Inspirations Waiting To Happen

I’m not really a girly-girl but I do have a weakness for baubles and trinkets, especially if they involve pearls or gemstones; my birthstone is a diamond after all. In fact, I like to buy pearls and stones and gold findings because in my little storage cases, they are inspirations waiting to happen…

I’ve been known to tinker with jewelry designs for the days that I can’t sit still (Lord knows there are lots of those days), but just recently I’d “lost” a bunch of necklaces I’d labored over almost two years ago when I visited my sis in NY, before her daughter Lil A came along. I was in a deep funk over this loss and lost all interest in making more jewelry. I’d turned my house upside down looking for the necklaces and even silently blamed the theft on the housekeeper, gardener, UPS guy, moving crew from 4 years ago, you name it I blamed it…sigh. I just couldn’t take responsibility for my own carelessness because it’s not possible for an OCD person to misplace anything.

Anyway, I stopped sketching. Didn’t bother to create anything new for almost a year. It’s not so much that I was that attached to material goods or that my creativity was stunted–I could always make more. But I suppose I was overly-sentimental as those late nights that my sister and I stayed up making jewelry together for ourselves and each other are really special memories for me. And I was just super upset that I had somehow lost the evidence of our time together. I know, such a drama queen, right?

Fast forward to February of this year. I found a box of CDs hiding under my desk–my guess is my furkid knocked it off the table as he’s prone to do when he wants to clear himself a seat near my monitor–and lo and behold there were also all the necklaces inside. Here are a few of them.

I have absolutely no memory of how they got in there in the first place, but then I also have very few memories of shopping excursions and yet my closet is always full!

Energized by this recent turn of events, I am excited to go to the gem show today. It’s open to the public as well as wholesalers about 4 times a year (it’s held in many cities across the country) at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. With the recession, there are definitely fewer vendors this time around, but inside the halls I still see brisk business. It’s a good place to find everything whether you are a DIY person or just a shopper looking for already made jewelry. There are beads and gems of all price ranges. I’ve been to so many of these shows and yet it’s still sensory overload for me.

Most of my pics are of pearls because they are what I usually work with. Too bad I’m not able to score spy pics of the Tahitian pearls as those are usually locked under glass. Anyway, I only do a little bit of damage this time as I’ve still a lot of supplies at home. But at least on this visit I find a new vendor of old coins and this is the pendant I choose, a 1907 Chinese coin:

Let’s hope the window cleaner doesn’t steal this one when I’m not looking ;-) .

April 10, 2010