Pat Accorinti Jewelry Design

New Year!

paccorinti — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:22:35 +0000

I’ve really neglected the blog. I didn’t make any new year’s resolutions this year but maybe I’ll try to update this more often. The kitchen is nearly done. I’ have to post some pictures soon. I haven’t done much in the way of jewelry since before the holidays but I need to start think of Open Studios.

I’ve been busy!

paccorinti — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:03:19 +0000

No other excuse. Open Studios in May kept me working in the studio a lot but as soon as that was done I began to focus on the end of the school year and the plans for the remodel of our kitchen and family room. When school was out, we took off for a wonderful 3 week vacation in Italy. All I can say is that it was awesome!

Then it was back home to face the mess in the kitchen and that has been going really slow. We are basically camping in the garage with the Coleman stove, microwave and refrigerator as we wait for the construction people to get to their parts. Ugh! My husband says we are never doing this again. I agree.

It seems like it’s going to take forever. I missed the Art Clay World Conference because I thought I would need to be here but I doubt that anyone would have noticed me missing. My studio is a mess because I’m using a part to store parts for the new cabinets and the new window so I’m not getting much accomplished there either. I just have to look forward to a new kitchen and a better space for teaching classes off my studio. That will be wonderful!

Gearing Up!

paccorinti — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 02:50:05 +0000

The holidays are over. I’ve spent a few weekends skiing and now I’m ready to get back into the swing of creating. I’ll be participating in Silicon Valley Open Studios in May and it’s time to start working on some inventory.

I have been following the Ring a Week group and now it looks like there is a ring a month group. I guess that might be more my speed. I made a few rings last fall for CITS. I sold my favorites so I think I’ll try to make a few more. Maybe not a ring a week but maybe a ring a month.

Back to WordPress

paccorinti — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:02:29 +0000

I have been working on a new website. I was trying out the iWeb software that came with my Mac and the website templates come with a blog page. I tried posting to it a couple of times but I am giving up and I’ll just use this blog for now. It is so much easier!

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I haven’t really planned to do anything special but I have noticed lots of my artist friends have have posted. Check out Lorena Angulo’s blog. She has a give-away of a beautiful bronze heart necklace done in her milagro style. I just love it. Check it out. If you post a comment to her site, you get a chance to win it for yourself!
http://blog.lorenaangulo.com/2011/02/queen-of-hearts-giveaway-for-valentines.html

Mi Corazon by Lorena Angulo

The Art of Running a Business

paccorinti — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:24:34 +0000

At the PMC Conference this summer, I attended a couple of presentations related to the business of making and selling jewelry. Susan Dilger’s presentation, The Art of Positioning and Pricing your Product, was really good. Susan worked in retail for many years, so she has a unique perspective for artists trying to sell their jewelry. I really need some coaching on this, so I really appreciated everything she had to say. I already do some of the things that she suggests but I will have to try to be more organized about thinking of this as a real business and not just a hobby. Susan recommended Harriete Estel Berman’s blog, Ask Harriete for more information. Estele is a metals artist who lives in the San Francisco bay area. She also has some great insights. Her post about meeting with the IRS was eye opening!

The other presenter at the conference who talked about the business of crafts was Bruce Baker. He has been a jewelry maker and gallery owner and now spends much of his time coaching artists about selling their work. He was so entertaining. Selling is my least favorite thing but Bruce had lots of tips and insights that made the topic very interesting. He sells sets of CDs with his talks about selling, setting up an effective booth and how to get into juried shows from his website. Definitely worth listening to.

Back to School!

paccorinti — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:22:18 +0000

I can’t believe that I’m going back to work tomorrow. This summer has been full! We left for Barcelona the day school got out and had a wonderful week. We even got to spend a couple of days in Munich and I visited with cousins I haven’t seen for 35 years! I only got to spend a couple of days at home again before taking off to Idaho to stay with my sister while she recuperated from hip surgery. She’s doing great, thank you! The drive up and back was great, lot’s of beautiful scenery. I was home for a couple of weeks. Got to see the Birth of the Impressionism exhibit at the De Young and got some things done around the house before going to West Lafayette, Indiana for the PMC Conference. It’s always fun to be with so many like-minded people, learning new things, viewing the wonderful work of the guild members and spending money on new tools, stones and beads. I roomed with my good friends Kathleen Gordon and Susan Shahinian. We had so much fun, I came home filled with ideas and energy.

I didn’t get as much done creatively as I wanted to but I have been back in the studio. Sherry Cordova showed me how to make a die for her hydraulic press. I only got to work on it for one afternoon before she left on vacation but I’m very excited about it. Lots of ideas are swimming through my head. But for now, I have to put myself in the “back-to-school” mode and start thinking about a line of work.

Charms for Charity

paccorinti — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:45:52 +0000

Next week I’ll be traveling to Indiana to attend the PMC Conference at Purdue University. I’m really excited to be going again as it is one of the largest gatherings of people who love making metal clay jewelry. There will be conference sessions led by the important artists in the field, lots of networking with people who I only know from Facebook or the Yahoo Metal Clay Gallery Group and fun with my friends who will also be attending.

One of the events that happens is the Charms for Charity Raffle. Over 30 bracelets have been created from charms created and donated by artists from the metal clay community in memory of a member who died from cancer. The bracelets will be raffled off to raise money for the American Cancer Society and the Marrow Foundation. The first raffle took place at the last conference in 2008 and $12,270 was raised.

Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20. The tickets will be sold at the conference or by purchasing them online. Purchase raffle tickets online here.

One of the bracelets being raffled off.

Artist of the Month

paccorinti — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:31:44 +0000

Quite a while back, Mike Wilk from Art Clay World emailed me and asked me if I wanted to be one of Art Clay World’s artists of the month. Heck! Why not? I sent in pictures and some information about myself. When I got home from vacation I had an email from Mike telling me that I was the Artist of the Month for July. Very cool! Now I have to start living up to that honor. Off to the studio to put it in order for some art making time.

Summer!

paccorinti — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:25:41 +0000

It seems that after SVOS in May, time just flew. The end of the school year is always a blur and I get to spend very little time on my own projects. We planned to leave on vacation the day school got out, June 11. We flew to Barcelona and spent 5 lovely days exploring the city. There is just so much art to see! I especially enjoyed the many buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi. Each day we planned a walking tour that included some of the sights.

La Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's last masterpiece

We then left Barcelona for a couple of days in Munich. I have family there that I haven’t seen since I was a teen. Munich is a lovely city and we really didn’t have time to really explore it but I did enjoy meeting up with my cousin, Antonia. She is an architect in Munich and gave us a quick tour around the city center. Much of Munich was destroyed during WW II but they have done a wonderful job of restoring and recreating the buildings were damaged.

Neues Ratshaus

Rathaus Glockenspiel

I was only home for a couple of days before I left to drive to Idaho to help my sister recover from hip surgery. The landscape is a whole different world from Europe but beautiful, none the less.

Jordon Valley, Oregon

The drive was long. I spent the night in Winnemucca, Nevada. The scenery on the second day was amazing. My husband, Jorge, flew up to Lewiston on the following Friday and we will be spending the 4th with my sister’s family. Then we will drive home on Monday. It will be fun to share the drive with Jorge. And I will be really glad to finally be back home for a while.

Tiger Swallowtail butterflies

Silicon Valley Open Studios

paccorinti — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:22:24 +0000

I have been busy getting ready for SVOS. I’ll be showing at my friend, Veronica Gross’ studio in Los Gatos again this year. We have been doing it for the last three years and it’s been fun. I will have lots of new things so stop by and check it out. Our dates are May 1 – 2. The address is 200 Kimble Ave., Los Gatos. We’ll be open from 11:00am to 5:00 both days.

Besides me, the following artists will be showing:

Veronica Gross – Watercolors

Karen Schroeder – Painting

Janet Trenchard – Mixed Media

Pat Seaborn – Pottery