Friday, September 22, 2006

(38) October 5, 1993 Everyday Icons

1993: First Class Stamp $0.29 cents
First World Trade Center Bombing in NYC
First Issue of "Wired" Magazine published
Lorena Bobbitt
Prince changes his name to an unpronounceable symbol
Brandon Lee is accidentally killed filming "The Crow"
" The Nightmare before Christmas"
Like Water for Chocolate is published by Laura Esquivel
"Frasier" premieres on NBC
Clinton agrees to compromise on military's ban on Homosexuals
CDC updated its definition of AIDS to include new opportunistic infections.
43,769 AIDS Deaths in the USA
The jewelry company was doing well, but the influx of imported items showing up in highly juried craft fairs gave every craft artist pause. I was attending the Houston International Show that year by myself, and as always arrived to a warm welcome. But the handwriting was on the wall for all craft people, and I was thinking of new ideas as I made my travels that spring. I had been making a line of "Everyday" Icon Brooch pins, with little prayers inside like the wall pieces I had made in Seattle for galleries. Standing in line at a Feista Market, buying a roast beef sandwich and a Coke (I still have the receipt from that purchase), I spied a huge display of Hispanic Religious Candles. Now I always bought candles to take home with me to Seattle, as some of the subjects were truly strange and wonderful to me. In a moment of divine inspiration standing right there it occurred to me that "I could do this"...make humorous faux religious candles based on the issues that plagued modern life. Of course I continued that train of thought, and when I returned home I started the work to make it happen. Everyone thought I was a little crazy, but that really never stopped me from anything in life. By the Fall, I had the first eight designs completed for the candles, and started marketing to my existing customer base by mail. In a flash, my life and business totally changed.

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