Month: December 2014

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Farewell 2014

I’ve been trying to work out if 2014 has been a good year or a not-so-good year, and I think it has actually been a bit of both.

Some really good things have happened:

  • Some of my recycled glass jewellery was exhibited in Kirra Galleries “Flame On” exhibition
  • I had jewellery selected as finalists in MAGE Contemporary Glass Jewellery Award (both pieces sold)
  • Featured in The Advertiser “Four of the Best” section twice
  • Feature article in Creative Beading Magazine
  • 2nd Prize in South East Art Society “Remembrance” exhibition (necklace sold)
  • Flinders Street Market in Adelaide – first market in Adelaide for 2 years

And some not-so-good things too.  But these things are all related to my own expectations!  Now that I think about them, they are not so terrible, it’s just that they fell way below what I had hoped for!  I did 2 SALA exhibitions, and neither of them sold very well.  But the upside was that I had lots of jewellery made for the rest of the year.  I generally try to see the positive in a negative situation, but at the time, these exhibitions left me reeling!  Now, a few months later, I can see so many lessons learned, and I am grateful for the experience, even if it didn’t feel so good at the time.  Soon, I’ll start planning my 2015 SALA exhibition!

I’m looking forward to 2015.  Here are some of the things I am already looking forward to:

  • Moving to Murray Bridge.  We have loved our time in Mount Gambier, but I am looking forward to being closer to Adelaide again (without being too close).
  • I will be Artist of the Month at Murray Bridge Regional Art Gallery during January and February
  • I will be having an exhibition with 3 other glass artists at Gallery M in February (more details on that next year)
  • I will be sharing some glass bead and jewellery related projects on the blog.    This will start in February.

Thank you for all the support you have given me this year.  Whether it be just a comment on a social media thing, or that you bought a piece of my work, it all means a lot to me, and I’m so thankful that I get to do all of this.

See you next year!

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New Beads, New Jewellery, New Year!

NewDripBeads

I am making some new beads and jewellery!  I am Artist of the Month at the Murray Bridge Regional Art Gallery in January and February!  It is quite cool that this coincides with me moving to Murray Bridge.  We didn’t know that at the time we were organising it all.  Now it seems like it was meant to be.

I love the new drip beads that I have made using wine bottles.  I made some for another artist who is using them for a very different type of exhibition (1000 Cups of Cranes).  When I made some for her, I got a bit excited about the possibilities for my own jewellery, and couldn’t wait to get back on the torch to make some more.  I think they are shaping up quite nicely.

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Sale Time

I spent the day at T’Arts yesterday, and set up my work up on the Sale Table.  It was exciting to watch people look through the work, and pick items from there.  Mostly people were treating themselves, which was really nice to see.

The items that I have on the Sale Table are a mixture of:

  • exhibition work
  • older work coming out of galleries after I have refreshed their stock (I do this at least annually for most galleries)
  • prototypes/samples of work made during the year

Sale1

Sale2 Sale3

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Merry Christmas!

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Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, however you celebrate it…I hope you have an amazing Christmas Day!  Yes, it’s only one day of the year, but what  nice day it is!  A day for family, and for letting people know how much you care about them, a day for eating lots of yummy food, and drinking lots of yummy sparkling wine!  Stay safe, be merry, and thank you for all the support you have given me this year.

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Recycled Glass Beads

I am working with another artist, making the beads that she needs for her art exhibition.  When she was picking out some beads the other day, she asked “I don’t suppose you could make any of these in pink or red or purple?”

To be honest, those colours are the rarest colours when it comes to recycled glass.  I can get loads of different shades of green and blue, brown and clear are easy too.  But pink, red and purple are tricky.

But, those were colours that she wanted for her project, and she wanted recycled glass, so I had to come up with something.  This is what I came up with:

Wine Bottle Beads, dipped in frit and then dripped!

Wine bottle glass dipped in frit and then dripped!  I have not shown them to Naomi yet, but I really hope she likes them.

I can see a lot of possibilities for my own work with these beads.  So pretty!  I think I might even incorporate them into one of my upcoming exhibitions.  So pleased!

 

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Last Market for 2014

AussieJules Market Display

Yesterday was my last market for 2014!  I have really enjoyed the December markets that I have done this year: Flinders Street Christmas Grand Bazaar, Mount Gambier Library Market, Portland Twilight Market and Penola Road Market in Mount Gambier.

Thank you to all of the market organisers who work SO hard putting on fantastic markets.  Well done.

Thank you to all of the lovely people who stopped by to say hello, and to buy some of my beads and jewellery.

And now I am getting a lot of work ready for the T’Arts Sale Table!  It starts December 27, and runs for 2 weeks.  I’ll have earrings from $10 to $15.  Necklaces from $10 to $50.  And a range of bracelets from $20 to $30.  All items are at least 50% discounted.  They are either items I am not making any more, or exhibition work that is not being continued into galleries.

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Portland Market

AussieJules at Portland Twilight Market!

 

We had a fantastic time at the Portland Twilight market last night.  The weather was perfect, and there were lots of people wandering about.  It was nice to see people were still treating themselves to presents too!

Today we are at the Penola Road Market from 9am until 2pm.  This will be the last market for a while, as we move to Murray Bridge next year!

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Etched Glass Beads

Etched_Jam

I’m just going to quietly say that these necklaces have become:

  1. My favourite style of necklace to make!
  2. A very popular necklace to buy this December!

I made 12 more necklaces yesterday to send to the Jam Factory (Rundle Plaza Store), and when I was finished I actually wanted to keep them all!  I guess I am just going to have to make myself one now.  The etched beads feel so nice, and because the necklace sits a bit lower, they are perfect with all sorts of clothes that I am wearing right now.

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5 things I learned from #GIRLBOSS (the book)

GIRLBOSS

I can’t remember what made me buy this book when I was in a bookshop several months ago, but I am so glad that I did.  I had it on my pile of books to read for quite a while, and after reading a couple of novels, I was ready to read a more real-life book.  Enter #GIRLBOSS.

This book was so inspiring, I found myself telling lots of people about it.  “You have to read this book,” I would tell them.  I learned so much from reading this book!

Five things I learned from #GIRLBOSS (thank you Sophia Amoruso)

  1. I am a firm believer that it is better to think positive thoughts, rather than negative ones.  I believe negative attracts more negative, so I try really hard not to go there.  “You get back what you put out, so you might as well think positively.”
  2. “Take care of the little things – even the little things you hate – and treat them as promises to your own future.  Soon, you’ll see that fortune favours the bold who get shit done.”  I love this! It’s so true.
  3. Sophia talks about constantly tweaking her business.  If something is not working, she doesn’t just continue with that idea, but she changes things, tweaks things, tries to find out what is wrong.  I think this is something that makes a lot of sense, but a lot of us fail to take this on board.  We do our best efforts to get something done, and when it doesn’t work out, we feel like we have failed.  We forget to try something else. “I never assumed that I’d just done my best job the first time around.”
  4. “When your goal is to gain experience, perspective, and knowledge, failure is no longer a possibility.”  I know the times that I have acted on a purely financial basis, my efforts have not always been rewarded financially!  However, when I have done things for the pure desire of trying something new and expanding what I can do, that is when magical things can happen!
  5. “Chaos magic is the idea that a particular set of beliefs serves as an active force in the world.”  Here she talks about sigils and passwords, and it was pure genius.  Of course!  Why not write your best intentions into your password?  It makes so much more sense than using the name of your pet, or the season, or the place you were born, or whatever you are using right now.  I’m off to change all of my passwords

I hope you get a chance to read this book.  It really is inspiring.  So much of what she talks about seems like things we should all know and remember.  It’s worth reminding ourselves of these things at times.

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Moving…

So, on top of all the madness that is this time of the year, we are also moving!

I am looking forward to the move.  We will be living closer to Adelaide, which will be great.  It’s a bit unsettling at the moment, because we while we have looked at lots of houses in Murray Bridge, none of them have been confirmed for us yet, so we are waiting to find out exactly where we are moving to, and still trying to do everything else!

I still have 2 more markets to do, and I’m really looking forward to them.

  • Friday 19/12 from 5.00-8.00pm I’ll be at the Portland Twilight Market
  • Saturday 20/12 from 9.00-2.00pm I’ll be at the Penola Road Market.

That’s about all I have time for right now.