I Don't Know What I'm Doing...

I don't know what I'm doing...
This applies to both blogging and life...
I do not regularly blog, although I want to.
I thought blogging would be the perfect way to marry my love of making art with my love of writing ( I have an old Journalism degree, after all.)
But my few blogs are like random journal entries plucked from what seems like some under-the-bed-Dear-Diary-situation...Ick...
Since my previous blog attempts make me wince, I've been quite successful at procrastinating a new entry.
After seeing the movie "Julie& Julia" I deduced that my blog needs a plan or a theme.
The "Project Runway" theme is rather broad.
So why not make the truth my theme -- I don't know what I'm doing...
Ironically, this appears to be a life-long theme.

I began raising kids at 22 -- and didn't have a clue.
I accidentally started creating jewelry in the 90s through repairs of vintage jewelry. I had no tools, except for tweezers (yes, brow tweezers) and nail scissors, and guess what -- did not know what I was doing.
But I learned through trial and error and plodding-away progress (both with kids and art...)

Crabs move forward in a side-ways style. As Cancer the Crab,  I move in a confusing fashion and seem to choose  re-inventing the wheel instead  of pursuing a traditional course.
Last year I quit my full-time job to expand my jewelry design business SueWooJewels.
So. I want to blog about this adventure as I participate in Art Shows, figure out how to market myself, struggle to pay bills, juggle a personal life and relationships, while never at any point knowing what I'm doing...
Stay tuned.
I'll try to, too.

Love, Create & Go to Paris (Part I)

I could not believe he was too stubborn to say "I love you" right before I boarded the plane that would fly across the Atlantic Ocean...

Elizabeth Gilbert began the story of her journey with the sentence "I wish Giovanni would kiss me." in the fabulous "Eat Pray Love."

If I were writing a book "Love Create & Go to Paris," Part I would begin with the line above (yes, there is a Part Deux...). Because it was my last thought on American soil.

And like her story, mine begins with a heroine who's a bit lost and sorting baggage -- it's hard to travel light... And like her journey, traveling thousands of miles can stimulate an inner journey as well, through terrain thats equally unfamiliar...

Once air-born, my thoughts turned to La Drogerie (a french bead store),  Les Puces (the humongus, world-famous flea market), living like a parisian in an apartment in Monmarte with two women I only just met -- via the internet -- intermingled with watching the on-flight movie "The Blindside." The movie was so, well, moving, and I felt as though an emotion valve had been turned back on.

It was March of 2010 and I was running away to Paris. For two weeks anyway. I had fallen in love with Paris on my first trip in 2002. Just being there changes you. And at first sight, I was coo-coo-for-coco-puffs-crazy over the Eiffel Tower. How does one make huge steel look like filigree jewelry!? As a jewelry designer, it is the lighthouse that leads me home.

So I yearned for Paris' inspiring streets and to comb her flea markets for antique geegaws to use in my jewelry designs,  and to return to my beloved tower. I also needed a break from my full-time job (which continually reeled from the repercussions of being swallowed whole by a large corporation), and a relationship made with equal parts of drama, big love, and hurt...

I designed jewelry in my "spare" time and aspired to reverse the time allocation of my two jobs. My pieces combine hand-beaded stones with cool antique components like antique jewelry, lace, leather, buttons, etc. to form one of a kind, timeless necklaces, cuffs and earrings. Having recently had my work published and sumptuously photographed in Belle Armoire Jewelry affirmed that I may be on the right path and helped me to muster the courage for this Paris adventure that I could neither afford, nor afford not to undertake.

Project SueWoo

I love the tv show Project Runway. I've seen every episode of every season multiple times. I love the people competing, I love fashion, I love the challenges, I love Tim Gunn, and most of all, I love observing the creative process. Invariably, I find myself cheering for the middle-aged contestant who has this one, last-minute shot at his/her dreams. Of course the young punk designers make fun -- not because they're mean and awful -- but because they have no conception of how quickly time runs out. Their lives are still a vast field where the sky will never touch the ground... This season it was "Peach", a 50-year-old, vibrant fireball with a Chicago accent and a preppy, ladies-who-lunch style. Everyone gained from her participation -- the younger designers learned from her perfect craftsmanship and her own aesthetic was refreshed and updated.

It reminds me of the movie "The Natural." It's an old movie, and I find it very interesting to gauge where I am by how I react to a movie I've seen over and over throughout my life. During a recent viewing, I was particularly aware and outraged at how mean the other ball players were to Robert Redford's Roy Hobbs. Blatant age discrimination. Just because Roy was older did not make his dreams less important -- they were more important and more urgent. He'd already learned that one little choice along the way can change everything, forever. Time and opportunity are no longer infinite. And Roy didn't care if he appeared lame and desperate to the younger guys; he had a burning quest.


Project SueWoo is my own reality show -- starring me. It's documenting me learning and growing as a person and jewelry artist and achieving measurable success one challenge at a time. And I am the middle-aged contestant that I am cheering for, because I haven't forgotten my dreams yet either. I used to write, but somewhere along the way, I lost my words. But that's another story... I'm blogging to find my voice again, to pay closer attention, to be more in the moment and enjoy the ride, as I document my journey.

Steampunk

I'm very intrigued with this new Steampunk genre. While I'm sure it's not all that new -- just new to us mid-westerners -- I've been researching its literature and fashion influence. As an avid long-time collector of Victorian jewelry, I am challenging myself to incorporate steampunk aesthetic into my jewelry creations.
My vision of steampunk involves scavenged victorian artifact treasures that are collected and collaged into a unique, wearable homage to a lost time. I'm posting a picture of my first steampunk piece that blends victorian-inspired brass, an amber stone cabachon (bezel is hand-beaded in peyote stitch) a clear lacquored ouija board/bottle cap charm dangle, on a black hand-tatted choker base (courtesy of another etsy artist, TotusMel)and scattered brass bits, beads and chrystals. These items are collaged and re-purposed in a "Mad Max" way, giving the victorian sentimentality an edge. I like the contrast of the hard brass and stone with the delicate tatting. Think Queen Victoria meets Auntie Entity...
This piece is also posted on my etsy site and has generated lots of traffic (no sale yet though...)
Mixing vintage components, stones and hand beading, bead embroidery is my style. The beadwork, in particular, is very meditative for me. (Just as it was for Morgaine in "The Mists of Avalon" -- on of my all-time fave books.)
I'm enjoying this new process and stepping out of my comfort zone and welcome feedback, suggestions, tales of your artistic journeys, or just tales.