Rita

Chase the Muse has already asked for another shipment of earrings in the next few weeks. Yay! Specifically, one set of earrings requested was the faceted rutilated quartz, onyx, and gold-filled earrings above. They are part of the Lotus set.

We're hunkering down for Hurricane Rita - the gas stations and grocery stores are like mad houses. Texas is pleading for some other states to do their share of helping the Katrina evacuees - we have something like 250,000 evacuees in Texas now. Houston is trying to accomodate evacuees from Katrina and prepare for possible flooding at the same time.

In other news, school is definitely picking up pace - I really feel kind of swamped, but I guess that's what grad school is all about. We had mock interviews today, done in class by classmates. Pretty scary - I'm shy, and that kind of thing is hard for me. It went off well enough, but still.... scary.

Karate

I think I've decided which club to go with. Although they say they spar full-contact, the instructors and students seem pretty nice and not as if they would enjoy hurting anyone. Also, we've sparred once, and it was limited contact, and everyone followed the rule - it's sometimes hard to switch from full-contact to limited, especially if you do full- most of the time, so this is a good sign.

I'm thinking about offering to teach some self-defense combinations, etc. I'd like to be involved, but I don't have the time to teach alone.

On another note, my jewelry will soon be appearing in an art gallery in North Carolina, Chase the Muse.

I also have an interview this afternoon for my dream internship. I hope it goes well - they're pretty selective, so I'll be ecstatic if I actually get it.

Frustrating

I've been frustrated with the response of jewelry stores and galleries when I present my jewelry, hoping they'll want to carry it. There seem to be two responses:

1) "Oh, that's WAYYY nicer than anything we carry. If it's over $10 or $15 dollars, it's too much for our customers." or
2) "Is it gold and diamonds? We don't carry anything but gold and diamonds." (insert condescending tone of voice here)

Unfortunately, I'm not going to work with sterling silver and gemstones and spend hours on a piece just to sell it for $15 dollars - I can find easier ways of losing money. I like working with silver. It's inexpensive enough that I can make a few mistakes without bankrupting myself. It's popular - if you haven't noticed, everyone under 30 and a large percentage of those over 30 are wearing silver quite a bit more often than they're wearing gold. It's pretty, it looks good with the techniques I'm using, it looks good with the stones.

If I used gold in the type of jewelry I'm making, a bracelet like the first picture I posted Tuesday would be thousands of dollars. Instead, because I used silver, it's only $295. Considering the amount of work that went into it, and the quality of the materials used, that's quite reasonable. I don't want to make my art inaccessible. I want real people to be able to enjoy what I do.

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