Summer Cool and Fresh + a Little Honesty

What is it that is so nice about drinking out of a mason jar?  Are you all having this endless heat wave?  Isn't it brutal? But iced tea in a mason jar is helping get me through it.  A little.  Well, that and air conditioning. . .

Alert! This is a special message for those of you who think I spend all of my days in a lovely clean house with a super well behaved three year old sipping iced tea.  Please let me tell you that this is really not the case.  I have heard from a few readers and friends that Campestral makes them feel like they need to get up and clean their house, and makes them feel somehow bad about their lives. This really makes me feel terrible, because, well that's awful, plus if you saw what things mostly look like around here you'd sit right back down on the couch.  So I'm putting together a little peek behind the posts, so you can see the chaos outside the frame of the photograph.  But it's not quite done yet, so stay tuned!

Emmett's Rooftop Garden

Totally on board with the urban gardening trend.  Emmett knows what's up with sustainable living.

Process: In The Studio Photos For Etsy Wholesale

I get a lot of questions about how I make my jewelry.  I'm hoping these photos will help to shed a little light on the process.  All of my work is done in a series of steps, which usually starts with shaping and assembling a series of wire shapes with chain segments, then soldering the pieces together, then hammering, then sanding and polishing.  The photos below show the general progression.

I have always found it to be difficult to get photos of the jewelry making process because these are photos you can't take yourself.  And wow is it ever really not safe to try to do a self portrait while soldering.  But since I needed some process photos for my profile on the new Etsy Wholesale site I asked my friend Cassie, from Shop Clementine, if she would take some pictures of me in the studio.  So last weekend when she was up in Chester for the shoot with Aili Sage at the Pear Tree we killed two birds with one stone and did a double photo shoot day.  It was exhausting, but I'm really happy with the studio pictures.  I think they are both appealing and informative about the steps involved in my jewelry making process.

Behind the Scenes: The Shoot For The Rebecca Haas Jewelry Fall Lookbook

From the shoot for the 2013 Fall Lookbook:

model: Aili Sage
hair and makeup: Aili Sage
shot at: The Pear Tree, Chester, VT

Rowan's Avocado

Look who stopped by the other day, and absolutely had to have an avocado snack.  This is our friends G&C's baby Rowan, and I tell you what, he is psyched about the new world of solid food.  He practically banged his little baby fists on the table between bites.  

Almost makes you want to have another baby, doesn't it?  Almost?

Around The Studio

Things have been busy here in the Rebecca Haas Jewelry studio.  I usually count on a little downtime at the end of winter to spend some time regrouping and focusing on the big picture.  I didn't really get that downtime this year, which is both a blessing and a curse.  So aside from the new website I didn't really get a chance to tackle any big projects, and am woefully behind on stocking up for the may shows I'll be doing through the summer and fall.  Just thinking about it makes me start to hyperventilate a little bit.  Eeeep!

Here are a few photos I've taken around the studio in the last few days.  The photo above is a little collection of photo props, along with the macro lens which I use for my jewelry product shots.  The second one is of the newly listed Geometry Bangles, and the bottom ones are my little computer desk and a stack of chalkboard painted display boards from last year's show season.  

Put an Egg on it

This is my new favorite kitchen sink style spring meal.  I call it a kitchen sink meal because you can really make it with almost any vegetables you happen to have in your fridge.  I adapted it from a Momofuku recipe I found on chow.com for roasted asparagus with miso butter with a poached egg on top.  The miso butter, poached egg combo is pretty amazing, and it is a great foil to some slightly bitter greens.  In the photos above it is made with roasted baby bok choy, broccoli, and scallions.  I also added a little sticky rice on the side to stir in, which bulks it up to a hearty and healthy main course.  I use the same basic cooking times as the Momofuku recipe, so click here to see how to make it yourself.  I highly recommend adding some scallion halves (cut lengthwise).  I have also made it with asparagus and fiddleheads, but that season is mostly past.  But I plan to keep adapting this through the summer with whatever is coming out of the garden.

p.s. My friend Holly told me that putting a poached egg on things is all the rage now in New York restaurants, so I am quietly patting myself on the back over here for managing to be so on-trend out here in the boonies!