Good day friends! I’ve been very busy with my novel, but I did find time to fill a special order for Amber, my guitarist’s awesome mom. Her requirements were simple: green, pink, black, mostly green and beautiful. I’m calling it my homage to Alexander Calder (famous for his mobiles and other sculpture, but I like his jewelry best). Found a fantastic book of it at the library. I highly recommend it.

I finally got to use my hammer and tiny anvil on the spirals for the drops, flattening them out. Stones used: teardrops are chrysoprase, flat rounds are malachite, small black stones are black jade, lighter stone beads are rose quartz. You will also see pink pearls and crystal. A couple black crystals in there, too.

Well, I’m terribly pleased with it. Feel free to let me know what you think!

My NaNoWriMo Progress: 41004 words. 5 days to go! What’s next? NaNoFiMo and NaNoEdMo (National Novel Finishing Month if I need it and National Novel Editing Month). I can’t wait!

That’s right. I’m going to be in Chicago until the 13th. If you place an order, I’ll take care of it as soon as I return.

Stay out of trouble while I’m gone!

NaNoWriMo progress: 10386 words, over 20% to the goal of 50K.

Hi family, friends and fans,

I know! How lazy am I not to do any jewelry posts in FOREVER! Now that the costume frenzy for Halloween is over I might have time. But it’s November and I have another distraction. I have joined NaNoWriMo.org (that’s National Novel Writing Month). That’s right, I’m finally doing it. I took a bunch of creative writing courses and read enough books to kinda know what I’m doing. Best yet, I’ve already been writing one in my head for years! Yeah, all those times you were trying to get my attention while I was staring off into space. Now you know. I was somewhere else. I was in my novel.

Note: while participating in NaNoWriMo, I will still be filling orders on the website. My clients will not be ignored!

It’s an adventure novel set after the apocalypse (I’ll write my contemporary novel next year). It’s going to be a super draft by the end that I’ll be editing for years until I’m satisfied with it. Then maybe I’ll publish, but I doubt it.

In order to prepare for this ordeal, I didn’t read any fiction for 6 months to make sure I wouldn’t absorb anyone’s writing style (there is this one author who take different styles from some very famous authors; it made me so mad that I wrote him a letter asking him to learn how to write before he published anymore books–I don’t want to be a hypocrite). I’m also reading books assigned from a class I had to drop out of when there was too much on my plate one quarter; A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. I haven’t gotten to Bird by Bird yet. Morgan has that one. I think my biological training is great for writing setting descriptions; there will be some nerdy and very realistic ecology. I’ve been getting Word of the Day from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary in my old hotmail account since 2004 and saving all of them! One of my challenges; not to use the work Okay.

The meat. I need to write 50K by midnight Nov. 30, then I will “win” NaNoWriMo. I just wrote about 350 words in ten minutes. I wish I could do that with my story every day. Right now I’m at 7380, almost 15% to the goal. Cups of coffee today: 1. Wish me luck!

Hi Doug, Hi Minerva, Hi everybody else,

We just had a violent rainstorm, and now the weather has turned humid and hot again. The wind is nice and warm. The leaves are changing colors and the cemeteries have become romantic again, instead of just being depressing as usual. Normal sounds take on a creepy, spooky air now that All Hallows Eve is approaching. It’s time to watch Nightmare Before Christmas again…

I’ve been busy and stressed, almost too busy to devote this month to my other obsession; costumes. I did sell some on eBay to make room for more that I will be making (I do have a pile of fabric just waiting for me to do something with). I’d show you some pictures, but I’m not especially proud of the costumes I sold. They are early work, and I know I can do much better now–the pictures aren’t up to my standards for display either. But I did sell a couple of halter waistcoats that I am proud of. I haven’t gotten positive feedback from that buyer yet…

Right now I’m trying to piece something together for the Establishment (local hippy commune in an old hotel that also used to be a brothel) invite-only Halloween party. The theme is Cabaret Cadaver. I’m pretty sure I can do the cabaret, the cadaver is a little more difficult.

I’m still finishing my brother’s Monty Python Inquisition robes. I’m excited about finding something to do with the scraps of fabric; sleeping masks! I’ve giving them away to friends and family and coworkers. I have a feeling I’m going to make a lot more. Perhaps I’ll start selling those on the website…

Now you have an update. Thanks for reading and I’m sorry it has been so long!

Last time I posted about the Labyrinth, it was 3 months later. I’m trying to be better. I also try to keep this blog pretty clean, a “family blog,” if you will. For this post, I can promise the pictures will be PG-13, but I will not promise about the content. Not this time. I must do this event justice.

We began the day in Arroyo Grande, CA with mimosas and waffles, ending the day in Hollywood, CA with sore feet and 4 square feet of pepperoni pizza dripping with red oil. In between, there was good beer, whiskey, vodka-pineapple, salad and more waffles. We paid homage to Yul Brynner and the Metro (photo right) en route to the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater. There were dragons and sport cups, fairies and riding crops, duels, consensual molestations, knights and victorian underwear, body paint, extra bendable people, new friends, musicians and carnies, dancing and flash photography, stilts and steam punk (AMEN!).

I am the costume director of our party. Red Lips decided he would wear something that would not get him arrested and so his costume was tame. At his request, I slit his white, poofy shirt nearly down to his waist; trust me, this is tame. He wore black pants and an authentic Italian Carnival mask with black crushed velvet to cover his neck and shoulders. Dashing! He really is smiling under his mask in every picture, you just can’t tell. (Picture left, from left to right: Morgan and San Fran, Red Lips is behind them).

Morgan revived the costume from last year. Blacks, bronzes and coppers, this time adding a sumptuous peacock feather collar. I can only take credit for everything that is bust height and down: corset and Victorian-inspired skirts. Morgan made the mask and collar, and looks more irresistible every year!

San Fran was Jareth, the Goblin King, from the movie. The only thing that didn’t work out was the wig (not pictured; it was that bad). It was the hair of a red neck in a Camaro. We did end up being in kinda a rush, I feel I could have done better, however, San Fran looks fantastic! I’m responsible for everything but the riding crop, her pendant, which was made by Eyefeather, and the sport cup that made her package. She was very polite and asked people before she molested them with riding crop. She might even have pressed her sport cup against a few.

Then there’s me. I mimicked this year’s poster girl. I made horns out of Sculpey bake-able clay, drilled holes and put them on a wire crown. I hid the wires under my hair. I made a wire mask again. I think it looks pretty rough, but got lots of compliments. We’re going to have to pop my head again as it swells. I was very lucky to find the right color dress at Goodwill and alter it so you could see, yes, I do have some cleavage, kinda. Morgan painted designs on my front and back in gold body paint.

All kinds of hilarity and fun. I smiled too much, looked like an idiot having too much fun. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a very long time.

I had the pleasure of donating three necklaces to a fundraiser for EOC (Ecomonic Opportunity Commission) of San Luis Obispo county called the Afternoon of Epicurean Delights. It was held on 7 June at the famous Chapman House in Shell Beach. My friends volunteering at the event reported to me that of all the silent auction items mine were the most bid on. Wow, my head has swelled to quite a size with all this flattery. Can somebody help me pop this? It’s just not safe; I might knock something over.

Perhaps you are wondering how I’m able to donate items while I’m still paying off my student loan. Well, thanks for being concerned. I’m almost done paying it off. Horray! Which means there will be more opportunity for me to donate items in the future at other events. I’ll try to post that news in a more timely manner.

I scanned this flyer for the event out of a local paper called New Times. Click on it for a larger view. Also below is a small photo of my donations at the event. It is tiny and not the greatest lighting for photos, but hey, you get the idea.

I was really happy to be a part of this event. With all the hardship the downturn in the economy causes, EOC of San Luis Obispo county is an important organization to support because it helps us support and inspire our youth, among other things. Too bad they have had to shut down many of their programs and furlough all employees working on those programs for an undetermined amount of time because money couldn’t be found in the California budget. Sad times.

If you are reading this post (I can’t tell if anyone reads this blog, because I never get any comments) you might remark on the amount of time between the event and this post. Yeah, sorry. I’ve been busy. What with going to the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland, 4th of July holiday and the preparations for the Labyrinth Masquerade, I just haven’t had a lot of time. I now have to add a new hobby to my long list: I’m now a home-brewer because at the conference I won a drawing for a beer sculpture, which is not really art, just a steel frame with burners and pumps. It is a lot of sexy metal though. Don’t worry, I won’t drink and make jewelry at the same time; I will not compromise the quality of my pieces.

I have just completed a course in jewelry fabrication techniques at Cuesta College called Jewelry I with Linda Lewis and her competent assistant Lee or Leigh or Li. Click on her name and go to her website, which is just as nice as mine. At first her jewelry wasn’t my cup of tea, but after taking this class I have a real appreciation for her work and I like it very much.

What did I learn? Well, how to solder successfully in several different steps for one and finishing (pickling, rinsing, filing, sanding, polishing) for another. We made a pair of earrings which required soldering joints in two separate steps and texturing with forging and ball peen hammers. Mine turned out to be a little abstract because I wanted to experiment with different shapes. We made a pendant with a bezeled stone and bail soldered on. The stone in the pendant rattles a little, it’s not quite symmetrical and I could have done a better job polishing around the bezel. On the double shank ring with bezeled stone it is really not symmetrical (I think the bezel moved on me a little while I was soldering it and there is a gap between the bezel and base plate. Jewelry I takes four days to get through three projects, but we were so speedy we had time for a fourth, a sterling silver bead. The designs you see on the pendant and ring are made with stamps, much like stamping on leather if you ever did that at summer camp. I tried to do some texturing on the bead, but it all got pounded out while trying to make the disk round. You can still kinda see the ghost of the design. As I’ve described, these pieces are still a little rough around the edges, but I’m still pleased with the result. I’m learning from those little flaws. Click on the photo for a more detailed shot.

So now I’m gobbling up all the art jewelry books at my public library. One of my new favorites is the Penland Book of Jewelry (scroll down) published in 2005 (though Linda says there are some earlier iterations). One word: INCREDIBLE. This class and all these new ideas have opened another door for me in jewelry, the brave new world I mentioned earlier. I don’t imagine I’ll ever reach the prestige that Linda and the Penlanders have, but the creation process is so rewarding for me. Check out what I’ve made just in time for Mother’s Day.

I’ve gotten so many books at the library about soldering before, so I had all the concept down. I just needed a guide and some practical, hands on knowledge to actually do it right. Oh, and the right equipment (a torch, solder paste and a block just were not cutting it– or joining it, rather). I’m a little overwhelmed by the amount of equipment needed to complete our projects. Some of it is inexpensive and there are some ways you can cut costs, but it all adds up. If I do decide to go full tilt into fabrication, I’ll have to clear some space in the garage and negotiate space with Morgan. I foresee large credit card bills.

And too conclude, I’m addicted to all this learning stuff and will have to take the Casting and Jewelry II (forging) classes when I can.

Behold, my client Katherine. Isn’t she lovely and stylish? And how about that beautiful necklace she is wearing! Yes, it’s one of my favorites, too! Click on the image below to visit the item page on MaggieMakesIt.com. When you’re finished examining the item, click on the More Pictures button and you will find Katerine again! Many thanks to Katherine for letting me use her photo. If you want to see yourself on MaggieMakesIt.com, send Maggie an email to info<at>maggiemakesit.com with the subject “I’m wearing your jewelry!” and attach the best quality photo (maximum 10MB) you have wearing her jewelry. You will receive a promotion code for 15% off your next order. 

I recently got a comment from a co-worker that it didn’t seem like I was doing much work on my website. Doug was just concerned that I was using my time off effectively. MaggieMakesIt is all I do, all day long. Well, I am cleaning my room a little as well. But look, I’m doing stuff, Doug!

Website improvements: I just reworked some categories at the bottom right of my homepage. I thought the categories were too large and the pieces reflected in them were out of date. They are now one page. Nice and simple and current. I still have trouble pinning Morgan down to do new things to the website. Darn people with full time jobs.

New products: I’ve been making a bunch of hemp jewelry (go to my search page and type “hemp” in the box). While visiting Czech Republic in 2009, I hope to pick up the famed garnet and crystal of the region. This means new and limited quantity pieces. They exchange rate is quite favorable. As we are going during the off-season, there will be no one to compete with me. Muahahahahha! 

Promotions: My promotional email experiment has met with success! I must say, I’m very pleased with the website overall. This has been MaggieMakeIt’s best year!

With that, thanks everybody who reads my blog. Thank you to all my clients. I hope this year has been good for you despite all the bad news! I might not be writing again for awhile, so see you in the new year!

Yes, I told you there might be more ways to save at MaggieMakesIt.com this holiday season. I offered a similar promotion last year and was amazed that so few took advantage of it. Solution to this problem? Advertising emails to my past customers, with an option not to receive emails in the future. I don’t want to be very annoying.

So, the deal: save 20% on your entire order when you spend at least 25 bucks. Again, this pretty much pays for shipping, unless you order more. The promotion code is HOLIDAY20 and should be entered when you are checking out. One per customer, please. This offer ends December 19. This is one day before the US Postal Service Deadline for domestic mail to arrive in time for December 25. That is the same day I leave to spend the holidays with my family in the lovely San Francisco Bay Area.

Don’t be shy! Go ahead and buy!