The collection includes some beautiful leaf pendants and earrings, pieces from my coral collection, and of course, a sweet little hand-carved birdhouse.  Each of these pieces are fine silver with shimmering, iridescent patinas that highlight the intricate textures.

Artique is a lovely gallery in south Lexington, KY, with a beautiful collection of items that were handcrafted in America.  I was blown away by how friendly everyone was at the shop.  Please stop by and say “hello” to Mike, Jaime, Lori, Paige and all the other friendly folks at Artique Gallery.  Be sure to tell them Wendy sent you!

Throughout the year, the yard will burst with bits of color.  Right now we’ve got these beauties, some lovely pink azaleas and the deep burgandy foliage of the Joseph’s Coat.  I’m so looking forward to the riot of fuschia blooms that will cover the flowering nectarine tree I can see from my office/studio window.  It’s such fun to watch this progression from little perch.

Amazing!

Granted, the post office is just down the street from my house, but still.  I’m totally impressed that they can sort that mail overnight and get in my mailman’s truck for delivery the next day. Three cheers for the US Postal Service!!

I had been in my job as Director of Marketing for the National Mango Board (NMB) for five years.  It was a job I loved and thrived in.  I think I did some of my very best work ever while working for the NMB.  For most of my tenure there, I was also making art and jewelry in my limited free time.  As my passion for designing jewelry blossomed and I started selling my work, a tension set in between these two parts of my life.  The job required a great deal of travel, and the deadline pressure made for many long days at the office.  My brain was swimming with jewelry ideas that struggled to break through in the short time I could spend in my studio.  The tension grew.

About 18 months ago, I started daydreaming about my personal recipe for happiness.  I took off the filters of reality and asked myself, what would be my ideal career mix, if anything was possible.  I came to understand that I didn’t want to leave the produce industry or the mango industry entirely.  I love that part of my life, and the people I get to work with in produce are amazing.  Ideally, I wanted to make the mango work a smaller slice of my life, to give space for my jewelry business to thrive.

I pitched the idea to my boss of breaking off a portion of my job and doing it part-time as a consultant.  I would still be responsible for managing the NMB’s retail marketing program.  It’s an important part of the job that honestly never got enough of my attention when I was also managing all the other facets of the program.  Although it may sound cliche, I knew this solution would truly be a win-win.  I had to answer a lot of tough questions, but soon a plan was in place that allowed me to leave the full-time job at the end of 2011.

So now my life is a blended creation painted with a watercolor brush.  I work on mango stuff just about every day.  But I also work on my jewelry business every day.  Next week I’m exhibiting as an emerging artist at the American Craft Retailers Expo (ACRE), here in Orlando.  My plan is to focus on wholesale, rather than retail, so this show is truly the launching pad for my success.  I’m in that crazy, manic phase where even if I worked non-stop until the show, I still wouldn’t get everything done.  I’m having to get realistic about what’s most important, what’s a deal-breaker, and what can go on the optional list.  Isn’t that always the way?

Today’s big news is that I am re-branding my jewelry business.  Big World Studio will give way to Studio McManus.  I won’t bore you with the details of the whys and hows.  Suffice to say that after much soul searching and gnashing of teeth, I knew it was the right thing to do.  My lizard brain wanted above all else to take the easy way out and ride the status quo train, but somehow I knew in my gut that change was needed.

The to-do list that results from this name change and re-branding is truly staggering.  However, I’m keeping my head down and tackling one chore at a time, making admirable progress as each scary item is checked off the ever-shrinking list.

Today’s big win is a rough version of the new logo. It’s not totally ready for prime time.  I built it in Photoshop Elements, which just isn’t up to the task of creating a professional logo file.  It is up to the task of helping me work through my vision and creating a version I can hand off to someone who does have the tools and knowledge to get the job done correctly.

If you’d like to follow the process, check back on the blog, or “like” Studio McManus on Facebook.  Here’s the link:  www.facebook.com/pages/Studio-McManus/132761083497174?sk=wall

Baja Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa (photo by Lou Manna)

This week I’ll be in Manhattan for a National Mango Board photo shoot with food photographer Lou Manna.  These shoots are always fun, fast-paced and challenging.  We will get seven shots in a day and a half, which is really a crazy pace.  Fortunately, Lou and his team are amazing, so I know it will work.

Thursday afternoon I’ll hop on a plane and head to Pittsburgh for my Rio PMC Certification class with Terry Kovalcik.  I’ve been trying to take this class for over a year.  They had it scheduled in Orlando last year, but the class was cancelled due to low enrollment.  I’m looking forward to this intense three-day class where I’ll complete seven projects and work in all the different forms of PMC.  I’ve heard raves about Terry as a teacher.

Terry Kovalcik at the 2010 PMC Conference

I have conflicting feelings about taking this certification class.  It’s frustrating that I have to fly to Pittsburgh to get this done, and all of the travel expenses make for an expensive investment in my continuing education.  It will be nice to have the certification under my belt.  It will get me a discount with most of the metal clay suppliers, which is a big plus with the current prices of silver and silver clay.  And, it will be a nice thing to have on my website and resume.  But, it doesn’t really “certify” me for anything in particular.  I decided to go ahead with the class because I can pick up a few techniques that I’ve never tried before, and I can spend three days learning from Terry.  I can fine-tune my existing skills and pick up some new tricks to add to my repertoire.

For these past two years, I have really dedicated myself to learning all I can from as many great teachers as I can.  This certification class is the next step on that journey.  Wish me luck!

Five of us gathered in Pam’s well-equipped home teaching studio for two days of metal clay and enamel immersion.  There should have been six in the class, but poor Julie came down with the creeping crud and was kind enough not to share it with us.  Mimi, Sue, Karen, Linda and I had a fine time cheering each other on, and Pam was in excellent form.

During day one we focused on creating our metal clay pieces.  While much of the material was a review for me, I picked up some great tips and learned how some of my well-worn techniques can be optimized for enamel application.  My main take-away from day one is that the enamel should not be an add-on.  I need to design with the enamel process in mind to ensure my piece is well-suited to the enamel and that the design elements are fully integrated.

Day two was all about enameling.  Pam has a wonderful way of explaining “why”  not just “what” to do, so I felt that I really understood the process at each step of the way.  We had created 3 metal clay pieces on Saturday, and Pam let us know we would probably only have time to enamel 2 of them.  I chose to focus my time and energy on my biggest, most complex piece.  It involved wet-packing enamels in three recessed cells on a domed piece.  We learned how to create gradations of color by building up thin layers of transparent enamels and blending where the colors meet.  Pam’s demo piece involved blending 3 colors.  I, of course, had to complicate things by choosing four colors and making two additional custom blended colors to smooth out the gradation.

My goal was a full champleve finish, meaning the cells would be slightly over-filled and then sanded back to make a completely level surface between the enamel and the metal borders.  I carefully placed the enamel bit by bit, using a tiny paintbrush and a scribe.  Five layers were required to slightly over-fill the cells.

Each layer of enamel was fused for two minutes in a HOT kiln and cooled before moving on to the next layer.

At the end of the day, I was furiously sanding my piece with a diamond-grit sanding pad, but the clock was not my friend.  I left Pam’s neighborhood at 6:30 to catch my 9 p.m. flight back to Orlando.  Let me just say, it was close!  So, my piece is not quite finished, and you can see the dull finish in the photo.  Once I grind down the enamel and work through about 10 grits of sanding materials, I will be ready to do the final cleaning and flash-fire the piece to bring it to its final, glossy brilliance.

I’ve got ideas of how to incorporate enamels into my work already bouncing around in my head.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go order more supplies!

Enamel on Fine Silver Pendant by Pam East

This weekend I get that chance when I travel to Atlanta for a two-day class in Pam’s home teaching studio.  The class is champleve enamel on fine silver. On day one we create a pendant that’s suitable for the enamel technique.  On day two we add the enamel and learn how to create color gradients.  Pam literally wrote the book on enameling on metal clay, so I’m confident that I’ll learn a great deal.  I’m also looking forward to spending time with Pam again.  Bonus!

I promise to take photos and blog about the workshop.  Stay tuned!

This weekend, I’ll be checking out the ACRE (American Craft Retailers Expo) Orlando show.  They have a Las Vegas show that’s been running for years and this is the inaugural show in Orlando.  I considered applying to the show as an emerging artist, but it’s a big investment and I’m not quite ready to make that leap.  Close, but not quite.  I’m happy to have this opportunity to check the show out as a visiting artist, and my jeweler friend, Jenipher Brody has agreed to join me.  I haven’t seen that little pixie in months, so I’m definitely looking forward to the outing.

Are you an artist in the Orlando area?  Check out acreorlando.com for a visiting artist pass.  I’d love to see the show take off.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a strong wholesale show right here in Orlando?

My hubby and I have been super-productive.  We re-built his website.  You should grab your red/blue 3D glasses and take a look at LifeIs3D.com.  His photos are so amazing, and it’s nice to see them proudly displayed on his slick new site.

We emptied out our old rusted metal shed and it will be ripped out this weekend to make room for a new one.  The shed-clearing led to garage-cleaning and closet-pruning, culminating in a garage sale last Saturday.  It’s been quite a ride!

Meanwhile on the jewelry front,  I haven’t touched the clay since before the holidays and my blogs must feel like poor little orphans.  Speaking of the blogs, I’ve been battling hackers who broke into my site and performed all kinds of mischief.  It hurts that I will never get back all the hours I wasted trying to clean up this mess.  Hackers suck.  On the bright side, I have learned and am still learning more about site security and programming than I ever thought I would know.

I know it’s no excuse, but my head starts to pound when I even think about blogging.  I need to replace the memories of my recent experiences with my sites and replace them with happy new memories of regular blogging.  I won’t call it a resolution as I don’t want to jinx myself, but I do want to get back in the blogging saddle.  If you have a minute, leave a comment to let me know you’re reading.  It makes all the difference to know someone is listening!