The day after Christmas I read an etsy forum post about Louisiana artist Dawn Habisreitinger. I felt for her two young boys. Knowing she had managed, in some way, to support herself through her art as well as rebuild a home and life after Katrina — well, it’s not even close to the fairy-tale ending anyone, let alone an artist, envisions.

Then a few days ago I saw a Storque article. It served as a glimmer of hope that it’s not all is lost, and that we can do more than wallow under a grey cloud thinking about it: Etsians are tagging items ‘For Dawns Boys‘ so that proceeds from the eventual sale of these items will go to help the boys. Not the same as having their mom back. But let’s hope that letting them know there’s a group of people around the world, some who knew her and many like me who didn’t, are thinking of them will help in some small way.

Search for “Dawns Boys” on Etsy and you’ll see all the items listed.

I started the esty shop in order to experiment and find an outlet allowing me to make ‘art’ on a consistent basis. Let’s reacquaint myself with materials that have been collected but not used for a while, to refine skills, work with new materials and develop new skills, I thought. If the result was good/successful/useful enough and worthy of being seen by others, it would be time to share it. Up onto Etsy it would go!

But then I started hearing things. The successful sellers crew hinted that grouping too many different (and seemingly disjointed) things in one all-encompassing shop was a bad thing. And the endless discussion forums that bringing up so many topics (copyrights and property rights, anyone?), concerns and pet-peeves — oy!

So what’s a girl whose art and creative pursuits spans so many mediums and definitions to do? I’m not partial to the thinking that exploring multiple mediums (say wha?) in one shop (whoa, there) is as much a hindrance (tsk!) as many make it out to be. Am I alone on this? Opening up a shop for every endeavor just doesn’t seem like an option to me!

It snowed last weekend. Not the huge blizzard everyone got all twisted up in a bunch about, but enough to require two good snow-shoveling efforts…

I’m not all that fond of snow, winter, cold or ice not originating from a freezer ice-cube tray. Winter equates to trouble for all things metal (locks on exterior doors) or water-filled (plumbing). So after effectively breaking the tumbler of the basement door in an effort to check the status of the household plumbing, I decided to simply submit to the fact I’d be iced out of my car until it thawed.

Which was good.

It afforded the chance to hone leather working skills as I work on a series of wristlets, clutches and bags, to wrap a few more pendants (of which more efforts have been just listed on etsy), the opportunity to bike into work the last few days (thank goodness it’s under 3 miles round trip) and lastly (but most importantly) made for a pretty nice scene from the “living room” window (note there’s a flatfile in the living room, but no couch).

Anyway, as much as I wish for an ocean view right now, the awesomely blue italianate house next door, stark tree limbs (as if there aren’t enough of those on etsy and my camera already), frost and church across the street did make for a nice view.

L I N K S :
• two new pendant listings

There’s another bead-wrapped mini-print pendant/necklace (my personal favorite) just listed on etsy, in addition, a few cute little pendants containing semi-precious stones have been listed, too…

It’s a marriage of natural and man-made, synthetic and organic, rough and smooth, rectangular and free-form, clear and cloudy, hanging delicatly from silky black or sturdy leather cording.

A few have plans as super-sleek pendants on sterling silver, but that’ll be next week!

To view larger images of the necklaces, click the images above. To view the etsy listing, click on the thumbnail to the left. Easy breezy.

The decision to consolidate has nothing to do with any lack of interest in refashioning things people (myself included) so easily toss away without a second thought. It’s all to do with completing the many projects I’ve started, continue utilizing the wonderful array of materials currently have on hand to upcycle into amazing trashion accessories — and allow for more time to list some of the completed items on etsy!

It also means I should have more time to:

• Figure out how to display large 20 x 30 watercolors for the December 7 First Friday event at International Tea and Coffee shop. It just opened at 630 Virginia Ave., and it’ll be worth while to stop by. Elizabeth Krajeck, a local poet, will be giving a reading, and Danese Kenon, an amazing photojournalist, will be giving us a little of her artistic side.
• Work on more scarves, pendants and pins so they will be available for purchase at Dada by Dec. 7. This one’s quite a task, since I rarely knit, sew or wire these together by pattern. That means each item is unique and done up just a bit differently from the last, and utilizing found objects, vintage (and not-so-vintage!) remnants to spice up the stuff (like fabulous art yarns!) that I couldn’t pass up at the knit shop!
• Recycle some of those noodelab.com cards! Designing and ordering new business cards would be easier, but I can’t bring myself to do it! I’m hoping a little imagination will hep me come up with a fun, simple — and quick! — way to make hang tags, business cards and whatever else I need for aevx5.com!
• And, of course: Put in those 8-hour work days! Yes, that’s in addition to everything else!

It’s an awesome way to give the gift of art without breaking the bank, and I’m more than happy to ship directly to lucky recipients. The holidays and boxing day are going to be here really, really soon, so let’s get to it!