Yes.  I'm addicted to pendants.  Totally.  I mean, they are just perfect for everyday wear!  AND for that special evening out.  I have a favorite gold chain and a favorite silver one too.  I'll pop pendants on and off those chains to match the outfit I'm wearing.  Sometimes...in fact a LOT of times...I'll pick the pendant, and THEN pick the outfit. 

I just love pendants. They're so easy to wear.  They're affordable.  They're fun.  And I love making them.  Each one is like a miniature artistic masterpiece.

Because I love them and because I make a lot of them, the website has now graduated to having TWO pendant pages.  I'm sure there will be more pendant pages soon.  Unless, of course, I have a slew of customers who come in and snatch them up...then I can move some to my SOLD page. :)

The pendant shown above is the one I completed today.  Using my Peruvian weave encased stone design, I took this emerald green glass vintage stone and mounted it in antiqued silver wire.  I added some bright silver beads to the top to give it a bit more sparkle and shine.  I guess nowadays they call that "bling".  :)

You can purchase the emerald glass pendant on the Pendants II page.  Just think...if you do, I can move it to my sold page!

I guess the most exciting new addition to the website this week is the ability for you to design your own pendant.  Choose your stone, choose what color wire you'd like your pendant made with, and decide whether you want the metal antiqued (darkened) or left shiny.  See our DESIGN IT! page for more information and to make your stone selection.  I do have more than one of a couple of the stones shown, however, quantities are VERY limited on these.

Also, I've set up a page where you can schedule a trunk show with me if you're in the Jackson, Tennessee area. I'd love to get more events scheduled before Christmas and these shows are a lot of fun!  Guests register for a door prize (a free pendant) and the hostess makes 20% of all sales income from the evening.  Plus I get to meet all of you wonderful people in person! :)  If you'd like to get on the schedule for a trunk show please visit this page and fill out the form.

My Bathroom Smells Great!
Thanks to a 15-year old bar of herbal soap…  

Granted, I spent about three times as much for this bar of soap when I purchased it from a local crafter at our flea market 15 years ago.  The soap was $3.00 per bar, as opposed to the 75 cent bar I might have picked up at Wal-Mart.  Yet I haven’t had to buy any kind of “smell good” for my dressing area since.

This is just one of the few benefits of buying a handcrafted item – quality.  It’s good.  It’s better than good.  It’s made by someone’s HANDS, rather than by a machine.  It’s tested by a real human being, individually, with careful thought and attention to the littlest detail.

This little bar of soap has personality.  It’s different.  From the special packaging to the scent, it reeks of uniqueness. (no pun intended)

It offers a fond memory, this little bar of soap with its spicy, tantalizing scent.  I’ll never forget my trip down that flea market aisle.  One booth had tons of remainder and slightly damaged health and beauty items…the stuff you see in every major chain store in the country…and at discounted prices.  But the alluring scent from five booths away is what grabbed my attention away from the bland and familiar and made my legs keep on moving.

I sauntered past the discount booth.  I stopped when I found the incredible scent, coming from a booth full of large, rectangular bars of rough-looking soap, each bar wrapped like a miniature gift in a colorful piece of tissue paper.  And that’s when I met Julia and her husband.  They explained the process each bar of soap goes through before it appears in its final form.  They told me about the various herbs they use, why they used them, and what each herb does for yourself and your environment.

Soon I left with five bars of soap and an education on herbs and their properties.  I was on a budget, and at $3 a bar, that’s all I could afford that day.  I could have left with 15 bars from the other booth.  But I wouldn’t have had near the sensual experience as I had with those five bars from Julia.

So here I am, 15 years later.  All but one of the bars of soap have been used (and all lasted 4 times longer than chain store bought soaps).  I saved the fifth bar, because the next time I attended the flea market, Julia was gone…her booth replaced by someone selling slightly damaged big-box store items.  I saved the bar because I wanted to remember Julia and my experience at her booth that day.  I wanted to recall my mini-lesson on soap making.  I wanted to remember her joy, her passion.

I also saved the bar because I wanted to prove a point.  Being an artisan myself, I know handmade items are far superior over the mass-produced things offered in the majority of our stores today.  But I wanted to prove it to myself another way.  So I saved the soap.  It’s labeled “Workers Soap”.  It still has its spicy scent to this day.  After 15 years, I can open the drawer the purple-wrapped bar resides in and be taken back to my day at the flea market when I met Julia.  In an instant, I can go back 15 years, and smile. 

What a memory.  What a product! 

Being a craftsperson, the thought that I helped to support and hopefully further the dream of another hard-working original artist makes me feel really good.  I’d like to believe that Julia’s future absence meant she moved onto bigger and better things…perhaps she eventually opened her own store, where quality, uniqueness, and creativity were rewarded, despite the fact a person could get mass-produced soap for a few less pennies in that monstrous building on the hill.  I’d like to believe her business, her hard work, and her creativity helped to feed her children and helped to provide a roof over her family’s head.

In reality, Julia probably went out of business due to a lack of support.  Her booth certainly wasn’t near as crowded as the other one on that fall day.  In reality, most people probably chose to shop at the chain stores where they’d save a buck, but inevitably ended up with goods made by children and older, underpaid workers in sweatshops in Third World countries.

Chain retailers have expanded dramatically over the last twenty years. Home Depot and Lowe's, barely a blip on the radar screen in 1986, now control half of the hardware and building supply market. Barnes & Noble and Borders account for more than half of all bookstore sales. Every sector is now dominated by a couple of chains, and Wal-Mart dominates them all, capturing one of every five retail dollars we spend.

Julia’s not in that picture.  She isn’t making soap for Wal-Mart.  She couldn’t.  It has to be made so cheaply, and in such large quantities, that it’s just not feasible.

As chain stores have exploded, thousands of independent retailers have lost their livelihoods and laid-off hundreds of thousands of employees. One study I read found that every new Wal-Mart store opened actually eliminates many more other retail jobs than it creates.

Studies have shown that on average, 65 to 85 cents of each dollar spent at a chain store leaves the local economy, with a large portion of that money being shifted overseas.   The United States is buying $162 billion more from China than we are selling to it.  A large percentage of these purchases are made by U.S. companies that build products in China and then ship them to the United States, like Wal-Mart's suppliers.

Despite a well-publicized "Made in the U.S.A." campaign, 85 percent of Wal-Mart’s items are made overseas, often in Third World sweatshops paying 13 to 35 cents per hour with up to 96-hour work weeks.

And that, my friends, leaves people like Julia out of a job, unable to feed her children, and unable to put a roof over her family’s head.  Sure, she can get government assistance – food stamps, for instance.  Which you and I are paying for via our tax dollars…which seem to keep rising year after year.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have some great-smelling, long-lasting, high-quality soap I can enjoy, than pay higher taxes due to individuals being put of out business by others making a choice to get more for less. 

I’d rather have less stuff, with more meaning, which creates fond memories, and something cool to talk about.  I’d rather have something different than the next 20,000 people I run into on the streets. I’d rather have something better quality, something filled with passion and creativity, something with a little love in it – which a machine in a factory just doesn’t possess.

So I ask myself this year, before the holiday shopping season begins, how can I achieve these goals?    How can I contribute to a holiday with more meaning, and offer fond memories filled with love this season? 

I can stay out of the chain stores, for one.  They’re good at enticing…good at manipulation…and good at getting you to buy mass-market produced things - which won’t be appreciated -  and will more than likely be thrown away or end up in a Goodwill store or garage sale in under six months.  Think “disposable”. 

I can seek out original, living, “real” artists online, or in my community at places and events which sell the handiwork of local artisans and craftspeople.  By directly supporting the makers of the products I buy, I will be spending my money in an empowering way.

I can visit Etsy.Com.  Etsy.com supports local economies by making it possible for artisans to make a living.  They have a “Shop Local” link right on their front page – you type in your location, and it brings up artisans in your area.

Whether you uncover a piece of cool pottery, pet toys, handmade clothing, original paintings, herbal soap, baked goods, sculpture, home décor, or artisan jewelry, each artisan creation offers enduring value to be treasured.  Each offers personality and uniqueness.  Each offers a memory you’ll be able to recapture at any time – even 15 years later.


Jai Johnson is an independent jewelry designer, artist, and photographer living and working in Jackson, TN.   Visit her main website at http://www.MicheleJanine.com

If I had to pick a favorite color, green would probably be lower on the list.  However...when it comes to EMERALDS...I really do like green.  Perhaps it's the stone itself.  It's a perfect stone for heirloom quality jewelry.  It's rich.  It's elegant.  It's alluring.

I also love history and emeralds have a rich one, going back as early as 2000BC.  Cleopatra was an avid emerald collector. Remains of "Cleopatra's Mines" were discovered about 1817.   Sixteenth Century Spanish explorers discovered South America's rich bounty of emeralds. Large emeralds were found in the possession of the Aztecs and Incas. The Moguls of India loved emeralds so much they inscribed them with sacred text. Some of these sacred stones (called Mogul emeralds) are in museums and collections today.  One talismanic emerald is deep green and weighs 78 carats. Around the edge in is an inscription written in Persian which reads "He who possesses this charm shall enjoy the special protection of God."

The emerald is a stone of harmony, wisdom and love.  A jewel with emeralds serves as an excellent and memorable gift, and is always appreciated by the recipient.  Even those of us who don't have "green" on our favorite color list. :)

The Emerald Branch Earrings can be purchased here.

Remember that song?  I used to listen to it and sing it all the time when I was a kid. :)  As I worked on this ribbon pendant, I thought of it, and soon the words were drifting through my mind as I wove the wire.

I started thinking about this design because October is coming up.  October is breast cancer awareness month.  I never really paid much attention to this designation until a few years ago when my gallery owner asked me to be involved in a breast cancer awareness luncheon event.  I made a special polymer clay pendant for this local event called "Puttin' on the Pink".   My pendant was given away at the luncheon.

Each year since then, I strive to create a new design around this time of year.  This year I new I wanted to design a ribbon pendant, however, I didn't want to do the ribbon design which is standard.  There's enough of those out there.  I wanted to do something different with a ribbon...a different  take on "ribbon-ease", if you will.

This is my signature ribbon pendant, which can be created in all metal colors, with different colors of pearls and gemstones, too. This particular pendant has been created in fine brass wire and has creamy white freshwater pearls and apatite gemstones, which are a lovely blue/green color.

I do plan on creating one for the upcoming Breast Cancer Awareness month, and yes, it will have pink stones. :)  Be watching for it to appear on my pendant page here.

I have a lot of aspiring jewelry designers visit my site, and I often have a lot of questions asked about making wire jewelry.  This week, I added a Recommended Books page to the website, which I hope will be useful to those of you would are striving to learn this elegant craft of wire jewelry making.  I've studied many of these books myself over the past 15 years, and learned a good variety of techniques from the wonderful teachers.  I also added my recommendations for collectible and vintage jewelry books, which I have also studied.  I refer to them often, as browsing through the timeless and exquisite designs will often spark a new idea of something I can do in my own work. I highly advise adding some of these books to your collection, if for nothing else, than for creative inspiration from those who have walked this path successfully. :)

I was in a discussion about my hair a few days ago on Facebook.  A friend of mine mentioned using olive oil as a way to control the frizzies.  I never would have thought that conversation would inspire a jewel.  But it did.

I remembered a book I have here on the Olive tree, and the uses of olive oil...the symbolism and the health benefits.  It only made sense that what my friend was saying was true...about how the oil would be good for the hair.  (I used it, and it's WONDERFUL, btw)

And then I started thinking about the olive green tourmaline in my studio, and I began putting together an idea for an olive tree pendant - my version.

This is what I came up with.  I used golden brass wire for this pendant and antiqued it for depth.  The bottom of the pendant represents the gnarled trunk of the tree...and the top, the abundant display of leaves and fruit. 

The Olive tree is one of the longest living and most recorded trees in history.  It's a symbol of peace.  Maybe wearing the olive tree pendant will bring a long, peaceful life to its owner.  Wouldn't that be wonderful? :)

The Olive Tree pendant is available here.

So I'm standing outside the day before yesterday, and I'm allowing the ideas of what I could do with this glorious yellow jade brew in my mind.  Suddenly I realize I'm not alone.  A little friend has come to visit, and he just would NOT leave me alone!  As I'm fending off his presence and trying to escort him off my porch, I had a revelation...

...I now knew what to do with some of this yellow jade. :)  And that's how the Ambrosia Earrings were "born". It made complete sense after seeing this little guy what I was to do with a couple of those stones.

Everything happens for a reason.

And I'm happy to say I finally managed to get one of my pod shapes to come out right.  I've only been working on that for about 34 days and 13 hours. :) 

The Ambrosia earrings are available in the earrings section of the shop, along with several more photos to give you a "bee's eye view" of them.

I used to be in such a hurry to make new designs.  One must produce...and produce a lot...list new items every day on a plethora of websites...you must get SEEN and seen frequently....you have to advertise everywhere...all the time...you have to be everywhere, simultaneously.  That's how I used to be.  And I'd watch myself wither away, run out of energy...deplete my creativity...fill up with a lack of desire...after about one month of going at it gung-ho.  And for me, that process never really worked. 

I left the corporate world to get away from stress.  I wanted to work at home - which I did for many years selling vintage costume jewelry on Ebay.  At first it was fun.  But it was the same principle...list frequently...more and more and more.  Even though I was working at home, I became stressed.  For one thing, I worked 3 times as hard at home as I ever had to do at any office job.  An office job would have been cush compared to what I was going through.  Of course most people around me thought because I was "at home", I did nothing but sit around and eat bon bons watching soaps all day. :)  Let them live a day in my life - pul-ee-zzzzz.

At some point about 5 years ago, I burned out.  Couldn't do it anymore.  The good thing was I'd learned enough about jewelry and designs to know what I liked and how to create it.  The bad thing was, I had no energy left to give to it.

So I took a break and have fluctuated between devoting my energy to both my art and my jewelry ever since.  I only just recently revamped my plan on where I wanted to go with my jewelry.  I've learned new techniques over the past year, and I've finally settled on my favorite supplies, and yes - don't fall over - a style.  Finally.  I've been drawn to two main elements in my recent designs. Combine that with my choices in materials, and viola' - there is a style. A similarliness. A LOOK.  After 10 years in total, I thought it would never happen.

So now that I've returned to this passion of jewelry design, that old familiar feeling and those thoughts and those words that everyone says you must do to "make it" have all come flooding back.  One must produce...and produce a lot...list new items every day on a plethora of websites...you must get SEEN and seen frequently....yada yada yada.

This time though, I'm not going to listen.  See, I've gotten to where I really enjoy sitting with my coffee. (and I love tea now too!)  I love the smell when I open the cans...I love hearing it brew...and my day is not complete unless I experience that little clink of the spoon against the side of the cup and the feel of its warmth on my lips as I sip it.

And I've decided, making and having coffee is such a good, pleasant and relaxing experience, I want my work to be the same.  I've found myself piling up my materials and tools and staring at them for a long time. Then I'll walk away. I'll sit outside and listen to the birds or watch the cats play.  I'll take a walk. I'll ride my bike.  I'll chat on Facebook or twitter.  I'll read.  I'll enjoy a sweet treat and I'll watch Dr. Phil in the afternoon.  And all the while...a design based on that pile of materials is brewing in my mind.  Just like my coffee.

It's called Percolation.  Percolate means to cause something (liquid, for example) to pass through a porous substance or small holes; to filter.  So I put the materials in my mind, which then stirs them up into possible ideas.  Those ideas then pass through my brain.  I filter them using my feelings and emotions.  And when it's all done...I've filtered out the ideas which won't work...the ideas which aren't viable...the ones that don't feel right...and I'm left with something...some semblance of a design idea I think is good.

It's only then that I pick up the tools and work on it.  I may have to make adjustments.  Just like adding sugar or creamer to a hot cup of coffee...sometimes things just need a bit of flavorful sweetener. :)

The entire process is slow...it's easy...it's relaxing.  And I've found this recent go-round with my jewelry design work much more fulfilling, and the work much more flavorful.  Yes it takes longer to see new designs up here on the site - but oh, when they get here - they just seem to taste so much better.  :)