Studio- progress!

In my last post I told the story of a room that was destined to become something other than a hot tub room. With this post, I'm going to provide photos!

Here is a photo of the room before. Don't mind the ceramics and boxes. There is a window that leads into another room in the basement, the door (where the photo is taken from) leads into my sewing/craft studio.
Here is the room, most of the hot tub has been removed at this point. It was built badly, we found out. Definitely not something that we wanted to use again!
No more hot tub! (From left to right) My father, a family friend and my boyfriend. There was a lot of unseen water damage, until we tore the hot tub down. I don't know how many times I heard, "Wow, it's a good thing that we're taking this out!"
We covered the tile walls with waynescoating and started to prime. Talk about a lot of painting!
Walls are painted! I also painted the window, door trims and baseboard that teal color, which I love.

Here are the final walls. The other two aren't painted anything fancy. To the left of the book shelf is where my lampworking bench will be.
The photo of the desk is where I will be doing jewelry design and the like.

Demolition

I have a story for you all. Many, many years ago this house had a working hot tub in the basement. Yes, built into the basement. Now, looking back I see how insane that was to build such a thing indoors. All of the saltwater and humidity and yuck! But ten years ago it was just pure fun to me.
Today was the start of demolition in that room. No longer do we have a 'broken' hot tub. No longer do we have a room with no use. It has been cleared away and soon my studio will move in there. Tomorrow we put in the new walls and I get to prime them. I'm still trying to figure out what color I want. Teal keeps sticking in my mind, but I think I want something a bit quieter. Sage green perhaps? It's hard to say. There's always the idea of painting one wall one color and the other three another.
You see, this room will become not just a studio; but my hot glass studio. After the walls go up we'll be installing industrial strength "tile" on the floor, to withstand the heat. Next will be finding a desk for my jewelry portion of the business. Last but not least we get a plumber to pipe the natural gas in, and I get to help build my bench/ventilation. Only when all of the processes are complete, can I begin my trek into melting glass. It seems like so much, but really it is a process that should be complete very quickly. I believe our target date is in the first week of January. It would be sooner but we have Christmas coming up, and I for one am not willing to try and find a plumber to work so close to the Holidays. I feel that Christmas is a time for family, not needy lampworkers. :)

If I don't post again before Christmas, I wish you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season. May all of your wishes and dreams come true.

Snowflakes....

I swear that I have not forgotten about you all!
I haven't created anything new these past few weeks. I did however, do a show in Byers, Colorado that went very well.
Yesterday, I also received my new torch. A gorgeous Nortel Minor. It's not put together in this photo- but there it is!Monday starts demolition on my soon to be "studio". I'm very excited about it but rather busy and absent minded. Forgive me? :)

Black Friday SALE!

Enjoy FREE SHIPPING for the entire day of November 23rd.
Stop by and take a gander, there aren't many days left until Christmas!!!

Back in the... saddle?

What I'm meaning to say is that I'm back in the swing of things. I officially have all of my current pieces photographed and re-sized (insert a giant YAY here!) and I'm working on the rest of the odds and ends today. The goal is to have the site fully updated for the 23rd. I can't wait!!!
On the creative front, I made a few pairs of earrings and a new cell phone charm the other day. Can I just tell you all, it felt so darn good! I missed all of that in my rut. I think that my muse took a trip to Venus or something. She just would not cooperate with me! Talk about stressful times!
I'm still destashing like crazy though. I have so many unloved beads that really need to find new homes! With the Holidays coming up I'm hoping that destashing and listing items in my site and etsy are going to be a really big help.

Speaking of Etsy, this Friday- the 23rd EtsyBEAD is having a Thanksgiving Sale! Over 50 shops are participating. Look here for a list of participants!

Been Busy

I admit, I've been slacking. Fall is just not a very good time for me I guess. I apologize for "abandoning" you all, my readers.
I bring wonderful news though! For many months I have been dreaming of kilns and torches and many many lampwork beads. This weekend the first stage will be done. I am getting a kiln. I know that it should go studio, torch, kiln. I have to tell you all though, this is a deal and I just can not pass it up. Hopefully with a kiln of my own I will quickly get my torch within the month. Then I turn to studio space. The plan is the garage. That means we have to clean it out and re-do everything. I'm a bit worried about that- as I want to start right away. I suppose I should practice patience more often. It's terribly hard though!
I have been uploading more supplies on etsy, to try and finance my new addiction. I've also added two new pieces to my main etsy shop. After that, I start on my website again. I just uploaded these earrings into the mix:
I hope you are all having amazing days. Enjoy the fall!

It's really....

It's really a wonderful thing when you realize what all of your photography woes have revolved around... Your light box wasn't white!
I could bash my head into the group for this simple mistake. To my eye foam core looks white, but upon closer inspection I have found that it isn't white at all, but a sickly, yellow off-white that drove me crazy when it came to photos. I have learned my lesson and I must say that my photography has gotten much easier to deal with, seeing as how I have figured out the root of my impending insanity.This photo needed small tweaking, only a resizing really. It has made like so much easier, to think- a white that's really WHITE! Hehehe. The focal of this piece is a leaf made by Melissa at Inner Realm Creations, I combined it with carnelian and Swarovski crystals then used Bali silver as the final touch.

So they said....

We were supposed to get snow tomorrow, here in Colorado. I severely doubt that now. Today it's a nice 70-some degrees with an interesting breeze that makes me smile as it runs through the chimes on our deck. I haven't been down to the studio in some time, and I lack a camera so I feel rather useless.

I have a list of things that I need to get done, mostly revolving around photography or adding items to the site. I did manage a few pairs of earrings the other day, but only one or two simple pairs, nothing "amazing". It seems the jewelry muse went on vacation with my parents. She picked a terrible time too!

Here I am....

Once again, in a rut. I promised myself that I would try to update this every few days and I feel like it's been forever! I think it's only been three days. Hmmm... Either way, today had the smell of fall- and Halloween. That smell that comes around every fall. I really can't explain it. I think that my boyfriend would say I'm smelling snow, but it's more than that. I really wish I could bottle the smell, I love it so much! I got to smell "fall" at 5am this morning, to take my parents to the airport for their annual trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. They go for their wedding anniversary every year. I then proceeded to return home to my warm bed. Sadly, I didn't bead at all today. I got to record a new song, and then I've been working in my art book all day.

Yes, I've been seduced by the awesomeness that is book altering. I promise I'll get back to beading soon! I don't think that I can go too long without it! I get an itch to bead and play with my shiny bits. Until then, I dabble in paint and markers and all things of book altering. The mind of an artist never rests.

Loving lampwork

For the longest time, all I used in my creations was silver and gemstones. Recently I've started using artisan glass, or lampwork as some call it. (I do too!) I have to say that not only am I in love with making beads I'm also in love with using them. I've found some amazing hot glass artisans that make me drool over their beads without trying, and I love using their work in my pieces.

The first I have to talk about is Melissa at Inner Realm Creations. Melissa is an amazing woman with an eye for design and color that makes me green with envy. You can find her designs on Ebay as well as Etsy. She's incredibly creative and uses a ton of color in her pieces. One of my most favorite one of her sets is to the left. She uses a lot of sterling mesh and wire too.


Secondly, Gail of Beadles.de. Gail really has an outlook on beads that I can only call "neat" because there isn't another word to describe it. Her designs are very different, she often uses the stars in the sky to inspire her. She can be found on her website as well as Ebay.



My third artist that I have to sing the praises of tonight is Steve Rhoades of Bokamo Designs. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve and his wife at the past Bead Renaissance show in Denver and he was amazing to talk with. Steve uses Boro (or Borosilicate) glass to create amazing beads. You can find his designs on the Bokamo Designs website.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

For some time I have heard of these things... They've been called "BPAL" and "IMPS" and I could never figure out what they were speaking of, until I found the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. I'm in love. I never thought that going through a website of scents could be so addicting, especially when you can't actually smell any of them. Here I am, running through the many pages of the site, drooling over names, descriptions and imagining the scents that they list. I'm going to buy my very first Imp's Ears set, and I'm going through and picking out six that I think will suit my personality. With name sets like "Wanderlust", "Diabolus" and "A Picnic in Arkham" who can't love these vials of perfume?
I'm hoping that these will inspire me for a few mew designs in my jewelry. I'm ordering a lot of musky, earth type scents and look forward to wearing them while I work.

After the whirlwind of yesterday's "Talk like a pirate" day, I find myself sitting here staring out the window longingly. It's another gorgeous day here in Colorado. The trees are beginning to change and I'm drooling over all of the fall colors! I've made a few orange/fall colored pieces thanks to the changing leaves. One using a leaf from Melissa at Inner Realm Creations. I love Melissa's work and it was so much fun working with one of her beads. The other is one that I finally used my Autumn Jasper on. I've had the beads forever and they just haven't called to anything else on my bench. A couple of days ago I found some sunstone rounds that just glittered with the jasper. That made me a happy woman.

I also have a piece of beadwork that is waiting to be finished. I started it a while ago, sadly I had to take a hiatus from it due to the amount of other projects that I had going. At the Denver Renaissance Bead Show I found an amazing booth that had more green seed beads than I had ever seen before- Green was the color I needed. Needless to say, I now have the green I need to finish my newest piece.

This piece to the right is one of my first in a long time. It is now sitting in a shadowbox that my father made. I really enjoy this type of beadwork, it takes a bit of time but I think it's worth it!

Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Ahoy, me maties!
It be talk like a pirate day, and ye better be talkin' like a pirate! Savvy?
As fer yer Captain of the shiny, I be cooking up some terrible plans. Me crew is on shore leave, which allows me the quiet to plot. I suggest ye keep a weather eye on the horizon, as I've plundered much booty from ships that cross me path.

Arrrr.

(Brought to you by Talk Like A Pirate Day)

In The Process

I reciently started separating my jewelry from the beads and findings that I'm selling. The task is going to be a tedious one, but I'm up for the challenge. I've started shifting everything from my main account to my supply account. I'm still having my two dollar or less sale as well. In the next week I'll be adding more supplies to the shop, hopefully others can find inspiration in things that I had hoped to one day use!

I'd also like to announce that as well as being part of EtsyBEAD I'm now a part of EarthPath Artisans (or EAST). Summersea says it nicely, so I'll quote her: "We are a team of people who walk similar alternative spiritual paths, focusing our beliefs in the world of Nature. Our team membership encompasses different Goddess-based traditions, as well as Taoism, Buddhism and similar paths. Our shops are as diverse as our membership. We are not limited to selling only items representing our spiritual path, but also create to make your everyday world a better and more interesting place."

I look forward to creating unique items with the inspiration that I receive from both etsy street teams.

Colorado Mornings

It's the start of a beautiful day here in Colorado. I woke a bit later than normal, my mind was fuzzy from less than restful sleep.

The Pirate earrings arrived in Texas and I'm told that she hasn't hardly taken them off! talk about a compliment to my work. I plan on having a few new sets up soon, fall colors is a given set. The trees are already changing here!

Lately I've been listening to a radio station that I made on Pandora, it's a very neat site, you add in artists and it matches their genre, mood and overall feel to create a radio station. Right now I'm on a Loreena McKennitt and Sarah Brightman kick. The music really helps me get motivated to create. Check out the site if you get the chance, it's really amazing.

Speaking of motivation and creativity, I'm still in the process of photographing new pieces for the site. I'm slowly working my way through, I think I have something like 260 left. That's a large number, yes. But nothing compared to the 600+ that I started with! To the right is a close up of one of my bloodstone bracelets. I am in love with bloodstone, it's so unique. The random "splatters" of red along the dark green stone just make my day when I'm in the right mood.

The days never end

Since returning from California my life has gone back to busy. I have orders from etsy to ship, as well as this gorgeous pair of earrings.

These are my "Pirate Queen" earrings. They're made with Amethyst, Swarovski, Bali Silver and purple glass. They'll be winging their way to Texas this afternoon.

I love this style, for ladies with three ear piercings or more. I know that I love to have lots of earrings, but seven pair is a bit much for me- so what do I do? Wear a pair of these to fill my empty ears!

This pair features a small sterling pirate ship, in the future I hope to have skull and crossbones as well as leaves and possibly other things. I'm thinking scissors and sewing machines, for that seamstress in your life!
To the left is a close up of the lower right dangle with the charm. I had so much fun creating these, it allowed my more risky side to come out. Sadly they aren't miss-matched. I left that for the next pair!

In the future I might even consider adding a piercing for more than one extra hole, can you just see it? A pair of earrings that one "laces" all the way up the ear? I may just have to run down to my studio and create that. Hmmm... Ah, the striking of the Muse.

Of Trips and Lampworking

Today I returned to the lovely state of Colorado from Minifee, California. It was beautiful out there, dry and about 115 degrees daily. Talk about hot!
Before I left, I got to meet Melissa of Inner Realm Creations and she taught me a thing or two about lampwork. I was a nervous wreck, I admit it. Something about breaking hot glass. Well I learned, and had nothing to be nervous about. She's an amazing artist and wonderful person. I hope to work with her again very soon.
Here are the first beads that I've ever made, they were not meant to be pretty color-wise. I was using some glass she had excess of.


So there they are. Going counter clockwise from the top left corner in order of creation. They're uneven, I call them "basket shape" and I'm hoping that I'll get better with practice.

I am SO addicted!

Lost my mind

If any of you have read my blog before, you know I have a shop on Etsy that I sell my surplus supplies on. I will admit, I lack patience. That and I'm tired of seeing all of these lonely beads! So I've started re-pricing them all for two dollars or under. Yes, you read right. I'm letting things go at a STEAL because I want to see someone else use them since I can't.
I have 78 different items or sets of items at $2, on Etsy!

On The Topic Of Accessories - For Your Phone

One of the things that I will always take with me to shows is my large assortment of cell phone charms. These little dangles are absolutely wonderful for showing a bit of personality on your phone. Many phones have places to attach them, in fact I think all of the newer lines do now! I have a Motorola RAZR and my phone charm changes often. Currently I have a few Swarovski crystals hanging off of it. Just a bit of sparkle! These little buggers are easily personalized and altered to fit the owner, often I'll add charms, dangles or change the colors on one for the buyer. I think that they are just tons of fun!

Into the Great Unknown!

About two days ago I started on a project to teach myself peyote stitch. Now, once I got started it was easier than I thought it would be! I'm almost done with my base, then I'll get to play with additions. I'm making a paperweight. Sounds funny, hmm? I found the idea in a old edition of Bead and Button that I had from years back. I'll have to get photos to post!
Peyote is a rather interesting stitch. I really want to learn to do free form, but I want to make sure I have the regular stitch down! I see so many beautiful things done with peyote...

Shocked

You never realize how many things you collect as an artist and designer until you being to go through your "stash". I've been doing such reciently and let me tell you, it's scary! I've found so many beads that I'd forgotten about even. So I decided, I plan on working with newer materials soon, and I don't want these to go to waste as I'm sure they will if I don't use them right away. What that means? Why, de-stash them on etsy! So that's what I've started doing. Looking back, I should have started a shop only for de-stashing but I suppose that hindsight is always 20/20. Perhaps I'll do that after I sell everything that is currently in the shop. If you're interested, here is my etsy shop. Lots and lots of beads and findings for sale!

I've also banned myself from the studio until I get all of the photos I've taken edited and resized so I can update both etsy and my website. It's a pain, because my light box is home made and we reciently found out that it is not white, it's off white and has a yellow tint! It's very frustrating to me because we found this out after I took photos of all of my inventory. I do mean all. Oh well, photoshop takes care of the problem. It just takes a bit longer, a bit of color correction and the exposure tool. I sometimes wonder if I should swear by the exposure tool! It brightens the whole photo, so if you lack enough light it definitely helps create good photos.

(I edited the photo to the upper right with exposure in photoshop. Items pictured can be found on my website)

Rut

I'm kind of in a rut today. I know that I *want* to bead. I sit here and look at my beads.... and I just stare. I continue to sit and nothing comes to mind. For any of you that have experienced this, you know how frustrating it is and can be.
I have my music going, all of my pretties are out and calling to me- am I still inspired even though I can't seem to do anything? That is always the question that plagues me. I should push through it, force myself to make something, anything. I never do.
So I decided to take a few photos of pieces that I've made, and I think that I'll try to force myself to edit them so I can put them on the site. Ah yes, the most boring part of making jewelry!

I leave you with some of my etsy favorites:

Etsy Buy Handmade silverfaeriedesigns

Enjoy!

On the road of updating

I've taken a break from updating my site to bring you a few photos. These are pieces that I uploaded to the site tonight, I have so many more to do but I refuse to think about it. Bits at a time, I say.

The first piece is one of my favorites. I used heart shaped rose quartz beads as well as freshwater pearls and a stunning blister pearl pendant. You can't see it, but in between some of the pearls are tiny bright Bali daisy spacers.

It can be found here on my site

Let's see, what else? Here's a pair of earrings that I made a while ago, using candy jade, unikite and Bali silver. I'm very fond of these as well.

They can be found here

I got to play with more lampwork beads today. They are quickly becoming my favorite things to buy! I love all of the colors and designs though! I purchased a number of beads from Chloescreations on etsy and I have nothing but praise for the beauty and design of her work! If you're looking for lampwork, I definitely suggest looking at her etsy shop.

Speaking of Etsy. The EtsyBEAD theme of the week is: Keeping it Cool. I'm excited to see what everyone is working up! Make sure to go search etsy for 'ebtw' and see what they've cooked up!

A Day In The Life

Rather the odd title for a blog entry, but I figure that it's fitting. I had a very late night last night and 9am came far too early for me. I was hoping to sleep in! I had my morning sit on our back deck and traveled down to the basement to sit amongst all of my shiny objects. I fill my studio with beads, baubles and anything that catches my attention. It's actually a wonderful thing and it keeps me inspired. At any given moment my table is littered with beads, half completed projects and bits to inspire. I have this stunning quartz crystal that sits to my left, near where I photograph my pieces. To my right is where I plan on hanging the brass door knocker that was my Grandfather's. It's a fox. I keep telling myself that I really should clean said area, I have so much stuff out that I have hardly any space to work! Ah- the mind of a artist. That's what I tell my friends. If it's put away, how can I possibly find it?
Last night I almost finished two more bracelets, with mahogany obsidian and smokey quartz. I tossed some Swarovski in too- Light Topaz to be exact. I've had approval comments on them so far. Yay! I'm not a big fan of brown, it doesn't look too good on my very fair complexion. So I need other opinions on my pieces that are brown, it's a nice ego boost on days that I'm feeling down!

First Post

Here I am on Blogger. What a wonderful thing it is. I've busied myself tonight with creating a blog and three new pieces, never mind that I haven't updated the over 200 pieces that need to go onto my website. The newest pieces include amethyst, lampwork beads by the lovely SueBeads . I love the beads that I got from her to use and have used 5 tonight. I'm very tempted to keep the bracelet for myself, it has lampwork paired with Swarovski crystal and onyx beads. So scrumptious!
I'm also still in the middle of selling off my surplus of supplies and beads that I no longer have use for. You can find them over at my etsy shop. I hate to part with them, but I'd rather see them go to someone that will use them as opposed to hoarding them for my possible future use. Your gain! So if you're looking for some more beads, head on over there and take a look!