Running Around

Yet another gray day here in Baltimore. I've been running all over delivering orders and sending packages out at the Post office. It seems like my experience at the Post office varies depending on who I get at the counter... I was told today that I could not get delivery confirmation for any of my packages because they were too small. Even though I've ALWAYS gotten it and I haven't changed my packaging in ages. Who knows. On a lighter note, finished baking these divine sweet potato tea biscuits.  Now I'm off to refill my collections gearing up for Ridgley's show on the 14th.  Have a great Halloween Weekend everyone!

New Tools

So I've been looking into updating my jewelers tools as of late. Since one of my hammers recently broke,  I've been searching for a set of new ones. To an artists there are a seemingly endless assortment of tools to choose from. However many find that over time a select number of tools become their favorite or most important. To me that is my planishing hammer. I use that little hammer for EVERYTHING! So I'm a bit sad that I have to replace it.  Oh well! What things are you attached to?

Photos courtesy of Romazone.

Shop Open!

Hello!! So It's another dreary day here  but despite the bad weather, I have some good news! The shop at 1000 markets is finally up and running! Hooray! So if you were unable to attend the show this past weekend, here is your chance to view a sampling of my designs. Let me know what you think!  

Shop Appus Design Here!

THANK YOU!

A HUGE Thank you to all the people who made it out to see me at the Home Show this weekend! What a wonderful show it was! It is always a great joy to be able to connect and talk with people and to display my work on such a personal level. We had a lot of new faces and I think that is incredibly wonderful. 

I'm also very very pleased that  people showed interest in my new metals collection. That is so great because I'm hoping to incorporate much more of that into my new work from here on out. 

Also, if you couldn't make it out this weekend, select works will be up for sale  with free shippng on 1000 markets later this evening. I will post the link when it is up!

Again, thank you everyone for coming out and making this one of the most enjoyable shows all around!  Now I'm going to take a small break and RELAX :) Have a great rest of the weekend!

-Amy

See You There!

New Citrine and Tundra Sapphire Earrings

Stopping in to say HI before I go over and start setting up for the Show this weekend! Hope everyone is excited, I sure am! Did you know it's been over a year since I last had a Public Home Show?  Because of the new house and getting married this past year, I wasn't able to organize it until now. This is one of my very favorite shows so I'm really looking forward to it! 

See you all this weekend!

Appus Design Home Show

Saturday Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

 

Follow my blog or twitter by signing up on the right hand side and receive 10% off your next Appus Design Jewelry Purchase!

E-mail me at:

 

AppusDesign@yahoo.com 

if you would enjoy receiving an invite to this years Home Show!

Why Buy Handmade?

Just wanted to share this with everyone! Excerpt taken from buyhandmade.org.  I took the pledge what about you??

Buy Handmade Video from Etsy on Vimeo.

Why buy handmade?

Buying Handmade makes for better gift-giving.

 

The giver of a handmade gift has avoided the parking lots and long lines of the big chain stores in favor of something more meaningful. If the giver has purchased the gift, s/he feels the satisfaction of supporting an artist or crafter directly. The recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention that can be seen and touched. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.

Buying handmade is better for the environment.

 

The accumulating environmental effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make or purchase from a small-scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production.

Buying handmade is better for people.

 

The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumers, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost. Buying handmade helps us reconnect.

Insight into My Process

Working steadily is easier for me on rainy days. So today I got a LOT finished being that it drizzled all day long.

 This is one of the newest necklaces to make up the fall/winter collection.  I've always liked working in multiples, I like the idea of the collective and the visual strength of objects in groups, and this year I've started fleshing out that idea. I'm slowly starting to understand what motivates my creative process and am in the middle of reflecting on my designs and putting together a formal written artist statement. This is an exciting step in the new direction I am heading with my work and I hope everyone will enjoy watching me grow as an Artist!

Reminder:

Appus Design Home Show

Saturday Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

 

Follow my blog or twitter by signing up on the right hand side and receive 10% off your next Appus Design Jewelry Purchase!

E-mail me at:

 

AppusDesign@yahoo.com 

if you would enjoy receiving an invite to this years Home Show!

1000 Markets Trunk Show

Don't have much time tonight, but decided from the e-mail feedbacks that I will go ahead and list select items for an online Trunk Show in my Shop at 1000 Markets in conjunction with the Home show on the 24-25. This will give people who cannot attend the opportunity to purchase. The Trunk Show will be online starting  Friday the 23rd - Monday the 26th.  I will post a link to the online Show when it gets closer!  Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Appus Design Home Show

Saturday Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

 

Follow my blog or twitter by signing up on the right hand side and receive 10% off your next Appus Design Jewelry Purchase!

E-mail me at:

 

AppusDesign@yahoo.com 

if you would enjoy receiving an invite to this years Home Show!

Metal Work Preview

Just popping by to show my newest metalwork! Lovely Brushed Sterling and Brass Studs with a matching pendant.  Will be on sale on at the Home Show! 

Also toying with the idea of having  a  3 day online trunk show with select pieces to buy for people that are not in the area or cannot attend the Home Show. 

What do you think?

Appus Design Home Show

Saturday Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

 

Follow my blog or twitter by signing up on the right hand side and receive 10% off your next Appus Design Jewelry Purchase!

E-mail me at:

 

AppusDesign@yahoo.com 

if you would enjoy receiving an invite to this years Home Show!

Upcoming Fall Home Show

Returned to the ever chillier studio today to finish the small details for the Fall Home Show! I hope everyone is excited for this years (one and only) Home Show. 

I know I've been talking about debuting my metals collection forever now, and I always seem to be unhappy with the collection at the last minute and decide not to show it. But this year since we are only doing one big  Home show, I decided that I MUST  show at least a small collection of my new metal work. So I'll take the time now and promise everyone that if you come you will get to see some new directions in Brass and Sterling!

Appus Design Home Show

Saturday Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

 

Follow my blog or twitter by signing up on the right hand side and receive 10% off your next Appus Design Jewelry Purchase!

E-mail me at:

 

AppusDesign@yahoo.com 

if you would enjoy receiving an invite to this years Home Show!

100th Post /Show Recap

Today is my 100th Blog Post! Hooray! and it's way overdue :) but wonderful all the same.

The Oakland Mills Cultural Arts Show would have been a really great show if it had not been for the horrible gusty-rainy weather. As something horrible and funny, we had to run over to the local Food Lion this morning because we forgot the weights for the canopy. So using Duct tape and Family size Clorox Bleach bottles, we tamed the wind until they moved us inside. 

All I have to say is this: You don't know unless you try, and Murphy's Law is LAW at any outdoor show :)

Thank you everyone who did come out to support me  in the rain and I hope you all are excited for the Fall Home show! I know I am. 

Remeber to e-mail me if you would love to receive an invite at AppusDesign@yahoo.com. 

Now I'm going to get a good 8 hours of much needed sleep. Have a great rest of the weekend!

( p.s.   Finished filling the rack with new designs! )

Show Tomorrow!

Small update: Home Show invites arrived today! E-mail me if you are not on my  mailing list and would enjoy receiving an invite! 

AppusDesign@yahoo.com

Also Tomorrow come out and see me at Oakland Mills Cultural Festival  if you have the chance, I'll be showing some new designs as well as the popular vintage collection from the Spring! Mention the Blog and you'll receive 10% off your purchase.

Today I photographed a good chunk of my current collections and hopefully they will be up on the new website by next week! Have a great weekend!

Insight into my Process

I Love Earrings. I Just love them, they are my favorite item to create. I love the whole process of designing pairs and balancing the weight with the right symmetry to get the perfect feeling on the ear. I also love the speed at which I can produce them as opposed to a necklace design  or bracelet. This brings me to share with you one of my favorite challenges I do to push myself creatively. I like to clear off all of my current designs on a single earrings rack and try to refill it with new designs before the next show.  I usually do this a week or less before the show date and I find that the pressure of a time limit helps me better define what I'm trying to express. It's also just plain fun! Below is a photo of the cleared display rack, up top is a fresh design and some of the painfully  pink topaz I was working with that got hurled into my poor eyeball. Good Night!

Fill 'er Up!

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REMINDER:

Appus Design Home Show

Saturay Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

 

Follow my blog or twitter by signing up on the right hand side and receive 10% off your next Appus Design Jewelry Purchase!

Photo Shoot Revisited

My Friend and Model Nicole reminded me of the photo shoot we did a while back and I realized that although I've been using the materials, I've never officially uploaded them to the web! They are great photos and I really enjoyed the shoot. Here are some of the photos courtesy of my great photographer friend Katie and also a video courtesy of my wonderful Artist Friend Caitlin. Enjoy!

 Hopefully we'll be collaborating again for another shoot sometime soon. You can see the rest of the stills on my Flickr site. Enjoy!

Wear it Before Evening

The time really flew by today! I just finished a mini collection of Silver and Rock crystal pieces. They go with anything and they sparkle. I've been reading Libba Bray's The Sweet Far Thing, 

and there was a part that read: " She wore diamonds before evening!... It was the talk of London. She'll never make that mistake again!" I just had the urge to make diamond inspired pieces after that. So here they are! By the way, I wear diamonds before evening :) 

Appus Design Home Show

Saturay Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

Follow Me Promotion!

Happy Monday! So I just finished sending off for the home show invites, they are simple and I love them. Here's the fun part: on each postcard is a promotion to save 10% on your next Appus Design Jewelry purchase simply by becoming a follower of this blog or on Twitter! You can sign up easily on the right hand side of this page! So this is a nice early sneak savings before the cards are even out. I'll be in the studio/ out on the track running today! 

Appus Design Home Show

Saturay Oct. 24

11 am - 4 pm

Sunday Oct. 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

New Work

It's a lovely Sunday afternoon here and I just wanted to stop doing yard work to share a photo of some new ideas!  Also, if you are interested in my work and what I'm doing, feel free to become a Follower on my Blog by following the link on the right hand side of the page. Hope everyone got outside today!

New Beads!

It's like Christmas here today! I finally got my new shipment of sparkling new supplies. Be sure to check out the Shop this week as I'll be listing some of these new beauties! I have a whole bunch of ENORMOUS faceted onion cut gems this time around. I'm not going to lie, they are to die for. Vibrant Amethyst, Mystic Topaz, Blue Mystic quartz, Rock crystal just to name a few! You can e-mail me as well if you are interested in any of these lovely gemstones. I'm so excited to get to work with these!

The Messy Studio : 6pm 

The More organized Studio: 10pm

These are just 2 pictures of the studio cleaning I did a few nights ago, things are looking much better now! I'll try and get some photos up when I get the new work table installed!

Went to Sugar loaf today and had fun looking around, tomorrow: Lawn work! Have a great weekend everyone!

As seen in the Studio

Good Morning! I finished cleaning out the studio for the  10000000th time last night! What a chore! It was worth it though because now I feel like I can get 10x the amount of work done. The photo up top is a neat formation of melted plastic from  the drills friction heating up enough to melt the shavings coming off the bead. I thought it was rather pretty, like an ice formation.  The other photo is the strand of HUGE sparkling Pyrite nuggets that I'm excited to work with today!  All new work will be presented at the Fall Home Show!

Reminder to everyone that the Official date and time for the Fall Home Show is 

OCTOBER  24 & 25

SATURDAY       11 - 4 pm

SUNDAY            12 - 3 pm