I have lots of new things that I’m kind of wigging out over, check it:

After the sale is over, you can still get 15% off by signing up for my mailing list!

Happy Holidays!

-Amy

Well here it is almost October, and we can see that that hasn’t happened! I am going to try to do better.

The thing is, we have been having a lot of issues with Ethan at his new school. It would be really helpful for me to pour my heart out and tell every detail and emotion that has been wrung out of me (it’s been quite a lot), and I’ve wanted to post about all the trials several times. However, something has always stopped me. I don’t hide our names on this blog (though I do our address) and we could be easily found by anyone involved.. Not that I am afraid of any retribution, but I don’t want to hurt anyone involved (including ourselves). I have been frustrated with those who still have Ethan’s best intentions at heart, and in venting those frustrations I may hurt feelings.. I’ve always had a rule on this blog: if you write *about* someone, always write as if they are reading it. I don’t think I can do that here.

Also, it is one thing to post cute photos of your toddlers on your blog, but Ethan is 9 now and I have to consider his privacy as well – he may not need/want it now, but in the years to come, he is going to be on the internet increasingly, as well as his peers and I need to consider how much information I put out there (and remember – the internet is FOREVER) that really is personal to him.

So… all that in mind.. It’s been a very hard month. I feel as if we’re out of the riptide however, and making our way in out of the deep. We’ll see how it goes. I am so grateful for the professionals we’ve found in Colorado that are helping see us through this.

Sorry for the silence.. and the lack of details on this situation.

I have started a new jewelry class which is fun and frustrating all in one! I’ll post more about that soon. Today I have to do laundry and cut rings – my jewelry has not been selling (i smell a sale coming) but my supplies shop is hoppin’!

-amy

(image from my etsy supplies shop – yes, I get bored shooting plain photos of jumprings, can you tell? Gotta spice it up somehow!)

First off, they took a cheese grater to my feet.

A CHEESE GRATER.

I know the place I used to go to in VA used some sort of tool with a blade, which is pretty similar — but I swear, I am mentally traumatized now. I may never be able to grate cheese again.

Next, she kind of buffed the sides of my toes, but the hard callouses are still there — mostly because…

They painted my toes before doing any moisturizing! So they couldn’t moisturize my toes, because they were drying from the polish on them!

Anyway, it’s good to get this off my chest. Never going to that place again!

1st world problems, I know!

-amy

These are a few pieces of my new Signal collection:

I have more of these coming!

I really wish I had blogged during this whole process, because it has been totally surreal. The weeks before leaving Virginia was filled with “last times” doing this, and “last time” doing that. I do want to write a little bit about it, and plus I have photos. Always good to post photos!

Jocelyn had her ballet/jazz dance recital the week before our departure.

Since James’ company was relocating us, it was very nice to have packers come in and totally pack us up. What would have taken us weeks was done in 2 days. Amazing! We were packed up Thursday June 23 and part of Friday, and then everything was loaded onto the moving truck. We left that evening and headed for Indiana, to visit with my brother’s family. The kids had a blast.

cousins: ages 2-16, all playing legos. only missing 1 cousin who was out of town

trampolines – always fun

Last fall we drove to Utah and tried going w/out any sort of portable DVD player(s). We had the kind with 2 screens that strapped onto the back of the front seats’ headrests and there was always some todo about who got to pick what and Jocelyn would always get bored 15 minutes into her choice and Ethan would be stuck with it and so we just did away with it. We played movies over the car speakers (just from our phones/ipods) and it worked out fine, though this trip we didn’t even do that. There was a lot of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Nintendo DS playing, and the trip really did go well with minimal arguments.

We spent Sunday with my brother’s family, and then hit the road Monday and had dinner with James’ sister in St. Louis. Tuesday we were on the road when our VA house closed (didn’t have to be there, the relocation company handled it all, yay!) and we squealed with delight somewhere in Kansas when our realtor called and told us all went smoothly. Wednesday we arrived in Colorado and Thursday we closed on our new house. Then we had a long 4th of July holiday weekend of spending the days in our empty house or at the hotel pool, while we waited for our household goods to arrive. The moving truck arrived Tuesday, July 5th and there was much rejoicing at having all our stuff, albeit hidden away in boxes!

I have been adjusting to staying home with the kids, and I think we’ve settled into a nice groove — just in time for school to start! Only a week left, and then school begins. I will soon know the feeling of bliss every other stay at home mom feels when the little whiners darlings go off to school!

My Etsy shop and my own website are back up and taking orders — and lots of new things are cooking just waiting to get photographed and posted. Now if I could only find my macro lens…

-Amy

One thing is sure — My shop will be closed about 3 weeks, from Friday, June 17 to Monday, July 11th (this may change depending on how many boxes get unpacked once we arrive!)

All that in mind, I think now is a great time to have a jewelry sale! All finished jewelry 20% off, from now until I close Friday 6/17:

http://www.rainestudios.net

pg 23 in Step by Step Wire magazine

raine studios’ Shenandoah Earrings

Lauren Anderson purchased a full kit from my Etsy supplies store for the bracelet, earrings and pendant last summer. The kit I sold at that time did not come with a photo tutorial, just a page of written instructions and a photo showing exactly where each ring was placed along with a caveat that the kit was really for advanced chainmaillers. (I now have a photo tutorial for free on my blog.)

She did make some minimal changes to the ring sizes. At the time she purchased the kit, I was using 16g 10mm and 6mm rings for the large upper and lower ring (I’ve since switched to using 14g) and she doubles those rings instead of using them singly as I had. She also changed all the ring sizes to imperial inch sizes rather than metric. Switching to imperial probably does alleviate the tight fit the pesky 20g 2.5mm rings cause in my ring choices, but still, the design remains primarily the same as mine.

Since my friend pointed this out to me, I have been kind of really busy, my husband and I are moving across the country this summer and we’ve been getting our house on the market/traveling out of town to house hunt, etc. so I really have pushed it to the back of my mind – it was fairly easy to do since everywhere I looked did not have the issue on their shelves yet.

It was also easy to do since it just gave me that awful pit in my stomach to even think about, so I just ignored it as hard as I could.

But now, the magazine is actually out in stores, and I am forced to actually think of this.

A few weeks of ignoring and mulling it over have done a lot for me. Was she within her rights to do so? I don’t even know. I doubt she followed the claims of copyright infringement that swirled around these designs last fall, or maybe she would have thought twice before submitting them to the magazine. I’m certain that those who followed that story would recognize these pieces immediately.

The inital anger and betrayal have faded, and now all I am left with is disappointment. Lauren Anderson and I are on the same Etsy Team, the Chainmailler’s Guild and I’ve cheered on her accomplishments (and they are many) on our team email mailing list. The thought that such a talented artist would act in this manner is very disappointing. And I have to admit, I’m also disappointed because these pieces were ones that I myself wanted to submit to a magazine, after our move and my full time job switched from “full time working web designer & mom” to “full time jewelry artist & mom” … I’m disappointed that now I won’t ever be able to do that.

Here is my letter to Step by Step Wire magazine, cc: to Lauren Anderson

TO: sbswire@interweave.com
CC: Lauren Anderson

Letter to the Editor,

I am quite disappointed to see a very close rendition of my own “Shenandoah” earrings in the June/July 2011 issue under the name Lace Skirts by Lauren Anderson.

Lauren Anderson purchased a kit from my Etsy store for the Shenandoah bracelet, earrings and pendant in July 2010. Lauren made some changes to the ring sizes in the published tutorial and I’m sure work hard on the tutorial itself (my kit did not include a photo tutorial, just written construction tips). But the fact still remains she did not design this piece. Perhaps submitting this piece with her changes was perfectly within her legal rights. How much tweaking and adjusting does one need to do in order to classify it as her own? I am no expert.

I am hurt and very disappointed to think the artist I supported and looked up to would submit a piece as her own, when clearly it was not.

Amy C Sanders
raine studios

http://rainestudios.net

http://www.crazymokes.com/2011/05/shenandoah-earrings-in-step-by-step-wire-magazine/

Any further updates I will post here on my blog.

-Amy

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