Show Crazy

by MaryAnn Carroll

I have pretty much been consumed with our first time Potters for Pets event this weekend at the CNY SPCA in Syracuse, NY. My husband Bill and I have spent a ton of time, along with the Developmental Director, Theresa Para to prepare this first time event. This all started with an idea from my son CJ who works there.

I have been a crazy person starting yesterday making sure I have inventory.... nothing like waiting until the pressure is on!! Last night I got a few new pieces made. I have such a hard time switching from making bracelets to earrings to necklaces. Last night I decided I would take my own advice and let my hands do the work and not let my brain interfere.

This is what I came up with (I still need to work on my picture taking skills)..... that'll be down the road.... probably in the distant future!

And my bracelets.... quick pic this morning.

I amaze myself that I am able to pull anything off with the way I work! I wish I had a more focused brain...

I would never have enough inventory to fill up a booth by myself, so fortunately, I do these shows with Bill and it is mainly his pottery. I find that the older I get, teaching all day poops me out! Maybe one day after retirement I will get better at this inventory stuff!

And, like everything else I do, I realized that I didn't order the little 3 x 5 bags that I love to use. They do end up costing me about 46 cents a bag, but customers always comment on them. Hopefully, my papermart.com order will be here before weeks end.

These are linen and they come in an assortment of sizes. I love them!!

Wish us luck! I did have a post started about how to create a successful show, but I don't know if it will be successful or not, so I will wait until after. I hope to take plenty of pictures. If you're local, we'd love to have you!

There are on Facebook http://facebook.com/cnypottersforpets and I also created a website (I tend to go a litte overboard)!  http://pottersforpets.com.

Since I mentioned the website, I would recommend wix.com for website building. It is, by far, the easiest I have ever used!

MaryAnn

Resetting in 2015

Happy New Year! Now that the holidays are officially over and the dust is starting to settle, I'd like to get reacquainted with you all!

Many people don't like to make resolutions or goals, but I always find it a good to reset. Whether you have concrete goals or just like to choose a word to focus on....or simply have a list of things you'd like to accomplish, I hope this year brings fruition to your heart's desires.

Over my show season this past holiday, I decided that one of my goals in the new year would be to make more videos and take more pictures of my process. My work tends to focus on using a lot of second hand or seemingly worthless objects and elevating them in my jewelry.

A good example of this is my penny charms. I really wanted a way that those who follow me could see a part of the process so that they could relate it to what they are seeing in person.

I made this simple time lapse video to showcase the first part of the process. I'm still learning about producing videos like this but I hope to keep refining my skills and making more videos from the studio.



How Barbara creates a unique charm from a real copper penny. from Barbara Bechtel on Vimeo.

Getting over the Big Hump

By MaryAnn Carroll

This year I started to direct my creative energy into another part of my life. We built our house eight years ago and moved in when there was still so much work to do. Both Bill and I worked as teachers at the time and we each came with one teenager in tow. They were our youngest from our previous marriages. Together we have six.

Needless to say, what you want to have happen and what really does happen are two totally different things. What did happen in terms of designing our interior to fit our style was pretty much

nothing.

This summer, during my break, I was hell bent on painting and remodeling. It was time to start weeding out the old so that I could bring in some new old.... We (I) were on our way to becoming a little obsessed with antique shopping, which lead to an auction addiction. I discovered through this process that my addictive personality can cross over to other areas at any given time. I tend to get a little obsessive until that energy or money (whichever happens first) wears out.

We are on home stretch with this project. Next summer, we are going to work on our gallary that will be in our downstairs, which currently serves as a very large storage unit!!!

One of the last things for this year's project is that we will be adding a custom country pine table that my very talented (now retired) husband Bill is building.  It should be ready to start the urethane process before Thanksgiving gets here. Here it is upside down in our living room (try not to focus on the dog hair that has been neglected). The wood looks a little rough on the underside because it is old pine that Bill was able to gather. We had to put the rougher side down to have, what I think, is very cool pine on the top. I hope to have pictures to share when it is all done.

While this project is nearing its end, we are also preparing for a show that starts today!!!  So, last night, the table sat while we got prepared. Hopefully, our older unpredictable dog Buddy does not think that we just offered him for new posts to relieve himself on while we are gone. Throughout the week I have been working on a few things. I have wanted to make dangle earrings with ear posts for a long time. I just have not been able to make what is available on the market work with my style. At one of the auctions I went to they were auctioning off metal cutters. I won the bidding war.... yup..... the addictive personality with a credit card in hand. In retrospect, I wish I would have gotten more than the ones that I did get. This particular pair cuts triangular notches. While getting back into creating the little stuff again, I finally came up with ear posts that work with my style.

I also came up with some new styles for bangles while I was practicing my soldering skills. Soldering is a technique that I am not sure I will ever perfect, but the challenge is something that keeps me wanting to try it again and again and again.....

That is pretty much it for now. I have been going non-stop. Hopefully, once the table is all set and the house is cleaned and back in order, I will just work on creating small again. Bill just built a small gas/wood kiln out by our large wood kiln that I will write about next week. 

Wish me luck at the show!

MaryAnn

Oh.... my current kitchen table..... a mix of everything that is going on..... pieces of wood that need practice stains before I stain the new table, a sander that I wore out refinishing furniture that just needed to have a new velcro sticky thing added, paint stirrers for all 20 different paint samples that I bought.... and, finally... jewelry on the far end.

Do you ever get like this?