Yes. 

I used the word disaster!

I’m home from Montana and feel great despite the d-word.  I’m going to take a second to break the trip down for you and then I want to take a moment to really tell you what the point of this whole Montana show was via video blog.

Good:

-driving through Idaho and Montana to Missoula (beautiful)

-excellent company on the drive as my friend Erin was my plus one for the weekend

-arrived in M-Town and visited with a lovely friend in her crazy converted-church-commune living space where we experienced great music, excellent cakes, mosquitoes and plenty of art

-slept in a big comfy king sized bed 

-beautiful weather 

-a spectacular outfit on Sunday (turquoise strapless dress, over the knee socks, Frye boots, brooches, necklace, earrings, great bed head, the original pink wheat ring and my belt buckle slung low on my hips) made me feel beautiful

Bad:

-the soccer team at the hotel at 3AM romping about the hallways and women screeching about pizza (I refuse to share more details about this experience)

-the thunderstorm that arrived over top of Missoula at approximately 3PM on Sunday that actually washed my entire display away.  A torrent of water was flowing straight into my typewriter (poor Underwood) despite my tent, my platters were filled with water, all of my vases were blown over, I was sopping wet, Farley was cowering under the table and my antique wing back chair might never be the same

-I left the show 4 hours early because my table looked like an utter disaster as did the artist (me)

-I then struggled with awful feelings after leaving a show 4 hours early that I spent 2.5 months preparing for 

-I then left my phone in Deer Lodge Montana and realized where it was when I reached Dillon Montana and had to drive all the way back to Deer lodge Montana to get the phone when the girl at the gas station refused to mail it to me DRAT

GOOD:

-driving through spectacular thunderstorms on the way home

-a stop at the Patagonia outlet in Dillion, Montana where I finagled-in-an-honest-way (I just wanted to use that word) myself a spruce green article of clothing (a color that is very hard to find indeed)

-Erin playing DJ with her iPod 

-talking to She when I was 40 miles from home

-arriving home

-falling asleep and sleeping in until 9AM and then just laying in bed and resting until 11AM this morning

-feeling free of a massive weight, feeling like I might drift away up into the rain cloud to be kissed by lightning and shook by thunder (today marks day 17 of rain in Pocatello)

-welcoming summer with open arms

-roses blooming in the rose garden

More than ever, I have this intense sense of growing pains as an artist!

I have three options really when it comes to my work and appeasing you.  I can:

1.  Send my designs to a factory in China and have everything mass produced.

2.  Become one of those girls who just makes a lot of really crappy stuff without soul to keep cranking the numbers up and to stare googly eyed at my bank account.

3.  Keep pouring myself into one of a kind designs and make exactly what I feel called to make even if it means I sell less and get more emails from people who are frustrated and impatient with me and acquiring one of my designs.

I’ve been strong enough.  I’ve adhered my heart and soul to option three for a while now.  It takes a lot out of me though.  It’s hard.  It’s hard to face the demand for my work while consistently expressing compassion and gratitude for all of the amazing people I meet.  Working hard for you can be incredibly draining and overwhelming.  It can be euphoric and blissful.  It can be exhausting and uplifting.  It can break me and make me.  Sometimes I don’t think I can survive the demand placed on my soul and fingertips other times the demand pushes me into really new and wonderful explorations of metal and stone.  But one thing always remains the same and that’s the joy I feel flowing out of my mind and hands when I design and craft jewelry.  I love it.  I love the work of my hands.

I’m not going to quit.

I’m not going to retire until I’m 80 years old and have a pair of plastic hips.

I won’t fade away.

And you!  You dear woman, I promise that you WILL, even if you are frustrated beyond words, you WILL eventually get a piece of jewelry from me that was meant for you.  Thank you, as always, for your patience, love, kindness and encouragement.  You’ve got some of the most amazing qualities that I hope to keep fostering in my self.

Jeepers.

What more is there to say?

Over and out,

Plume

PS  This video blog is really long but it encapsulates the Missoula show experience perfectly AND you get to see me cry!  Go get some popcorn and Kleenex and enjoy the ride!