’s really true, that sometimes, you can’t do everything by yourself.

Decompressing

Still need to decompress from the weekend and find my bearings.  So in the meantime, here are a few more Etsy listings.  Click on the photo to go directly to the listing!

 

 

Quickie Update

I finished this 14″ choker and Hui.1 is modeling it.  Isn’t he such a tough guy?  I looooooooooooove this weave.  It’s a Spiral 6-1 with half round rings.  Gorgeous!

Best Husband EVER

Hubby told me to go to yoga when I was feeling lazy and overall blah.  But I went at his insistence and it was AWESOME!  And I got to try out Taco Tuesday at Del Taco.

Maybe I’ll actually feel like making jewelry tonight if baby goes to bed early enough.  Need to be in bed by 10:30… it’s been a rough few nights.

Tuesday Morning Rantings

As our smartphones and other tablet devices get more popular and easily accessible, the more I want to purposely “unplug” from the electronic world of the Internet. Despite the fact that I’m trying to sell tangible merchandise over the Internet and have to psychologically provoke customers into buying my jewelry, nothing ever beats that face-to-face connection. We’re human, we crave each other’s company. That’s why it annoys me when I’m with friends who are constantly playing with their phones when we’re out and about. I mean, we’re all guilty of it, and I do poke at my phone while I’m out with Jesse, but most of the time I make a sincere effort to be present in the moment and put it away during our meals.

Living in the moment is a universal challenge human beings have been facing for decades. This is not a new technological advance. Hui.1 has been forcing me to live day by day, instead of fretting about the summer activities and plans for Jesse.1, Hui.1′s birthday, Christmas, and New Years, or reminiscing over the days when all I did was work and make jewelry. That’s part of the reason why I believe the age old prompt of “describe yourself in 5 years” is full of crap. We don’t know where we’re going to be in 5 years. If you had given me a crystal ball to peek at who I am today and all the things I’ve done, I’d be laughing in disbelief. 5 years ago I was on the route of being a crazy old beaded engineer lady. The idea of getting married and having kids was a given, but I never pictured it one day at a time. So yeah, I would have laughed in that person’s face. People change over the course of 5 years. It’s that pesky thing called “growth”.

I’m still making jewelry and my skills have been sharpened and refined enough that I can truly call myself an artist. It takes a lot of time and dedication to be great at something. And making jewelry is one of those things for me. But I don’t remember the last bellydance festival I actually attended. It may have been Gothla 2010. I was too busy focusing on my relationship with Jesse for all those other extracurricular activities that eventually fell to the wayside. I still took classes with Sashi just because that’s what I had been doing since 2007. I made an effort to go to every Pasadena Bead and Design show starting in January of 2009. I haven’t missed a show since, simply because I made it a priority. It’s exactly like when I started yoga 2 weeks ago. Baby steps towards changing habits and realigning priorities.

An interesting observation made by Sashi and I, is that we’re NOT GOTH anymore. We’re too happy to be goth. It’s an evolution, I tell you! If you had told us the troupe would be moving in the direction of alternative tribal fusion bellydance, we also would have laughed in your face. Heck, I’ve finally caught up with the people around my age in terms of emotional intelligence. I admit I was about 10 years behind simply because I lived with Mom and Dad until I got married. Dealing with change has become a heck of a lot easier now that I’m used to it. It’s nice being happy and living a fulfilled life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything right now.

I suppose I should go find breakfast soon…