Tuesday Tidbits - My Workspace - Almost Done

Well, I took Friday and Monday off so I'd have a 4-day weekend to get organized, take pictures of my work that's ready for Art Fire, and maybe even make a thing or two if I had time left over. On Friday my DH surprised me by also taking the day off and treating me to a movie I told him I'd like to see (The Informant with Matt Damon and Scott Bakula).

Thus, a big chunk of Friday was unavailable. It turned out to be more than just the movie time, unfortunately, as the hot dogs or popcorn I had at the theatre didn't agree with me very well and I didn't feel up to much work the rest of the day.

Saturday was very productive, though, and I did the bulk of the clean up then. Here's a shot of my worktable (it's 6' long by 3' wide). Down to the far right is a little wheeled shelf unit that has my polymer clay toaster oven (still unused, alas) sitting on it, under a Bead Buddy lap desk and another Bead Buddy 'briefcase' that's great for traveling with beading stuff. I've got lots of various kinds of bead storage containers, desktop drawers, etc., crammed full of beady bits. I just ordered a Beadalon beading station and a table top work bench from Great Craft Works (who also had the Beadalon square knot links I've been wanting!) so I can get my beading wire and tools better organized.

for a clearer, larger picture, please click!

The boxes at the bottom left side of the table, just past the Ott lamp, are my 'sorting' boxes - bits and beads and stuff that needs to be sorted back into their proper places. That's what most of Saturday was about. As a result of my re-sorting and consolidating I freed up five or six of the divided plastic storage boxes and got a lot of stuff out of bags and box lids into proper bins. The boxes on the table hold the metal beads, bead caps, findings and components I've managed to collect. Several of them also have Swarovski, since there's no more shelf space and I don't want to mix them in the other bins by color and mix them up with the other glass.

Here's the stuff further along the wall to the right of the table. The bins in the bookshelf are beads sorted by color. That pink bit at the bottom right of the picture is a nifty cushion thing from Bead and Button Show 2009 on-line souvenir sale, called a Krafters Komfycush that I've got on my worktable chair. It has handy pocketed flaps that hang over the side of the chair and a seat cushion. The whole thing folds up into a tote with a shoulder strap. I thought it'd be handy for conventions and other shows whether I'm selling or just sitting in a seminar/panel discussion.

for a clearer, larger picture, please click!

And here's a bit further to the right - this is the hutch that still hasn't been worked on yet. When I first started beading it was my work surface. Eventually I had to get some carts with drawers to hold my beads, then after a while I needed two more. And all the shelves in the hutch were full of bead bins. Finally I bought the long table and moved stuff over to it. No way I'm going to pan further around the room - it's still a work in progress and there's still a lot of clutter over thataway. The wall is rather short as that side of the room has the sliding glass doors to the back patio in it.

for a clearer, larger picture, please click!

The other 180° of the room has my printer, computer desk and bookshelf. It's a major mess that's next on the list of things to do. Someday. When I'm not busy beading or blogging about beading.

That's the Tueday Tidbit. See you tomorrow when I go back to sharing about some new pieces I've done post-cleaning frenzy.

P.S. - can you see the one Star Trek item I've got in my beading area? Tell me in the comments if you can and know what it is.

Tuesday Tidbits

The USPS delivered some great stuff today!

Dawno's First Pick (Lima Beads Fresh Pick)

I've got some other charoite (lower right hand corner above) and am looking forward to using the different pieces in something, the ones from Lima Beads are really lovely - haven't quite decided the design. I'm crazy about the faceted citrine ovals (upper left corner) and 'mango dancing drops' freshwater pearls (second from left bottom). The fun thing about Lima Beads Fresh Picks is how other folk can leave comments and you can post a picture of your finished design right on the same page. As I mentioned, I'm thinking about a 'tropical sunset' multi-strand necklace with many of the beads in that pick.

Along with a few lovelies from Artbeads - Swarovski Aquamarine checkerboard & twist and Red Magma twist sew-ons. These I'm thinking about in a chain necklace interspersing the Swarovski's between the links. Not the two colors together, mind you, one necklace in Aquamarine with silver and one pairing the other Red Magma beads I have with the new twists and gunmetal chain.

Then from Auntie's Beads, who were giving a Twitterific deal (and as a Beader's Advantage member I automatically get 10% off, too), I grabbed some Mocca Swarovski briolettes, copper beadcaps and wired rings.

Finally, from The Beadin' Path I nabbed some vintage Swarovski "sunshine" in light topaz and Indian sapphire, plus vintage copper coated steel twisted curb chain and copper neckwires.

I talked about all of these stores and more on Saturday, too. If you missed it, I hope you'll go back and check it out.

Progress on tiding up the workroom - slow. Still can't sit in my chair or use the table, but I'm starting to find the floor again...

More New Stuff In Today's Mail & A New Steampunk-ish Pendant

My mailbox brought more joy today. I needed some extra stuff for BayCon (and the other cons I hope to be attending) and the last of it (yesterday's haul was part 1) came today - as well as the Swarovski Tahitian Look pearls from the dollar sale at Artbeads, which I mentioned a few days ago. I've left a review of these pearls on the Artbeads site as well; I'm very pleased with my purchases!

Speaking of which - here's the bracelet I made using the pearls and gold filled beads, shown with my earrings and necklace (the ones my husband bought for me):

The other package was from Accessories Susan, and I made a pendant base awhile ago with some of the oxidized brass she offers on her site. This evening I've added some additional bits and pieces to complete the pendant.

The stamped brass lady's hand and watch pieces are from a wonderfully eclectic assortment pack I got from Melanie at her Etsy Steampunk Supply shop, the "gem" is recycled from an old piece of costume jewelry I have. It needs a chain, which I may embellish with tiny light sapphire faceted Czech glass beads. This picture definitely needs to be clicked on for the details. There's a tiny steel blue minute hand attached to the big gear, the "gem" is set in a smaller gear.

Last night I submitted a necklace with those emerald green Swarovski crystals I showed in yesterday's post, to the Bead Star competition in the crystals category. My friend Lori Basiewicz helped me name it "Emerald Rain". I'd love to show you a picture, but just in case it makes it to the competition, I'm going to keep it off the web for now. I still need to make something for my SIL's birthday with the rest of them...and they'll probably show up late now, since her birthday is Saturday.

I may yet submit in one or two other categories before tomorrow's deadline. I don't know if my work is ready for "The Show" as they say in baseball, but it really can't hurt to try.

That's all for tonight - lots to do, little time to do it! Thanks for dropping by!

My First Blog Review on Technorati and Thoughts About Marketing and Social Media

Ok, pictures first - lots of 'em today, so I hope you're not on dial up! Then the post.

Someone special I know has a May birthday, so I got out these emerald Swarovski rounds - not totally sure what I'm going to make, but it needs to be in the mail tomorrow...

My new assortment packs of aluminum jump rings from Blue Buddha Boutique (as mentioned in prior post) - very cool colors, light weight - going to play and play!

I was just going to order eye and head pins, but I saw these and had to have them, too - Angelite - what a lovely blue!

Needed these fire polished Czech Purple/Gold AB rounds in 12mm size to finish my Step by Step Beads Colorworks Contest submission. It's all done now, and I'm very excited to submit it. Just worried about whether or not I can get the photograph specs correct per rules.

OK, last picture! A while back Rings & Things sent me some brass frames during the Gluable Challenge month. I never used the square one, although I did try something new with one of the rectangular ones. So I got this punch to make perfect-fit squares of paper that I'll use in a collage inside the frame. I have 72 of these frames, due to a *duh* moment in making my order, so I should be able to experiment freely. Got the punch and other cool stuff from Alpha Stamps, which I had never heard of until I read about them on Barbe Saint John's blog.

That's it for the pictures today, on to the title story.

I recently wrote a very short post referencing Technorati. I've been registered there since October of 2004 with my other blog NVNC ID VIDES, NVNC NE VIDES and decided to register this one as well. In that little post I asked if you'd be so kind as to give my blog a review.

Last night I checked my page, and saw that a dear friend of mine had posted a review. The generosity of her comments left me speechless, honest. This was me: " ... "

I've been thinking lately about how a little-known indie artisan gets the word out that they have things they'd like to share, sell, say... Well, blogging is one way, but people need to know to read your blog. Not easy when there are eleventy gazillion blogs about every kind of craft imaginable. Ok, I Googled craft blogs and there were 19 million hits, beading blogs, 16.2 million hits. Not quite eleventy gazillion, but close enough.

Now, I primarily blog because I like to. I'm a social person, extroverted and the beading thing is pretty solitary, so it's my social outlet. (this explains why it may seem like I'm stalking you when sometimes I comment on your blog, or respond to your comment here, about 3 minutes after you post - it's just that I'm starving for conversation!)

I also like to think there are some people who read this and enjoy my posts. I also realize that there's a marketing aspect to this now. As I was talking to my daughter on the phone we got to talking about why that's important.

I don't think it's enough to just have good stuff out there and hope that people will find it; they won't unless you give them some breadcrumbs to follow through the wild forest of the internet. I think you have to go find people you feel are kindred souls, make connections, share jokes, links, help each other out, pay it forward when you can. It's not that I'm looking for you to be my customers, but that when we share in this online conversation it makes us more visible on the web to potential customers - for *all* of us.

Someone lands here, doesn't really like my styles, but is gaga over Tish's or Lisa's, or anyone else on my blogroll. And, I hope, vice versa. Blogrolls, links, reviewing each other's work...fun for us, good for us. It's why I'm going to do my Sunday Dawno's Wanderings Around the Beadosphere, and I hope that someday some others will share in the fun, too.

And, just for fun - I posted on my other blog about my internet addiction along with a fun video clip about Twitter. Would love it if you'd take a peek!

Getting Ready for a Crafty Weekend!

Because it's one of those "you had to be there" kind of things, I won't explain why, but I'm going to be making something for my daughter and me featuring these:

Whatever gets made won't be identical because, while I found two packs of charms with the lobsters, I wasn't able to find more than one pack that had the starfish and scallop - so other charms will have to go on the second creation. I was thinking bracelet for me, but daughter doesn't wear them, so she'll get either earrings or a pendant. Or some kind of dangly thing she can use on a purse or hook to her keychain or a zipper...still working all this out in my head.

Tidied up my workspace a bit and did some minimal sorting, in order to be more focused about what I'm going to work on tonight and this weekend. I had a vague idea of the things I wanted to work on, while I was doing this, but I've decided to do something new to help increase my odds of actually ending up on Sunday with a sense of accomplishment.

As in real progress rather than sitting surrounded by piles of beads and findings, more piles of partly finished things, and the occasional running-out-to-the-store-for-something-new-because-I-got-a-wild-idea progress. Not that there's anything wrong with that sometimes.

Anyway, I got to thinking about how haphazardly I go about this whole jewelry obsession I have. I'm moving from "hobby" to "part time business" and maybe, in the not too distant future, full time business. At the conclusion of this ponderment, I decided that in order to be successful, I have to apply some of the project management skills (btw, that's a big part of what I do in my day job in the techie world) I've picked up along the way. Especially right now, if only to put some structured goals around what I need to do to prepare for Bay Con at the end of May.

For example, I will have a pretty small space so that sets one parameter - how much room I'll have to display, which limits what I can bring for sale pre-made. I am going to be sitting out in Artist's Alley again, so I need to be working on something all the time. That sets another parameter - what supplies to bring. The type of con, theme of con, typical con-goers, etc., help set the parameters for what kind of things might sell best. The easy parameter is "days left until show".

From all those parameters, I'll create a task list, maybe using Google Spreadsheets - if this is a successful trial-run, maybe someone will want me to share what I did, and it's very easy to share with Google. The task spreadsheet will include how many, and what kinds, of prepared bags of things to make at the table and put due dates for completion of those. Other tasks would be things like "what new items do I want to display" "complete pricing and tagging" "create inventory list".

Once the task list is created, dates assigned and priorities established, I can focus on getting the things I need to do for Bay Con done. If I get the tasks done before their due dates, then I can do whatever I want for the rest of the time, or move on to other tasks and move ahead of schedule. I'm actually liking this idea a lot, the more I write about it.

I first started using some of these techniques back in college, when I over-scheduled myself one quarter in my 2nd year. I found a book (title long forgotten) that saved me from dropping out in abject failure - and I'm not kidding, it was a really grim time. The key was breaking my days into 15 minute increments, setting achievable goals for those increments and rewarding myself periodically for success. Also dropping one class.

The organizational tips it gave were very much like a project management how-to, but written for students. Also like the time management stuff Franklin-Covey, Day-Timer, etc., have made their fortunes by providing seminars and supplies for. Me, I used Mead 4-subject 5x8 sized notebooks with graph paper pages and colored pens.

By organizing, setting goals and managing my time better, using the techniques in the book, I got thru that quarter, and subsequent quarters, graduated in 3 years and did it cum laude as well. I apply many of those same tools to my day-job. So why not my jewelry work, too? As I begin to approach this more as a part-time business than a hobby, it's essential!

Lava, Shells, Coral and Other Stuff, Too

Here's a journey through my work in progress using the Rings & Things goody: Lava Stone. I really loved the idea of using it with some red bamboo coral I had in my stash (Bead Gallery via Michaels). I started by just putting the stones with the coral, but decided it needed something else.

I ordered coral branch bits ( also from Rings & Things) and added them...nope, still not quite there.

Today I had to go to the Post Office to pick up a package from Melanie's Steampunk Supply store on Etsy (will share about those in a later post, when I start using them) and that's just a few blocks from the wonderful Global Beads in downtown Mountain View. I wasn't sure what I needed, just wanted something brown and organic looking and small.

When I found some tiny, brown beads, I scooped up a bunch. I learned they were Indian and made from the rudraksha seed. Also found some red, porus stone nuggets - not sure what they are (and forgot to ask) but they're like lava stone, and thought they'd be a good addition, so I bought a strand of those.

Here's where I am in the unfinished piece so far.

I never had any urge to buy lava stone before - but when I got my sample package, I rather fell in love with it. I ended up with so many ideas - I decided to stock up a bit.

In the picture below on the top left, are some sample bits using the lava stone that may grow into necklaces or bracelets later. I had some dark brown wire that I thought would look really interesting with the lava stones, so I made wrapped loops and a figure eight spacer with the wire. The other sample uses lava stones with drilled spiral shell points I found at Global Beads today, as well.

As for the rest of the pieces in the picture above, in the center are mother of pearl disks (they are thin, heishi-type beads) that I've linked together with 26 gauge Artistic Wire and brass bead. On the lower right is the start of a necklace (I think) using silver Beadalon Quick Links, gold plated 10mm jump rings and 15mm Botswana agate.

I also got some Swarovski beads in new colors that Rings & Things is carrying, and this is what I'm thinking of doing with the Indian Pink ones - they're strung on sterling bead chain between sterling seamless beads. The 4mm bicones are here and the larger 6mm is here:

Gorgeous "Red Magma" Swarovski Crystal Disk Pendants from Artbeads

As one of the Artbeads' Blogging for Beads participants (you can find us in the blogroll on the Artbeads Blog, and I feel so fortunate to be part of this great group of crafters). I was given a choice of many wonderful pendants and other Artbeads items to blog about this month. As I mentioned a few days ago, many of the other bloggers selected beautiful painted canvas on wood pendants. Lisa at A Bead A Day chose the cool large Swarovski Crystal Button rivolis. Kelley at Kellscreations picked a beautiful copper and enamel Faith pendant.

Me, I chose the 25mm disk pendant in a new color "Red Magma". There is a 38mm size also available at Artbeads.

Red Magma is well named, it has a molten, fiery color - and the cut used on these really flickers and glows like flames on a hot coal. You can read about the new color and the new shape at the Crystallized Swarovski Elements website. I immediately pictured it with gunmetal chain - and had a nice stash ready to work with.

While I would like to work with Swarovski all the time, the price point is a bit high for my convertible badge/eyeglass/necklace lanyards except as an occasional piece, but I don't have as much of a pricing concern with single purpose jewelry, and may start using more Crystallized Swarovski beads as I deplete other (usually Czech glass) stock in certain shapes and colors. The extra flash and sparkle of these beads is distinctive and notable - especially so in a large focal like this disk pendant.

For my project with the disks Artbeads sent me, I made a customized length of gunmetal chain by disassembling a chain made of open diamond shaped links:

and then hooked them back together with some gunmetal figure 8 closed links (that were actually part of a hook and eye closure set). Tool marks on the chain are very bright and obvious, so I used my fingers and nylon tipped pliers for the links.

plus a couple feet of a small, simple, gunmetal link chain, I wanted to use.

I looped the small chain through two of the disks and attached them to the open diamond shaped links for the sides of the necklace both from the top and bottom.

I then used a smaller length, hung a third disk through it and a link, then connected the link through the center figure 8 to make a pendant.

I 'floated' the last disk on a length of the smaller chain, suspended it in the middle of the necklace.

I finished it off with a hook and eye clasp. The length of the longest part of the chain is 20". The distance down from back clasp to the end of the pendant is 12". Here's the finished necklace:

You can click on any picture to see more detail.

A New Gluable Challenge Review - Plus! Free Project Tutorial

I'm gratefully noticing that I wasn't the last person in the beading blogosphere to post about the Rings & Things Gluable challenge (especially since I've gotten the new items to do, now, as well.)

Art Bead Scene has posted their Gluable Challenge review and a picture of a stunning bracelet, and Heather from Humblebeads has posted a free tutorial for using the gluable disk and loop bracelet on her blog.

I never did post how I finished off my deconstructed bracelet...and I'm still pretty sure it's *still* not finished...so the next step in the tutorial is "Glue mother of pearl disks to bracelet." I used E6000, so I'm going to let it set overnight before I fiddle anymore.

The disks have lengthwise holes drilled in them, which I've positioned to the sides so they're not so visible, but it got me to thinking about adding a small decorative bead on top of the MOP disks, using some thin wire through the holes...or maybe trying some seed beads...or who knows what else will come to mind! I'll post an update on any progress I make.

Is anyone interested in some of the brass gluable pendant frames (see here for squares and here for the rectangles) after seeing all the cool things you can make with them?

I have a bit of an overstock...really wasn't thinking clearly when I ordered 6 dozen of each type...You can email me at beadedbadgelanyards (at) gmail (dot) com to discuss details.

Wise Rep, Dawno says "Caveat Venditor"

Before I get into the info related to the post title - here are some blogs you should visit soon to see their Artbeads product designs/reviews - they (Artbeads and the bloggers I mention below) are NOT the focus of the caveats above - these folk are upright, serious artists! (I got my Artbead baubles today - squee! & will have my report/review soon). But, on to the fun stuff:

This Artist's Journey picked the Sunset painted canvas pendant, put it on a simply decorated (great idea on how to use crimp covers instead of knots or actual crimps) black cord to focus attention on the pendant.

Sha-sha Handcrafted picked a bronze quote pendant and paired it with chain and Swarovski pearls and crystals for a lovely necklace.

Margot Potter, The Impatient Crafter's intern Avalon Potter made a gorgeous necklace using a different painted canvas pendant, and called it "The Siren Song"

Lisa at A Bead A Day features a jet Swarovski rivoli (and a 'big 'un' too) in her Deco style choker

Feathered Fibers - enameled copper charm (with turtle) and canvas pendant - a stunning two-fer!

Hammi Jammi Jewelry - another canvas pendant necklace - different 'painting' and fun, shimmery necklace to showcase it.

See me, the above bloggers & more, on the Artbeads blogroll, too!

Ok, so what's the title of my post about, anyway? I got this in my email today:

RE: Can we sell your jewelry through our stores?

From: David Thibos

Do you wholesale? I'm interested in selling your jewelry through our network of stores. They'd be a great fit.

We work with buyers from thousands of jewelry stores, specialty shops, department stores, large chains, mail-order catalog companies and Internet shopping sites. We need a larger variety of jewelry they can choose from, hence my email to you.

If you're interested in selling your pieces to more stores visit us at http://www..com We guarantee sales.

Sincerely,
David Thibos
Director of Merchandising
WiseRep.com

Caveat Venditor - Let the Seller (that's us, btw, not Wise Rep) Beware.

At first I got just a little bit excited, but only for about a nanosecond, because I remembered all the literary scams I'd read about on Absolute Write Forum's Bewares and Background Checks and also on the Writer Beware! blog. There are so many predatory people out there using the internet to separate the unwary from their hard earned dollars - and in tough times, stuff like this may start appealing even more to folk who need to bring in a few extra dollars to stay above water.

The email, the promises...all looked familiar. Had many of the "markers" that those publishing schemes had.

Now, I'd have Googled the site anyway. I always check things out to see if they're legit and what the buzz around the net is - and that was quite informative. This outfit has been sending out emails for a couple of years now. There's an up-front fee involved as well as a monthly cost. It began to look a lot like some author representation schemes, as well as 'display site' schemes I've read about - they take your $$ and if they do anything at all for you, it certainly isn't effective nor worth the money you pay them.

In my reading I came across a very interesting thread on the Bead&Button forum site - starts off with a 'testimonial' - "How My Jewelry Saved My Home" but keep reading, there's some great comments later that get to the heart of the matter - Wise Rep probably has a number of folk who troll sites, blogs and forums to post stuff like this to try and get people to believe in them. Problem is, they come off sounding too good to be true - and you know how that saying goes...

Anyway, Wise Rep has also posted a poorly written press release on PRWeb (where anyone can post anything and call it a press release), I'd guess they send employees around the web to defend the "business" and use that PR link as proof...but nobody who has an actual verifiable way to contact them on any blog or forum (lots of anonymous posters or posters with empty profiles) ever posts any supporting documentation that WiseRep has really done anything to get a product into "Target, Macy's, Barns & Noble, and Petsmart". Best post of the thread is the second to last, by Christina - she did her homework!

Dave of Dave's Cupboard posted about them the other day, too - he dug a bit deeper and did a WhoIs registration check - turns out whoever owns WiseRep is hiding behind a proxy domain company. Seems to me, as with those unverifiable blog and forum commenters, if you can't find legitimate street addresses, or incorporation information or even contact telephone numbers for a company, so calls and emails go to real, accountable, people, you should steer clear of that internet "business" - they don't want to be found, or talked to, or accountable.

Anyone else get this email? What do you think? Oh, and if anyone shows up to defend Wise Rep who doesn't have a verifiable profile and thinks they can just regurgitate that press release, well, I'm going to delete those comments, not going to give them any positive Google juice here.

Polyclay experiment #1

I should have taken pictures, but it was late* and just I dove in and didn't think about the camera until it was too late. I am using Sculpey III clay. I learned that it gets very soft and sticky. I kept having to stick it in the refrigerator to get it a bit less squooshy for the cutting parts of the design I tried.

*I hadn't felt well earlier in the day, so I took a nap and that meant I wasn't able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, so I just started experimenting with the clay

I wanted to make polyclay patterned disks to glue onto the gunmetal bracelet form. I decided to use black and pearl and shades of gray from mixing black and pearl. I got out a book I'd purchased and flipped through until I saw a picture of a design I liked. Kaleidoscope canes. Looked ambitious, but I jumped right in anyway, 'cuz that's what I do - and I have lots of experience in making things that didn't work out right at first, but learning a lot in the process.

Besides, how hard can this be - making snakes and triangles and stuff? (famous last words, huh?)

Made dark gray triangles, put snakes on them going from darkest (black) to lightest (light pearlized gray), put a sheet of medium gray over the snakes and triangle. Reduce the cane. ummm...

Read up on how to do that and thought I'd reduced it pretty successfully, cut it in half, re-assembled the halves into a new triangle per instructions, added more snakes, this time going from light to dark, needs another sheet over all that - hmm, made a pink-ish gray by mixing in a little red, just to add contrast. Cut again and re-assembled.

It was huge now. Read up again how to reduce. Tried it. Didn't do such a good job this time. I think the problem was that I used too many snakes in the canes, so I ended up with barely a pattern in the reduced cane that didn't show much detail, so it just looked like grayish streaks. Oh well. Will try again tomorrow, I decided. Put clay cane in baggie and went to bed.

Today I played around with the cane, making different slices at angles, lengthwise through the center, flattened the slices, made cuts and re-arranged the pieces - I could see how there could be potential designs out of the concept in some future effort, but this one got chalked up as a learning experience.

I now have a good sized lump of an odd purplish-gray color - I hope I can eventually use it - probably will have to mix it with another color to get something prettier.

I'll try again some time soon. I found a detailed 'how to reduce' tutorial at Polymer Clay Central and hope that, plus fewer, larger snakes is the key.

Tonight I may just read and relax and try to get to bed early, only got 5 hours of sleep last night and am already fading a bit.

Random Necklace - Finis...?

I want to start off sharing new posts I've seen recently about the Gluable Challenge. They are all such clever crafters!

*melanie* at Earthenwood Studios blog - baby moon faces and re-purposed bracelet turned into a necklace all using beautiful ceramics. I'm saving up for a big purchase from Earthenwood some day, I love their work!

Tammy Powley at Crafty Princess Diaries showed of her fun fish bracelet and a cool quote on the brass frame

And Lisa over at A Bead A Day did this very cool bracelet using scrapbooking brads she modified and glued to the disk and loop bracelet form (reminds me of 60s Op Art Posters)


Now, on to the thrilling conclusion of the Random Necklace Adventure...

I pondered and piddled around with it some more today, and here's the finished* piece, which hangs about 24" from the neckline, so it's about 48" around - weighs in at almost a 1/4 lb (3.8 oz). Here's how it (approximately, since this obviously isn't my neckline...) looks doubled when I tried it on - you may notice my concession to pattern and order with the focal point in the center of the bottom loop:

In this shot I highlight the randomness (but not an ability to focus the camera - it looks focused in that tiny window, but my eyes aren't so good anymore - even with my glasses on, maybe it's time for a new prescription):

And this last shot was just to show it full length (I drug in that branch the other day thinking I might use some of the smaller branches for earring photos...DH just rolled his eyes).

*finished as in I may or may not change my mind, but I did put the finishing hardware on it, but I can always take it apart and try again...someday...maybe or maybe not...don't you love how I'm so definite?

Thinking About Weekend Crafting

My order with Annie Howes came in the other day - two part "doming system" resin kit, a bottle of Glamour Glaze, ten small clear glass domes and some really adorable Chiyogami papers.

I'm not 100% sure how to use the glaze - no instructions came with or on the bottle (not that I'm critizing, nothing like that was promised at point of sale, and I'm a real believer in caveat emptor) - so I'm going to experiment with it as if it were Diamond Glaze (which has online FAQs) and see if that works. I was thinking that I'd use it to seal and protect small hand drawn decorations or small printed designs in collage type pieces (yes, I am finally going to use those Rings & Things brass frame blanks).

I'd hoped to use the glass domes on the bracelet blank, but they might not work. I'm beginning to get a tad depressed everytime I see the poor unembellished gunmetal blank lying there waiting for me to get inspired.

Meanwhile, tonight, I'll do some more organizing - this time I'm down to the bead level, not like last weekend where I was moving boxes and setting up the worktable. Should be a lot less exhausting.

And...will this be the weekend I finally give polyclay a try? I'll let you know!

Exotic Tiger's Eye and Yellow Jade

Just finished and listed a new necklace on Art Fire, made of tiger's eye stone beads and nuggets and yellow jade. I really love this combination - the shimmer and dimensionality of the tiger's eye has always fascinated me, even as a young child it was my favorite stone.

But I wasn't satisfied with a necklace just made of tiger's eye, so I poked around in the bead boxes of my (newly organized- yay me!) work table and tried and rejected a lot of ideas until I found the yellow jade. "Ooooh," I thought, "this looks great!"

I also decided against a lot of extra embellishments, so the nuggets and jade have bead caps but the rest of the necklace is just tiger's eye beads. This one is strung on beading wire, not knotted.

I hope you like it, too!

(click to enlarge)

I've added a lot of beading and jewelry blogs to my "follow" list - I don't know if you can see that I'm following you on your widgets, since I added them manually via the blogger dashboard (it's my old-fashioned, non-Blogger-layouts, hand coded html template's fault but I like what I have and so there).

I try to comment on other blogs I follow as often as I can, because I believe this should be a conversation, not just each of us shouting into cyberspace and wondering if anyone is listening.

Ever wonder about that? I added Site-Meter to my blogs, just so I could see if anyone but the Googlebots were ever checking in. This blog has gone from one or two real visitors a week, to a pretty good daily visit rate of real people. Thank you so much for stopping by, it means the world to me!

Now, for a really random thought:

Do you like pool - you know, 8-ball, billiards? How about precocious toddlers playing grown up games? Check out my other blog, there's a video clip of a toddler who is a pool playing prodigy embedded there today.

And now a word from our sponsor:

Dawno

Buy Handmade

I'm Exhausted - But My Workroom Is Set Up!

Major spring cleaning happened to my office/workroom. Filled up the paper recycle bin with boxes. Went to Target and got a 6'x3' folding banquet' table, put it up and started moving stuff over to it. Now I'm going to little by little organize and re-arrange things, but I am so happy with the new set up! Exhausted, but happy.

So, as far as getting other things done today - that was it. Well, except for one custom order you can see lying there in my "DIY Beading Lap Desk" in the picture above. I'm so very glad I took tomorrow off, I'll need it to recover!

Saw another gluable challenge post today - Lisa at A Bead A Day shares a lovely creation using Swarovski pearls and a gluable bracelet blank with pre-drilled holes for embellishment. I didn't see that on the listing - nor the bubbly texture that appears in the pictures, so I'm wondering if it is a new product that's not listed yet.

I really have to get going on mine and get them posted!

I Bought Stuff Today

Before I start into my ramble, go take a look at the lovely pieces Lisa at A Bead A Day did with the frames from the Rings & Things Gluable Challenge.

Speaking of the challenge, today I went out and got polyclay and some tools for same and a 'how to' book, some ribbons, a bunch of beads I shouldn't have but couldn't resist (this is why I have to stay away from bead stores for as long as I can hold out), some cool metal letter "charms" - made for scrapbooking, so there are no holes or loops on them and they're perfect for gluing.

I may actually have more Gluable Challenge work to post soon. The ribbon is to finish my last choker form - it's almost done, just a couple finishing touches and I'll post a picture - maybe tomorrow.

The polyclay book I bought is:



Currently out of stock at Amazon, but they note that you can order and they'll notify you when available and not charge you until it ships. If you want to get this book and buy it through that link, Dawno gets a few pennies from Amazon.

I really like Dotty's book. Clear, easy to understand examples and step by step how-to's, lovely photography and fun projects. She shares some clever ideas for creating interesting effects with simple techniques and easy to find materials (like dyed eggshell mosaic - with Easter coming up, there should be plenty of dyed eggshell around to save up!)

I know this is going to be frustrating, making beads and focals with polyclay. I have so many ideas I want to try and the proper execution of those ideas won't happen right away because I have to learn something new. I will have to keep telling myself to be patient - which isn't my best attribute.

Why I Don't Have One of those Nifty "Follow" Widgets

I have been on Blogger for three and a half years (this blog isn't that old, but with my other blog) and I customized the template they provided at that time. I've done a lot of tweaking and adding and changing both the CSS and the HTML to get things approximately the way I want them.

I say approximately because there are some things I'd like to do but can't because I don't have the technical knowledge, or I find the directions confusing, or won't switch to the new template - which is why I don't have the follower's widget because you have to be on the new Blogger Layouts templates to use it.

However, you can still follow me - just go to your dashboard and plug in my URL: http://beadedbadgelanyards.blogspot.com

It'd be nifty if you would!

TGIF!

Tish from Just A Tish gave me a nudge today in a comment to the post below (Thanks, Tish!) - I have been caught up in "real life" stuff this week and haven't paused to post since Tuesday. So to recap the week, bead-wise...

I got some wonderful sunflower beads with a sky above them inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, the other day, from Patti Stoll (I got an oval for a focal - she's still got round ones listed). Her work is really exquisite, I promise to post a picture of the finished work.

I *think* I heard about her through a tweet from Dave at Rings & Things - if you're on Twitter and haven't added him to your follow list, do! He has great tweets - not just "buy our stuff" but conversations with other Twitter-ers, links to great crafters and websites, and just plain good or fun information. If you check his follow list, you can follow other bead-y Tweeters he's found (like I did). I'm *days* behind on Twitter, too, so if you sent me a tweet, I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet.

Speaking of Rings & Things, I also put in an order for a book Dave recommended on their blog, and some "liquid silver" sterling silver tubes and beads for a necklace idea with coin pearls that I want to work on.

I hope to be back to my usual regular (almost daily) posting schedule now. Thanks for hanging around.

Comments from Visitors to My Display and Other Musings About Potlatch SF Convention

One of the interesting (well, at least to me) things about doing the convention last weekend were the comments from buyers and browsers. There was a great deal of interest in the vintage look pieces and I even sold the gunmetal and pearl necklace I showed (and Dave of Rings & Things shared on their blog) awhile back.

Another comment was that many of the con participants might prefer bigger and bolder necklaces. One of the ones I sold (along with a custom matching bracelet and earrings - wish I had thought to photograph the set!) I'd almost convinced myself not to make as I thought it was "too much". When I saw it on the customer, I was so thrilled - it really looked great on her.

My copper and mother of pearl necklace also sold early. I didn't sell any earrings (other than the custom order for the set above), though. And none of the green pieces sold, even with St. Patrick's day coming up.

Many of the con participants are already avid beaders and crafters, too. I received more than one suggestion to check out local gem shows - something I do want to do, just need to figure out how to schedule (and budget) one into my calendar.

One customer liked my yellow turquoise and green lace lanyard but wanted it in silver. So I took it home and re-strung it with tiny sterling silver beads instead of the gold plated ones already on it. She was quite happy with the new look and I made a sale.

One of the other dealers in the room (booksales) does jewelry and felt I'd underpriced my work. I understand what she was saying and know I still haven't figured out my pricing. However, I like getting my work out there, so part of my "profit-margin" is satisfaction. I know I'd feel much differently if I was more dependent on the money from sales, so thank goodness for the day job that supports my fledgling side-business!

Made Some Earrings While Watching Obama Speech - So, Is It Too Corny to Want to Name Them "Hope"?

I decided to make a pair of earrings that matched a lanyard using teal and aqua glass beads. Started out just putting the beads on a long sterling headpin in the same sequence as the lanyard. Decided it needed a little something more and since I'm on a curlicue kick, I took some wire and made two curls and hung little teal faceted glass beads off of them.

The thing I really like about how they turned out is that the curls move around and the earrings have a very dimensional look, which I try to show in the picture below.

And here's the pair with the matching lanyard.

I think I'm going to put some goals on myself for tomorrow and Thursday night that I won't make any new pieces until I've worked on the things I need to finish for the convention. Things I need to do - put labels and prices on the pieces, finish off the standing displays and get all the other stuff I need to take on Friday out and at least gathered up for packing.

It Was Longer and Curvy-er but I Twisted It Up

Been busy, busy with day job - had a business dinner last night, lots of meetings today. Did manage to finish a glass bead badge lanyard to match my outfit, and I wore it with a brass stamping and bauble necklace into the office today.

The beaded badge lanyard uses pinched sphere Czech glass beads in peridot and tiny (2 or 3mm) faceted jet black Czech glass rounds. It's about 29 - 30" (my tape measure has wandered off, maybe a cat stole it?)

The necklace features one dangle on a bit of chain made from two peridot Czech pressed glass flower beads with tiny pearlescent seed beads. I used a long headpin to stack the beads, and a tiny brass bead just above each yellow seed bead that is mostly hidden in the flower, so the yellow ones would show.

The other dangle is a freshwater cultured pearl. I then looped them both together through a jumpring with a glass teardrop in peridot, and that through another thicker jumpring attached to one of the swirls in the stamping.

The brass stamping (Accessories Susan "Poppies in the Wind") started out much longer and curvy-er but I wasn't satisfied with how it hung as a pendant, so I gave it a twist to shorten and center the piece at the top where I fasten the chain through another jumpring.

Did you notice that I got a cool new graphic to add to my sidebar from Rings & Things? I'm a blog partner - nifty! They're having a comment contest there through the end of the month (and each month) - leave comments on their posts and be in a drawing for a surprise goodie pack.