Nancy Lee Designs: Handmade Jewelry and Objects

Some three or four weeks ago, I finally made up my mind to enter a few pieces of my work into the Indiana State Fair.

Fair Queen Circa 19-i'mnottelling

Having a long history of familial involvement with all things “fairground,” the entry process was loaded with more emotion than one may think reasonable for such an event. I mean, after all, it’s the place you go to eat deep-fried Snicker’s bars, drink sugary Lemon Shake-Ups and eat corn-on-the-cob on a stick dripping with butter, and shuffle around manure in smelly barns, trying to keep the straw from poking through the straps of your sandals.

But, once upon a time back in my adolescent Illinois days, I entered myself in the Georgetown Fair. I didn’t enter an item. I entered me – in the queen competition. And I won. Really. So, I got my 15 minutes of fame and my picture in the local paper with Governor Big Jim Thompson (now, that dates me!).

Fast-forward a bunch of decades (I’m not telling how many) to 2009. The hunger to win again has visited, this time in search of a ribbon and some cash in place of a crown. And I entered ITEMS this time: three pieces of jewelry and one small sculpture (I was warmly encouraged by my former metalsmithing instructor Marilyn Smith at the Indianapolis Art Center – nice).

Out here on a limb, I’m posting three of the four items I entered (forgot to photograph the final pendant before I entered it! It’s from the Lavanessence Series and has an Akoya pearl and a touch of recovered gold). Do you have a favorite from the three? I’d like to know!

Pod Sculpture, 5"

Loopy Pearl Earrings

Walk in the Woods Sculptural Pendant

If you are in the area, the Indiana State Fair opens August 7 and runs through August 23. Have a Lemon Shake Up for me!