One more show to go this year. I will be at the Takoma Park Open Studio on December 15. I will have some items on sale -- wholesale prices.
I finally got the sheets cut up and made into cabochons. I have about 65 pendants done at this point. The remaining cabs need some work before being made into pendants. That sometimes happens. In any case, here's a picture of the fired cabochons still in my kiln:
I had an absolute blast at the Holiday Mart on Saturday. I was next to a couple of women who made beautiful holiday decorations. I think we managed to giggle through most of the show. I love when that happens.
I changed my display for this show. Since I was having a sale, I thought I should put out more merchandise than I usually do. I carded some of the pendants that I "mass" produce so that it would take less time for me to package them when they were sold. I also pulled out most of the dichroic earrings I had left and put all out. I guess pictures would help:
One more show to go this year. The Takoma Park Open Studio on December 15 at the Takoma Park Community Center. After that, some of the remaining pendants will be going to eBay. I want to change directions again. I have some new (and more interesting) lines planned. I'm bringing back some favorites as well.
I will be at the Howard County Holiday Mart this Saturday. It will be held at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. I will be back in the cafeteria, in space #30. This space is along the wall to the left when you enter the cafeteria. I'm about in the middle of that left wall.
I will have some of my pieces on sale. Look for the red tags or ask me about the bargains. Hope to see you there.
And, here are the same sheets with their clear glass caps. I rotated the pictures to give the same orientation of the glass for comparison. That's why some of the sheets look "upside-down."
Fresh out of the kiln. As you can see, the white-looking frit is now clear although it's still a bit bumpy. Sorry about the blurry pictures. I didn't use a tripod. The glass is in the kiln right now getting it's clear cap of glass.
Look for me at the Howard County Holiday Mart at Centennial High School, December 1, 2007. I will be offering discounts on a lot of items. I'm changing directions again and looking to unload some old stock. I don't do sales or discounts very often because I don't have a really high profit margin. This will be a great opportunity to get some good deals.
I will be at the Takoma Park Open Studio Tour on December 15. I will be in the Takoma Park Community Center. For further information, please see their website:
I haven't posted pictures of my work in progress for a while. Here's some all-dichroic glass ready for the kiln. The white stuff is clear frit. It protects the texture of the dichroic glass while it is being fired. These sheets will be made into pendants that will be available at Centennial High School.
Our next scheduled public show is December 1, 2007. I will be at Centennial High School in Ellicott City. This year, I'm back in the cafeteria in booth #30. Gas prices have taken a big chunk of everyone's money this year. I totally understand. I've made sure that there will be bargains to suit everyone's budget.
I've applied to be part of the Takoma Park Open Studio Tour on December 15. Since I don't live in Takoma Park, I've applied for a space in the Takoma Park Community Center. If things go as planned, I should be there along with my friend Laurie Summers who does some amazing woven pillows.
We will not be at the Mill Creek Parish show this year. They have decided not to hold a show this year. The next scheduled Bizarre Bazaar is November 8, 2008. It's a fun show to do, so I will miss being there this year.
We've had brisk sales at the past couple of shows. I'm going to need to do a lot of glass if I'm going to have enough for the rest of the year. The good news is that there's a bunch of old glass that will be on sale at the Holiday Mart at Centennial High School on December 1. I'm planning to change my display a bit and put all of the sale merchandise on cards.
I've been working on some new techniques and re-introducing some older favorites. I plan to do some higher-end pieces to stretch my artistic wings a bit. I've been in a comfortable rut for a while and I'm hoping to do some more challenging pieces next year.
If I can figure out how to list with the new Sell-Your-Item form on eBay, I should have a few things up on eBay this week. I'll be sure to update this page and put a link to the auctions. I will start them at or below wholesale cost, so it should be a good opportunity for you to get some good deals on gifts (for you or someone else).
We are going to be at the St. Andrew Apostle School 18th Annual Holiday Craft and Gift Show this Saturday, November 3. Normally, I do the Mill Creek Parish show on this weekend and the St. Andrew's show is later in the month.
Mill Creek Parish decided not to do a show this year. Their next scheduled Bizarre Bazaar is November 8, 2008. I guess things change.
Anyway, hope to see you at the show this Saturday. I think I'm in the cafeteria. Look for my trademark hat.
We were at the Takoma Park Folk Festival on September 16. The Festival changed weekends and was a week later than the usual time. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was about ten degrees cooler than the previous weekend. I was so happy for the perfect weather. Normally, we bake a bit on the asphalt.
This year, I did something new. I was part of the Crafts Committee for the Festival. Wow. Was that a lot of work!!! The committee was absolutely wonderful to work with. I have never worked on the promotion end of the show like that though. It gives me a new appreciation for all the hard work that goes into a show.
In any case, we did have a wider variety of art/crafts displayed at the show this year. There were photographers, purse makers, belt makers, and a whole variety of merchandise available. The tie-dye guy (Jeremy Carlson) did some amazing work. I think I spent a good portion of my earnings in his booth. For more about the festival, see their website:
Anyway, here are some (ok a lot) of pictures from the festival this year:
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We were at the Sandy Spring Museum Strawberry Festival this past Saturday. The weather was sunny and warm. We were very grateful that it didn't rain. There were a lot of people that attended the festival. The festival has a petting zoo and other kid-friendly activites, so there were lots of little ones running around.
I apologize for those on dial-up. We took a lot of pictures at the festival:
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Our first retail show of the season is almost upon us. We will be at the Sandy Spring Museum Strawberry Festival this Saturday, June 2, 2007. Some of our discontinued lines will be on sale for ridiculously low prices. Just look for the red markdown prices. Hope to see you there.
The next show will be the Takoma Park Folk Festival in September.
Yea!!! At last, an update from us. Our website was moved by our provider (his.com) to a newer computer and I couldn't figure out the new security protocols to update the site. Fortunately, Chester has the patience to figure it out and get me back on top of things.
Our backyard is finally contoured to our liking and the patio is nearly done. We seeded the weed patch where our lawn is supposed to grow. It's amazing to see. We watered and watered and watered for more than a week without even a sprout. Then, overnight, we had one inch of fine green lawn. I'm sure our neighbors will appreciate our lawn. We've been seeding the neighbors with different varieties of weeds for about a year.
Finally got a garden in again. We decided to start off with a salsa garden. Chester and I both love salsa and can't believe how expensive it is in the stores. It's pretty easy to make, so I'm hoping to can some for the winter.
Show Season is creeping up on us. We will not be vendors at Wine in the Woods this year. We are planning to return next year. The first show this year will be the Sandy Spring Museum Strawberry Festival.
We're planning to do most of the shows we've done in the past few years. I'm doing more one-of-a-kind pieces this year than in previous years. I will be doing some of my previous lines, but others have been discontinued.
I don't know where all the time goes. I didn't think it had been so long since I'd updated this page. I have auctions on eBay. There's actually one running right now. Two more will be posted tonight. Up for grabs and starting at $0.99 are:
As always, all sales are currently being done on eBay. There is nothing for sale on my website at this time.
To look at the auctions and to bid on them, click on the eBay button below:
Happy New Year everyone. I realize that I'm a little late, but I'm not really known for being punctual about these things.
I forget that a lot of people still have dial-up service. I was reminded of this this New Year's Day when I was trying to show off my website on dial-up and realized just how long it took to load that many pictures. I'll remember to put fewer pictures on a page from now on.
It seems that a lot of spam is going around that looks like it's coming from us. We're getting a lot of bounce-backs from hosts rejecting our "spam." I assure all my customers who may have received spam from "us" -- it didn't come from us.
Another artist, Carole Donnellon, has used one of my dichroic pendants to make a necklace. It's available for sale on her site and is called Gold Dichroic Necklace:
We started our company in 1996. At the end of 2006, I've been looking at the past work I've done and thought you might be amused by some of it. I never once dreamed I would be a full-time jewelry designer when I grew up. I tried very hard to fulfil my parent's dream and be an MD, Ph.D, J.D. all while being an Olympic Champion. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. It took me a long time to find my path. Here's some of the things I've done that have lead me here.
Please enjoy my trip down memory lane. There's new things in the future for me and from me.
I started out doing tiny little weavings while I was still working as an engineer. I've always been fascinated by weaving and I did pieces small enough to carry to meetings. I made them into little pins (well, not so little) and eventually started selling them off of me. Here's a few pictures of them:
When I started the business, I didn't have enough funds to work with real artist materials. I started with paper then rolled the profits over to buy beads then rolled the profits over... etc. Here's some of the early paper pins made from dyed/painted matboard:
Somewhere along the way, I also did some painted wood pins:
Next, came fabric pins. The first one shows a hand-painted/dyed muslin piece with seed beads. The second one is ultrasuade with additional fabric and beads. The third one is bits of fabric and threads captured between plastic and sewn into a different fabric. This is then applied to regular fabric and made into a pin:
Somewhere in all this, I did some cross-stitch pieces. This is the only one I kept. To think I actually wore this.
In any case, this gave me enough money to buy beads and copper wire and make these hideous things:
To think, someone ripped THAT idea off and made clones. SNORT!!! Well, back to seed beads I went doing both necklaces and pins:
I then took on collages since I was doing wall-hangings. I thought I'd make smaller versions to wear:
Then, I gave polymer a try along with some dichro I traded for. Some of you good polymer artists will probably spew a beverage all over your screen:
My favorite of all the things I've done is "splicky." It's a specially designed polymer (designed by me, of course) to which I added layer upon layer of transparent pigments. They are super cool in person. Unfortunately, they take more than a year from start to finish. I didn't make them for long.
Oasis. Blacksmith work done by Chester. Splicky done by Katherine. Bunnies purchased.
These are the bowls -- front and back:
Thanks for following along with me. See you next year with some new directions.
I am trying to get my act together and get the website up-to-date. If you see something you like on my site, I'll be happy to make a Buy-It-Now listing on eBay just for you.
One of my clients gave me the idea to make a dichroic bracelet that didn't have a clasp. After several tries, I decided to do a memory wire bracelet that utilized my previous design -- bold dichroic glass. The glass is a little bit wider than the other style of bracelet because it has a double set of holes running through it. Anyway, here's two examples of my new style.
The individual beads are hard to see from the picture. There are ten dichroic beads on each bracelet.
The ends are open like any memory bracelet would be. Here's a couple of pictures to illustrate that if you're not familiar with memory wire.
This Saturday, December 2, we will be at Booth #66 in the gymnasium at the 2006 Holiday Mart -- Juried Craft Show at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Admission is $4 per person at the door. Children ages 3-12 pay $1. This show is spnosored by Howard County Recreations & Parks. For further information, call (410) 313-7275 (TTY 313-4665).
We have discount coupons for some of our merchandise. This includes 30% off all wire-wrapped pendants, free pair of dichroic-dot earrings with all sales over $75 (while supplies last). This offer is only good if you have the discount coupon with you at the show.
If you are interested in receiving a coupon for our merchandise at this show, please send us an email at mailus@gingrichsart.com. Please put SHOW COUPON in the title. The body of the email can be empty.
The next show for us is the 2006 Holiday Mart -- Juried Craft Show at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Admission is $4 per person at the door. Children ages 3-12 pay $1. This show is spnosored by Howard County Recreations & Parks. For further information, call (410) 313-7275 (TTY 313-4665).
We've received notification that our booth has been moved from it's usual location in the cafeteria. We will be at Booth #66 in the gymnasium. The booth will look similar to the pictures below. Look for my hat.
For this show, we are offering discount coupons for some of our merchandise. If you are interested in receiving a coupon for this show, please send us an email at mailus@gingrichsart.com. Please put SHOW COUPON in the title.
Yesterday, we did the St. Andrew Apostle School 17th Annual Holiday Craft and Gift Show. It's a wonderful show -- well promoted and well attended. It always takes some adjustment though on our part. We do so many outdoor shows in our 10' x 10' tent that squeezing into a standard 6' x 8' indoor booth seems claustrophobic. Our booth layout shifts a bit.
It is, however, one of my dog's favorite shows. I'm next to my good friend Dee Willner who creates the most wonderful dog treats ever. At least that's what my dogs say. You can find her at Bentley's Barkery.
And, of course, I get a chance to catch up with my friend Pary Davis who does jewelry that's completely different than mine.
The next show is at Centennial High School in Columbia, Maryland. That's the last show we'll do this year that's open to the general public. If you want to come to the show, send me an email to mailus@gingrichsart.com and I'll send you a discount coupon for our merchandise at that show. Please put SHOW COUPON in the title.
After that, I'll begin in earnest to get the remaining merchandise photographed and up on the site. There'll probably be a few fun auctions on eBay too.
Here's some pictures of our recent tour of Brookside Gardens. Also new to the site are pictures of Chester's blacksmith work.
Yesterday, we did the Mill Creek Parish Bizarre Bazaar. For those who've never been to one of our shows, Chester took some pictures. Of course, I'm wearing my signature hat. Here's me setting up:
This is the largest display we have for the year. There's two 4' tables with our current line and a 15" table with discounted discontinued lines and bargains. Here's a shot down the length of the display:
The last picture didn't have the pendant on the display piece. Here's the piece I chose to display:
I've been busy doing other things. I got back to work on the business this week. I still need to get pics posted of earrings for a special client. However, I thought I'd post pics of the latest things out of my kiln. Here are the cabs for the larger bracelets I promised several people. I just got a Bracelet Sizer in the mail and realized that the original bracelets were 6 3/4 inches and not the 7 inches I thought. I'll make some larger sizes from these cabs. The first picture is the entire fired shelf. The second picture is a close-up of some of the pieces.
I liked the bracelets so much, I decided to make some pendants in the same style. The glass is about 1/2 inch by 3/4 inch, so they will be affordable. The first picture is of the pendant cabs in the kiln. The second picture is a close-up of some of the cabs.
I thought I'd post some pics of my latest find: an old stash of Wasser glass. woo hoo!!! There's about 100 pounds of glass here. I'm still sorting through it. I think Wasser makes some of the prettiest glass around. I use more Wasser glass than dichroic glass. Thanks to Nancy Weisser-Underwood for this stash. Nancy owns/runs Weisser Stained Glass Studio in Kensington, Maryland. She's the one who first got me hooked on glass. Her work is amazing, and so is she.
The glass in the plastic filing bins under the table is Bullseye/Uroboros. There's also a stash of Wasser in-between the bins. The containers in front of that are filled with my new acquisition of old Wasser.
I've also got a new batch of bracelets on the way for all those who wanted bigger sizes. Here's a shot of my cutting table -- all loaded up with tiny pieces of dichroic glass. I never claimed to be tidy.
ok. I admit I haven't gotten too far on the bracelets. Here's the kiln shelf with all my hard work.
A few years back, my sister-in-law gave us some beautiful perennials. Among the plants she gave us were these beautiful flowers that bloom in September and October. I don't really care what they look like during the rest of the year. They bloom in the fall when everything else looks so dreary. I thought I'd share a picture with you.
It's back to work this week. I took off last week to clean the house for the birthday party yesterday. I don't get a chance to cook for crowds very much. I do enjoy the challenge. And, of course, it's nice to see family again.
But, back to work. I have some bracelet links to make. I had many requests for larger bracelets at the last show. I tend to make 7" bracelets more than any other size, but I guess I need to rethink my strategy. I promise. More bracelets in larger sizes.
I did get the bracelets done in time for the show. They sold quite well, so I'm pleased. Here's a poor picture of some of the finished bracelets:
Unfortunately, my camera was having issues. I was only able to get one shot at the Takoma Park Folk Festival before it died. So, here's a picture of my booth just before we finished setting up. Chester's in his tie-dyed shirt. I was wearing a matching one, but I'm not in the shot since I took the picture.
Well, got a bunch of bracelet components glued up and ready to fire. Whoo Hoo!!! I might actually get these done by the show Sunday.
The Takoma Park Folk Festival is coming up this Sunday. Here's a preview of a few things that will be there. First of all, I finally got the stud earrings glued and ready to go.
I've also made some standard dangly earrings. These don't have earwires yet, but they will by Sunday.
There are quite a few new pendants this year. Along with my enameled glass pendants, we'll still have some dichroic glass ones too. Here's the latest batch ready to be firepolished.
They're currently in my big kiln being fired.
Things are getting pretty busy now with shows coming up soon. I've temporarily closed my eBay store. I haven't had time to list in a while and I shouldn't be paying money for something I don't use.
We went to Brookside Gardens yesterday and took some pictures of the butterfly exhibit. If you are in the area, you really should take the time and go and see it in person. It's the most amazing experience to stand there while butterlies swirl around you.
Check back often. I'm planning to do some fun things. At some point, I'll be posting a freebie. Once it's posted, I will send it to first person who sends me an email.
Click on the button to start the tour.
New to the site is Chester's blacksmith work.
I took a look at the webstats and realized that apparently, my most looked at work is the wall hangings. So, I put them back up for people to look at. You can either use the "Wall Hangings" button to the left or look under the "Working Pages."
This is actually good news for me. I need to stretch my creativity again and would love to do some more art. I'll be posting my cards soon too.
Check back often. I'm planning to do some fun things. At some point, I'll be posting a freebie that will be available to the first person who sends me an email.
Go hug a loved one. -- katherine
We took a few days off to do other things. I'm getting back to work today. I have earrings and bracelets to make for the Takoma Park Folk Festival. I need to get some stuff listed on eBay.
I took a picture of the stud earrings (that still need findings) so you can see them in progress.
Cherish the joy in life.
I've been getting more done on the website. There are a few more pages in the works. I think I'm getting the hang of the html again. It had been so long since I updated the site that I had to re-learn everything.
I've got a bunch of dichroic glass stud earrings in the works. The glass parts are fully fused and I just need to attach the findings. I'll see if I can get some pictures posted soon.
Took a little bit of time off to do some runnning around and having fun. Went to Rita's Water Ice and got a yummy tropical fruit ice with vanilla frozen custard on the top. WOW, was that good.
I spent some time making a clickable list of auction sites that are available. We're doing some research into possible venues to sell more on-line and thought this might be helpful to other people too. I got the bulk of the list from an ebayer who's given proper credit on the page. Anyway, the newest working link up. Click the "Working Pages" button to the left.
Please feel free to email us with more sites or more information about the sites. We'd be happy to incorporate changes.
The heat wave continues to make life miserable here in Maryland. It's only 98 degrees here, but it's supposed to feel like 104 degrees. In any case, that's way to hot for me. Of course, with the heat comes the "unhealthy" air quality. I guess "unhealthy" is obvious since you can actually see the air right now.
I took some time off yesterday to do some actual housework. Today, I'll be back at work photographing pieces and getting them up on the site. It's going to take me some time to get prices and ordering information up here. In the meantime, if you see something you'd like to purchase, please email me about specifics.
To see what's actually working on our site while it's under construction, push the "Working Pages" button to the left. I do have pictures of some of my latest enameled glass pendants.
WOW. Look at this. We're actually working on our website. A lot of the links are still broken. We're working as fast as we can to fix them. Until then, our site will be a bit unstable.
While the site is under construction, I've made it easier to navigate to working pages by adding a location where you can find all working links. Please click on the "Working Links" button to the left to navigate through the working part of our site.
There are actually pictures on the site. Click on "Enameled Glass" and you will see some of my latest work. The pictures need to be retaken, but at least we've got something up now.
This year, we've cut back on the number of shows we planned to do. Last year, we opened an eBay store and a Bidville store. We closed the Bidville store to concentrate our efforts on eBay; but, recent changes in eBay have caused us to reconsider our decision.
But, first things first. We're updating our website and putting out pictures of the stuff we actually still have. The old work will be archived soon so you can still view it.
We appreciate our many loyal customers over the years. Your support has made it possible for us to continue our vision. Please feel free to contact us regarding these changes.