Behind the Scenes

I'll admit it: I'm a nosy person. When I see these pictures in home magazines of meticulous living rooms and bathrooms I am dying of curiosity about what they REALLY look like (you know, because people actually live there). I love getting to look behind the scenes of my favorite movies and TV shows and see what the actresses and actors are eating for lunch or reading in their trailers.  And don't get me wrong, I love looking on Pinterest at beautiful, clean art studios and work spaces for inspiration.  But I can't help but wonder what those spaces looked like before they were cleaned up and organized for a photo shoot.

We all know that creative work is usually far from a tidy process!  I don't think there is anything wrong with pictures of gleaming white work rooms and nary a paint splatter , but I'm also a fan of reality; sometimes it feels good to know that not everyone is operating in a Pinterest-esque world!

So anyway, I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you of my desks, as well as some works in progress and what is usually going on in my "studio" (read: tiny unfinished room on stilts on the side of our apartment).  I didn't provide an "overview" shot because the angles are a little weird and it's hard to get everything in there.  Basically just imagine boxes and boxes of sheet music plus an old CPU doubling as a shelf.

Necklaces in different states of construction, baggies of cut sheet music, and misc. tools.  I know exactly where everything is though!

These guys just need their clasps and then they will be done!  I ran out of the clasps I like for this style, so the necklaces will hang out on my desk til my new supplies come in.  Then I'll photograph them, box them up, and list them on Etsy!

Baby loves photo days because it usually means I've cleared off an area on the sunny spot of the desk.  I try to keep my workspace free from cat hair, but it's pretty hard to say no to that face.

I try to only photograph about once a week since it is so time consuming.  Sometimes though if the light is particularly good on a random day I'll grab a few more shots.  My set-ups are pretty simple for the most part.  I try to keep a few different background papers and props on hand to make them interesting.

As soon as I cut sheet music, I label a baggie with the name and date of the song it comes from. I Keep the pieces together with their baggie until the jewelry is finished and I write the information on the gift box.  I re-use baggies from my supplies to minimize waste! 

Top: Some cheery plants.  Plants love it in here because there is so much sunlight!  Unfortunately plant-munching cats love it for the same reason (note the little tail sticking up from behind my frame).  Bottom: I seal the sheet music pieces with sealant before glazing them under glass.  During this step I keep the pieces near/on their baggies so they stay with their information.

Left: I designed these inserts to fit my necklace boxes.  I write the name and date of the music from which each necklace comes.  The clear lids are great because it makes keeping track of inventory really easy.  Right: The (gorgeous)  tissue paper that I use to wrap up outgoing packages.  Each box gets tied up with a gold or blue satin ribbon too...it's really pretty!

Well, that's about it I think!  I am happy to share more pictures if anyone has any specific requests. 

What do you think about messy/ neat work areas?  What's yours like, and how do you think your environment influences you?  Leave me a comment with your thoughts!

What are your best tips for doing craft fairs/ art shows?

Next Saturday kicks off the start of a busy summer show season for Gilded Days. I'm so excited, but as with all shows, I also have a healthy dose of anxiety; what if I forget something important? Do I have enough inventory? What if no one buys anything?!

So I was thinking, maybe we can all share some of our favorite show tips and tricks with each other to make show season a little less anxious.

What's on your list of "must-haves" at a show?

What is one tip you think everyone should know?

Leave a comment below, and if we get enough I'll compile them onto a master list to share!

How you can help me create something special and preserve the past

Do you want to preserve a little piece of history?

Do you want to help me create something special?

Do you want to clean out the attic?


If you answered "yes" to any of these questions- read on!

I love creating art and jewelry from old sheet music. But I also love the story behind each piece and knowing about its owners before me. And here's where you come in....

I've noticed that the more people I talk to about what I do, the more they want to be involved in it. Countless people have approached me at shows and told me about how much old sheet music they have sitting in their attic that they just don't know what to do with. Once they saw what can be done with their old sheet music, customers started asking if they could send me theirs!


It's win-win. You get to unload something that maybe you had previously felt bad about throwing away or didn't know what to do with. You also get to know that your old sheet music is going to start a new life as a piece of art or jewelry, and get a loving home. And I love it because I get to know more about where my pieces came from and make connections with some awesome people.

I pay the shipping, you just drop it in the mail! Email me at tessello (@) gmail.com and we can chat about the details!

What my work sounds like

One of the awesome things about using the materials that I use, is that there is such a story each piece tells just beyond what it looks and feels like. If you read sheet music you can probably find snippets of music here and there that you can hum aloud and get a feel for what it sounded like.

While it is so fun to be able to look up a song on YouTube and hear what it used to sound like, sometimes I am hesitant to do so. A lot of times I make a piece listening to my iPod and have a certain “sound” or feeling in mind, and I want to take the artwork in another direction than the emotions it was originally meant to convey. Does that make sense?

But sometimes curiosity also gets the best of me. So today I want to share with you how a few of my pieces “sound”.

In my Etsy shop

This box I made using all material from the sheet music for a song called “On the ‘Gin ‘Gin ‘Ginny Shore” from 1922. I had to be pretty careful about what lyrics I showed on this piece as some of them were pretty racist (as was some of the cover art I omitted). Even though it is labeled as a foxtrot I thought it would be a bit melancholy and nostalgic. Take a listen to this old recording of it on YouTube and see what you think! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u71ITMsIE5I

In my Etsy shop

Remember this box? I did the little tutorial on how to decoupage with it? Well, I always thought this would be a fairly upbeat, fast song. I was pretty surprised when I heard this recording of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEqu1NUUFRg

In my Etsy shop

Ok, I never really knew what to make of this one. “The Old Oaken Bucket” cover illustration is bizarre to say the least. It depicts a family bundled up and staring down the deep, dark, well. Apparently mom and dad felt it was worth educating little Tommy there about the nature of wells and buckets. I really had no idea what this song would have sounded like. Luckily someone posted a very old recording of it on YouTube and I satisfied my curiosity! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI4ej8b1VeE

In my Etsy shop

I made this plaque from an advertisement for a song called “Ragging the Scale”. It pretty much looks like a devilishly fast, crazy song. I didn’t expect many surprises here, but it was really fun to hear how it used to sound! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF_EKCXVsV0

So I'm curious to hear what you think, were you surprised by any of these songs? And in your own work, do you design/create with certain music in mind? What would you describe the "sound" of your art as?

The Heroic Age

"The Past", Thomas Cole 1838

"I floated along under the spell of enchantment, as if I had been transported an heroic age, and breathed an atmosphere of chivalry.

Soon after, I went to see a panorama of the Mississippi, and as I worked my way up the river in the light of to-day and saw the steamboats wooding up, counted the rising cities, gazed on the fresh ruins of Nauvoo, beheld the Indians moving west across the stream, and, as before I had looked up the Moselle, now looked up the Ohio and the Missouri and heard the legends of Dubuque and of Wenona’s Cliff,- still thinking more of the future than of the past or present,- I saw that this was a Rhine stream of a different kind; that the foundations of castles were yet to be laid, and the famous bridges were yet to be thrown over the river; and I felt that this was the heroic age itself, though we know it not."

Henry David Thoreau

"The Present", Thomas Cole 1838

I love this quote from Thoreau, because it still holds true for today. It's easy to romanticize the past, but don't forget, we're still living in the past! Someday people may look back and sigh for the "good old days" back in the 2010's.

This quote also reminds me of these gorgeous paintings, The Past and Present by the American artist Thomas Cole. I'm very familiar with them, because I used to be a security guard at the museum where they are displayed (I know I know, can you imagine me as a security guard??). I spent many hours in front of them, studying each tiny detail. They depict a castle in Medieval times, and the same castle in ruins "today" (1838). I love the use of light especially, in the Past the light is from the sun in the middle of the day; in the Present the setting sun throws long shadows from the castle. Doesn't the "Present" look just as, if not more, romantic than the past?

Do you think we live in a romantic, heroic age? Or do you think those days are long past? Do you find romance and heroism in grand gestures and movements, or in seemingly mundane details?

I'm curious what you think!