About my art and jewelry

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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 🙏

Space

My life has a lot of challenges, these past few months have been really difficult for a number of reasons, and there is still a lot of good.

In September my husband and I celebrated 28 years married, and often we spend our anniversaries reflecting on our years together, we have been through so much change, grief, celebration, good seasons and hard seasons, and we remain together through it all.

One of my recent thoughts were about the space he’s given to become myself again, to engage in the things that bring me joy, things like my photography and art. He has seen the things I’m good at and he often tells me he’s proud of me, and hearing that has been healing. So much of my life others overlooked me, and he sees me. It’s given me space to come back to myself, to express my weirdness through my art, hes given me space to be free being me. To me that is a gift, a person who sees you and loves you and encourages to be the most you you can be.

His love has also taught me that I don’t have to accept less, being treated as less, or being seen as less even with my challenges.

My art isn’t for everyone, it gets weirder as I get older. He often tells me my recent doodles are his favourite, he encourages me to keep going, to keep expressing. I’m so thankful for the space he's given me to become me again.

Being perceived

One of the greatest challenges as a neurodivergent person is deep discomfort with being perceived, the fear of being perceived keeps me frozen. I avoid tasks if others are around, I prefer to do most things when I’m alone, this has always been the case for me. I’ve been reading about this fear recently in hopes to understand why I struggle so much with this, and I think it stems from being misperceived . Growing up I was very shy, I preferred to play mostly alone, and was only comfortable with a few select people, I’m still like this. My differences were pointed out, often times in front of others, and when you’re introverted being centered out is deeply embarrassing. Years ago when I was going through the process of diagnosis I was asked about my childhood experiences and I contacted a relative of mine I spent a lot of time with, she was a teacher for disabled children, I use to go stay with her and her family whenever I could, she told me her and my mom believed I walk to the beat of my own drum, this description is what many neurodivergent people hear, we do things and exist differently then most. Having differences pointed out but not understanding why I was different created a deep internal anxiety in almost every social interaction I had as a kid, and even now. Social interaction is still often overwhelming, and I avoid it. Social interaction burns me out very fast. This summer I made a plan to visit a friend, as the visit drew closer my anxiety grew, I couldn’t sleep, I became extremely disreguladed and was exhausted by the time I got to the actual visit. It took me over a week to regulate after that visit. Just one social event costs me, it’s ridiculous but it’s my reality. Even visits with people I love disregulate me. For years I pushed myself past my capacity to visit others and it cost me years of burnout recovery. Now I’m very careful with how often I socialize. I don’t think my discomfort of being perceived is going away, I just have to manage it. I try doing small tasks daily even if others are home, I make very selective plans very rarely and I accept myself as a person that loves alone time.