Slow and Steady

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." ~ Confucius

     Typing that gave me the sudden craving for Chinese food. Hrm. Oh well. Anyway, I've been feeling rather sluggish lately, hence the lack of posts. I sleep far more than I should and still feel tired. Guess I need to start eating more often and get my metabolism to wake up and get going. Still, I've been pushing myself to work every day, mostly in the middle of the night when everyone else is sleeping. I currently have 90 pieces of jewelry in stock, and I have several other things in the works, so I should be well stocked for the upcoming art festivals. Today I purchased some necklace displays, though I couldn't really afford to buy more than fifteen of them so I have to make some different displays myself. I already own a t-bar display stand for bracelets, so now I just need to rig a few multi-purpose display stands for the earrings and the remainder of the necklaces. Again, please come out to Solomon Street in Griffin, GA on October 23 and help support the artists and crafters of Hatch Market. As part of Doctober Days, there will be plenty of vendors and entertainment in Griffin that weekend, so there's bound to be something for everyone to enjoy.

     Ok, so here's my disappointing story of the week. I brought back a wristlet of orchids from Hawaii, intending to dry them, crush them, and mix them with translucent clay to create beads that would not only hold the color of the orchids but would also have an interesting texture. So, I put my orchids in a tupperware container when I got back from Hawaii and poured in some silica gel crystals to absorb the moisture. Now, I got this advice from several columns on the internet, but apparently I didn't add enough silica gel. The internet said to leave the flowers in the container for a week or so, and so I did. Yesterday I finally opened the container to find a gooey, stinking mess of decaying flowers covered in stringy white mold. Yay me. And I'm allergic to mold. Extra yay for that. So I quickly shut the container and ran. Now I have the tupperware of death sitting on my desk. Guess I'll have to deal with that... Maybe I'll just toss the whole thing out. I don't really feel like bleaching out some plastic container so it won't make my skin get all red and puffy. But anyway, I'm disappointed. I was looking forward to experimenting with those pretty orchids. So, no orchid beads will be appearing in my work any time in the near future. Sadness.

     Anyway, running low on beads and clay, but I'm trying desperately not to spend anymore money on this business until I actually make some money back. If I sell half of the jewelry I have in stock right now, I'll almost have enough money to cover my expenses. It's a little disheartening. I really really need to get art prints made. I get the feeling that's where I'd make the most money, aside from commissioned portraits at least. Still, I could be entirely wrong about that, and with my parents constantly and not-so-subtly hinting that I'm going to crash and burn if I try to make a living off my little art business, I'm starting to get rather negative and upset with the whole thing. I've been keeping an eye out for a side job ever since I graduated from college, but it's difficult to find jobs in a field I'm qualified for, especially jobs in the area where I live. As I've said before, rural Georgia doesn't have many opportunities for people with art degrees. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to do the best I can and see what happens with these two craft festivals coming up. Still keeping an eye out for more fairs that don't cost an arm and a leg to get into, so if anyone knows of any upcoming events where vendors are needed, please let me know at anorelarts@gmail.com.