I indicated over here in Reasons To Be Cheerful that I have begun creating artwork again - my first in almost a decade. For those who may not know, I have a Master's degree in Fine Art. My medium was jewelry and metalsmithing and my thesis was on The Kabbalah (this was WAY before Madonna jumped on the bandwagon to which I promptly jumped off).

Making a long story short, whilst embedded in the Food & Wine world, I toyed with the idea of making some jewelry to be sold at wineries. I enlisted the aid of folks on wine chat boards and acquired a slew of Plaque du Muselets; those picturesque tins that sit atop Champagne corks, underneath the wire frame. Well, this reasonably famous art/jewelry store in Maine, Shaw Jewelry is having an exhibit in July called "POP - ART , CHAMPAGNE UNCORKED" and solicited work. However, I was the first and only artist to have actually created anything already and so one of my pieces *may* be used for the invitation and I will have work exhibited in the show.


To give you an idea:


Champagne; brooch - sterling silver, Plaque du Muselet, sugilite, pearl, and rose quartz - fabricated


The Grand Dame; brooch - sterling silver, Plaque du Muselet, Biwa pearls - fabricated


Perrier Jouet; necklace - sterling silver, industrial screws, Plaque du Muselet, colored wire - twined and fabricated


Pol Roger; brooch - aluminum, sterling silver and colored wires, Plaque du Muselet - woven, coiled, and fabricated

My grandfather's uncle, who was a Mekubal (or just insane, who knows), used to make silver jewelery that I think you would find appealing. I'll see if I can get my father to take some pictures.

Carolyn, those are simply brilliant. I lpve them all!

(And to think I've never gone further than making fridge magnets with these!)

These are fun, Carolyn. I wish you luck with them.

flyfish, on May 14 2007, 09:25 PM, said:

Great minds, etc. (I made a fuckload of them several years back. I do rather like them still).

Nice work, Carolyn. I particularly like the Old Bitch.

They remind me of a pin that R. brought back from Chicago many years ago.

I love the pin, Lippy (I'm a huge fan of incorporating found objects). GG - if you have any you'd like to get rid of, let me know -- I'm always on the look-out for especially old or rare ones. I'm happy to trade!

Thanks, everyone, for your support! I'm still treading lightly. The intensive I took several weeks ago was on "Textile Techniques in Metal" with noted artist, Arline Fisch. I figure that all those knitting skills can be put to use with the weaving, etc. I'll continue to share as I continue to explore those *new* techniques.

Very impressive! Were you (or are you still) working in another field?

I LOVE them, Carolyn, especially the top one...The play into the Chanel, "WEear the fakes as if they're real, and the real as tho they were fakes"....And I love the found objects!

Abbylovi, on May 15 2007, 04:16 AM, said:

Well, I've done lots of things... Nine years ago, less than a month after graduating with an MFA, I went to cooking school while working as a tech writer for a dot-com. Not having the stamina for kitchen work, after getting my cooking certificate, I became a catering manager for the Patina Group at the Music Center in Los Angeles and did a lot of private cooking-for-hire. Hating Los Angeles and wanting to learn more about wine, 4 1/2 years ago I moved to Napa and worked at a handful of wineries in various capacities. I also started doing considerable freelance writing (and starting a blog, like so many wanna-be writers).

18 months ago I walked away from the food and wine world entirely when I entered into a new relationship. The new BF and I started a practically self-running ISP which we manage from our apartment and has enabled me to travel and relax and re-awaken my dormant artistic training.

BTW, here are a few other samples of things I have done recently that don't involve found objects:


Necklace & Earring set - 14k gold, sterling silver, freshwater pearls


Necklace & Earring set - 14k gold Keum Boo, sterling silver

So lovely! Have you checked out Etsy? It's an online community of artists, all selling their handmade pieces.

Thank you, Liza! When I gave up jewelry, the internet was in its infancy as far as these online sale communities were concerned (I was selling stuff on eBay and my sale items were still in the 700,000s for their numbering system!).

I now have to start from scratch to find the online art community and have queried some friends to see if there are chat groups like MF for jewelers... have yet to find one yet.

Caroline, those are gorgeous!

Everything is gorgeous. I love the Grand Dame brooch. And the new pieces are stunning.

Recently a girlfriend and I were wandering Japantown and we stumbled on the selection of those boxes of gum that contain miniature plastic food. I have no idea what the product is called, but there are literally HUNDREDS of versions available (See Japanese Site Here). A few years ago, I got some that had miniature hot pots, tempura, and woks. This time I stumbled on some that had miniature desserts. I thought they were so delightful and whimsical, I made some into rings:



I especially like the idea of setting them in gold for some reason:



Just sorry my Nikon is on the fritz but I'll be getting better pictures of these and making a lot more! The cool part is that I have an unlimited supply of potential designs just across the street -- I just have to keep buying little boxes!

Carrie those are STUNNING!!! I love it.

I LOVE these....Being Asian, I guess there aren't any cheese-y things?

OTOH, a sushi ring...Oooooh...

Anything is possible - I just gotta go buy a bunch of those boxes!

Carrie, if you're going to sell any, lemme know!

Oh, undoubtedly... these pics were taken with my iPhone and I need to make a bunch more and then get better photos taken. Just another thing on my list to do!

I looked at that website, and I gottah say, your Japanese must be better than mine; I couldn't even find any pictures of food, despite clicking like a madwoman....

Nah - I just clicked through a lot. For example, here is Italian and heres' the Pastry shop and here is some of that Sushi you wanted!

Beautiful work! The rings are so much fun! I also really love the Perrier Jouet necklace. I stumbled onto your website with the Kabbalah jewelry awhile back (probably linked through your Feast blog) and my husband and I both thought that work was stunning!

Oh, you did better than I did, but these are SO much fun...According to the website, you're getting ones made for the Japanese market...Now I have to find a place to get them in Boston....

Well, I live across the street from Japantown in San Francisco so they are obviously being exported. Apparently I hit a good jack-pot by buying one entitled Gourmet Department Store from the Elegant Sweets line. From that last linked page, you can see on the left, all the choices I have (including one called "Farmers Market").

Carolyn, these are fabulous! What's cool about the Grand Dame one is no one would know what that is if they aren't familiar with champagne. Love the weaving technique on the PJ and PR pieces too.

Well, I've been hinting about it long enough -- and just a few minutes ago, it came to fruition. I have a newly designed website which I am exceedingly proud of: Carolyn Tillie.com

Congratulations Carrie!

(Why oh why did I never get my ears pierced?)

congratulations! beautiful!

wow!

Very nice!

Caroline, very elegant everything, congratulations!

Carrie, it's gorgeous!!

Carrie, I love the confection box of 4 rings. Everything looks gorgeous.

Excellent website, displaying some lovely stuff, and it's great fun.

The image bottom left of the home page doesn't show for me.

Beautiful site, Carolyn. Also, I just looked at the Re-ment link -- did you see the airline meal collection?

I did the same as you - even the cutlery in the plastic bag!

It doesn't exist yet -- I was so anxious to have something out there that I decided to launch it while that section is still under development. I figured it was better than nothing...

When I started the adventure, I literally purchased one box from every Re-Ment series. I have HUNDREDS of little plates, forks, food-bits, etc lying around now. There are some pieces of jewelry I have made that I didn't post on the site but maybe I'll photograph and show here; like a brooch with an entire Okonomiyaki dinner complete with soup, sake, chopsticks, etc. But it is the sushi bits that I am so fond of and want to continue pursuing and I have Galleygirl to thank for it with this suggestion!


Everyone - thank you so much for the encouragement and compliments. I have had such a great response so far from those who are seeing and wearing them here in San Francisco, that I have registered the websites bentoboxjewelry.com and bentojewelry.com

Here is a picture which I think might be the landing page (which has a few additional pieces on it that are not yet up on the site -- a brooch and a pair of chopstick earrings holding some nigiri):

Yeah, but I think sushi earrings may be even more fabulous! SOOOOOOOOO elegant..

Here is a pic of Nigiri on chopstick earrings which the designer left off the site -- I put two different types of nigiri on them but they could be customized with matching nigiri or mix-and-match.

I love ALL of them....the chopsticks with the pearls are great, too...what kind of backs?

Same here. Our security has it tagged with the red X.

They are currently pierced -- but could be made as clip-ons...

Wire hooks or posts? I don't like posts very much. Your work is gorgeous. I love the bento box display--so beautiful. Really, in Japantown, you can get so many of these miniatures that aren't available many places in the U.S., so it's perfect.

Carrie are you just planning to sell your work through the web site or are you going to do some of the high-end crafts fairs?

There's a good question -- I used to work the fair circuit and it is extremely brutal. It is also expensive (you have to have all those display cases and for often and where are they stored when they are not used -- or, can they be rented?) I would love to get the exposure that those high-end craft fairs get, but I couldn't do it alone and would also have to have a TON of stock made.

For the time being, I will be looking for product placement in stores, I think, as well as some advertising media. I have a friend who is trying to get me some placement on the UrbanDaddy site. After I am done moving away from the Ex (in two weeks!), I'll be researching how to mass-produce a few of the pieces (the Maki rings, for example) and also hiring a Sales Rep.

Have you seen Etsy.com?

I'm a MAJOR fan of etsy (as a buyer, not a seller).

I have perused ETSY but am curious -- how does one get noticed? It seems like a huge mishmash of stuff that is available. I'm afraid my work would just get pushed down a few pages and never get seen.

I've registered, but I haven't put my damned furniture up there yet! What have you bought?

Like I said, I haven't put my stuff up yet, but each listing is dirt cheap...If you want to be featured, they have these showcases you can get onto, that work on some kind of shuffle basis, and you select the days of the month you want your stuff highlighted....They schedule weekend days, and stuff like that...i have been quite lazy, but it's quite reasonable....

I'm feathering my nest so I just bought a few photographs. One thing I got: I wanted some Brooklyn "flair" so I worked with a photographer on a really cool Coney Island image. I also got a few pillows for my couch. What I like also is that you can just go around tagging things as "favorites" and then see how they all go together.

Carolyn: I think it's the way you "tag" your merch, which is how I found my items. So if people are searching for food rings or a bean bracelet (imagine Rancho on any given evening)...well there ya go. Look at how the artists tag there stuff and you can get an idea of it.

Carrie, I'm also registered for an Etsy shop featuring my knits and my mom's glass, but I also haven't listed anything yet. I do like the site and I know a lot of people peruse it, but I don't know how to get your stuff noticed.

the martha stewart folks peruse etsy regularly for "new artists" to feature

It's this Showcase thingie....
Etsy Showcase

And how to do it....
Showcase FAQ

Thank you Galleygirl!!! My mom and are going to be talking tonight about getting her glass online that this will be perfect and worth every penny. It's all about exposure.

Do as I say, not as I do....

Maybe this'll kick my butt into gear.....

That must be where they get those nutcases making felted mice drinking tea.....

hey someone must be buying those felted meeses

I may be getting cynical here, but when they have these craftspeople do their stuff on Martha, she always seems to have one of their patterns on her website...I wonder what they're getting when they give that up,and do the easy to follow demo on her show? They get to make their own meeses....

The Just Desserts jewelry line was sent out last week to be photographed. The first images were sent back to me today and I am *very* happy with my new photographer...

Tartlet Earrings



Tartlet Brooch



Ice Cream Suite



Cupcake Earrings



Assorted Cupcake Rings



More pics tomorrow!

I'd post congratulations here, but I'm mostly just jealous. Way to go, Ms Tillie.

Most of these are from the Pierre Hermé series...

Heart Cake Necklace


Macaron Bracelet


Swirl Cake


And these bracelets -- which I am not sure what to call them...

You're fucking fantastic.

Just out of curiosity (and since I spend much of my day working on these issues), do the manufacturers of the miniatures know that you are reselling them under your name? You might also want to reconsider using Pierre Herme's name in your promotion because I'm sure he is very protective of his trademark.

Yeah, I had to jump through many hoops and sign many releases to even obtain the miniatures in the quantity needed. Now whether or not the manufacturing company notified Pierre Hermé himself is a different story and out of my hands...

Just a friendly warning: it may drop right back in your hands with a "cease and desist" (or worse) if the proper permissions aren't in place, especially if you are using his name to promote the items in question.