Questions, thousands of them, all seeming to be the same genre.
Charity work: Would you fix this piece of
? I know it's not worth
anything but,.... it means a whole bunch, because the person who wore it for
three straight years without ever taking it off (Cooking
with jewelry) loved it, squeezed it, and called it George, and then
accidently crushed it in some needle nose pliers from Sears, and so then can you
do it? Can you fix it? - Yes but you better not complain about the price
because the only charity work I do is for people not walking into jewelry
stores.
About the weather: How is your season going?- Fine, better now that you are here, and thanks for the smiles, the warm hugs, the kind words, and those that dropped presents off to me I'm completely honored that my art makes you care about me so much ... and thank you for asking.
Blood diamonds: What is a Blood diamond? -A diamond that has blood on it. A diamond that was abused by the owner not out of ignorance but out of malice. A diamond that sees only divorces, breakup, and bad luck. A diamond that carries with it the karma of bad actions by weak humans. How do I know if what I'm buying is something that wasn't involved in something bad? -Only I can tell you. A piece of paper can be printed by anyone, a diamond will not talk to many people and so far I think I've only met about 20 people who hear what they have to say, and I'm one of them. Therefore if this issue concerns you then I'm the only one in town that can give you the story straight from the diamonds secret light.
Customers I had a hard time with.
People who had it in their mind that 200.00 could buy pieces that sell for $1500.00+. People who would walk in the shop look at the walls, or cases, maybe even their cell phone and then exclaim out loud that "There really isn't anything that I see here that I like."
Customers that I did not have a hard time with.
People who did care how much I asked for a piece , they got the best deals anyway. People who only had fifty dollars to spend and wanted anything in our shop that was pretty for that price. Everyone that smiled, because it is the season of good will after all.
Jewelry that I loved, then lost.
My father in his senior quote asked is it better to have loved, laughed, and lost than to never have loved at all. My feeling is that loved then lost is better. I made some great pieces. Pieces that after I was finished I felt good, happy, satisfied. All of those seemed to find a quick exit out of my shop, wrapped in sharp cornered, no tape showing, bow, ribbon, tissue and grey bag. None of them have been returned. This loss of such great pieces in exchange for food and rent has left me with a feeling. A scary feeling. A fear that the bar had been set really high, coupled with an anxiety that I might not make anything as great anytime soon. Like a writers block. Fortunately I've got a bunch of jobs that I've already planned, and designed so all I need is my hands, alert eyes, help from the jewelry gnome and autopilot. The Tucson desert will take care weird writer block like feelings.
Jewelry that I didn't have to sell or make.
Pearl strands, earrings, cute silver necklaces, and pieces of jewelry that anyone can buy are really hard to make. I couldn't do it, but Courtney stepped up to the plate and again made guys look like heroes, and girls look like they've just stepped out of next months Cosmopolitan. She also fulfilled the impossible wishes of a 10year old boy with rare tastes like a Portugal national team jersey with Christiano Ronaldo impossible, yet Courtney has a good line to Santa and it showed with a week or so to spare. Brought me coffee in the morning, hand wrote a trillion holiday cards, while being a tutor to Pierson, and answered almost every call that came into the shop.
I would have been totally lost without her, could not have made it as good of a season as it was. She totally deserved the hard assets she got. Thank you. Again.
Cater and Melissa while not logging heavy hours brought a party smile and graced Soulmates with insanely happy energy. I appreciate the sacrifices they made so that they could lift the elves spirits up. Thank you. Again.