Merry Christmas...and Happy new year! Hoping you all are having a lovely christmas season....have been, in less words than more, BLURRY.

THis christmas was the first for Rag and Stone, and lemme tell ya....LOTS of things have been happening. I have sold a lot more jewelry than I had expected, added gift certificates to my store that ended up a huge success, made custom work and my first men's wedding band, and the biggie: I have RETAIL SPACE DOWNTOWN! THis happened just a few days before christmas, a lovely woman named Leslie has given me a fabulous space in her shop to showcase some of my work! I will post more on that later, but in a nutshell, She is an absolute blessing (and her impromptu-carpenter husband who made the most AWESOME custom jewelry case) !

Here's some pics of the wedding band, which, I will admit, I struggled with. I had to make that sucker twice! That's also a whole 'nother post. But the gal who commissioned it is just a DOLL...and I think this is just what she wanted for her man.

So much more going on also, we are moving on top of all this, so i am lucky to know where my own underwear is at this point! Last week I probably couldn't have even told you my middle name. Blurry i guess is the best word to describe the past week. I will get pictures of downtown space for you, because it is just gorgeous....and Leslie too, because this woman kicks ass.

Lightning Flash

So this little baby has been a real challenge, in so many ways......from the construction, to the decision to actually list it on etsy to sell....

This piece is so very special to me. As I have mentioned earlier, my life lately has been a bit crazy. I work a fairly full time gig, and on the side squeeze in my true love, Jewelry. From the get go, I have been a fairly "searchy" kind of person....and what I mean by that is this: Searching for what you want, how you want it, who you want it with, and what makes you FULFILLED. I have been to numerous colleges in the past 6 years, all enrolled in something different, always thinking that somehow school was going to show me who I was....I have, just the past two years, recently FOUND what makes me tick, what I could enjoy doing for more than, say, a few months....there was a point in my life where I moved towns or apartments, or countries, every 3 months....it took everything I had to stay in one place, mostly because I think I was desperately searching for FULFILLMENT. I really believe this craft, the world of metal, is a great place for me right now....I just don't have an amazing amount of time to DO metalwork. You can imagine how frustrating FINALLY finding a medium as an artist that is both fulfilling, challenging, and FUN, and simply just wanting to stay at your bench and do what you love, BUT can't because of a fairly involved "real" job. It, I think, is a battle most artists have on a daily basis...(unless of course you are a trustfund baby and don't need to worry about, say, paying the electric bill on time).

LIGHTNING FLASH is to me a beam of light, a talisman for change. I believe, in a flash of light, your life can be different. You can change it yourself (by moving five thousand times, or changing a career, or even just getting a great haircut) or you can be part of a cosmic change....you can embrace change, have patience that change with time comes eventually, and have faith that your creative path is your TRUE path. Labradorite is an amazing stone, all of it's qualities help an artist to find balance, find a creative path, focus goals, focus energy, and creatively find success....THIS IS WHAT I NEED....what I think all artists need. A stone of light to show the way.