Starting Thursday (Thanksgiving) and ending on Monday at midnight, get 20% off of everything at Stuckerella Jewelry on Etsy (with coupon code HAIKU at checkout). AND, this year because I am feeling spunky, every purchase comes with its own haiku, free of charge.
Look for dangly earrings, necklaces and more over the next few days.
Here’s a bonus haiku, just ’cause I like you:
Vegetarians.
Don’t feed me no tofurkey!
Instead, yum! Green beans.
Affectionately,
Stuckerella
Goodbye, MiniHouse…
Well, well, well! We meet again,readers. About time, isn’t it?
I took a bit of a hiatus from posting to work my way through some life changes, the least of which is ceasing my nomadic wandering ways and settling down to go to graduate school. (That sentence should tell you something about my version of a nomadic life if grad school = settling down…). As sad as I am to be leaving the trailored life behind, sleeping in a real bed is crazy thrilling.
Now that I am all moved in to an actual apartment, complete with a comfortable desk and work space, my creativity is starting to flow again. I’ve been told that crafting and creative activity is a godsend for preserving mental stability during times of intense intellectual study, so getting my supplies in order and lining up some fancy new projects is a priority before classes start. Having a number of options that are easy to pick up and work on when I have time between freaking out about writing papers and savagely mauling carrots while searching frantically for how to cite a tweet in MLA format seems like wisdom. (I learned to switch to carrots while writing after making myself sick on Twizzlers as a freshman.)
Another perk of being settled is the freedom to cook crazy things. (I’m all about quinoa, people. QUINOA.) I’m trying vegetarianism now, which means there are all kinds of new combinations to explore… and accidentally destroy! Being a vegetarian allows for a lot of creativity, especially if you’ve gotten used to the whole organize-meals-around-meat way of approaching sustenance.
So, in the future, expect sporadic posts about my cooking misadventures, Etsy updates, and general project progress.
Masters of Arts is English Literature….HERE I COME.
Oh, and by “vegetarian”, I definitely meant someone who eats chicken fajita burritos from Pepe’s time to time.
These colorful leather earrings are available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BooandBooFactory.
When I was a young adult in the early 90’s somewhere, I had a pair of earrings that were wide, bright blue, cartoon-like, zig-zaggy arrows. I liked to wear them with one pointing up and one pointing down. Their biggest drawback turned out to be their effectively pointy arrow tips. I can still remember the sudden stab when I would forget to be careful and cock my head the wrong way. Eesh. But hey. I felt good wearing them. Isn’t that the point? (Pun intended…) I usually prefer my jewelry to be rounded and romantic, but I’m developing an interest in more geometric styles lately.
I really love the drama of either a short hairstyle or high bun combined with chevron earrings or a necklace with a simple shape on a chain.
Geometric jewelry encompasses all manner of pieces, from the colorful and bold statement necklace to more subtle and muted designs. It is a great trend with a lot of wiggle room for going bold and crazy or for just trying something new without shocking the neighbors. I took the liberty of creating a collage at Polyvore.com.
So what do you think? Would you give geometric jewelry a second look or do you already wear it? Leave me a link in your comments to your favorite piece or site that showcases what you like.
*For the curious among us, let me explain that Euclid is (by some) considered the “Father” of Modern Geometry. I have been advised by certain Phds in the Mathematical Arts that Euclid would probably have preferred to keep his nose in his books rather than explore fashionable trends in jewelry, but hey. A girl can speculate, can’t she? 🙂
… Stacy Taylor!
I’ll email her shortly with her choices, AND to show my gratitude to everyone who commented, I want to send you all a little Stuckerella thank you.
Email me your mailing addresses at stuckerella@gmail.com so I can mail you a bauble. 🙂
Thanks so much for participating! More giveaways to come…
One of my absolute favorite art forms is called Cloisonné.
Whenever I see a vintage cloisonné pendant at a thrift shop or for sale cheap enough on Ebay, I tend to snatch it up and hoard it protectively. There’s always a necklace design or accompanying beads in my mind, but inevitably, I end up keeping the pendant greedily stashed in my bead box for years so I can take it out and admire it. Sooner or later, though, economic concerns outweigh my hoardy goblin ways and the resulting necklace gets snapped up quickly. It is not hard to see why.
Cloisonné is a perfect example of everything I love about jewelry: it’s vibrant, colorful, detailed and unique. I started a board on Pinterest with examples from Etsy of vintage pendants and pieces that currently working artists have made. You’ll also see a few pictures of pieces that demonstrate the ancient beauty of the cloisonné art form, reaching all the way back to the Byzantine Empire and the Ming Dynasty in China. There is also a picture of some gorgeous Japanese cloisonné vases. (If any pictures on my board are blank, click on them to go to the original source. Some blogs and websites have inserted software that blocks Pinterest in response to terms that have now been changed related to ownership of posted pictures.)
You may have noticed that the word cloisonné is of French origin rather than Chinese, even though the Chinese are the most famous for having perfected cloisonné. (I’m sure there is an East-meets-West story in there somewhere.) The word comes from cloison, which means “cell” or “compartment”. Click on the pictures below to be taken to a page that shows the process behind such beautiful works. You’ll see that wires are soldered to a metal form to create wells into which an enamel paste goes. When the design is created and the colors have all been added, the piece is fired. Refilling and a second firing may be necessary. Then the piece is polished so that the enamel and wires are even. After another firing, gold or silver gets added to the wires. Everything is given a last polish and there you go! Beautiful artwork.
So there you go. Now when you see cloisonné beads, pendants, you’ll know a bit more about the intense process behind their beauty.
By the way, do you use Pinterest for curating collections of your favorite jewelry and/or artwork? Feel free to share the link in the comments below. I would love to take a look. 
Here’s what to do to enter:
In the comments on this post, match a particular accessory item/type of jewelry to a specific author, living or dead, male or female. Include either a picture or a link to one that shows us the style you’re thinking of, and a sentence explaining your choice. Be as creative or as straightforward as you like! (As is always the case on Stuckerella, profane posts will not be approved. This is a family show, folks.)
On Monday March 26, I’ll put your names in a hat and randomly choose somebody to win their choice between three pieces of Stuckerella jewelry! Check Monday’s post for the winner and follow instructions to choose your prize.
Tell your friends and have a good time with it!
*UPDATE: THE GIVEAWAY RECIPIENT WILL NOW BE ANNOUNCED NEXT MONDAY, APRIL 2. YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY IN THE COMMENTS UP UNTIIL THEN. 🙂
Yesterday afternoon, I made my way to the local post office to mail a couple of Stuckerella orders. Wrapping the selected pieces up all nice with ribbon and fancy paper is my favorite part of selling jewelry online. I have this great, jumbled explosion of scrapbook paper, stickers, ribbon and other collected ephemera. So whenever I get an order or have an excuse to send a package of some kind, a light bulb appears over my head and I start thinking about which paper would suit and whether or I not I can justify using the glue gun. (Oh I love me some glue gun, folks.)
As I was waiting oh-so-very-patiently for my turn at our small town post office, I got to thinking about hobbies and spare time. The clerk and a customer she apparently knew pretty well were yakking away about teenage sons or something. Male teenagers aren’t exactly a topic of interest, so I had plenty of time for musing.
Here’s an Emerson quote that popped into my head while I waited:
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I don’t read that as an admonition to fill every moment with doing things that are so-called “worthwhile”, however that standard gets created. I think this is more about practicing a state of mind that means that however your spare time is spent, it is worthwhile to you.
Two things make it hard for me to practice this state of mind in my crafting:
1. Putting artificial focus on the end result rather than the process.
I’ve spent hours and hours in the past preparing for craft fairs, making what I thought people might like, AND…I didn’t sell a thing. It was disappointing, sure, but I can’t control what other people do. It took me a few misfires to understand that the whole experience would be so much better if I just enjoyed an excuse to buy more beads and supplies and hang out with other crafter types. This is a hobby! If I can’t enjoy the process, then what am I doing it for?
2. Comparing myself to others.
Look, no matter how good you can get, there is always going to be somebody better. ALWAYS. That’s a Rule. If I get caught up in comparing my jewelry, knitting or giant pile of scrap paper to others, I’ll sink into a morass of self doubt. ( A MORASS, people!) How useful is that!? Frankly I’d rather save all that kind of thinking for hand-wringing over grad school applications where it belongs!
So how about you? What obstacles do you find to making the most mentally of your spare time? Any other giant piles of scrap goodness out there?
Welcome to my first post!
What preferences we have in jewelry, just like what clothing we choose to wear (or not wear…), are deeply personal and highly subjective. And I’m more than a little curious about my readers, so indulge me, would you?
I used to have certain pieces of jewelry that carried so much sentimental value that I hardly ever took them off. But, sooner or later, the hapless bum that I am, those pieces have all been lost or buried in the boxes of “Katie Paraphernalia” that I cart around. Now I feel more free to try out trends or wear whatever style my busy hands end up assembling. One thing is for certain, though: my neck feels weird without a necklace.
And you?
Stuckerella 