Estyn Hulbert jewelry is now available at Associated Diamond Brokers in Philadelphia.

Drop by if you’re in the area — the people are friendly and the store has been in business for nearly half a century.

My drive down to Philadelphia for the Buyers Market looked like this:

snow

more snow

I95 with only one other car in view

welcome to blizzardy Pennsylvania

you’re really in trouble now

just 3 more blocks to the hotel. Phew.

A few buyers and artists weren’t able to make it at all, or had to scramble to create displays out of office supplies when their shipments got stuck on the other side of the country. I was very lucky to have everything with me.

We had more snow on the way home, but M drove (thank you!) and we made good time.

I’m glad to be back in the studio filling orders, with the help of my trusty assistants.

There’s a lot of making things like this

and this

going on, in preparation for the next Buyers Market wholesale show next week in Phili.

There are a couple more days of the Bracelet Show at Kathleen Sommers in San Antonio, Texas.

And through the end of December you can see a collection of my work at Langman Gallery in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

I’ve been making armies of earrings and necklaces, including lots of these Daisy necklaces, and shipping them off around the country.

I’m delighted to be showing at two new stores – Diane’s Artisan Gallery in Lawrence, Kansas, and The Collector in Merrick, NY. Go check ‘em out if you live nearby!

The Buyers Market of American Craft is in Phili again this weekend and I’m getting ready. I’ve been making new designs to show, and stocking up on samples. Here’s a glimpse:

I feel positively magpie-ish when I see lots of pieces laid out like this. A good feeling of abundance. Making the new designs has given me more ideas, spiraling out in some kind of fractal pattern of inspiration, too many to chase down. But I want to try.

Circles, still more circles…

Some new pieces and some experiments not yet sorted through to satisfaction. Pieces to have hanging around to play with in case a solution pops into my head.

I’ve never been one of those people who work x-number of hours in the studio every day. I’d like to be but I’m not. With envy I imagine those regular-studio-hours people as having impeccable exercise regimes, and eating healthy meals at the same time each day. Laundry-is-done-on-Saturday type of people.

Not me. I’m more prone to activity binges. All studio for several weeks, followed by 2 days of website updating, followed by a stretch of solid gardening is more my style; it balances out over time.

I’ve been in a phase of house projects, house guests, a trip up to Canada for a family reunion… so it feels like ages since I’ve had concentrated time in the studio.

Before leaving for Canada I reorganized the studio, moved furniture around, tidied up. Now I’m excited to get in there and to make some new pieces. I have a little pile of envelope backs with doodles of earrings and pendants and I need to make them to find out if the designs work.

I’ll let you know.

I just sent out some special order earrings, requested to match this long necklace. I like making jewelry to order; very often the piece ends up being something I make again.

This time I made a longer pair of Square Earrings, without the drops at the bottom.

I like the way they came out. They would look great worn with hair up, the length accentuating the neck.

I’m back from my first wholesale show. The Buyers Market was very quiet this year, not surprisingly, and long-time attendees felt the difference. Since it was my first show I had nothing to compare to, and plenty to take in and learn.

My pal Val flew in from Michigan to help me. Hallelujah! Load in was smooth, and my booth was near the loading dock which made schlepping a lot easier. Plus we had a full 24 hours before the opening of the show so there was time to futz with the display and remember to eat and sleep.

Here I am in the booth with my “I hate to have my picture taken” face on.

I met lots of wonderful artists and buyers and got great responses to my work. People brought their faces right up to the cases, and wanted to touch the jewelry and see how it moves. The most used word after “beautiful” was “different”, which is a HUGE compliment.

I feel encouraged and surprised by how strongly people reacted. Especially to the sculptural pieces, which were the most noticed. How fun for me – this means I get to make more.

M came and helped me pack and load out and drove us safely home with the help of his new GPS toy (which I nicknamed Jimmy). I’m so grateful. I was so tired that I might have ended up in Florida if left to my own devices.

The store at the Museum of Art & Design (formerly the Craft Museum) placed an order, which is what I’m working on now. I’m excited to have my work for sale in New York, and in such a great location.

And for a cherry on top the show organizers used a picture of my necklace on the cover of the show guide:

I’m a cover girl!
Who needs to clean her house. Boy did I leave a mess.