Kiva- Helping One Micro-Loan at a Time

I've been a lender on Kiva for a about nine months now and have just made my 4th loan. One loan has been paid back, by a seamstress from Mexico. Two other loans are in the process of being paid back, by a beautician in Pakistan, and the other a retailer in Peru. The loan I just made is to the lady below. I've quoted from Kiva's site.

"Mrs Nguyễn Thị Kiên is 49 years old. She is a participating member of TYM since 2003. She has had 5 rounds of loans already. She uses all her loans to buy sedge to weave mats. Her family living condition has considerably improved: she has been able to buy the goods for her household including a TV set. Since this type of business brings her cash flow, it makes it easy for her to make the weekly payment. Her income is around 250 USD a month. She also produces sedge herself on her own field. This is why she has to renew the soil once in a while. This time she is requesting 500 USD to buy sedge and fertilizer for her field. "

I really enjoy lending the money. At first I thought of it as a donation, then the first loan was paid off, and I realized it was a loan. So far I have put the repayment back into another loan. I think micro-lending is such a great idea. It gives people a way to help themselves and seems to be wildly successful. If you want to check out the Kiva site, click on the Kiva banner below.

Peak into a 'Steampunk' Workshop

Here's a short video on Steampunk mods.

Steampunk Times

Recently I started reading about Steampunk on Melanie's Earthenwood Studio Chronicles blog (over 20 posts relating to steampunk so far and lots of cool beads) and read a New York Times article about Steampunk fashion. Right now this is kind of a fringe movement that is moving quickly toward mainstream; and I am entirely fascinated by it.

Basically, Steampunk combines a fascination with the Victorian age and invention, including inventions that didn't happen until well after the Victorian age and a do-it-yourself, anti-mass production mentality. It's the Victorian age that might have been, but wasn't, kind of like a Jules Verne novel come to life. If you saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, well...that was heavily "steampunked," as was The Time Machine. Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation of Steampunk.

Here's an article by Richard Morgan about Steampunk.

I'm not sure just where I'll be going with my Steampunk fascination but I will admit I have some goggles. Goggles are the must-have accessory and can be worn around the neck, on the head, or on the face.

And I have a couple of semi-Victorian/military type jackets that I purchased a couple of years ago before I had heard of steampunk. I dug my riding boots and my Doc Martens out of the closet and am trying to remember where I put that actual Victorian shirt I have. Probably it's too small for me, but I could make a pattern....

Home Again & Exhausted

I've just finished doing ArtFest 2008, which was at Fair Park in Dallas. The architecture at Fair Park is wonderful and someday soon I have to go up there with my camera. There are seven museums on the complex and it's worth going just to look at the buildings. I couldn't find any pictures that were good on the web, but you can go here and look at a small picture of the tower building. My booth was in front of the tower building. To quote from the City of Dallas website: "Designated a National Historic Landmark, Fair Park has the largest collection of 1930s Art Deco architecture in the United States and is the only unaltered pre-1950s World's Fair site in the nation." They just don't build like this anymore.

It was pretty hot at ArtFest, and this early in the year I'm not used to the heat. The crowd there was more "arty" than many of the shows I do, and they were really looking for different, artistic things. There was also some very fine art. I was able to briefly look at some of sculptor G. M. Webb's work. He has dimensional wire work faces that are outstanding and very unique. None of his recent work is on his website. The work shown on the website was flatter than what I saw at the show. He told me he shaped the wire with his fingers, no tools.

The show started Friday evening with a wine tasting and stroll, and continued through Saturday and Sunday.

Main Street Days are Over

I'm back from Main Street Days in Grapevine, Texas. The hours were long (10 am to 11:30 pm) so it was an exhausting show. It was a good show though so I'm pleased. I sold lots of Swarovski earrings, as well as pearl and gemstone necklaces, and one of my twisted wire bracelets.

I tried out a new booth display, below. I like the way it looked so I'm going to keep doing it. Everything is heavy enough that I don't have to worry about things blowing over, although I sometimes have to weight the acrylic earring stands. The shelving unit in the back and the two wire female mannequin forms came from Hobby Lobby. They gave my display some much needed height.

From the left side of the booth to the right are:



The Pearl table.



new shelf display

gemstone table with new wire mannequins

Every time I thought to take a picture of the complete booth there were too many people walking by or in the booth.

News and Events

Last week brought news that I have been accepted to the ArtFest 2008 in Dallas, and Red River Revel in Shreveport. This is good news, but it means I really have to get busy and produce some jewelry because I now have three big shows in four weeks in May and June. Red River Revel will be in October, so I have a little more time for that one. I missed my first scheduled show, Azalea Trails, due to illness.

This week I'm setting up my canopy once again and trying out some new display features. Plus I'm going to spray the canopy top with Scotch Guard for about the 10th time. It doesn't seem to help much anymore. I think it's about time for a new canopy.

Back to work!

Happy Mother's Day

I've been lucky to have a great Mom! Here she is with Dad at a family wedding a few years ago.


I've always been grateful that Mom (and Dad) brought me up to love other people, not hate. One of my earliest memories is of a time when they protested Jim Crow laws, detailed here. Mom was also supportive when I wanted to join the police department in the late 70's. She was worried about my safety, and I know she was relieved when I retired, but she still supported me.


Mom was the second female real estate broker in the state of Texas, back when men were real estate agents. (Today most agents are women.) She taught me that women could be anything they wanted and that they could be successful in business.


Love you Mom!

Rings & Sparkly Things

I've been working on some rings from Sharilyn Miller's DVD Rings of Beauty. Here are my first results, done in copper before I move on to the much more expensive sterling silver wire. I'm pretty pleased with them.




Here's a detail shot. I can see it's going to take some practice to make a ring a particular size. I start out wrapping the wire around the mandrel, but when I secure the wire later it changes the size a little, especially on the rings with a bead. The beaded rings always seem to come out bigger than I intended. That's what practice is for though, and over all I'm excited about making them and pleased with my initial results.