Sold pieces

It's been a busy, whirlwind summer with personal projects, birthday parties and all kinds of other things, so I haven't had too many chances of updating the blog of late. But I have been wanting to post an update for a while on my recently sold pieces. Business was pretty brisk the early part of the summer, which was exciting. My metals were particularly popular. I was also very excited when the Uhura bracelet sold! I worked hard on this piece and loved how it turned out, so I was happy to know someone else shared my love for it.

A tulip

This pendant happened quite by happy accident. I was making the two pear shapes for earrings, and noticed that if I placed one on top of the other they make a tulip, and would serve as a pretty cool-looking pendant. And so I did, and it did, and Adeline came to be. She's named after one of the characters from the book I just finished, The Thirteenth Tale (highly recommended as a can't-put-down sort of a book).

Chains

The new Tameka necklace isn't named after Usher's soon-to-be ex-wife Tameka Foster, but rather after my good friend Tameka, who also happens to be a fellow Twihard. At first I debated how many circles to include, and settled on three as a good number for now. I like this design a lot, so you might see more variations of this in the near future.

Another one

I had complete fun making this necklace, with all of its contrasting textures, shapes, and neutral shades. I also like how the circles form a mini-link that looks like they are a found vintage necklace from someone's grandmother's trinket box. And then, while thinking up of a good name, I realized I've never named a piece after Princess Leah. How remiss of me! So here is the Leah necklace.

More

We celebrated the 4th of July a day early with a pool party and steaks on the grill, so yesterday I was able to devote about five hours at my workbench, a rarity indeed in these busy times. My back and hands were very achy by the time I was finished, but it was worth it. This one is Skye, after a family friend's daughter whose name I really love! I deliberately made the circles not be perfectly formed and with different sizes so as to give them an organic, slightly messy, unplanned look - though the "unplanned" part is certainly a misnomer, as they were all very meticulously planned.

Circles, circles everywhere

Notice a theme emerging? This is another new piece from the weekend's creativity burst, named Stella. The necklace is similar to Audrey but with an extra circle pendant. For my next project I'm envisioning something similar to these two, but with even more circles bunched together, maybe with a thinner gauge wire, some hammered, some not. We'll see how that works out!

Also, in case you were looking for the Uhura cuff bracelet, I've temporarily taken it down from Etsy to administer some suggested improvements from a couple of friends who did a test run for me. Uhura will be back up soon!

Sewing machine

In between Twi-Geek '09 I managed to make a new piece for the shop, the Nancy necklace. I'm introducing one of the pendants that I found a couple of weekends ago, which was really fun to work on. This one is a vintage sewing machine! How charming is that image?

Treasury

I made it into another Etsy Treasury! This time, Geillis joins others in a collection of verdigris critters. This Treasury expires on Saturday at 6pm.

Dragonfly necklace

I have an affinity for dragonflies; I just think they are so whimsical. So I named this new necklace Geillis, after the equally whimsical heroine of Mary Stewart's Thornyhold. I recently re-read Thornyhold and was charmed all over again by the beauty of that book (which I'll be reviewing on Paperback Musings soon). Anyway, back to my dragonfly. I oxidized the sterling chain by hand to match the vintagey feel, and the whole thing is about 18" long.

I also forgot to mention that I made my first international sale! The Je t'aime earrings sold to someone all the way in England, and I finally got the chance to see if the international shipping rate I estimated was accurate (it wasn't). I ended up having to adjust the rate, which is now also reflected at the shop. Unfortunately I'm unable to offer delivery confirmation service for international orders at this time, but the rate is pretty comparable to domestic shipping, so that works out.

New necklace

I just posted a brand new item at the shop, the Bethany necklace. Turquoise nugget, smoky quartz, and one of my hand-forged sterling silver circles. I think this is a great piece for summer, especially with the earthy color combination. Also, something exciting. My mother-in-law was out and about this weekend wearing her Astrid necklace, and a stranger complimented her on it. My MIL then promptly gave her one of my cards (actually the old version that Alissa happened to have on her). How's that for marketing!

Sunday

It's been raining for four days straight. At least my plants love it - the azalea bushes I planted two years ago, both on the brink of death, have come back springing to life as green as you please. I also started several new jewelry designs that went nowhere (really, really frustrating!) until finally I ended up completing a new necklace. I kept the design simple. Photos coming soon, after the sun makes its reappearance.

Live model

My friend Victoria gave me permission to post pictures of her at the three New Orleans balls she attended for Mardi Gras this past February. She's wearing the necklace and matching earrings I custom made for her. Doesn't she look fabulous?

New work

Here is the Patricia necklace, with peach rice pearls and a sterling silver circle pendant. I didn't make the pendant myself, though I could now that I have the skills to do that (hmm...weekend project, maybe).

Vintage necklace

I finally tried my hand at oxidizing metal, and here is the result: the Priscilla necklace. I used the brass skeleton key charm I got a while back as the focal point. The circle pendant that the charms are hanging from was hand-forged using 16g sterling silver wire, but oxidation came out a little unexpectedly. Instead of a gunmetal color, the liver of sulfur gave the pendant a bluish/greenish patina. After a while I decided it actually sort of matches the verdigris on the key, so even if the results were a little unexpected, I kept it as is. I'm not sure if the blue/green color was a reaction to the soldering process or to the copper tongs I used (does anybody know if copper reacts with liver of sulfur?) but, it worked out in this case.

New Orleans ball

My coworker Victoria is attending a series of balls in New Orleans this month (the Orpheus Ball, the Gay Ball, and the Hermes Ball - the Orpheus Ball is apparently the one that Harry Connick Jr. throws). Anyway, she commissioned a pair of earrings and a necklace from me to wear with her dress. I showed her a selection of stones from my stock and she picked out these metallic grey freshwater cultured pearls as the focal stones. I paired them with potato pearls and twisted rings.

And here is the BCBG dress she'll be wearing. Don't you love it?

Victoria also got a bunch of my business cards to pass out at the balls in case anyone wants to know where she got her jewelry. Thanks, Victoria - I hope you have fun!

Guess what arrived

My Twilight necklace from 2dy4, in the mail, a few weeks ago. I love! I wore it to my work Christmas party and everyone wanted to know what it meant, and who Edward was. So of course I told them. Ad nauseum. In minute detail.

More tradeshows

I just listed the matching Margery necklace in the shop.

Earlier today I braved another tradeshow. I only went because I needed to re-stock some supplies, so I was happy to see that the vendor I usually get my aqua chalcedony brios from was back. I bought a few strands from him, which means I can again offer my bestseller, the Leslie earrings.

I also bought some liver of sulfur, so expect some antique-y looking pieces to appear in the shop soon, as well as Batterns flux and more pickling solution for my metalsmithing. I find that the paste flux I'm using now isn't as good as the Batterns, so hopefully this will make soldering go a little easier. Other than those and just a few more beads (apatite, more chrysoprase, turquoise, and quartz), there wasn't really that much new or exciting in the way of beads and gemstones, so I didn't leave with my usual haul.

And of course, this being the weekend before Christmas (still hard to believe!) all the other places I visited today were total madhouses.

Red necklace

Ha - I just realized that when I really love a background I use it ad nauseum, like with this necklace. I am calling her Natalie, after Natalie Portman, whose picture I just saw on Perez Hilton. I also realized that depending on what you wear with this necklace, the length could be somewhat awkward (like the tank top in the pictures - it sits right on top of the neckline and some people might not like that look), so I'm offering the option of having it shortened by request. Check out Natalie's Etsy page for more details!

Garden necklace

Still freezing like the north pole, but as promised, here is the matching Agatha necklace to go with yesterday's earrings. I love the background that I used for this. And if you look, one of the pictures of the necklace has a bee next to it. How's that for gardeny?

Hope you're all staying warm wherever you are.

Pearls and gold

The Daphne necklace, after Daphne du Maurier. I was reminded of this author after reading Alissa's book meme. I do remember liking both Rebecca the book as well as the movie version (mmm, Laurence Olivier).

I am winding down my extremely hectic week, and as I have a free day tomorrow, I am hoping to get a running start on stocking the shop for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There has been talk on the Etsy CREST boards about doing promotions for both shopping events. A friend of mine also commissioned multiple items as Christmas gifts, but I won't reveal the who, what, or where just yet lest I ruin the surprise.

Ready, set, go...