About my art and jewelry

Hello, this is just a post for information and clarity sake.

if your wondering where the flowers, fern, mushroom and other items come from that I use in my work, they come from my yard and from the town I live in on the sides of the road. I do not gather from national parks and I do not take more then I need to, I leave enough of everything so it can reseed and continue healthy growth.

Update

If you are wondering about my findings, the chains are made of stainless steel, I use a sturdy chain so it does not easily break, I also offer rope as another option, just specify what you would like. For earring hooks I use brass plated in silver. Everyone reacts differently to findings, if you you are having a reaction let me know I’ll send you new findings to try, also if you know you will react let me know when ordering and I’ll make your earrings with different findings.

UPDATE

if you are wondering about the resin I use, I use high quality casting resin that takes 72 hours to cure, I then sand and polish it with two high quality polishes. In all it takes up to 5 days or more of work from start to finish resin pieces. And they are still not perfect but I endeavour to do my very best.

Resin is in fact a plastic, so there are environmental concerns. Most crafts have an impact on the environment, weather it's metal work, resin, acrylic, even wood, these all have an impact on the environment. I am very aware and conscientious of this. Uncured resin poses the higher risk, but once cured it is recyclable like any other plastic. I take careful precaution to make sure I use all of what I mix, and dispose of left overs carefully once cured. I make in small batches for the specific purpose of preserving plants to create jewelry. Resin jewelry once worn out (5+years) it can then be recycled. I do not do large pours.

If you are wondering about a return policy, if you receive a broken item or your item breaks within two weeks of receiving it contact me and I will gladly remake and resend your item or reimburse you. other wise there are no returns.

If you are wondering about the size of my jewelry it can be found in the description tab of each item, I’m also available to answer any questions or concerns you may have, and I usually answer pretty quickly 😊

if your wondering about feedback and reviews. I am always open to kind hearted feedback, I prefer not to give an option for reviews as I’ve seen it used to drag businesses and people through the mud. My work is not perfect, it is handmade, there will be flaws, but if you find my work is very poor please feel free to inbox me and let me know so we can work things out.

If you are wondering about my paintings or drawing, I have limited time to do large amounts of my art but I do periodically post my art in my shop. I usually work with high quality ink and high quality watercolour on 100% cotton paper. The size of each piece of art will vary but will be noted in the descriptions.

About my prices, pricing has been very challenging for me, each piece takes a different amount of time and a different amount of material. I try to keep my prices fair and low. Things are priced according to time and materials.

packaging and shipping

I’ve changed my packaging is plastic free, the envelopes are made from recycled paper grocery bags, and the wrapping to keep my pieces safe and unscratched is a simple brown recyclable tissue wrapped with brown twine. I stamp each package with an ink made from oak trees and voila no plastic, much better looking packages and much better for the environment 😊

I have had to add a $5 shipping fee (untracked) because to package and ship is quite expensive, and most of my packages are larger then the basic mail. I have made it a flat fee to keep things simple. If you need express shipping with tracking please message me to arrange it. It costs $12+ for tracking. Most packages arrive within 14 business days within Canada, I do not ship outside of Canada unless you are family. If you do not receive you’re package within the 14 day time frame please let me know so I can either refund or resend. I have had packages get lost in the mail, only a handful of times, most packages find their way back to me eventually. It is sooo important you check your address is correct and include an apartment number if you live in one BEFORE you place your order, the time it takes for a package to return to me because of a wrong address is quite slow, and not guaranteed, so check your info, and I’ll check to, I have made mistakes in addresses as well.

Prices

Recently many of my materials have risen in price, so I’ve to raised my prices. I still try to keep my prices as low as I can, and will continue to work to keep my prices fair.

I apologize if this a challenge for any of my customers. But as always I will have sales so there will always be opportunities to get things at a lower price.

Finally a note as an artist and maker, I am a real person and I am really grateful, It is such a joy to get to create and I am incredibly thankful to all those who have taken the chance and bought anything I’ve made. Allowing me to do what I love, to grow, to learn is a blessing and I’m so thankful to those who have been on this journey with me as I’ve stepped out and shared what I love. Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏

The Tell Tale Heart

One of my favourite writers is Edgar Allan Poe. I love dark stories, and he is the OG of gothic horror. I especially love “The Tell Tale Heart”. It’s about a man who plots the death of an old wealthy man simply because he doesn’t like the old man much. The young man thought he could rid himself of the judgment he felt from the old man by killing him. He longed to free himself from the eye of judgment. He murders and burys the old man beneath the floor boards. Soon after the murder the man spirals into madness, the guilt of his actions become so loud the young man begins to think he can hear the old man’s heart beat beneath the floor boards.

My son and I read this story recently that was similar, it was about a man who plotted another man’s death because of a bad business deal, he strangled the man in his car then had to drag the body out to sea to dispose of it. He throws the man’s dead body on his back to walk it out to sea, and as he walks to the water the body goes into rigor mortis and the body clenches around his own. The man can’t get the body off of him once in the water and he drowns with the man he murdered clinging to him.

These stories are disturbing, but they are also human. They speak to that deep feeling of guilt we as humans experience when we harm others. We may try to tell ourselves our hurtful actions are justified in the moment, but if you’re a person with a conscience hurting others will keep you up at night. The choice to harm or wrong others won’t relieve pain but compound it.

When I was in grade one I stole erasers from a desk next to me in my class at school, and those erasers burned in my pocket, I was up night after night with the guilt. My mom found the erasers and asked me about them, and I immediately burst into tears, I had no idea why I took them but I knew it was wrong, they were all I thought of for days. I felt deeply guilty, I was relieved when I was finally able to tell the truth. The Tell Tale Heart reminds me of that awful feeling of knowing when you’ve done wrong, and how our conscience won’t give any relief from the guilt until we are honest about it.

The man in Poe’s story thinks he can hear the heart beat of the old man beneath the floor boards and it drives him mad. His conscience is so loud he can’t stand it.

I love stories where seemingly good or normal every day people do bad things thinking it will fix their momentary situation, only to find new problems.

I’ve watched a few series that follow a similar story line

https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81900129?s=i&trkid=264293154&vlang=en&trg=cp

https://tv.apple.com/ca/show/bad-sisters/umc.cmc.14kr4vv65unannh7doqgvlh20

I loved the recent depiction of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, I hope someone will take on something similar with Edgar Allan Poe’s writing.

If you’ve never read “The Tell Tale Heart”, you can find a free YouTube audio version linked below.

👇🏻

https://youtu.be/u3EajvQ5UJE?si=Q47UU4MAuGl5lex4

Boring is beautiful

Toxic positivity is more then just pointing out the bright side, it’s also sharing only the bright side, it’s curating what you share to make it appear as though only happy days count, it’s sharing only your accomplishments and hiding your failures. Social media is a facade and I have to remind myself of that when I choose to engage. I appreciate those that share their hard days, their grief, their lessons learned, I appreciate those that paint a more realistic picture of life. I think the younger audience needs people to be real, to share that life is made of boring moments as well, and that those moments aren’t without meaning. I find in quiet boring moments I leave space for imagination and creativity, I fill those moments with books and art, or listening to an album from beginning to end. Moments that are not shared are often the most beautiful.