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 🙏

I’m Tired

Bipolar is heavy

Sometimes when I am well I think perhaps I made up this thing in my head.

I have had two major episodes recently and I am am in the midst of mania.

Mania isn’t a constant state.

I have bipolar 1, with rapid cycles which means when I’m in an epsode I can quickly cycle between mania and depression (dysphoric mania)

I always take my medication as prescribed, I do everything in my power to stay stable.

Life is stressful, I cannot control everything in my own life.

Life is messy.

I had the ambulance called

I had a public meltdown

I stepped out of a moving car during a panic attack.

And I have been struggling just to stay emotionally stable.

Bipolar reminds me it is real

I recently said to my husband that I’m too tired to mask, mania is exhausting.

But I mask still

For family when and if they call.

My illness is real, and I have to pretend for some people it’s not.

Some people refuse to see it,

It makes me feel like I have to have breakdown in front of their eyes.

Talk to my kids, talk to my husband, they have seen me break.

I have an illness that has made a stable life challenging,

I have to pretend I don’t for some people

It’s like pretending I don’t have a toothache so people don’t feel sorry for me

Eventually I can’t pretend

Eventually the pain gets exhausting

I’ve heard the stigma

It’s an excuse

A made up thing for sympathy

A ploy to get free money.

I mask, I still mask because those who should love me can’t be bothered to believe me, and go about supporting strangers for likes.

It is isolating and heavy, because masking causes me great distress,

I need routine

I live with such severe anxiety, since childhood

I struggle to leave my home…..my body can do it, my brain makes me afraid something bad will happen.

This is mental illness.

I fight my brain to get out of my house to take photos, and I love taking photos.

I fight my brain constantly

And I’m tired

Tired of trying to prove my struggle, and tired of living with bipolar.

Make it something

I’ve doodled since childhood. When I was a kid I would practice staying in the lines almost obsessively, I was determined to perfect the skill.

As a teenager I excelled in my art classes working so hard to perfect every technique I was taught. I loved learning new things in that class.

Recently I’ve made a rule for myself. “If you don’t like it, make it art”

Often when I doodle I give up if a drawing isn’t going in a direction I like, but recently I’ve challenged myself to keep going and make it art.

I love this process.

All of the drawings above were mistakes I pushed through.

We can make something of imperfect things.

That to me is hopeful.