Time out for Fun

Time out from work and teaching-One of the highlights of my summer was watching my husband ride the "300 Warriors" bike race. Michelle, David and I were the sag wagon for Dan and his friend Vaughn. It was so exciting to go from point to point and wait anxiously for them to arrive. This is the Tour of Utah race that professional racers from around the world participate in, the ride is brutal. Many people were overcome with exhaustion and had trouble finishing as the race was mostly uphill climbs. Here's a pic of Dan and I before the race at 5 something AM After the race we all had peanut butter sandwiches in a park and watched the pros go by accompanied by police escorts (Michelle had a hilarious Officer Dangle story, but it was even funnier because we were all hopped up on Rock Star juice).
Back to work now, Dan is working on an exciting development for us jewelry makers. He has been fine tuning an etching process that is faster, safer and more environmentally friendly than PCB solution (ferric chloride) for etching copper and brass. We will be teaching this class in Europe in November and then in the US. Examples are shown here of some finished bronze clay jewelry pieces textured with the plates. Here is the link for my upcoming classes
Sherri Haab Classes

Creativity-blog carnival

OK, so this blog carnival will get me blogging at least once a month. This month's question was a hard one for me, the question is: How do I jump start my creativity? Well, this is a difficult question to answer because I have trouble viewing myself as a creative person. I know, I'm not kidding, people say I'm creative, which I do agree with to a certain degree, but I think of myself more as a methodical researcher instead, a problem solver, which I guess is creative. So I would have to say that my answer is the following: Artists are visual people, so I expose myself to as much "eye candy" as possible. I find that traveling has helped a great deal, to see different landscapes, styles, galleries, even food. When I'm working it takes a long time for creativity to kick in, and it usually peaks about 10PM. I allow myself to be OK with the fact that nothing creative happens for me in the morning hours. And lastly, I need real candy, preferrably chocolate. I don't drink or use drugs, so what else is there? oh yeah, I love herb tea (only the gourmet blends) not common grocery store brands-yuk! This gets me through the day and makes work fun, which in turn leads to creative ideas.
Speaking of eye candy, the fabric bracelet pictured is a sneak peak of a project from my new book "Felt Fabric and Fiber Jewelry" which is available by pre-order on Amazon. The book should be available soon.

Here are the links to read everyone else's answers:

Lora Hart
Elaine Luther
Kirsten Skiles
Marco Fleseri
Angela Crispin
Tamra Gentry
Chris Parry
Lorrene Davis

Blog Carnival

I don't get how people keep up with their blogs! I've had so many cool experiences, ideas and travel photos to share lately (here's one from the CHA show at the Watson Guptill booth), you would think I would take a minute to post them, it's overwhelming for me. But I do have an excuse, I've been living out of a suitcase since January. But thanks to my good friend Lora Hart who put some fire under me to get blogging, I'm going to try to rev it up and get going again. I'm honored to be included in this blog carnival with these fantastic artists whose links are listed below. So here is my answer to the question:

If you suddenly became wealthy and didn't have to sell your jewelry anymore for income, would you still sell it? Would you still make it? and why?
My answer: If I was wealthy and didn't have to sell my jewelry I would still make and sell it because I do it for enjoyment. However, I would approach jewelry making from a different perspective. Instead of always worrying about what will sell and how marketable a design is, I would make jewelry purely for the artistic experience and for the pleasure of creating new designs. Not that I would make jewelry that is super far out and not wearable, because I value wearable pieces. I don't like abstract pieces that are only for gallery displays. I would also teach jewelry making and venture into charitable causes which involve jewelry making.

Here are the links to read everyone else's answers:

Lora Hart
Elaine Luther
Kirsten Skiles
Marco Fleseri
Angela Crispin
Tamra Gentry