Not Much Time For Blogging Lately

As usual I have kind of dropped the ball on blogging.  Sorry Kimmie!  I had a successful trip back up North to PA to do the Berks Bead Bazaar where I also wear my promoter/floor manager hat.  Had a great time seeing family and friends and had a very profitable weekend.  Other than the 20 hour drive each way, can't beat that! If you'd like to know a little about the history of the BBB please visit "Love My Art Jewelry" and look for the March 16 post( I guest authored.)  I never did get to making jewelry with my Winter Kit and now that Spring is almost here I am totally uninspired to work with snowflakes and icicles even thought they're gorgeous. Oh well, I'll have it for next year. Beads don't go bad or in this case MELT.  I still have lots on my plate.  Entries for 1000 Bead Lark Book and Interweave's Beads 2013 issue are in. Wish me luck.  I have my Bead Dreams submission due March 26.  I know what beads I want to make I just have to buckle down and get them done for the deadline.  Planning on two sets but if I get one set done I will be happy.  Orders stacked up a bit while I was at shows( Berks was preceded by Ft. Myers Show and followed quickly by Tampa Show for Down the Street Bead Shows.) Among my orders is 70 face beads for Diane Fitzgerald's "Fingers in My Pocket Doll Pendant" class at Bead & Button. Class is sold out! Congrats Diane :)  My Etsy shop hasn't quite fallen by the wayside yet.  Still some new offerings including my new robot pendants and my re-visited bug pins(these were a favorite in my older jewelry line.)  Oh, and I crossed that line into seed beading at the Tampa show.  Jenny Shibona was my neighbor and she taught me to make the seed bead collars for my dolls.  I know super simple but now I look at bead weaving and I am tempted instead of running away screaming. I can't promise that I'll be a better blogger but I will promise that the excuses will be worthwhile. 

It's Snowing! Winter Blog Kit is Here!

Winter Blog Kit is here!  This is my kind of snow.  Kimmie is the winter sports enthusiast but I am perfectly happy with this version of snow here in sunny Florida.   We really wanted to top the Halloween Kit and I wanted lots of little sparkly bits.  I guess whether we topped the Halloween kit is a matter of opinion but you can't deny we nailed it on "lots of little sparkly bits."  This is our second blog kit and this is how we are doing it so far.  We each contribute at least $75 worth of beads, charms, components, whatever so long as it can be used to make jewelry :)  We make 10 kits and keep one each for ourselves to work with.  The remaining 8 are offered for sale on a first come first serve basis.  Cost of kit is $100 + $3.50 S&H. That's $150+ worth of beads for $100.   If you would like a kit just comment on this blog and one of us will get back to you.

Each kit contains:     4 Hand formed soldered and hammered sterling silver snowflakes,

                               matching pair included.

                               10 micro Swarovski Crystals in pale blue

                               10 6mm  clear Swarovski roundelles

                               1 Raised slip porcelain snowflake lentil shaped focal bead

                               6 Porcelain icicle charms

                               12 Luster ice cube porcelain beads

                               15 Tiny porcelain luster stars

I have 4 of the kits here with me ready to ship.  If you are kit customer 5 through 8 please be patient.  Kim is in the middle of a move and as soon as we can coordinate we will ship those kits.

If we haven't enticed you by the sheer awesomeness of our kits,  our next job is to try them out ourselves and see what we can make with them.  Stay tuned for the finished product post.  We also love to see your results if you buy a kit.

I Won A Hooter Contest!

Winner of the Artisan Whimsy "Hooters Owl Challenge."  I'm so proud of my little guy.  I told him to look at folks with those big owl eyes and he'd win.  Thanks to all that voted and be sure to check out Artisan Whimsy if you haven't already.  Great source for bead and jewelry info and tutorials and just general merriment.  

Owls Owls Owls

Artisan Whimsy is having an Owl Challenge, aptly named "Show Us Your Hooters."  Now as a 51 year old woman its been a long time since anyone has asked to see my hooters so how could I refuse?  Please vote for my hooters.  You'll have to become a member of Artisan Whimsy but its a good thing.  Artisan Whimsy is a new site that grew out of Creative Bead Chat on Facebook and is already proving to be an invaluable resource and fun place to hang out for us beady types.

My Owl Beads

Custom Orders.....Blessing or Curse? (Part 1)

Custom orders are mostly a blessing for me but there is an element of curse.  I'm pretty much a brat and some days I just want to make what I want to make.  That's not always possible when orders need to go out.  Most of my customers are very patient.  I try and sit down and get orders out of the way but often my muse is pulling me the other way.  There are the orders that are REALLY a challenge.  Things that I know I can do; I just don't know exactly how.   Usually those sit on the back burner for a while until one day it comes to me.  Those are the ones with the "Eureka!" moments.  More about that in the blessing discussion.  There are things that I DON'T want to do but have agreed to do.  Not many of these.  I have actually learned to use the word "NO" but it does happen.  Usually this means I really like you but that may not be apparent when you wait two years for your order   The "Don't Want To" back burner takes even longer to simmer than the "Don't Know How To" back burner.   But all of these actually don't qualify as curses, just minor annoyances.  The only real curse of taking custom orders is the person who really doesn't get my work  but wants to order for reasons of their own.  There are some pretty benign members of this group.  The collector: just wants a hippo.  Doesn't matter who's hippo or what hippo as long as its a hippo they don't already have.  Its pretty easy to make them happy so collectors probably don't belong in the curse category.  So who does belong in the curse category?  Sadly its the Wannabe Artist.  They have worked out every tiny design detail to the point that I wonder why they need me.  Then I realize its my damn skill.  There is something about "Art by Proxy" that just kills my soul and make me want to scream "I am NOT your bead monkey!"  Just to put your mind at rest if you are one of my customers and wondering "Is this me?"  If I did a custom piece for you and you got it and you love it, then "NO" because I have learned to say "NO" to this person.  It never works out anyway.  Seems I have rambled on for quite a while on the con side of custom orders.  I will save pro for another day.

Monkeys are based on a custom order request. The "Monkey Love Bead" was inspired by the monkey pattern I came up with for the dress of the monkey girl.  I often like results so much that part or all of custom winds up in my non-custom work.  Mean Girl and Mean Boy at the top of the post are a brand new custom order based on my Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  They haven't even shipped yet.  Love these but they are extremely difficult to do, so I will probably do variations but not many.

My Halloween Kit Creations

After the awesome job Kimmie did stretching the kit to the max, I am a little embarrassed to follow her.  I took an entirely different tact.  Partly because my jewelry skills are kind of rusty.  I have fallen into "Just make the beads."  Which is not entirely a bad thing.  Focus can be very good, but you gain a different perspective when you work with the beads.   I did well getting the multiples done on time for the kits.  However shows, orders and life didn't leave me with a huge window of time to put my finished jewelry part together.  A position I am all too familiar with but that's not entirely a bad thing either.  Sometime it takes pressure to get me working.

So here's what I came up with using very simple jewelry skills.  I added a good deal of colored enamel chain ( available from MyELEMENTS .)  I love her purple and lime green chain and they are my "Go To" for Halloween jewelry.  My first piece is a bracelet using the whole enchilada.  I used all my charms beads and washer rings.  Bracelet is simply jump ring-ed together.  Doubling up on jump rings at clasp for extra strength.  As my friend friend Yvonne from MyELEMENTS would call it "jump ring technology." My favorite part of the bracelet is one of the washer rings used as a toggle clasp.  I had some bars on hand that fit through perfectly.  My other little innovation was circles of chain around the bracelet holding some of the charms.  I also like how the chain weaves through the rings.  So for a one-shot-whip-it-together deal, I guess I am pretty pleased with myself and the results after all.

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't very frugal on my use of porcelain charms and beads on my bracelet, so I decided that all chain earrings would be cute to wear with it.  For Halloween I am calling them "Dungeon Chain" earrings.  I simply threaded assorted lengths of the purple and green chain alternately and slipped on an ear wire.

On to Kimmie's contribution of crystals, headpins, wire bat and spider.  I simply adore this bat and spider and wanted to make something that really showcased it.  I came up with this simple lariat necklace.  I kept the addition of crystals to a minimum.  Just enough to give it a little spark of color.  The bat and spider are  the focal point when worn which is what I was going for.   I had lots of crystals left so I stacked a few up for fun earring that can be worn with lariat.  I lost the adorable little metal flower cap in my work clutter, so I will have them for another project.

A reminder of where we both started.  We still have kits left. Hopefully we have inspired you to make some Halloween bling of your own.  Kits are available at Joan Miller Porcelain  and Cute Glass Beads for $100 ($150+ component value.)   Our results: Kim $352 jewelry retail and Joan $280 jewelry retail value.  We'd love to see what our kit customers come up with and will be happy to post your results.  Our next kit is in the planning think brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........Winter!

FREE PASSES TO BEADFEST!

Come see me at BeadFest booth #265/364.  

I'll be there with beads on!  Clothing too.......so don't be scared :)