[Jewelry making - Article 01004] - Re: [Orchid] Metalsmithing Mamas

[Lisa Gallagher]

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Hello Tavia,

    First, let me say your website has a really cool design, and your
    work is beautiful. I loved seeing your post about being a
    "Metalsmithing Mama". I think I will have to adopt that name, too.
    :-) I am the proud mommy of a 4-1/2 year old boy & a 8 month old
    little girl. It's sooooo very different having the second than the
    first, let me tell you! I'm assuming, by the way, this baby is your
    first. 

    I started learning jewerly making in late '98, and about a year
    later we moved to Heidelberg, Germany (no, not with the military). I
    started a wonderful opportunity as a guest student a few full days
    per week at the Goldschmiedeschule in Pforzheim, about an hour away
    by Autobahn. Two years later, though, I had to stop as I gave birth
    to a wonderful little boy. The days at the school were long, and
    eventually it was hard to lug my big preggo self around all day & sit
    on a little wooden stool, so I stopped about 6 weeks before he was
    born. He was a very happy & contented baby, enjoying sitting in his
    little bouncy seat, watching Mommy do her thing, so I actually got a
    decent amount of work done in the first few months. Decent,
    considering I wasn't getting much sleep & I had a new baby to take
    care of! We lived in a little apartment, and my work room was a
    spare BR off the living area, so it was pretty easy to have him happy
    & still be in my area doing stuff. Eventually we moved back to the
    US, though, when he was about 7-1/2 months old, so I was without my
    tool for several months. We moved in July, and it was November before
    we were in a house & able to unpack everything. But between taking
    care of a little one, unpacking a large house, being home alone 5
    days a week (traveling hubby), and doing work on the basement (adding
    lights & such) before I could really work down there, it was Mother's
    Day before I sat down & really used my torch for the first time! Now,
    by the way, we have an annual Mother's Day tradition where Hubby
    watches the kids all day while I get to play & make myself a piece
    of jewerly. Win-win! ;-) Anyway, I finally got to the point where I
    was able to get some work done, squeezing it in while he napped, the
    occasional time when he entertained himself in his playroom, and
    whenever I could after he went to bed or on the weekends when Daddy
    was home & not having to take care of something himself. Eventually,
    when my son was was 1-1/2 years old, he started at daycare two days
    each week, whole days. I might have done it a little sooner, but it
    took that long for us to decide we wanted to do that & then find one
    we liked. That time was reallllly good, I got a lot more done. Of
    course, I had to use that time to get other stuff done, too, like
    doctor's appointments & still unpacking the house & such, but it
    still helped out a lot. Unfortunately, though, shortly after the
    daycare started, we decided we had to move. So, I finished setting up
    the house just to get it ready to move out of! We lived there almost
    exactly one year. Ugh. I loved that house. Stuff got packed up AGAIN
    & we moved AGAIN and I had to wait AGAIN to get my stuff out of
    boxes. 

    We moved into that house in early December, and it was March before
    I had the basement ready to work in. There had been one outlet & 3
    working lightbulb fixtures in the basement, and obvously that
    wouldn't work. We added a ton of outlets & many lights & I got it all
    setup. I could tell my son missed daycare, and I missed the time he
    was there & I could get work done, so I worked quickly to find him a
    new one. We had switched him to 3 days per week when we had to start
    the moving process, and I was used to that now, so that's what we did
    first off at this new school. Again, full days. Hubby switched jobs
    so at least now he was in town all week (that's why we moved, he
    needed to find a job where he didn't travel, and this is where he
    found it), so I was also able to get more stuff done during the week
    & on the weekends, too, since he wasn't home for just a few hours
    each week. I settled into our new town (Lancaster, PA area), joined
    the local chapter of the state Guild, looked into shows & galleries
    (not a lot of shops in this area for my work, so I make field trips
    back to the Philly area where we moved from & to other larger local
    metropolitan areas), and really started to make some headway towards
    getting my business going. My parents moved to the area, too, so they
    helped now & then watching the boy on the days he wasn't in daycare
    if I really needed to get something done. That nice schedule carried
    on for a little while, but then we decided our son needed a sibling.
    It wasn't an easy decision if I wanted to be selfish. I was really
    getting things started, having another baby would really set me back.
    I didn't want to have just one child, though, it was just a shame
    that life had gotten in the way & the children would be just far
    enough apart that despite all of our many moves (one of the "life"
    things that got in the way!) I had had enough time to move my
    business along just enough to really want to keep up the momentum. Oh
    well! 

    A few weeks shy of 4 years after our son was born, we had our little
    girl. She's now just over 8 months old. Once again, I didn't get a
    lot of work done while I had morning sickness (the entire
    pregnancy!), and this time I had a big house & yard and a child to
    take care of, too. At least hubby was home more & helped A LOT. I
    actually did a couple shows in that time, and continued teaching
    jewelry classes (no fire stuff) which I'd started only a few months
    earlier. Once she was born, it took a couple months, but I was able
    to start doing more work again. My son had been going to daycare
    full time since she was born, and that continued until she was almost
    2 months old, when he went back to 3 days. Actually, she arrived 3
    weeks early, I would've started his full-time schedule BEFORE she was
    born if I'd had the chance. Mom & Dad were amazing help, especially
    in the beginning, but Mom still tries to spend at least one day each
    week here, since it's hard to be too productive with a little one's
    schedule (or sometimes lack thereof!). Often, too, they'll help with
    both kids on a day when I've got them both at home. 

    She is now crawling all over & pulling up on anything possible, and
    it's hard to keep the playroom proofed to her level, we have a couple
    things in there that weren't in the last house, not to mention all of
    her big brother's toys! That means I mainly get to work only when
    she's napping or someone else is watching her (like Gramma or Daddy),
    but I've managed to finagle some things in that room so that I can
    steal at least a little time now & then when she's awake. We don't
    want to pay for 2 kids in daycare, so she will probably wait another
    YEAR before she goes to school, that's when her brother will start
    kindergarten (yikes!), so the next year will be a challenge. Hubby's
    job pays the bills, so, as with yours, my biz takes a back seat.
    There's house & children stuff that needs to be taken care of, too,
    but but I really do take my biz seriously. It is my true passion, so
    I take any moments I can to get stuff done to grow it & make it worth
    what time I already do spend on it. 

    I did my first show since she was born in July, and a second just a
    couple weeks later. Somehow (great help from Gramma!) I got several
    new pieces done. I'm also teaching again now & then (couple times a
    month), and I really must rely on Gramma for that now, since I can't
    just do it when my son is in daycare & be free & clear. Also, the
    July show was different this year, since on the Friday my Mom had to
    stay home with the baby instead of being at the show with me like
    last year. And during evening setup or on the weekend days of the
    shows someone has to watch TWO kids, not just one. It really makes
    things different. I know the baby will grow quickly & I love the time
    I have with my sweet angel princess, but it's also hard when I have
    this business that I really want to make something of. It is NOT a
    hobby to me, but since I work out of my basement, it's kind of hard
    to create time when I'm "at work" and have it treated like a
    "regular" job when I wouldn't be doing laundry or running errands, or
    sitting in the playroom watching Baby Mozart or playing with a bead
    chaser. I do find some times I can work on something simple & take it
    up into the family room & do that while being close to the kids,
    whether it be one or both of them. The baby likes to pull up on my
    little work table now, though, so that's actually not as easy as it
    used to be! 

    Whew, this got to be a long one! Sorry. At any rate, it is a
    challenge for sure. I have three full-time jobs & only one full-time
    to do them in. Being a Mommy isn't easy no matter what else you're
    doing, for sure. But it's a wonderful thing and I'm blessed to have
    two wonderful little angels. They will soon be big, I know the time
    will fly like crazy. I will once again get back to the point I was at
    early last year when I can start thinking more seriously about my
    business & really try to get it moving along. Then, of course, there
    will eventually be all the school things that will take a lot of my
    time, but I will adjust, too, to that phase, and make the best of it! 

    Good luck & good fun, all Metalsmithing Mammas! 

Lisa
www.designsbylisag.com

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