Last Roller Coaster of the Year

I usually step up my jewelry offerings this time of year for the holidays and I decided to make this work for me in another way by vending at the Eiteljorg Museum Winter Market December 5th.  I will be sharing a table with my friend Lisa Atchison of Touch of Glass Designs. 

I will be working to get plenty of items made for the show and have a nice selection beyond what I have listed in my Etsy store right now.  While I'm working on jewelry for the show for the next couple of weeks, I will be listing bead sets to help give my Etsy customers a start on their Spring and Summer jewelry designs. 

I know it sounds odd that the first snow hasn't even hit the ground outside of my studio here in Indiana and I'm thinking about warmer seasons but jewelry designers are going to be starting their works for the next seasons just after the holidays and are probably already thinking about supplies and colors.

Listings for the next few days will be mini spacers (12mm or smaller) and glass ring/links.  Here's a preview:

Preview

I've been making some super small hollow beads, small for me anyway, and they are working out to be fantastic earrings!  I have some purple sets and another denim set to make up after I tumble the earwires.

Matching necklaces for the pink and denim are also next up to be listed.  These are simple and beautiful!  I have purple versions of these in the works as well.

Enjoy!

Etsy Preview

Hello!

I tend to have batches of items to list on Etsy but to keep myself at the top of the categories or searches, I list a couple of times a day rather than list all at once.  This works for me but I was thinking if it's really the best for my customers. 

So, I am going to try an experiment in which I blog a preview of items I plan to list in the next week or so.  If you see something you like, you can ask me to list it now or reserve it for you.  Now, instead of just shopping from what I have listed, you can see what I will be posting in the future and you don't miss out on anything!

Up for listing this week, more or less in order:

Orange Etch Earrings

Plain Black Spacers

I will have about 5 sets of spacers, in varying sizes made from "earthen" glass.

Yellow Transparent Vessel

Peach Transparent Vessel

I have more I'm loading into the kiln which I will need to wash and match up for next week.  Stay tuned...Thanks!

New Jewelry

Just an update, the studio is coming along nicely.  So nicely that I've been enjoying making some new jewelry.  The new bench is amazing; trade off of surface area for stability was worth it.

I have a few things to finish before I post pictures but I will...unless I get distracted by small shiny objects, again.

Give the Lady a Cigar (box)

Today, my box of boxes arrived!!!! Yep, I’ve been looking forward to receiving my box of boxes since I ordered them last week. And some women get excited about ordering shoes?!?!

As I’ve mentioned, repeatedly, I’m redoing my studio. By the way, it’s almost finished (the big stuff is done; paint, floor, new cabinets, work bench) and I will be posting lots and lots of pictures within a week or so.


Anyway, about my boxes. I was trying to think of a good and relatively inexpensive way to store frit, foil, enamels, and other lampwork stuff as well as beads, findings, etc. You know, all the junk that seems to pile up. I looked and looked but everything I found either wasn’t right or cost-prohibitive. Stupidly, the answer was right in front of me, on my desk, next to my computer.

Years ago, I lived near Tampa Florida and Tampa has a little incorporated city to the south, and I believe, east of it called Ybor city. This was, at least at the time, the trendy, artsy-fartsy district that became a one-stop boozapallooza at night. Ybor had other attractions including an old cigar factory in which was now housed a cigar shop. They had gobs of wooden and cardboard cigar boxes that they were practically giving away. I stockpiled a bunch and I think sold most of them when I moved back to Indiana. But I do still have a couple and I use them all the time.

I knew you could still buy them especially since the cigar box purse craze from a few years ago but I didn’t know where to look around Indianapolis so I looked on the internet. Etsy and Ebay had listings but Thompson Cigar Company had the best deal; 10 boxes for $10. They have a listing for “premium” boxes 10/$20 but I was thrilled with my “bargain” boxes!

I’m not sure what to do with the two Italian cardboard ones that have the satin over foam troughs…I mean they just scream bead storage and the Criollo box has little drawers, how freakin’ cute is that?!?!?! That one might have to be for show display. The rest are as cool as I expected, just not quite as unusual as those three. I can’t wait to start unpacking stuff tomorrow!!!!

Cool Stuff from BeadFest!

BeadFest Philadelphia is over for 2010 and, thankfully, so is the 12 hour drive back home to Indiana.  I rolled in at about 5:30a and have had one or two cats sitting on me since then.

Photo, design and findings by Hip Chick Beads

I was next to Amy of Hip Chick Beads again and it was great to see a familiar face.  Besides making sweet, hand-cast, sterling silver charms, she pelted me with chocolate whenever I looked sleepy.  I bought a nice assortment to work into jewelry for the holiday season and a few goodies for me.  Please check out her designs!

Photo, design and product by SilverSilk

One of the coolest items I saw was SilverSilk!  This is a super-fine metal mesh available in Agentium and copper.  The photo above is of the 8 needle flat version which I bought to stitch around my vessel necks.  I'm kicking myself now for not buying some of the finer, round knit.  Becky Machinski had herds around her demos and lines out of her booth every time I walked by.  This is a really new product and I think they are just now getting it out to bead and jewelry artists but I think it's going to be one of the next trends in jewelry making because of all of the possibilities!  Their website has a great explanation of how SilverSilk is made, some beautiful finished jewelry and some tips and techniques from Becky herself.  Check it out!

Photo, design and product by Easy Earring Cards

Last but not least is Easy Earring Cards.  I don't make much finished jewelry and I haven't used earring cards in years but that didn't matter!  These punches make perfect, even earring holes in any cardstock or business card you choose.  The kit includes both post and leverback/hook style punches as well as 25 blank cards to get you started.  You can order a variety of pre-cut blank cards from their website as well as cards that stand up for display (trifolded) or fold into a gift package.  I can't wait to make earrings now!

I'm exhausted but what a blast!

Studio Pre-do

I'm a fairly organized person and I like to keep things in order so I think I can say with an amount of experience that organization is a journey not a destination.  Anyone who says differently is probably selling something, like a really expensive organization system.  Things don't tend to stay organized for long especially in a space that is used for creative purposes because a person's skill level and interests change as they advance.  So, yes, I'm re-doing my studio again this Fall.  Last year really doesn't count.  I reorganized the closet but mostly I just cleaned. 

I have finally had it with the floor in my studio.  When I first converted the spare bedroom into a studio, I tore out the carpet and painted the concrete.  This might not have been bad but I added no-slip silica to the paint.  Let me recommend that, before you choose flooring, you give more than a passing thought as to how you are going to clean it.  For instance, a painted floor with silica mixed in is going to be impossible to mop since it will shred any kind of mop like sandpaper.  Vacuuming only goes so far especially if you forget to blow the bead release out of your hollow mandrels over the bottle and instead leave aboriginal foot outlines everywhere.

So, new flooring (lineolum) is going in and that means everything has to come out.  Since everything has to come out, why not make a few other changes too.  I need a second tower for glass, specifically Bullseye.  I caught a great sale on it earlier this year and 20lbs of it has been sitting in the box since then. 

The potting benches I've used for jewelry work have, well, never really worked.  They're too high to sit at and too delicate for hammering so I will be taking those two out and replacing them with one solid workbench.  This is also time to separate the bead stringing from the wirework.  Wire tools and stuff will stay but the stringing has been moved out into the new desk (above) in the livingroom.  Ann (Mom) is getting into seed bead work and really needs a better place to store her supplies and projects.  Yeah, if you want to look at it that way, I'm kicking her out.

I will post pictures as soon as everything is finished but for now I need to focus on BeadFest in Philadelphia.  We're leaving before the crack of dawn on Thursday.  If you are attending, please visit me at booth 1237.  If not, wish me luck!