Iris Willow

I'm a jewelry designer in San Francisco. I handmake colorful kiln-fired enamel jewelry. Read my blog to learn more about my enameling process, see photos of my work or visit my shop.

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Iris Willow Jewelry Available in Washington

Exciting news to report - my handmade enamel jewelry is now available at the Galley One Visual Art Center in Ellensberg, Washington. Stop by their gift shop to see a lovely selection of my screen-printed pattern enamel earrings and necklaces available for purchase. They have some of my tiny holes earrings too.

I’m super excited that my jewelry will now be available in WA and I hope to expand to additional locations soon. If you know of any art galleries or boutiques in your area that you think would be a great fit for my enamel jewelry, please email me at [email protected] 

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Super excited to announce that Iris Willow jewelry is now a member of SFMade, the non-profit that supports local businesses that make products in San Francisco.

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Join me this weekend for my first time selling my jewelry at Treasure Island Flea. It’s sure to be a fun time with lots of fun vendors, food trucks, live music, drinks and more. Plus this weekend they’re having a Hawaiian theme. Find out more here.

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Join me tomorrow for at OMCA in Oakland. There’ll be food trucks, local art, live music and half price admission. I’ll have a big selection of my handmade enamel jewelry available, including this screen-printed enamel geo necklace. 

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Join me next Friday, July 17th at Friday Nights at OMCA (Oakland Museum of California) for a night of fun. Enjoy half price admission to the museum, plus live music, tasty treats from off the grid food trucks and shopping from local artists. I’ll have a great selection of my colorful handmade enamel jewelry available for purchase too. The event is from 5pm - 9pm, hope to see you there. Check out the event website for more information.

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Check out my interview on The Setup where I describe how I make my jewelry and what I use to make it. 

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Mark your calendars - I’ll be selling my handmade enamel jewelry at the Spring Urban Air Market in Hayes Valley on Sunday, May 3rd from 11am - 6pm. This will be a super fun event with live music and lots of local goods. Stop by and say hi and pick up a little something for your mama for mother’s day, that special grad on your list or a treat for yourself. You can find out more about this event here. 

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Craftcation Conference Recap

My head is spinning as I look over my growing to do list after attending my first Craftcation Conference last weekend in sunny Ventura, CA. I flew down to LA last Wednesday and then drove up to Ventura through nasty rush hour traffic to arrive in the cute little beachside southern Cali town spotted with lush trees. I stayed at a motel only a couple blocks from both the conference (and beach!) and the main drag of Ventura with lots of little restaurants and bars with a fellow SF Etsy jeweler, Camille Ouellette of Camillette. My conference schedule was jam-packed with business classes and a couple of craft workshops just for fun. I found this was a nice way to balance out the business classes without getting overwhelmed and provided a great opportunity to chat with other makers in the craft workshops.

I started the conference learning how to make this resin pendant with Lauren Rudeck of La Ru. The hardest part was picking the image, I ended up going with a carpet pattern I cut out from a magazine. The other tricky part was the drying time, it takes 24 hours to dry, and I sadly tilted mine on the way to lunch afterward, so it spilled a little, but ended up not too be too big of a deal.

After that I got to work with business classes learning how to grow my handmade enameling jewelry business. I took classes on marketing, blogging, selling to retailers, the nitty gritty details on teaching a diy class, something I hope to launch soon with enameling jewelry and so many more. This is where my to do list really expanded. 

Some of my fav workshops included Meghan Auman’s presentation on getting your products into stores. Her talk was filled with practical info and it helped that she is also a jeweler so her advice is directly transferable to my business. The last presentation I went to was on SEO (search engine optimization) with Se Reed or Se Reed Media was fantastic. Not only was her presentation packed with useful info, she was filled with energy and weaved in all our questions as she went along.

I also took a cross-stitch laser cut jewelry workshop hosted by MAKE Ventura, a non-profit creative space where members have access to all their fun tools like their laser cutter. Sadly we didn’t get to use the laser cutter in this class, as the pendants had already been laser cut beforehand and we just added the the cross stitch onto them. I’d never cross stitched before, so I spent a bit of time planning out my design, but that wasn’t a problem, it just meant I got to finish my pendant out in the sun along the boardwalk after class.

Even more valuable than all the business info I learned at Craftcation was the wonderful sense of community the conference provides. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many like-minded crafters and makers trying to turn their passion into a hand-crafted business. It definitely gave me the inspiration to keep growing my business.

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Craftcation Here I Come

Super excited to be heading down to southern Cali today to attend the Craftcation Conference, a four day business and makers conference in Ventura, CA. It’s my first time attending this conference, which is in its fourth year and is packed full tons of creative craft workshops and small business lectures and panels. 

My focus is on the business classes and I’m really looking forward to attending lectures on marketing, SEO, teaching art classes, wholesale and photography. Plus I signed up for a couple creative workshops including creating jewelry with a laser cutter and resin. I’ll be sure to post about my experience when I return.

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I'm officially an associate member at ACCI Gallery in Berkeley, which has the honor of being the oldest cooperative gallery west of the Mississippi, a total of 57 years! I went in to the gallery today to reorganize my inventory. Stop by and check out this awesome gallery filled with artwork from over 100 local artists, from jewelry and paintings to ceramics and scarves. 

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Guess who's jewelry is featured in the Urban Air Market Valentine's Gift Guide! My Red & White Geo Necklace is their number one pick for ladies. Check it out and see their great list of other gifts for those special ladies and gents in your life. 

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Get a treat for your sweetie or give yourself a little love with some handmade colorful jewelry. 

Sign up for my email newsletter during the month of February and I'll send you a coupon to save 15% off any of my handmade enamel jewelry in my shop. To sign up, simply click the button on the right and enter you email and I'll email you the coupon code.

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I had a blast last weekend at the SF Etsy 2014 Indie Holiday Emporium at Pier 35 on the Embarcadero in the former SF Cruise Terminal. Despite the rain, there was a great turnout and it was fun to see some many local makers in one place. I was excited to show off my new table display featuring natural wood and an video by the talented  Ben Jungjareon of me enameling in my studio to connect shoppers with my artistic process, which was a big hit. 

If you missed me last weekend, I'll be at San Francisco Bazaar December 13th & 14th at Fort Mason. Or you can check out my etsy shop which I just updated with tons of new designs, just in time for the holidays!

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Holiday Guest Artist at ACCI Gallery

I'm excited to announce that my jewelry is now available at the Arts & Crafts, Inc (ACCI) Gallery in Berkeley through Valentine's day. After participating in the Metal Arts Guild FUSION show at ACCI Galley, I was asked to be one of their holiday guest artists.

ACCI Galley is a artist's run cooperative gallery, so all the artist's also volunteer to keep the studio running. I volunteered for a couple hours yesterday and it was to see all such a diverse range of artwork all in one place. They have an amazing selection of jewelry, ceramics, textile art, candles, paintings and even a little sculpture garden out back.

I was pleased to see a great selection of my jewelry right up front. It's a great place to do your holiday shopping supporting local artists. Stop by and check it out if you're in Berkeley.

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Iris Willow featured on the SF Etsy Blog today

I recently joined the SF Etsy Team and today there're featuring an interview with me on their blog. Check it out!

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I just joined the SF Etsy Team, a group of local Bay Area etsy sellers and am excited to participate in their annual holiday craft show, the Indie Holiday Emporium.

The show is Thanksgiving weekend - just in time to start your holiday shopping by buying unique presents from local artists and makers. I'll have a big selection of my enamel earrings and necklaces for sale along with some new designs.

If you're staying in San Francisco for the holiday, be sure to stop by and say hi. It's free and open to all ages.

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I'm happy to announce that I'll be participating in the FUSION: COLLISION / INTEGRATION show at the ACCI Gallery in Berkeley. Starting next Monday, I'll have these five pairs of fan enamel earrings on sale beside the artwork of several jewelry artists from the Metal Arts Guild (which I'm a member of) and Northern California Enamel Guild. 

The show is running from October 19th - November 24th and if you stop by on Monday, November 3rd between 2pm and 6pm, I'll be at the gallery to show you them in person. Come on by and say hi!

There's also an opening night party on Friday, October 24th from 6 - 9pm that's sure to be fun. But sadly, I'll be out of town for this. I'm heading up to Walla Walla, Washington to visit my little sister - yay! 

FUSION: COLLISION / INTEGRATION  WHEN: October 19th - November 21st Mon-Sat 11am-6pm; Sun 12pm-5pm LOCATION: ACCI Gallery @ 1625 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94709