After being in a bit of a creative rut in the last couple of months, I’m finally feeling like things are stating to move for me again.
Firstly, I’ve got some of my silver filigree jewellery on consignment at a new store in Paddington by a local designer named Sacha Drake. My little pretties looked so much more at home in a beautiful shop than they do on a market table. Her shop on Given Tce opened today!

The second thing that has got me feeling a lot more optimistic is that I finally got a place in The Goldsmith School at Bardon. I’ve been waiting for ages for a spot to come up, and am really excited and relieved that I’ll be able to get help with my designs and technical difficulties. I know there are a lot of self taught jewellers out there, but I feel I really need to learn things in a hands on environment. I’m so glad I finally have this opportunity.

It’s only six weeks till Christmas, so I’m hoping to redo my etsy shop and get a little more work up to Marks and Gardner in the next couple of weeks.

I haven’t been updating my blog in a while because I've had a bit of a burnout. I have, however, done a couple more market stalls since my last post, and this is the only photo I managed to take! It's from the Young Designers Markets on Sunday. At the moment the only camera I have access to is a giant powershot A300 that I got in 2002, and it's slowly dying!

I’ve got some new work brewing at the moment, but since I don’t have any photos I thought I’d show some pictures of some beautiful work from this weeks 'Quit your day job' seller on etsy, Tigerlilly.


http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/quit-your-day-job-tigerlillyshop-5917/ 

I love her delicate botanical work such as these.

Pressed Hydrangea Petals, Brass Botanical Necklace

 

,

Pressed Hydrangea Flowers, Copper Earrings

That's all for now. Hopefully I will have some pictures of new work soon!

market day

my tiny stall

Usually I love market days. I love seeing everyone’s work, arranging the display, getting coffee and generally people watching. On Sunday I had a go at the Riverside markets in Brisbane. It was a sloooow day for sales. There was some crazy weather as well. It was really hot, then windy, then it rained (oh my, I found out my umbrella is not waterproof). When I was packing up a big gust of wind blew my dress up and my umbrella over. Yes, quite an eventful day.

On the weekend I’m checking out a new market called the fashion markets. It’s inside…no need for umbrellas!

just enjoying the wind

busy and thinking

I’ve been so busy over the last few weeks, making jewellery, working on business type things, organising insurance, market displays, tax, my etsy shop, trying to learn how to photograph, all while trying to stay on top of work at my day job. Amongst all this mess I often wonder if I’m really cut out for this kind of thing. Too many times this year I’ve not eaten properly, missed out on exercise or extra sleep just so I can finish something on time. I’m also trying hard to say no to a lot of opportunities so I can focus on the jewellery I really want to make. With that of course comes the guilt of constantly saying no to people. I feel that people overestimate my jewellery making skills, and even as I constantly say I’m not a trade jeweller or qualified to do a lot of thing, I still get asked for repairs and custom things that I have no idea how to do. I need to get better at saying, “I’d love to do that for you, but I really can’t”.

I’m slowly learning my limits and amongst all this working, I’ve been thinking about what I really love to make, and how I can give myself time to explore those things. Where do I want to be, where do I want to sell and where and how do I want to live. This year I focused so much on craft markets that I’ve had no time for gallery work. I want to do more gallery work and would love to find more galleries like Marks and Gardner. I also have ideas for a range of jewellery suitable for boutique retail stores and desperately want to explore some ideas I have for different materials. (sigh) Is that to much to ask for? I also want a house, kids, income and time with my family and baby niece…Can I just have a little more time in each day?

etsy treasury

My etched copper earrings were featured in a treasury made by  Paleodeux called Exotic Beauty

                                           

About me

I trade under my full name: Mariette Waters. Not because I think it’s particularly arty or beautiful, it’s just that I couldn’t think of anything catchy or unique as a business name. In French my name is an affectionate pet name for Mary or Maria and in Hebrew it means “little bitter”. I’m sure in all these accents Mariette is quite a beautiful name, but said in an Australian voice it usually comes out as “Murry-ette” hence all my lovely nicknames such as muz, muzza, marty and maurice (don’t even ask about that one). While I don’t necessary love these names, I do love the people who give them to me, so that makes it ok.

I’m 25 and work in State Government. I have a degree in Fine Arts and a post-grad qualification in Information Management. With everyday that passes I feel more urgently that I should be working for myself and making jewellery on a daily basis. Like many artists or creative people I am constantly torn between the need to have a normal life (i.e. sleep at night!) and ambition to make a living from my passion. I still haven’t worked out the fine line between working hard and over doing it. I’m not precise and neat enough to be a fine trade jeweller or eccentric enough to be an artist. I fit somewhere in between and haven’t yet found my niche.

I live in Brisbane in an old Queenslander with my partner and dog named Jim. I didn’t know I was a dog person till I got Jim. I tend to spoil him a bit.

I hope that by reading my blog you will get to see where the ideas for my jewellery comes from, and enjoy all the beautiful things that inspire me. I’m not the best photographer, but I am slowly learning!

Here are three women who truly inspire me:
http://kellyraeroberts.com/

http://deniseandrade.com/

http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com/

Girls Night Out

I’m very pleased to announce that I will be attending Girls Night Out as a Boutique Stallholder on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th September. I’ll be sharing a stall with Kristie Goulding from Lingerie and Gowns.

It’s a very exciting event with quite a range of stall holders, including tiny handmade businesses like me, and big names like Crabtree and Evelyn!
I’m working on some new jewellery especially for this event. Think tiny silver flowers, birds, butterflies, bees and apples. Perfect for spring!!!