Holiday Show Schedule

Here's my jam-packed holiday show schedule. I'll be sending stuff to Trinket (32 1/2 Church St) often and you can always see my work online at Etsy. Happy Holidaze!!!

Women's Festival of Crafts -   Saturday Nov 24th 10-6
City Hall, Burlington               Sunday Nov 25th 10-5

Lake Champlain Waldorf Fair -  Friday Nov 30th 6:30-9
359 Turtle Lane, Shelburne         Saturday Dec 1st 10-3

Trunk Show at Sweet Lady Jane - Saturday Dec 8th 10-5
40 Church St, Burlington

South End Holiday Hop -             Friday Dec 14th 5-8
4 Howard St, 3rd door up from    Saturday Dec 15th 10-5
Pine, then 2nd door on left

Holiday Artist Market                 Friday Dec 21 12-7
City Hall, Burlington                   Saturday Dec 22 10-6        

Some new work

I have a few new designs that I thought I'd share here. All of these pieces can be found in my Etsy shop.

The first is my new Vermont Pendant. This sterling silver pendant features a kind of patchwork pattern which delineates the 14 counties. The VT letters are made up of my signature "patch" design. I love the organic nature of the texture combined with the industrial look of the letters. It is $45 and a portion of the proceeds will go toward the Vermont Foodbank.

Also available in brass for $25.

I recently picked up some tiny glass bottles at a vintage market. I knew I wanted to make necklaces with them but wasn't certain how I should fill them. Well what's better than a message in a bottle? To make the scroll, I roughed up and tea soaked some archival paper and burned all the edges. I can write a small phrase on it or you can write your message yourself (making it extra special with your own handwriting). Write the message on the inside of the scroll to keep it private or on the outside so bits of the writing show through and visually add to the piece. I included 2 tiny Herkimer diamonds. I wired the bottle with brass and it hangs from natural brass chain.

This very sleek, sexy and modern pendant looks elegant dressed up or edgy with a tee and jeans. I wrapped a water clear Herkimer Diamond in sterling silver and it hangs from a oxidized sterling chain. It's very eye catching!

Brass wishbone with mala beads on black waxed cotton cord. Very tribal and edgy. A great layering piece.

Sterling silver wishbone on oxidized sterling chain.

Love this vintage lace, it has such an antique look and feel, my favorite new cuff!

Vermont Life

I'm so excited to be a new guest blogger for Vermont Life. Right now, if you go to their home page and scroll down a bit you can see my post! Or just click HERE.

As I mention on the blog - I intend to include tips on how to be a savvy shopper, how to put outfits together and DIY projects, and I plan to feature Vermont designers, focusing on handmade and eco-friendly whenever possible. I’ll include posts on current trends as well as classic styles and do interviews with Vermont boutique owners. 


I'm working on my next entry now and I'll have it up in a couple of weeks.

Stay tuned!

Catching Up...

I would like to start writing this blog again but it' been so long that I don't feel like I can just start writing without taking a moment to briefly write out some of the things that took up my time since, oh, last February...

I created a new line of jewelry: Chakra Kahn It has been very popular and has expanded to include bracelets, silk wrap bracelets/anklets and earrings. In May I was a vendor at the Burlington Yoga Conference, where I debued this line. It was well received by the yoga community and now I'm thinking about vending at Wanderlust in Stratton, VT.

I made a book... a Blurb book. It is 98 pages and includes photos of all of my work and all of my publications...everything about my jewelry in one pretty place. I had several copies made and use them for promotion. Doing the layout took forever! I spent several weeks gathering the images and putting everything in order. Also, it wasn't cheap (since it was so many pages and hardcover). I do recommend this though, it's a really good way to showcase your work.

I set up several studio spaces...
At home, upstairs...this is where I roll out PMC, cut out metal and put things together.










In the basement I hammer, drill, use the torch and fire in the kiln.











Then I have a studio called Ancient Arts Studio that I share with Rebecca Freedner of Heartfire Henna in the South end of Burlington where I do some finishing work and meet up with customers to show them my jewelry. I participated in the Art Hop in September and I'm excited to participate in the Holiday Hop on Dec 14th and 15th!
I started a new blog called Kahnvert. It features many of my stylish customers and Vermont Designers. That lead to me writing an article on fashion for Thread Magazine. I really enjoy exercising my writing muscle!

With Brando's help we made a new booth for my jewelry. I will blog about this separately when I have a chance this winter cause there's a lot to say about this wonderful new set up. The greatest thing about it is that the displays can all hang on the wall in my Burlington studio, it's like a booth transformer!

I was honored to win...2(!) Daysies. from Seven Days annual guide to reader's favorites from around the state. One for Best Local Jewelry Designer and one for Best Craftsperson!

I made a lot of jewelry for Trinket and enjoyed another great season at the Burlington Artist Market. I've been doing trunk shows at friend's/customer's homes, I really love doing these! I recently reached 500 sales in my Etsy shop!

Okay, that's most of the things that have happened and now I can begin writing here again! Seeing it all written out here is making me feel really good about the direction my jewelry is going in, it's hard work but satisfying work and I look forward to blogging more about it all! Thanks for reading!

Chakra Kahn

My new year started with a massage. (Not a bad way to start the year.) Then in that dreamy, blissful, post-massage, "open-to-the-universe" state I stared at a chakra poster on the wall of my friend's practice. Such beautiful Sanskrit symbols.
[Chakra is Sanskrit for “wheel”. It is a concept best described as centers of spiritual energy within the body. There are 7 major chakras. Each one has specific associations with certain elements, glands, colors, gemstones and physical and emotional disorders. Each one is also related to a personality trait, which can manifest in positiveor negative ways depending if it’s energy is balanced or imbalanced.]

I decided I wanted to make a chakra necklace for myself. I wondered if there were any great, silver chakra pendants out there. At home, I searched the internet, searched Etsy and many jewelry sites. I found nothing like the idea I had in mind. I researched, I read, I drew symbols again and again. I got REALLY into it. I just loved everything about this and it made me recall my love of crystals and my lil bag of chakra stones I carried as a teenager. I was so excited to make my necklace. I knew I wanted the root chakra, it has so many attributes that are important to me right now. I added 24k gold to the surface but left an oxidized rim of silver showing. It hangs from a strand of tiny garnet beads - the stone that "goes" with that chakra/color.

It is my new "everyday" necklace and it is a great reminder for me to exercise and take care of my body. I love the way the gold looks, it just glows. I added a tiny bit of gold on my signature on the back too.

I also like the fact that it's pure silver and pure gold touching my skin and meaningful stones surrounding my neck.

Before this I would wear a "J" pendant or my astrological sign pendant (I made both) but they just didn't do it for me. The "J" is just my initial from my name -and I didn't name myself and the astrological sign has to do with this external force, for me it's too abstract and I don't want to feel like something else dictates who I am. What I love about the chakras is it's something that comes from within. Energy, I can believe in energy and my energy and improving my energy. I like that it could always change, I'm not tied to one symbol, I could wear a different one depending on what I'm working to balance. It's this concept, this system that has existed for so long and it's connected to so many things. The importance of color, the meaning of these stones adds so much to it for me. So I made them all...

Then I had to come up with a name and (HELLO!) Chakra Kahn immediately came to mind. It's actually a name I thought of years ago for a line of jewelry but at that time it didn't occur to me to make chakra pendants. Now it REALLY fits. These pieces seem to truly resonate with my friends and customers. We are all seeking balance, we're all seeking meaning and beauty and something real. Many have felt very connected to specific chakras and many have had a hard time choosing, some even want a set of all 7 (workin' on a special set)!

I make each one by hand and they each have a cracking/natural edge which looks great and very old and rustic. They are so light and comfortable to wear and they layer so well with other necklaces. I'm also making them available on cord, on sterling chain, and as single pendants.

You can read about the meaning of each individual pendant in my Etsy shop.
I will also be selling them through yoga studios. More on that soon...

Mom's Present

Today is my mom's Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! She has a lot of jewelry from me. A lot. Definitely the biggest collection and it spans more than a decade of designs. Which makes sense, she is my mom and she has helped me to become the jewelry artist I am today. You can thank my mom for the smaller size of every pair of earrings I make. They happen because she likes the pair I wear and says "I want those... but smaller". Years ago she asked me to make her a silver watch. I bought the only sterling watch face I could find on Ebay. A lovely Ecclissi (which I knew about from Celie). I also purchased a box clasp and I made the rest out of PMC+. It is covered in ancient scripts and the inside texture is all music notes.

It came out great (bad picture though) and she wears it often. Since she has nearly one of everything of mine and the watch, it's hard to come up with new gift ideas for her.
She always enjoys getting my newest creations but tailored to her style. So for one of her gifts, I thought of my new Wrapture line but knew she wouldn't be interested in a boot wrap or arm wrap - a little too Bohemian. I wracked my brain trying to come up with something she'd use often and carry with her in her bag that I could make and "Wrapturize". Then it hit me... a glasses case.

So I made a leather and silk and fabric case for her eye glasses. Luckily it just works out that an eye glass case is just about the same size as a bracelet! So I made the bracelet the decoration on the case. It can attach and detach easily.

The bracelet has gold, silver and garnet sewn to it with fuschia thread.



Both sides are decorated the same so when the bracelet is detached, the case is still pretty. It doesn't seem lacking but when the bracelet is attached it's extra special. I love making things transform! She loves the 2-in-1 and she just told me she needed a new case so it worked out perfectly.

I liked it so much I just had to share it.
More Wrapture coming soon.

A New Year, A New Line Emerging... the year of the Wrapture.

I've had the idea to make arm/boot cuffs for a couple of years but it's pretty much been simmering on the back burner. Many things have aligned for me to finally move forward with this. Last fall I bought an old Singer sewing machine. Found it at a barn sale right in town. It came with a beautiful wood table that it folds down into. It's one from the 1920's and it works so well. Best part, it sews leather which really opened the door for this new line.

I've also been eager to make an attempt at combining the best of the fashion world with the best of the jewelry world. (Maybe even have a fashion show!) While in NYC over NYE we stopped in an amazing trim shop and I bought some feather trim, some lace and leather and from there the idea really took off.

My new line is called:
Wrap·ture
n.1. To cover, envelop or encase in something that gives way to feelings of ecstasy.

I've been pretty wrapped up in it too! For 2 weeks I've had my sewing machine crankin' and piles of leather and fabric scattered around. I made 7 to start and through them have learned so much about how I want these pieces to work.

I've always loved getting 2 for 1's or items that reverse or transform (including transformer's as a kid!). So it was important to me that these pieces be really versatile. They can be worn so many different ways which really adds to their value.

I see this as being great adornment for the global nomad. A piece of jewelry that you can move from arm-to-boot-to-calf, maybe head, depending on your mood, outfit, desire. The thin wrap even detaches from the thick wrap and can be worn separately as a wrist wrap or anklet. Such a great travel piece.

Made of Silver and stones, brass, upcycled leather, feathers, silk, tribal fabrics and lace. These designer wraps are bigger, bolder and brighter than typical jewelry and can adorn many places on the body. Yet they are more substantial then a mere accessory. Hand made, with silver hand stitched, each one's a unique work of wearable art.

I love this look. Very Warrior Goddess.

My boots are really simple and I love the idea of dressing them up, and being able to change them up.

Which made me realize, you don't need the boot! In warmer weather this would make a great calf cuff.

The Wrap is made up of 2 components and the inner wrap can detach and be worn on it's own on the wrist. It fits 3 times around.
x
Or it could be an anklet, wrapped twice around.

Just wanted to share where I'm at with this so far...I'll debut them this spring. Gotta figure out pricing and such, but for now I'm really excited!