Salon de Maria Blog

With summer in full swing, my jewelry has been selling like hot cakes.  After looking at my inventory the other day I realized that I need to get busy with the jewelry making!

Today I take some time out to think about how far I've come since starting out my venture as an artist and jewelry maker.  It wasn't too long ago that I was sitting in front of the TV late at night making jewelry with cheap-o beads I bought at Joanne's or Michael's.  Those were the days when I was making jewelry for fun.  I never imagined that it would go this far. 

And who knows what the future holds! 

I'm thinking of adding a new service...Recently I've been doing quite a bit of jewelry fixing for clients and I'm contemplating if I should become "The Jewelry Doctor" as well.  People could mail in their jewelry to be fixed or remade into another jewelry piece.  I'll have to see if there's a need for this.  Would anybody out there be interested in a service like this?

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A hectic but joyful life I lead.  Between the holiday, moving, and simply taking some time off I've also been doing quite a bit of reading and discovering ways to become a better person and a better artist. The picture of this gorilla contemplating life is the perfect visual of how I've been feeling lately.   I went to the San Diego Zoo last Friday and became one with nature....

So lately I've been the "thinking artist" versus the performing, or doing, artist.  I'm taking a journey within to find inspiration and my true genius. 

I have however, made a few pieces of jewelry.  I've noticed that my designs are becoming more detailed and taking off in another direction.  It'll be interesting to see where it goes... Stay tuned for pictures!

Oh, and by the way.... I've opened up a store at Etsy.  It only has a few items right now, but will be adding more soon!

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I've always thought of fashion as a form of art.  Even as I create my own jewelry, I'm formulating compositions in my mind like Monet would have done back in the day.  So when I happened upon this book, The New Jewelry, I was very much inspired by all the pieces featured.  For jewelry makers, this is a great how-to book full of photos with step-by-step instructions on creating innovative and distinctive jewelry.  From ceramic, to resin and paper there are so many materials to enchant the jewelry designer and this book can help you discover new avenues in jewelry making. 

In the introduction of the book Carles Codina i Armengol, the author, says this:

"I am more interested in the processes that are based on certain concepts and values that often are more akin to contemporary art than to the requirements of the marketplace.  Thus, I believe that making creative objects should involve a certain amount of reflection and a close personal relationship with the materials, and that it should also involve a slow, precise method of workingtha twill produce a consumer item that is more durable, more stylized, and much more personal."

This book has my creative juices flowing! 

For more inspiration, you may also want to check out "500 Bracelets"

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