Finally Finished!

You know those projects that take you forever, right? The moment I saw the gorgeous copper connector on Lynn Davis's etsy, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I had this old crystal necklace I've had forever, and I knew this is how it needed to be used. I just needed to do some things first: procure the chandelier crystal from my mom; get some Liver of Sulfur; learn how to properly use Liver of Sulfur; get some copper wire (which until the Bead Soup Blog Party was something I'd never used); darken the wire with the LoS; make a clasp during acceptable daylight hammering hours; etc. And of course life, houseguests, a million other projects, and the ginormous treasure box from the previous post all took up a lot of my time.

I had started it, and worked on it periodically for a few weeks, but last night, I decided I was going to finish it no matter how late I had to stay awake. So finally, here it is!!!

Click for close-up.

I just want to mention how much my thumb's about to break off from all this wire wrapping!

Massive Treasure & Good Friends

I have had friends in town for a few days, so I haven't had time to do much of anything jewelry related. But that's okay because we had a lot of fun - much unhealthy (but delicious) eating & drinking (remember, I live in New Orleans and as of tomorrow I'm back on salads and also I seem to be losing my voice), playing tourist at home, going out and staying up WAAAY too late. They left late this morning, and I was finally able to totally delve into the Big Box of Old Jewelry that another friend sent. It arrived on the same day as my visitors, and it was torture not to just dump it all out and start picking and sorting and disassembling. I looked through it a little bit over the course of the week, but for the last 5 or 6 hours, I've been seriously attacking it. Look:

I'm gonna have to buy several new sorty containers to deal with this! Good thing I added more shelves to my storage area a couple of weeks ago. My friend who sent me this buys vintage lots on ebay for one or two items, so she sends the rest to me. She's been saving up this medium sized priority mail box for months. And as a thank you, I sent her the bracelet from this post. She said it fit like it was made for her :)

I also have a little pile of goodies from Rebecca of Songbeads that was a little thank you she sent to  commenters on a particular blog entry.

There's some really good stuff from her as well, so I have to get it all somewhat organized before I can continue with jewelry making as usual. Otherwise, I'll have this constant feeling of dread and panic about allowing a huge mess to pile up.

Aren't these colors generally associated with Miami Vice?

I fell MADLY in love with this fabulous lampwork focal bead by the talented & hilarious Julianna Julsbeads Cannon the second I saw it. It took me a while, but I eventually bought it. And then I had to promptly hoard it for months. But really, it's because I had to wait until all the right ingredients came together with the perfect inspiration. I wasn't going to waste that beautiful focal on some lame-o design just because I was in a rush to use it.

Patience is indeed a virtue. Behold the splendiferousness of this focal. I think I did it justice :D

Emergency St. Patty's Day Necklace!

Happy St. Patrick's day to everyone! As I was getting dressed this morning, I threw on a bright green t-shirt I have and then the only earrings I have that are bright green:

(Please excuse the dark photo. It's probably 3 years old and taken with my previous camera.)

But I really needed a green necklace too. I was already running late, but I grabbed a piece of mostly green (but with some red) sari fabric, a copper jump ring, and a hoarded missficklemedia red heart pendant and voilà! Instant necklace in under 3 minutes! I don't know if it will be permanent, but it looks really cute for today :) 

Have a fun & safe holiday and don't drink too much green beer ;)

New Hair, New Glasses, and a Request from Malin!

So I went to the salon today, primarily to get my hair done, but also to drop off some of my recent jewelry. I'd sold quite a few things since my last visit, and another customer bought something I'd just brought in! Remember these? I really do enjoy picking up a big stack of cash, but I much prefer seeing the people come in, look at my jewelry, fall in love with it and buy it while I'm there! It's such an AWESOME feeling to see people appreciating my hard work!!!

Got the hair done, and Jeanne insisted I try on the fancy headpiece she made for her Mardi Gras costume. Since I had my camera and another client in there just happened to be a professional photographer, he insisted he take the shot:

 

How much do I need one of these things? Right?

While the photographer was getting his hair washed, I snapped some photos at the request of the fabulous Ms. Malin de Koning. She wanted to see some of my more recent necklaces on my neck instead of just on my dress form. I intended to photograph the one that the woman bought while I was there, but I thought it would be in poor taste to do it in front of her. So I picked up another one. 

I'm surprised this one hadn't sold yet. It's been there over a month!

While I was waiting for my color to set in, I got the word that my new glasses were ready! This day was turning out to be Very Exciting™ indeed. So my sister and I went to pick them up after our hair appointments. Here I am showing off both pairs:

The sensible pair.

 The fun pair.  

 Guess what colors they are? Aqua & brown ;)

And now, a bracelet.

I finally used my first missficklemedia piece! I don't have much in the way of art beads or art-components (is that what you'd call it?), so I'm hesitant to use them. But they aren't going to do any good packed away in my stash. It's a saffron toggle clasp - and I also included some of the beads I recently bought from Michael's new selection. I don't make bracelets often, mainly because I don't seem to sell many bracelets. I like them, but at the salon where I sell my jewelry, it's the necklaces and earrings people want. I really need to get an etsy or bigcartel shop started soon. Maybe I'll work on that this weekend...

Anyway, the bracelet.

And if anyone were to want coordinating earrings, it seems I've already made them! 

Another thing I'm particularly excited about is this lovely piece I've ordered from the talented Lynn Davis.

I still haven't used the last piece I got from her, but I just had to get this anyway. I did at least start the necklace for the other piece. I just need to get a couple more findings for it. I'm not entirely certain what I see for this one, but it might involve pearls & chain and maybe a hint of sari ribbon. Actually, some missficklemedia chain might look good with this. Etsy, here I come!

Another Springy Necklace + Voodoo

It's Mardi Gras time in New Orleans. I don't go crazy about it like so many people do, but I do enjoy seeing the creative costumes and beautiful floats. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to my favorite parade this year, as it was rained out on its normal day & route. It was rescheduled for the next night, but circumstances were such that I wasn't able to attend. Instead, I helped a friend make her Voodoo-themed costume. Naturally, I insisted upon making the jewelry. I wish I'd taken some better photos, but she snapped a couple with her phone.

She brought the black coral sticks and the skulls; the purple ribbon on her necklace was leftover from the hat she made. Then I just did an elastic bracelet with the remaining skulls and some coral sticks. I was happy that there were some unused sticks she let me keep!

Saturday afternoon while it was storming outside, I made this necklace with one of my paper clay pendants some of my loyal readers may remember from this post. (By the way, some of those items are still available if anyone's interested.)

It made me realize that I am seriously lacking in red beads, and I could use more pink beads in lighter cotton candy shades like this. It's not that I'd want to use them constantly, but I need them to be there when I need them, you know? I think there's a bead show coming up next month, so I'll try to remember to stock up on those things instead of getting the same things I always get!

By the way, thanks for stopping by my blog. I don't think I thank my readers & commenters enough. It fascinates me when I check my stats and see how global my readership is. I really appreciate that you take the time to come by and read, or even just look at the pictures. And if you're a frequent reader, but have never commented, please don't be afraid to say hi :)

The Aqua & Brown Problem

I know I'm not the only one who has it. It's just the best color scheme, and I can't help but repeat it again and again!

This is what I made last night with the coolest new aqua painted metal dangles from Michael's, some coconut shell beads, czech glass, and freshwater pearls.

 

Worth the pain in the neck

First, I would like to thank everyone for all the wonderful comments during the Bead Soup Blog Party! I still have about 20 or so blogs left to check out, but I will get to them before the week is over. I was just itching to start a new project after looking at so much beautiful jewelry! I also want to thank and welcome my new followers - 18 new folks since the hop!

Who else endures horrible neck pain headaches after too much wire wrapping? I've tried sitting in various positions, or different pieces of furniture, with or without extra back support. I've tried magnifying glasses to see if that helped. I got an OTT lite. But I guess what it boils down to is that no matter what, I'm still looking down for long periods of time. I just can't hold it all up and work in front of my face! I love wire wrapping too, but in cases like this necklace, it's just literally a pain in the neck.

Remember those butterflies I got? I finally did something with one of them. After wrapping about 70 Labradorite chips, I found the perfect lampwork bead, and added the ivory colored butterfly. It can be worn long or wrapped twice, and it fastens in the front with a sterling hook. I'm very pleased with it. I only wish I knew the secrets of photographing Labradorite so that all its luminous glory shows.