The Winter Farmers' Market season at the lovely River Garden in downtown Brattleboro begins! See you there!

Back to work after a long hiatus!

I am excited to announce that I will be participating in the exhibition, Shades of Purple, at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's Gallery 205 in Concord. The exhibition runs January 14 - March 23, 2011 and will include these sterling silver earrings with amethyst, African glass and freshwater pearls.

Thanks so much to Olivia of OneOfAKindSites for including my "Artifact" necklace in her beautiful Don't Ever Change collection of verdigris copper!

Farmers' Market at the River Garden today! Etsy may be shut down during this time and if so, the links to the right and at the bottom of this page will appear blank.

I'll be at the Winter Farmers' Market at the River Garden today. My Etsy shop may be closed during this time and, if so, the links to the right and at the bottom of this page will appear blank. Check out my photo album from the opening day of Market last week!

OK! After the last couple of whirlwind post-Acadia-road-trip months spent adjusting to huge changes in our family schedule and routine (which have included having my scrumptious grandchildren a lot), during which time I have barely worked in the studio, I'm back!

It's a bright, sunny autumn day, the valve in my acetylene torch is open, the pickle's heating up, with the quench bowl freshly washed and full of clear, clean water, and I've got a sharp new blade in the saw and a new bit in the drill! I'm ready to go!

I had already been a longtime reader of shelter magazines when a friend recently posted photographs of his home on Facebook. I loved having that personal glimpse into his world and thought he had a really brilliant idea. Thus inspired, and having just completed my fall housecleaning to get ready for time spent indoors during the upcoming New England winter, I decided to take a few photos and post them in this Facebook album entitled Home.

Autumn In Brattleboro...

So honored to have had my earrings included in this beautiful collection by Dante Acevedo!

Hey everybody, I'll be out at the Farmers' Market today! My Etsy shop will be closed during this time, so the links to the right and at the bottom of this page will appear blank. Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you at Market!

Yesterday was the autumnal equinox, and tonight is the Harvest Moon! Happy Autumn, everyone!

This has been a truly great weekend - spent mostly with my granddaughter, Arya. Yesterday morning we went and picked apples, then spent the rest of morning at the wonderful Brattleboro Farmers' Market, where we had an awesome vegetarian lunch from Shital, listened to live acoustic music and saw some kids and parents from the Garland School (the nurturing Waldorf preschool Arya attends). Then, after nap time, we went and hung out at the Green Street playground. After that we came home and made pasta with homemade sauce and a big salad for dinner. This morning we went up to the Newfane Flea Market, where we got all sorts of cool stuff, then stopped on the way home and had a picnic lunch on the bank of the West River by the Dummerston Bridge. Life is good!

Gorgeous Copper!

I wasn't going to do the Market tomorrow (I'm leveled after two weeks with the grandkids, after my daughter started school two weeks before they did!), but now I am (Simi, are you reading this?!?), so I'll be working til the wee hours tonight putting some new stuff together. Sometimes it's hard, having a schedule that's opposite everyone else's, but in the end I really love the life! I love the whole mood, the spirit, the camaraderie that exists with other artists and farmers and all the folks who make their living doing shows...setting up in the cool of the morning, working with people all day, breaking down as the crowds disperse...and all the while sharing that special connection that only exists with others who live the same life! See y'all at Market tomorrow!

There is some compensation for having the kids and grandkids away for the weekend...Grandmother is taking off to IKEA in New Haven!

3 A.M. and, large cups of hot, strong, creamy coffee in hand, we're out the door and hitting the road to spend a week on the ocean in Maine at Acadia National Park!

As a metalsmith, my passion is forging and fabricating silver into organic shapes and beautiful textures. I often use gorgeously colored gemstones in my work as well, which take center stage, so to speak, along with the metalwork. Occasionally, however, there are stones which are so spectacular that they stand on their own, calling for nothing more than the simplest and most minimal setting possible. Here are a few such stones, in pieces I made this weekend. The pendant and the two pins are luscious Sierra Madre agate cut by lapidarist John Bajoras of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

1 7/16" x 2 1/8" on 20" Chain

1 1/2" x 2 1/4"

1 1/8" x 2 5/8"

5/8" x 1 3/8"

7/8" x 1"

Getting ready for the Farmers' Market tomorrow.....listed a few new things on Etsy this afternoon.....

Every once in a while in life you come across something extraordinary. The exquisite face planters of Brattleboro potter Shari Zabriskie fall into that category. Not only are they beautiful, but they exude a deeper, spiritual quality that reflects the heart and soul of the maker. Amazing!

I listed lots of new work on Etsy this morning - new designs as well as new textures emerged in the pieces I made last week!  

Well, I think after that last little spurt of winter (it was snowing heavily on my way to Keene and back on Wednesday) that spring is finally here!  And during my three decades of living in the South, the flowers that I most missed were lilacs.  So I am really happy to have one blooming outside my studio window now!

Please come see me at the Farmers' Market tomorrow, May 1st, and at the River Garden for the Meet the Potters show on May 8th if you're in town!

I just received a note that photographer Judy Stalus of Walpole, New Hampshire has included a pair of my moonstone disc earrings in her Whispers collection. Thank you, Judy!  I am very honored!  Please check out Judy's shop on Etsy.

After taking last summer "off" to pursue other jewelry-related interests, I am very excited to have once again joined the Brattleboro Farmers' Market for the 2010 season!  As I have always said, the Farmers' Market truly represents "quintessential Brattleboro" in its top-quality offerings of fine local craft (beautiful pottery, weaving, turned wood, ironwork/blacksmithing, handmade soaps and other items), gourmet prepared food and live music in addition to local produce.  I'll be there this year as a "Daily Vendor," so please check with me from week to week if you need something specific and want to make sure I'll be there!

Well, for the Spell Check event last Saturday night, I misspelled "lacertilian" (I thought it was laecertilian) and my teammate misspelled "concatenate" with two T's instead of one  : (  With two mistakes we were eliminated from the competition and taken backstage and beaten, as our celebrity emcee, National Public Radio's Tom Bodett, threatened we would be.  Just kidding about the second part.  The most mortifying thing was that I took Latin for a hundred years, and lacertilian comes from the Latin word lacerta.  I misspelled a Latin word by mistakenly giving it a Latin spelling with an "ae"! Anyway, we had a lot of fun and the event raised money for the Brattleboro Arts Initiative and the Latchis Theater!

So much to catch up on!

First of all, I had been hoping to post photos of the gem show, but, alas, cameras were not permitted in the show.  The most spectacular wares, in my opinion, were gorgeous African glass and metal beads from Ebrima Kabba and amazing cabochons from John Bajoras of the Sierra Madra Mining Company.

Secondly, I invite all of you who are going to be in the area on Saturday evening to attend Spell Check, the cool spelling bee for grown-ups to benefit the Brattleboro Arts Initiative.  My illustrious team mates will be Jerry Goldberg from the Chamber of Commerce, and Lou Zopf.

Right now I'm working on posters for the CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture) for the Winter Farmers' Market on Saturday, and getting ready for the gem show tomorrow in Springfield, MA.  Yay!

Happy Vernal Equinox!

I came home from my walk this morning to find a bag of my friend Roz Buckley's lovely, fragrant goat milk soaps and a note saying, "Happy Spring"!  Roz sells her heavenly soaps at the Brattleboro Farmers' Market, so go see her and treat yourself to a few bars if you're in the area!