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Sunday, August 31, 2008

parallel

have i already posted about parallel? i don't believe i have so i'll give it a shot right now!

parallel is a step back from exclusively authentic gemstones and ironic asymmetry. it's more about found objects and intricate textures and versatile metals and amusing asymmetry. there are still authentic stones, but they are more of an accent than a focal point. they are incorporated w/ the intent of knitting together a vision of something fun & fanciful all @ once.

check it, yo... parallel.

i know i continue to shift things up between my etsy site and chrystalyn jewelry site, but i just can't seem to help myself. i've been experiementing w/ sales tactics, marketing schemes, & overall diversifying my vision for the business. i believe i'm learning as much of what not to do as i am of what to do. and as far as i'm concerned, that's a good thing.
as for the chrystalyn that you know, i'm finding myself revisiting some of my original designs. it's not b/c i've run out of ideas, certainly not! rather, it's b/c instead of reinventing others' work i think i'm taking on a whole new angle by reinventing my own. this should be interesting!!!




two months later... and counting!

hey all,

i know it's been FOREVER (again) since i've updated and i'm moderately ashamed of myself b/c of it. only moderately, though. (-; this summer has been quite an unusual one.

i worked @ a job for awhile that i believed i would keep for awhile. i was wrong. i am now a regular temp agency worker and it's really not that bad. i very much appreciate the flexibility of working or not working depending on the schedule of my life. i'm also working early in the mornings doing catering & marketing @ a yummy little bagel shop that has honey almond cream cheese. enough said. (-;

i went to visit my momma in washington and got to meet all sorts of cool people. we did a dream seminar and they actually gave me the microphone, if you can believe that! (-; we hit up little towns and did a marathon drive of the state in a hot little convertible. i've got the tan to prove it. i sold a week's salary worth of jewelry and i very much appreciate everyone that purchased. one day, we went to a small town farmer's market and i was super surprised when i realized that the man in the booth serving "texas style" bbq sauce was indeed my uncle chucky. go figure! of course, the bottle is signed by charlie but i know the truth...

i found out that i wasn't accepted to 2nd year and i'm very thankful for that. it took some time to process the whys of my lack of acceptance, but i sort of think i knew ahead of time. i felt obligated, in a sense, to apply since i knew i was staying in redding. i think god knew what he was doing by not giving me the option later to say "what if i had gone to 2nd year." now, realizing it wasn't my next step b/c i very much know that god is sovereign, i can just look forward and enjoy the healthy suspense of what is to come this year for me. i was sort of excited about 2nd year, but i was really excited about the thought of building this year. traveling and building is what my heart longs for right now...

on that note, i've decided very much to focus wholeheartedly on creating right now. i'm working on redoing my 2nd piece of furniture right now. as soon as it's done, you'll be able to view it @ www.chrystalyn.etsy.com under the listing of vintage. i've also expanded into doing some other things w/ my jewelry. it's all still under the chrystalyn name, but i'm moving beyond strictly authentic gemstones and into some fun vintage found objects as well. these pieces, though still under chrystalyn, are catagorized in my shop as parallel. this section will be more expansive in materials, but no less quality work. you'll also notice that i've got an entire section devoted to vintage reworked, which is exclusively vintage in origin and maybe just done up in a more "now" way. overall, i'm just focusing on expansion as a whole. i'm pursuing the idea of elevating my creativity into a new level past hobby status. i'll also be booking holiday shopping shows for anyone who is in the area and would like to be a hostess. and just for the record, there are rewards for hosting...

in the last few months, things did not play out as i would have thought. i wanted to have my job as soon as school was out and being able to put back money for either 2nd year or for a new creative project. that did not happen, but i am very thankful for the way things have played out. if you had asked me a few months ago how my 1st year experience was, i might has given a slightly jaded expression and it probably would have taken me awhile to knit together a few breakthrough laced strings of events. i'm happy to say now, though, that i have received the vision for this past year... only backwards and in hindsight. i had vision coming out, but i must say it was exceptionally colored by the ideal world that my brain loves to reside in. ironically, god doesn't ever seem to manifest that world through my circumstances. in fact, and on the contrary, i think he very much enjoys simultaniously showing me what a incapable thing i am and how amazing i am all @ once through high pressure incidents, and often one after another. i'll admit that used to bother me. it bothered me until i realized that i wasn't really able to successfully foil the unthinkable plans of the creator of heaven and earth. this revelation both humbles and comforts me. and if i'd not learned anything else in the last year but only that, i'd enthusiastically agree that this was a good thing to do...

all of this is to say that i am in a good place and i think it's beginning to show in amidst my countenance as it's not shown before. if that's not proof of progress, i don't know what is!

love and miss,
chrystal lynn