The Anapurna Girls: Jewelry from the Ground Up

copper doodle angel wing

2009-07-13T14:21:00.001-05:00

copper doodle angel wing, originally uploaded by winged photography.

Really happy with how this turned out. This one's just the right size to hang from my rearview mirror. I made a few pendant-sized wings, too, and tumbled them.

I was worried that tumbling colored copper wire would take the color coating off, but it didn't touch it! Now I can make doodles like this in lots of pretty colors and still be able to tumble them for strength.

Assuming I don't want to shoot myself after turning out a few more, these (in the pendant size) will probably get added to our 2010 jewelry lines.

work in progress: keyhole necklace

2009-07-13T09:14:00.000-05:00

So far: gold keyhole focal, black velvet ribbon. Needs a little something else.

work in progress: kyanite and pearls

2009-07-10T11:19:00.000-05:00

1. Choosing matching kyanite from strand.

2. Stringing with pearls, deciding which complementing seed beads to use.

3. Finished stringing, figuring out which chain to use for extender.

4. Attaching kyanite drop to extender chain.

5. Adding finishing parts to necklace.

6. Attaching extender chain to necklace. Done!

Shiny at Migem

2009-07-07T08:44:00.002-05:00

Migem has these gorgeous stalactite drusy quartz slices on sale right now:

Also, I think I'll be putting Anapurna stuff on my main Flickr account again. Having a separate Flickr account is nice, but signing out and in and out and in is a hassle and makes me less likely to actually post.

Miss me?

2009-07-06T09:03:00.001-05:00

Back from various family-related trips and drama and ready to roll. New stuff very soon!

belated balticon report

2009-06-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

The Anapurna girls are walking disasters these days. Poor Lindley has an RSI that makes doing virtually anything computer-related horribly painful, and I’ve been diagnosed with gallstones, which will eventually require surgery to remove my gallbladder. I know! More than you wanted to know. But those medical problems, plus both of us being crazy busy at work, have really curtailed our blogging. I’m finally getting around to a Balticon report – only almost a month after the con! Argh. I’ll try to do better.

So. Balticon. The dealers room organizers made a valiant effort this year to drive buyers into the ‘annex’ – the hallway outside the ballroom, which has historically suffered because a lot of people didn’t even know it was there. The solution was to close off the entrances into the ballroom proper from the lobby area and only allow access through the annex hallway itself. I suppose it worked as well as anything might, but people still seemed to view it as only a hallway, and made their way into the main room immediately. Our table, unfortunately, was at the very back of the hallway – behind the very last of the entrances to the main room. A lot of people didn’t even glance at us as they turned into the doorway eight feet before they would have reached our table. It was, to say the least, frustrating. Adding to the frustration was the fact that the table immediately before us – the one people DID look at before they turned into the main room – was another jewelry vendor. The only jewelry vendor, in fact, that had anything like our stuff. A well-known jewelry vendor, who’s been attending the con for years and has a loyal audience and a vast array of shiny things – and who didn’t scruple to place the items which were the most intriguing to her customers directly next to our table. I don’t blame her – frankly I’d do the same thing – but it was incredibly frustrating to watch people make a slow, fascinated progression down her table and then ignore us as they headed on in to the main room.

All that said, and our concerns for the first two very slow days of the con aside, it wasn’t exactly a wash. We weren’t as wildly successful as we were at Farpoint earlier this year, but we’re developing our own loyal customer base (thank you!) and our jewelry does speak for itself. We made enough to restock at the next bead show and to place a few necessary orders, beyond making back the booth fee. And of course we had a good time; we got to see lots of friends, hang out with each other, meet awesome new people (including some new Twitter friends), and work on some business development stuff that I’ll be discussing in future posts.

So we had a great time, and barring disaster, we’ll be back next year. We’re certainly not eliminating Balticon from our roster of conventions based on one iffy year. And besides, I already talked to the dealers room coordinator and extracted a promise of better placement! So if Balticon’s your con to see us at, never fear, we’ll be there! And thanks again to everybody who came by the table to say hi, and everybody who bought jewelry from us. We love you all.

So I officially have an RSI

2009-06-08T10:17:00.003-05:00

That's "repetitive strain injury", also known as "geeks who spend too much time on the computer and are also totally Type A and stressed out." I've been a total fail at blogging lately because I'm trying to stay off the computer at home. I should be blogging more regularly soon, but right now I'm depending on Jamaila to carry the flame. She has some fantastic entries in the works about recent shows and the business end of things.

Working on some fabulous headwear

2009-04-15T10:34:00.000-05:00

Been really inspired by costumes, tiaras, headpieces lately, like this incredible photo of actress Zhang Ziyi. Some of the things flowing off the workbench lately:

Copper forehead piece with faceted amazonite teardrops, held invisibly with bobby pins on illusion cord.

Sterling hand-twisted hairpins with vintage crystal dangles.

Spiral copper hairpins.

All available on Etsy.

Check it out, clip-on earrings that aren't ugly!

2009-04-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

These things are awesome. Regular clip-on earrings are pretty ugly and uncomfortable, and the sterling ones are seriously expensive. These silver plated hoop clip-ons are perfect for non-pierced ears, or ears like mine that used to be pierced and never really healed and sorta grew back together and haven't been repierced. To wear them, you just gently pull your earlobe down a bit to make the edge of your ear thinner, then slide it on. If it's too loose or tight, they can be adjusted by pulling or squeezing just like an adjustable ring.

I tested a pair of these for two days and had no problems with them staying on, except once when I scratched my ear and knocked it off. I wouldn't wear them to go swimming or on a roller coaster, but they're great "wear them to the office" earrings. Here's another shot:

This pair, with faceted amethyst teardrop accents, will be available on Etsy soon. You can also leave us a comment for more info.

Keeping a promise

2009-04-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

Years ago, I made a choker I called the Ice Princess. Two strands of memory wire with white and translucent beads, Swarovski crystal and silver components, and dramatic strands of beads dangling from the back and ending in teardrops.

I thought it would never sell. Jamaila thought it would. I told her that if it sold, I'd make a whole line of them. It sold at our very first joint show!

I'm finally inspired to make some more of them. Here's some of the planning for one.

The leaf idea didn't work out; the leaves were just barely too big to go on the wire and allow the second strand of wire to have any beads on it. I compromised by just putting leaves on the trailing ends. Here's the finished version:

The warm tones with the olive-y green leaves were really doing it for me, so I used gold-colored flexible beading wire for the trailing ends.

Here's another one I made the same night, in lavender and gold:

These two will be up on Etsy soon, or you can leave a comment here for purchasing information.

Custom pearl necklace for G.

2009-04-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

At our last convention, a very nice fellow vendor named G. bought a sterling and blue pearl wire wrapped bracelet for his wife. She liked it so much she wanted a matching necklace, so we set up a custom order. I ordered similar blue pearls, larger so they'd stand out in a necklace, and used the same method of wrapping wire around the pearls. Here's the work in progress:

And here's the finished necklace:

Hope she loves it!

Pretty things to put pretty things in

2009-04-06T10:34:00.000-05:00

Our first real packaging order arrived the same day all the supplies did. One hundred purple jewelry boxes from Box and Wrap. They aren't quite the deep purple I envisioned, but they're a lovely plum shade and will work quite nicely.

I love getting things in the mail

2009-04-03T10:34:00.000-05:00

Craft, Inc., the Monsterslayer order, and this order from Fire Mountain Gems all came in on the same day! That was fun.

From left, sorta clockwise: illusion cord; two types of glue; pearls for a custom order; random FMG freebie ruler; polishing cloths; several types of regular and faceted pearls; tektites; half-drilled amethyst beads; maneki neko (lucky cat) carved amethyst beads; big bag of clip-on earrings; sterling earring posts; clip-on earring hoops.

Work in progress: tourmaline and sterling wirebound bracelet

2009-04-01T10:34:00.000-05:00

Remember the wirebinding technique from a couple of weeks ago? Here's a bracelet in progress using a similar technique. The centerpiece is on the right:

After tumbling the centerpiece to make it stronger and more durable, I added freeform sterling links to each side until it was bracelet length.

What's in the tumbler today?

2009-03-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

Random copper swirly bits and bends that might be paired up for pendants; sterling hair pins that later had vintage crystal dangles added; some copper hairpins; and a tourmaline and sterling bracelet centerpiece.

Update on the sterling scrap trade-in

2009-03-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

We sent Monsterslayer all our sterling scrap wire and got nearly $60 in credit! Here's what we bought with all that dough (and some of the business' money):

In the center is a strand of nifty faceted hexagon tiger eye beads. Clockwise from left: two ounces of sterling half-hard 24 gauge wire; plastic storage bags; a mini anvil I've been eyeing for a while; sterling and silver-plated bead and findings; some pearls for a custom order; and peridot ovals.

Finally found a copy of Craft Inc!

2009-03-25T10:31:00.000-05:00

Got this in the mail the other day and am really excited to start reading it. Craft, Inc. is in every "you should read this" list out there for crafty types, but I haven't been able to find it. I thought it was out of print, but Blue Buddha Boutique linked to the publisher's website through their Twitter feed. Thanks!

New technique: Celtic knots in wire

2009-03-23T10:31:00.000-05:00

We have a book that talks about making Celtic knots in rope, so I thought, "why not in wire?" The red and green ones above are practice knots in colored copper wire. After I made a set, I just had to make a couple in sterling:

The one with the large loop became part of a handflower. Not sure what I'll do with the other yet.

"Eight Cousins" perfume locket

2009-03-20T10:31:00.000-05:00

So excited about this new piece. It's a perfume locket inspired by Louisa May Alcott's novel Eight Cousins. When Rose and Phebe first meet, Phebe wonders "how life could be dull to a girl who wore a silk frock, a daintily frilled apron, a pretty locket, and had her hair tied up with a velvet snood."

The locket and chain are solid brass, finished with a handformed brass hook and vintage glass pearl. The fun part is the small piece of deep green velvet inside the locket that gently perfumes the air around it. Four scent swatches are included with the locket. I chose old-fashioned scents that Rose would have approved of: tea rose, lilac, honeysuckle, and lavender. To change them out, all you have to do is pop open the locket.

This necklace will be up on Etsy soon, or you can leave a comment here if you'd like to purchase it.

Learning new techniques: wire binding

2009-03-18T10:31:00.000-05:00

This is the crappiest picture ever, but there on the cream-colored bead mat you can see two teeny circles. The silver one is a large-textured sterling ring that I used as the base. The blue one on the right is a finished ring. To make these, I used 26 gauge half-hard sterling wire and bound each 4mm azurite round to the ring, wrapped the wire twice around, then used another bead.

It's a pretty widely used technique, but I've never tried it till now. It's pretty fun to do. I don't know if there's a name for wrapping very small wire around larger wire or beads, but just wire wrapping doesn't seem to fit, so in my head I'm calling it wire binding because you're binding beads to a larger frame.

Here are a couple of pairs of earring that use this technique:

Straight from the tumbler

2009-03-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

This is what a batch of tumbled silver looks like. There's a gold ring of my own that needed cleaning over on the left. The cranberry-colored beads across the center are part of a new handflower that features a sterling silver hand-created Celtic knot (it's visible beside the gold ring). I don't usually tumble pearls, but the knot was created from fairly thin wire so I've tumbled it twice to make sure it's sturdy enough to wear.

All the other silver-colored stuff is stainless steel shot. All you have to do after tumbling is dump everything in a strainer, rinse it well, pick out the tumbled pieces, and dump out the steel shot to dry.

New equipment!

2009-03-14T20:43:00.002-05:00

Someone on the Baltimore Etsy mailing list put up some equipment for sale, so J forwarded it to me and we purchased a lovely metal ring mandrel (I have a flimsy plastic one, but metal! not flimsy!) and a stone setting kit (the mysterious bits in the wooden case). The artist kindly threw in the small jump ring mandrel too. I'm all excited to work on some rings now. There are some coin pearls in a drawer that are just begging to be twisted into rings.

Trading in scrap silver

2009-03-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

I'd been meaning to send in my scrap sterling silver to Monsterslayer for a while now, but was kind of intimidated so I kept putting it off. (I'm easily intimidated, what can I say?) I finally needed to put a large order in, so I went around collecting all the teeny pieces of unusable wire from the wire containers and the drawer on my workdesk.

The guidelines for submitting scrap are easy enough to follow. I ran a magnet through to make sure no needles or other things had fallen in, fished out a few bits of copper, and pulled out all the chains and actual jewelry bits. The scrap and chains/bits were each double bagged. I typed out the new order, printed it and put it in a Priority Mail box with the scrap, tossed in a few pieces of bubble wrap, and sent it off.

Yesterday I got a call from a very nice lady who verified the new order, got my credit card info, and placed the order. Monsterslayer accepts scrap sterling for 75% of market value (less if you want cash back), and we got nearly $60 in credit! I'm kinda excited about that even in principle, because I never thought I'd have enough scrap to trade in, nonetheless that much. Whoa. Made the order much more affordable, too.

Now if I can only figure out how to recycle scrap copper... :)

Help me choose a color!

2009-03-02T10:34:00.000-05:00

This will eventually be a bridal choker, but I can't decide which crystal to put with it. What do you think?

Your butt. It smells like dog.

2009-02-27T09:59:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Jamaila and Molly came over to play in the newly finished studio.

Tansy thinks Molly is interesting. Normally she'd go hide in a corner - she hates strangers - but she came right over and plunked herself on Molly's rear.

Then inspected every inch of her, probably because Molly has a dog.

Tansy continues her inspection while Jamaila looks on.

Denied! Tansy runs off as Jamaila tries to pet her.

Molly pets Tansy and Jamaila sketches out an idea for earrings.

All of us hard at work: Molly at left with knitting, Jamaila in the center making earrings, Raymond at center front playing with macro photography.

Raymond concentrates on macro shots.

basin

2009-02-27T09:45:00.001-05:00

basin, originally uploaded by winged photography.

From almost a year ago at the National Arboretum.

Can't stop admiring the shinies

2009-02-25T10:35:00.000-05:00

I've pulled these out about six times just to stare at them since December. Just...so...shiny...

Check out the results of the (second) Saturday in the studio

2009-02-21T22:03:00.003-05:00

From the first twittervised Saturday session in the studio. (It's the second, really: Jamaila and Molly were over the first time, but I haven't blogged about that yet.) If you missed it, be sure to check it out next time. Due to FreelanceJob I can't promise to be around every Saturday, but I'll be sure to make announcements here about it.

Beads that I entered into inventory a few days ago, and a beautiful handmade Valentine from my friend Danielle.

The finished pink and white treasure vial. It can be worn as a necklace or hung on a rearview mirror.

The second finished treasure vial, with black and red Swarovski crystal and clockwork. Ditto on the uses.

This will be a men's necklace with a nice long cord.

The finished necklace.

This one's been in the works for a while. I've always loved the book Eight Cousins, and there's a passage about Rose's pretty locket. The locket is from Etsy, and sits on brass chain. I put different old-fashioned fragrance oils (tea rose, honeysuckle, lilac, lavender) on scraps of velvet ribbon that can be placed in the locket to make it a perfume locket. I'm really happy with this one.

Clockwork lockets in progress.

See the little metal spike in the cap? When you put the cap on, it's easy to run it right through the side of the tube and into your finger. Ow.

Copper hairpins in progress.

Finished pink lace choker with black Swarovski crystal. I had some problems with the ends of the ribbon unraveling, so I ended up putting the jump rings (where the clasp and extender chain are attached) further back from the ends.

Saturday in the studio

2009-02-21T14:29:00.003-05:00

I'm settling into the studio for an afternoon's work. Join me on Twitter to hear about inspiration, technique, and random thoughts as I create jewelry for our next show! I'll be posting photos from the day later as well. It's like tuning in on a webcam, but without all the awkward bits.

con report: farpoint 2009

2009-02-18T09:25:00.001-05:00

Whew! I’m sorry this con report is coming so late – normally I try to get them written immediately after the con, so the memories don’t fade! But I’ve been crazy busy with all sorts of things, including a lot of tasks that came directly out of our con experience, so I apologize.

With that out of the way, WOW. What a con this was. I can definitively say that this was our best con yet – we hit a major sales milestone that, frankly, we didn’t expect to hit in just our second year of doing this. It was also a completely atypical con in many ways, and we’re at a loss to figure out why (although we aren’t complaining!). In our previous con experience, earrings and pendants have been our big sellers – sometimes to the point where Lindley has to frantically make earrings during off-peak hours to replenish the stock. At this con, I sold maybe three or four pairs of earrings total. The big sellers were necklaces and bracelets, which is wildly unusual. Not only that, but people were buying some of our ‘big-ticket’ items – expensive necklaces and bracelets. And the most atypical situation? We dealt almost exclusively in cash! Normally, we do a very high volume in credit cards. I’ve always thought that this is because people bring a cash budget to cons for things they know they want to get there – autographs, cards, posters, t-shirts, etc. The jewelry is often an unexpected purchase, which makes our ability to take credit cards really valuable. This weekend, though, people bought some of our most expensive items with straight cash.

Obviously, I’m not complaining – cash means no credit card processing fee – but I did find it strange. Atypical con or not, we did have a fantastic time. Some of the highlights:

-Several of the named guests on the program bought jewelry from us

-One of them commissioned a custom bracelet which Lindley made for her then and there

-We literally have no amethyst jewelry left in stock – people were buying it out of my hands as I unloaded. Same with clockwork jewelry.

-We discovered that we have veered away from making blue and green items – Lindley says it’s because she likes it so much for herself that she consciously makes the decision not to make it so that it won’t overwhelm the table, except that she’s gone too far in the other direction and failed to make any! It was a lack we didn’t really notice until several customers specifically requested blue and green.

-First sales of every day were to the con’s staff who were watching me set up – that’s a mark of a successful display!

-I forgot the dowels I use to create the bracelet rack; fortunately, a chainmail vendor was behind me and she had extra, which she let me borrow for the weekend (bless her!).

-Late Sunday evening, as our neighbor vendors were packing up, one of their (empty) plastic shelving units fell on my head. It was startling for all concerned. (I’m fine.)

-The biggest news of the con (for me, anyway) was that one of the game store vendors came over to discuss a wholesale purchase of dice pouches from us. I’ve been planning on making some girl-targeted pouches to combat the sheer ugliness so prominent in the market, and he was very interested. I’m also pursuing a game-centered line of jewelry; it’s in the research stages now.

Now that this con is over, it’s time to implement the Great Anapurna Advertising Blitz of Aught Niner. We’re finally going to set up some online advertising. I’ll be posting about the process soon – but right now I need to get to putting together some ads!

Studio tour: Part III

2009-02-16T22:51:00.000-05:00

This post is all about my workspace.

This is my workdesk, where things really get done. An office where I used to work was getting rid of a bunch of office equipment, so I bribed a co-worker with a pickup truck to help me haul the desk home (and the filing cabinet too). I recently upgraded my personal computer, so now there's an older one for the studio.

In the top desk drawer there are all the utility-type things I need all the time: tape measures, tape, various types of glue, Beadalon, scratch paper, gift box lids I use as bead trays.

The bottom desk drawer is mostly devoted to trays of seed beads. I love these new containers: the compartments are sloped instead of cubic, so no more trying to dig seed beads out of corners. (Although as I found out last year, since there are more compartments you lose more if you flip one over!)

One of the work lights and some of our business cards.

After we moved I discovered that I had several pretty framed prints that didn't really go anywhere, so I'm using them as trays for works in progress.

Desktop storage.

These sit under the desk and provide storage for empty bags, practice pieces, works in progress, and other bits and pieces.

A rolling cart from the Container Store sits on the right side of the desk. The top basket has the rest of the things I use constantly: pliers, cutters, beadweaving supplies, and so on.

Second drawer: trays and bead mats.

Third drawer: boxes of various metals. There are boxes for silver-plated and sterling findings in there too.

Fourth drawer: Raw sterling and copper wire.

If you have any questions or input about anything in the studio, feel free to comment!

Studio tour: Part II

2009-02-13T22:42:00.000-05:00

The top of the bookshelf currently holds all my crafty books. Eventually I'll need a real bookshelf, but this works fine for now.

Beads that are still on strands don't fit very well in the little drawers of my wall-mounted cabinets, so I bought a spool rack and hung it on the wall with organza ribbon. Now I can see all the pretty newer beads, and when I use them I put whatever's left in the drawers.

This is my inspiration board, the bulletin board where I keep inspiration, notes, plans, and various shiny things. Click through for lots of notes.

Tubs full of various crafty things. I made the labels using the A Yummy Apology font in Word, in a table with light gray outlines. They were then printed, cut out, and taped on the boxes.

This bookshelf holds my home spa goodie-making supplies.

Right-hand side of the closet. Very exciting.

Left-hand side of the closet. Very exciting.

Closer shot of the bead cabinets. Click through to see what's what.

I'm using an old shadowbox as a sorting tray. Below it is the table of photo props and pieces waiting for their moment under the lights.

tune in to our farpoint twittering!

2009-02-13T11:20:00.002-05:00

Both of the Anapurna Girls have twitter accounts, and we'll be twittering away all weekend at Farpoint. If you can't make it to the con to see us, this is the next best thing. Check it out, see how we're doing, find out what new display ideas we're using, find out if we've seen any famous people yet, and see if Jamaila manages to implement her plan to lick Alan Tudyk!

Lindley's twitter profile is here.

Jamaila's twitter profile is here.

You can just tune in over the weekend, or you can follow us on twitter long-term and see what we're up to! We're lots of fun, promise.

Happy V-day!

2009-02-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

I can't ever seem to get my act together and send out Christmas cards on time, so I've decided to start sending out awesome Valentine's cards instead.

Aren't these gorgeous? They're from nouveaudesigns at Etsy.

Studio tour: Part I

2009-02-12T22:15:00.002-05:00

The studio photos are finally ready! I'm not entirely happy with the lighting in this set, but it's a good overview of the room. Other than needing a real bookshelf and maybe a squishy comfy chair to curl up in, the room's pretty much finished. It's my favorite room in the house right now.

As always, you can click on any of the photos to see it larger. Clicking on these photos will also let you see notes that I've made on them, pointing out some neat things and explaining things.

The room is relatively long and narrow, so all the work areas are on one side.

This is the opposite wall - no furniture there.

Looking back toward the door, at the cluttered end of the room.

The photography table, actually a drop-leaf dining table salvaged from the curb. Works nicely and fits in the space.

I'm usually a fan of sheer curtains, but since this room looks out on the parking lot I ended up going with standard curtains for the room. That one usually stays open and the one at the desk stays closed.

This the heart and soul - and the expensive part - of the studio, the beads! The cabinets are small parts drawers from hardware stores; they come with holes in the back for mounting.

The green table holds photography supplies. To the right is my desk and to the left is the photo table.

The far end of the room holds a filing cabinet and a painting by my great-grandmother.

The other corner has this surprisingly comfortable chair and lots of pillows.

Check out the next couple of posts for details!

Sleep? what sleep?

2009-02-06T09:39:00.000-05:00

So I've taken on a six-month freelance contract in addition to my full-time editing day job. It pays really well, but it means that I'm working 60-hour weeks all told, and after working 12- and 13- hour days almost every day this week I'm pretty well zombified. I desire nothing more right now than to go home and do something totally mindless. And eat white pizza, because white pizza is awesome.

So the posting might be a little light around here for a while.

Spinning

2009-02-02T17:04:00.000-05:00

Drooling over...Rings & Things

2009-02-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

From Rings & Things:

(Note: I have not ordered from this supplier.)

Keshi pearls

2009-01-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

J. wanted some keshi pearls that were nicely cupped and center drilled, and we found some at the latest Intergem show. Yay!

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

Gemstone strands

2009-01-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

Almost the end of the new Intergem buys. Shell, onyx, kyanite, faceted pearls:

Unidentified, desert roses, glass, and lava:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

Random Intergem pretties

2009-01-21T16:30:00.000-05:00

Unidentified gemstone coins:

Desert roses:

Funny steampunk-y bumpy beads:

Swirled gold and blue goldstone:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

the bench

2009-01-19T16:57:00.000-05:00

One kind of design leads to another

2009-01-19T14:16:00.001-05:00

I've been feeling the urge to get into the visual arts again (in my oh-so-ample free time). I haven't really done anything computer-graphics-wise in, oh, six or seven years. I used to do web graphics and faff around with similar things, and I really want to start trying some effects on my photos other than the ones that come with Lightroom.

It's probably time I actually learned how to use Photoshop. I cut my teeth on Paint Shop Pro and am unswervingly loyal, but it doesn't have the wide acceptance that Photoshop does. I actually had a Photoshop class in college, but the professor spent the semester making us learn keyboard shortcuts instead of learning how to use the program. I pick up software easily on my own, but I have a feeling that Photoshop is going to have enough of a learning curve to make it worth picking up a starter book. Thankfully I do remember most of my Illustrator skills, so there's that.

I've spent the past few days picking up free vectors and brushes and whatnot over at deviantart. I'm currently vacillating between excitement (pretty pictures omg) and pessimism (everyone and their brother does Photoshop stuff, what makes you think you can create anything that's not absolutely amateurish?). We'll see how it goes.

Gem kyanite, yum yum

2009-01-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

I would like to lick this gem-quality kyanite:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

Labradorite and moonstone

2009-01-14T16:22:00.000-05:00

From the recent Intergem show in Chantilly, VA. Look at all the gorgeous blue flash in these moonstone and labradorite teardrops and briolettes:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

Color for a cold gray day

2009-01-12T16:57:00.000-05:00

New gemstone pendants

2009-01-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

From the recent Intergem show:

Nifty geode pendants:

Unidentified gemstone pendants:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

Hard-fought crystal briolettes from Intergem

2009-01-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

The only Intergem booth we visited this time that wasn't in the wholesale area was The Crystal Booth. The Crystal Booth is gigantic and full of sparkly strands of Swarovski crystal. It's also insanely crowded and patrolled by booth employees who snap at people constantly to not touch anything, so the forbidding atmosphere outweighs the shiny.

I needed crystal briolettes, though, so we joined the crowd. The brios happened to be located right next to the cash register, so we stood in line until we got to the front and then frantically grabbed briolettes and checked out. Here's the loot:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

A gift

2009-01-04T17:05:00.001-05:00

Intergem win

2009-01-04T15:36:00.003-05:00

We don't usually bother with Intergem shows. They're too crowded and have too many pushy people. The most recent Intergem tempted us to go, though, because now that we have our business license we can get into the wholesale area. Business license clutched in hand, we braved the crowds at the Dulles (VA) Expo Center a couple of weeks ago.

The wholesale area is completely different: much less crowded and the vendors are much more friendly. We spent more money than we intended to, as usual. I've got about all the cheap glass and gemstone beads I need, so we focused on higher-end things this time. We bought some completely drool-worthy labradorite and moonstone with lots of blue flash, some keshi pearls, and other gorgeous stuff. I'll be posting photos over the next few days.

To see all the Intergem photos, click here to visit the Flickr set. Here are some pretty blown glass beads we bought, suspended in water.

And in a bowl:

To use any of these photos as a desktop background, click on the photo, go to All Sizes, click on the largest size, then right-click and save to your desktop.

Drooling over...Blacksheepbeads

2009-01-01T10:32:00.001-05:00

Vintage lucite from Blacksheepbeads:

(Note: I've ordered from this supplier, and they've been prompt and of good quality.)

Meredith's Christmas present

2008-12-29T09:57:00.000-05:00

A sterling, tiger's eye, and Czech glass mother's bracelet with the name of her new son.

New shinies from Accents Beads

2008-12-27T09:56:00.000-05:00

Faceted garnet and amethyst/ametrine from Accents Beads in Rockville, MD.

sneak peek of the new studio!

2008-12-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

This is the current photo setup in the new studio. Click on the photo and then mouse over it to see what's what.

takin' care of business

2008-12-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to sorting through the "repair or salvage" drawer the other night. Some things just needed to be adjusted, like a necklace for my mom; some needed to have chains untangled or repairs made; others were completely broken or ugly. Those I just tore apart for the beads. It was such a relief to finally be able to tackle all that stuff. The tray in the foreground holds the remnants of a pair of niobium hoop earrings that got bent up in storage.

just happened to look out the window

2008-12-14T12:17:00.001-05:00

just happened to look out the window, originally uploaded by winged photography.

carried away

2008-12-07T23:55:00.001-05:00

, originally uploaded by winged photography.

Last year after my grandmother died, the family gathered at the house like vultures, waiting to peck and carry away. My grandmother was a hoarder, so it was absolutely necessary to clean out the house (boxes of musty 20-year-old fabric, anyone?). Nonetheless, it was more than a bit macabre, and caused the sorts of family squabbles that you'd expect.

My grandparents' children, my father and aunt, had already decided what they wanted, so all of us cousins were assigned a color and we went through the house tagging what we wanted with page tabs. Anything valuable or with sentimental value got tagged immediately, of course, but there were a lot of things that no one paid any attention to.

One of those things was a 90s-era camera belonging to my grandfather. Nothing special or expensive, just your standard consumer-level film camera. (He also owned a nice 50s-era Bessamatic, but that wasn't in the house.) I tagged it so I'd have a film camera on hand and brought it home.

When I cleaned the camera I discovered film in it, so I sent it off for processing. It turned out to be slide film: pictures from some sort of military reunion. The slide in the front is of my grandfather.

This year's Darkover booth

2008-12-07T23:48:00.002-05:00

darkover 2008 con report

2008-12-02T12:51:00.007-05:00

It’s about time I started writing proper con reports – after this past weekend, we’ve officially been going to cons as vendors for a full year! Can you believe it? Darkover 2007 was our first “real” con – we don’t count that disastrous JohnCon experience – and here we are again after Darkover 2008, seasoned professionals. Or something.

Several things were different this weekend, both from our previous Darkover experience and from the other cons we’ve attended. The biggest difference was that we wound up with two tables instead of one. We didn’t start out that way, but it worked out so well that we’ve decided to go ahead and make the expansion decision. Originally we’d intended to wait a little longer before getting two tables instead of one at cons – after all, they can be expensive. But the extra space did wonderful things for us. It allowed us to set more things out, like our hair ornaments and Lindley’s new paper flower pendants (so cute!), and it also gave us a great deal more space to spread out in, so even though there was yet more stuff on the table it wasn’t overwhelming or crowded. We often have friends, fans, or strangers popping by to stand and chat, and with one table they often blocked the view for other customers who wanted to see our stuff. With two, everybody had room. Finally, having two tables gave us a little bit more of an established feel; we didn’t look like some newbies who scraped together some inventory and some money to sell their stuff at a con, we looked like real con vendors.

Other differences were entirely due to that first one – new displays! We had a new bracelet display, which freed up the old bracelet tree for paper flower and sparkle pendants.

The “Orb of Justice” was our new hair ornament display – I think it still needs a little work, people seemed sort of mystified.

And finally, one of the most successful and delightful new displays – our basket o’ beads! About half of the people who come by our table at any given convention (and I know this is true for non-special-interest shows like craft fairs, too) will sniff and mention loudly that they make their own jewelry. Some will go so far as to indicate – whether politely or not – that they could do better, have done better, or are generally unimpressed in some way. Others – the nicer ones! – will happily engage us, as fellow craftspeople, in long conversations about technique, or gemstones, or whatever – which is nice and all, but since they know all that they sure aren’t buying from us! So we decided to put out a basket with a lot of “destash” beads, both to try to capture some business from the other half of the market and to give beads we are never going to use, like extras from wholesale buys, a new home. It drew our fellow crafters in like magnets! The bead basket is definitely a permanent part of our future display.

Some highlights of the weekend:

On Friday, while I was setting up, Katherine Kurtz exercised what I call her Famous Author Privilege and came into the dealers room before it was officially open to say hello and to rummage through my piles of pendants. She immediately snagged the two newest, most interesting pendants in the stack and had me hold them for her until we were officially open! Sneaky! Later, she came by the finished display after we were open and added a pair of earrings to her haul.

On Saturday, one of the coolest things ever happened: Tamora Pierce, who is if not my favorite author certainly in the top two, came over and bought a chunky garnet bracelet named for one of her characters – and told me that she’s going to give it to the person who inspired the character! Sounds like we got it right! We had two other pieces named for her work on display and she was full of compliments for those, too.

By Sunday, the inevitable vendor conversations had begun, and the general consensus was fairly dismal. At least one vendor didn’t make enough to come back next year, and others generally said that their take was close to a third of what it should have been. Though I was still riding high off of the glee of my fangirl moment the day before, I had to agree. The problem wasn’t that people weren’t buying from us – they weren’t buying at all! And not only that, the most alarming thing was that they weren’t even coming into the dealers room. Normally on a Saturday at a convention, the dealers room is swarmed with crowds in between panels – you can predict your busy times based on the programming schedule. This weekend, while the crowds were still going to the panels, they avoided the dealers room and the temptation of shiny things like the plague. It was fairly demoralizing.

We have hope, though, and we did go ahead and buy two tables for Darkover 2009. Hopefully the economy will turn around with the promise of change after the inauguration (or even before!) and we’ll see friends and strangers come storming up to our tables with money in hand!

Be sure to check out the Anapurna Girls Flickr account for all of Lindley’s cool photos from this weekend!

Drooling over...Black Tulip

2008-12-01T10:02:00.001-05:00

From Black Tulip Designs:

Vintage reproduction button:

Marcasite beads:

(Note: I haven't ordered from this store.)

dusk reflection

2008-11-25T09:24:00.001-05:00

dusk reflection, originally uploaded by winged photography.

Drooling over...BestBeads

2008-11-24T10:12:00.001-05:00

From the Etsy bead shop run by mcfarlanddesigns, whose lovely work I've been following on Flickr:

(Note: I have not ordered from this supplier.)

november skies

2008-11-21T09:31:00.001-05:00

november skies, originally uploaded by winged photography.

Lortone, baby, here we come

2008-11-20T15:41:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going to buy a tumbler. This tumbler from Amazon has decent reviews, and Marika of Marika's Handcrafted Jewellery recommends Lortone as a brand. Given the beauty of her silver wire wraps, anything she recommends? Totally there. I made a very nice little sterling and crystal bangle the other day that really needs some work hardening. Now, where to find good-quality steel shot...

Ferret fangear

2008-11-16T21:23:00.005-05:00

Our ferret Buddy passed away a few weeks ago. He developed multiple inoperable tumors, so we took care of him until he was ready to go, then had him put to sleep. It wasn't much fun. I haven't had a pet of the warm fuzzy variety die since I was little.

Our remaining ferret, Sniffles, needs a companion, so today we brought home two boys, George and Charlie, from FerretsFirst. George is silver and Charlie's an albino, and they're only a year old, so they're crazy and full of energy. I hope Sniff gets along with them okay; she wasn't overly impressed with any of the boys at the shelter (she doesn't like other female ferrets at all). We'll introduce them slowly and see what happens. We miss Buddy a lot, but ferrets who were bonded don't do well alone after one of the pair dies, so we want to keep her active as much as possible.

The shelter owner, Robin, asked me while we were there to make some ferret earrings for an upcoming ferret show. Anapurna hasn't done any donations this year, so although the shelter's willing to reimburse, we may just donate them. Either way, I'm looking forward to making cute ferret gear again; the keychains I did last year were adorable. If I have time before the show, I'd like to do keychains, earrings, and a few collar charms.

barnacles

2008-11-16T21:23:00.001-05:00

barnacles, originally uploaded by winged photography.

The beach, I miss it.

Shiny things from the latest FMG catalog

2008-11-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

From Fire Mountain Gems:

Also: Lush Embellished Bracelet, Cranberry Cocktail Necklace, Velvet Links Necklace (instructions for these are in the catalog)

gearing up for darkover

2008-11-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

Jamaila's been out of town caring for her mother, who has some serious health issues, but now she's back and we're kicking into high gear for our next show. I've been sending up bags of new stuff with Raymond when he goes to Baltimore to play D&D, so she has a lot of work ahead of her tagging and pricing everything.

A little color to brighten up this nasty gray fall day:

This is actually from a few years ago in Boone, NC, but I redid it recently in Lightroom and thought it was a good time to post it.

golden hour

2008-11-09T01:33:00.001-05:00

golden hour
Originally uploaded by winged photography.

About a month ago I was in Centreville, MD, for a week of training for work. The hotel was in Kent Narrows. They kept me too busy during the week to do any exploring, but the first evening I was there I was able to run out to Terrapin Beach. The beach is right near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, but it had real sand, so that was pretty neat. Close enough to a real beach to spend an hour or two.

in the mood

2008-11-09T01:17:00.002-05:00

I've been a total jewelry slacker lately. I need to take pictures of the new studio and post them, because it is such an awesome room. I keep waiting to photograph it until it's a little cleaner, then cleaning it, then starting a new project and making a huge mess. Rinse and repeat.

Tonight I was feeling out of sorts because my wrist was in no shape for my usual goofing off (Final Fantasy X and Everquest II, right now), so I ended up going up to the studio to poke around. I haven't been feeling particularly creative lately, but I got in there and wow. Four or five hours later I surfaced and it was after midnight.

I've had a topaz Swarovski pendant kicking around the desk for a while, and a few days ago I happened to set some pink beads with a gold finish next to it. Perfect match, so now I have a pink and gold and silver wire chain necklace that looks a lot nicer than it sounds. Also, in no particular order, I made:

- A shell donut on adjustable leather cord with flat-backed Swarovski rhinestones glued on
- A copper circle wire pendant with a fall crystal combo strung on it, on ribbon with a copper clasp
- Part of two velvet and ribbon chokers (can't find my needles to finish off the ends)
- Most of a gorgeous black velvet and crystal multistrand choker
- Crystal and sterling wire bangle bracelet
- Necklace with shell pendant and iolite, with ribbon ties
- Name bracelet for my sister for Christmas, with my new nephew's name (that one I actually did earlier this week)

The cat got booted out of the room when I discovered her chewing on the ends of the ribbon ties. Will have to redo those.

Maybe I'm starting another productive streak. That'd be nice, with Darkover coming up in a few weeks.

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, I'm going to start posting some photography work here too. I did a separate photo blog for a while, but it took up too much time, so my excuse is that I'm consolidating my creative efforts into one blog.

3 photography techniques I can't wait to see die

2008-11-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

1. Watermarks that take up more than a quarter of the image
2. Overdone HDR (the "dirty" look)
3. Fake water ripple effects on the bottom half of an image

She's dead, Jim!

2008-10-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

I am so dead, y'all. I haven't stopped moving in a month. First Raymond was in the hospital for a week, then I was gone for training for a week, then we busted tail for our housewarming and had said housewarming, and now I am D-E-D dead. So there's not much going on for me jewelry-wise; all I'm doing right now is working, sleeping, and playing video games.

We will be at the BSGW Bead Bazaar on November 2, though. If you're going and you see us, say hi!

Fresh from the studio: coin pearl ring

2008-10-15T12:16:00.000-05:00

Fresh from the studio: mini shell button pendants

2008-10-13T12:17:00.000-05:00

Fresh from the studio: Persephone's Blunder necklace

2008-10-10T12:06:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a mythology line I'm working on (the second is the Dionysus bracelet I blogged about a while back). Wire chain is one of my favorite techniques for necklaces: this one was created with 24-gauge sterling wire in wrapped loops. The beautiful glowing red faceted freshwater pearls were an Etsy find. I was initially kind of disappointed with them when they came in because the faceting is really deep and the pearls have lighter spots where the faceting came close to the lower layers of nacre.

Then it occurred to me that they look just like pomegranate seeds, and they clicked right into an idea I'd been mulling over for a while. Persephone is the main character in one of my favorite myths. As we learned it in elementary school, Persephone was the daughter of the Greek goddess Demeter, goddess of harvests and bounty. Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and carried off to his underground kingdom, where she pined for her mother. Demeter meanwhile scoured the earth for her missing daughter, weeping so that she forgot all about the earth, which withered without her.

Hades finally relented and agreed to let Persephone return to her mother, but not before tricking her into eating some seeds from a pomegranate. For each seed she ate, she was doomed to spend a month every year with Hades underground. During each month Persephone spends with Hades, her mother is distraught and neglects the earth, and so we have winter.

Quickie book review

2008-10-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

From Blog Fodder

I picked up Create Jewelry: Pearls by Marlene Blessing and Jamie Hogsett at A.C. Moore the other night and I'm pretty happy with it. The book has 20 pearl jewelry projects ranging from classic knotted pearls to modern designs. The photography is just fantastic, which is a huge factor for me (I do love me some eye candy). There's also a ton of pearl history and information in the book.

I haven't tried any of the projects yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how well their instructions work. The authors, also editors for Beadwork magazine, have mostly stayed out of the trap that so many beading mags fall into of basing pieces on unique components. There's nothing more frustrating than finding a beautiful necklace in a magazine and having no way to make it because you absolutely have to have that gorgeous one-of-a-kind lampwork bead. Sources for the harder-to-find components in each piece are listed in a directory in the back of the book.

Overall, this looks like a solid niche book and I think it will be a fantastic addition to my studio.

Fresh from the studio: crystal cube and pearl necklace

2008-10-06T12:03:00.000-05:00

Fresh from the studio: filigree mirror pendant

2008-10-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

Fresh from the studio: filigree and pearl pendant

2008-10-01T11:45:00.001-05:00

This one is from the new Jane Eyre line I'm working on. These will all go up on Etsy as a set.

Fresh from the studio: crystal sand dollar pendant

2008-09-29T11:44:00.000-05:00

Fresh from the studio: paper pendants

2008-09-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

The current photography setup

2008-09-25T12:20:00.000-05:00

Since I don't have a real photography setup in the studio yet, I floated around the house for a while on Sunday and finally found a spot in the living room to set up temporarily. I usually use a tripod, but I was feeling lazy, so for this batch of shots I curled up on the couch, rested the camera on the couch arm, and set up the props on a side table. Here's one of the day's shots:

And here was the setup:

The white cone-shaped prop is a decorative white thing from Home Goods; the bell jar shown in the shot directly above was from a furniture store that was going out of business, and was used for a lot of the other shots; and the trunk is a vintage one my mom gave me. I do adequately well at taking catalog-style shots of jewelry on a plain white background, but I'd like to develop my own style. I'm figuring that as long as the details of each piece are clear, I can occasionally do some darker shots like the one at top, or like this:

Oh, and here's the window that was giving me light (no special lighting this time):

Fresh from the studio: clockwork pendant

2008-09-24T09:39:00.002-05:00

I made this pendant back before we moved. It got tossed into a basket of pieces to be photographed, so it's just now coming to light. It's one of my favorites.

The clockwork gears and pieces between the watch face and mirror are loose, so they move as you do.

New on etsy: in the court of light pendant

2008-09-22T07:22:00.001-05:00

Picture yourself strolling through the airy halls of the Court of Light, your badge of title glowing softly at your throat. This pendant evokes that peaceful walk, with a unique blown glass focal bead with spirals of yellow and brown cascading over the hollow sphere. It's hand-wrapped with sterling silver wire, and hangs from a sterling jump ring for easy stringing. Available here.

My sister liked her nursing necklace

2008-09-19T08:45:00.000-05:00

And the spiffy pink-and-brown diaper/shoulder bag I got her from thelilytree.

In which I prove I am actually capable of taking pictures

2008-09-17T12:18:00.000-05:00

Crappy ones. At the last minute. Of the nursing necklace I made for my sister, taken just before leaving for her baby shower.

Someday soon I am actually going to get time to actually take photos of all the new stuff, darnit.

Setting up a photo area in the new studio

2008-09-08T07:32:00.000-05:00

I've got a beautiful new setup with my worktable at one window and the photo area at the other, but the teeny side table I've been using for photos isn't big enough for the new light tent (Raymond got it for me for my birthday, thank you love!), and so the tent wobbles all over and etc. Very frustrating. I suppose I'll have to ditch the tent and use my old makeshift arrangement until I find another table, because I have 152345020983 or so new pieces to photograph.

Dionysus and me

2008-09-05T06:56:00.004-05:00

Working on lines of jewelry is very different from doing whatever comes to mind. I'm currently working on a piece that represents the Greek god Dionysus (or Bacchus) and it's a surprisingly mindful process.

When I decided to work on a mythology line, D-man was an obvious choice. God of wine and revelry! Grapes, leaves, chacha bracelet, done.

When I looked at the Wikipedia entry on him, though, I realized he's more than just a divine frat boy. Dionysus (and his various incarnations) has connections to trees, fertility, poisonous plants, madness and ecstasy, agriculture, figs, panthers and leopards, centaurs, and the theatre, among others. Also a connection to the underworld: he "presided over communication between the living and the dead."

Wow. There's a lot more to him than just grapes. How to show that in a piece of jewelry, though? So far I've kept the chacha bracelet idea, but added some symbols. The finished bracelet will contain grapes (cuuuuute purple pressed glass) and green glass leaves, plus a couple of faceted pearls that look just like pomegranate seeds (fertility and a connection to Demeter, whose symbol is a pom. seed), silver leaves (trees and ivy), and a silver skull (the connection to the underworld, obviously). It's about half completed.

Green drop earrings

2008-09-01T11:28:00.000-05:00

Aren't these adorable? The vintage faceted green glass is from a fantastic bead store in Boone, NC. Unfortunately, they're not for sale right now; we can't find one of the earrings! We think it got lost in the grass at the Maryland Faerie Festival. I'm sad.

House stuff keeps taking me away from making jewelry

2008-08-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

Because every time I go to sit down and create, there's a curtain rod to be hung or boxes to be lugged or oh my God how did the previous owners let the windows get that dirty, they look frosted.

There's a nursing necklace to be made for my sister, and J's birthday necklace to finish off, and about 20 new pieces to photograph.

J's away on vacation this week (lucky girl), but when she comes back she's going to look into putting displays in some local shops, since we don't have any shows coming up.

the studio's coming along

2008-08-27T10:27:00.001-05:00

We've gotten most of the furniture arranged, barring a loveseat that might be making its way up from the living room and the photography table, which is actually a trunk that's also currently in the living room (not because it was meant to go there, but because we just haven't hauled it up the stairs yet). Now that I'm not having to keep all manner of random stored crap in the studio, I have a lot more room for supplies - was even able to go to Walmart yesterday and get two big tubs for fabric and ribbon. (Not that I sew, but I tend to magically accumulate fabric anyhow.)

We still need to:

- Put up a couple of shelves for random stuff
- Mount bead boxes on the wall
- Get real curtain rods and curtains (eventually)
- Move loveseat in (possibly)
- Hang pictures
- Install curtain inside closet so the chaos isn't always visible
- Finish arranging supplies/tools/etc. so they're easy to use
- Set up photography area

The worktable is arranged so that I can see the sunset, which is nice, although my back's to the door. I get twitchy about the thought of people looking over my shoulder while I work, especially at my day job, but no one really comes into the studio so it's not as big a deal. I'm really looking forward to settling in and getting some things done! I've had so many neat ideas since we put everything in boxes in July.

New (Old) Strategies

2008-08-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

While J. and I were at Shore Leave, we did some thinking about where we want the business to go. We're ecstatic that Anapurna Jewelry is now officially self-sustaining: we have enough money in cash and in our Propay account to pay for booth fees at future shows and order reasonable amounts of supplies. We've been to enough shows that we're starting to see trends in sales and types of items sold.

One thing we're still struggling with, though, is finding a niche for ourselves. We decided early on that we don't want to go the craft show route; there's too much competition, since jewelry's still an extremely popular hobby. Neither of us are interested in fine art jewelry and we don't have the equipment/training for metalworking, so high-end galleries and art shows are out.

So far, selling at fantasy and sci-fi conventions has gone really well for us. I think we've really found a place there. We still need to have a hook, though. Our quality speaks for itself, but we need a way to draw people in. What do we have to work with? High-quality jewelry and a love of books.

A while back, I worked on some fairy tale-themed jewelry, but got distracted ("ooh, shiny!") before it went anywhere. We're going to go back to that idea and really run with it. Here's the plan so far:

- Continue to make the same general types of jewelry
- Read up on fairy tales from around the world and make notes/sketches for jewelry that fits in with each story
- Present each story as a mini jewelry line on Etsy
- Include story snippets and titles with each piece
- Keep each line as its own category for an amount of time, then list the unsold pieces in the main categories and present another line
- If other pieces are inspired by fairy tales/mythology, list them as such; otherwise assign general fantasy name

New on Etsy: Besom Earrings

2008-08-22T09:27:00.000-05:00

Look closely at these earrings and you'll discover a new detail at every angle. First, there's the focal beads -- real cloisonne, with subtle curves worked into the enamel to give these pink and white flowers a soft, girly appeal. They're topped with freshwater pearls that have been faceted all over, giving them a unique glow. Each element has been hand wrapped with sterling silver wire, and the earrings dangle from sterling oval earwires.

Earring dangles measure one and a half inches from base of earwire. Available here.

New on Etsy: Uberwald Earrings

2008-08-20T08:35:00.000-05:00

In all of our combined years of bead-hunting and jewelry-making, we have never seen anything like these incredible faceted pearls. Photos don't do justice to the deep blue-green glow that pulls the eye inward; you can find yourself gazing into these pearls for hours. Each lush, glimmering pearl has been hand-wrapped with sterling silver wire, and they dangle in a rich cluster from sterling french hooks.

Earrings measure approximately one inch from the base of the hook.

Available here.

New on Etsy: Icarus Earrings

2008-08-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

Seize your chance and fly with Icarus! These earrings are stunning. Hand-iridized brass wings glimmer with all the colors of the seas so prominently featured in the Greek myths. The wings are accented with carved crystal quartz dangling from sterling silver chains.

These earrings are quite long, measuring just shy of three inches from the bottom of the sterling silver french hooks to the base of the earring.

Available here.

we're officially in business

2008-08-15T08:12:00.000-05:00

We finally got a Maryland business license! Don, J.'s significant other, had promised to wrangle that particular bit of paperwork for us sometime last year. I thought he'd forgotten about it, so was gearing up to do it myself, when he emailed us both with the new business license in PDF. Yay!

Although, since he listed J. as the primary owner, I wonder if she realizes she's going to have to be the one to file taxes every quarter. ;)

Pics of the new studio

2008-08-14T12:05:00.000-05:00

Well, the room at least. We painted it a lovely gray-blue over the weekend and there's furniture and boxes all over the place. Once I get everything unpacked and settled I'll take more pictures. At any rate, here's the more-or-less empty room:

I'm excited about the good evening light and that big closet!

beading with the niece

2008-08-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

One of the more fun things about beading is that my niece is also interested, and it gives us something fun to do when I see her (sadly, not often enough). We were down in NC for a family visit over July 4th, and Peyton and I got to play beach ball volleyball in the pool, then curl up in my parents-in-laws' house and get out the beads. I showed her how to use the bead loom she got for Christmas; she's having some issues with the hand coordination needed to both keep the beads up and pass the needle through, but she was getting it on her own before long.

We also looked online for some beading inspiration, both on mcfarlanddesigns' wonderful Flickr page and on my own gallery page, and had fun thinking up designs she could make with her skills, which are still pretty limited. By the time she's well into her teens, though, she'll be an expert!

beads in boxes, part 2

2008-08-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

Everything's moved to the new house, and the studio-to-be is jammed full of craft supplies and miscellaneous crap in big boxes. That room is next on the list for painting, so I'm pretty excited about that, even though it may still take us a while to get to it. By moving we gave ourselves 253987 times as much work to do (like scrubbing, because the previous owners were shoonasty) and are also doing the typical first-time homeowner stuff (like realizing that, unlike our apartment, this place doesn't have an above-the-stove built-in microwave, and that a built-in would cost $700 omg, and we don't really have enough counter space to put one there and augh what are we going to do?). And so on.

We're probably going to paint the studio a beautiful color called Monet's Lilies, that looks almost gray in some lights and lavender in others. I'll post pics of the room as soon as we get Internet at home.

custom lapis bracelet

2008-08-05T13:00:00.000-05:00

One of our customers at Farpoint saw a bracelet she loved, in bronzite and hematite, and asked for a similar piece in lapis. It took a bit to find decent lapis - half the things for sale as "lapis" are sodalite or badly dyed poor-quality lapis - but between Artbeads.com and Etsy.com, I found enough nice lapis to make it work.