Sweet Freedom Designs

Black and Silver

2012-01-27T15:21:00.000-05:00

My spin on black and silver chainmaille earrings; I couldn't decide which color should dominate, so I made one pair of each version:

I think I prefer the pair on the right; which pair do you like better?

Hot off the Worktable!

2012-01-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

A new beaded cabochon:

And look what colors it is! Surprise! I keep working with these colors, over and over.

This pendant started with a gorgeous cab from my friend Mak, whose pieces are always so colorful, fun, and inspiring.

Here is the bezel in its early stages:

One side is higher than the other, so my finished bezel laps over the top on the lower side for a couple of rows (visible at the lower left, just to the left of the strip of matte copper seed beads crossing over the cab):

It's hardly noticeable, and certainly no big deal, but I know it's there!

After finishing the burgundy peyote weaving, I added the strip of matte copper seed beads across the top just for whimsy, and did a picot of slate gray and transparent copper seed beads around the top, and then a slate gray picot around the outer edges.

It had been awhile* since I wove a beaded bezel, and I kind of stumbled when I got to the backing, but I recovered nicely, if I do say so myself. And I enjoy this technique so much that I won't wait so long before I do another one, so my poor brain can't forget again. LOL.

This cabochon flashes so many gorgeous colors - burgundy and other reds, blue and slate gray, coppers - it is just yummy.

It would look great on a chain, or strung with complementary beads, or on a beadwoven rope.

And it is available now in my Etsy shop!

And since we are on the subject - here is the last cabochon I created a beaded bezel for:

*It has been a year, basically, since I did this piece - wow, where does the time go?
a) Look at the colors - there's my blue and burgundy, again
b) How can I forget how to do something I have done multiple times, and the last time was less than a year ago? A little scary...
c) This one is also available on Etsy!

Denim Blue Dangle Earrings

2012-01-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

These dangly earrings were made with very small denim blue & cream Czech pressed glass rondelles, cream-colored size 8 seed beads, and sterling silver headpins and chain. They have a lot of delicate swinging movement when I wear them.

I love blue and burgundy together

2012-01-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

Seems like I have 3 or 4 color combos that I keep working with; I think most of us do! And most of us have more than one outfit in those colors, too, because we are just drawn to certain colors, and keep buying them!

I have so much jewelry in blue & green; blue & burgundy, black & red, and black & white that I could never manage to wear it all!

This bracelet is one I made to highlight a project in the February issue of Bead & Button (p. 72). The pattern is called "Filigree Fanfare" because it relies on filigree beads to create the design; however, I am still confused as to how the designer managed to make it work! He shows a diagram of how the eight (I think) strands are to be navigated through the various holes in the filigree bead to create the flat bracelet shown in the magazine, but try as I might, once I had gotten the strands through the first filigree bead according to the diagram, it was impossible to follow the diagram/instructions for successive filigree beads - all orientation was completely lost!

Fortunately, the haphazard way I ended up threading mine, because there was no other option, yielded a nice 3-dimensional effect to the fans, and while it initially bothered me that my bracelet doesn't lie flat like the one in Bead & Button, everyone who sees my bracelet and the one in the magazine actually prefers mine. So there!

And naturally I have at least 3 outfits that this bracelet matches! And multiple bracelets in these colors ....I wonder how many bracelets I can actually wear at one time?

Edited to add: Per request, a picture of the original project as shown in Bead & Button, borrowed from the Kalmbach Website:

Avast, me Hearties!

2012-01-23T10:04:00.001-05:00

This is a little something from last Halloween - a local endocrinologist came into the shop and said he was going to a Halloween costume party as a pirate; specifically, as Jack Sparrow, and he wanted a "piratey" beaded dangle for his pirate hat, just like Jack Sparrow wears.

Unfortunately, I have never seen those movies, so he first tried to explain it to me, and then he found a pic on his iPhone, we picked out beads, and this is what I put together:

Some pewter skull beads, copper discs, copper beads, and painted wooden beads. He was thrilled - Whew!

Beading a Bezel

2012-01-22T09:58:00.001-05:00

I have really been itching to beadweave this week, and after the fiasco that was my non-contrasty geometric peyote bracelet this week, I decided to bead a bezel for this beautiful raku cabochon by MakuStudio:

I just have 2 rows stitched here, and I apologize for the over-exposed pic.

This cab is very tall, and actually its height varies all around the circumference, so this one will involve a lot of stitching and a bit of a challenge to make the bezel even all the way around.

Before and After

2012-01-21T10:57:00.000-05:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yes, you read that right.

The top pic is a peyote bracelet I designed and began stitching this week. I loved the 3 colors of green and blue Delicas I put together, but as I stitched, I noticed there just wasn't enough contrast between the 3 colors to allow the geometric pattern to be visible .... except with very specific lighting conditions.

I noticed this after stitching less than an inch, but (and I have made this mistake before!) I thought that maybe if I kept stitching, the more beads I added, and the longer it got, the more visible the colors would be.

WRONG. And I have witnesses, too - under normal room lighting, it just looked like a greenish blue strip of peyote.

So once I had 4 inches stitched, I let it sit for 2 days, and kept looking at it in different lighting, and even with my Optivisor, but the colors still didn't show. So I finally tore it apart and separated the Delicas (fun!) and re-tubed them and put them away.

But I decided to photograph the bracelet before I ripped it up, and imagine my surprise when the photographs showed the colors perfectly. Don't believe those lying photos!!

I have selected 3 new colors for the pattern, and will get started on this one again soon.

A true beadweaver can't be afraid to rip stuff up, right?

Funny stuff

2012-01-20T15:19:00.000-05:00

Are you guys familiar with Sarah Haskins and her Target Women videos? She is hysterical!

She has about 50 laugh-out-loud videos at her site, - take a look!

Equal Time

2012-01-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

UGA fans are in an uproar, an uproar I tell you, because I showcased my purple and orange "Clemson" earrings here yesterday.

So in the interest of equality and fairness, here are my versions of UGA (University of Georgia) and Carolina (USC, University of South Carolina) chainmaille earrings:

Garnet and Black USC earrings on left;

Red and Black UGA earrings on right

And on a different topic, sort of, today is one of those days where my creative energies are running in 20 different directions, wanting to finish some half-done projects, and also start several new ones. I fear I will keep chasing my tail all day long and actually accomplish nothing!

Clemson Earrings

2012-01-18T13:54:00.000-05:00

These chainmaille earrings were part of a custom order I put together for Christmas, and this is what I love about artistic wire: the ability to put together all sorts of awesome color combinations, in this case, purple & orange.

Other team combos available!!

Pearl Torsade

2012-01-17T12:12:00.001-05:00

I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week creating this gorgeous pearl torsade - a multistrand necklace consisting of 10 strands of differently colored and shaped freshwater pearls, with a beautiful shell pink carved mother-of-pearl flower focal bead (which hides the sterling silver tube clasp.)

The mother-of-pearl focal piece is center-drilled, which created some unique design problems: how to attach it to the necklace without it hanging upside down like a dinner plate! I finally figured out (I hoped!) a way to rig one half of the 5-strand tube clasp to a wrapped loop I ran through the flower (with an eye-popping white pearl and vintage rose Swarovski crystal on the front of the flower), and crossed my fingers, and started stringing pearls.

With the 5 strand tube clasp, I planned on stringing 10 different pearl strands, figuring that when twisted they would give the perfect amount of volume to the necklace. I knew a fair amount of length would be lost to the twisting process, so I planned to make each individual strand almost 19 inches long, hoping for a finished length of around 17 inches. I knew there was little I could do to test my plan until I bit the bullet and just strung each strand and attached it, so I crossed my fingers and dug in.

Each strand of pearls was only 15 to 16 inches long, so it actually took 2 strands of each pearl type to get the length I needed.

I chose some absolutely delicious pearls to compliment the carved flower focal: all freshwater pearls, in whites, champagne, and various pinks and mauves.

I love the finished look! When fully twisted, it is between 16.5 and 17 inches long.

And for a different look, it can also be worn untwisted, falling to around 19 inches in length:

Each strand of pearls is connected independently to the sterling silver tube clasp, which, when closed, is cleverly hidden by the focal flower:

And it's available in my Etsy shop!

New Earrings on Etsy

2012-01-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

These delicate earrings were made with blown glass teardrops bearing a brown swirl pattern, complemented with Vintaj Natural Brass components and mocca Swarovski crystals. They are 2 inches long and very lightweight.

Available in my Etsy Shop.

Blog Giveaway Reminder

2012-01-15T11:31:00.006-05:00

Just a quick reminder about the blog giveaway coming soon (read the linked post for details):

I will be giving away these earrings very soon:

Japanese Lace Earrings

2012-01-14T10:23:00.000-05:00

Here are the chainmaille earrings I made to match my Viperscale bracelet. This is a Japanese-maille pattern, which always gives a lacy look to designs.

I liked these so much I made them in blue:

and in green:

PS: I believe I have a bit of a chainmaille addiction!

Viperscale

2012-01-13T13:34:00.000-05:00

I've learned the Viperscale weave, plus I discovered this gorgeous lavender wire, so I made this viperscale bracelet. I really like this weave - it lies flat, and is complex and interesting-looking.

Naturally, I made some matching earrings, but those will wait for another post - tomorrow, maybe?

I wish I had more time for chainmaille!

Blog Giveaway!

2012-01-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

I've been blogging for a few years, and have recently rededicated myself to being a better, more consistent blogger.

As of today, I have 62 wonderful followers, and I treasure them, and would love to have more. To that end, I will be doing a giveaway here once I reach 100 followers.

This is what I will be giving away to thank my readers and followers:

These earrings were designed with Vintaj Natural Brass findings, Swarovski crystals, and vintage Swarovskis.

To follow my blog, look to the right sidebar, and scroll down to the button that says "Join this Site," and follow the prompts. It's easy!

You can also help this giveaway happen even sooner by Tweeting or Facebooking about this giveaway, and by telling your friends. Get the word out!

Details about entering the giveaway will be posted here when I reach 100 followers! And I promise even more giveaways in the future!

Metal Dogwood Cuff

2012-01-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

This cuff was truly a labor of love! I wanted to create an ornamental metal cuff, and had the idea for a sterling silver flower with leaves, and made several sketches, but initially balked at working with the sheet sterling - it's so expensive, and I was so afraid I would make a mistake!

Eventually I screwed up my courage, and started cutting the silver; I annealed, and folded the edges, and then deeply scribed the leaves for texture, following this up with liver of sulfur to enhance the ridges I'd created.

Attaching the flower and leaves was problematic, since I had already folded and textured the cuff. I was finally able to solder the leaves to the cuff, but I wasn't confident in my joins because only small areas took the solder, so the leaves were also riveted to the cuff. The height of the leaves prevented any soldering of the flower to the cuff, so I wired the flower to the cuff using Swarovski crystals to create the flower's center, with a pop of color. Graceful copper tendrils were then wired around the flower and leaves. I ultimately affixed a leather swatch to the inside of the cuff to hide all my rivets and wires, and protect the wearer's skin and clothing (even though everything was carefully filed down and smoothed!)

The cuff is malleable, so it will form to your wrist easily, and will fit up to size 7.5.

This elegant, contemporary piece of wearable art is now available in my Etsy shop.

Thanks!

2012-01-10T12:45:00.001-05:00

Woke up this AM to an Etsy sale!

These elegant earrings, created for the Bead Soup Challenge, went to a lovely home this morning:

The matching necklace is still available...

Contemporary Olive Loaf Jasper Pendant

2012-01-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

I know there's no such thing as Olive Loaf Jasper, but since I don't know this particular jasper's official name, and since it looks like olive loaf, I am calling it Olive Loaf Jasper.

This beautiful jasper cabochon has islands of olive green, brown, and salmon in a background the color of dark sand. Copper really pulled out the colors in the stone, so I cut a deeply serrated backing out of sheet copper, and soldered a fine silver bezel to the copper. The piece hangs from a 17 inch copper cable chain.

And you can find this piece in my Etsy shop!

Hero Worship

2012-01-08T12:38:00.002-05:00

By now, you know I have a crush on Tim Gunn. I read Gunn's Golden Rules earlier this week, and found it very inspirational.

I would love to incorporate Tim's rules into my everyday life, so I designed an homage bracelet yesterday morning to serve as a visual reminder.

I used Swarovski crystal cubes in indicolite and padparadscha, Swarovski crystal bicones in crystal silver shade, and sterling silver beads, including the 5mm alphabet beads (What Would Tim Gunn Do?)

Just a fun, whimsical piece...but I have enough of the alphabet beads to make a few more of these if anyone is interested....

Oh My Stars!

2012-01-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

This design started with some gorgeous 8mm teal matrix jasper beads that I had been hoarding. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with them, and one day I just cut the strand apart, grabbed some Fireline and several coordinating colors of seed beads, and just started playing.

This was a situation where the beads dictated the design, and I started making rounds of circular peyote, and when I "finished", I had a blue-green star. So I made as many of these stars as I could, and then started playing with how to build them into a finished piece.

I noticed that the stars' edges lined up geometrically to produce this pattern, so I started connecting them together, adding some Swarovski crystals for a little "oomph".

Once this piece was joined, I needed to figure out how to turn it into a necklace, and settled on a beadwoven spiral, using the same blue and green seed beads that went into the stars components.

Then I found a perfectly-matching glass toggle, and the result is this striking bib necklace.

And I had 2 stars left over for earrings:

I haven't decided yet what to do with this set; they may go to my Etsy shop, or they may stay in my collection - The bib was such a labor-intensive piece, and these are my favorite colors! Some pieces are SO hard to part with!

Oh no he di'n't!

2012-01-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

Isaac Misery-ahi did NOT call Austin Scarlett "Austin Starlet" in the previews for an upcoming Project Runway Allstars!

Isaac's goin' down! Do NOT dis the Scarlett!

Wine Cork Necklace

2012-01-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

This cork bears the W. C. Fields quote: "What scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch." I ran sterling silver wire through it (it is an unused cork), capped each end with textured copper and steel washers, a copper bead cap, and a piece of sponge coral, and hung it from copper cable chain.

And it's available in my Etsy shop!

This was a fun project, and they'd make great key fobs, too. I'd like to make more!

Red & Green Chainmaille Bracelet

2012-01-05T11:27:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun wearing this bracelet over the holidays!

Festive, funky, and I knew no one else had one!

And I love this clasp - a copper toggle ring specially made for this, and colored to match with alcohol inks. Toggle bar made from 16g artistic wire. Artistic wire is so fun to work with - so many beautiful colors!

And don't forget! Project Runway Lite [same great format, less Tim Gunn :( ] premiers tonight!

Holiday Lariat

2012-01-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, despite any evidence here, I have actually been fairly busy designing and creating.

Imagine my delight (and surprise!) when the Photo Fairy, the Download Fairy, and the Editing Fairy paid me a visit yesterday! PF took over 500 photos, and her sisters downloaded and edited all of them. Woohoo! No sign of the Listing Fairy yet, though.

Now I have some projects to share with you - pardon for a few days while these are holiday themed. You're not really tired of the holidays already, are you?

This is a lariat I designed around mid-December. The pretty lampwork peppermints had been for sale in the bead shop for several years, and I started to hope no one would buy them - I love them!

My original plan weave the entire lariat in a red and green spiral stitch, adding the peppermints about 6 inches from each end. But I didn't have anywhere near enough of the beautiful velvet red Czech fire polish beads I was using in the center of the spiral, so I had to come up with plan B.

I found some Czech pressed glass rondelles in green and in clear, some green Czech fire polish beads, and some red Czech pressed glass bicones, and played around with different patterns, and came up with this result. I love it, and am so glad I didn't have enough beads to make a lariat-length spiral, because this was quicker, and more festive, too. In my opinion. Keeping this one!

Book Club

2012-01-03T10:18:00.000-05:00

Since November I have been reading voraciously, often more than a novel a day. There are so many great books out there, and it is so fun and easy to get transported to another world! Every time I have a few minutes, or better yet, a few hours, I whip at the iPad and read. I have enough books stored on there to keep me busy for years, but that is a whole 'nother story, so to speak.

On New Year's Day, around 5 AM, I started reading Tim Gunn's Gunn's Golden Rules, What a perfect book to start the New Year! It is so uplifting and inspiring, and thought-provoking. I read all day, eating up Tim's witty prose and anecdotes, especially the behind-the-scenes Project Runway scoop. I am such a Tim Gunn Geek. I finished the book around 10 PM, and felt like I had given myself a wonderful New Year's gift!

These are Tim's rules:

Make it work!
The world owes you . . . Nothing!
Take the high road.
Don't abuse your power -- or surrender it.
Get inspired if it kills you.
Never underestimate Karma.
Niceties are nice.
Physical comfort is overrated.
Talk to me: there's always another side to the story.
Be a good guest or stay home (I won't judge you - I hate parties).
Use technology; don't let it use you.
Don't lose your sense of smell.
Know what to get off your chest and what to take to your grave.
When in Rome . . . I still wouldn't eat monkey brains.
When you need help, get it.
Take risks! Playing it safe is never really safe.
Give back (but know your limits).
Carry on!

He fills each chapter with wonderful, applicable life lessons, and I truly treasure this book!

Two other excellent books I read over the holidays:

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
The World as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I was able to digitally borrow both of these from my local library (free, free, free!) - if you enjoy reading digital books, you should really check to see if your library has a digital loan system. I have literally "borrowed" hundreds of books this way already, and what could be easier and more affordable?

Happy Reading!

Isaac Newton and Housework, or Who am I to Argue with the Law?

2012-01-02T18:07:00.000-05:00

A body at rest tends to stay at rest; a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

This is a common paraphrasing of Newton's First Law of Motion, which actually states: "The velocity of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force."

Who knew that physics could so easily explain why I would rather lie under my warm covers, reading, than clean house? And to think Physics was my least favorite subject (PE ran a close second...)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:17:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

I am going to try to post something here everyday (I know, you are on the edge of your seat!)

Maybe just a simple picture, or a book recommendation, or the story behind one of my designs; no promises, but I am going to try.

Blogger is a user-unfriendly platform, especially if the user is on an iPad (where Blogger will not allow spell-checking, or the embedding of pics), so I have been lax about blogging. And much like my jewelry photo-taking, the more I put it off, the more it piles up, and so when I would finally sit down to blog, the shear volume of information I wanted to share was overwhelming. Few people want to read all that stuff, and I didn't want to plod through the posting, so I trying a new approach. Snippets here and there.

Hope you have a wonderful 2012!

[A photo-less post from my iPad]

Kvetching about Projects

2011-12-28T11:33:00.002-05:00

Not MY projects, mind you. Although it's a little tempting - - so little time, so much to do. My completed designs continue to pile up in my photo tent, where I carefully place them upon completion, with great intentions. But alas, the Photo Fairy never arrives, and I just know that if SHE is a no-show, then her friends, the Download Fairy, the Editing Fairy, the Uploading Fairy, and that fickle bitch, the Listing Fairy, will also be no-shows. And the more projects I pile up, the less I feel like tackling that job!

So, while I have been creating, I have no actual proof for you.

But on with my current peeve!

Like I said, Projects. Project Accessory, and Project Runway AllStars, to be exact.

First, Project Accessory.

Hard to know where to start, so let's just dive in.

I realize Project Accessory is a spinoff of Project Runway, but the producers really would have been wise to distance themselves a bit, stylistically, from PR. They have used PR's sets, identically (except for changing the logos from Project Runway to Project Accessory). They use the same format as PR, which could have worked, if only the show weren't so tragically flawed.

Molly Sims? Vapid. Certainly no style icon. Boring. Strutted some ridiculous looks on the runway in her little segments. She is no Heidi Klum.

Eva Longoria Manicotti, or whoever she is? Awful. Mentor? Unh-uh. Found her commentary pointless, and was it just me, or did it sound like she was really just saying different versions of the same thing everytime? She's no Tim Gunn.

The judges? Boring. At least Michael Kors and Nina Garcia show some humor and personality. Kenneth Cole? Ariel Foxman (who?)...Zzzzzzzzzz

(Eva, Kenneth, Ariel, Molly)

And the concept? I just don't get it. I design jewelry. That's what I do. Would anyone really expect me to be able to design and fabricate a pair of shoes? This conceptual disconnect really bugged me from episode one. James was a fantastic shoe designer, but didn't stand a chance in a jewelry designing challenge. Etc.

And the finale? WTF?

As the final 3 were picking partners for the last challenge, I actually predicted, out loud, that whomever chose James would win, because they would have shoes in the bag (sorry). Yet, the first 2 contestants ignored James, and Brian nabbed him.

And Brian won - this is my big WTF moment. First of all, that resin necklace he created (below, far right model) looked like chipped, cracked golfballs and driveway gravel on gold-plated chain. Hideous. As was that weird necklace he actually sported himself at the runway show. Weird.

But the boots (center model), the pumps, and the clutch? Fabulous. Especially those slouch boots! I covet them. But, here's ths thing. Brian may have chosen that beautiful leather at Mood, but he didn't design OR fabricate the footwear, and my gut feeling is he had little to do with the clutch, either. So he wins, but because of James' contributions. In other words, James won.

And who should have won? Rich Sandomeno. Truly a genius with jewelry design and fabrication. So innovative. And that clutch he designed with the textured copper was incredible, and another piece I covet! But unfortunately, Rich was saddled with Diego for the final challenge. A mismatch if every there were one, stylistically, talent-wise, and especially in terms of attitude.

So, Project Accessory? A complete head-to-toe makeover is in order, and there might be hope for a second season. Make it work!

So, moving on the Project Runway Allstars.

I am a huge Project Runway fan, so I was more than excited to discover that the Allstar edition premiers in a week or so. I have seen the ads on LifeTime for a few weeks, but the only face I recognized was Austin Scarlett (I blame the rapid-fire editing of the commercial), so I cruised over to the website to see who these allstars would be. Well, ... uh, OK. As with most Allstar castings, I have mixed feelings. Love some, love to hate others (Hi, Kenley!)! And wonder about the inclusions of the rest (Rami? Zzzzzz). And am really sorry that Chris March isn't there! Did you guys SEE Mad Fashion? Love! Except the part where Bravo decided not to air the finale multiple times, like they normally do, so my DVR was set to record it, yet Bravo plugged in some sucky replacement show, so no mad Fashion finale for me. But I digress...

Here's the kicker. The REAL allstars of Project Runway are Heidi, Tim, and Michel Kors. Not so much Nina Garcia, but the other 3 are mandatory. So imagine my horror to see Joanna Coles cast in the Tim Gunn mentoring role (if you haven't seen her as a guest on PR, she is dry and dull), Angela Lindvall (Who??) in the Heidi spot, and Isaac Mizrahi (tool!) as a judge. Of course, that last bit explains why Tim Gunn is having no part in this. But Project Runway without Tim, Heidi, and Michael? I have lowered my expectations. At least that way I might be pleasantly surprised.

(Tim & Heidi)

Worth every minute!

2011-10-19T12:20:00.002-04:00

Sunday was Metal Studio Day again, something a small group of us try to do once a month. Often we go in 12 different directions, and just do our own thing, but this time we decided to tackle one project together.

The project on the cover of the Oct-Nov 2011 issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry had been calling out to us ever since we received the issue in the shop last month. The colors are "my colors" - seems like I am always returning to blue and green when I make jewelry, and green and blue look so fabulous with copper!

This necklace was a mix of cold connections and wire work, and we knew it would take a large chunk of time to create, so we gathered at 9:30 Sunday morning, and started to create.

I have to say that this project was unusually poorly written for a Step by Step Wire project; I can't recall ever seeing such vague instructions in a Step-by-Step project. To begin with, rather than telling you how much wire to use for the base piece, the instructions call for working directly off the wire spool, and coiling until "you have the right size". Yet the "right size" is never specified, and when a group of people are trying to create a project where they are sharing one spool of wire, they can't all "work off the spool" - an approximate length, and a template, would have been very helpful. So we spent quite some time on this step, futzing around, and wasting a lot of wire.

The size of this coiled wire base - its width, the height of its coils, and the number of coils - is critical to all the rest of the steps in the project, and determines the number and size of the beads and domed copper cups that will fill in the design. Without any clear measurements provided by the project, we sort of worked in the dark, cutting and doming our copper cups ("Make as many as you like.") while the base coil tumbled, not knowing really how many or what sizes we needed. But we made several different sized domed cups, and then had fun rummaging through the shop looking for green, blue, and brown beads to add to our project.

I decided to patina some of my copper cups using a method described in my brand new copy of Jewelry Lab.

This is an exciting book for metal workers - loaded with tips, tricks, and project ideas. I am particularly excited about the patina section right now, and after my success with the colored pencil & gesso technique, I can't wait to try more ideas from this book.

These are my colored-pencil patinated discs - I really like how they turned out, and it was so easy!

Assembling the necklace was tricky, as we discovered that getting the beads and copper cups to wrap tightly was not going to work as described in Step 6. We each attached 4 or 5 units according to these instructions, and they slid and wobbled on the base, so we figured out how to use some 24g wire to stabilize their attachments, and then we modified the attachment instructions for the rest of the units, to get a nice tight wrap onto the coil.

We finished the project, attaching the copper chain and S-hook as the last step, at 7:30 PM. So from start to finish, 10 hours. And worth every minute. Though some measurements and a template for the base coil would have saved us over an hour - but, to use my very least favorite colloquialism, it is what it is.

I am absolutely thrilled with my finished necklace, and now that I have completed the project and worked out the kinks, I am ready to make another one!

Edited 10/24/11 to add: In respect to the Step-by-Step Wire project instructions: A customer came into my bead shop on 10/22/11 and perused this particular article after noticing the project picture on the front of the issue. After about 4 minutes, she commented on how badly written the instructions were, and asked how she was supposed to know how much wire to purchase in order to make the project? Good point - I had only looked at it from the aspect of making it as a group; as a bead shop owner, I had not even considered the difficulty a customer would encounter if trying to purchase supplies for this project.

BSBP Revisited

2011-10-10T10:53:00.002-04:00

I wanted to visit the Bead Soup Blog Party (BSBP) one more time, this time giving you a look at my favorites, in no particular order. I hope you'll take some time to visit their blogs and read how these creations came to life! (Note: these photos and all rights to them belong to these talented designers!)

I love this multistrand necklace created by Tiffany Long of Glory Hound Designs:

These colors are so delicious, and I love how she put the softness of the flowers with the hardness of the chain, and then added the colorful, whimsical silk ribbon at the back. And of course, all the embellishments! This reminds me of the multistrand dragonfly necklace I designed a few months ago; all the beads and chain and embellishing - I love making complex pieces like this, and I appreciate the time and effort Tiffany put into her gorgeous design, and I could definitely see myself wearing it!

Feast your eyes on this beautiful design, by Manuela Wutschke:

I love how Manuela started with the beautiful silver flower and accompanying silver bud, and turned them into a flowing, organic necklace that really looks like she plucked it from a garden! Beautiful blues and greens, and then a little unexpected touch of yellow; and the textures she has used are wonderful - so varied, just like in the garden. And I just have to add how much I enjoyed reading Manuela's design process in her post - she showed her sketches (whereas I did not show mine), and I was struck by how we both seemed to approach our designs in similar ways. I just love reading the gory details that go into jewelry designs!

This beadwoven necklace by Karin Slaton of Backstory Beads couldn't help but make my list!

Her brass flower focal (which looks like a silk flower to me!) is incredible, and she has hand woven these beautiful matching peyote beads and tubes to create a gorgeous necklace. I love her earthy color palette, and I love peyote - there is just so much you can do with this versatile stitch!

And take a look at this beautiful choker, created by Suzann Wilson, of Beadphoria:

Where do I begin? I love working with (and wearing) black, red, and white, and I love pearls - the bigger, the better! And this beautiful clasp - what a find! It makes a beautiful focal! Adding the sparkling crystals gives this a wonderful vintage feel, and it reminds me of the jewelry my grandmother used to let me play dress-up with. And I appreciate the work that goes into getting the strands of a multistrand piece to all be the correct length!

So that is my last look at BSBP - I saw so much beautiful jewelry, and I appreciate all the folks that took the time and effort to read and comment about my creations, and to visit all the other participants!

Sterling + Resin = Stunning Necklace!

2011-10-04T11:55:00.000-04:00

Here is the second design I created last week:

The pendant has its origin in my foray into turning scrapbooking components into jewelry.

My friend Sonya had been watching videos and reading articles & books about Ice Resin, and wanted to try it. So we scheduled a day to meet and just play with bezels, found objects, glitter (!), scrapbooking stuff, and Ice Resin.

And before our play date arrived, I wanted to experiment with making a bezel, so I cut two 12-inch pieces of 14g sterling silver wire and hammered (and hammered and hammered) each piece until they were about 8mm wide. I wanted them to look hammered, so I made sure I only hammered the pieces on one side, and the result was 2 curved, unbelievably hard pieces of sterling. There was going to be NO opportunity to bend these pieces at all unless I annealed them, and I didn't want to deal with firescale, pickling, etc. I wanted to get my bezel done.

Fortunately, the 2 pieces of sterling wire were curved almost identically at their ends, yet curved in opposite directions in the middles. I decided to use this to my advantage, and I wire-wrapped both ends, which was a bit of a struggle, but I finally got them secured. The hardest part was muscling one of the wires into a big loop for the bail, and getting it to stay with the other wires while I did the top wrap. The bail wasn't turned the way I wanted it to be, but I knew that could be overcome somehow when it came time to design the necklace. Then all that was left to do was turn the wire ends a little to complement the middles - I used my round nose pliers, and every bit of upper body strength I could muster. The wire was really work-hardened! But I had a nice, oval bezel to play with.

Play date! Sonya and I spent a lot of time just perusing all the different things we had to work with, and deciding what bezels were going to receive what goodies - this was fun!

Sonya had brought in a beautiful selection of scrapbooking papers, and I chose a piece with teal and pink garden scenes to create the backing for my bezel. I cut it to fit, and glued it around the edges to the back of my bezel. My bezel was not exactly flat - another fault of the work hardened wire, but the Ice Resin is self-leveling, so I knew if I could get the bezel to lie flat when we did the resin pour, then the resin would level out and everything would be perfect.

I poured a little bit of resin into the bezel, and then placed a bouquet of white paper flowers on top of this resin, and then "filled" the bezel with resin. I levelled the bezel (I thought) with a scaffolding of paper shims, cardboard shims, and toothpicks. Looked level to me. Ha!

This was our first time working with resin, and we had overpoured. Big time. Then I discovered that my bezel wasn't really level, despite my levelling efforts, so it was full at the top, bottom, and on one side, but had a huge, scooped-out looking defect on the other side. This is no big deal - I just had to re-level the bezel, and repour some resin. And I overpoured again, but once it cured and I did the clean up, the bezel was full, so I was happy. I polished the bezel with my Dremel, and set it aside to think about how to design around it.

I chose a lovely sterling silver chain with large, open links that have been hammered and textured. Since my bail was turned 90 degrees in the wrong direction, I couldn't just run the chain through the bail, and had to figure out how to attach the chain to the pendant. Once I figured this out, I wanted to add some embellishment to fill the space between the chain and the pendant, I had some tourmaline nuggets that matched the teal in the pendant perfectly, and dangled these on sterling chain in a cluster around the bail.

The larger links on the chain were the perfect size for a toggle bar, so I decided to do something I have never done before: A front closure. I have done plenty of side closures, but never a front closure. I selected a long, textured toggle bar and attached it to one end of the chain, and looped it through the large link on the other end of the chain. Closure!

I loved the way the tourmaline dangles pulled the teal out of the pendant, so I decided to add a few to the links in the chain. Voila!

And it's available in my Etsy Shop!

Sonya and I learned a lot about Ice Resin - it is fun, it is very forgiving, it is messy, it is self-leveling, and you can turn just about anything into a nice piece of jewelry with it. If you'd like to learn how to use Ice Resin, Sonya is going to be teaching an Ice Resin class at Yaya Beads later this month - give it a try!

Have a great day!

New Beaded Wire-Wrapped Bangle

2011-10-02T10:40:00.001-04:00

Happy October!!

I have had such a productive week! I completed 3 brand new designs, start to finish, plus I finished a custom-ordered kumihimo necklace and matching bracelet, and totally wowed their new owner. Always such a relief when the customer is happy!

I am so fortunate to have a full-time studio to work in - a dedicated place to design, create, photograph, and sell my work. But the downside is that it is 45 minutes away from my home, and I frequently leave all my computer work for my evenings and days off, and then realize I've left my memory card, or flash drive, or some other important documents sitting on the computer at work. And that's where I find myself today.

I was so proud to finish all these designs AND get all the pics taken and downloaded and edited, all in the same week! And now I find myself ready to blog about it, and my pics are literally in another state. So I will give you a little taste of one of my creations, and leave the rest for later on.

This is an absolutely delicious, lush, beaded sterling silver bangle. These red-banded agate beads are 12mm rounds, faceted and highly polished, and I fell in love with their rich coloration and swirls. The pinks range from the palest pink to a deep fuchsia, and the beads are so polished they literally look wet. They reminded me of freshly picked and washed raspberries! (I actually took to calling them "raspberry agate"). The minute I found these beads I nabbed them and stuffed them into my stash (you know what I'm talking about - we are all bead hoarders!), just waiting for the right project. And now I wish I had another strand!

This is a beaded wire bangle that I have made a number of times - it calls for 4 mm beads, and is fun to make. So I figured - 4mm, 12mm - what's the difference? Well, not exactly, but that's sort of what I thought - I figured I would just have to make a few "modifications" for the larger beads.

Ha!!

These beads were SO much bigger, and SO much heavier, that this became an almost overwhelming issue of engineering. I had to account for the bangle itself being wider, as well as the sizing being completely different because of the beads' diameter, and I also had to buttress the wires themselves just to get them to stay in bundles as I wrapped.

So I added lots of wraps along each side of the wire - these started out to be structural elements, but after I had done a few, I realized they looked great, so I decided to make a pair between each bead. These wires added both strength and texture to the bangle.

And while the sterling silver wire is perfect with these bright pink beads, the beads themselves are the real stars in this bracelet! This is such a bright, bold, dramatic accessory for so many different occasions. It can be dressed up, dressed down - it is so much fun! And it's available in my Etsy shop!

Many thanks to those of you who took the time to read my BSBP essay and leave comments. I visited each and everyone of my fellow BSBP participants, read every word, and was awed by all the talent.I know what a time commitment it was for those who blog-hopped for BSBP, and I truly appreciate your efforts and words. Thanks again!

The Bead Soup is SERVED! Par-tay!!

2011-09-16T23:59:00.026-04:00

Wow - This was my first Bead Soup Challenge, first time I have ever done anything like this, and it was fun, but it was a true challenge. I taught myself some new techniques, and the following is a LONG, detailed account of my journey from beginning to end:

These are the beads I received from my delightful BSBP (Bead Soup Blog Party) partner, Tammy Jones:

I'll be breaking this beautiful assortment down individually, and trying to describe my creative process as I looked at the mix, and at the individual components, but as you can see in the above picture, I received a lot of beads, in various sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. The mix includes various turquoise nuggets in different shades and shapes, 4 irregular red bamboo coral nuggets, 11 irregular orange sponge coral nuggets, 2 larger irregular orange sponge coral nuggets, 10 faceted aventurine rounds, a very long strand of turquoise-colored glass beads, a silver toggle, and a large carnelian ring.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I want to go ahead and reveal a grouped photo of all the pieces I created from Tammy's beads. I normally would save this for the end, but this was a really long process for me, so this is a long post, and I know folks are hopping around trying to see everyone's pretties, and some people won't have the patience for all my ramblings! So here they are:

2 necklaces, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings. Some of the jewelry-making techniques I used in my collection include:

Beadweaving: tubular peyote, circular peyote, herringbone, and netting
Wire and Metal Work
Stringing

If you want the gory details, stay tuned!! And at the end of this post, you'll find links to all the BSBP participants, to help you with your blog hopping and commenting.

According to the BSBP rules, I had to use the focal and the clasp I received; the use of any of the other beads I received was optional, and I was to incorporate beads from my own stash in my design. So I decided the best place to start designing was with the focal!

And obviously, some of the steps in this process overlap each other, because several ideas would suddenly occur to me at once.

This is a close up of the large carnelian ring I received. It is 2-1/4 inches in diameter, and has holes on either side.

Now I love to make big jewelry, but even for me this was a big focal piece. And to be honest, it was a little confounding, because while I have worked with donuts before, and this ring is essentially a big, drilled donut, I kept looking at it, and looking at the rest of the beads Tammy sent me, and drawing a blank. Do I string beads through the middle of the carnelian ring? Do I just wrap around either side of it, and leave the middle empty? Do I weave some sort of bail for it, and dangle something from the bottom hole? What to do, what to do?

And I kept looking at all the beads I'd received, and trying to pair them with the carnelian ring, and with each other, and trying to decide if the ring should just be center of a big multistranded soup necklace, or what?

After several days of pondering, and drawing, and thinking, and sketching, I finally decided that I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate all these beads into ONE finished design. It was making my head hurt! So I decided to let go, and focus on just a few of the beads I'd received.

I was drawn to these faceted aventurine beads, and really wanted to incorporate them into my piece. So I put them next to the carnelian ring, and pondered and sketched some more.

I starting rummaging through my OWN stash of beads, and pulling things I liked with the aventurine.

And I looked at the toggle, which I knew I had to use, and I just felt that proportionally, it was too small for anything I was coming up with for the carnelian ring.

It was at about this time, staring at the aventurine, staring at the carnelian ring, and looking at the beads I had pulled from my own stash, that I knew I really wanted to focus on the calming green colors that Tammy had sent me, like the aventurine and the strand of small turquoise-colored glass beads. I starting thinking even further outside my box, and a thought occurred to me: "What if I camouflage the carnelian ring, so it still serves as the focal, and yet is green?" How would I even do this?

I thought about wrapping it in green satin ribbon, or leather. Unh-uh.

Then I looked at my Delicas, and found the perfect color of aventurine green. But how do I stitch them onto the ring so that it is still usable as a focal? I knew peyote was the only stitch that would cover the carnelian evenly enough that no orange would show through. But how to envelope the carnelian ring in peyote? So I just decided to give it a try.

This was a critical juncture. I liked the stitching, and decided to continue encircling the ring with seafoam green delicas in a tight peyote stitch. But I had to decide what to do about the holes in the carnelian ring. Do I just stitch over them? If I do, I limit the ways I can use the focal when I finish stitching (and yes, I still had not come up with my "vision").

Or should I put headpins in them as placeholders, so that if I want wrapped loops on my finished ring, I'll be able to make them. And if I decide I don't want wrapped loops later in the process, I can always clip them off. But if I don't put them in, there's no going back and adding them through this tight stitch!

And if I go the headpin route, what metal do I use? Because THAT determines my clasp. Period.

I had pulled a couple of strands of pearls that I really liked with the aventurine - one was a beautiful ecru small keishe pearl that I actually ended up using in this finished piece, and the other was an incredible coppery-bronzy larger keishe, that had shades of orange, and went beautifully with the sponge coral. And at this stage, I didn't want to rule out the addition of some of Tammy's coral beads to this finished piece. I preferred Vintaj Natural Brass to silver when looking at all these beads together: the 2 strands of pearls, the long strand of turquoise-colored glass beads, the aventurine, and the sponge coral. So I grabbed 2 long Vintaj Natural Brass headpins, shoved them through the holes in the carnelian ring as placeholders, and kept stitching. And boy, did those headpins complicate the stitching.

At about the point you see in the pic above, the peyote tube I was stitching quit turning freely around the carnelian ring, because the stitched tube was starting to curve too much, and glass doesn't bend very well! So I was already starting to have to pass my needle and thread through the ring with each pass of a bead so I didn't have thread wrapped around the ring. And with the addition of the headpins, that thread started to catch on something or other with every pass. Oh well, one must suffer for one's art, I guess.

Finished ring, with headpins still protruding. You can sort of still see the carnelian between my stitches at the bottom edge of the ring.

Side view of the ring, clearing showing the underlying carnelian between my stitches. Those are actually transparent Delicas, too, so while they block part of the underlying ring from showing,

it's not really completely hidden. Just camouflaged!

Time to ponder some more. I looked at that great expanse of (now green) focal ring, and tried to come up with a design. I drew it as a center focal, with multiple strands coming off the wrapped loops I could create on each side. I drew it as an asymmetrical side focal, with multiple strands coming from the bottom wrapped loop, draping gracefully down and then up to the back, while a single chain came from the top wrapped loop to meet the other strands in the back. I drew some other stuff. But I was unhappy with everything, because even though my focal was green, it was still big, and it was plain, and it was taking up a lot of space.

Oooooh! I had a thought! What if I embellish the ring? I think I might have started to drool. Because I LOVE to embellish! In fact, they don't call me "the Queen of Embellishing" for nothing!

Here was my initial, simple thought: "How do I get some beads on this tightly stitched ring in a way that will attractively fill the dead space, and what beads do I use?" As I say all the time, "so many beads, so little time."

I carried my green ring around, looking at all my seed beads, and discovered that I had some Tilas that were a terrific match for both the green and the bronze. And I love Tilas.

I had my coral beads in the back of my head, and I knew I was now going to create Tila Flowers, one of my favorite ways to use Tilas, so I rummaged through my personal bead stash, looking for some smaller coral or red beads that matched.

I found some round, bright red bamboo coral 6mm beads, perfect for the flower centers.

I found some bright red Czech fire-polished crystals for the "petals".

And I filled in the rest of the flower pattern with bronze seed beads, teal seed beads, coral-red Delicas, and those turquoise-colored glass beads Tammy sent me.

I had initially thought these beads were turquoise, but when I took some off the strand, they reminded me a lot of size 6 seed beads. A LOT. They were a little irregular in shape and length, but they acted like size 6 Czech seed beads, and so I decided to treat them like size 6 seed beads.

And then I got curious, and decided to sacrifice one (since I had hundreds and hundreds of them), and I tapped it with a hammer, and sure enough, these beads were glass! Not that it mattered - I had already decided to use them as seed beads, but I was kind of pleased with my bead diagnostics!

So here is the first flower I made, threads still attached, awaiting my next move.

I love how it matched the ring, and envisioned 5 of these flowers covering more than half of the ring, overlapping each other and filling most of the hole in the middle of the green ring. So I stitched up 4 more flowers.

And then came the day I had dreaded: attaching the woven flowers to the ring, I knew this would not be easy. The green delicas were sewn so tightly, and so close to the carnelian, and many of them had multiple thread passes through them, so it was a bit of challenge, and a feat of engineering!

But it turned out just as I planned it, and I love the result. It is a big, structural focal piece, measuring 3-5/8 inches from top to bottom, and while you can still see the green ring, it is no longer a big, boring, dead space - it is a focal attraction! It calls attention to itself.

Meaning the rest of the necklace needs to be subtle. NOT my strong point.

Back of the ring, showing how my flowers even hide my wrapped loops.

Clearly this ring is too big to support a single strand necklace, and I had basically known from the beginning that I was working toward a multistrand result.

And now I have a side focal piece, so the question was how to bring the strands up to a clasp, and what kind of clasp? Something simple in the back, so as not to detract from the focal? Or something on the opposite side of the necklace, to balance the focal and allow for the placement of the strands, which otherwise would have to start clumping together when they reached the neck, and that's never comfortable.

And just when I was making my decision, my friend, Sonya, came in wearing a necklace she had just made, using a pattern in the Bead & Button Fall 2011 issue of WireWork. I loved the connectors on her necklace, so I decided to adapt than into a clasp, using Vintaj Natural Brass.

The largest Vintaj Natural Brass wire I had was 18g, which I hammered flat, leaving a nice textured look, but when I finished it felt a little flimsy to work as a clasp, so I tumbled it for a loooong time, but never really got the hardness I wanted. So I decided to make 2 identical clasps from the 18g wire and then wire them together, for a thicker, stronger piece. Simple, huh?

If you said "yes," you have clearly never worked much with wire!

It took hours and hours to get 2 pieces of wire to bend identically, to my satisfaction. Once I did, I hammered them, then wrapped them together with more Vintaj Natural Brass Wire, adding a couple of my BSBP aventurine beads in the curves.

Then I formed an S-hook from the 18g Vintaj Natural Brass wire, and cut some large jumprings for the S-hook to go into, so that the large S-hook and the large clasp would both lie flat. And the 18g jumprings weren't sturdy enough, so I wired a couple of them together, and finally added an aventurine and freshwater pearl dangle (from my own stash) to the tip of the S-hook. Clasp complete!

I used Vintaj Natural Brass chain to connect the focal ring and the clasp together around the neck.

On to the strands!

The 1st strand was a cake walk. I knew I wanted to use the faceted aventurine, and I had some delicate Vintaj Natural Brass chain, so I used some Vintaj Natural Brass headpins to make aventurine dangles, spread out over the length of the chain from focal to clasp, with a nice soft drape. This look, all by itself, was wonderful, and would have been a great finished necklace, except the strand literally wasn't heavy enough to balance the clasp and the focal, and I wanted to add more beads anyway! So on to strand 2!

If you remember, MY challenge with these strands was to be subtle, because I already had a focal that commanded attention, and couldn't really afford to be busy in the strands. So I added a simple, unadorned piece of Vintaj Natural Brass as strand 2.

For strand 3, I had always envisioned a delicate beadwoven rope, using the turquoise-colored Czech seed beads Tammy sent me. Here they are again:

I thought about a spiral, or a Russian Spiral, or even tubular herringbone, but they all seemed too...something. Either too big, or to busy, or I didn't have the right matching bead. Something.

So what does a crazy person do when working against a deadline? She decides to learn a brand NEW stitch, one that she has always and forever sworn NEVER to learn, because every time she reads instructions for it, she gets a headache. And what is this delightful stitch? Netting.

I found a pattern with instructions, chose a size 15 seed bead then went with my design, and took everything home for the weekend. And spent 3 days trying to figure it out. But I finally got it. (HINT: doing the same, wrong thing over and over again will never have a different result, and will never turn out right. Feel free quote me on that. LOL)

And I couldn't be happier with the result! It's the perfect size for this design.

Next? Strand 4. I used the ecru keishe pearls I had chosen from my stash, and added a few teal Czech fire-polished crystals for a little color balance.

Next? Strand 5. I strung Tammy's smaller sponge coral nuggets with my copper-colored large keishe pearls, and held it up to the already 4-strand necklace. And it looked fine, but when I took it away, I realized the necklace was better without this 5th strand. It was just too much. But I liked the strand, so I set it aside.

One BSBP project complete!

Project 2: I decided to use these 2 larger nuggets of sponge coral for a pair of earrings.

I added some of the copper-colored keishe pearls, and the last 2 adventurine beads I received in the swap.

Project 3: Here are those smaller sponge coral nuggets that I almost added as part of a 5th strand for my 1st necklace:

As I said earlier, I had already strung them with those luscious copper-colored freshwater pearls, and loved the result. So I made it longer, and decided to add a Swarovski Cosmic Ring as a focal. I stitched up a square stitch bail using copper-colored Delicas for the Cosmic Ring, restrung the pearls and sponge coral, and had one piece of sponge coral left, so I added it to the Vintaj Natural Brass chain extender in the back of the necklace as a dangle (trust me, it's back there!)

I am really happy with this necklace!

So, 3 projects done, and I have a lot of turquoise and bamboo coral left. And I still have a silver toggle to use.

Interestingly, 2 of these nuggets are drilled through the long side, and 2 are drilled through the short side. For a little added degree of difficulty.

I went a little Project Runway about now. My head was all "But what about the cohesiveness of your collection? You, are OUT!! Auf Wiedersehen!" I love bamboo coral, turquoise, and silver together, Heidi, but I have used all this Vintaj Natural Brass everywhere else! But then I slapped myself, and got down to business.

While digging through my box of personal bead soup, I had set aside everything turquoise and coral, and I also found a large piece of bamboo coral, so my first thought was "Cha-Cha". After all, I love the embellishing!

I made lots and lots of dangles for this bracelet, using sterling silver rolo chain as the base. I put the large piece of bamboo coral in the center as a focal, and the 2 pieces that are drilled through their long sides lie between the focal piece and the clasp. I hung all the dangles, and then had to make more dangles, because there were dangle-free spots, in my opinion. And you can't really have too many dangles! Even the 2 left-over bamboo coral nuggets from Tammy were turned into dangles.

Once done to my satisfaction, the large bamboo coral focal piece looked a little bare, so I used 16g sterling silver wire to create a hammered curlicue, and attached it to the focal bead.

One side...

and the other side of the Cha-cha bracelet.

The silver toggle clasp, and its own dangle.

So here is my complete collection again.

Thanks for reading all of this (if you did), and I hope you'll leave some comments!

This was a lot of fun, and a huge challenge for me, and I want to thank Lori Anderson for all her hard work and communications in getting this endeavor organized, and for the opportunity to participate.

These are the beads I sent my BSBP partner, Tammy. Tammy is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily, and can also be found on Facebook. It has been wonderful working with her and getting to know her, and I can't wait to see what she makes with my beads! Please visit her blog and take a look!

If you want to visit some of the talented folks participating in BSBP, here is a complete, semi-alphabetical list, broken up into small of 10 pairs to make it seem a little more manageable! {I'm all the way down at #177!} As a matter of fact, I strongly recommend you give us "bottom-dwellers" (bottom of the list, that is) a fair shake, and start at the bottom of the list for your blog hopping!!

We know you can't visit all of us in one day! But maybe you can visit a few of us each day for the next week or two. I'm sure you will see some amazing designs, and you might even learn some neat stuff!

The Hostess, Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke

1. Aimee Wheaton and Barbara York
2. Alice Craddick and Sandra Richardson
3. Alison Sachs and Amy Severino
4. Allison Scott and Cynthia Abner
5. Amanda Cargill Austin and Charlene Sevier
6. Amanda Davie and Patsy Evins
7. Amber Dawn and Kim Ballor
8. Ambra Gostoli and Christine Hansen
9. Amy Freeland and Christine Altmiller
10. Ana Krepel-Novak and Eleanor Snare

11. Andrea Morici and Hope Smitherman
12. Andrea Trank and Jayne Capps
13. Andrea Turini and Charlene Jacka
14. Angela May and Emanda Johnson
15. Anitra Gordy and Elizabeth Owens Dwy
16. Ann Rishell and Debbie Price
17. Ann Sherwood and Lynne Bowland
18. Anna Lear and Barbe Saint John
19. Anna Sabina and and Erin Siegel
19. Nan Emmett and Erin Siegel
20. Astrid Boyce and Birgitta Lejonklou

21. B.R. Kuhlman and Deanna Chase
22. Barbara Bechtel and Bryna Lumb
23. Barbara Blaszczyk and DaviniaDesign
24. Barbara Judy and Holly Westfall
25. Barbara Lewis and Cathie Carroll
26. Barrie Edwards and Lyn Foley
27. Becky Fairclough and Jana Tarhala
28. Bella Borgouise and Gillian Lehman
29. Beth and Evie McCord and Erin Prais-Hintz
30. Beth Bricker and Heather Pyle

31. Beth Emery and Cassie Donlen
32. Bobbie Rafferty and Cindy Cima Edwards
33. Candice McGinnis and Sally Anderson
34. Carol Bradley and Cece Cormier
35. Cathy Khoury and Molly Alexander
36. Carol Tannahill and Hilary Frye
37. Carrie Tahquechi and Cris Peacock
38. Cat Pruitt and Cindy Gimbrone
39. Charlene Gary and Doris Stumpf
40. Charlotte Pevny and Kate Gardenghi

41. Cherrie Fick and Cathie Carroll
41. Claire Maunsell and Cherrie Fick
42. Cheryl Roe and Jenny Vidberg
43. Chris White and Norma Turvey
44. Christa Murphy and Kathy Alderfer
45. Christie Murrow and Dana James
46. Christina Miles and Collette Collins
47. Christine Brandel and Elizabeth Woodford
48. Christine Damm and Cynthia Deis
49. Christine Hendrickson and Debbie Goering
50. Christine Stonefield and Dee Wingrove-Smith

51. Cilla Watkins and Johanna Rhodes
52. Cindy Wimmer and Riki Schumacher
53. CJ Baushka and Cory Celaya
54. Courtney Breul and Joanna Matuszczyk
55. Cristi Clothier and Kathleen Robinson Young
56. Cryss Thain and Serena Trent
57. Cynthia Tucker and Kitty Durmaj
58. Dana Johnson Jones and Eva Sherman
59. Davinia Algeri and Janet McDonald
60. Deci Worland and Lara Lutrick

61. Diana Ptaszynski and Kristy Abner
62. Diane Cook and Kerry Bogert
63. Diane Hawkey and Jen Judd Velasquez
64. Dorcas Midkiff and Jill Harris
65. Doris Radlicki and Heather Goldsmith
66. Dot Lewallen and Gaea Cannaday
67. Elisabeth Auld and Jennifer Justman
68. Erin Fickert-Rowland and Geanina Grigore
69. Erin Grant and Julie Jones
70. Eszter Czibulyas and Helena Fritz

71. Fiona Christie and Michelle Heim
72. Gail Zwang and Genea Crivello-Knable
73. Geneva Collins and Jana Haag
74. Gretchen Nation and Heidi Post
75. Heather DeSimone and Karin Slaton
76. Heather Marley and Terry Carter
77. Ingrid McCue and Jennifer Pride
78. Jackie Ryan and Nicole Keller
79. Janna Harttgen and Joanne Tinley
80. Jean Yates and Lori Anderson

81. Jelveh Jaferian and Jenny Davies-Reazor
82. Jenni Connolly and Jennifer Heynen
83. Jennifer Cameron and Kristi Bowman
84. Jennifer Geldard and Lisa Liddy
85. Jennifer VanBenschoten and Kim Hora
86. Jess Italia Lincoln and Lori Greenberg
87. Jill MacKay and Lori Bergmann
88. JJ Jacobs and Karen Tremblay
89. Joyce Becker and Kathy Welsh
90. Judy Glende and Karen Sinkowski

91. Judy Riley and Kelly Morgan
92. JuLee Wolfe and Julie Bean
93. Julianna Cannon and Julianna Kis
94. Julie Nordine and Lesley Watt
95. K. Hutchinson and Shea Zukowski
96. Karen Firnberg and Karyn Bonfiglio
97. Karen Williams and Kimberly Roberts
98. Karen Zanco and Polly Barker
99. Kari Carrigan and Laura Twiford
100. Karin von Hoeren and Laura Blanck

101. Kate Richbourg and Lorelei Eurto
102. Kathleen Lange Klik and Maria Clark
103. Kathy Engstrom and Keri Lee Sereika
104. Kay Thomerson and Loretta Carstensen
105. Kelley Fogle and Laurel Bielec
106. Kelly Ramstack and Sally Anderson
107. Kim Stevens and Tiffany Long
108. Kristi Harrison and Mandy Williamson
109. Kristi Kyle and Lana Kinney
110. Kristina Johansson and Sue Hodgkinson

111. Kym Hunter and Laura Sanger
112. Laura Zeiner and Susan Kennedy
113. Laurel Steven and Mary McGraw
114. Laurie Hanna and Lisa Boucher
115. Lesley Weir and Liz DeLuca
116. Linda Djokic and Tracey Weiser
117. Linda Inhelder and Pam Brisse
118. Linda Landig and Lori Dorrington
119. Linda Murphy and Lisa Hamilton
119. Line Labrecque and Marianne Baxter
120. Lisa Lodge and Monica Johnson

121. Lois Moon and Melissa Muir
122. Lola Surwillo and Therese Frank
123. Lori Bowring Michaud and Marci Brooks
124. Lupe Meter and Norma Agron
125. Maggie Towne and Marge Beebe
126. Malin de Koning and Susie Hibdon
127. Mallory Hoffman and Shirley Moore
128. Marcie Abney and Patty Miller
129. Marcy Lamberson and Melissa Clarke
130. Margot Potter and Suzann Sladcik Wilson

131. Maria Grimes and Wendy Blum
132. Maria Horvath and Melinda Orr
133. Maria Rosa Sharrow and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp
134. Marian Hertzog and Melissa Mesara
135. Marianna Boylan and Sandi Lee James
136. Marina Dobrynina and Michaela Pabeschitz
137. Marsha Neal and Miri Agassi
138. Mary Ellen Parker and Melissa Meman
139. Mary Elliott and Tamara Soper
140. Mary Hicks and Laurel Steven

141. Melissa Pynn and Michelle Buettner
142. Michelle Hardy and Niki Meiners
143. Michelle Mach and Moira McEvoy
144. Missy Rappaport and Mags Saari
145. Molly Alexander and Poranna
146. Mylene Hillam and Nicole Rennell
147. Nadezhda Parfyonova and Stacey Curry
148. Nan Emmett and Nancy Peterson
149. Nancy Boylan and Natalie McKenna
150. Natalie Monkivitch and Niky Sayers

151. Natasha Lutes and Pam Ferrari
152. Noemi Baena and Penny Ilagan
153. Pamela Petry and Rebecca Sirevaag
154. Pat Haight and Mary Hicks
155. Patty Gasparino and Vonna Maslanka
156. Penny Neville and Sandi Volpe
157. Pepita Bos and Wendy Chamberlain
158. Raida Disbrow and Rebecca Watkins
159. Rebecca Anderson and Sabrina Staub
160. Regina Santerre and Rose Binoya

161. Rhea Freitag and Tari Kahrs
162. Rochelle Brisson and Teri Baskett
163. Sally Russick and Tracy Bell
164. Sandra McGriff and Shay Williams
165. Sandra Wollberg and Sara Hardin
166. Sarah Elder and Salla Small
167. Saskia Kaffenberger and Sharon Gardner
168. Sharon Palac and Shannon Chomanczuk
169. Shay Stone and Suzette Bentley
170. Shiraz Biggie and Tammy Powley

171. Staci Smith and Tracy Stillman
172. Stacie Stamper and Tracy Martin
173. Stefanie Teufel and Vicky Taylor
174. Stephanie Dixon and Stephanie LaRosa
175. Stephanie Haussler and Valerie Norton
176. Suzanne Tate and Terri Wlaschin
177. Sweet Freedom Designs (ME!) and Tammy Jones
178. Tania Spivey and Tari Sasser
179. Tara Plote and Terry Matuszyk
180. Terri Gauthier and Deana Hager
181. Theresa Fosdick and Tracey Nanstad

While compiling and linking the above list, I visited every shop on the list. I am amazed at the talent, and at how many of these folks I know from Etsy and/or FaceBook! Can't wait to see what everyone makes!

Bead Soup Blog Party Update!

2011-09-11T18:06:00.005-04:00

The BSBP (Bead Soup Blog Party) deadline (9/17) is rapidly approaching, and I actually finished my projects yesterday, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Now, I'm trying to restrain myself, because I want to plaster my project pics everywhere!

But I will stop with a reminder pic - these are the beads I received from my BSBP partner, Tammy Jones.

Tammy is the editor of Interweave's Jewelry Making Daily, a blog jam-packed with jewelry making ideas - visit her blog for inspiration! You can also keep up with Tammy and Jewelry Making Daily on Facebook.

These are the beads I sent Tammy:

It is a mix of ceramic and Czech glass beads in delicious blues, greens, and Dijon-mustard yellow, plus a toggle I hand-wove, using a Vintaj Natural Brass filigree component as the base for the toggle ring, and a tight peyote-woven bar, embellished with Swarovski crystals. Here is a close-up of the toggle and the bluish-green and brown ceramic focal bead:

Tammy blogged about my beads here, and she has so many great ideas for her project! I am excited to see what she creates!

Want to visit the Bead Soup Blog Party hop starting on September 17th? There are 362 participants in the hop this time, so visit a few of them as you have time, and leave comments! Share the love: we all want to hear your thoughts, and tell your friends! The more, the merrier! There are some extremely talented folks putting a lot of time and effort into this challenge, and we know you can't visit everyone at once, so hop around, here and there, and spread your visiting over the next few weeks - we'd love to hear from you!

And please visit my partner, Tammy, and also the lovely hostess for this Bead Soup Party: Lori Anderson, of Pretty Things. Lori has worked so hard to organize this event!

But remember: the party doesn't start 'til the 17th!

If you want some sneak peaks at the talented folks participating in BSBP, here is a complete semi-alphabetical list, broken up into small of 10 pairs to make it seem a little more manageable! {I'm all the way down at #177!}!} As a matter of fact, I strongly recommend you give us "bottom-dwellers" (bottom of the list, that is) a fair shake, and start at the bottom of the list for your blog hopping!!

The Hostess, Lori Anderson and her partner, Manuela Wutschke

1. Aimee Wheaton and Barbara York
2. Alice Craddick and Sandra Richardson
3. Alison Sachs and Amy Severino
4. Allison Scott and Cynthia Abner
5. Amanda Cargill Austin and Charlene Sevier
6. Amanda Davie and Patsy Evins
7. Amber Dawn and Kim Ballor
8. Ambra Gostoli and Christine Hansen
9. Amy Freeland and Christine Altmiller
10. Ana Krepel-Novak and Eleanor Snare

11. Andrea Morici and Hope Smitherman
12. Andrea Trank and Jayne Capps
13. Andrea Turini and Charlene Jacka
14. Angela May and Emanda Johnson
15. Anitra Gordy and Elizabeth Owens Dwy
16. Ann Rishell and Debbie Price
17. Ann Sherwood and Lynne Bowland
18. Anna Lear and Barbe Saint John
19. Anna Sabina and and Erin Siegel
19. Nan Emmett and Erin Siegel
20. Astrid Boyce and Birgitta Lejonklou

21. B.R. Kuhlman and Deanna Chase
22. Barbara Bechtel and Bryna Lumb
23. Barbara Blaszczyk and DaviniaDesign
24. Barbara Judy and Holly Westfall
25. Barbara Lewis and Cathie Carroll
26. Barrie Edwards and Lyn Foley
27. Becky Fairclough and Jana Tarhala
28. Bella Borgouise and Gillian Lehman
29. Beth and Evie McCord and Erin Prais-Hintz
30. Beth Bricker and Heather Pyle

31. Beth Emery and Cassie Donlen
32. Bobbie Rafferty and Cindy Cima Edwards
33. Candice McGinnis and Sally Anderson
34. Carol Bradley and Cece Cormier
35. Cathy Khoury and Molly Alexander
36. Carol Tannahill and Hilary Frye
37. Carrie Tahquechi and Cris Peacock
38. Cat Pruitt and Cindy Gimbrone
39. Charlene Gary and Doris Stumpf
40. Charlotte Pevny and Kate Gardenghi

41. Cherrie Fick and Cathie Carroll
41. Claire Maunsell and Cherrie Fick
42. Cheryl Roe and Jenny Vidberg
43. Chris White and Norma Turvey
44. Christa Murphy and Kathy Alderfer
45. Christie Murrow and Dana James
46. Christina Miles and Collette Collins
47. Christine Brandel and Elizabeth Woodford
48. Christine Damm and Cynthia Deis
49. Christine Hendrickson and Debbie Goering
50. Christine Stonefield and Dee Wingrove-Smith

51. Cilla Watkins and Johanna Rhodes
52. Cindy Wimmer and Riki Schumacher
53. CJ Baushka and Cory Celaya
54. Courtney Breul and Joanna Matuszczyk
55. Cristi Clothier and Kathleen Robinson Young
56. Cryss Thain and Serena Trent
57. Cynthia Tucker and Kitty Durmaj
58. Dana Johnson Jones and Eva Sherman
59. Davinia Algeri and Janet McDonald
60. Deci Worland and Lara Lutrick

61. Diana Ptaszynski and Kristy Abner
62. Diane Cook and Kerry Bogert
63. Diane Hawkey and Jen Judd Velasquez
64. Dorcas Midkiff and Jill Harris
65. Doris Radlicki and Heather Goldsmith
66. Dot Lewallen and Gaea Cannaday
67. Elisabeth Auld and Jennifer Justman
68. Erin Fickert-Rowland and Geanina Grigore
69. Erin Grant and Julie Jones
70. Eszter Czibulyas and Helena Fritz

71. Fiona Christie and Michelle Heim
72. Gail Zwang and Genea Crivello-Knable
73. Geneva Collins and Jana Haag
74. Gretchen Nation and Heidi Post
75. Heather DeSimone and Karin Slaton
76. Heather Marley and Terry Carter
77. Ingrid McCue and Jennifer Pride
78. Jackie Ryan and Nicole Keller
79. Janna Harttgen and Joanne Tinley
80. Jean Yates and Lori Anderson

81. Jelveh Jaferian and Jenny Davies-Reazor
82. Jenni Connolly and Jennifer Heynen
83. Jennifer Cameron and Kristi Bowman
84. Jennifer Geldard and Lisa Liddy
85. Jennifer VanBenschoten and Kim Hora
86. Jess Italia Lincoln and Lori Greenberg
87. Jill MacKay and Lori Bergmann
88. JJ Jacobs and Karen Tremblay
89. Joyce Becker and Kathy Welsh
90. Judy Glende and Karen Sinkowski

91. Judy Riley and Kelly Morgan
92. JuLee Wolfe and Julie Bean
93. Julianna Cannon and Julianna Kis
94. Julie Nordine and Lesley Watt
95. K. Hutchinson and Shea Zukowski
96. Karen Firnberg and Karyn Bonfiglio
97. Karen Williams and Kimberly Roberts
98. Karen Zanco and Polly Barker
99. Kari Carrigan and Laura Twiford
100. Karin von Hoeren and Laura Blanck

101. Kate Richbourg and Lorelei Eurto
102. Kathleen Lange Klik and Maria Clark
103. Kathy Engstrom and Keri Lee Sereika
104. Kay Thomerson and Loretta Carstensen
105. Kelley Fogle and Laurel Bielec
106. Kelly Ramstack and Sally Anderson
107. Kim Stevens and Tiffany Long
108. Kristi Harrison and Mandy Williamson
109. Kristi Kyle and Lana Kinney
110. Kristina Johansson and Sue Hodgkinson

111. Kym Hunter and Laura Sanger
112. Laura Zeiner and Susan Kennedy
113. Laurel Steven and Mary McGraw
114. Laurie Hanna and Lisa Boucher
115. Lesley Weir and Liz DeLuca
116. Linda Djokic and Tracey Weiser
117. Linda Inhelder and Pam Brisse
118. Linda Landig and Lori Dorrington
119. Linda Murphy and Lisa Hamilton
119. Line Labrecque and Marianne Baxter
120. Lisa Lodge and Monica Johnson

121. Lois Moon and Melissa Muir
122. Lola Surwillo and Therese Frank
123. Lori Bowring Michaud and Marci Brooks
124. Lupe Meter and Norma Agron
125. Maggie Towne and Marge Beebe
126. Malin de Koning and Susie Hibdon
127. Mallory Hoffman and Shirley Moore
128. Marcie Abney and Patty Miller
129. Marcy Lamberson and Melissa Clarke
130. Margot Potter and Suzann Sladcik Wilson

131. Maria Grimes and Wendy Blum
132. Maria Horvath and Melinda Orr
133. Maria Rosa Sharrow and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp
134. Marian Hertzog and Melissa Mesara
135. Marianna Boylan and Sandi Lee James
136. Marina Dobrynina and Michaela Pabeschitz
137. Marsha Neal and Miri Agassi
138. Mary Ellen Parker and Melissa Meman
139. Mary Elliott and Tamara Soper
140. Mary Hicks and Laurel Steven

141. Melissa Pynn and Michelle Buettner
142. Michelle Hardy and Niki Meiners
143. Michelle Mach and Moira McEvoy
144. Missy Rappaport and Mags Saari
145. Molly Alexander and Poranna
146. Mylene Hillam and Nicole Rennell
147. Nadezhda Parfyonova and Stacey Curry
148. Nan Emmett and Nancy Peterson
149. Nancy Boylan and Natalie McKenna
150. Natalie Monkivitch and Niky Sayers

151. Natasha Lutes and Pam Ferrari
152. Noemi Baena and Penny Ilagan
153. Pamela Petry and Rebecca Sirevaag
154. Pat Haight and Mary Hicks
155. Patty Gasparino and Vonna Maslanka
156. Penny Neville and Sandi Volpe
157. Pepita Bos and Wendy Chamberlain
158. Raida Disbrow and Rebecca Watkins
159. Rebecca Anderson and Sabrina Staub
160. Regina Santerre and Rose Binoya

161. Rhea Freitag and Tari Kahrs
162. Rochelle Brisson and Teri Baskett
163. Sally Russick and Tracy Bell
164. Sandra McGriff and Shay Williams
165. Sandra Wollberg and Sara Hardin
166. Sarah Elder and Salla Small
167. Saskia Kaffenberger and Sharon Gardner
168. Sharon Palac and Shannon Chomanczuk
169. Shay Stone and Suzette Bentley
170. Shiraz Biggie and Tammy Powley

171. Staci Smith and Tracy Stillman
172. Stacie Stamper and Tracy Martin
173. Stefanie Teufel and Vicky Taylor
174. Stephanie Dixon and Stephanie LaRosa
175. Stephanie Haussler and Valerie Norton
176. Suzanne Tate and Terri Wlaschin
177. Sweet Freedom Designs (ME!) and Tammy Jones
178. Tania Spivey and Tari Sasser
179. Tara Plote and Terry Matuszyk
180. Terri Gauthier and Deana Hager
181. Theresa Fosdick and Tracey Nanstad

ETA: While compiling and linking the above list, I visited every shop on the list. I am amazed at the talent, and at how many of these folks I know from Etsy and/or FaceBook! Can't wait to see what everyone makes!

The Most Amazing Thing EVER

2011-09-05T15:12:00.000-04:00

I mean, it's a miracle! I mopped!

I've never been big on mopping. I don't mind vacuuming, and I'll spot clean, Swiffer, etc - but dragging out that mop and bucket, with all that toting and pushing and pulling, and it seemed like I was just kind of moving dirty water around, because no matter what I used, or how many times I mopped, the bucket water never came up clean. I blamed all the foot traffic, the dogs, the old linoleum, and yes, my lay, slovenly housekeeping ways. Plus, I always ended up with a 2-day backache. So yeah, I didn't mop often around here.

But then....it was a slow day at work, and we were discussing mopping.

Like I said, a slow day.

And my friend Ruth told me about this amazing creation: The Hoover FloorMate.

This thing is amazing. It vacuums, and it is the strongest, best vacuum for floors I have ever used. Unlike my otherwise beloved Oreck, this vacuum doesn't miss a thing - stray dog hair tumbleweeds no longer blow across the floor, caught on an updraft created from the vacuum itself. As far as I can tell, the FloorMate is 100% suction - no air blowing around. So all the crumbs, sand, beads (oops), dog hair, grass - all gets sucked up into the tank, which you just pull out and empty.

And it is lightweight. And easily maneuverable.

And the FloorMate mops. And by mops, I mean it scrubs. There is a cleanser tank that you fill with a mix of cleanser and hot water. You make regular vacuuming motions, press a button, and the cleanser comes out, and the brushes scrub, and it sucks up the dirty water, so it won't let you spread dirty water around the floor. No backbreaking bending, pushing, pulling; no heavy buckets of dirty water to lift. When the dirty water tank is full, just empty it, and keep going.

See how easy this paid Hoover model makes it look? That's not Photoshop! It really IS that easy.

I have a BIG kitchen, and I had let the floor get really dirty, what with my mopping aversion, so it took me 2 tank fills & empties to get the entire kitchen done, but it was so easy, and my floor is SO clean. And no sore back, no sore muscles - genius!

And it will even DRY the floor if you want - just switch the selector to DRY, and go back over where you just mopped. I tried it, but it seemed like a waste of time in the kitchen. However - when I tackle the hardwood floors next weekend, I will definitely use the "dry" function.

This is, as usual, a totally unpaid endorsement. But my FloorMate made what used to be a huge dreadful chore into a breeze. More time for beading!

Thanks, Hoover!

Back to beading now.

Hi, Jean!

2011-09-03T10:57:00.001-04:00

Just a silly little post this morning - I have hours of beadweaving ahead of me for my Bead Soup Blog Party project, with the beautiful beads sent to me by my partner, Tammy Jones of Jewelry Making Daily.

And speaking of Tammy, she made a wonderful post about the Bead Soup Blog Party (BSBP) yesterday. Although I am not sure how I got this reputation for being hilarious...?!?! LOL

But I peeked at my blog this morning, and the little rotating Facebook widget showed Jean Campbell's smiling face as someone who likes Sweet Freedom Designs, and that just kind of was like a sign from the universe, that yes, I should get off this computer and go bead weave. Stat!! 'Cause Jean is one of my beadweaving idols....and those beads over there on my desk aren't going to weave themselves!

Like I said, silly post... off to weave now.

I've been Resinating!

2011-09-01T12:12:00.000-04:00

I have been playing around with Ice Resin, making some resin jewelry. It's fun, and fast (except for the 3-day cure time!) - and a neat way to use found objects, photos, and other trinkets.

These are a few pieces I have created:

In this piece, I used a bottlecap for the bezel, and painted it blue with my beloved alcohol inks. I lined the bottlecap with some funky scrapbooking paper, then decided to go a little meta, a little upcycle-y, and put a pop-tab in the bottlecap bezel. I added some scrapbooking flowers, and I threw in a gear. Going for little steampunk, too, I guess. Poured in the resin, and 3 days later, I finished it with a copper jumpring that I also painted blue with alcohol ink. I really like how this pendant turned out!

This one has a bronze-colored simulated wood-grain bezel, and I filled it with gears, paper flowers, and Martha Stewart glitter!! Ooh-la-la! And then poured in the resin, and voila!

For this pendant I used the same bronzy wood-grained bezel, and added several gears, on top of some shiny copper-colored DMC cross-stitching floss, and more Martha glitter.

For this pendant, I used a silver-toned bezel, and added a green quilled paper butterfly, and shiny blue Martha glitter. I finished it with a matching green satin cord, so it is ready to wear.

I made lots more, and may post them later. It is a fun, and easy, project, and I will gradually be listing them on Etsy.

And now, back to work on my Bead Soup Blog Party Creation. That necklace won't make itself, you know!! Time is running out! Eeeek!

New Tie-Dyed Copper Cuff

2011-08-25T13:14:00.001-04:00

There is a brand spanking, shiny, new copper cuff in my Etsy shop this morning.

It started as sheet copper.

I cut a narrow strip, and deeply acid-etched it to achieve the texture, and then colored it with alcohol inks. Then I gently sanded the surface of the strip to take all the color off my texture ridges, so that my lovely etched texture, and the beautiful copper, showed.

This picture shows the strip before I shellacked it to achieve the permanent, colorfast, shiny finish shown in the picture above. See my beautiful texture?

Alcohol inks are wondrous (yep, alcohol inks from the scrapbooking section!) While their color selection is quite narrow, there are so many different ways they can be used to color metal!

I loved the look of this "tie-dyed" strip of metal, and just wanted it to be shiny. Is that asking so much?? I already knew from previous experimenting with the alcohol inks that if I used embossing powder to seal the finish and give it shine, all the colors would bleed together, and I would end up with the hippie version of my "Spinach Omelet" pendant:

Alcohol inks LOVE to bleed, and blend, and comingle.

And that was not what I wanted. I pondered for several days before figuring out how to achieve my shiny, colorfast finish while preventing color bleed. The method I finally hit on still allowed a small amount of bleeding where the color blocks meet, and unfortunately it was just enough to partially obscure the beautiful texturing I worked so hard to achieve, but if you look closely, the texture is still there.

So anyway, I cut and prepped a much wider piece of copper, and deeply etched it again with the same texture as the color strip, attached the color strip to the cuff with decorative grommets, shaped the cuff, and then folded the corners up to provide a more comfortable fit. No rough edges!!

I tumbled it for hours and hours to achieve this brilliant polished shine, and here are lots more pictures of the cuff:

It is 2 inches wide, and approximately a size 7. It is malleable enough to be shaped to conform to your individual wrist comfortably, and can be shaped down to a size 6, or up to a 7.5 (not repeatedly, mind you - but if you aren't a size 7, it can be adjusted by its new owner for perfect fit!)

And while I was waiting for the acid to etch, and the inks to dry, I made a lovely, whimsical pair of unicorn earrings for the Regretsy fans out there.

I haven't listed these in my Etsy shop, but will, upon serious inquiry. I have pics from multiple angles available!

BSBP Beads are Here! The challenge begins!

2011-08-24T10:45:00.000-04:00

My Bead Soup Blog Party beads are here!

My partner is Tammy Jones, of Interweave's Jewelry Making Daily. JMD is on Facebook, too!

This mix includes a large carnelian ring, assorted turquoise nuggets, bamboo coral nuggets, and sponge coral nuggets, a long strand of small turquoise barrel beads in a delicious greenish shade, some beautiful faceted aventurine rounds, and a silver toggle. I am overwhelmed by how many beads Tammy was able to fit in that box!

Now I have to figure out where to go with them!

Waiting with Bated Breath

2011-08-21T09:15:00.000-04:00

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of my bead soup party beads from my partner, Tammy Jones, of Interweave's Jewelry Making Daily. Can't wait to get started creating!

I check the mail box several times a day!!

Flight of the Dragonfly

2011-08-14T14:43:00.001-04:00

I switched things up a little; I actually started AND finished a jewelry design without letting myself get distracted by other projects.

This is "Flight of the Dragonfly."

Its working title was "Kitchen Sink", because I started off by laying out on my workbench all the various components I wanted to incorporate: beautiful etched lampwork beads, some green fire agate, the porcelain dragonfly component, brown freshwater pearls, Czech glass accents, some bronze metal disc beads, Swarovski crystals, and lots of Vintaj Natural Brass components, including chain, wire, leaves, dragonflies (or butterflies - I can't tell), bead caps, and rings. Everything but the kitchen sink, it seemed!

By the time I had gathered everything and carefully laid it out, I couldn't see my work surface anymore, and had to shove everything a lot closer together in order to have about 8 square inches to work!

There is so much going on in this necklace, and I just love how it turned out!

2 very different elements converged to inspire this piece.

One was this beautiful porcelain Dragonfly focal connector. I had bought it several weeks ago, and it was actually for sale in the shop (my B&M bead shop), but I guess it was burned into my subconscious.

I told you a couple of weeks ago about my foray into alcohol inks.

I have played around with a lot of colors, and designs, and different spins on the technique, and we actually dedicated an entire studio day to seeing how many different ways we could use alcohol inks, embossing powder, and paints on various metals.

Shortly after that studio day, I walked past the display where the dragonfly focal was, and picked it up, and started grabbing various leaf and dragonfly Vintaj pieces, and began playing with the techniques to color my metal components. I didn't want them all to look the same, so there are actually 4 different coloration techniques demonstrated here.

And it never occurred to me that it would take a mighty big necklace to work all these components together!

I just started walking around the shop with the porcelain dragonfly and my colored metal components, and began grabbing things here and there that went together, and soon I had an awful lot of stuff to put together!

It didn't take long for me to realize that I needed a matching jumprings, in several different sizes, in order to make this all work, so I wound coils of Vintaj Natural Brass wire, in 5 different sizes, and 2 different gauges, and then cut and tumbled them.

This picture shows what I called "phase I." It has the porcelain dragonfly focal, one of the lampwork beads, and a few of the colored Vintaj components. There is a Vintaj ring (to the left of the focal in this pic) that I embellished with a picot stitch. Everything is connected with chain, jumprings, and some artful wire-wrapping that serves both as a structural component and a design element.

The porcelain dragonfly focal bead had 3 holes, and I love the chain tassel I created (with the little dragonfly flitting by!)

It was at this point that I realized this was going to be more than a one strand necklace. I had only used a few of the specially-colored Vintaj elements that I specifically created for this piece. And only one of the lampwork beads! And none of the unusual green fire agate. And by gosh, I was going to use everything I had picked out!!

After all, my motto is More is More! I am the queen of embellishing!

And all this time realizing that my components and wire-wrapping couldn't extend up around my neck, or I wouldn't be able to wear my own design.

Here is "Phase II."

I have added another of the lampwork beads, and another of my green Vintaj leaves. And in order to balance the second strand, I worked in some more of my luscious bronze metal discs, and needed a 3rd focal element for the other side of the second strand, so I got up and searched for yet another element to add to this necklace! I found an abalone donut with the perfect colors, so I borrowed a page from Denise Peck's brand new book on Wire Findings, and used Vintaj Wire to wrap the abalone donut and incorporated it into the second strand.
I still had components I wanted to add, and I wanted to soften all the wire and metal elements, and in my mind I saw a 3rd strand, softly nestled between the 2 strands here, consisting of off-white freshwater pearls, small teal seed beads, and delicate Vintaj Natural Brass chain, all twisted together.

And I couldn't do any more embellishing to the top strand until I had that middle strand in place.

This might have been the point where I realized I had lost my mind, or should have stepped back for a reality check. Danger, Will Robinson!!

I strung the seed beads, one at a time.

I strung the off-white button pearls, one at a time.

I sat there, twisting them with the Vintaj chain, trying to figure out how to attach this torsade element without using another bulky component (e.g. a cone), but none of the beadcaps I had were large enough to cover the crimps. So I ultimately ran the pin holding the crimped seed beads, pearls, and the chain up through a cone, and attached it to one side of the necklace. And the 3 strands hung there on the bust (the seed bead strand and the pearl strand clamped of with Bead Stoppers) while I tried to figure out how to calculate the correct length, twisted, to get this strand into position. I didn't want to be stringing and restringing, crimping and recrimping, and repeatedly re-wrapping the headpin on the other side. I just wanted to do this once!

And then it sat there on my workbench for 2 full days while I played with it, held it up, tried it on, and procrastinated. I was so determined to attach this middle strand just once. (LOL)

I knew I just needed to go for it - make my best calculated guess at the length, and if it was wrong, it was wrong. I pulled the crimps through the wrapped loop on the other headpin, and hung the chain on the pin; ran the headpin through the cone; tried it on while holding the headpin/cone in position, and it looked great.
So I crimped everything, wrapped the loop, and tried it on, crossing my fingers. Because I really didn't want to do this part over.

Too bad I forgot to calculate for the length of my wrapped loop where the 2nd cone attached to the necklace. Because sure enough, the twisted 3rd strand was exactly 2mm too long. Just the length of my wrapped loop! The middle strand just didn't hang exactly in the middle between strands one and three. While it wasn't touching the 3rd strand, it was hanging just low enough to bug me. And if Momma ain't happy, she won't be wearing the necklace.

I pouted for about 15 minutes, and then cut the offending wrapped loop.

I tried to salvage my stringing efforts by carefully cutting the crimps, hoping to avoid having to restring the pearls and seed beads. HA! I spent an hour trying to avoid the restring, and ultimately couldn't get the crimps off. I actually shredded the beading wire trying to remove the crimps. So I started all over, and got it right the 2nd time. Yay!

I began embellishing again, hanging dangles here and there. I managed to include all my desired elements and while it looks a little crowded on the bust, remember that it hangs differently on any real person, as the bust's neck measures only about 12 inches. So when worn, the 3 strands and all the various elements spread out nicely and evenly.

Ta Da!

Bead Soup Blog Party

2011-08-02T16:09:00.000-04:00

So excited to be a participant in the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Watch here for a picture of the beads I'm mailing to my partner, and the ones I receive, and ultimately, what I create!

Alcohol Inks, Embossing Powders? Scrapbooking? Nooooo....

2011-08-02T12:14:00.000-04:00

Seems like I spend more and more time in the scrapbooking aisles at JoAnns, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's. Each of these stores carry different, intriguing items that I'm incorporating into my jewelry!

These are Vintaj Natural Brass components, that I have colored with a combination of alcohol inks and Perfect Pearls paint, and then the dragonflies were embossed with glittery embossing powder and a heat gun. These items are for my current project - kind of a "kitchen sink" necklace, as I am tossing in a little bit of everything I have media-wise, and having a blast! Will post the entire necklace once it is done! Alcohol inks and embossing powders courtesy of the scrapbooking aisles.

This is a strip of copper that was textured, and then colored with alcohol inks, and will soon be riveted or grommeted to a larger strip of copper to create a copper cuff. Alcohol inks, rivets, grommets? All from the scrapbooking aisles!

Another piece I colored with alcohol inks, and then embossed with a different technique, causing all the alcohol inks to run. I call this one "Spinach Omelet." Do you see it?

Then I bought a Big Shot. And lots of embossing folders - thank you, JoAnn's Online, and your 40% off coupon!! Had NO idea what to do with the Big Shot, but it was on sale!!

Then a friend show me how to texture the metal with the folders and the big shot, and another world opened up! This piece was run through the Big Shot, and colored with alcohol inks. And I riveted on a few gears I had cut out of the brass.

This rose was created by deeply etched with acid, painted with alcohol inks, and then embossed with clear powder and the heat gun

These earrings and the pair below were creating with dimensional stickers (from the scrapbooking aisle, of course) and embossing powders. Clear powder for the bees, and matte powder for the starfish. Not sure which I like better!

Showing off this pendant just to demonstrate the use of a grommet (again, from the scrapbooking aisle) as a connector for the bail.

So, you might want to check out the scrapbooking section (if you haven't already) to get some ideas!
And if you know of some scrapbooking ideas I am missing, please share! I'm hooked!

Shedding Dog Hair is Sweeping the Nation!

2011-06-11T21:55:00.000-04:00

I apologize for being a terrible blogger- am currently putting in 50-60 hours a week at the shop (it takes a lot to keep it running; I don't just get to sit around all day making jewelry!), and there's the Etsy shop, Facebook, Bailey and all his social activities, and Gumball, and just trying to have a little time for sleeping and eating. How does anyone keep up with everything? I could seriously use a cabana boy!

I haven't had much time at all to make jewelry over the past month, but have done a little bit of metalwork, primarily - this cuff is new since I last blogged:

as is this pendant, which includes a piece of my own fused glass:

I have a made a few pairs of earrings:

and

Both of these pairs of earrings sold so quickly that I have decide to deviate from my own OOAK rule, and recreate both of these pairs, and list them on Etsy. When I get some free time!

And speaking of deviating from my OOAK rule - I made an enamelled copper pendant sometime last year:

it was my own creative take on the South Carolina Palmetto Tree symbol. One of my customers fell in love with it, and her husband eventually came in and bought it for her as a birthday gift, but before he could give it to her (he kept it in the console of his car so she wouldn't find it) his car was broken into and the pendant was stolen. So he contacted me and asked if I could re-create it, and this time "add a little blue". So this was the result:

They both loved it, and so the husband asked if I could recreate the original. I was playing with techniques, and decided to solder the moon to the pendant instead of riveting it, and evidently the application of all that heat to the copper changed the way the copper took the enamel, because this was the result:

He loved it though, and has asked me to make another - but that one is way way on the back burner (he's in no hurry.

I brought home a kumihimo project that I desperately want to do JUST FOR ME. And I am slowly but surely completing a super-secret beadweaving project that just "came to me" one day about a month ago - I am determined to finish it (it's gorgeous), and I have a new rule (that I break almost everyday) that I absolutely canNOT start a new project until I finish another project, but this beadweaving thing is so tedious, that I need a break. So I am going to Kumihimo this weekend. At least, that is the plan. And we all know what happens when we make plans!

Oh - speaking of Facebook, Bailey and I (OK,. mostly I) were feeling a little goofy this morning. You see, Facebook makes these weird suggestions of pages it thinks you will like, I'm sure based on some complicated algorithms, but yesterday it suggested to me (on 2 separate occasions) that I join:

and then:

Really? Rock, Paper, and Scissors? In first place: WHY??
And in the second place - why are there groups of thousands of people who have joined each of these pages. Do they log onto Facebook and go, "Gosh, I sure do like scissors. I think I will go join a Scissors fan page so I can get ALL the latest scissors news?"

So, since the Rochambeau of Facebook suggestions was egging me on, Bailey and I have created a fan page for ..... drum roll please ...... Shedding Dog Hair. Go ahead - check it out. Click the Like button - Join us! We want to be the most popular idiots on Facebook!! Our motto, in case this will sway you, is Share the Link, Share the Love, Share the Hair.

Just for me!

2011-05-08T10:16:00.000-04:00

Last week I bought a ($5.00!!) green and blue T-shirt at WalMart; green and blue are my favorite colors, and this is just the cutest shirt. So cute, in fact, that my friend Sonya, who also works with me, bought the same one (separately, and she also bought the same gorgeous grey and purple one I bought! Great minds think alike!) so now we have to call each other the nights before we work together to make sure we won't be twinsies!

So naturally, I needed some bling to wear with my new shirt, so I made this necklace, bracelet, and earring set to go with my new shirt:

Russian spiral necklace, with green 11s and blue 8s.

Rear closure, which IMO must be as pretty as the rest of the necklace!

Matching green and blue fringe bracelet; nice and full., I used 6s, 8s, 11s, 4mm cubes, 4mm Swarovski bicones (in peridot AB), and 4mm Czech firepolish rounds. I have taught this fringe bracelet a couple of times, but have never actually made one myself, so this is my very first fringe bracelet, and I love it. Must make more!

Matching Earrings

Some lovely blue and green lampwork beads had gone unsold in the shop for quite a long time, and they matched the necklace and bracelet perfectly, so I paired them with some Bermuda blue Swarovski Cosmic rings to make these dangle earrings.

And besides the fact that I have this great set of matching jewels to go with my new shirt, I got an idea for a totally new design, that I hope to work on next weekend.

I'd show you a picture of the shirt, but it is wadded up in the hamper, plus the camera is over at the shop in Augusta. I'll try to remember to get a pic of the whole ensemble together.

'Til next time. TTFN!

Follow-up

2011-05-05T21:38:00.001-04:00

As a follow-up to Tuesday's post: Am I the only one who sees this resemblance?

Don, Jr. seems like a nice-enough guy, but he may quite possibly be the Eddie Munster of this generation.

Grease is the Word

2011-05-03T21:20:00.000-04:00

It has to be said.

It started wh:ile watching "Hawaii 5-0".

Scott Caan is a nice enough looking guy. I mean, he is no Alex O'Loughlin,

(you're welcome) but on the other hand I wouldn't throw him out of bed either, unless, that is, he showed up with this hairstyle he is fond of sporting of late:

Really? Psst ... this is NOT a good look!

But then I remembered the Trumpettes. Well, 2 of the Trumpettes - Eric and Don, Jr (DJ).

At least Ivanka's stylist hasn't steered her down this greasy road.

And then I started seeing it everywhere:

Oh, Zach.

and another Zach

Alec

Kellan

Oh, McGee...

Antonio

Travolta -- oh wait. That's actually Tony Manero. In the 70s. Nevermind.

Naturally, Brad Pitt has to get in this.

At least, it's better than THESE choices of his:

Gentlemen: Grease is just not the way to go. EVER.

But at least no one has gone HERE lately:

Hope I haven't given anyone any brilliant new ideas.

Me and my iPad, round 3 (oh, and I've made some jewelry, too)

2011-03-27T13:55:00.003-04:00

Well, the iPad and I have reached a detente.

Here are the things I like about it:

its portability
the web browser (and everything else, duh) boots immediately, unlike my laptop
SplashID: a terrific app for securely storing passwords and other sensitive info. You can toggle between the browser and splashID whenever you need to look up or create a new password.
Netflix: the iPad is perfect for streaming video content
the games: great animation, resolution, graphics. But my left hand and wrist get sore from holding the iPad, because while it is light (though my case adds some weight and dimension to it) it isn't weightless. And I only have one hand free for game play. My case has a built-in stand, but it isn't the right angle, or I don't have the right height stand to set the whole unit on, in order to have it be at an accessible distance both for my eyes and my hands, so there you have it.
my calendar app: very handy (and portable) - and also serves as a To-do list. But this app has drawbacks - it takes far longer to make an entry of any sort than it does to jot in down in a day-planner.
readers: they are all terrific (Kindle, Nook, iBooks, etc) - well organized, back lit; just a pleasure for reading (but far heavier than a Kindle, and easy to inadvertently turn pages by touching the screen)
the native Notes app: great for quickly jotting down grocery items, reminders, etc
the photo album: I have finally loaded my entire jewelry portfolio onto the iPad. But this has drawbacks, too - you have to load all photos through iTunes on your laptop/PC, and it must do a full sync every time you want to add even one photo, and with 1850 photos and counting in the album, this takes a considerable amount of time (a full 30 minutes on my laptop to sync the photos).

In all honesty, most of my time on the iPad is spent playing games.

These are the features I find mediocre, and certainly NOT as functional as my laptop:

document handling: I looked at at a number of apps, and finally chose the pricey DocsToGo, because it supports .doc, .ppt, .xls, and .pdf (possibly more, but these are the big 4 for me). It also must be synced though iTunes IF you want your documents to be hard-stored on your iPad. If you are OK with them being out in the cloud, and therefore only accessible if you have WiFi access, then that is another way to go. But I needed the ability to read and modify certain docs at any time, so iTunes it is. At least with the document file transfer mode in iTunes, you can quickly just add docs one or 2 at a time, without having to do a full document sync each time.

My biggest issue with documents on the iPad is the #&$^% iPad keyboard. As I said above, I really need to hold the iPad to keep it steady AND at the correct focal length for my vision, and at the right angle. The built-in stand in my iPad case is great for reading, but not for using the keyboard or the touchscreen - the pressure of my fingers knocks it right over. So when reduced to one hand to type with, on that crazy iPad touch-screen keypad, I am basically typing with one finger (can't retrain my right hand to do the whole Qwerty keyboard by itself), so it takes forever to do data entry anyway, and add to this the fact that my fingers (which are truly average size) hit the wrong keys fully half the time, so I have to type very very slowly, and make a lot of corrections. So I try to do all document writing/editing on my laptop, and save the iPad document app for reading only. Not as efficient, but that's my solution.

Zite: I am crazy about the idea of this customizable, intuitive news app. But I have to rate it as mediocre, because of the scrolling issues mentioned above - every touch of the finger opens something I didn't want to open. And even more annoying, the articles are often abridged articles from the web, and usually contain hyperlinks, and in order to access the links or the additional content, after clicking on the link, you get a pop-up asking if you want to open the content in Safari. This really seems like an annoying, duh feature to me - admittedly, Safari is the only browser I have on my iPad (does Zite know this?) - so of course, I want to open the link in Safari. Why do I have to click yes every damn time? Just open the link, please. And since Zite seems to be a mini-search engine of sorts, much of the content in the individual sections is repetitive (for instance, Star Trek is a module I have added to my Zite, and while it has great content, this week it has had article after article from various sources wishing Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner a happy (80th!) birthday. So, happy, happy birthday Kirk and Spock.

Here are the features I try to avoid at all costs, and reserve for when I can be on the laptop

web browsing: This is simply a comedy of errors on the iPad. I use the native Safari browser, but doubt any other browser would be different. And the same issues exist with many specialty web apps: The webpages are too small to be seen on the iPad, so you have to pinch to enlarge, and then scroll around endlessly, as each finger swipe sends you farther than you wanted to go. And in so many apps and webpages, so much of the content is clickable that if you touch the screen at all to try to slow down the scrolling or just to scroll a bit further, you are likely to accidentally click a hyperlink, and off you go... And oddly enough, one of the worst apps for this accidental hyperlinking is AppAdvice, the iPad app guru - I can't scroll anywhere in that app without clicking into an article I didn't want to open. And if you touch anywhere near the bottom of the screen, you will likely be taken (inadvertently) to another section of the app
e-mail: takes forever to read in the iPad - for the same reasons as the web-browsing. And to try to reply to e-mails from the iPad? Same issues with the keypad. Not a time-saver at all
anything involving more than a few taps of the keyboard.

And here are features I personally find no use for, at least not yet:

iPod: Yes, I've loaded my tunes onto the iPad. But there are far better options for listening to music in the situations I find myself wanting to listen to music. Would have to have headphones for listening to iPad tunes at a doctor's office, or on a plane; and I have a stereo iPod doc at home and at work, which provide better sound quality.
GPS: I have one in my car, and really don't see how the apps that offer GPS/traffic info on the iPad would work without active WiFi access. Which one doesn't usually have while driving.

I've probably left some stuff out, but that is certainly most of it. So while I like my iPad, I can't say I love it, and I'd be fine without it. But we are peacefully coexisting.

Here are a couple of things I made this week: I beaded around a gorgeous raku cabochon, and forged and enameled a copper palmetto tree pendant (a custom order). I am still working on some ideas of how to creatively design a necklace to support the beaded pendant.

iPad, Round 2

2011-02-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

Well, my last post has been picked up by iPad Gear Talk, a tech blog.

On to today's iPad update:

Downloaded Grocery IQ, a free app designed to simplify my grocery shopping experience. Yay! I am all for that.

It has coupons (of course, you have to manually print them), and the ability to make different shopping lists for many different stores, and you can then customize your list by aisle according to the layout of your store. But it also has what is apparently the #1 most desirable feature of all the available grocery list apps: the ability to e-mail your grocery list to anyone. ANYONE, people*.

So please leave your e-mail addys in the comment section, as I am going to start an e-mail mailing list for everyone who wants to know what I'm gettin' at the grocery store. Fascinating! So fascinating, in fact, that I also plan on starting a new blog: My Grocery Lists. I have already heard the the Woz plans to be my first follower!

So I made up my first grocery list on the iPad today, using Grocery IQ. Took 55 minutes. For 16 items. I am absolutely blown away by how much this feature has already ~~eaten away at~~ improved my busy lifestyle. Do you have ANY idea how long it would have taken me to write 16 items on a Post-it note and shove it in my pocket? Maybe 55 seconds .... but that is not the point, people. I saved a twig, here. (How many trees does it take to make a Post-it, anyway?)

Now, when I go to the store tonight after work, I have to take in the iPad, open up the app, roam the aisles finding my items while rearranging the built-in app aisle set up to match the actual aisle set-up at my store, and then check off each item as I find it. I wonder how many screens that will involve, since putting 16 items on my list involved, on average, 6 screens per item. And I'm not counting (although I should) the additional screens needed because the same "finger-swooshing" movement that you use to scroll through the app's many grocery items, looking for the one you want to add to your e-list, causes inadvertent selection of some random item you touched as you were swooshing, adding it to your list, and requiring 5-6 more screens to delete the unwanted item, and start hunting for the wanted one again. Wow. Simple!!

Not so pleased with this. It isn't simpler, more convenient, faster - certainly not more efficient.

Maybe I could e-mail a scan of my post-it shopping list to someone at Apple, and they could so my grocery shopping. Now THAT is an app I would even pay for!

*I fully realize that my amazement at the popularity of this ability to e-mail grocery lists to anyone and everyone you know is probably directly proportional to the fact that I live in a one-person, 2 dog household. The only entity who would be remotely interested in doing my grocery shopping for me would be Bailey, and he would skip the toilet paper, and load up the cart with Cheese Doodles, popcorn, and ice cream.

The iPad vs. the Luddite

2011-02-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

Not really - I'm not a Luddite. I am a gadget slut. I admit it. Love the electronic gadgetry.

But the economic downturn has really hit me hard, and I can't afford all the cool toys (or groceries) that I wish I could.

So I felt like an addict falling off the wagon when a friend showed up 10 days ago with her iPad - naturally, I'd heard of them, but I had never SEEN one, and she pushed a few buttons, and I knew I had to have one.

And so I bought one that night. And posted same to Facebook. Where everyone told me how much I would Loooooove it!

It arrived a week later (from China, of course!), and I started loading it with free apps, and playing around with it, and spent some more $ getting my home and work converted over to Wireless, because you can't really use an iPad unless you have Wi-Fi connectivity, and here's my dilemma:

Loving it? Not so much.

So far, its major usefulness for me is to stream instant movies from NetFlix at work. Which I can also do on my laptop, but my work laptop is NOT in an area where I can also work on jewelry creation, so it's nice to be able to stream movies over at my workbench.

Of course, I was already watching NetFlix DVDs there on my portable DVD player, so it's not like the iPad has changed the movie situation that much - but admittedly now I can watch some instant ones while waiting for the turn around on the hard copies, though NetFlix's choice of instant movies is highly limited, so this capability is really NOT a big deal.

There's a Kindle app. Nice, but I really splurged for Christmas and got myself a Kindle, so I already had one! Now I have 2. $$$, buh-bye.

There's a browser, and the iPad boots instantly, so that's nice, but I can browse on my laptop, and it is much easier to browse and type with a mouse and a real keypad, vs the iPad's keyboard and finger-swooshing.

Calendar. Yeah, there is one. But it is so much faster to write an appt in my Day-Runner than to open the iPad, turn it on, unlock the screen (WTF with THAT feature), open the app, and then navigate through all the screens just to enter your hair appointment on the correct day at the correct time. Hunh-uh.

Lists. I love me some To-Do lists. But creating them in the iPad is another labor and screen-intensive ordeal (seriously? my lists have to have tags?); and I can't see myself toting the iPad around the grocery store, and waking it up every time I need to check the grocery list. So the Luddite in me would probably sit down in parking lot of the grocery store, and re-write my iPad grocery list onto a post-it note to shove in my pocket for a more user-friendly grocery-shopping experience. 1 step forward electronically, 2 steps back.

iPod. Have one, and I have a wonderful stereophonic iPod dock at the shop, so I already have all my tunes at my fingertips. I've moved all my tunes to the iPad, but can't see myself using the iPad to listen to music. If I were waiting at a doctor's office, I would have to have headphones - and at work and home I already have my music set up. Meh.

Games - not a big issue. If I have time to kill, I'll read on the Kindle app.

Part of the problem, IMO, is that I don't get out much. I'm at home, I'm at work. Have laptops both places. So maybe if I travelled more, or was hanging out @ Wi-Fi spots, I might find the iPad more useful.

My brother has been offering lots of advice, which I really appreciate. He's been incredibly patient, and is like a walking iPad Wiki. One of his suggestions was to put my jewelry photo portfolio onto the iPad, so I can show folks the high-res photos of my work anytime. And I am going to start transferring these (thousands of) photos tonight.

My brother also sent me a link to appadvice.com, to help me make more informed decisions before purchasing any non-free apps. But I was laughing hysterically after reading just one description of a recommended app - it was written in such tech-speak I literally could not comprehend what they were trying to say. So I basically need an app to translate this app's geek-speak to English!

The iTunes AppStore gives extremely limited info on the functionality/capability of the apps, and then, for most of the apps, there are customer-provided "reviews". But just as the grass is always greener on the other side, one person's peeve about an app is another user's favorite thing, so deciding which apps to choose just based on the info in the AppStore is electronic Russian Roulette.

I am not trying to be Debbie Downer about this. I desperately want to love my iPad. It is mine now, and we must do more than peacefully coexist!

So I'm curious to hear from you iPad lovers out there - what do YOU love about your iPad, and why? And what has turned out to be a waste of your time &/or money, app-wise?

Evolution of a design

2011-01-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

I had this gorgeous, large, burgundy Raku bead, and my original plan was to braid a simple beaded kumihimo rope to suspend it from.

But this design quickly became a study in problem solving, with problem #1 being that I didn't have any matching seed beads in a size that would work up into a beaded kumihimo rope.

So I decided I would fall back on one of my favorite beadweaving stitches, the spiral.

I had too many bead choices here, and had to play with them, and keep narrowing them down, so that I didn't end up with a overly busy or chunky spiral rope that would overwhelm the bead, despite the bead's size.

Because this raku cylinder bead was huge - almost 4 inches long, with a very large hole running through it.

This is the spiral I finally decided on: brown freshwater pearls, mauve seed beads, burgundy seed beads, olive green seed beads, and copper seed beads for the core. After stitching this 2 inch length, I came upon problem #2: how to cap the large raku bead?

I spent a couple of days working on this beadcap issue. I stitched a number of different attempts from seedbeads, in various sizes, and various patterns, but none of them worked; they needed to be relatively flat on the end, and then immediately flare out pretty widely, and then hug the bead.

And no ready-made beadcaps were anywhere near the size of this bead's end, so I kept stewing, and started looking around for anything I could use to cobble together a suitable beadcap.

I finally found a combination of Vintaj brass findings that I felt, theoretically anyway, could work. I used metal punch pliers to punch 6 holes in a Vintaj brass ring, to correspond with the placement of the 6 petals on the Vintaj flower.

These are the 3 Vintaj components I finally settled on - the larger ring is a good size for the end of the Raku bead.

Here is how the 3 components stacked in my plan - now I just had to get them to stay fastened together (and attach them to the bead!)

I made a number of attempts to wire-wrap the components together, but wasn't happy with any of the results.

So I decided to weave the components together with seed beads, and after several more tries, this is the (somewhat over-exposed, sorry) result.

I then used 20g Vintaj brass wire to wire the caps to the bead, and then attached a length of spiral to each end. The original plan, after settling on the spiral, was to have the whole necklace be a simple spiral, but by now I had so mych time and energy invested that I decided to glam it up, and added a short length of Vintage brass chain with fringe embeliishment comprised of Swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls to each side, before continuing on with the spiral rope.

Of course, I had to do some more embellishing, so I added fringe to one side, and some freeform peyote leaves to the other.

Then I finished with a Vintaj brass S-hook and extender chain, providing an adjustable finished length.

Very Sparkly Spiral Chainmaille Bracelet and Earrings

2011-01-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

The spiral chainmaille rope is another of my favorite weaves. This set is woven with sterling silver half-round rings, so it is lighter in weight than you would expect, and the spiral weave allows the bracelet and earrings to catch the light with every movement. I just love this set!

The textured toggle reflects the spiral pattern in the bracelet, which is now available in my Etsy shop.

The matching earrings are also available in my shop!

And by the end of this week, I will have this bead embroidery cuff bracelet finished - or at least, that is the plan....lol.

Almost done with the Bead Embroidery Bracelet

2010-12-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

This is one of those (hundreds of) projects that got started, and then put away and forgotten when other new projects presented themselves. I got about half of the stitching done last July, and, to be honest, burned myself out on it - the stitching goes on, and on, and on, and it feels like it is just never going to fill in.

But I picked it up on Saturday, and stitched all day long, and still felt like I was no closer to being finished, and at the end of the day I was tempted to just put all the beads away (it took almost 45 minutes to get the project set up!), but I knew that was part of the issue: when a project is such a pain to set up, it is much easier to avoid digging into it and trudging on. So I left it set up Saturday night, and there it was staring at me on Sunday, so I kept my promise to myself to work on nothing else until it was done.

I dragged my feet, though, and busied myself with other stuff (like snow! With the dogs!) and computer business, and finally started stitching around 1PM yesterday. And started to see the light at the end of the tunnel around 9PM, and actually stitched the last bead just a few minutes before midnight.

And packed up the whole thing to tote back to the shop, where I will hopefully be able to attach it to its frame and finish the edging this coming week.

This is my set-up as I started on Saturday morning - you can see the bracelet in the upper left, just as I pulled it out of the bag after putting it away back in July - less than half done, but enough of the pattern established that I had something to go on, but I also was somewhat limited by this, because, as beaders know, your stitching style and taste evolves and changes with time, so I had to go back and try hard to replicate what I had done back in July, because there was no way I was taking any stitches out!

I hope I have a finished picture of the bracelet to post before next July!

Jen's Pind Linkage (JPL)

2010-11-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

JPL (Jen's Pind Linkage) is one of my favorite chainmaille weaves. It yields such a nice, tight, spiral weave, and in my opinion works well whether done in one color, multiple colors, round rings, square (wire) rings, and more.

In this photo, you can see 3 very different JPLs I have done:

The top chain was made with 16g gold-filled (round) rings, the middle one with 18g bronze rings cut from square wire, and the bottom one is a tricolor chain in 20g rings (copper, gold-filled, and sterling),

This is another photo of the 20g tricolor JPL:

I enjoy working with color so much that I made another 20g tricolor JPL to compliment the chain-bezelled raku cabochon now available in my Etsy shop.

I chose turquoise, blue, and burgundy rings for this chain; they pull out the gorgeous colors in the raku cab.

Here's a guided tour of the creation of the 18g bronze square JPL:

Getting started: big pile of rings, and a clasp.

The weave is established, and now I just have to keep it going until I reach the finished length:

Halfway done!

Finished:

Detail of finished weave:

I believe this square version of the JPL would make a great bracelet for a man - particularly if stepped up to 16g square rings.

Cold Connections Studio Day

2010-10-24T22:04:00.000-04:00

We took the summer off as far as our monthly cold connections studio days, and today was our first day back in about 6 months. We have a terrific, cozy, compatible group who try to get together monthly, and make fabulous cold connections creations, and we all help each other out, and share ideas and tips. It's a lot of fun, and I have really missed it.

Today was a terrifically productive day for me - the ideas were flowing, and I completed 5 projects, and didn't leave anything halfway done, waiting for next time.

I started the morning by tackling the project I dreaded the most: I needed 2 more of these intricate copper flowers that I have used before in necklaces; this time, I wanted them to go on either side of an elaborate, colorful Dutch spiral woven necklace that I finished stitching over 2 years ago, and have just been waiting for the perfect way to finish. (And Yes, I am counting these 2 copper flowers as 2 cold connections projects, because they are a giant pain to make!) This particular Dutch spiral is very fat, and I didn't have enough of the pearls to make a full-length necklace, so my plan is to use the copper flowers to accent each end of the spiral, and then hook into the back of them with chain to finish the necklace.

The liver of sulfur patina turned the flowers almost the same color bronze as the seed beads in the spiral, and I chose 8mm round Sapphire Satin Swarovski crystals as the center of each flower, to bring out the blue in the spiral. It feels great to be clearing out the backlog of partially finished projects I have stored up! 1 down, 725 to go!!

Next, I created this copper pendant, which is acid-etched for texture, fold-formed for more texture, then cut in a crescent shape, with the top portion given a rich blue patina, and then reattached to the copper section with twisted sterling silver jumprings. A hammered sterling silver bail was then wired to the pendant, and all that awaits is the attachment of 2 sterling jumprings to the ends of the bail, and the addition of chain. I have some blue-patinaed copper chain which I plan to mix with some sterling chain to finish this necklace.

Then I moved on to this beaded, fold-formed copper pendant:

This was a lot of fun, probably because I love designing free-form jewelry. I used a couple of different shapes of blue Picasso Czech glass in this piece, and hung it from copper chain, and hope to get it up on Etsy in a couple of days.

I still had an hour to go, so I moved on to a project that the other girls had worked on earlier this morning - these great wine-cork pendants, which could also work as key chains. There are so many different ways to embellish these corks; everyone's looked completely different today.

I used a mixture of copper and stainless steel washers which I texturized with a hammer, a big sponge coral rondelle, a copper bead cap, and wrapped it all together with 16g sterling silver wire. It would definitely be sturdy enough to function as a key ring, but I plan to hang this one from a chain.

Fun day! I feel so productive!

You know you are a bad, bad blogger when...

2010-10-16T21:00:00.000-04:00

... it has been so long since your last post that you no longer remember your password. Geez.

But anyway....

I have been busy, busy; I have been on a real creative spurt since my last, and jumping from medium to medium, occasionally combining media, and have started a number of different projects, and actually finished all but 2 of them! So here's a run down of what's been going on:

I have been playing around with different color combinations, as well as different metals, in this variation of the Byzantine chainmaille weave:

This pattern is fun, easy, and so versatile, and was attracting a lot of attention in the shop, so I actually put it on the class schedule, and taught it for the first time today. I spent almost all day coiling, cutting, and tumbling rings on Thursday - I figure I cut over 2000 rings! We had a good turn out for the class, and the students chose some beautiful color combos, and everyone had a great time.

Beadweaving is one of my first loves, and it had been over a year since I did any beadweaving (other than teaching, so I was so excited to get this project started. I had all the beads picked out, and all last weekend to play with them, so I started by sketching out a crude road map, and began by stitching the clasp: I added a row of picot to the Vintaj brass ring, and stitched the bar in peyote.

I was basically designing the whole necklace around those juicy 8mm top-drilled topaz Swarovski crystals - I turned them into a ripe cluster at the front of the necklace, and then used the spiral stitch and some Vintaj chain to finish the piece. Lots of fun! Nice earthy Fall colors, too. And it's available in my Etsy shop!

But I wasn't done yet - I still had time last weekend to make this chainmaille necklace and bracelet, in navy blue and sterling silver. I love this particular weave!

I was able to snatch up this gorgeous cabochon from MAKUstudio, and while there are a lot of ways to turn a cabochon into jewelry, I really wanted to make a chainmaille bezel for this one, so I pulled the copper, burgundy, and blues from the cab with the rings,

but decided the end result was too "hard" looking, so I decided to soften it by weaving seafoam green eyelash yarn into the chainmaille, and I just love the organic look that resulted. I finished the necklace with a small, tricolored Jen's Pind Linkage chain, again pulling the colors from the cab.

Check out MAKUstudio's shop - you won't be sorry! She is a tremendously talented lady!

I had enough rings left over from the chain to make this pair of shoulder-dusting dangle earrings - and the necklace and earrings are available (separately) in my Etsy shop, too!

I was determined to teach myself the dragonscale chainmaille weave, and found several free tutorials online, and also had a pattern from an old magazine - Step-by-Step Wire, maybe - not sure. But between the 3 sets of instructions I had, I figured I was good to go.

The instructions recommended making the bracelet in 2 colors, one for the small rings, and one for the large rings, so that you could more easily see what goes where - but I didn't WANT a 2-color dragonscale bracelet; I wanted a multicolor one in blues, greens, pinks, and purple, so I spent hours figuring out how many rings of each size and color I would need, spent half a day coiling and cutting them, and got down to business.

It took several hours to get the hang of the pattern, but I finally got going, and then it just took several days to weave it up - there are a LOT of rings in this bracelet!

Love the result, and it is definitely a keeper!

And while all this was going on, I received a custom order: the lady wanted 10 pink bracelets for her coworkers, and she wanted all of them to be different, and while they were for breast cancer awareness, she didn't want any pink ribbon stuff -

So these were the 10 complete bracelets, and she was delighted, and wants to get more.

I also started 2 other projects - a beadwoven lariat, and a purple kumihimo lariat (I am on a real lariat kick lately). These are both more than halfway done, and my plan is to finish them this weekend (MY weekend is Sunday and Monday) and then get started on a bracelet pattern I purchased from SandFibers. I want to be able to get the pattern stitched up, and then start teaching it at my shop as soon as possible. So I see a busy 2 days in my future!

But tonight is "sit with your feet kicked up" night, which is actually pretty hard for me - I like to be doing something with my hands, but this week has kicked my butt! But as you can see, I am not doing a very good job of not doing anything, because here I sit blogging - so I am done now, and am going to watch a little TV.

PS - Gumball and I popped into the vet's office to check on his weight, and he has gained 1.5 pounds! He now weighs 12 lbs, and only has to gain 2 more pounds to no longer be considered underweight. But 2 lbs is a lot, when you only weight 12 lbs - that's almost 20% of his current bodyweight, right?

This is my little sweetie right now - lying on Bailey's big bed, which he has claimed as his own, snoring after snarfing down his dinner!

I'm currently seeing a sadist....

2010-09-08T15:54:00.000-04:00

I saw the orthopedic surgeon (AKA THHS) for another regularly scheduled post-op check last Monday (8/30). He continues to be dismayed and apologetic about the slowness with which my voice is recovering. But he DOES agree with me that there is no reason to return to the ENT for periodic laryngoscopy until I have passed the pre-determined maximum date by which this "temporary" issue should be resolved. Which reminds me, I have an ENT appointment to cancel....

But anyway, the orthopod was trying to send me on my merry way, with instructions to return in 6 months or something, when I finally managed to get his attention and ask if he would refer me to Physical Therapy, because of the persistent spasm I have had in my right neck and shoulder ever since even before the surgery, though it is much worse since the surgery. And he was more than willing - filled out the orders, and I actually managed to get in to see the therapist THAT VERY DAY for my initial evaluation and therapy.

And may I just say (as I told her on my 2nd visit) she is mean and evil. And I am pretty sure she graduated from the Marquis de Sade Physical Therapy Institute. I have had 3 visits as of this morning, and am doing all my home exercises, and am actually in more pain than when I started PT. But she says it is a process, and we need to give it 2 more weeks.

The surgeon also said that if things didn't improve within 2-4 weeks of PT, that he wanted me to get more epidural steroid injections. Whatever - I am game. Just make it stop spasming!!

Gumball is something else!

2010-09-06T13:42:00.000-04:00

My little Gumball is such a handful! He continues to thrive, even though he has lost 2 ounces since I found hiim (he needs to gain 4 pounds according to the Vet.) He initially gained 4 ounces over the first 2 weeks, but in the 3 weeks before our second appt, he lost 6 ounces. And I don't know how, since he eats like a little pig!
He continues to get stronger everyday, and manifests more and more personality.

We were on vacation in the mountains last week, and he had a great time roaming around my friends' steep mountain property, taking in the cooler mountain air. And because there were a total of 4 dogs in the house that week (Bailey & Gumball, plus my friends 2 dogs, Tai and Nummy), we had to go to extraordinary measures to ensure he got to eat his meals without the other dogs poaching them.

It still takes him about an hour to eat one meal (what with having no teeth, and no bottom jaw), so sometimes I would feed him in the guest bedroom behind closed doors, and I would kill time reading, or reading e-mail. Other times, Kathy would take him into her office to feed him while she worked on the computer - the only problem with this scenario was that she has a glass door on her office, so the other 3 dogs would line up at the door and show their intense annoyance at Gumball's special treatment; Nummy would whine, Tai would scratch the door, and Bailey would just pant and stare.

So now that we are home, Gumball has decided that he will ONLY eat when he is in the same room with me, which has really made me look for ways to maximize time-management. He used to eat his breakfast slowly in the kitchen while I locked Bailey in the bathroom with me, and I showered, did my hair, makeup, etc - and when I was finally done, he would be moseying upstairs, all full and ready for the day at work. And he would eat his supper in the kitchen while I kept Bailey upstairs in the bedroom with me, and I could work on the computer. NOW, I can't even feed Gumball in the bathroom while I shower - because if he cannot SEE me, it evidently doesn't count - so every morning this week he has ultimately only eaten part of his breakfast by the time we need to go to work, and I just take the leftovers to work, and feed them to him once we get there.

This lovely 2 day weekend has been much easier, because he is eating his meals in the bedroom while I do whatever I want, and Bailey carefully watches from the bed, waiting to pounce on the bowl if Gumball should walk away from it.

But Bailey is actualy learning, and he really understands now that he can't clean up Gumball's leftovers until I say so. And he is being a very good brother, even if it IS unintentional, for the most part.

Gumball is very hard of hearing, but he uses Bailey as a hearing-eye dog - and when he senses Bailey moving around at night or other times (whether through Bailey's thundering vibrations on the floor, or because Bailey walks close enough by Gumball's bed that he nudges Gumball), Gumball knows that I am probably up and moving, and he gets up to check things out - and he is usually right, it is bathroom time, or meal time, or something is up!

And this is the new thing Gumball started yesterday - he gets up and walks around to tell me that he wants to go out (which he has always done), and now he goes out the backdoor and off the porch and does all his business without me having to escort him. This is so much nicer for me - no more fire ant fiascos! And it shows that he is trusting the environment here, so that's good. But yesterday, after he did all his business, he wandered around the yard until he found the perfect spot in the sun, and he just plopped down for a sunbath. This was a first! His former routine was to dash back to the house as soon as he was done.

Later yesterday afternoon, I was walking around the backyard with both dogs, and Gumball started circling around a spot where he clearly intended to lie down in the sun again, and I walked toward him and stuck out my foot to stop him, because he was going to end up in one of the fireant beds I had coated in pesticide, and I just wanted to move him a few feet away. I certainly wasn't going to kick him; I wasn't even going to touch him - I was just using my foot as a roadblock (he is so tiny, I didn't want to bend over, because I am so lazy! Why bend over when I can just direct traffic with my big foot?) But he yelped and jumped backwards about 3 feet when my foot was still 12 inches away from him, so I feel like it is very likely he has been abused in the past.

Today he is still refusing to eat unless I am in plain sight, and he has just come back from him morning sunbath. Bailey even stayed out in the yard with him while Gumball lay in the sun, only Bailey chose a nice shady spot, because it is already 90 degrees out there!

I am glad Gumball is getting stronger, and more independent, but I cannot get over how much he has altered my routine - I have a hard time finding time for blogging and other computer work, let alone time to create!

And he's no cuddly lap dog, but he's happy, and it sure is funny to watch him do his little "I'm hungry" dance - it reminds me of the old Little Friskies commercials (I think it was Little Friskies, anyway, and am too lazy to look it up) where the cat did the cha-cha-cha while his Little Friskies was being prepared, only Gumball hops from foot to foot, and turns around, and jumps up in the air - it's a hoot!

And I found out the secret of how Gumball's bed kept getting moved while we were up in the mountains - everyone up there was blaming everyone else - Kathy said John did it, John said I did it, I said Gumball was doing it, Kathy and John both said Bailey was doing it - but no one ever saw it happen. We would just come home in the evening, and Gumball's bed would be 10 to 20 feet away from where we had left it - sometimes in a completely different room!

Last night, while I was watching TV and doing chainmaille, I heard Gumball "digging" in his bed - he has always done this, sort of his version of turning around 3 times before he lies down, only he would take both his front legs, and stand halfway in the cut-out "door" of the bed, and just dig at the cushion with his nails, like he was trying to make a nest. But I crept to the edge of the bed to watch without him seeing me, and he was actually using that digging motion to drag the entire bed to a new spot. Last night he moved it 3 feet away from where it had been (and consequently into the middle of the floor), and then got in it and went to sleep.

SilverSmithing

2010-09-05T17:34:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a week at William Holland Lapidary School, where I took my first Silver class.

So. Much. Fun!!

Had a great teacher (Hi, Bill!), and completed 4 projects, and have 2 partially done.

The class was structured such that we had lecture Sunday night for a couple of hours, and then started work bright and early Monday morning. There were 2 mandatory projects, and once we successfully completed those, we could move on to an independent project of our own design.

This bangle bracelet was our 1st mandatory project, and was a great teaching project and a good choice for a 1st project, because while it taught us a lot of metalwork techniques, believe it or not, this gorgeous bangle required only 1 solder! So we spent a long time prepping the piece - twisting the wire, hammering it, etc - and then got it set up for the solder, and although the teacher had demo'd it for us at his workstation, since it was each student's 1st time soldering, we were all a little nervous and unsure, so we would call him over to our workstations when we were ready, and then he would help each of us individually.

And it is a truly stunning bracelet!

The next mandatory project was a ring - the teacher had many cabochons to choose from, or we could use our own. I had taken a few with me, but once I saw this turquoise cab (made by my Silver teacher, who clearly has talents extending far beyond Silversmithing), I heard it calling my name, and decided to use it for my ring.

The ring was a very difficult project; many, many solder joins, as well as the other metalworking skills required to create it.

It took me most of 3 days to finish the ring, although I was able to jump around and work on my other 2 projects while I was waiting for equipment, or otherwise needing to wait before proceeding with another step on the ring. So it actually probably took only a total of a day and a half to finish the ring, not counting the interruptions and waiting.

And after making all these solders, and having the ring actually fit, and the stone stay in its setting, I had a lot more confidence in my abilities, too! And I later learned that my ring would have been a whole lot easier to do if I had chosen a cab with even dimensions, instead of this irregularly cut one - but I always go for the asymmetric stuff!

Getting these decorative balls in the shank of the ring was a pain!

Back view of the ring, showing my blatant rookie mistake: the back of the ring had to be stamped "sterling" before the shank was soldered on, and I placed the stamp in such a position that the solder flowed right over the "ster" in "sterling". So I guess my ring is just "ling"?

This was a project we were shown to use up the excess wire left over from the bangle; I only had enough excess to make a small pinkie ring!

And this is my big masterpiece - I am so pleased with the way it turned out. I used my own dichroic glass cabs, and designed this pendant to hang from an Omega or from a hard collar, and with a lot of direction from the teacher, it all came together very nicely!

I also started a 2nd pendant, and reticulated the silver links for a bracelet, but I couldn't finish either before I had to leave. And it will be awhile before I can finish either of them, because silversmithing is expensive! I want to order all the tools and equipment (not to mention, silver) that I need to start doing it right away, but lack the necessary fundage.

But hopefully my pal MAK (aka Glenda the Good Witch) will perfect the spell she is working on for me, and I will soon have money growing on trees, or something like that.

A girl can hope, anyway....

Neurapraxia & Paresis, or Why I Still Can't Talk

2010-08-18T23:03:00.000-04:00

Remember back to before I found Gumball, and I had to have neck surgery, and I was left horrifically disfigured (according to Rosie Perez), and then the doctor got concerned about my persistent hoarseness, and referred me to the ENT?

Well, I finally got the appointment with the ENT, and boy, did I have fun! A week before my appt, they sent me an eight-page history form to fill out, as if I was signing up to receive a lifetime of ENT care from this dude - I absolutely cannot believe the unbelievable lengths they went to to ask me all sorts of absolutely, positively, irrelevant questions, for someone being referred for a post-op complication. But I filled it out.

So then I get there, and they want my picture for their electronic medical record (this, right after they photocopied my driver's license to insure I wasn't committing insurance fraud). So I refused - which I'm guessing from the look on the clerk's face NO ONE has ever done before - but could she not see?: I am horrifically disfigured - just ask Rosie Perez!

So, after waiting 30 more minutes, they finally called me back, and demanded that I step on the scale - again, totally irrelevant to the reason of my visit. Then the tech starts going through the 8-page history with me, because poor girl has to enter it into the electronic medical record (EMR), and she doesn't understand any of the big words I used! So sorry, little untrained technician, that I called my hernia repair a "herniorrhapy", etc, etc - because this part took another 30 minutes. (And the ENT really didn't need to know about my hernia, or my hemorrhoids, or my hysterectomy. Good grief.)

So tech girl finally finishes, and tells me not to worry, because my surgeon refers "tons" of people to this ENT for this very problem. HOLD THE PHONE - he told me I was only the 3rd one in all his years of having performed the surgery to ever develop the problem in the first place, and now there are "tons"?!?!
So I gave her my MOST sarcastic voice, and said, "My, THAT'S reassuring."

Then the ENT arrives (with tech girl in tow), so I took that opportunity to ask about the tons of referrals he's allegedly receiving from my surgeon for this "unusual complication". And he repeated the stats from MY surgeon - that I was only one of three. I bet tech girl invites me to her next Christmas Party!

Then he reaches behind himself and grabs a brown bottle with a long nozzle on it, and rolls closer to me and starts to aim the bottle at me, when I pipe up and say, "You DO realize I'm allergic to that". For I knew it was lidocaine, which I am very much allergic to -so much that I had listed it as #1 of my allergies on page 6 of the 8-page history form. So he leans around me to where tech girl is scrolling through my EMR searching for the allergy portion, which she displays, and he stares at it like it was some lie I'd pulled out of my ass just to screw up his day. Then he started to interrogate me in this patronizing voice, trying to determine whether in fact I was truly allergic to lidocaine, or maybe just didn't like the taste of it, or what, exactly? Seriously - what do I gain by being allergic to the most commonly used topical anesthetic? But I gave all the correct answers (whew!), and he put the bottle down, and I told him that my other doctors dealt with this by using marcaine or carbocaine, usually. He says he doesn't have anything except lidocaine.

So he whips out the laryngoscope (basically, just a much shorter version of a colonoscope), and tells me that when he was a resident, he had to perform this procedure on himself numerous times without anesthesia, and it really isn't that bad.

And he passes me a hand mirror, and shows me how to sit so that I can watch the whole thing on TV. Woo-hoo!

And he starts passing the scope up my nose and down my throat, and of course I'm coughing and gagging and tears are streaming out of my left eye, and he is assuring me that all this is normal, and giving me little instructions like "cough," "swallow," etc - in between all my coughing and gagging. And all the time, he is narrating this like it's the "It's a Small World After All" Ride at Disneyworld. "and here on the left you see your normal left vocal cord," etc. And all the while he is calling out stuff for tech girl to enter into the EMR - sounded like a few big words, too - so no telling what really went in there.

But alas, while I have no vocal cord polyps or nodules, my right vocal cord is about 99% paralyzed. Not 100% - he saw a minute amount of movement. So the technical term for what I have is (extreme) right vocal cord paresis (weakness).

And this paresis is due to intra-operative damage to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve, probably during some cauterization of some bleeding during the surgery.

And then, having given the tour and determined the source of my problems, he removes the scope. And I choked out the words "you DO know I'm a physician, don't you?" Well - seems like in all those 8 pages of history, THAT never came up. So he says "No", and then asks what type of physician I am, and then asks if I have ever seen a laryngoscopy before (yes).

So then he proceeded to outline the 2 possible surgical repairs of this condition (neither of which would be considered until after the normal healing time has expired), and neither of which sounds like fun. In one, I have to go into the hospital for outpatient surgery, and they would pass the endotracheal tube down my throat, and I guess a laryngoscope, and visualize the cords, and then he would inject Restylane (the collagen-like substance that women (mostly) get injected into the wrinkles on their faces) into my poor paretic right vocal cord, thus plumping it up and allowing it to meet the left vocal cord in the midline, so that normal sounds can come out of my throat. There was no discussion of complications, or how often I would have to have this done (I know women who use Restylane have to keep getting the injections in order to keep the look they achieve with it). - no discussion, because it isn't time yet!

Option number 2 is also outpatient surgery - and had a really long name, but basically it involves going into my neck surgically from the front (he thinks he could use my horrific Rosie Perez scar, though, instead of making another horrific scar on my neck) and then inserting a piece of Gortex right next to my poor paretic right vocal cord, thus pushing it over to the midline. Permanently, I guess. Again, no discussion at this time, because I still have lots of healing time on the clock!

The technical term for my condition, in the ENT's professional opinion, is "neurapraxia," "an injury to a nerve that interrupts conduction causing temporary paralysis but not degeneration and that is followed by a complete and rapid recovery" ("rapid" being an extremely relative term). The recurrent laryngeal nerve, according to the ENT, regenerates at a maximum of 1 mm per day, and the damage is approximately 70-80 mm from my vocal cord, so it could be as few as 70 days (from the surgery) until it heals, or it could actually be up to twice as long as that, if I am a slow nerve regenerator. 70 days would be on Sept 2; but that is the best chance scenario. 160 days is December 1. He wants to see me back for a repeat laryngoscopy (without anesthesia!) on September 13. But here's the deal, if I am still hoarse (even if I am somewhat better) on September 13, he will do the scope again (oh joy) and then tell me that I still have a bunch of healing time left - and set another re-scope date. So I am going to watch this thing, and if I am not 100% back to normal by September 13, I am going to reschedule the scope date again, and again, and again, until it is past December 1, and then he can take another look.

It was really a pretty traumatic procedure for me, and I'm sure he has bills to pay and all, but I cannot see what I personally have to gain from being scoped until the time is up. Plus it ain't free, even though I have insurance! And I will ask to forgo the mm by mm detail of my throat's anatomical structure on the next scope, which should make the procedure last about 25% of the total time it did this time.