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?

Lucky finds

Errands, work, movies, chores, books, travel, family, friends, and Twilight have temporarily pushed aside jewelrymaking and attempts to stock the shop, but yesterday I scored a bunch of these amazingly adorable metal and epoxy charms with various vintage-y looking images on them. I snatched up a bunch. They're very whimsical charms such as a pair of French shears, Gibson girls in hats, an old-fashioned sewing machine, and a black-and-white bulldog. So fun, and I can't wait to work on them this week. I debated taking photos because I had a mind to debut them as finished pieces, and also, it's been a very busy weekend!

A find

I was browsing at a flea market over the weekend and stumbled across a treasure trove of old costume jewelry, including this brooch key. I'm guessing it's made of brass, but who really knows with flea markets? I also saw a wonderful vintage-looking watch pin that I was thinking I could turn into a charm for a necklace, but as I didn't have enough cash on me (and it didn't even enter my mind until it was too late that being at a flea market, I could've haggled), I ended up buying just the key. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will make its re-emergence soon.

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.

The owls are here! The owls are here!

Can you tell I'm super excited about these earrings? They are so adorable I can't contain myself. I named them "Joy," after my cousin Joy (and another cousin's middle name), because how could these not bring a smile to your face? Seriously - they just scream joy to me!

I am going to make myself a pair, too.

Oh yes, to the description: the owls are vintage plastic, accompanied by a pair of Hill Tribe silver leaf pendants and white carved beads, all on French hook earwires.

Heart count to date: I'm up to 24 now! Yippee!

Wow, "Sarah Connor Chroincles" was so good last night. We saw the future! It was great!

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...