Ringing in the Holidays!

A few weeks ago, I had a talk with myself….

Me:      “Self, it’s time you set your fear of rings aside and get with the program.”

Myself: “What program?”

Me:      “The ring business, what else?”

Myself: “Huh?”

You can see there was a bit of resistance.  This meant, along with many other things, that I was going to need to improve my sawing-a-straight-line skill.  Rarely (ever?) have I been that girl who blindly follows that “straight & narrow” path.  Not that I’m inherently a risk taker by any means, I just like to meander some and then make up my own mind.  But the argument from me was irresistible!  So, okay, rings it will be. The Meltdown, as they say, will DIVERSIFY.

Really, I have probably been working up to this my whole life.  I wear rings, several of them: stacked, mismatched, matched, single, plain, special, you name it.  I have had at least one ring on my hands since I was old enough to get a prize—a fancy-schmancy genuine faux precious metal ring—from the Dentist for being a good patient.  Now, “good” here means frequent, so I acquired quite a few of these glamorous accoutrements!

So today, I am  cutting, filing, soldering, pounding, stretching, pounding, annealing, sanding, pulling, swearing, pounding—not necessarily in that order—so that you can be adorned too!  The only difference is that your ring is made by me from my favorite non-faux metals—silver and copper—and you don’t need Novocain to secure the goods!

Stay with me, come by the Etsy shop in the next few weeks because there will be new rings stocking the shelves.  If you’re a local, please come by the Holiday Pop Shop market over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, and/or my friend Barry Perez’s Holiday Show in Elgin, Texas on the afternoon of Saturday, December 1^st.  Check out the postcards on this page for details.

Even if I don’t see or hear from you, have a safe and thankful Thanksgiving!

Need a little Ooo La La in your wardrobe?

Looking for an original outfit, or better yet, fresh dramatic pieces that fit you?

Need a “radical, magical, beautiful” clothing connection that your friends don’t know about yet?

I’ve got just the place.  Nestled between Write Now and Heights Vinyl on White Oak is this delightful little secret:  a clothing boutique like no other.   La Camella is a clothing and accessory shop, opened about a year ago by Houston native Camella Clements. 

Camella, proprietress and member of the local Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre troupe, decided after a decade of working in academics that a change was in order.  The shop was born of her love of fashion and her need to expand her creative side beyond the classroom.

What will you find?

Shoes?   Of course!

Dresses, tops, bags? YES!

Jeans? Indeed!

Fancy Schmancy under things?  Oui Oui

Jewelry?

So glad you asked!  Local artists, including Maggie’s Meltdown are available here!

If you are wandering around through the Heights and find yourself on White Oak for a bite to eat, check the shop out.  After all, the holiday party season is just about upon us.  Where better to find that special something than a truly unique boutique?

La Camella

713-808-9377

3122 White Oak

Tuesday – Saturday         11-6 pm

Sunday                            12 – 5 pm

La Camella Blog

La Camella Facebook Page

Next Stop, One Green STREET!

Thanks to my dear friend from my old neighborhood, Rose, my work is now available at One Green STREET, on the SE corner of White Oak and Cortlandt, here in the Heights!

One Green STREET

This shop is so cool and I am so honored to be a part of it.  Sherry Eichberger started the shop from a vision of eco-friendly products in a neighborhood-friendly space.  Some of you might remember Margarete Sanchez’ Artful Corner—that’s the space, now a LEED certified building divided into quadrants, each devoted to a different part of the whole body.  They have a variety of organic and natural products to enhance life.  These rooms house home goods, makeup & beauty products, locally mixed and marketed tea from the Path of Tea, clothing, handbags, and of course, handmade jewelry.  And they are a community-minded bunch too, with a Friday afternoon (4-6pm) Front Porch “wind-down-from-the-week” party, a book group, a Friday food truck and several green-living related talks a month.

Everyone, let’s support this excellent concept and the good people who have brought it to our neighborhood!  Oh, and pick up some jewelry from Maggie’s Meltdown while you’re there!

Last Week's Harvest

Renewal earrings

Two weeks ago, I tortured myself, as I do every year.  I spent a whole day at a relentlessly tedious seminar to renew my certification for a job I hope I never have to do again.  For a day I pretended to listen to speakers who warned of various civic dangers, like failing to pick up dog poop (apparently, unpleasant odors!) and restaurants serving ill-gotten oysters (did you know oysters could be procured by shooting them with a 22?).  Anyway, it promised to be a wasted day, but, in the words of my practical dad, “you should always have something to fall back on, in case this foolishness does not work out.”  So I went.

Domino Effect earrings

Now you know what these things are like:  all-you-can-eat Sam’s Club banana nut muffins, the desperate run on giant percolators of god-awful coffee, the lunch buffet (oh joy…taquitos and a side of raw broccoli with ranch dressing), the butt numbness, the afternoon head-bobbing, the dreadful networking, and of course, hours of mindless doodling disguised as note-taking.

Fortunately, the hours of mindless doodling paid off.

The culmination of the week came Saturday night at a party when the realization that I goofed when I set up the Facebook page struck terror in me.  What was I thinking?  I set up my BUSINESS as a PERSON!  EVERYONE knows a BUSINESS is NOT a PERSON!!  Sheesh!!  Anyway, trying to correct such a mistake after the fact is not the breeze you might think.  A flurry of postings ensued asking people to forgive my  ineptness, to “LIKE” my new page, and send money to my new Super Pac. 

Diversion earrings

Today begins a new week in the Meltdown studio and I am anticipating a good one. 

Ecliptic II earrings

Ecliptic III earrings

   Thanks for staying tuned.