Navajo Rug Blanket Purses By La Luna Ranchwear Santa Fe New Mexico

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Santa Fe NM Jewelry La Luna Ranchwear Tribal Zen

Check The Opening Of La Luna Gallery

From Ebay To Etsy To Small Craft Shows To Our Own Gallery In less than 2 Years!!

Friday March 2 at 5:00 PM, 2012 we will be opening our gallery-studio in Santa Fe. Located in historic Rout 66, on 533 Old Santa Fe Hwy.  We will be having live music, drinks and munchies.

Adriana a photographer from the area will be exhibiting some of her photographs, I will be unveiling my new silver jewelry line. And my husband will be formally opening his guitar studio.  We finally have a place that we can work in together.  It was a series of events that could only be coordinated by the grace of God. :)  We found the perfect space without looking, in a great area, lot's of traffic, affordable rent a great landlord a parking!! A must in Santa Fe!!


So for the past month we have been working to get the place together.  Keeping it low cost, for many reasons was one of our concerns.  But also making it comfy and pleasing to the eye is a must, and that so my pieces do not get lost in the sauce is not easy!! Plus my new silver line has to be a mayor focus! I have a very high tech desk, one medium size display case and 2 side open display ends. A few narrow tables with display busts.

I also have a little area where I will be able to work on my pieces and make jewelry repairs, such as sizing rings and soldering. There is a specific wall space for his handmade guitars, for photography, a folklore area and my pieces are displayed through out. I have taken so much advantage of this little space by dividing it with the sliding doors from a closet that belong in one of the only other room in this is a one room 1600's authentic Santa Fe adobe home.  The space also has a kitchen in back :)

When in Santa Fe please stop by and say Hi!!.

Getting your Jewelry or Art into Bona Fide Shows :)

I have just been accepted to the Salida Colorado at the Riverside Park located on the banks of the Arkansas River a gorgeous background to exhibit my jewelry.

Exhibitor booths will be placed all through the park. So the setting will be awesome, this is the second week of August. So it will be hot!!  Very excited to be there, I have applied to 3 shows, and this is the first one that has accepted my application.  

It was real...It was happening as I logged into my account at ZAPP, the system allows you to apply to multiple shows, and it keeps all your information and pictures stored for a nominal fee.  It was hard to choose only 6 pictures that will summarize your work...I got sooooo many different lines!!!  Zapp serves as a go between juried shows and artists.  I highly recommend them! If this is your goal, you need all the help you can!!  

They usually ask for a booth shot, if you do not have one set up your merchandise as if you did take a pic and that will do.  I paid for a corner booth for more visibility and traffic it was about $400 for a 10x10 tent (I supply it) they also supply electric.   It should be a very exciting time.  This will be a task for 2, so my husband will be coming with me.   

Taking A Turn For The Better With My Jewelry

I decided that I wanted to do more, to take my jewelry to the next level, coming from so many generations of jewelers it should be easy right? But they are all fine jewelers, meaning they deal with precious metals, diamonds and the like.  And here I am making jewelry with semi-precious stones, adding brass, copper, natural and or dyed stones, and beads.   So for many months I have been researching into learning how to make silver jewelry.  Silver is very big here, so I am in luck :) 

By pure coincidence, but I know there was no one but God behind this casual encounter, I met a local free lance jeweler who had the time and the patience.  His name is Jorge, he is in his late 60's from Uruguay and has about the same experience my father has!! Bingo! My dad living in Florida and me here in Santa Fe made it impossible for me to learn from him.  ( I should have shown interest earlier in my life, but it is never too late :) )  I met Jorge while at a local consignment shop.  I told him that I wanted to start making jewelry in silver, and he offered to help me and allow me to use his small shop, located in his own room :) proof that you can create jewelry anywhere so space is not an excuse!.

Short of a month later, and dedicating about 6-7 hours a week for this, investing some cash on different types of silver, sheets, wires, etc.  I am using his tools, so I have saved some cash on that, I do have pliers, hammers, cutters, and the smaller stuff, but you need to set up a different kind of shop for this purpose.

There is a local jewelers supply, where I get the majority of my findings, and the rest we make.  I have been able to finish a few pieces,  learning how to solder, how to make a bezel around a stone, how to shape a raw stone, mainly turquoise,  make my own small clasps, polish, and basically how to be comfortable using a total different medium.

These are some of my first very simple pieces, as I go along I get more bold, and creative....we are making some awesome pieces for my jewelry store gallery!!  Now I am having fun designing really unusual and interesting pieces.

But I need to get my own silver studio/bench/workshop, and another blessing, my father has some extra equipment that he is sending me so I can start my workshop....you need a lot of equipment, and it is not cheap ;(  Just found a great long vintage bench where I can set up a sort of an assembly line so I can save time. So it is never too late to learn and give a new twist to your favorite craft.