Midnight Madness at Bløm Meadworks in Ann Arbor

New bead colors have got me making all sorts of earrings, these will be available at Midnight Madness

I'll be at one holiday event this year (outside of what galleries are hosting) and it's THIS FRIDAY.  I was invited to be a pop-up artist at Bløm Meadworks in Ann Arbor for a night of Midnight Madness. December 3, 2021 from 5pm-11pm.  Shops and galleries will be open late for shopping.

A small part of me misses selling in-person and talking about my work to an audience.  A perk for this indoor event is that Bløm is able to have an "in" door and an "out" door so the traffic will be going in one direction and will hopefully feel less chaotic than what I experienced at Midnight Madness in a past year as a shopper.  

Jewelry set up from a show with Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild some time ago

I picked up jewelry from Angelwood Gallery, some that I haven't had my hands on in 2 years and dropped new work off to them. When I was going through the box they gave me I was all "Oh look, there's the Pac-Man Bangle!" So I will have that work with me along with any newest of pieces of jewelry that I have happened to make while snuggled in on the couch with my Boo and the cats.

As much as I've been trying to stick to making leaves for Leaf Me Alone, I get distracted by other colors and fashion trends, and what I'm going to wear to the New Year's Even Ska Show. Neon yellow/green. bright purples and deep bright pinks are grabbing my attention in sparkly beads at the moment. Midnight Madness will see a bit of those colors in my displays.

Here's a sneak peek at what's coming in the next blog:

3 years sober: Beaded Recovery Ideas

"Hi, my name is Jenny and I'm an alcoholic."  

I say that regularly at meetings and one of these days I'll probably slip up introducing myself at some other lecture with that line. I cannot believe it's been 3 years, because 3 years ago it seemed impossible to even go a day or a week without a drink.  But something had to give, I went to my first AA meeting and realized why it exists and there's a whole bunch of people out there struggling with the same types of things I am. 

I could rattle on and on about how much AA has helped me but I'm going to keep this short and simple...the recovery symbol used for AA is a triangle within a circle. I've wanted to incorporate into my work somehow but all I can think of are what the coins look like so I decided to start there.

This thought first came to me when I noticed a ring someone was wearing at meetings that has the recovery symbol, very simply designed in silver. I really liked the idea of incorporating the symbol into something you can wear daily.  I tried 3 different types of seed beads with this coin design, rocaille 15/0s, delica 15/0s and the regular 11/0 delicas (from left to right in the top photo).

I'm still not sure where these are going.  I decided to keep my beaded pieces simple and start with the form of the coins that we receive each month for the first year, then every year after. I have them floating around my house, a few hanging from my car rearview as daily reminders. When I'm having a rough week, I carry one in my pocket.  My sponsor gave me my third year coin today at the meeting this morning and then her and another very important to my sobriety AA member took me out to breakfast.  It's all connected and we all help each other. <3