Indulge
February 3, 2010
When I indulge, it’s usually chocolate or sleeping (remember that recent post about health), but today I stumbled onto Indulge, a jewelry marketplace at the Bellevue Museum of Arts in the Seattle area. Now there’s an exciting idea: indulge myself by buying jewelry!
Indulge is a weekend show this coming February 5, 6, and 7, featuring 30 jewelers from around the country. Check out this link for easy access to photographs from each participating artist. I recognized Lulu Smith, Rona Sarvas Weltman, and Susan Chin. And here are some folks who are new to me and who I would like to see more of:
This ring by Anat Basanta really caught my eye. 
And then I discovered that she has a line of neverending necklaces. The no-clasp-slip-over-the-head design is also something I do with my bead crochet necklaces. I love that it allows the wearer to choose and change what part of the design is centered.
This work by Alison Mackey below looked similar to what Lulu Smith does with resin. Turns out, the color comes from photographs of nature taken by the artist and then incorporated into the jewelry – very cool. I really like the organic and whimsical sterling silver shapes.
Now, here’s the really interesting thing (to me, at least). I did not see any jewelry made from glass, or more exactly from handmade glass beads. Nothing like what I want to do. I saw one person who did use some clear Pyrex components. Chihiro Makio, whose work is pictured below, studied glass, but most of her work is metallic with some crystals, and as shown here, what she describes as glass beads that are hand sewn onto the pieces.
So, what I figure is that what I am trying to do is either really original, really old and overdone, or really impossible to do profitably. I’ll just have to keep going and find out which it is.
