Tuesday, July 31, 2012

WHERE'D JULY GO?





July 2012 is almost history.  I'm shocked how fast it went.  It's been a weird summer so far.  Drought, heat, with no end in sight.  The Iowa River which runs through the town where I live is running at less than 10 percent of it's normal flow.  We've had 2/10ths of an inch of rain since the beginning of June.  It makes a person edgy, when the weather misbehaves like this.  Maybe that's a Midwestern thing.
Well, I've been here working hard.  Gail and I have been working (separately, due to geography) on our class samples of our submissions for the 2013 Bead & Button Show.  All of the making is done and my samples have been sent off to Gail to photograph and then we'll get them submitted.  I love what we came up with and I hope the committee that chooses the classes will too.  This year we're offering a mix of traditionally fabricated jewelry and silver clay projects, and one that combines the two.  I'm very excited about them and later on we'll post some pictures of our submissions.
At the same time, I've been making a lot of new jewelry that I'll have for the first time at the show at Brucemore on August 25th.  I'll post pictures of some of that as soon as I have time to take them. I hope I see some of you there.  It's an excellent show at a lovely place.  More on Brucemore later.
I've also been working on refreshing the findings section of my Etsy store.  Tons of new buttons, toggles (some new larger ones since people have been asking), charms, and rings.  Some are listed and some are waiting to be listed.  Also, I have a few new tools to add to the tool store.  Yikes!  I need an assistant.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

SUMMER

 Forged and acid etched earrings

 Mixed-metal Earrings 

 My favorite new thing, forged, twisty, bronze bracelets

 New leather, gemstone and bronze bracelets

Buttons 


Wow, time flies!  I've been going non-stop since the Bead and Button Show.  I've been to the last PMC conference in Kentucky, I've been working with Gail (remotely, of course, as she's in Ohio) on our next year's Bead and Button submissions.  Seems early I know, but submissions are due in August.  I'm working on jewelry for a show (more on that later) that I have in August. Lots of other stuff too!  I want to put some of my photos up of all of my travels and new jewelry to share and I'll do that soon.  The last couple of days I've taken hundreds of picture of jewelry and components to list on Etsy.  I'll be putting a few items up a day as I edit the photos and write the descriptions.  I wish people knew how much work there is in photographing and listing all of this stuff.  I think some people think people who make things for a living just get to sit and create all day!  I wish that were true.  Not that I'm complaining, I just wish this part took less time!  Anyway, please check out the store if you're in the market for any jewelry or components.  You can check it out here.  Also, if you need any jewelry making tools, please have a look in the tool store here.