Inspiration: etsy.

Lately I have been toying with the idea of giving up jewelry making and crafting altogether. I felt that it took a lot of time away from writing, and I felt the pressure to make sales and keep up with the business end of things. As soon as I put my supplies and tools aside, and got rid of any kind of pressure I was putting on myself to grow my business, I felt a creative itch. Ideas emerged from the darkest corners of my mind, like flashes of lighting in a dark cabin during a rainstorm.


I've made three pairs of earrings and a new necklace so far, and this new period of inspiration shows no signs of stopping. Very soon my little shop will be populated with new delights. In the meantime, I want to feature some cool etsy sellers: each of these pictures represent some element in my new designs. Enjoy the little sneak peak, darlings! Hopefully this little appetizer of inspiration will leave you hungry for the main course.

guilty pleasures

I picked up a few shark vertebrae when I was in Boston. But you can also get some at an awesome etsy shop called gultypleasures (see link above). I'm fascinated by sharks; their murderous grace has been a recent obsession of mine. Thus, I made a pair of earrings out of shark vertebrae and some lovely pink vintage pendants that resemble fins. I can't wait to show them to you!

anatomyofaskirt

This item is made by one of my absolutely favorite etsy sellers, anatomyofaskirt (see link above). This seller makes all different kinds of robot pouches, all of them strange and utterly delightful. This particular pouch is my absolute favorite! I am obsessed with the idea of (almost) invisibility. What does it mean to see "through"? If I am seeing through glass, I see the glass and that which lies behind it. But if I wanted to only see the glass, and not whatever lies behind it, how would I achieve such a feat? The glass resists my gaze, or rather, it completely submits to my gaze, so much so that it defies it. A necklace with these thoughts crystallized into it is to come.

covetandcrave

This shop, called covetandcrave (link above) sells a number of delightfully old objects, the kind that prompt transcendent time travel. This ashtray in particular appeals to me, not only because of the connotations that ashes have with death and time, but also due to its tarnish. I adore silver: depending on the state of its surface, it can look glorious or dirty. This duality interests me greatly. A pair of earrings I made involve very tarnished metallic silver tone beads together with very shiny and ornate golden ones. Whether you like them or not remains to be seen.

(The first image in this post is a painting by Rene Magritte, called "The Lost Jockey".)

In my next life.

"My attention was drawn to a simple old morning coat. It was made of some remarkable material I had never seen before--a kind of sand-colored, greenish, grayish stuff, which seemed faded and covered with spots and dust mixed with ashes. I had the feeling that a man dressed in that coat would look like a ghost. An almost imperceptible squeamishness but at the same time a slightly terrifying sense of fatefulness stirred in me..."

-Constantin Stanislavski