Best of 2009

I picked nine best works for 2009- I could've gone overboard but limiting it to nine made me more choosy. This was done very quickly since I've been putting glass away and getting ready for the big dimantle on Sunday *boohoo*

Playing with Photoshop

Oh, the possibilities!
Saw the frames on Zoa Art's blog and decided to try it on the first pic I pulled up, I'm proud of myself for figuring it out and now want to try it on other things..back to the drudgery of sorting what to keep and what to toss out before our big move.

Etsy Update for Dec. 21st

Got a couple new things listed in Etsy..finally:

a hint of the doldrums

I'm bogged down w/ more than a hundred photos that need to be edited before I can list more beads..boooo. Luckily, I have some edited already from a few days ago and plan on listing these soon on Etsy.

We went to a friend's house last night to celebrate her daughter's 1st birthday. When we got back home, we did the bath and feeding for Z, put him down and he woke up screaming w/ a fever last night around midnight. Not sure if it was just teething or if he's catching something, but the small bit of Tylenol and teething tablets seemed to help after a few minutes. If his teething is going to go anything like the last ones, he'll be getting a couple (or four) more teeth in the next week or two.

Gotta run to Target to get a digital thermometer that works..grr..since the one last night failed.

On a good note, Z was a little prince last night around the two little baby girls- and no jealousy or fits thrown when I held them :)

Thankfully, he was very gentle w/ the girls and didn't even get mad at Nat when she decided she loved his monkey head blankey, Althea. He would watch and wait until she wasn't watching and take it back w/o getting upset, lol, it was so funny to watch. I can't believe my little man is already 16 months, time certainly flies when they're babies.

Etsy for Nov. 30th

Three of the four beads have been put up on Etsy and the fourth will be listed shortly. Still trying to get back into the swing of things after the long weekend. I've started organizing and packing up some of my art supplies in the spare bedroom since hubby has been trying to motivate me to get organized before our move 'cross country after the New Year. I'm not a naturally organized person, but thankfully for me, the husband can help ; ) .

Etsy Update for Nov. 27th

Thanksgiving was fabulous (and tiring) since I prepared 8 dishes/desserts for our get together w/ friends- including the turkey..which I cooked according to directions and found out that it wasn't cooked all the way thru :*( how embarrassing! The hostess was nice enough to stick it back in the oven for more cooking and luckily there was also ham.
Even got to see a friend I went to school w/ from home stationed here in the same place as us- what are the chances?! Especially considering the little bitty town I come from, lol.

I managed to get some photos of beads and listed some today on Etsy:

Etsy Listings for Nov 21st and 22nd

Trying to get some work listed on Etsy this weekend- these are the ones up on deck:

The set of 5 has just been listed and I hope to get the rest listed by tomorrow since today is jam packed. Have a wonderful weekend!

First Off Mandrel Torching Session

After a slightly rocky start, the 1/8" tungsten pick was so fun to play with. The first one I made didn't work out so well, lol, since the glass and the pick were both molten. It was so crazy to see the glowing red pick slid thru the glass to make a hole- I just couldn't wrap my head around how in the world it would work. So many interesting ways to use this, just need to get the time..

Aftermath

Still gotta get these listed..so not feeling the picture taking right now- ugh. Maybe I'll play w/ my new tungsten pick while Z is down for his nap..also have lots o' big hole beads to list, too.
Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?! Need to get a turkey.

BABE! 2009 Booth Photos

BABE! was fabulous and I sold most of my inventory- yiiippeee! Everyone was wonderful and I got to meet so many creative and friendly people- customers and other vendors. My table mate, Mary Tarara, had a gorgeous set up which I didn't get pics of, to my shame. Hayley and Helen, Sadie, Toni L., and so many others were there w/ their beautiful work. A group of us ate out after Saturday's show at Tamarindo a few blocks away and it was mind-blowingly delish! I hearted the Mulitas..yum-0!

I'm exhausted today since I had to drive 2 hours last night after the show to get home. I hope to get some work listed on Etsy in the next day or two once I get back into the swing of things.

Thanks so much to all the wonderful customers who bought my work, I'm thinking of doing this show again next year thanks to you ;)....of course, I'll have to bring a lot more beads, lol!

Countdown for BABE!

It's now less than 48 hrs until the start of BABE! 2009 and I'm trying to get a little done at a time so I don't feel so rushed before leaving tomorrow afternoon. I did another banner type thing in Photoshop yesterday- although this isn't going to be printed out, it's going to be on my digital picture frame along w/ others I really like. Now to try and get on more torching session in before tomorrow..

Briefly Surfacing

Just wanted to show some pics of the beads I've done in the last day or so:
Ok, back to the torch while Z is napping..more pics later.

CiM Mermaid, Mink and Tamarind Odd

Here is my promised pics of CiM's new color, Mermaid. It's so beautiful and saturated. You can see how bright it is compared to my usual palette- I discovered it doesn't really react to silver in any way. I fumed it and laid wire and nothin'..but it does react to ivory w/ a dark line btwn the two colors. Just like Copper Green and Ivory.
Other CiM colors Mink and Tamarind Odd are below. The hollow w/ circles and dots is Tamarind Odd and Mink is the one w/ viney stringer work. Lots of possibilities w/ both, Dk. Ivory loves to spread out on Tamarind Odd as you can see on my hollow. The hollows were fumed also to see how they'd react and the Tamarind got noticeably darker. I'll have to order more Mermaid for sure.

Moonfruit

Periodically, Moo will send me emails w/ updates on their products, etc. and this morning I noticed one about a free website thru Moonfruit. I heart Moo and order my business cards and mini moo cards from them. I set up a free website, so now I can actually put up a url for a website rather than using my blog, lol. There is also an option to add a shopping cart so you can sell directly thru them w/ PayPal.

I'm not sure how this site compares to others, but I've always been intimidated w/ code since I'm not that computer literate and you can drag and drop which saves lots of time. Feel free to drop a comment and share your experience w/ Moonfruit or other similar sites.
Here is my new website- let me know what you think :)

One thing I'm not crazy with right off the bat is the whole having to add moonfruit in the url instead of just my name. They do have an option to buy a domain name and I *think* you can change it to that w/o using moonfruit in the url.

P.S. Have you tried CiM's new color, Mermaid? Holy guac, it's soooo beautiful! I'll try and get pics for tomorrow.

Little Details

I'm still busy getting ready for the show *in less than two weeks, eeek!* and it's crazy how much stuff you have to take care of besides just making product to sell. I got an imprinter and short receipts so I can take credit cards and have been playing around this morning w/ signage for my Etsy shop since it was uber outdated. I'll probably tweak it or just toss it and do something totally different for my show, but it was good for me to brush up on my skazillz - or lack thereof, lol- with Photoshop. (I'd be happy to take any constructive criticism :) )Some of us Beady Gals got together on Saturday and gabbed, ate delicious food and got down to business on pricing, etc. for the show. I still need to decide how I want to do pricing on my work- tags, stickers, or...
I also got to see Lori and she showed some of her fabu! murrini that she sells in her shop. I can't wait to try mine.
More posts to come once more progress is made. :)

Slow Progress

I feel like the tortoise instead of the hare trying to get my inventory built up for my first show next month. But I suppose since the tortoise won in the end, this sort of progress is good. My Etsy shop will be lacking in love and new items since most everything will be going w/ me to Oakland.

After making these and falling in love it reminded me of a friend saying she could never work in an animal shelter since she'd fall in love w/ all the animals and want to bring them home. My beads have metaphorically morphed into cute animals that I don't want to let go, lol. But just like at the animal shelter, these beads need good homes, too. :)

One possible reason I may not want to let them go is due to the amount of work invested into each one. The beadcaps are made by me as is the bead and then they're cored after all the prepping is done on the tubing. At least an hour's time is put into each bead- this isn't including the times in the kiln for annealing the bead and firing the bronzclay.

Now I'm just waiting on more sterling and copper tubing to come in the mail so I can get more made. Ordered from Metalliferous and they were super nice and had awesome prices!

I've been field testing a smaller peg w/ my Impress Bead Liner and it's mucho easier adding bead caps instead of trying to just core the bead. I'm not sure why, maybe it's just me. Doing beads like this also makes me think sterling tubing is a little more 'elastic', I guess you could say, than copper. Or maybe I just need to compensate and cut the copper slightly shorter. Anyhoo, it's still a work in progress, but I'm so glad to be able to make this style that has been stewing in my mind for a while now.

Let's just hope they do well at the show..

More Work

Another BIG focal that has been cored w/ bead caps in Bronzclay. I had to grind on my Impress Bead Liner to get it to fit, lol. After about 30 minutes of futzing around and learning about carbide grinders, it finally fit *snugly* into the press.
The sterling silver cored big hole bead is up on Etsy. Love the colors! I'm crazy about the blue and mustard look together.

Extreme Busy-ness

I've been absent due to extreme busy-ness, lol. I have around 70 hollows for the show in November and think I need to triple that amount. If they don't sell, I'll have plenty of stuff to put up in my Etsy shop. Speaking of Etsy, I just listed the trio set and finished a special order for a customer.

What I'm most excited about is my large hollow focal that I cored. The colors don't show nearly as well here as they do in person. I've realized that I'm horrible at photographing jewelry, lol. The pendant is 1-1/8" x 1-1/4" or 28.5x32mm. The bead caps are Bronzclay and for me, the rustic/organic look is really jivin' with me, but I'm not sure if my (potential) customers would feel the same.