Michelle's blog

I'm in the middle of my busiest summer ever, not because I'm making lots of beads (I've been on sabbatical from torching to take care of family matters) but because somehow I've managed to schedule the most chaotic list ever of summer activities for my kids. And it's great! It's the first year that I've had the freedom to plan things out for them with their wishes and developmental needs at the top of the priority list, so we're doing everything from beginning programming and rock & roll to swimming and martial arts. It's a juggling act, but I'm surviving, and my kids are thriving, so with summer half over I deem it a success already.

I'm also still working on fundraising for AGLF. Within days after the artisans who'd she'd defamed on her blog "Online Fraud Investigation" had to drop their case because of mounting legal fees, Ullja filed her own case against thirty people. Guess who the number one defendant is? ME!

Supposedly I've set out to destroy her by publishing "knowingly false and defamatory statements" about her, and conspired with the other defendants to get them to place links to my "knowingly false and defamatory statements" on their websites. As if that wasn't funny enough (because, you know, if something's true then it's not defamation to talk or write about it, and I find it funny that she thinks it is) she's also accusing me of intent "to use Plaintiff's name and business identities/names and likenesses" for "the sole purpose of destroying Plaintiff's name, both professionally and personally...."

Now, saying a person is using someone's name and likeness sounds like accusing a person of identity theft. That's a pretty serious accusation (I'm still laughing, though). And the complaint drones on from there about how I, along with these twenty-nine other people, some of whom I'd only read in passing on Etsy and Lampwork Etc. forums, are conspiring to destroy Ullja Kuntze's reputation.

The artisans who were libeled on Ullja Kuntze's defamatory so-called "fraud blog" have withdrawn their suit against Ullja. I respect and support their decision. Here's a repost of the announcement, and more information about Ullja can be found on ulljas.com:

June 17, 2010 Announcement (permission to repost granted):

The Plaintiffs in the defamation case Liz Putnam et al v. Ullja Kuntze have filed to withdraw their motion seeking relief against Ullja Kuntze for defamation (libel and slander per se) and fraud.

The Plaintiffs arrived at the decision to withdraw after Ullja Kuntze, with much delay, finally complied with court-ordered disclosure and provided documents confirming that she publishes the blog "handmadeartisanfraud.blogspot.com" and has made false tax evasion reports specifically naming the Plaintiffs and many others to the IRS and state revenue offices around the country.

During the legal proceedings, the Plaintiffs attempted settlement with Ullja Kuntze and requested that she remove the blog, but Ms. Kuntze refused. The high cost of pursuing the case to completion has been weighed against the satisfaction of her admission that she is the publisher of the blog and the person behind the spurious reports to local authorities against artisans around the country. The investment to date resulted in obtaining evidence of her acts, an ample and welcome reward.

However, to pursue the case to completion and obtain an injunction against Ullja Kuntze ordering her to take the blog offline would be very expensive, given her lack of cooperation to date. With proof of her wrongdoing, the Plaintiffs and others targeted by Ms. Kuntze have the needed evidence to protect their professional and personal reputations individually.

Yes, I guess it is summer! Today is the last day of school for my little one, and I'm really looking forward to taking a break from the frenetic pace of the past few months and doing some gardening and goofing off with her. I think I'll still get time at the torch, but I think this year I'm not going to worry about whether I'm spending enough time at the torch, and just enjoy the time I do get and try to spend it pushing my limits and improving my skills.

I finally managed to sort my beads after the trunk show at Hotel deLuxe (that was a fun time, by the way, and we're doing it again next year) and got new beads photographed and listed. Mostly simple sets, contrasting pairs, and some sea glass and beach pebbles.

I've been madly getting ready for my very first trunk show, which happens this weekend at Hotel DeLuxe in downtown Portland on Saturday May 23 from 10-6, and Sunday May 24 from 10-4.


I'll be unveiling some new designs, including the shells and mermaids shown here. I'm very excited to be selling alongside my sister Kalera Stratton (The Beadwife), Breezy Riggs (Harvest Beads), and ceramic bead artists Joan and Lana (Off Center Productions).


Bello Modo Beads will also be there with a gazillion beads and findings.

If you're local, I hope you can stop by!

It's been a while since I last blogged, I know. We had kitchen construction going on during the holiday season, and my studio was being used for materials storage, and I had bronchitis for two months so didn't torch very much.

I'm back at it though, and excited about the new beads I'm working on. In the photo is a mermaid goddess prototype, which I made into a birthday pendant for my daughter. I have new spacers, beach pebbles and focals that will be for sale shortly... but as part of my Spring cleaning extravaganza, I'm installing a new shopping cart first.

I got kinda busy making some upgrades to my website recently, and almost forgot to mention that the Portland Independent Artisans Cooperative (www.pdxindie.com) curated the October City Sampler at Home of the Sampler, which sends out hundreds of boxes of handmade samples each month.

Our sampler boxes include at least 10 items from among the hundreds contributed by 20 of our artisans. Here are examples of what you might find in a sampler box:
Lampwork beads by skyislandMandala window decals by EyePopArt Dolls by Zeldaloo

Natural soy candles by Autumn Comfort Gemstone earrings by rubygirl Stickers by Lolli-Tots

Other contributions include:
Soap by Cerulea Bath and Body
Organic catnip slugs by Trillium Artisans
Screen-printed Portland Coat of Arms patches by Salmon Street Studio
Hand-etched glass pins by Bread and Badger
Fused glass magnets by Val Kinman
Recycled map buttons by leethal
Crocheted flower pins by Mmm... Fiber!

I've been very busy since the last time I posted. I've managed to spend some quality time with my torch, but the bulk of my time over the summer I spent helping form and launch a new Etsy street team called the Portland Independent Artisans Cooperative, which is the first Etsy street team to be formally organized and registered as a business entity.

The reason we (my fellow Portland Etsy artisans and I) did this is we wanted to promote quality Portland handmade wares in an online venue. We have some very talented artisans, a wide range of products, and we're growing. Our new website at www.pdxindie.com has a web feed of all our Etsy listings for fans of RSS, as well as a photo gallery and artist blogs. I hope you'll check it out.

skyisland mandalas: I spent the month of July working on mandala patterns in lampworked beads. The mandala based on the numbers four and eight is an old friend of mine; my senior project in college was a collection of large, organic mandala paintings of leaves and ice and snow and rock.I'm not exactly a child of the 60's, although I went to a school that seemed like the last oasis for offspring of flower children, where the high schoolers with long hair -- boys with untrimmed beards and girls in peasant skirts or patchworked overalls -- celebrated alongside us younger free spirits at the school's art festivals, taught us folk dancing and drawing, and hung out with us in the park playing games right up until the banjo-playing, comic-strip-illustrating, dancing-on-the-playground hippies were suddenly gone after one summer in the 70's and the next fall kids came back with spiked black hair and black fingernails...

Oops, sorry for the nostalgic digression. What I really meant to emphasize was that all the grooviness that lingered in that school exposed me to more than I thought it did at the time. Different ways of living, thinking, and doing art.

The results came back this morning and I was surprised to find my piece was picked by all three judges for first place!

One of the judges said she picked my piece because "not only is it a stunning piece of work she's put a lot of time and care into it (mind, they all have!)".

Her last comment was hardly an overstatement. There were some very inventive and beautifully crafted pieces in the challenge and I've obtained permission from their creators to post their photos here.

Lamplighter's light shadeSecond place went to Lamplighter for a beautiful lampshade incorporating TotusMel's medallion as a strong focal point.

Each judge chose one of the submitted pieces for third place. Those winners were Wenchie for her SteamPunk Hair Stick, MadArtJewelry for her Flies' Time Necklace and IndustrialFairyTale for her faux Ivory and Medallion Choker.


IndustrialFairy's choker MadArtJewelry's necklace Wenchie's hair stick

I was so excited I've already spent my winnings in TotusMel's shop on a lovely choker and pendant for me and a bracelet for my daughter.

TotusMel is planning another challenge, so keep an eye on her blog if you'd like to participate.

I've been working like a madwoman this month, although from the number of beads I've listed it's really hard to tell what's been going on behind the scenes here at skyisland.

First, I was just featured on Pretty Little Love Objects.

Second, I just finished and submitted the necklace shown here to TotusMel's tatting is not a lost art challenge.

The point of the challenge was to take a hand-tatted medallion made by TotusMel and sold in her Etsy shop, where she presented a choice of size and color for a tatted medallion to use in the challenge and open season on design. My obsession with lampworking and beading led me to design a focal bead style specifically to fit the medallion. It took a month of experimentation to produce the bead I chose to use in this necklace.

I painted the tatted medallion with acrylics to give it a watery feel, then set the lampworked focal into a beaded bezel and beaded and strung the necklace with vintage seed beads and crystals, czech glass, and bali silver.

She's already planning her next tatting challenge, and I'm already dreaming up new designs to mix with her lovely work.