Private Stash

from left, top: Chain Gang Earrings,  Gem Earrings
from left, bottom: Claw Earrings, Lion's Share Earrings

  I unearthed some earrings in my private collection from long retired Anomaly collections.  I still dig these pairs and only retired the collections because of various business related reasons.
 I made the Chain Gang Earrings by cutting and stringing each chain onto the wire oval. This was a time consuming job (see detail photo below.)  I wasn't making much money on these as a result of the   time spent on each pair.  I always want to price my jewelry as low as possible and these earrings wouldn't allow for that. So, bye bye Chain Gang.

Chain Gang Earring

The Gem Collection was cool (so I thought) but it never sold well. So, bye bye Gem Collection.  I love me some nice claws. Here's a detail shot of the Earrings from my Claw Collection:

Claw Earring

Sadly, these earrings were also way too time consuming to make and held very little profit for my business when priced at a number I thought would be sellable. I made them for a while because I loved them so very much.  Eventually I had to disregard my love and think of the business. Arrrrrrrg.  So long Claws.  Finally, there is the Lion's Share Earrings.  This collection was cool and sold well. It had its time in the sun (8 years) and it was time to retire.

Vacation

Anomaly just had our summer vacation for the past week. Here's some highlights.

This is a gorgeous ring I found at an antique shop in Brunswick, Maine.  I am dying to do a series of modern remakes of this ring and will probably make a point to do so in the near future.  I wish now that I am home that I had bought it. At the time I made the sensible decision that I had so much jewelry already blah blah blah. Here's a few more shots of some awesome antiques I admired and unwisely did not buy during our week stay in Maine.

To wrap up our vacation I took my daughter Lulu to the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. I just recently posted about the awesomeness of Coney Island in general. Once a year there is a parade full of hand made creatures of the sea called the Mermaid Parade and it is by far one of my favorite days of the year.  What makes it so spectacular to me is that I get to be in awe of everyday people's creativity and imagination.  The costumes are INCREDIBLE and hand made by those who wear them and gorgeous. I have made some of my best friends over the years at this parade and I'm so grateful the magic of the day continues on. 

Here's me and my kid. I thought of and made my costume the morning of the parade.  Lulu's costume  was a store bought base with Mom embellished finishings.

In Progress

This is one of the wax sculpture models I am working on these days.  I am not showing the front as that is where all the magic is happening and I want it to be a surprise.   Just know that I am redoing Anomaly's classic Antlered Deer Necklace in a major and kick ass way.  I will post the finished metal version here when it is done in a few weeks.

Anomaly Loves

    CONEY ISLAND! I was really worried when there was the beginnings of talk to revamp Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.  The decay was part of what was so enchanting about it to me.  Many years have passed and lots of the changes have occurred.  And, I am pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  It is not a gaudy kind of new but a new that fits Coney's old image.  Very true to its era and also modern in a really Instagram photo kind of way.  If you are a resident or visitor to N.Y.C. it is one of the few places I would recommend to go. I am way more of a visual kind of gal so here are some photos to do the talking for me.  I went there this past weekend with my best friend forever, my kid, my husband, and her main man.

 

   

                           

   

    These dolls are the few of the ones that I kept for myself while on the search for porcelain dolls from the early 1900's to use in my jewelry.   I love the search almost as much as I love making things from what I scavenged.  In fact, last night I dreamt I was at a flea market.  It was a wish fulfillment dream.  
    You can see what I wound up making here: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Anomaly Loves

I kept a series of mice as pets during my early twenties. After about the 4th mouse's death I decided to get a dog so I wouldn't have to mourn every 2-3 years.  Lauren Kane's taxidermy jewelry is so horribly gorgeous.  I wish I could have had her stuff and bejewel Buggerhouse, my last and most cherished mouse.  But alas, I didn't know of her work until a few weeks ago. LOVE her jewelry.

Anomaly Jewelry has been interviewed in the Examiner. Check it out here.

Karen Yost

Inside My Studio

 This is my desk. This is how it looks 80% of the time. And, I know where every last jump ring placed.  In fact, I didn't realize the extent of the chaos until I checked out the photos shown here.  Perhaps subconsciously I continued the mess in the decorations above the table.  I guess this is one of those bless this mess situations.