Good evening good evening!
I’m just about to run out the door to carve pumpkins with a gaggle of girls — I’ll be sure to take my camera since this evening could turn out rather similar to the zucchini night we had a couple of months ago.
I wanted to show you a few of the pieces I finished today.
First off is this glorious necklace:
Je suis une smitten kitten. Smitten like Pinkerton when I give him a half saucer of tuna like I did this morning. Oh boy. You haven’t ever seen a cat wag his tail like Mister Pinky does for tuna. This necklace features a gorgeous slice of burro creek jasper in an elegant violet hue. I’ve hand forged a series of organic shapes that sprout off the sidewall of the shadowbox — I was hoping for a cellular sort of look with the interior of the pendant and the organic shapes suffice. These shapes are repeated on the outside of the shadowbox wall and are used as bails. There are chains growing out of all sorts of places on this pendant. Some hang straight down, free, others are connected in loops to other bail points and one especially long chain is connected up to the main chain that hosts the actual pendant. It’s rich. It’s jangly. You’ve not seen anything quite like it, except for maybe under your microscope in your first year biology class whilst at University.
I can’t wait to continue on in the direction of this concept….I’ve got all sorts of fantastic ideas on the tip of my mind.
The rest of the goods look like this!
I’ll be updating the Etsy shop tomorrow as soon as I have everything photographed and ready to fly! Now it’s off to do some pumpkin carving.
CONFESSION: I actually hate carving pumpkins, they make my hands very itchy and my hands are already taking a beating with the turn of the weather. Let me know if you have any secret tricks to keeping your hands looking well in the dry, cold, winter months — I need all the help I can get. If things become much worse I’ll have to start crazy gluing the cracks in my fingertips shut so I can wield a pair of tweezers while at work in the studio!
Love,
The Plume
I am a smitten kitten for that burro jasper necklace as well. Is Pinkerton wearing it until it sells?
YOU BET HE IS!!!
oh YUMMMMMM. and what's the yellow stone on those beautiful earrings i'm lusting for in the background??
Oooh, I'm excited to see whatever is big & blue over there!! Or perhaps it's turquoise?? Time shall tell!
My fingertips crack open in the winter too. I have found that the best treatment is to slather my hands with regular old Vaseline Petroleum Jelly before bed and sleep in cotton gloves. By morning my skin is magically repaired! It also works on feet!
Jillian, my first thought was of the prickly pear cactus when I saw your newest creation tonight- wow, what a beauty is an understatement!! Can't wait for tomorrow's show:)
Amen to Amanda – that is exactly what I do. I also wrap my fingers in the green stretchy tape used to protect your hands while smithing. Mine are so sore right now I can hardly hold a hammer – but I will manage somehow:)
Excited for tomorrow and what secrets will be unveiled…….Hugs, Sally
Alex uses superglue for cracks on his thumbs. He also slathers his hands with vaseline and sleeps in cotton gloves.
bag balm!!!!!!
i sell it daily at work for hands.
As always, too, too curious to see more of the latest beauties!
Re hands–agree with the suggestions here, and would add Burt's Bees hand and cuticle cremes. They're not as thrifty as Vaseline, but nicer to use during the day and very effective as well!
Huge tin o' PURE shea butter ( not in a lotion) kept by the bed to be used at night…that, and my friend Beth's yoga stretches for the hands….you don't want to hammer and saw with cold ligaments…( I think she has a demo up on you tube, shall find the link!)
Jillian,
Your work is beatiful as ever- can't wait to see the entire piece.
I can relate to those chapped hands- as a nurse and a metalsmith, mine take a beating- one of the dermatologist that comes to our facility suggested over the counter neosporin ointment- not too much and rub it in good especially to the creases of your knuckels and heal of your palm- try it before working aand again at night- what a difference.
Hope it works for you.
Susan
I love Farley's Beulah!
For a bit of help (for the hands) from within…extra flax/fish oil – I like Barclean's 3-6-9 Total Omega master blend. I put it in a smoothy with protein powder, kale, lemon and water. Lemon does wonders for the skin also.
SMITTEN as well…Oh, so smitten! I will investigate the hand stuff.
xox
Gorgeous! I can't wait to see the rest of the pieces up close.
I love Neutrogena Norwegian Hand Cream. I slather it on after every hand washing. Granted, I work in an office so I don't encounter near the wear and tear you would but it might be worth a shot (it is purportedly the formula Norwegian fisherman used).
On Etsy there is a shop, Gudonyatoo, that sells the best hand and nail scrub!! It is a dry scrub full of oils. After scrubbing hands of all the dry cracked skin, rinse and pat hands dry. I apply a good thick hand lotion and then off to bed. It works wonders! I get terrible cracked hands in fall/winter, and this helps me tremendously!
Have a beautiful day!
Dream Cream!!!!!!!
Made with love on Salt Spring Island.
It is pure magic.
http://aromacrystal.com/index.php?page_id=26
my advice for hands in winter – definitely DO NOT work in a place where you have to repeatedly wash them all day long with harsh surgical soap. this is not a good idea. my hands are a freaking mess.
ps i can't wait to see those earrings that look like butterscotch in the background….look good enough to eat!!
i'm so astonished at your productivity! it's beautiful that you have found a way to let your heart and creativity flow out unabated.
Kittens rule my world…what a fabulous piece and concept. The rest of your cache looks quite eye-catching
great work, friend. always proud of you.
for the hands- lotion lotion lotion. get some fancy spa gloves and heat them up in the microwave for a minute, then lather lotion on, I mean lather, rub some in, but it should be gewey. Then just sit and chill. I know people who go to bed with the lotion gloves on, but I can't sleep with them.
when you take them off, rub the rest of the lotion in.
(EEEEK! you lucky lucky lady, the one who beat me to the lady marmalades…… :D)
What Amanda said – and the ring in the front is MINE! Nobody touch it. I mean it.
just have to tell you how much i am in love with those lady marmalade earrings. 🙂
I think you make the most lovely jewelry, but am always disappointed when i see something on your blog and then maybe I think i would like to buy something and within 2 seconds of you posting it on your site it is sold. I work full time and then you post during the day and by the time I am home from work everything is sold, I know this must be great for you, but there has to be some better options for those of us who do not have access to the internet during the day. I have now tried for 2 months to purchase something as I think you are very talented and have fallen in love with some of your pieces. Just a thought…. 🙂
From a Saskatoon GIRL!
ah, je sais…it can be heartbreaking to miss these gorgeous, one of a kind, amazing pieces of plume soul, can't it? it's totally difficult to feel like you're always missing out, like you keep trying and to no avail.
here's the thing…jillian's success isn't jillian's fault. well, it IS her fault that she's so fabulous, talented, disciplined, visionary, and adept at this whole jewelry-making thing, but the fact that her work flies off the shelves in a matter of seconds is by no means due to her listing methods. the bottom line is that jillian's stuff sells fast not because she lists during the day or night or otherwise, but because there's an ever-widening base of good people who have become accustomed to the quality and beauty of her work who WANT/NEED/HAVE TO HAVE IT. and because she has customers in ALL walks of life and levels of internet access, all over the world, no matter WHAT time she listed her stuff there would be a grand rush and only a small handful of the fastest clickers would have a plume package on their doorstep in 3 days flat.
for the record, jillian has tried all sorts of different methods for listing and selling her jewelry…announced shop updates, secret shop updates, updates during the day, the weekend, the night, offering holds (which she no longer does b/c it eventually caused a bit of trouble, so she's ceased that policy), random custom request listings, contests and giveaways on her blog…she's always working for us, giving us opportunities to pluck a plume feather 🙂 i don't envy her having to keep figuring out what the best way is to keep everyone happy (which, by the way, is impossible)!
it's so hard to wait for the perfect piece that comes at the perfect time, but in our disappointment let's not berate or blame jillian's business/listing choices or habits for our feelings of frustration at having missed out. for the most part, the Noisy Plume is a 1-woman operation, and knowing that, all i want to do is admire, encourage, and build her up. she doesn't deserve one iota of negativity. she deserves our praise, our love, and our appreciation.
it's okay to be disappointed…none of us are the only person who's experienced that. but don't channel that in jillian's direction – it's unkind. it's not her fault some of us don't have consistent internet access. it's not her fault we might not have signed on at the perfect time. and those things aren't our faults, either, but what can i say? c'est la vie. it's out of her control and it's out of our control. so let's just make this life more peaceful and beautiful, especially for brilliant souls like jillian.
jillian, we love you so much and burst with pride and joy to witness you doing what you were born to do. you do a phenomenal job. keep up the radiant, wholehearted work. we stand by you and we stand behind you. there are so many Plume devotees, i think we stand all around you, in fact!
xoxo on behalf of all,
she.
We stand all around you, many deep!
XO
Here here!
xoxo
Wow, By no means did i mean Jill any disrespect as i have known her since she first walked into the doors at Silverwood elementary school. I have had great times with this lovely lady and am so very proud of her.
I also said that I believe it is fantastic that her jewelry sells right away. So by saying i BERATED her is a personal attack on me and in no such way would i ever do that to someone i can call a friend for 20 years.
I wanted to express to her that I would love to support her and wanted HER to maybe respond with some ideas on how I can proudly wear her jewelry. I know she is a hard working women, I know she does this alone, I know her husband is away in the summer months.
So for your information I would also be standing around her many deep…..
…yes…she…i agree & i, for one, am ONE of them…have~to~havers…and i worked it out…really well i must say…i decided to ride the wave…rather than swim against it… & it made all the difference in the world…to me…i DO have a belt buckle, you know…sorry, i know it stings…& i CHERISH it & all the special Plume craftings i have…JILLIAN is THE BEST…the MOST LOVELY…& THE MOST TALENTED…& the ONE most in demand…to be fortunate enough to win the right to purchase…one or two or three of her pieces…is a DELIGHT…but it comes @ a price…it takes patience, due diligence, humor, time, money & MOST IMPORTANT…it takes love & respect…especially to the artist…one day you will win that opportunity to purchase & trust me…you WONT be disappointed…you will be DELIGHTED!
love my girl…miss jillian…love yoU to pieces…
To everyone who left a comment today: THANK YOU! I read every word and appreciated each one:)
To all the ladies who took a moment to give me some tips on hand and skin care: THANK YOU SO MUCH! After reading your convos, comments and emails, I decided to give this stuff a try:
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=20613082
I'll let you know how it works. I plan on applying it after I shower, before I go out to work in my studio, and again before bed. Hopefully it will do the trick! I also stocked up on some more fish oils and zinc whilst at the grocers this afternoon! Thank you thank you thank you for taking such good care of me!!!
I'm actually going to test drive these yoga tricks in the morning tomorrow before heading into the studio for the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_-2iPBxE7I
If you do anything intensive with your hands, even computer work for extended periods of time (shopping at The Noisy Plume included…tee hee hee) you should try these exercises too!
And Finally, Dear Disappointed,
Who the heck are you anyway?!!! 🙂 I wish I had a face to go with the nom de plume! I'm sorry you have yet to meet your match in jewelry when it comes to purchasing my work. I hope something wonderful and perfect falls into your hand toute suite (as the French say). I'm afraid I'll have to keep to the Etsy shop updating schedule of late, since it helps to give my life a pinch of normalcy.
I hope you understand. I do wish I could meet the desires of all the lovely women (and men) I come in contact with but being just one little lady, I really cannot. This means that you gals end up being the ones who have to compromise in order to support me. I realize it's a sacrifice to have to sit in front of a computer hitting a refresh button until you see the design you want and then a frightening rush through the purchasing process on Etsy in order to secure the item you want. I don't know what to do about it. I have been told, by some of my supporters, that they have been forced to amp up their game in the past year or so. It means being quick with a mouse and sometimes dedicating an hour to sitting in front of a computer hitting a refresh button. A rapid internet connection helps as well, or so I hear…it's competitive. And that's the truth.
I wish there was something else I could do to make it easier for YOU to nab my designs, but the schedule I am attempting to keep at the moment is keeping me from burning out — I was on a scary precipice this summer and I'm finally feeling like I've rebounded from the fatigue I was suffering from. Most importantly,my current schedule is healthy for my family and my friendships. I cannot love the people closest to me if I'm a total wreck.
I update my Etsy shop two days a week, in the morning/afternoon on those days. I spend the rest of those "computer days" packaging and shipping jewelry out to the world, grocery shopping, baking and cooking food for my family and running errands. I also spend hours answering emails and Etsy convos on these days. For these reasons, I attempt to take care of my shop updates as early as possible so I can finish up the rest of my "list" before midnight. I'm afraid that, for the sake of my life, I need to keep on doing what I'm doing at this junction in time.
Thanks for your understanding and your support! It's one of the reasons I get out of bed in the morning every day!
And at the risk of sounding redundant, please know, that the perfect piece that will perfectly match you will come along. It happens all the time. And many of the gals reading this blog will testify to the fact:)
Kristen: Thank you always for everything. There's a reason you're my best friend. You're more loyal that a pack of baby tigers. Love you, your eloquence and your support.
And thanks to the rest of you for your love as well. It's like having sugar poured down into my gas tank ,that is, if I were a car of the future that ran on sugar instead of gasoline…bad simile…I know…
J.F.? A throwaway profile created and deleted just to spam?
That, my friend, is very poor blog etiquette.
Thanks Michele.
PS J.F. Thank you for your cowardly and shameless comment. Please don't come back.