Fresh stock

Yesterday I was at the gem and jewelry show and came home with a slew of new beads and supplies. I have aquamarine, aventurine, amazonite, quartz, chalcedony, serpentine, green amethyst, smoky quartz, pearls, tourmaline, and a lot more. There were some really gorgeous AAA quality green amethyst gemstones imported from India that I was salivating over. I kept going back again and again to the vendor to look at them and agonize over whether I should get them (they were very expensive). In the end, I couldn't justify the expense since using them in my designs would mean going to a way higher price point than what I'm currently selling my jewelry for. Maybe someday...

New shop item: flower earrings

This adorable pair of earrings is "Ali." The piece features vintage periwinkle glass flowers, baby pink aventurine, and white jade, hanging about 1/2" from sterling silver ear wires. The real Ali is even cuter in real life!

Ali is up at the shop now so please check out her pictures.

Today's shop heart count to date: 21!

Tomorrow I am planning on braving one of the biggest gem and jewelry shows in the country, hoping to find some cool new treasures. It so happened that last weekend I visited a new bead shop that I've never gone to before and the owner gave me a coupon for free admission to the gem show, so really, how could I not go? So, duly armed with my free coupon, my wholesaler's license, a water bottle, and some snacks (I'm not usually this well-prepared), I will now get a good night's sleep so I'll be fresh and awake for tomorrow...

New shop item: aventurine earrings

This delicate pair of earrings, "Ahila", is made of light green aventurine briolettes and silver filigree charms, all carefully hand wrapped in sterling silver wire. They dangle about 1" down from silver ear wires. Ahila is up at the shop now so please check her out!

And lookee here - the New York Times wrote an article about using blogs as a tool to grow and market a small business. They say:

"To its true believers at small businesses, it is a low-cost, high-return tool that can handle marketing and public relations, raise the company profile and build the brand."

It seems that I may be on the right track after all. I did notice that many of the Etsy vendors maintain blogs, where they not only feature their products but also talk about their lives as a way for their customers to get to know them better. Such personal relationships, even online, can be really good for business!

And on that note, happy weekend everyone!

Thai silver and tiger tooth

Yee haw! I wrestled with the internet and managed to upload a couple of pictures!

This silver necklace is made up of a cluster pendant consisting of a Thai silver tiger tooth (one of my favorite finds from my recent buying trip), as well as a Thai silver circle with a baby pink aventurine bead. They are all hanging on a 16" sterling silver chain.

Do you like?

I think I will name this piece "Tatiana," in honor of the Bengal tiger from the San Francisco zoo.

This weekend I'm hoping to borrow my sister's camera so I can take some improved pictures of the new stuff for the shop. Hopefully I can have those up by next week.

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Thanks to my sis for hearting Hazel Designs on Etsy!

Pastel clusters

Here is a cluster necklace consisting of yellow aventurine, blue amazonite, opal glass beads, and Swarovski crystals, on a 16" sterling silver chain.

I ordered a whole slew of boxes and organza bags yesterday, and also picked out my new business cards and gift box tags, in preparation for my store opening. I really like the style of the business cards - tomorrow I will post some pictures of what I picked.

Cameo and gold

I'm sad that this piece didn't photograph very well, but I hope you still like it. I tried something I've never done before - worked in yellow gold! Since I am a huge fan of the white metals (white gold, platinum, silver), and haven't worn yellow gold since I was a little girl, I've created my pieces exclusively in sterling silver up until now.

Lately, however, I've been loving the green and gold color combination, so I decided to work it into this piece.

The beads are yellow aventurine in gold-filled wire, topped with a green cameo pendant, all hanging from approximately 30" in length of gold-filled chain. This is a very long necklace and doesn't need a clasp.

When I see the necklace in person I really like it, but the more I stare at the pictures the less sure I get. Does the placement of the bead in the center look right to you? The problem I see here is that the bail (the gold triangular thing where the center bead is hooked to) makes it seem like there's too much going on. However, the bail came with the setting and is soldered shut, so it pretty much has to stay - my tools aren't strong enough to remove it.

I'm going to let this one stew for a while and maybe I'll take a fresh look at it again in a few days.


DINNER REPORT

Since Mr HD was coming home late tonight I decided to treat myself for dinner, so I stopped by the local halal meat place for some lamb kabobs. I love coming to this place because in addition to take-out food, they also carry some Middle Eastern grocery items. While waiting for my order I perused the shelves, and had a great time imagining a kitchen in far away Cairo where things such as orange blossom water, grape leaves, carob molasses, grenadine syrup, date molasses, and rose leaves jelly are everyday staples for some family. For me, it evoked images of sun-drenched deserts, the great pyramids stretching to the skies; of mysterious back alleys and trade routes that are centuries old, caravans and camels shimmering in the harsh Arabian sun.

Though I have no idea what to do with those ingredients, I wanted to buy them anyway, just to keep my imagination running.

Yellow aventurine

Just completed this one! I've been working on it for a while, rearranging the placement of the beads and playing around with using green and white polka dot ribbon instead of the silver chain. In the end, I think this is the final verdict: a half strand of yellow aventurine beads, with an asymmetrically-placed white swarovski crystal on the side and a cluster of charms hanging off of it, made up of a sterling silver filigree charm, a white nugget pearl, and a smaller white swarovski bead. They are all finished off with a silver chain, with a total length of 22".

A MUSICAL NIGHT

On Saturday night I went with my sister, her husband, and Mr HD to hear the symphony pops orchestra play tunes from John Williams' movie scores, with the highlight being the Star Wars music. It was wonderful. Aside from Star Wars, my favorites were the themes from Super Man and Schindler's List, the latter's solo violin part performed by the concertmistress herself. It brought chills down my spine! They also played the main theme from Jurassic Park, which took me back to when I played the same music as a violinist with the youth orchestra I belonged to in high school.

At the end of the concert we took pictures with some of the costumed characters from Star Wars who were milling around the lobby, including a Stormtrooper.

A good time was had by all!