Today as I prepared the kiln to fire a few plates, I looked at the empty space on the shelf. It’s really hard for me to push the start button on the kiln when there is empty space staring at me. I just couldn’t let it go that way. What to put in that empty space? That was the question. I stared at a few pieces of glass and some slump molds hoping for inspiration before I melted in the heat of my garage studio. In the end I pulled out my box of small glass pieces and odds and ends and put together a few pendant pieces.
Making pendants is a lot of fun and very therapeutic. I basically play with my box of small glass pieces arranging and rearranging them until I am satisfied. Today’s pendants included small pieces of murrini placed in a random arrangement. It always amazes me just how difficult it actually is to get something to look random.
I don’t think I shared this in my blog, but last year I actually decided I wasn’t going to be making any more jewelry pieces. The jewelry market is very, very crowded. In order to make jewelry pieces that are both unique and profitable, I would have to focus a lot of attention on just jewelry, making not only pendants, but earrings, and bracelets as well. It also helps to sell chains, and cords. At this time, I am not willing to invest in that kind of inventory. There are too many other glass things I want to make.
But today I broke down and made a few anyway; just for fun and because I needed a few new pieces for myself! While I was working on these pieces I got a phone call from an acquaintance who is a local business woman. She called because a client of hers was asking for my phone number. It seems her client was wearing one of my pendants that she bought two years ago on my Etsy shop. They talked about the pendant and when the client mentioned my name my acquaintance said, “I know Margot!” It’s a small world indeed. The client called me later in the day to tell me how much she loves her pendant and how often she wears it. In fact, she is wearing it in her Facebook profile picture. Well that just made my day!
So the question is fate or coincidence? Is the universe telling me not to give up on pendants? Hmmm…
Margot, you are *in the flow*! Congratulations!
I made that same decision to step away from making fused glass jewelry for the same reasons. There are just so many talented jewelry designers out there, and I wanted to focus on my ceramics and fiber arts. But every once in a while I think about the magic of stacking pieces of glass and opening the kiln to see a tiny nebula of beauty.
Thanks Patty! I love your description, “tiny nebula of beauty!”