What We Have Been Up To, Lately...

This post has been awhile coming, and is being written in honor of my fabulously creative wife, Dreamweaver, who has been making and selling jewelry for the past weeks at the local flea market.

Here is a shot of our table display from a few weeks back. Note, the display keeps changing as we tweak and fine tune it, so it doesn't look like this every week.

As you can see, she has done an enormous amount of work at her art, creating wonderful necklaces and wearable art for sale to aid our desperate finances. I might point out also, that she loves this process and is happy while doing it - it feeds her soul!

Her designs are infinitely varied, complex and strikingly beautiful and I am incredibly proud of her accomplishments! This picture gives some idea, but it does not remotely do her work justice.

Neither does the flea market venue. It's been a trial and error process, but mostly a trial, since the flea market audience is not really the right target market for her work.

We have worked out several changes in the display and will be changing a few more things - wooden display stands covered in black cloth, rather than the black cardboard stand for instance. Not only will these look more professional, the wind gusting through the stalls will not be taking the display airborne any more! Yeesh! We are also getting some spot lamps to light the display - this will help, because when we put up our back tarp to cut the aforementioned wind on a bad weather day, the jewelry will remain well lit...another good selling point. Also in our favor, we are moving closer and closer to Christmas, and sales are picking up slowly and gathering steam as people become more and more serious about buying gifts!

The latest exciting development has been that Dreamweaver has been making her own beads out of polymer clay. In this picture, the glass focal points are those she ordered on line to create the necklaces around...however, the Beads next to the focal points are ones that she MADE by hand to suit the various designs. IMPRESSIVE!!! Once again, pictures are not doing justice to the beauty she has created here.

The beads have multiple layers and colors of clay worked together, they are rolled and shaped by hand and some tools, and coated with a clear polymer coating to seal them. It is a painstaking process, but well worth it - she sold out the necklaces that had her beads on them this past weekend, proving the value of her work in a very tough critical market. Eventually, she will be making the focal points too, and that's when I think her already talented creativity will truly begin to soar!

She creates while we are vending, laying out beautiful complex designs, which some people are fascinated by, as they watch the process. Kids in particular are drawn to her side, as they seem to retain an innocent joy in watching her create her art.

And me - well...I help out in the booth, and haul beads, boxes and supplies - and friends, beads in these quantities are HEAVY!!!. I provide bathroom breaks and pick up food. I give input on color and design, and am starting on learning the polymer clay processes so I can get in on the creative side of things. And I try to be loving encouragement when sales are down and a supportive presence when the weather is bad. I do my best to be a part of her growing dream, so that it is our dream. I am excited by it! And I think that I, too, will create some wonderful things as I learn more and more about how to do all this.

But make no mistake - It has been Dreamweaver's vision and boldness and talent that has brought this to life and given it power. She is amazing and I am very proud of her. She is talented and has truly found her art. I sit and watch her graceful hands as they create and mold and shape her mental visions into a gorgeous reality. I am honored beyond all words to be a part of this and to know that it is my wife who has created such wonderful things!