Weekend Eye Candy - Mixed Media Edition

1. Flammarion Vieira, 2. Union Ring, 3. eco-necklace - fused plastic necklace silk cord, 4. Red Dropper Necklace, 5. Kate Cusak, 6. Plan tranquilo, 7. IMG_3510, 8. Charm Swap 2, 9. paper wings, 10. Untitled, 11. Ball Bearing Transfiguration, 12. jigsaw necklace

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Look at all the interesting things these artists used to create jewelry. I love silver and mixed media. Such a lot of inspiration here. Enjoy! And have a creatively wonderful weekend.

Get The Word Out!

It's really important to find creative and entertaining ways to promote your work, if you want to sell it that is.  The other day I read about a great giveaway idea in Beth Cyr's blog. Bookmarks! Simple, but genius. Print photos of your work, text from a poem you wrote or jewelry care information and of course your web site address.

MOO Cards

Moo Stickers

I already have some MOO cards and stickers.  I use the cards as little hang tags on the satin pouches I wrap my jewelry in, and put three stickers on the outside of the shipping envelope or box. Just a little tease of what's hidden inside.  The cool thing about these products is that if you order 100 stickers or cards, you can have 100 different images on them!

I like the idea of the bookmarks though. Everybody reads and everybody has to keep track of where they are in the pages without turning over a corner or breaking the spine of the book. So to have your name, work and contact information at the fingertips of your clients during a time when they're relaxed and enjoying themselves is a brilliant marketing tactic.

All Done!

And it couldn't have been easier!  The entire wait was less than ten minutes! And when I made it into the polling building I was delighted to find that my little neighborhood church was outfitted with the same old punch card equipment that we've been using for decades.  I get such pleasure from piercing the paper with that stylus, hearing the paper pop, feeling the resistance. And I made sure that there would be none of those silly hanging chads that changed the path of our country 8 years ago.

I brought my booklet with me, matched the numbers of my choices to the numbers on the ballot and inserted the stylus into the correct hole.  I was done in moments and back out the door before I knew it.  I was so excited that the experience was so seamless, that I left my keys and purse in the cubicle and had to go back for them. Silly bear.

Whatever the outcome, I'm really proud of our country.  Voters have come out in record numbers to assert their right to choose the leaders of the land. I know what I want to be talking about in the morning, but even if I'm not so pleasantly surprised, I can rest assured that I took an active part in this historic contest.

Kaizen Update

This was a tube bead made for a class on mirror finishing. I inserted a ball of wet felted wool made by my friend Jacqui, needle felted a small blue detail, sewed on a single matte pink bead and hung it on a piece of 14 gauge wire that I forged and soldered.  I then decided to forge the edges of the bead to add a bit more interest and texture.

My Kaizen Project is going really well.  I've made headway with my bits and pieces almost every day.  Some days I finish and fire greenware, and some days I make actual jewelry. Imagine that! 

This project is letting me be creative with materials that are already in my environment, forcing me to problem solve and allowing me to complete work that is a bit more straight forward than I might otherwise have designed.

These were two tiny beads made using a toothpick as a place holder, then embellished by water etching a scroll design onto the dry greenware.  I caught a fleeting glance of a great pair of earrings in the movie "The Duchess" and used them as my inspiration.  A single length of wire was inserted into the bead and bent until the ends met the holes in the lemon quartz beads.  A wire was then riveted to hold the assembly together.  Posts are soldered onto the back of the beads.  

~ Now available for sale in my Etsy Shop ~

I've made a Flickr folder for those of you who would like to follow along.  I fully intend to embrace the philosophy of making simple changes, completing small tasks, moving forward step by step until the project reaches a natural end.

Chaos Theory

How does this happen?! I swear my desk/bench top was neat and clean on Thursday afternoon. Then Saturday morning I awoke to a disaster area. The governator really should have sent in Fima. I'm fully convinced it's the work of the same evil shop gnomes that steal sparkly things that fall to the floor and hide your tools just when you were reaching for them.

It took over two hours to get things back to a workable condition. But I guess there were some bits that really did need to be sorted and put away. I uncovered a teacup saucer that the gnomes had filled to the brim with dropped beads, jump rings, wire snippings, drill bits and other flotsam. I used a tweezer to separate everything into piles and then actually put each element away in it's designated container. Ephemera was either thrown out, filed or otherwise dealt with and books were put back on the shelf.

It's a joy just to walk in here now.  Perhaps I should leave a little toast and Brie out for those mischievous gnomes.  They deserve a little treat for *facilitating* the clean up.  Don 't they? Or will it just encourage them to future destruction? Hmmm.....

Weekend Eye Candy - You Tube / Halloween Edition

Boy, we just about had the very best time ever at the Trunk Show yesterday.  Thanks to everyone who dropped by.  And we're gonna do it again in January (just in time for Valentines Day), so stay tuned for ongoing developments.

I'm just gonna copy what I just wrote for the Etsy MetalClay team blog.  Instead of the usual Weekend Eye Candy, we're celebrating the holiday with a little fun, video alternative.

Giving oneself a project that will take a whole year to complete is a daunting idea, but the creativity that ensued for Noah Scalin makes me want to take it on! The Skull A - Day project is inspiring in and of itself.  Can you think of a single design that you could exploit, explore and expand on? Every single day? For a YEAR? Sure gets my wheels spinning.  

Etsy MetalClay Team is having a trunk show!

1. Returning Home Fine Silver Necklace, 2. Bronzclay Leaf Earrings, 3. Blossoms_Dark_Sm, 4. Chinese lantern 2, 5. peony pin, 6. Spiral, 7. In safety's keeping, 8. spiral, 9. vintage garden in bronze earrings, 10. polkapin             Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Today, Thursday October 30 at 4:00 Pacific / 7:00 Eastern in the Treehouse! Just go to Etsy, click on Community and then Virtual Labs. Then enter the Treehouse and enjoy the fun! The ten members whose work is pictured above are all participating, each showing 3 gorgeous items from their shops.

There will be pop quiz's and door prizes and much throwing of cupcakes and kisses.

Although I'm not doing the show myself, I am having a 24 hour sale in my shop to celebrate our very first Trunk Show! Please go and take a look. My sale will start on Thursday morning and end Friday morning. And as a special treat for all my loyal readers, I'll drop a little somethin' special in with your purchase if you type "Born In A Trunk" in the comments box.