Yes, I'm Alive! An update and photo gallery

So, I haven't written in this blog since September -- the longest I've stayed silent on this thing since I created the page. Oops. Well, for all three of my consistent readers, yes, I am alive and well, and still making jewelry.

I've been MIA for a good reason, mainly in that I've been working my butt off in both my jewelry and music careers. I've been teaching at seven different locations and have a couple of regular music gigs -- and even got a mosaic accepted into a gallery! It's been rewarding and tiring at the same time.

I really love teaching fused glass and enjoy interacting with seniors, but having to deal with "personalities" on the job again has taken some getting used to. Most of my experiences == especially with my students -- have been great, but I've have some not-so-good encounters with the administrative folks. I didn't expect this to be an issue while working as a private contractor, but I suppose this type of situation will come up at any job. It was naive of me to think I could avoid it just because I'm a freelancer.

There are definite pros and cons to being on my own. A big pro is that I get to experience many different types of jobs. While some people prefer being at the same place every day, I love to switch up my environments. The Atria group has been particularly good to me and has had me teach at a few different locations. Also, I make more per hourly class than I would per hour at a salaried job.

On the other hand, these gigs are flimsy and can end at any time, especially if a senior home lacks the budget for freelancers. The good news, though. is that there are always more gigs waiting for me. I'm constantly having to hustle and make calls, but you can find jobs in strange places... like cemeteries or historical societies (this one is still pending, so hopefully, more details to come).

Meantime, I'm still making jewelry -- and art! I've been expanding my repertoire to include glass mosaics:

I call these pieces "Shout In A Dream," "Skyline At Night" and "Anywhere You Go." I'm especially proud of the Skyline piece, which took forever to make. That's an 18 X 20 inch canvas, so it's enormous -- and it's made of 230 fused glass parts (about 1000 altogether, if you count how many little pieces I cut and fused).

My mosaic "Winter Frost" was accepted into the Rockaway Artist Association's exhibit, "Of Women," which is on display through April 8, in honor of Women's History Month. I'll be at the gallery for the opening this weekend and will take a photo of it hanging.

Now that I'm growing beyond jewelry, I'd really like to make some glass sculptures. But first, I need a larger kiln. I adore my microwave kilns, but they only fit small pieces. I'm saving up to buy a medium-sized table top kiln and will work my way up from there.

In order to get into the sculpture mode, though, I've been playing with different glass fusing techniques. Lately, I've been working with molds and glass frit, which is chopped glass. The granules can be fine, medium or coarse -- very much like in enamel. But you place the bits into a mold and can cast different shapes. I made these pendants using my heart mold:

There are hundreds of molds out there, but again, most of them only fit into larger kilns. I've been having fun making these and it's great practice for when I eventually mold bigger pieces.

As you can see, I've had a lot going on. Before I end this, one last bit of news: I FINALLY have a professional website. Check out Naomi's Designs for photo galleries and my online store! The site even links to this blog. Etsy has been great and I'm sticking with it, but I like having my own shop, where I don't have to worry about constantly relisting items. That 20 cents per listing doesn't sound like much, but it adds up when you have over 300 items in your Etsy store -- especially since listings expire after four months. In my personal shop, I can list up to 1500 items and simply leave them.

So, that's what's been going on in my life. Take a look at Naomi's Designs, keep reading this blog and look forward to updates on my jewelry and art career. Thanks for stopping by. It's been way too long!

Adventures in teaching jewelry: handmade wire wrapped charm bracelets

When doing crafts with my seniors, I like to plan activities that are easy, fun and not too messy. After a friend showed me the charm bracelet she'd received for Christmas, I thought, "That's a great idea! And so simple to make."

You can buy bags of assorted charms on Amazon. They sell Murano-style beads, birthstone charms, colorful enamel charms... really, any kind of shape you can imagine, but I went with a large bag of silver-plated pieces. Each charm is different and I figured that the ladies could choose pieces that reflect their interests and personalities.

At first, I wasn't sure there was going to be a class because the home's rec director had forgotten to put me on the calendar. She made an announcement, though, and pretty soon, my whole table will filled up. Also, the director's new assistant was there for her first day of work, so she was on hand to help me out. She was thrilled that she just started and was already getting jewelry out of the experience.

For the actual bracelet, I simply cut strands of 18 gauge silver plated wire. I was going to use thicker wire, but I decided to go with material that would be lighter and easier for the seniors to work with. I went with a cuff bracelet design, with closed loops on each end, so they can easily take the bracelet on and off and don't have to worry about securing the hook.

The ladies had a great time choosing their charms. One is a self-described cat lady and went right for the cat charms. Another choose the fish bones because they reminded her of a scorpion and she's a Scorpio. And one lady chose the scissors charm, "Because if anyone messes with me, I'll cut them!" she explained.

These charms do have loops on top, but in order to get them to face forward on a bracelet, you need to add jump rings. I'd only brought one pair of pliers with me because I hadn't known there would be an assistant on hand. She used the pliers to open some jump rings, while I just used my fingers to handle the rest. Ouch! I broke a couple of nails in the process, but finished the job.

This was such a simple craft, but the ladies were pleased with their bracelets and liked that they reflected who they are. Here are a few of the seniors showing off their work:

I always enjoy being with this group and especially like hearing their stories. Many of the women are in their late 80s and 90s and have led interesting lives. They're such a kind and friendly group.

Next week, I'm teaching another cemetery class and I'll then be making glass earrings with the seniors. I always have something to look forward to!

Check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped, fused dichroic glass and enamel jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Adventures in making fused dichroic glass jewelry: my first glass demo!

It's been about 10 months since I began making glass pieces and this art has become my favorite out of all of the jewelry making techniques I practice. I got to share my knowledge -- limited as it is at this point -- with the seniors at the Homestead, a local residence near me.

In my last post, I wrote about how I'm going to be teaching a glass class early next year at Maple Grove Cemetery's cultural center. I want to get a few demos in before doing this, so I asked the Homestead's rec director if I could teach glass fusing at my monthly jewelry making class. She agreed and the seniors seemed to be excited with the idea.

Still, I was nervous. A few of the seniors have minor dementia and glass fusing involves well, glass, and fire. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. To prepare, I pre-cut all of the glass and filed the ends of each piece to blunt them. I also explained to the rec director that I needed to be the only one who operated the kiln.

I decided to have my students make mosaic pendants, which involved fusing colorful bits onto a black base. It's a fairly simple glass project, but the results are beautiful. They're also fun to make!

Before handing out the glass pieces, I explained what dichroic glass is and showed them the kiln and kiln paper. One of the ladies is 91, sharp as a tack, and has a wonderful sarcastic sense of humor. "That looks like something you'd heat Chinese dumplings in!" she said of the kiln. And when I showed her the kiln paper, "Well, now we know what we can use if we run out of toilet paper."

The rec director and I helped them arrange and glue the pieces and we then took a little field trip to the microwave, where I showed them how the glass is fired. This microwave was bigger than mine, so the piece fired in about two minutes -- and the women were impressed. They all "oohed" and "aahed" as I lifted the kiln's lid and presented the glowing, molten pendant. After, that same lady told me, "You know, at my age, I thought I've seen everything, but this is new to me. You can always learn something."

We finished up the lesson with everyone putting their glued pendants into labeled envelopes, so I could finish firing them at home. But the women wanted more! They've asked if I could do another lesson showing how I actually cut and shape the glass. They also loved the idea of working with pre-cut shapes, like hearts and stars.

I'm so happy and relieved that my class was a success! I really love working with these women and am pleased that they enjoyed glass fusion as much as I do. Now that I did this class, I feel more confident taking my lesson to other venues. I look forward to introducing more people to this art form.

Check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped jewelry, enamel jewellery and glass jewelry at Naomi's Designs, MayaGirl Creations and Glass By Naomi.

Selling handmade jewelry: More weird tales from the craft fair, some interesting opportunities and working with precut glass shapes!

Last week was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a while. I had the art fair on Sunday, rehearsal on Monday and Wednesday, and then a combo vendor sale/concert at the Atria on Thursday. Whew! Happily, all went well and it's on to the next projects.

I didn't really make anything new for the Atria sale, figuring I'd just sell my leftover pieces from the art fair. I'm constantly making new items, so I always have a full inventory on hand. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that the seniors wanted less expensive jewelry. Most of my stuff is priced between $15-35, but many people asked if I had $5 items. Fortunately, I always bring wire with me so I can work on projects, so I churned out a bunch of cute wire pendants, selling 2 for $10. Those were popular and I made some sales! I also sold a few glass pieces, as well, but I know to have very inexpensive options for the next event.

I've mentioned my friend Judith on this blog before. She's my music partner, one of the biggest supporters of my jewelry venture and has also decided that she's my "agent." I'm very lucky to have met her and am so glad I called the Atria to see if they needed a flutist. Anyway, Judith hooked me up with two interesting jewelry gigs: I'm going to be doing another vendor sale at the senior home where she used to work and in April, I'm going to be selling my pieces at a four-day tarot card readers' convention.

Full disclosure: I know NOTHING about tarot. I've never seen a psychic or had a reading, or anything like that. I'm open-minded to learning, though, and the Readers Studio is a very popular event that has an artists' market and attracts hundreds of tarot practitioners from around the world. I can't guarantee that my jewelry will sell -- I never can be sure -- but I am certain I'll meet some interesting people!

To prepare for these craft fairs and now this tarot show, I've been trying to make some more commercial designs. When working with enamel, I sometimes use "blanks," which are pre-cut copper shapes. I like to draw and cut my own pieces when I can, but this saves time.

You can also get pre-cut glass shapes. Glass is a lot harder to cut into exact shapes like thin sheet metal, so I've ordered pre-cut hearts, butterflies, Stars Of David, Christmas Trees, etc. I'm still learning how to design my own glass cut-outs, but in the meantime, I can play with some ready-made objects. I've been using them as a base for these cool mosaic designs:

I have over six months to prepare for the tarot event, but I do want to make jewelry that fits the theme. I'm planning to get some more stars and other celestial shapes. I'm also playing around with decals, which you can fire right onto the glass. Eventually, I'd like to learn how to etch my own designs using etching cream. I haven't even been making glass for a year, so I have a lot to learn!

Another opportunity coming up is I'm going to be teaching a workshop at a historical cemetery near me called Maple Grove. They have a cultural center, where they have performances and offer workshops such as Victorian hat making. The woman in charge came to the Atria for a lecture and noticed Judith's glass necklace, which was one of my creations. She and I got in touch and I'm going to be giving a glass workshop sometime early next year. I want to make it fit into Victorian times, so I'm going to explain how decorative glass became popular during that era.

My jewelry is taking me on some unusual, but exciting paths. I'm eager to see where I go next! You can check out my collections at Naomi's Designs, MayaGirl Creations and Glass By Naomi.

Adventures in teaching jewelry making: making handmade beaded earrings and rings!

Yesterday was my second jewelry-making class for seniors. I think it went very well!

Last month, the four ladies who I worked with requested that I show them how to make rings and earrings. So I bought some French hook and clip-on earring backs and figured I'd teach them how to make a few different kinds. When I showed up to class, though, there were now 10 women waiting for me. Gulp... I mean great!

I wasn't expecting to have such a large turnout and I had to hustle. I passed around my giant bag of beads and let the students choose which ones they wanted for their project, while I quickly cut wire to make earrings. I'd learned the last time that most of the seniors lack the hand strength to cut and manipulate wire, so I have to help them with a few steps. Because there were so many people there, I had to literally run around to get to everyone. I actually worked up a sweat!

It was all good, though, because the ladies came away with some beautiful pieces:

A few of the ladies really "get" jewelry making and didn't need my help that often. Honestly, the beads I brought aren't that pretty; I'd ordered a 1000-piece bargain bag of plastic bits. But a couple of women managed to find the prettiest beads and put together some amazing color combinations.

Others needed more help. Since I'm working with seniors, their levels of functionality vary, and some need more assistance. I'm happy to work with them, though. The rec director told me afterward how their last jewelry teacher would get angry and impatient with the students. You HAVE to be patient when dealing with seniors, who might have memory or cognitive issues. I keep telling the ladies that the goal isn't perfection; it's to learn something and to have fun making things by hand. As I explained to one of the women, I'd have nothing to teach if they were already experts.

The hour flew by and I loved listening to the ladies chat while they worked. Part of forming a group like this is to foster friendships and I hope that if they don't enjoy making jewelry, they're at least enjoying the companionship. One woman was funny and kept joking around as we made the rings. She'd hold up her ring and announce, "Look, I'm engaged! Let's get married!" I told her that my husband would have something to say about that. She answered, "Well, if a guy really gives you a ring like this, then he's cheap." This lady is a riot! When I said I've taught children, but this was my class for adults, she said, "We're like children." I disagreed, noting that if they were kids, they'd be throwing the beads or sticking the beads up their noses. (Side note: I actually did stick a bead up my nose as a kid and had to be taken to the hospital).

Much as the women love beading, I'd like to make different jewelry projects that are a little out of the box. For next time, I'm planning to have them make scratch-art pendants. I now know to come prepared with ready-made materials, so I'll work on some pendant bases beforehand. Basically, I'll cover a sheet of oak tag with colored crayons and then add a layer of black. I'll then cut the oak tag into small shapes -- hearts, squares, etc. -- and punch a hole in the top of each one. In class, the ladies can use a bit of wire to scratch out a design and we'll then turn their creations into pendants. This is something I did as a kid, but it's so much fun! The rec director loves the idea, but agrees that most of the women won't have the strength to scribble down the thick layer of black crayon.

I think as time goes on, I'll even have them do some art projects other than jewelry. They haven't had an art instructor at the home for a while and many miss making things. It's a fun way to pass the time and it keeps them mentally and physically engaged. I've always loved making crafts, so I'll do some research and see what types of easy projects we can make. Right now, we're meeting every month, but the rec director is thinking of having me come every two weeks.

I really hope my students are getting something out of my classes. I'm certainly learning a lot from them!

You can see my work at Naomi's Designs, MayaGirl Creations and Glass By Naomi.

Weird tales from the craft fair: selling my handmade fused glass jewelry

Yesterday was my vendor sale at at Atria. It was also my first time selling my fused dichroic glass pieces in person. Happily, the day went well.

The fun actually began last weekend when I performed a Memorial Day concert at the Atria. I was joined by my friend and Atria staffer, Judith, who sings and plays guitar. We put on a Broadway program for the residents. Judy and I both wore necklace I'd designed, and I brought in a few other pins and pendants to display.

They loved it! There was singing and dancing, and a lot of laughter. What was also nice was the my husband, Jon, was able to join us. He's usually working when I do these gigs, but this one was on a Sunday.

I need to backtrack for a moment and explain how I got into playing music at senior homes. I've been playing flute since I was 9 -- and piano since I was 3, though flute is my main instrument. Music has always been a huge part of my life, but was put on the backburner as I tried to build up my jewelry business and writing career. Plus, the leader of the band I played with moved to another state. So for most of 2014, I didn't touch my flute, which was a shame. I missed it.

That December, my friend Amy asked me to play holiday songs at a party she was hosting. She lives in a building complex called Southbridge that has a senior program and decided to hold a "Senior/Toddler Mixer." To be honest, the kids and seniors didn't really mix; the kids ran around while the seniors sat listening to me play. But I was surprised by how much they enjoyed my music. I'd warned Amy that I was rusty -- and I really was -- but they didn't care. They were all singing along and told me afterward that they'd had a great time.

I had a chat with the program's director and asked if she'd like me to come in again for a Valentine's Day performance. This time, I played classic love songs and we printed out lyrics so the seniors could sing all of the words. Again, the program was a success.

I realized how healing music can be, both for myself and the seniors. I'd been disappointed and disillusioned with my writing career, but music helped me deal with the loss. I love making jewelry, but needed a different kind of creative outlet. Music was it.

I then called several other senior homes in the area and asked if they would be interested in having me play for the residents. Most said yes! The Atria happens to be right around the corner from us. I'd passed it a million times and would always say to Jon, "I should give them a call and see if they want me to perform." I finally got up the nerve and am so glad I did.

These days, I perform in five different places, but most of my work is with the Atria. I've made some good friends, but have also made some jewelry sales through these connections. Judy, my musical co-conspirator, purchased two glass pieces from me and is constantly advertising my work. It's through her help that I got this sale set up.

Onto the sale itself! When I arrived at the home in the morning, it was chaotic. They were moving furniture and the lobby was filled with various pieces, crates and boxes. They weren't sure where they were going to put me, but finally set me up in the parlor. About an hour later, they moved me back into the main lobby.

A few seniors recognized me from my flute performances and got a kick out of seeing my "other personality." "You're confusing me," one lady said with a laugh. "I confuse myself," I told her.

People were intrigued with the glass, though many didn't understand what it is. A few called the pendants "stones" and thought they were ready-made. I had to explain how I cut sheets of glass and fuse them together, and then shape them.

I didn't make that many sales, though I did sell a few of my glass pieces, as well as some bracelets. I also have a couple of requests in for custom orders. However, I did get to spend time with the residents, which isn't something I normally do. Yes, I am there often, but I'm playing music. Then when my gig is over, it's time for whatever their next program is, so I leave. I do chat with them before and after my shows, but I only have a few minutes.

I ended up talking with one resident for over an hour. We first spoke about our mutual love for cats, but she then asked if I'd ever be interested in teaching a class. I told her I would! She explained that she's on the home's council and has a background working in Wall Street. She then came up with an idea for me to bring ready-made wire and glass pieces to the class so the seniors can simply put together a necklace or bracelet. She asked if I could bring in my little kiln, but I explained how I've had some minor accidents and wouldn't want to put anyone in danger. She noted that I could simply fire their pieces at home and then return them a few days later since I live so close. I love it! This woman is a true problem solver and very creative. I don't know if this class will actually happen, but I've made a new friend.

There were a few funny things that happened throughout the day. One lady came by and asked if I sell pants. I guess they've had some all-purpose vendors who sell jewelry and clothing items, but the question took me by surprise. I was also taken aback when I heard a loud meow in the lobby. To my delight, there was a cat! One of the residents has a kitty named Schmedrick, who was big, gray and oh-so-handsome. I, of course, had to say hello. I love his name, too. It's fun to say.

I didn't make a lot of money at this sale, but I'm happy with how the day turned out. I love how my music and jewelry are combining, and leading to some interesting opportunities! Here are a couple of photos of my table:

Check out more of my handmade jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.