New blog

We’re moving and updating our blog… needs some clean up.  Please bear with us – it will be purdy pretty soon. 

Big, big news!

Howdy everyone! (Yee-haw!)

So sorry not to have updated in a while, but I have some big news. Times two.

First, Carrie’s work has been published for the very first time (always a milestone!) in this month’s issue of Step-by-Step Beads! I haven’t seen a copy of the issue yet, but she is featured in the “Mothers & Daughters Gallery.” The editors decided to highlight the working relationship between Carrie and her daughters in gaining wider exposure to her artwork and marketing her boxes.

As you may remember, I am her business manager. My sister-in-law, sweet Anna, who is a fantastic professional photographer and amateur interior designer, helps Carrie with the color palette and also photographs the artwork for our Art Fire and Etsy shops. (My brother Stephen, Anna’s hubby, has been involved, as well – he’s been doing some of the photography, editing, and listing on the shops.)

So, it’s a family affair. Definitely.

Anyway, I’m not done with the good news yet!

Carrie has six pieces that have been accepted into and are currently displayed at the ArtFirst! exhibition at the University Medical Center at Princeton. We just got word that her piece “Blushing Trio” has been selected for the most prestigious award at the exhibition – the Juror’s Choice Award. Only three of these are given each year, and one of them was awarded to Carrie! She’s apparently surprised, but I’m not. Are you?

This beadweaver is prolific!

Carrie beads and beads and beads… and each creation seems to top the last.

In other words, she keeps her business manager – aka ME! – both delighted and busy. There’s a reason why I have about 5 times the stock than what shows up on the Etsy page! But I have resolved to do better… my first step towards that goal is to post stuff on the blog, even if I can’t get it up on Etsy right away. These are available for purchase – if you want one that isn’t listed on Etsy yet, simply send me an e-mail at ckoriginals@cox.net for pricing details (or more detailed photos).

This batch of boxes was imparted into my eager hands only a few days ago – Carrie has been keeping herself occupied, as you can see. Prices range from $35 to $165 with free U.S. shipping (a credit is given for international orders).

The tall tower box (which I think I will call Babel when it’s eventually listed on Etsy) is pretty darn cool – it has FOUR compartments – the bottom of the box above is the top for the box below. Take a look at this pretty:

Monday, Monday…

Wow. I’m so looking forward to having my back surgery next month. This past week has been particularly trying re. pain. One thing I love about beading is that it really provides a good distraction, and nobody cares how fast or slow I’m going.

My daughter Amy (who is my business manager) tells me she was contacted by a group that showcases art made by disabled individuals. They’re definitely interested! Add to that “Step By Step”s asking to do a profile on me for their May issue. It looks like we’re beginning to rock and roll… Fortunately, all I really have to do is to keep on beading. Anyway, Amy is doing this for me along with starting her own business (gauchealchemy.com), maintaining her medical practice, and coping with her daughters, aged 2 and 10.

I so love beading boxes…it requires so much on several different levels. Playing with architecture as well as design. I’m very fortunate in having my daughter-in-law Anna select my color combinations. She’s a professional photographer (liquidshutter.com) and her sense of color is leagues beyond my own.

I’m so lucky. Great kids and grandkids, not to mention in-laws, and the best husband on earth (Dennis). Good friends. Good doctors.  Plus one very sweet Burmese cat (Cheops). A big screen tv and close to 10,000 dvds. Books to read, a piano to play (on my rare great days). And the joy of making boxes! I recently acquired all the new delicas Miyuki released in 2008. Oh man! What beautiful beads!! What’ll I come up with next? I can hardly wait to see!

Getting notice – whooohooo!

Since this is the first “real” post on the ol’ (well, okay, new) blog, I’ll introduce myself properly. I’m Amy Wing, and I’m the “business manager” (read: general go-to girl) for CK Originals. My mother, Carrie Kilgore, is a disabled artist who produces beautiful, intricate, and unique beadwoven vessels using variations of peyote stitch. You may occasionally get to hear from her directly, as her energy and health permit. She focuses on the beading, and I take care of the rest.

Although the Etsy shop, has been up and running for a few months, I am just now getting to setting up the blog appropriately. I do hope you’ll stop by and visit often – maybe put us in your feed reader (hint, hint)!

Take a look at some of the boxes I photographed just this week:

When I took on the task of marketing Mom’s work, I had no idea the time involved in learning and implementing an online marketing campaign. Still, I have always felt her artwork is nothing short of extraordinary, and I’m committed to getting it out there for the world to see and appreciate.

Each piece takes a minimum of a week to complete – sometimes longer depending on the intricacy involved and how well her hands and arms are cooperating on a given day. She suffers from post-polio syndrome and fibromyalgia, as well as various musculoskeletal and nerve problems. This woman worked so hard all her life, and now at age 56, her body just won’t allow her to push through anymore. Having the active mind she does and a touch of OCD besides, she would go crazy without something to focus on.

She learned to weave beaded boxes by absorbing Julia Pretl‘s book Little Bead Boxes: 12 Miniature Containers Built With Beads. After practicing on each of Julia’s designs, she started designing her own and hasn’t looked back since. She delights in creating forms and patterns of precise mathematical complexity – it keeps her engaged. And she’s quite prolific, which keeps me very busy. *wink*

Although I’ve been somewhat remiss in my marketing efforts, we’ve been getting some exciting opportunities! First, Leslie Rogalski, Editor-in-Chief of Step by Step Beads magazine asked to run a little featurette on the boxes (The “Findings” feature, for those of you who are familiar with the magazine)! That’s tentatively scheduled to appear in the May 2009 issue. THEN, she got an invite to submit a Call for Entry from MaryBeth Sherr, coordinator of ArtFirst! Here’s the description MaryBeth sent to me:

ArtFirst! is an international, juried exhibition and sale of original art and fine crafts by artists with physical and mental disabilities, presented by the Auxiliary of the University Medical Center at Princeton. ArtFirst!, through its annual 6 week exhibition in the public spaces of UMCP, seeks to raise public awareness of the unlimited creative talent of artists with disabilities; provide a venue for these artists to display and sell their work; and enhance the experience of UMCP patients, visitors, and staff with the inspirational work of ArtFirst! artists.

How cool is that?!

If you’ve read this far and are interested in purchasing a piece, I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret: I have about 50 boxes that have not been listed on Etsy yet. E-mail me at ckoriginals at cox dot net with any questions, and I’ll dash off some photos of anything I think you might be interested in. I’ll cut the price by the amount that Etsy charges (3%) since I won’t be selling through them if it’s not listed yet – what better motivation do you need than that?
We also accept custom requests – if the result doesn’t suit your fancy, no problem… up on the Etsy shop it goes!

These make wonderful gifts and work well as trinket boxes or keepsake boxes, ring boxes or jewelry gift boxes, or just pretty little pieces of eye candy!

P.S. I’ve often thought that men would be in such luck if a kindly woman in their life pointed out that this type of box is the PERFECT delivery system for a sentimental piece of jewelry or other small gift. Can you imagine being the lucky recipient?! Fantastic!

Hello out there.

Well, this is my first blog entry. It’s very boring. I promise to be more interesting as soon as I can.