Busy Season and Roman Jewelry

Wow! I've been so busy! Now that the Christmas season is over, I don't know what to do with myself! It has been a profitable few months. Sales have been really good all around. I was one of the top five selling atisans at the Jewelry Cafe, and my etsy stores experienced a burst of activity as well!

Yesterday, I spent several hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. We spent a large amount of time in the new, and ENORMOUS Roman and Greek wing. I was amazed at the jewelry! It was really quite amazing. There were pristine, intact, beautiful wire wrapped necklaces. I unfortunately, did not bring my camera. My friend did, and I coaxed him into lending it to me to try to capture a few of the designs. Due to the fact that we couldn't use a flash, and the camera was trying to focus throught the glass, the pictures didn't come out very well.

There was one display, it was new, and there were NO dates or descritions attached, but in it were several necklaces made of of gold wire, wire wrapped links of beads, with, of course, hand made hook and eye closures. Truly inspiring. These pieces must have been 2,000 years old!!! And very much like the work that I do! Different styles, of course, but I am tempted to try to make some recreations.

Donations Well Received by the Birmingham Group

I'm a bit late in posting about this, but now is better than never. As a part of the Manifest Beading Buddies, a club to support and encourage the art of beading, I donated a piece of jewelry to a charity event. The event was hosted by the Birmingham Group and the Rape Crisis Center of Milford, Ct. They put together a special evening gala called the "Bridesmaids's Ball: Men and Women Partnering to End Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault" on September 26th. Tickets were $75, and women were encouraged to wear their old bridesmaid's dresses, and men - their tuxes. Besides the dinner and dancing there was also a silent auction. The Manifest Beading Buddies donated several pieces of jewelry, and at the end of October were given thank you letters and this one anecdote:

One of our pieces was so popular, that there were two women who were actually fighting over it during the bidding!

All of our items sold, and the event as whole was very successful.

Here is the necklace that I donated: It is one of my eternal swirl series, made with sterling silver and rose quartz, at a retail value of $65.

Show this weekend!

I have been busy getting ready for a big craft fair this coming weekend. On Saturday, Nov 14th, my jewelry will be at St. Marys, in Milford Ct (on Gulf Street). I'll be sharing a table with my fellow jewelry artisan Sam Rawls.

ALSO on Saturday, a couple of my other fellow artisans will be at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Wallingford, Ct, 382 Hope Hill Road. Jewelry by Renee and Rosaries by Fal will be there together!

Here is a chance to see our work in person!

Since all of us from Beadworkartists.etsy.com are taking our things to these shows, our online shops are going to be put on "vacation mode". After the weekend, the shops will be back up!

Thanks to my Fellow Bloggers

Just wanted to say thank you to my fellow bloggers and artisans who have been kind enough to mention my work in their blog!

Recently, my work was featured in Regina's Writings
http://reginaswritings.blogspot.com/2009/11/original-wire-components-for-my-jewelry.html#comment-form
(www.reginaswritings.blogspot.com)

She reminded me of another blog I was in earlier this year, The Beading Gem's Journal
http://www.beadinggem.com/2009/03/handmade-earring-supplies.html

Then there was this, from last year, on craftstylish.com
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/8264/beautiful-handmade-findings-for-sale-on-etsy

I love it!

Photography Presentation for the Manifest Beading Buddies

This afternoon I did a demo/presentation for the Manifest Beading Buddies, a bead club based at Manifest Beads, of which I am a member. Kristen LaViola, owner of the store, first presented how she uses a professional light box and manual settings on her camera to take pictures of jewelry. Very different from how I take MY pictures!

Now, I am in no way a professional photographer. But I have learned some tips and tricks along the way, and have seen my photography improve greatly since last year! I shared my tips and tricks and techniques with my fellow club members, and it went really well!

I set up my amateur jewelry photography "set" and club members took turns taking pictures of their jewelry with different backgrounds, and props, and from diffferent angles etc. One of the main things is figuring out how to adjust a couple simple settings on your camera!

Valerie Johnson joins me on BeadworkArtists.etsy.com

I am very excited to have Valerie Johnson joining my cooperative etsy store! Her work is absolutely gorgeous. Valerie loves to work with seed beads, and stitches up the most amazing intricate pieces. Find her work on http://www.beadworkartists.etsy.com/ soon (hopefully next week???). In the meantime, here are some pictures of what is coming:

Introducing WillOWispWire.etsy.com

Months ago, I snagged up the etsy account, "WillOWispWire.etsy.com". Now, I already have two etsy stores. I have my handmade wire findings store, which continues to do well, with repeat customers. I also have my cooperative store that I started, featuring jewelry by ladies that I know that have wanted to sell online.



I currently have so much inventory, that I have decided to open my new etsy store! This shop will feature my one of kind, Will-O-Wisp Wire designs. I have dozens, if not a hundred plus items to list. Will be filling the shop throughout the next couple weeks. I had a great photo shoot today, the light conditions were perfect! Here is a hint of what's to come...

Santa Fe

I just spent a week in Santa Fe. I'm pretty exhausted right now. I was looking forward to seeing some jewelry and making some connections out there, but barely succeeded.

The jewelry I saw was all the typical turquoise and silver work. Unfortunately, very little of that interested me. I was looking for new/inspired/ingenious designs that might be found in a very artistic and creative community. Almost everything I saw was homogenous. The same thing over and over again. I was a little depressed at the sight of the Native American market in the Santa Fe plaza. I did get one smile from a Native woman whom I complemented on her wire work with her earrings. I attempted to share with her that I do wire work as well, but didn't really get a response.

At the ancient Pueblo, in Taos, we did find one friendly jewelry artisan who talked a little bit about his work. It was only after we left that I thought of a dozen questions I would have liked to ask him. "How long have your people been working with silver and turquoise?" would have been one of them.

I manged to make almost a connection with a Santa Fean. She does glass bead making, and combines her glass pendants with tiny little porcelain bottles for display/storage. We were going to try to network with a sharing of beads/jewelry/porcelain bottles, but on my last day in town, she was not around. Sadness. Perhaps I'll be able to get in touch her.

Sterling Silver Dust

My lap is covered with sterling silver dust. Currently taking a break from working on an almost record number of ear wire orders that came in this weekend. Enough orders to pay for 1/2 of my plane ticket for my upcoming vacation! Woopie! A lot of work though. I've blogged before on just how much work ear wires are, for the little money that I charge. And it's been a while since I've had so many bulk orders.

I have to work on these orders in batches, otherwise I'll do damage to my hands which will last for a few days. It's the filing of the ends that creates all the silver dust! I wonder if it's harmful, and if I'm actually inhaling any of it. It certainly doesn't brush off of the clothes very well, tends to stick. I had a pair of pants that actually started to get a tarnished silver colored section, from all the filing that I was doing while wearing them.

I probably shouldn't be working over my lap anyway. I've temporarily moved my "studio" into the kitchen yet again. Better air flow when it's hot (my "studio" is a tiny spare bedroom that has the climate of an attic in the heat). AND the kitchen is closer to my computer and online pandora.com radio station that I am addicted to.

Can already feel my hands stiffening up. Time to package up two of the completed orders so that I can get them to the post office after work tomorrow!

Another Financial Set Back

So, a few hours after posting my last blog about spending lots of money on things to make jewelry with...I suffered a major financial setback.
My cat and I had...a misunderstanding. Monday night I walked onto the screened in porch in time to see the neighborhood bully cat engaging my sweety through the screen window. Snarling and lounging ensued. Afraid of one of them breaking through the window I clapped and yelled to break them apart. My cat freaked out at the loud noises I was making and whipped around to defend himself from the threat he couldn't identify through his frenzy. I put my hand out to fend him off, I got bitten. Really bad. Right down to the bone. Had to throw pillows from the porch chairs at him to break him off, as he couldn't see anything but a threat.
Three deep punctures from his teeth into my finger. One right into my knuckle. One puncture from his claw into one of those veins in my forearm. Bled under my skin breifly creating a huge egg sized bubble, which dissappated into a low, bruise-like mound.

$95 doctor visit, $75 tetanus shot, $70 antibiotics. I am doing better today. Can bend my finger. It is only still slightly swollen and looks less sausage-like and less inflamed with infection. Glad I am able to work with it. Very upset with my cat. I had saved up some money for finally purchasing some health insurance...ironic.

Spending money to make money

Oi. Spent a lot of money these last couple weeks. Last week I dropped $238 on argentium sterling wire. I'm pretty well stocked up on that now.

Today I went to a bead show. Went looking for summery colors - blues and teals and oranges. And wow! I only went a little over my budget.

Spent $117. Got a beautiful pile of stones to play with. Love the colors. Have some ideas of what to make. Will probably do one or more designs tonight. Most likey I will discover that I need something else to go with these stones...meaning I will have to buy more things...like some crystals.

For the moment I wish I could listen to pandora.com while up in my studio....

getting back on track.

Gosh, it's amazing how much life can get in the way of work! After a couple weeks of losing track, I am starting to pull myself together again. Making new jewelry, and getting together new pieces for my etsy store! I also have a custom set for a bride (my neighbor's daughter), that I need to finish! So little time....and I am SO good at wasting it! It's late, and I am trying to decide if I am going to work on something tonight (after teaching all day). Ugh. Tired. Maybe I'll have time tomorrow?

Keepin busy!

So, for a while there, I was worried about the state of the economy affecting my business. Turns out...that's not going to be a problem! (crossing fingers, don't want to jinx things)

For several months, I have had low sales for my jewelry. My guess is that this reflected the fact that for several months last year, I wasn't making a whole lot of new pieces to sell. This has started to change now that I am creating more! The month of April has been one of my best months ever for sales! I am anxiously awaiting the check from last month's settlement, as I will probably spend it all on getting my car fixed :(

My findings store on etsy continues to do well. I haven't seen several of my big-order repeat buyers, but I continue to have new ones, and some new repeat customers!

My jewelry store on etsy has started to see some sales, which is great! Still worried that it might be a flop, as there is SO MUCH jewelry competition on etsy!

Business at Manifest Beads continues to bloom. We are having some of our best months ever!

AND, word of mouth and networking with people that I know seems to help as well. One of my neighboor's daughters is commissioning me to make the jewelry for her bridal party.

Busy busy. This is good. Keep it coming. I can take it. As long as I don't suddenly develope a social life....

:)

Sobobo Gallery

I really should pay more attention to my blog. It would help if I knew that people were reading it. Comments woul be a rare treat. Just to know you're there. But seriously. Most of my time is centered around my work. If I'm at home I'm either managing my etsy stores, managing my income and inventory for taxes etc., and making things. OR...the big time consumer, is keeping up with people I know on facebook. Basically, I'm always at my computer unless I have tools and wire in my hands.
The recent news is that I now have my jewelry at a gallery in Milford, Ct, called Sobobo. They had an event last night with a neighboring gallery, and when I stopped by, there were a lot of people there and wandering back and forth between the two places. I'm hoping that this will be lucritive. The gallery is small, but attractively decorated and has a broad range of art for sale: from prints to orignal works, sculptures, and other jewelry besides my own. Sobobo Gallery is planning on moving to a biger location later this year, which would be great, as I could probably fill a good part of it!!!! I only brought about 10 pieces of new work to Sobobo, but many of my Will-O-Wisp items will be coming out of rotation from the Jewelry Cafe soon.

I welcome comments. Say "HI - I read your post!" and maybe I'll be more prone to updating this place.

Earth Hour

I just finished celebrating earth hour. For those of you that hadn't heard of it, earth hour was started a few years ago in Sydney, Australia. Last year, 400 cities participated, this year, 4,000! What it is: between 8:30 and 9:30, local time, around the world, people were, and still are, turning their non-essential lights off. Why? To conserve energy!!!!

I had a lot of work to do tonight, between orders to make for shipping out on monday, two months worth of new classes to get organized by wednesday, and Mother's day jewelry ideas to get sorted out as soon as possible. Well, for a little excitement on my Saturaday night, I decided to celebrate Earth Hour by turning off everything in my house at 8:30, and lit a candle.

What to do? I can't make jewelry by candlelight, and I turned off my computer, which means no procrastination on the internet. So I called a friend in far away Georgia. She didn't answer, so I played with my cat with his laser-pointer (which is all so much better in the dark). Then decided to go for a walk.

I was hoping to see lights winking off as they noted that 8:30 had come, people in their homes gathered around candlelight. I walked along the waterfront. Turns out that that majority of the homes there are dark and empty on a Saturday night. It's been a while since I've walked down there at night. I know several of the homes are just huge summer homes, but not all. The ones that did shows signs of life had lights blaring, and huge flat screen TV's showing sports. I was even shocked and horrified to see one brightly lit home with it's Christmas tree and stockings still on the mantle. Hello?

It was chilly, foggy, and misty out, and there was quite a breeze along the water. Turns out I was reminded that damp + cold = bad for wrist. So when I got home, I wrapped my damaged wrist up with my re-usable heat warmer thing (thanks Tanya, it's been life-saver). And walked some more. Unfortunately, my re-usable wrist warmer doesn't seem to last as long as it used too.

I passed the time wandering around the neighboorhood, encountered a couple looking for their last cat (so sad!). And now I'm wrapped up in my larger micro-waveable warmer, but my hand is still SO stiff and ouchy.

There is so much that I need to be making tonight, but I don't think I'm going to be able to!

Making the switch!

For a long time I have heard about Argentium Silver. Argentium Silver is a version of sterling silver, which is alloy of 92.5% pure silver. With argentium silver, part of that alloy is germantium. The addition of germantium created a sterling that is highly tarnish resistant. Argentium silver has been slightly more expensive than regular sterling, but not by much. If I switch over to it, I won't have to adjust my prices.

Tomorrow I am making an order of Argentium Silver, and will begin to make all of my new jewelry and findings in Argentium!

New Store!

I haven't posted on here for while. First I had computer issues, then no intenet, but lately I've just been way to busy. Working way too much (a lot of it from home). Anywho, I've started up a new online store for my jewelry and for jewelry made by other women that I know. More info will come soon....