What I've been working on

I've mentioned before that I am horrible at keeping things to myself. I mean, if you have a deep, dark secret that you need kept hush-hush, you can trust me with it. But when I'm really excited about something I want to tell every single person, even if they don't care.

For example, I've seen several people in the past few weeks announce their moves to new jobs. They kept all of their interviews quiet. They kept the fact that they were looking for another job quiet. It wasn't until they had an official offer that they told anyone at all, and they did it quietly.

And then you have me, who was jumping up and down and telling everyone who came within 5 feet of me "I HAVE AN INTERVIEEEWWWWWW!" approximately 30 seconds after I listened to my voicemail that said "we would like to interview you." I hadn't even set up a time and date yet.

So please know that it was incredibly difficult for me to keep these necklaces secret from their respective owners AND the internet, as their respective owners sometimes read my blog.

Back story: There are 11 siblings in my mom's family. 5 girls. My aunt Martha lives in Norway, and started talking to me last summer about doing sisters necklaces for Christmas.

These are my favorite kind of custom orders. We decided on a general size and shape, and that each would have a birthstone (well, not just A birthstone, but THEIR birthstone. You know). And then I got to take the template I drew up and decide what went inside of each.

Meanwhile, I'd visit my mom, and she'd ask me how all of my custom orders were going. "What do you have left to make?"

"Oh...some necklaces. And earrings and stuff."

I desperately wanted to tell her about how awesome they were because I knew how excited all of the sisters would be that Martha had commissioned these. There were times I wanted to ask "Do you think this aunt would like this? I've never seen what kind of jewelry she wears..." but I just had to keep my mouth shut and wait until our family Christmas on December 19th. Torture.

And THEN to top it off, presents are always passed out at the end. Of course. I carried around the little bag of jewelry boxes off and on all day, because I just wanted them opened NOW. But there wasn't a good opportunity to hand them out until the end, with everyone else.

Onto the photos!

Martha's, in Norway:

The other 4 - I wanted to get a picture without hers so she could see the others and still be surprised about her necklace. And then I forgot to take a picture of all 5! Left to right: turquoise, pearl, chrysoprase, garnet.


The back of each is stamped with my initials as well as "M-sisters 2010"

Announcement

Well hello there!

I have taken a bit of a backseat in the world of the internet, as I've felt the pressure weighing me down.

Marketing.
Selling.
Listing.

Repeat.

I just want to make things.

SO...I have taken all made to order items out of the shop and I will not be taking any custom orders for a short time (never fear if you already have a custom order with me, it will not be put on hold!). I need to sit at my bench and just make stuff. I was the most ambitious I've been in a long time this evening and started seven new projects. Who knows when they'll all be complete...but I'm so happy to be working with stones again. Yum.

I do want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me this holiday season, and always. It's wonderful to think of all the little gems that I've made with my own two hands, making their way to all different countries and climates and people.

Stay tuned for photos of some new stuff soon!

Sooo....that's my car...

Poor Beatrice.


And poor me who has to shovel Beatrice out! It's going to be a long day.

Until then, while I wait for the parking lot to be plowed, I think I'll bake some cookies. Isn't that what you do when you're snowed in?

Sometimes you just have to do something drastic.

Like 7 shades darker,

8 inches shorter,

and bangs.

I am ready to bust out of here.

Only crazy horse people look at the forcast of "ice pellets" and do a little dance, because that means it's going to be in the 20s today! Which means it's warm enough to ride! Icy roads be damned, I'm getting this in before it drops below zero on Sunday.

Some new:

Custom Nesting ring, with a cab of turquoise that I picked up at the Tucson Gem Show. This ring took forever to complete, and thankfully Rachel is a very patient lady and loves it. I even got to deliver it in person and see the reaction!

ever-changing.

My life is growing and changing in such a rate that I can barely keep up.

I'm trying to be healthier, meanwhile mourning the truffle cheese in the fridge (and the butter, and the bread, and the sausage, and the wine...). It's really not so bad, but I'm making some much needed changes and trying to stay focused until it's a habit more than anything. I don't completely deprive myself, but who can eat just a single piece of truffle cheese?

I'm going to warm yoga again, which has been so hard but so good. After I mostly want a hug and/or to cry.

I was offered a new job today and will be starting a new path in January. Mixed emotions, but this is a very, very good thing, as I was looking at unemployment in a few months. When you have pony mouths to feed that is not an option!

Jewelry continues to be sparse, and my time is spent on custom orders. It's good, though. It's good to work with my hands.

Cholula continues to challenge me and test my patience. I'm finding I'm better physically equipped to deal with this. A few months ago, it was so difficult for me to keep my legs quiet. Somehow, something has happened and they are so much better. I feel like I have more control over them. Such a seemingly small thing but so difficult to master, this. Now: to work on my core. You try lifting a 1500 pound beast's belly and shoulders with your abs and let me know how it goes.

Here is a newer ring I finally got around to photographing. It's part II of my organic series:


Rough-hewn. Pulled right out of the dirt. And for sale, here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/63802494/organic-ring-in-jade

winter + deal of the week!

Once I begin to acclimate and once I pull all of my essential winter items out from hiding, I actually really enjoy winter. I imagine some ridiculous sort of camaraderie among my fellow drivers with heavy snow falls. It's kind of comical, really. All of these tires spinning for lack of traction, cars fish tailing around, people desperately trying to go places when their cards are ill-equipped...maybe I just think it's entertaining now because I have snow tires and they turn my little honda into something magical.




I also imagine that the giant snow banks that form along the sides of the road would be like bumpers at a bowling alley if my car were to spin and hit them. I know this is not true, but it makes me feel better when I'm driving about.

Tonight is a jewelry making night, as well as getting a pile of packages ready to ship tomorrow!

Oh, and, I'm trying something new that has been on the back of my mind for awhile. Every week I'm going to offer one of my pieces for a special price. At the end of the week, if not sold, it will return to its original price. We'll see how it goes!




http://www.etsy.com/listing/28281676/deal-of-the-week-sale-silk-ring





This week's deal is the Silk Ring...botswana agate, simply set on a thick band. Size 7.25.





Priced at $55 til Sunday!

I make stuff. Also, ponies.

I'm feeling very fired up about making things. Jewelry things. Collagey things. Photo things.

My mom and one of her friends had an art sale of their paintings on Black Friday - oils, watercolors, pastels. It was inspiring to see her doing this. It was inspiring to see what they've done. My mom has only been painting for 8? 9? years, and I am in awe of her work and her dedication.

I was so inspired I pulled out all of my paints and sketched out some canvases. Then I got frustrated because I don't really know what I'm doing and I haven't quite decided what to do about that. I'm in this really folksy kind of mood. I want to make folk paintings and paintings of these weird little lumpy animals and people I've been drawing. I can draw these things and picture how I want the final product to look, but that's where it ends. I'm working on it. I am also really impatient and want immediate results. Dear brain, work with the hands please.

To update on the last post: I'm just extremely burned out on the selling end of things. Making things for these imaginary deadlines I set for myself. Trying to do too many things at once for the opportunity of more sales. Sometimes I really feel like I'm jumping up and down, waving my hands, yelling about my work, but someone hit the mute button.

Und so, I can be frustrated over the lack of time I have until the world ends or I can work with my lack of time.

Art has always been about a need to make things, not sell them. So I'm going to focus on the former and if the latter comes I'll do a little dance.

The world needs more dance parties.

This post has completely veered off course. I was actually going to write about how much I love my pony and when everything else seems pear-shaped she makes sense. Maybe tomorrow.

(cuddling with Steph)

worn through.

I've known for awhile now that I probably do too much.

I have a "regular" job that takes up 40 hours of my week.
I take care of the barn and horses 12-14 hours per week.
I work on jewelry in all bits of in between, anywhere between 12 and 20+ hours, weekly. That is strictly bench time and does not include photo-taking, editing, description writing, listing, etc.
With winter here, the process of riding/cooling out/drying Cholula takes about 3 hours. I try to ride her at least 3-4 times per week.

Having a cup of tea and just sitting is a luxury I only experience about once per week. I have horrible guilt if I take a nap and "waste" a few hours of my remaining day...nevermind I only sleep 5 or 6 hours a night.

Suffice it to say, I am busy, and busy has been chipping away at me steadily for 3 years.

I am worn out and worn through. Don't get me wrong - I'm not sick of creating things. Conversely, I have more ideas spilling out of me than ever before. I'm trying to get a small portfolio of my photographs put together. I have sketches and pages of ideas for mixed media paintings.

I want a room full of tiny metal spoons hanging from the ceiling.


But, I don't have the time. And while I would love for this to be a grand post about how I am quitting my day job and jumping in feet first, I have bills to pay and horses to feed.

I'm not really sure what this post is about. I just want you to know that I really loathe the business end of things and I feel as though I'm spinning my wheels. I hate marketing. I haven't had anything to say or any photos to share so I've taken a bit of a break from blogging. Not intentionally - but no sense in forcing things that aren't there, right?

Suffice it to say that there is very little balance in my life and I haven't the faintest as to how to remedy that. As of right now, all of this doesn't really mean anything for my customers/etsy shop. However, the idea of continuing to push and try to become a self-employed artist is falling to the wayside.

This is my favorite David Bowie video ever:



And this is my favorite cover of said song. And perhaps my favorite version ever. Also, I was at this performance.



That is all.

10 things that I like right now.

1. Umba sapphires. Oh, my.

2. Mares. Specifically a big black one named Cholula. I am having one hell of a time with her under saddle right now, but it almost makes me love her more. I appreciate her female sass.

3. Salted caramel everything, but especially ice cream.

4. Visual candy:

(ok, and I rather like the song quite a bit as well. There is a lot of passion there.)

5. What feels like a metric ton of custom orders.

6. ALREADY being more or less on top of my holiday shopping!

7. That winter seems to be holding off/holding back, just for a little longer.

8. The 4:30 hour, when I walk home from work. I like the light then, but mostly I like these birds:

Hundreds of crows filling the skies and lining the tree tops as far as the eye can see. I don't think I've ever seen so many in person - this photo doesn't do the numbers justice. It makes me feel like I live in the coolest Alfred Hitchcock themed neighborhood ever. Except without the violence.

9. My new laptop!

10. My massive scarf collection.

Hammering & Melting

So, jewelry. Jewelry lately has involved making a hellofalotta earrings. Much to my excitement, this is because a lot of them are selling. After the open house my selection was looking a little slim, so I sat down and made a few more pairs for the home show I did on Saturday. I threw in a ring (I can't resist, I love them too much!) and a few necklaces as well.

So, here they are! The remaining necklace will eventually make its way over to the shop.

one:

rustic poppy necklace (yeah, I've made this before, it's true):

with rustic poppy earrings:

My mother purchased both of these things. She also has a rustic poppy ring with a carnelian in the center. She's quite pleased with her set!

I wasn't done melting/almost melting (reticulation!) stuff after these were made, but I didn't want to remake another item. I wanted to go into something with no expectations of how it would turn out. I wanted it crinkled and worn and as organic as I could make something. I have a feeling I'm not done here, but this is what I made:

Organic

(that was the only photo I managed to capture where the citrine was showing off it's golden hue.)

And then we moved onto these earrings. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing a game called "how many variations of these can we make?" I have a feeling I'm no where near finished with said game.

Windows:

And then I played a slightly different version of said game, but this time in a lulas/sticks kind of way:

Sticks & Stones

Sticks:

Lastly, we have the sole remainder of the bunch.

I've been dreaming up all sorts of things. Charm necklaces and I go way back. I wish I still had my first one, because it was fantastic.

I'm constructing these in such a way that you can add/remove charms at your will, and I hope to offer charms separately and options to build your own necklace from scratch. The chains are made a bit differently so the charms can fit over the jump ring at the end. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and that each charm is entirely handmade.

I need to retake these photos, as my light wasn't great at the time of my attempts. Daylight savings time is throwing one hell of a wrench in photographing my work and it seems it's time to reserve that process for weekends only, when I have spots of time in the middle of the day.

Some thoughts.

1. I have an interview! I have an interview!

2. I am really bad at keeping exciting things to myself. When I find a really good present for someone it takes all of my willpower to not tell them what I got them and how exciting it is.

3. I loathe daylight savings time. Extra hour of sleep? Oh, don't mind if I wake up at 7:30 (formerly known as 6:30) on Sunday morning. Stupid.

4. I would LOVE to spend this wonderfully beautiful and nice day galloping beastmare around the fields, but because of #3 it will likely be too dark to do that by the time I get off of work.

5. GIDDY OVER INTERVIEW.

6. Really excited about applying to some galleries and boutiques to show my work!

7. OMG! I have a bunch of photos to show you of all of my new stuff. Well, all of it sold on Saturday save for one necklace. This means a TWO POST blog day. Whew. I better save my energy.

8. Is silver going to keep going up? Should I just place my order now? :(

Custom.

This is a custom order I finished for my coworker - she wanted a stamped pendant with the names of her grandchildren stamped on it. I was going to do a layered stampy deal with one name on each, but then her 4th was born and I thought it would get too bulky!

This worked out quite nicely, and the stone is such that it'll go with everything. I oxidized first, sanded most of it off, (I just wanted it to highlight the names, mostly), and tumbled it til it shined.

She loves it! Yay!

Last day for the birthday sale!

Hello, hello.

Just a quick little reminder that today is your last day to take advantage of my birthday sale! I thought I'd throw in free shipping today as well :)


20% off everything! This includes 20% off already marked down prices AND made to order items. Hot damn.


PS. Girls always need more earrings. It's a fact in the book of life facts. For serious.

Custom crazy.

I finished up a custom order last night, which I will share pictures of later.

I have so many more. I finally wrote down my list because things were getting forgotten and then this little panic would settle in my brain going "you have something to maaaake...yes you doooo."

The total right now is something like 5 earrings, 4 rings, and 7 necklaces. Something like that. Many of those are for Christmas, so it's not a huge rush and I have plenty of time. But...I hate having a list staring back at me, so I'm on mission finish custom orders. I'll feel guilty working on anything else until they are complete!

In other news, I just discovered some of my photos may not actually be gone with the dead hard drive. YAY. YAYAYAYAY. YEAH.

In other other news, I'm eagerly anticipating this necklace's arrival:

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/36834454

It was my birthday/day of the dead present to myself. LOVE.

BIRTHDAY SALE. STAT.

1. It's my birthday!

2. I'm 26!

3. It is taking everything in my willpower to forge ahead. Yesterday was a mess of horrible things including a fried hard drive and lost photos and hours of work and everyone shaking their heads, telling me "you should've put it on the shared drive..." followed by lots of crying and stomping around and overall discontent.

I was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Through and through.

HOWEVER. Today, I'm not even going to think about everything that could potentially be lost forever and how I can't seem to find a single soul to assist me in data recovery. Because it's my goddamn birthday and I'm going to have an amazing day.

And to celebrate my birthday I'm hosting a really big sale in the etsy shop! This includes everything listed in there - even made to order items!

ALL OF IT IS 20% OFF.

For serious. Make your purchase as usual and I will refund 20% to your paypal account! Otherwise, contact me first and I'll adjust the listing for you.

Sale runs through this Friday, 11/5!

love to you.

These are not jewelry.

One:
I CAN'T NOT SHARE THIS WITH YOU.







I heard it for the first time last night and I just laughed and then I saw the video and it couldn't have been more perfect.



Two:
If you dress up like your (least?) favorite most awful processed/fast food for halloween and go to Chipotle, you can get a $2 burrito! Hot damn! It's part of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which is pretty awesome.



Three:
This is a face I make a lot of the time.

I was sifting through photos on my computer last night for A LITTLE WONDER, and I came across this. Joe took it. We were on a frozen lake covered in art shanties. You can read more about that here: http://www.artshantyprojects.org/

And I suggest you do, because it's pretty cool. I love Minnesota.

Four:

This is a jewelry-free post because TRUE STORY, I worked on nothing last night.

I am working on some things.

Some new things, like getting some of my photographs together to put here. (I've only had it for 2 years...)

Some jewelry things, like a pile of custom pieces. And some earrings. And charmy things. And I have another home show in 1.5 weeks? Oh!

Some pony things. Cholula is such a rock star. I love her. Last night we rode in the LOUD arena, with winds whipping around outside up to 60mph. The canvas was flapping, the metal bars were creaking, but Cho settled into work like it was any other day. Because she is awesome.

I need to order silver and I should probably just do it but I'm being really optimistic/hopeful that silver prices will go down. Even though they probably won't. $23+ per ounce, sir. No thank you.

It's taking ever fiber of my being to not buy everything. I am in shopping mode, and some people make some really fantastic things.

Like this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56788253/margarette-knew-the-day-would

And these:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60067555/three-little-terrariums

AND THIS.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59499208/sale-25-percent-off-the-patience

Back to normal.

I mentioned my weekend was a whirlwind of wonderful. And it was. Some rings I was surprised to see stick around for so long found fingers - happy! And we capped it all off with a lovely dinner and (more) lovely wine.

The world would be a better place with more wine + jewelry parties. For sure.

I added a handful of my made to order items to my etsy shop for the holiday season. Stacking rings like these:

Earrings like these:

And of course, horse halter tags and horseshoe necklaces. Because ponies and girls that love them need presents too.

This afternoon I'm going to take a NAP and then head to the barn to ride ponykins. I haven't ridden in a week and have only seen her a few times in the dark while feeding. I miss her.

hello, it is Saturday.

I can't believe day 2 of 3 of the open house is already over. My lungs are rejoicing (asthma triggered by allergies in a house with multiple cats - which is one of my worst triggers), the rest of me is not.

It's such a wonderfully different thing to sell in person after months of only interacting with people online. I get to see their reactions. I get to tell them how I made something. I get to see people pick something up and watch their faces and put it in their basket. Things I made!

Not to mention being surrounded by such great people. There is a woman who makes beautiful pottery. And another who makes lovely scarves and collages. A gentleman that brings his southwestern flair and endless stories. And another woman, new this year, who makes deliciously rustic copper and silver pieces. And then, of course, the hosts - making piles of gemmy earrings and necklaces, 22k and 24k chains, and SO much more.

Everything about the open house weekends is a treat and I wish they could happen every month.

I finished these 2 earrings shortly before I went over to set up yesterday:

A little different take on my lulas. Next time I do them this way I think they need to be made with a thicker gauge of silver...these are featherweights. I rather like them, though. And I like the texture.

Shaboom earrings:
I started these over a year ago! They kept getting pushed back. Originally they were going to have metal spoony things hanging from them, but I tried it and didn't like how any of the variations looked. Then I tried wire wrapping some stones and I thought that would work, so I ordered these lovely garnets. Autumn-y earrings! Swingy earrings! I really love them. Little fall jellyfish for your ears. They sold almost immediately...so I may have to make another pair or 2.

That is all over here...the etsy shop will be a bit bare upon it's reopening, but that's just fine. I will manage. I will make some more. You know.

3 necklaces. (preview)

I finished these up on Tuesday.





Leftmost: Carnie carnelian necklace. Wait til you see the back! (As usual, my camera picked up more red in the carnelian. It's definitely red-ORANGE.)
Center: Submarine OJ necklace in autumnal hues...this one I made for you! The first one I ended up keeping...I am wearing it right now, actually.
Rightmost: A glowing drop of prehnite. I pierced the little seed pod motif (as seen on the pod necklaces & a few other things) on the back.

Apparently I'll be posting photos later to show the backs of all of these...they all have their own little details!




Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go remove the insides of my ears. They have been itching for the past hour and I don't think I can take it much longer. (If anyone has an allergy medicine that actually works, do tell. I'm fairly sure I've tried them all, but perhaps there is a magic drug out there that I'm missing...)

The Claudias.

I'm back!

I have reopened the etsy shop til Friday, when it will close again until Sunday evening. I can't believe the fall open house is already here! I also can't believe I'm so prepared for it!

Yesterday I jumped into the studio to finish up various pieces sitting on my bench. The poppy jasper necklace that I hadn't touched for 6 months? Well, I decided to finish it.

Head.ache.

This piece makes me feel as though I shouldn't make jewelry. And I don't know how to solder. And that I need a bigger torch (this is a sure thing, I would really like to upgrade to acetylene/oxygen, as scary as that is!).

I think I made the whole thing work, but I'm not holding my breath. I guess we'll see after I put it in the polisher to give it a thorough cleaning. Solder fails always show up better then.

In other news, I'm quite pleased with everything else to be finished. A dear little prehnite necklace (it's pretty dear. Seriously.), a small carnelian necklace with an old/new design, and a submarine necklace for the shop instead of me, since I kept the first one. A handful of earrings and then it's on to price tags and earring cards and I'll be set to sell!

Recap of my trip to see my favorite boyfriend:
-Young's double chocolate stout ice cream floats (!)
-lots of fried things at the TX state fair, including cookie dough, oreos, and pickles.
-minor panic attack on the ferris wheel at the TX state fair.
-lots of sleeping.
-lots of television show marathons.
-my favorite cupcakes ever!
-lots of being completely lazy
-a little plant browsing

And then I came back to one of the neediest cats in the universe. I woke up in the middle of the night and she had positioned herself next to me/on my arm in such a manner that it was as though I was holding my very own live stuffed animal. Pathetic.

Oh, and...

There will be a give away on facebook before the end of the week!

Goooooood moooorning!

This redeemed my awful shower this morning (the water switched every 60 seconds or so from scalding hot to ice cold and so on and so forth) and we're back to being off to a fabulous start to the day.

I hope you love it TOO.

Made to fit YOU.

I'm giving something new a try. I've seen a few others on etsy doing this, and it makes sense. I mean, I can hope that someone falls in love with my jewelry. I can then further hope that it fits their fingers.

OR

I can just make it their size to begin with.

For all of you new to the jewelry game: Once a stone is set, it's done. I have no resizing equipment (and even then, I'd only be able to stretch a ring up a size or so). I also don't particularly like the idea of resizing things, as metal only has so much malleability. So, unless I took the ring apart, potentially rendering it to a point of no return, it can't be soldered after the stone is set. Stones will crack, children will cry, and all in all it's very devastating.

I picked these 2 designs because they are full of quirk and I want to give them the best chance they can have.

One:
This boulder opal reminds me so much of the Big Island. Much of it is made up of neutral lava rock, yet it's surrounded by the deep blue of the Pacific and hosts lush greenery and gorgeous fresh water pools with waterfalls spilling into them. The stone is largely made up of brown ironstone, with streams of watery blue and clear opal running throughout.

The setting is embellished with pieces of silver that remind me of one of my favorite things in the whole world: snorkeling. There is nothing like floating in the water for hours, watching all of the fish and underwater plant life interact.

Two:
A lovely slab of imperial jasper in shades of mauve and grey and cream. Two stacks of hammered dots of silver (I melted silver into balls and hammered them flat - these are thick and rich!), 3 silver balls attached to the bezel.



I would be happy to make either of these into a ring in your size or a pendant, depending on your preference!

Please contact me here, by email, or on etsy if you're interested. I am closing shop tomorrow for my 10 day vacation, but they will be there when I return - I'm not bringing them to the open house on the 22nd!

it is time.

Every once and awhile I decide it's time to learn a new technique. I'm always learning new things, I'm always improving on what I do know, but to take on a completely new technique? That takes a certain amount of sass that only comes around once in a great while.

I have a long list of techniques I want to learn...someday. A lot of things prevent me from learning them now: time, money, lack of equipment, etc. But every once and awhile, seemingly out of no where, I decide to take one of them on. "I'm doing this now." I buy what I think I'll need and I do it.

"I'm doing this now" hit me 2 weeks ago. With a supply order I generally add things into my cart over the course of a few days, checking all of my silver stock, tools, stones, etc, to be sure I don't need anything else. I'd been messing with my cart for a few days and realized I could really just go ahead and make the purchase.

However, for reasons unknown, I decided to take a quick look at the faceted stones. I had no plans for faceted stones. But as I looked through them I said "Ok, let's learn tube setting." and I started putting stones in my cart.

I looked up a quick article to make sure I got the right bits and size of tubing and a half hour later I had rearranged my cart again to accomodate the new items.

Now: I know the very basics of what is essentially bezel-setting faceted stones. By "I know" I mean someone told me sometime/I maybe saw a video/I read it in a book. "I know" you have to carve out a little seat in the tubing (or, if actually making a bezel - which I suppose you could do if you were really masochistic and have the hands of a tiny child - make a seat out of wire inside the bezel). "I know" that it's a very precise and delicate process but once you get the hang of it shouldn't be that difficult. I may have made that last part up. I just don't think it should be, given the basic steps.

But for some reason, I thought 3mm would be an excellent size to learn with. Just in case you're not familiar with the metric system, that's really tiny. Also, for reference, my warm stacking rings are 3mm stones.

Hello, my name is Jessi and I'm not feeling very optimistic about turning that foot of sterling tubing into tiny tiny settings for tiny tiny stones.



I'm fully expecting a lot of profanity, yelling, possibly crying, and eventually saying "f it" the first time around and setting the damn thing upside down in a normal bezel and making a tiny ring in which to stab people with.

And hopefully by the time I go through all of the garnets ( there are 6) I can decently set the citrine and iolite. And still have tubing left.


Hopefully!

two.

I'm in machine mode. This means making lists and getting overly excited when I get to cross something off as complete. Last week, as evidenced by my blog posts, I went earring crazy. I have a handful of designs I make over and over because people like them. Especially open house people. When I realized how soon the open house was coming up and that I had very few pairs of earrings for said open house, I went to remedy that asap. We are now up to a happy number of earrings, but I still have 3 pairs to finish and 2 to start. !

I am secretly hoping that at least one pair of poppy posts does not sell. So I can keep them. They really don't take much time to make and I could just sit down and DO it one of these days...but it is so hard to make things for myself. Too little time!

Here are 2 of the many pairs that are complete, though not yet in the shop:

Petal Posts

These were born of my incredible ADD and hyperactive studio time. I kept going back to the general concept, and oval oval oval, in between "and then solder and then file this and then wire wrap that and then oxidize these and then set that and then and then and then....!" My hands couldn't keep up with my brain.

And then at one point when I was trying to accomplish something else, I looked down at my table and saw an old template stuck to the top of it that was the exact size and perfectly imperfect shape for the idea. So I dropped whatever it was I was doing and cut these out. Good story.

Bow Earrings

A bit of a variation on some earrings I made in the past (you know, the coral and peridot similar to this. you know.). I bought some larger gauged beaded wire semi-recently, as the small stuff was making me mad. Crazy mad AND angry mad. It breaks everytime I pick it up and try and do something with it. I deem it mostly useless.

But not this beaded wire! This stuff behaved. And that was good. I've had those little vintage glass beads for like 2 years and I'm glad they turned into something more fun than their originally intended purpose, which was the most boring earrings ever. I've grown.

The ear wires are pretty long on these puppies, but I can't remember how long they hang down. Longer than your average pair of earrings. Whatever that means.

That is that! Soon-like I will tell you about my latest endeavor, which involves me employing small children with amazingly developed manual dexterity in order to set tiny, tiny faceted stones. Just kidding. We have child labor laws in this country.

But I did buy some tiny, tiny faceted stones and a foot of tubing and somehow the stones are supposed to go in the tubing. In the tubing. Right. If you saw the lack of tools and how I actually do things you would laugh at how hopelessly optimistic (read: stupid) I am being in thinking I can make this work. Seriously. I have 2 pairs of pliers and one is the cheapest pair of round-nose you've ever seen and the other pair aren't even jewelry pliers. And that's it. You'd be amazed at how many uses I've found for my vice! Desperation breeds creativity? I don't know. We'll discuss another day.

Off to the post office and to find some lunch!

a handful.

I made some things, you know.

And then I photo'd them and even managed to put some in my shop.

I've decided that I will be closing the shop while I'm on vacation. Because it's vacation. I've also taken out anything that's made to order, because I have other things to worry about this week, like getting my apartment and clothes clean before I leave.

Sorry to be so business-like...it's not much of a writing day for me today. Maybe after I have my coffee and don't feel like walking zombie. I hate you, Monday.

Onto pretty things!

Lunar Earrings

http://www.etsy.com/listing/57921042/lunar-earrings?ref=v1_other_1

I will be honest with you: I like these earrings. But I like them significantly more because I've associated them with Major Tom and anything remotely associated with David Bowie, even if it's my own doing, makes me a little giddy.



Rawhide Ring (part II)


http://www.etsy.com/listing/57918835/rawhide-ring?ref=v1_other_2

I know I've probably mentioned this a few times before, but I really love Owyhee Jasper. In every form and pattern and color. I also feel like I'm a grown-up jeweler because it's like I made a little series.

Deery Me earrings

http://www.etsy.com/listing/57919515/deery-me-earrings?ref=v1_other_1

I started these with the intention of having them at the art fair. You know, the one in July. Sometimes it takes me a long time to pick something back up again.

That concludes today's blogging fun!