Hot Summer but still spring!

 Today and tomorrow, maybe even Tuesday,  are forecast to be some of the hottest days this area has ever had. Records will be falling like dominos. What does hot weather mean to me? A time to be a bit lazy and forgo housework and gardening and just relish about in a shady spot or a cool room and read or knit or bead or just sit and contemplate the world as it is. Maybe send out positive energy that people every where get what they need to be happy and well in this life. I love pontificating but I do want share a few out and about or in the shop pictures. 

Beautiful feverfew in the back parking lot. 

Beauty in the harsh gravel corners of a busy area. 

One of my favorite sterling silver earrings.

This is a radiating, sending love out heart.

💓💓

💖💖

These are one of my pewter designs with sterling silver ear wires. Very light weight.

Two of the things I like to draw and fabricate in my works are stars and hearts. 

In the pink with gemstones!

This color just makes me feel happy and peaceful.

Rhodonite, rose quartz, pink opal. 

Then there is this little girl...my grand puppy who more than

keeps me entertained. 

Happy almost summer and keep on beading and crafting and having a life. XO

pictures

Summer pictures of things around the house and shop. I thought you might like this little taste of life around home and the BEAD shop. 

A customer's collection of summer colors.

Some interesting hanks glass seed beads.

And finally, my grand puppy visiting. So cute! ONYX!

HAPPY SUMMER AND HAPPY BEADING!! 

 It is truly spring leaping into summer here in Port Townsend as we experience two days in a row at nearly 80 degrees. The bead shop is fully stocked with new treasures being brought in almost daily. We will soon be adding more gemstones, roman glass, Chinese crystal beads and much, much more. I also have a big box of vintage 1930-1940's German glass beads to wash and restring for the shop. 

On a more personal note, as the world becomes more chaotic and dangerous; I think reach for any beloved craft or learning a new one will save us and maybe the world too. Craft brings so much not only to our lives but to the lives of those around us. We can speak craft not hate. We can speak craft and love in the same breath. It is with an open heart we can greet each other and others around us. Much love fro me to you! Craft on! 

The Seasons Change to Spring

 The season has changed to spring and with it my travel lust not only hits me in the head like a water balloon but I get very excited to have new and vintage merchandise in my shops. To that extent I am adding some discontinued fabrics to my lobby shop with is in the foyer of the bead shop and DIVA YARN. You know I have a passion for everything that is bead and jewelry and yarn so I also have that love for fabrics.

I was recently able to get some discontinued Freida Kahlo fabrics and a wee bit of Dia de la Muerte fabrics. I am posting some pics here to tempt you and tell you the box should be arriving nest week. Don't wait to come in because supplies are very limited.

I have more pictures but the dinosaur in me can not get this dang lap top to co operate. So sorry!

In the meantime, here is a picture of some vintage 6mm fire polish Czech glass beads from the early 1990's. They are in the bead shop now and also very limited.

Someday, I will figure out all this on line stuff and it will snow in July and the moon will be purple. Until then, feel free to call the shop or email me and I am happy to text you photos. I also have lousy internets connections here in rural Port Townsend. 

See you soon and happy crafting!! xo

 

long time coming

 Checking in on my blog, I see I have not posted anything since this past late July. It was a busy summer and anytime I was not in the shop; I was in the studio checking in inventory and making jewelry. I spent my little " down time " knitting a bit and battling what blessedly turned out not to be a major health problem. Gratitude is my attitude always! 

Anyhow I wanted to pop in this early Sunday morning to post a couple of pictures of two of my new favorite things. Of course, everything is my favorite thing bead wise but these are standouts.

This is yellow-green Angelite, a gemstone of soft extraordinary color. I feel peaceful and protected with a divine love when I wear it. $ 12.95

These are chakra gemstone bead strands. A mix of stones representing the seven chakras. This color arrangement is so lovely; I am keeping some for myself. I am my own best customer! Tee hee! 

We are open this fall everyday but Tuesday. Shorter days on Wednesdays and Sundays, 12 -4. Hope to see you soon so we can continue our bead life in conversation, technique and friendship. Sincerely, I love you all! Happy November!

 

a tease

 Greetings to almost mid summer! Just wanted to post a quick shop update and let you know our current hours.

First the tease....

I have received a collection of uranium glass beads in!

From the Czech Republic, these beads have a teeny inclusion of uranium, all safe to wear and use,

in each bead and when hit with a black light; they have a wonderful mysterious glow about them.

A secret maybe only you know. A daring touch of radiant green glow light.

More are in stock too, all safely nestled on my work table in the studio.

Summer Hours

Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 11-5

Sunday & Wednesday 12-4

As always, give the shop a call at 3603856131 and make an appointment see our warehouse or the classroom of treasures upstairs.

Until then, happy Summering ! xo, Lois

Luddite

Happy almost the end of May! As the title suggests, I am a bit of a luddite and I wish I could just pop open my blog or my currently broken website and get to work. Maybe one of these days everything will be voice activated and the machine can figure out what you are asking and needing. I know in my heart that that day is coming soon and sometimes I just want to resist and keep things simple. Like paper and pen simple. Maybe an adding machine and a cordless phone, simple. It is easier to order on line but more real like the good old days which do not sound bad at all to me. ( except I do like the medical advances we have in our lives now ) 

Anyhow, my blog, of which I should write more often, is kind of like being in a small town. I like thinking I am talking with you face to face, meeting in my shop, asking about your family or friends, checking out the craft you are working on or giving the one on one brief help to overcome a stuck area on your project, to offer encouragement. I love my shops. We are 34 years old now and I hope to be doing this same thing in the same location for a bunch more years. If the good Lord is willing and the waters don't rise, to

                                                                                 One of my favorite things to make, rosaries.
drowning out literally Water Street.

Anyhow, I am posting a few pictures for inspiration now and will add more one of these days. Until then, know that I appreciate every single one of you and that my relationship with you as clerk and customer and friend to friend means everything to me! 

An orthodox sterling cross cast by me.

A new mixture of brass beads and titanium infused hematite beads.

older

 In 50 minutes, I will be a year older, supposedly wiser and certainly a more experienced woman. It is my birthday and as we move forward into this new year and the beginning of another trip around the sun; my mind wanders to the future. Like many of you, I am worried and hopeful.

Pessimistic and optimistic about the coming years all at once. Trusting the universe, I will move forward with the joy I feel in creating my artwork and my jewelry. You will find me most days in the shop except Tuesdays where we are closed for our weekly " gotta live a regular life and do ordinary things like make grocery lists, do housework, attend to appointments happen., etc." 

Find what I am up to by checking into my Facebook and Instagram pages. My website is under construction after 30 years and I hope to have it back up and running soon. It is unbelievable to me how fast time is moving. Maybe it is part of being older and knowing that there are more days behind me than ahead of me. Maybe it is just enjoying the sweetness of time and allowing myself to just be. Maybe it is feeling myself bloom and want to move in a thousand directions and into more creative time. Maybe it is just wanting to love my family and friends and customers and life. 

We are all strong and wonderful and creative and leaning into these challenging times with love, courage and friendship. I look forward to connecting with you and seeing you in the shop. xo

Website

 It is kaput. My website is down. I can not figure out how to fix it and my web guy that has been with me for decades has decided to retire and that is that. Anyhow, I met a nice guy last week that can do a website for me and now I need to decide how much of a site I want. I am thinking of scaling down all that on line ordering and shopping carts and .... and....

Maybe just a meet and greet page where you get the basics of my shop for now. You know, hours of operation, days open, forms of payment taken and so on. Maybe after the first of the year I can do a bigger site. I am asking myself how much time I want to devote to all the on line things. I love FB and Instagram and like keeping things posted there. Of course, you can always contact me on these sites and ask me to mail you anything you find interesting. You can email me or call the shop. If you leave a voice mail, I will call you back. You can even email me a technical how to question or several.

What I like best about my shops is being with people. Talking, sharing, laughing. Being out and about, not in front of a computer screen. I like encouraging your creativity face to face. I get inspiration from you and I hope you get the same form me. It saddens me to think of how isolated we have become especially since the pandemic shutdown in 2020.  I like being asked questions. I like that I have known some of my customers since they were little kids. I like that your families have grown up with my shop. When you come in and say, " I am so happy you are still here..." my heart grows bigger. My soul soars. 

Until I figure this all out without a huge amount of stress, I hope you will continue to visit me on FB and Instagram and best of all, in person. I like knowing you. 

As we move forward on life's creative journey; I want you to know that with the deepest gratitude, I am glad you have been here with me, in the shop, on our joint journeys through life and craft. 

September

 In just a few days, on the 22nd to be exact, fall arrives! My favorite time of the year. The days are a little cooler, crisper and here in the northwest, we begin to see the return of our gray days and light rains. I love the rain and find it a great time to nestle into the studio when I am not at the shop, and create. jewelry, silver work, knitting, painting, needlepoint, and whatever else my monkey mind can think of. 

I plan on adding some pictures later but this crazy day has run away with me and I am finding I am on the phone entirely too much! Talk to you soon, Lois

Days have swept by me...

 Hello, It's me! I've been wondering if after all these months....haha, I did not realize so much time has passed since I last wrote. These have been busy days as I work in the studio on my days off, which are far too few, and work the shop the rest of the time. Days can be hot with the full sun shining and with the beach just across the street from me, I am raring to go outdoors at the drop of a bead!

Anyhow, a large box of Czech glass fire polished beads has just arrived from overseas and we will be working on getting pieces out as soon as humanly possible. Fire polish means faceted so I am looking forward to lots of color and light to move forward in these remaining weeks of summer. 

I am heading out to the studio at this very minute to begin making sea glass earrings and pricing more new inventory. a video may be coming up soon on FB showing the chaos in the studio with new inventory hovering about. Did I mention baskets? We just received a bunch in there too! For now I will sign off and get to it. Enjoy the summer days as they drift slowly into the last days of August! 

                                                      The little altar behind my shop counter.

                                                             Reminding on even the busiest of days to keep the faith.

                                                             

                                                  Then, there is this! HAHA!Love you all! 

Anxiously Awaiting Warmer but not Hot days!

 This weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer and I know I am anxiously, more than anxiously, waiting for some warmer summer days to sit outside without 4 layers of clothes on and time to just be out of the house. Winter has seemed kind of long and with all this rain of lately ( which I am totally grateful for, by the way ) everything is big, lush and green and calling out for some attention from me. I tell these beautiful trees and plants to just wait my lovelies, I am heading your way soon with clippers, a wheelbarrow and more! 

In the meantime, just to remind you that summer even comes to beads; here are a few new arrivals. 

I hear birdies calling me! Glass bead birds are here!

A customer's selection of summer colors for her new beadwork. Size 11.

I am patiently waiting for new beads set to arrive from the Czech Republic in the next couple of weeks. Waiting is not my specialty and I want all the beads now. Oh well, I will just have to dream of them and the new projects my customers and myself will think up. 

Irish Catholic Rosary with green shamrocks.

In the meantime I have kept myself busy by making rosaries for the shop. We have not had a hearty selection of late and I am remedying that these days. This particular rosary will be the last of its kind. I usually cast my own rosary centers and crucifixes but this one I purchased probably 20 years ago from a US family on the east coast. They had a wonderful business but retired during the pandemic. So this is it. I am sad. The gold rosary like this sold a few weeks back. Perhaps some day I will find a stash of these rosary parts. I just know I will keep looking!

Until then, I hope to see you in the shop or online. Did you know that warmer weather allows us to once again make warehouse appointments? Just let us know at the shop. We have the sweetest warehouse with a big, not in the shop, selection.

HAPPY BEADING! xo, Lois

How can it possibly be May?

 It’s crazy how time just flies. Everybody says that as the days quickly move into the next. I see time move away from me much too fast. I have my four days a week in the shop and two days in the studio and one day for all the appointments and stuff that make up a life but I want more. More studio time. More shop time. More personal time. Ever find your older self wondering how you accomplished so much I your youth? Days and time seemed luxuriously long then. I will continue to seek that proverbial balance in my life between all its facets and gulp my days down as if they were the finest wines and chocolates.

A Cold and Windy first Sunday in March

 Today feels like winter but it could be the beginning of spring; and the afternoon finds me in the studio creating some multi dangle earrings to place in the front display window. Green is a color that calls to me when little bulbs start rising from the ground and buds appear on the trees. Anyhow, today I finished making three pairs of spring earrings in colors that say hello to this change of seasons. 

I used my own sterling silver earring tops and added a collection of teeny beads and charms for the dangles. These are light and flirty earrings, perfect for anyone. I think Easter is early this year so of course these would be a pretty edition to any Easter or spring basket. Chocolates, earrings and maybe a flowering little plant - I will check in with the bunny and ask for just those things! 

I love making multi dangle earrings and have collected beads for decades to use in making them. I like combining small things in a variety of color and texture. I even occasionally use tiny beads from 1930's Germany. I have a special fondness for old beads. 

Hope to see you soon around town and in the shop plus hop on in and visit me on line. Facebook, Instagram or wynwoods.com. XO, Lois

New Month, New Beads

 It is a gray and wet Saturday afternoon and although I am very grateful for this much needed rain, which makes snow in the mountains; I am stuck indoors with weather and a virus. Yuck. Not my ideal  way to spend the day!

Anyhow, new beads and inventory has been arriving like crazy and I am gradually pricing and getting it out into the shop. I like this time of year, when the holidays of the previous year are tucked away and we are thinking forward, at this mid point between winter's dark days and the spring solstice, to spring! Longer days, a bit of the sun's warmth and the feeling of rebirth and newness. 

With that in mind, here are some of the new beads I popped into the bead shop's inventory yesterday:

New beads make me so happy and inspire me too. I love color and these colorful birds and that brilliant orange make me feel very creative and like new earrings and stitch markers are coming on!

You can always order these beads by emailing me at lois@wynwoods.com, calling the shop at 360-385-6131 ( PST on the west coast ) or posting a message to my FB or Instagram pages all under my business name of Wynwoods Gallery and Studio.

Next up I am unpacking a beautiful shipment of baskets and more bells and chimes. Hope to see you soon in the shop ( yes, an old fashioned brick and mortar store in an actual down town. ) Or see you on line or on the phone or.... Love, Lois

www.wynwoods.com

Can you Believe it is 2024?!

 I am thunderstruck that time has moved so fast, so forward, that it is now 2024 and this year finds the shop entering its 34th year. An amazing blessing and a fun, creative journey. I have spent half my life in the shop and I could not be happier. Have I made any resolutions? Not really. I do want to display my jewelry and silver work differently, more prominently. I would like to remind everyone that I do silver work and also that I am a painter, an artist with a fine arts background. I resolve to be kind all the time. To appreciate every single one of my customers and potential customers. Come summer, I want to sit out on the Tyler Street Plaza and visit with friends, customers and the customers who have become or might  become friends. I resolve to encourage creativity in as many people as I can. I want to use creativity and making things as a solution or shield for what ails society and bring us back to each other in a positive, caring light. I resolve to enjoy every single day that I get to be on this earth. I resolve to love more, create more, play more. I am also thankful for the customers, friends and family who have supported me in the past 33 years. I still recall friends saying, " You are going to sell what? My accountant at the time saying, " You spent how much on what?"  I can smile at the memories and want to continue to make more memories that bring me smiles. So all, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

This is the jewelry I have made in the last day or so on the desk in my studio. A collection of hand drawn vintage glass beads, gemstones, Czech glass, seed beads, metal, horn, shell, and more. These were made specifically for the front display window. The idea for using the old hand drawn Pakistani glass beads has been floating in my mind for a few weeks now. The beads are circa 1960's. A mat cobalt glass.

This is Onyx, my son's precious 7 month old puppy. All 15 pounds of her.

She is curled tightly into a yarn basket, snoozing away on her blue rubber bone. My new assistant.

So ends my posting tonight and begins the pursuit of my 2024 almost resolutions. I leave you with love and peace and wishes for all the best for you in this new year!

 

Fall, finally!

 I love fall! The change in the seasons brings new energy and insight along with great bursts of creativity! The changing leaf colors draw me to colors of rusts and ambers in wool yarns. My needles itch to create hats and fingerless gloves. My knitting plans turn to crafting Christmas and holiday gifts. I ordered Turkey yesterday for Thanksgiving and pulled a favorite scarf from my winter clothes box. 

Tonight, as the first of November’s drenching rains and winds begins; I am thinking if the Malabrigo yarn on its way and the Superwash wools I will be ordering on Monday.

Come visit us in Diva and share a little if you’re knitting dreams with us! 🧡🍁

Sweet dreamy knitty dreams! 

 Months and months have gone by since I last wrote on this blog. A creative journey indeed. The shop, Wynwoods Gallery & Studio in Port Townsend, Washington is now in its 32nd year and I love my shop as much as the day that the idea for it popped into my head.

The two men that helped me along the way to begin this journey have passed away. Jack Hirsch and Gary Lindheimer. Partners in life and the business, Great Expectations, that I shared retail space with. A little 12 x 12 or was it 14 x 14 back room on the left behind their big store that was filled with wondrous things. I think of them often. Of their kindness, their creativity, their hosts plant business, their amazing home, and Gary's ribald humor. Oh, but he enjoyed making me blush right up to the day that he said something and my comeback left him speechless. Something about a seagull and its mating practices. Although I don't remember the actual words I said, I am still smiling at the memory. I laughed myself silly that day and many days after.

The journey to today has been fun, full of decisions and adventure, friendship and making things. Conversations  with customers, several of whom have become some of my closest friends. Sharing how to info with fellow business owners and the best part? Meeting my husband in my tiny shop and beginning a new life with him. It has been an astounding, broadening journey.

Mostly I feel satisfied but still pursuing creativity and making a living from my craft and art. Ever since I was just a little girl, on boring long summer days out of school; I would turn to my mother and say, " I just want to make something. What should I make?" She would look at me and answer, " anything you want. " 

That was the answer I needed and it has guided my life all these days and years. Thank you to my mom. What this has also taught me is that when you speak or say something, you never truly realize how your words will live on, an inspiration or encouragement to others. I have always tried to do the same with the people I meet. I encourage people to be creative, a you can do it talk when they say in my shop, " Oh, I couldn't. " Yes, you can. When a parent leans down to a child and says you can not make that, you can not have the bead or charm they have been drawn to, I remind that parent that creativity should never be squashed or shut down. Let the kid be inspired and excited! Endless mid summer afternoons can inspire hearty creative energy in a bored or lonely child or teenager.

Complications and a Simpler Life

 The more I work in my office and on line, the more I long for a simpler return to the fine craft of making things. The computerized world can leave me ever so cold especially the I can not figure out how to do something on line. Right now I am stuck with a weird FB post on my website's home page and my Instagram post have disappeared into the ethers. Please bear with me as I try to figure this out with my web guy, Chuck. I am as always open to suggestion. Help. 

In the meantime, I sent most of the day in my studio making stretch bracelets and earrings. I am content to sit all day and do these things, if my body allows for it. Today being all cold and very damp, it was just plain delightful to sit in the warm studio and create. 

An image of the divine mother, the woman within us from a Ukrainian 

Artist. I am sorry I do not know the artist's name but the image with her beads about her, speaks to me. 

Now this evening is turning into a quick trip out to the studio again to make crystal Christmas earrings to take into the bead shop tomorrow. Come see me and say hello in the bead shop tomorrow. XO lois