REtune Nashville starts THIS SATURDAY!

The charity auction and concert that kicks off the official start of the REtune Nashville project is this Saturday Oct. 23rd.
Below are some not-so-flattering pictures that I took of my piece before I turned it in.

Fanny's Choice VI

It's time for the Fall Fanny's Choice and I have LOADS of new items for sale.  Gorgeous dresses, fancy coats, skirts, capes, jackets, the list goes on and on!  I have fur, leather, velveteen, silks, and more...

I'll also be selling my upcycled jewelry as shown in the previous post, so come on out and see what the Nashville vintage world has to offer!

Fall 2010 Jewelry items

Flowers & Iron  $125

Yet again I have shirked my larger artistic responsibilities to play in my boxes of shinies.  I have reworked a couple of pre-existing pieces much more to my liking and made a few from scratch.  Please look them over and let me know what you think in the comments.  I'm pretty new to jewelry making over all, so I'm trying to learn as I go. 

I love Scotch! Scotchy-scotch-scotch! $60

I <3 Motorheads  $65

Guns Don't kill People, I Do $50

detail of the Junior NRA medal used in Guns Don't Kill People, I Do

Light as a Feather $60

Detail: This utilizes a vintage Coro brooch that is still intact so that it can be secured to your clothing if needed.

South of the Border Down Mexico Way  $65

Art Nouveau Waterfall $75

If you have any questions about the items used I will answer them as best I can.  Thanks for looking1

ReTune Nashville

I am extraordinarily honored to be participating in the ReTune Nashville project.  For those of you that haven't heard, ReTune is a non-profit formed to aid uninsured musicians who experienced losses during the flood.  "How do they plan to do this?" you may ask.  Well, by collecting ruined instruments from musicians all over Middle Tennessee, sanitizing them (that flood water was NASTY!) and redistributing them to local artist to turn into visual art pieces to be auctioned off.  I was lucky enough to be accepted to participate with the likes of Manuel (yes the fancy, rhinestone, cowboy suit guy), Jason Lascu,  & folk artist Bebo, as well as some personal favorite of mine, Jeff Bertrand & Jessica Hill!  This by no means a complete list of artists, but this is!  I am excited and more than a little bit daunted to be in the company of such well known and talented folks, here's hoping that I don't embarrass myself!
I am still hard at work on a piece entitled, "Shattered, but Unbroken" involving the remains of a mandolin, an octave of piano keys, some bass strings and some bits of a couple of violins.  While it was heartbreaking to sift through the rubble of other people's lives when selecting these items, seeing all of the potential and knowing that so many people were lining up to help made my heart swell with pride!  I love this town, it's rich musical history and our volunteer spirit!
Speaking of volunteer spirit, ReTune could use everyone's help spreading the word about their cause and the upcoming art auctions.  They're also still looking for sponsors for the event so if you or someone you know could help out in that capacity, please go here.  Tickets for the event have gone on sale, here, so go get you a few and come see what is sure to be a fantastic night of live performance and gorgeous art for a fabulous cause.

To give you a taste, the video  below is from artist Randy Purcell who has made some truly stunning pieces of functional art!

Older work

I just found a cache of pictures of some older stuff.  No time like the present to dwell in the past!

East Nashville Arts Fest is THIS WEEKEND!

This Saturday and Sunday (May 22nd and 23rd respectively) I will be included among the many talented vendors from Tennessee and beyond in the East Nashville Arts Fest.  They will be blocking off a portion of Woodland Street at 5 points to have a real-deal street fair full of wonderful handmade items.  I will have loads of new pieces for sale including patchwork metal wall hangings, tea tin lanterns, tea tin clocks, upcycled vintage mirrors, jewelry and so much more.  I am sharing a booth with the incomparable Julie Morris of Fringe Lore jewelry and we will be giving 15% of all sales to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help with flood relief.  Come support the local economy, support the arts AND support flood relief.  (at our booth, anyway)

There will also be a Fanny’s Frock vintage clothing sale at Fanny’s House of Music on Holly Street just off of 5 Points on Sunday.  Normally I would be there with loads of vintage clothing for you to love, but alas I cannot be in 2 places at one time.  You could have a lovely Sunday brunch at Margot or Marche, shop for a summer frock and then come get your handmade on at the craft fair.

Come on, you know you wanna’!

Mesh Open House!

Jenny & Heather, the lovely co-owners of Mesh Boutique, are having a Spring Open House.  Loads of discounts on their fantastic inventory, which includes pieces by your truly, as well many other talented mid-state artisans. Designer clothes, breathtaking handmade jewelry, handcrafted home decor, fine art, accessories, the list goes on and on, all ready & waiting to fill your home with handmade goodness and at the same time support local artists.
Make a day of it, bring your friends, stay for lunch on the square, it'll be great!

The perils of online selling

For those of you keeping score at home, I recently posted this lovely, vintage, silvertone cha-cha necklace for sale on my etsy vintage shop, Meretricious Vintage.  Almost immediately someone bought it, I was thrilled.  The strange thing was that they didn't pay for it. Today, I was going to their site to drop them a line reminding then that payment is past due, (it is etsy's policy that a buyer pay at the time of purchase) when I noticed that they have a 45% rating on the site.  45%!!!  How does it even get that low without etsy disabling the account?  It is obvious from large number of negative feedback comments that this is a habitual thing and should have been halted long ago.  This person obviously does this often, very often.

What I completely don't understand is, why?
Why would you click to buy something that you have no intention of paying for?  Why would you actively seek out screwing over people you have never met by falsely buying jewelry?  If you're short on cash and can't afford to buy it from me right now, contact me and I will make a custom listing and reserve it for you.  Really any communication about not being able to pay immediately for any reason should be a given.  I was just sure that this was the case before I saw the feedback page. (of which I sampled some of) At that point I didn't see any reason to pursue payment, I followed up the friendly reminder to the "buyer" that I had just sent almost immediately with this:

Upon reviewing your massive quantities of negative feedback for this exact problem, I will be contacting etsy to cancel the sale. I'm not really sure how someone with feedback that low is still allowed to maintain an account on this site, nor do I quite understand what it is that you're playing at ordering things and not paying for them. Please show some respect for the people who go out and pound the pavement & work hard in order to bring great vintage items (not to mention slaving away to make handmade) to people all over the world. Any future orders from you in my shop will immediately be canceled and I am requesting that due to a pattern of behavior that etsy disable your account.

And I have done just that and left yet more negative feedback to boot.  I would hope that etsy could put some sort of filter in place that once a user's feedback reaches a certain point that the account is at least flagged for review, if not immediately disabled.  I am not holding my breath that etsy will disable this account, they are notorious for letting things slide as long as possible, if they ever do anything at all.  Sure they're quick to jump on and disable people selling iPhones on their site but apparently flagrantly terrible business practices take a little more time to deal with.  We shall see how this scenario plays out.  The good news is that this beauty of a vintage necklace is available again for purchase by any legitimate etsy buyers!

New jewelry pieces

So I've been venturing back into jewelry-making waters.  More to the point I've finally decided to start using all of the spiffy odds & ends that I collect and rework them into necklaces.  Below are the first 3 pieces created.  Only one of the 3 is finished, the other 2 need clasps.

Made with an old liquor medallion, salvaged rosary chain, copper Art Nouveau reproduction connectors and thick copper chain.

The centerpiece of this necklace is actually a part of an old Art Nouveau gas powered chandelier from the late 1800's.  The rest are vintage looking modern items.

Detail shot of the same piece.

Made using a salvaged, decorative lamp pendant and modern vintage-look findings.

Detail shot.

Mid-Centory Modern Norwegian necklace FTW!

I found this at an estate sale yesterday and I am just in love with it.  I always like to look into any marked jewelry I find, so here's some additional info on the artist who designed it, Unn Tangerud.  Please note the picture at the bottom right of this page, look familiar?

Here is a link to ebay listings for the same jewelry house and at least 3 of them were made by the same designer as this piece.  I won't tell you how much I paid for it, but I can tell you it was nowhere near what these folks are asking. 

I love this style, it looks ancient and modern all at the same time, gorgeous!

It's good to be accepted!

Or at least it's good for my ego, anyway.  I got word today that I have been accepted into the East Nashville Arts Fest that will be going on May 22nd & 23rd in the 5 Points area of East Nashville.  I will be sharing a booth with the incomparable Julie Morris of Fringe Lore to keep costs down and have a "Hey I've got to find a bathroom" booth-watchin' buddy.  I'll post more details including a list of the other artists when I get it.  I can not wait!

New items finally posted!

Nothing says "class" like naked ladies...

In my thrift store adventures this weekend I found these beauties for sale.

 

While they do not hold the record for the item to sell the fastest in my etsy shop (that would be the boobie coasters seen below) they did sell within hours of being posted.  Never underestimate the power of boobs.