back from mn, leaving today for nyc

great show this past weekend in minneapolis! lots of people came out and we did really well. the new faeries (silver body, shibuichi wings on cynthia's blog and holly black's site) sold really well! i got rid of 3 or 4 of them!
now we're busting ourselves in the garage on this fusion beads (in seattle) custom job. they're celebrating their fifteenth anniversary on nov. 1, so we're casting a silver coin with their logo for them. tony's out there right now making all the waxes while I slowly tree them and prepare them for casting.
i've been reading a lot of Eliphas Levi recently.... right now i'm engrossed in "Mysteries of Magic", which is more or less just a digest of several of his writings. From his list of 22 axioms, here are a couple I enjoy:

Axiom 1: Nothing can resist the will of man when he knows what is true and wills what is good.

Axiom 3: To will what is good with violence is to will evil, for violence produces disorder and disorder produces evil.

Axiom 12: To affirm and will what ought to be is to create; to affirm and will what should not be is to destroy.

Axiom 20: An iron chain is less difficult to burst than a chain of flowers.

Axiom 21: Succeed in not fearing the lion, and the lion will be afraid of you. Say to suffering- "I will that thou shalt become a pleasure," when it will prove to be such, and more even than a pleasure, for it will be a blessing.

food for thought........

heading to minneapolis, mn for show...

so i'm getting ready now for the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar this weekend...
going alone, so I'll just read and draw all weekend. I'm so inspired by FaerieCon! I'm hoping to have some prints of my own work next year.
and my book and the blog story and everything... i'm probably trying to do too many things at once, but it never hurt me before.
oh well... here is a link to the show this weekend:
http://beadsbydee.com/Bazaar/bazaar-Mpls.html

the new dark crystal flute I made for the show...

this one i made with ApoxieSculpt. It is obviously much more like the one in the movie than the bamboo version I made last december. (earlier post on this blog).

It sounds good, too. I played it while I walked down the stage during the costume contest. I had to figure out some tunes that sounded good on it, because it isn't in key at all.

but I'm planning on making another one very soon that is in key and is mass-producable. we've been discussing a new website around here where we can sell all our cool, magical non-jewelry wares and possibly do a show in the future...

with Brian Froud, Theo and Holly Black!

Meeting Brian was the highlight of my weekend! He is so nice and signed five of my books with little drawings and everything! He loved my costume and we got to talk art and design for awhile at the show and at the ball at night. My costume award was one of his posters signed in pencil!

What a great time. I met a lot of really cool people and can't wait to go back next year! I must include another photo of me with Theo and Holly Black (she wrote the Spiderwick Chronicles). I really hit it off with Theo and hope to spend more time with them in the future. He's so cool. When I got back he sent me links to several websites he works on (including Holly's) where he put up images of our beads! (here is a link to her site: http://www.blackholly.com/bibliography.htm

Me at Faeriecon as Jen!

and I won the contest for men, too! thanks to wiesel's awesome sewing ability and the nifty ears.