Hi Out There from a bloggled mind!

Okay, here we go. With a boggled (aka bloggled) mind on how to go about this blogging business I found myself paralized with options, ideas and mainly fear. So today, I'm just jumping in - and hoping the water isn't freezing!




Guessing the best place to start would be at the beginning - don't worry , not all of the way back 1954! (Hope you are as bad at math as I am!)I thought I might tell you a little bit more about my jewelry life to give you a feel for where the madness has been and may be going.




I began the Zannedelion jewelry business in 1998 - I think. I'm not good with dates - even had my anniversary date wrong for the first four years! My husband and I were working on a cruise ship as a musicians. There was a good amount of free time, and not much distraction out there at sea, so I was able to come up with alot of designs in a rather short amount of time.




Prior to the jewelry thing all my creative energy had gone into writing music - which you will logically conclude, didn't do all that well! Or else you'd know my name or something. Whether or not that endeavor was time well spent - I can't say. The pursuit of musical excellence teaches one alot about discipline, tenacity, ego, self-observation and a whole lot of other good and scary discoveries - so I'm guessin' it was! Anyway....




I wore my pieces on stage, so I had this great venue for promotion. The ladies in the audience would inquire where they could get the stuff and I, of course, was happy to lead them. Here are some of the pieces I did back then. Some thought maybe I needed to tone it down a bit. Funny, huh! I always felt, why do it if you're going to be timid about it! But "different strokes".... The earring shown is not my design. And I would love to give credit to their originator if I knew who they were. I originally found them in a boutique in the Los Angeles area. I thought they were fabulous and had to have them in every color - you know the type - so I learned to make them myself. It just went on and on from there. If anyone knows who started these, I'd love to hear.





When our ship contract finished we landed in Palm Springs, California. The city has a great Thursday night show called Villagefest. It's a juried show for handcrafted work only. I joined up and have done it every year since - except one - which is another post!

Through the encouragement of my customers at Villagefest, I expanded my line of twisted wire work to include earcuffs, also known as ear wraps. Ear cuffs are very tricky to make because they need to be positioned and shaped just right to fit alot of different ears. Most ear cuff designs are also quite a bit smaller to fit alot of different sizes of ear. The twisted wire medium wonderfully relieved that hinderance and challenge because it is so pliable. It can easily be shaped to fit almost any ear. As a result, it also allows for many possibilities in design, which is great for me because I've always got another idea - can't help myself. My customers of many years have enjoyed the great variety and choices.



I design for women who need an earring alternative. They either don't have piercings or have problems with them. Because they don't want the embarrassment of "naked" ears, they put up with clip earrings eventhough they're usually uncomfortable. My husband and I have worked very hard to produce a beautiful and comfortable product for that customer. We are often complimented for accomplishing that which is a major treat.


Also, in the last few years I've discovered a love for bridal design. Again, the twisted wire really lends itself to custom work because it is so fluid and allows alot of freedom. Especially with a floral feel. The brides have been fun to work. Their excitement over their new approaching life is catching. And it is such an honor to be asked to be a part of creating their look for that huge day in their life. This haircomb is one of my favorites in those endeavors.







We also launched the website, way back when. It has been a tremendous learning experience as well. Being do-it-yourselfers, there were some difficult times in the ole learning curve. But now, it is a substantial part of our income.




So that's what I'll be posting about. Discoverys in design, business, jewelry making, life etc. and hoping to get some feedback from out there.


Thanks for dropping by, hope to get a chance to chat. Zanny