A Little PlayTime Before I Finish

My new toys arrived and I played very happily until I realized it wasn't going to work for what I had in mind. Never one to be deterred for too long I found another method to use and I think I'm going to be very happy it turned out the way it did!

While I was playing I learned several new techniques! Yay me! While annealing a piece of metal I quite by accident turned it some oh so very pretty colors! Then I HAD to do it AGAIN, just to see if I could.... oooh even prettier the second time! I can paint copper with fire! Golds, blues, reds, and oranges! WOOT! Controlling the pattern is going to take some time but the fact I can do it makes me a happy camper!

I have been able to emboss since at least Junior High. I have a pair of Copper horses my Dad framed with horse shoes from one of my horses. I've since shrunk the designs and made pendants but I knew there was another way. Raising they call it. Playing around I was able to raise a heart using the hammer and an edge of the anvil. It's rather rustic, even more so once I added a little texture and some patina, oh what fun! Look for that to make an appearance in the shop soon!

Continuing on the theme of changing the surface of metal, today I set up a salt water etch. This is quite a bit like Science in the name of Art and I felt every bit like a kid watching the water bubble and the metal swirling around. The results were plain fun and I have a wealth of design ideas running through my head!



Here are some simple tutorials on electrolytic etching using a salt water bath.
http://copperheartdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/01/electrolytic-copper-etching.html

http://mistyridgedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/08/eureka-i-figured-it-out-tutorial-for.html

They are basically the same way I did it. With a little help AND encouragement from my friend Cheryl of Get Your Bead On. She shared hers and gladly answered questions, even going so far as to write up how she did it too. I used a battery charger and a nail, Cheryl used the D batteries and a scrap piece of copper. Both ways work beautifully!

Count down to Reveal has begun be sure to check back in on the 30th! or sooner if you like!

Thanks for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!

Revelations, Doubts and Imagination Run Amok

Meet the earrings that have caused me a great deal on introspection as of late.

Source: etsy.com via Dana on Pinterest

They're a simple style, clean and dainty, very comfortable to wear. Hoops are readily found in many shops, a breeze to make, and quick too. So why the introspection? I found the exact earrings in sterling silver in Sun Dance recently......for more than double what I charge.

My college major was business management, so I am confident in my pricing structure. At least I was. The business woman in me is chiding me to revisit that structure. Etsy's workshops have all been focussing on pricing lately too, which only adds to it.

I think to myself if the items I make and sell are also found elsewhere for more than double I am seriously undercharging for my work. On the other hand I live in an economically challenged region in the US and I don't want to seem to be overcharging. See the dilemma?

I thought I had solved that by charging a healthy- for this area - hourly wage, and by the time all the math was done for factoring price, my wages would be boosted and still reflect a fair price. A recent workshop hinted that I should be charging almost quadruple for my wages, seriously? hmmmm the price of those hoops would support that theory as well.

ah but the flip side to that coin..... several of my pieces take far more time to create than a simple pair of hoops. Hours and hours would kick my prices out of the reach of all but a few. While I wouldn't mind selling to those few :D I am not completely artsy (business major remember lol) I can be practical and do realize that being able to sell to more than a few is actually a good thing! Truly when I say from my heart and hands to yours, that's what I mean. I want you to have my jewelry. For that to happen the price must be affordable...... but still, I need to be fair to me. My prices need to reflect that.....

On the Desk: is an explosion of beads and wire. I'm not kidding! My brain keeps kicking out ideas that my hands MUST try NOW before the last piece is done!! My UFO's have multiplied like bunnies. What's worse is I've been ummm borrowing precut pieces for this from that because it's the right size and I really want to see if it works sigh. Monkey brain! Swinging from idea to idea as if they were branches. It has actually gotten so bad that my To Do list actually reads:

Dust
mortar rocks
lay stepping stones and soaker hose
write blog post AND ideas for later (it bothered me I was behind!)
sketch ideas BEFORE exploring & FINISH at least ONE UFO
finish painting Paige's room (touch ups and bath)

etc etc

I did manage to actually finish one pair of earrings. I finally got around to using that gorgeous Seraphanite I bought with my winnings some time back, sweet sweet earrings. I was actually a little worried they looked a little too much like a pair Cleo has in her shop. That is a problem when you have similar tastes with a friend who also makes gorgeous jewelry. You really don't want to look as if you're borrowing (or worse) their ideas, even if they inspire you.

Well this blog post could easily have been turned into several!! So I'll leave it for now and see you next time!

Currently On the Desk has had it's first completion :) Yup I picked up needle and thread and rolled a hem for the ends. It's been a busy and emotional few days around here with my oldest daughter moving to New Mexico and I needed an easy and quick project to do and this was it! The ribbon measures in at 21 inches and ties at the neck for an on the neck choker for an adult or a sweet necklace for a younger girl. This is newly finished and not yet listed- you're getting the sneak peak at it! Now that I've finally got it hemmed up I wonder if I shouldn't use a fold over end with an extender chain, hmmm, Always something isn't it?

One down.....maybe.....I think ....and a bunch to go........

til next time!

Gimme the Peacock

Gimme the Peacock Alex! But I like him Mom. Alex. But I want him Mom he can live in my El Camino. But Alex he's for sale. Noooo My Pretty Pretty said in the same fashion as Gollum's My Precious......... and this is how Gimme's name came to be :)

If you've been reading the blog for any amount of time you know Gimme has been on the update list for several months now. I'm proud to say he is finally Finished!
A little background for those of you that haven't been keeping up or I maybe forgot to mention. I had the honor to have been included in a treasury with this beautifult print by BestArtStudios2 on Etsy some months back http://www.etsy.com/listing/59594197/huge-3-day-sale-heartache-and-poetry-xiv
In thumbnail size it reminded me of a Peacock sitting in a tree, I knew I wanted to make one based on that print and so I waited for my Muse. She had been awol at that time. A few weeks later I joined a color challenge group on Face Book (I believe I mentioned that here a time or two). The challenge to make a new piece in the chosen colors of the week. Joining was a blessing to me, my Muse came home and has really enjoyed the creativity of the group, even during the weeks where I don't participate. When the blue and green combo came up I knew it had to be the Peacock.

As you all know I didn’t make the deadline for that week in fact it took many weeks before I was finished. Gimme turned out to be a little labor intensive, but then most works of the heart are, I think. It took two days alone just to design and graph his tail out. You can see the gradation of color from the pics but what you don't see are all the eyes woven into the color panel as well. I sat with several pics pulled up on the computer screen of Peacock tails for inspiration and they stayed on the screen until I had completely finished his tail, wire work and all.

Gimme sits on many vines of wire that I wove and twisted together forming his perch, the ends have been kissed with the torch so as not to scratch when being worn, plus it really adds to the gnarled and forlorn look of the branches. Those took some time too, I really didn't like the way it looked with the arch as intended - it just seemed out of balance to me so I reworked and reformed and reformed again until I was happy with the arch, adding wisps of copper to balance the ends of those branches that no longer ended in their original positions.

Then the final assembly of the pieces. Does he look right there? Does he need to scoot over? Is the weight balanced properly there? Does he have a good solid connection point there? Should he lean more? Hold him up is he still balanced. His tail looks crooked, scoot him over, scoot him back, lean more, less! Balanced? Wrap that into place quick before it gets moved again!

Aaaaand the chain! I worked for what seemed forever to get that chain to the length I wanted, only to realize I made it too long! In order for him to sit at that 20 inch length he needed only 18 inches of chain. Soooo off came two inches of chain!

All in all over 70 feet of wire - more than 60 in the Peacock and perch and worth every inch. When I was finished I held him up. I'm left handed and the windows in my office are to my left - he just glows when backlit so whether you choose to wear him or display him in a window he is one gorgeous Peacock :) As I'm admiring him I hear oooh Pretty! coming from the right and the doorway to my office. Can I see? Hand him to my Son. Mine! Nooooo Alex. Yes I want! He's pretty.............

Gimme can be found in my shop here
http://www.etsy.com/listing/67589619/gimme-the-peacock

Update!

everything is done - really!! I'm pretty amazed you can actually see my desk! Just waiting on descriptions lol I'm pretty proud of myself been writing, pricing and listing and it's getting there! I actually have one FULL page of listings in my Etsy shop yay!

Sooo time to sketch and plan and get going again! I have lots of great beads I've won this last year that need some love and this weeks colors are peachy coral and minty green. Doesn't that sound really springy to you? I've pulled out some shell and lucite flowers to add to that combo - we have a foot of snow coming or so they say I NEED some spring, I live in the SOUTH my daffies are poking their heads out!! A FOOT of snow?? We've already had close to a foot of snow. We just had 6 inches the other day, that's supposed to be our snow for the year! We don't get FEET of snow! I guess I'll just sketch and bead away and hope the hubs can get back to work soon - we have bills to pay. snow.......

Til next time!

The Creative Process

I had in my head the perfect post to introduce a series of posts on my creative process.
Can I remember word one of what I wanted to write? Noooo The bread and butter business interrupted my writing with end of year paperwork and insurance and banking and life as we all know it! My perfect introductory post .... is toast!

Ah well, I do remember it had to do with these earrings. They've been on my to do list for the lifetime of my blog to date so I thought they would be really fitting to show off since you've been reading about my needing to make them for so long :)

Every now and again I'll start an awesome project and for various reasons it gets put aside - sometimes for much longer than intended - oops These earrings are the perfect example of that lol

A friend of mine really liked these Sterling silver filigree earrings but the drop is a Swiss Blue Topaz and her birthstone is Golden Topaz.


So I hunted down some Golden Topaz and started the frames, set them aside to wait for the Topaz to arrive and in the meantime........I'll just play with these little cuties over here....... Several pieces later I picked those frames up again to work on them when I realized I didn't have enough 2mm silver beads left to make the earrings and I had JUST placed an order, so put them aside again.

Two orders later I got those silver beads and gathered all the components to make the earrings and, well, I just wasn't in the mood. I had all these other ideas demanding attention and other things I HAD to do, so they sat, and sat, and sat. Until a few days ago when I picked them up again and felt really guilty that an entire year had passed......... So here they are One year and Three months in the making :)

Now thankfully not all of my pieces take so long to make, but it can seem that way when description writing faces that same time dilemma LoL or when it takes two days to write one description because the words just aren't coming even after playing the word association game which is really how I should write my tags!

The Update for the To Do List :) is a little shorter this week!

The talisman got a leather cord instead of chain, that chain ended up a tassel hanging from a Danish love knot at the bottom :) the whole thing took on a very oriental feel and I'm very happy with it. Not bad for I think I'm feeling better, lets try to bend some wire! Needs a description and price, maybe one more pic

Replica of my fav necklace is done - needs pics

Egyptian talisman finally has pics, and a description and finally got listed :) Took me two days to write this lol

Peacock is assembled and waiting for a couple more inches of chain :D yay!

Pulled together all the components to start the valentine earrings -- and a simple pendant not matching just got the idea a few minutes ago lol

Color of the week is yellow and grey - don't have much for yellow but I may try some Hessonite Garnet with some oxidized silver and design it for the simply adorned collection.

Still have a couple descriptions to write - everytime I write one I make another - so I think this is more like laundry - it's NEVER ending lol

oooh just realized the desk is getting cleared of UFO's again time to sketch out a design for the Aventurine Donut I won at Christmas from the Jewelry Connection oh and get to those earrings I sketched out for the Flourite I won on the forum! Oooh fun fun! Jewelry Lessons is also doing monthly challenges now maybe I can play at a charm bracelet for that along the way as well. Time to get busy!

Til next time!

Google's Banned Words for SEO

Well, it seems Google has a list of terms and words they'll disallow for searching in Google Shopping. Most I don't mind at all, they're not terms I use and often find annoying when searching myself - alternating capital letters the @ symbol in place of an o. I don't really even mind the drug and explosives terms being banned. While I do understand the alcohol references, there are a number of colors that use the same terminology and that's going to make things a little difficult.

They're also banning text and twitter speak, the shortening of a word to a single letter or number. Here's where it gets a little tricky for me personally. The screen name I've used for close to a decade contains 4U2, That screen name has meaning to me, it fits me, it holds dear memories of my children. I'm well known by it, and now it's banned. While I don't use that screen name for my shops I do have several profiles where do I use it, and link back here and to my shops. Link backs, we've all been told, are crucial to building an on-line presence and now it can penalize me.

I suppose I could change my screen name, create a more unified brand for my shops, but that means I'll be starting over in creating my presence and the 1000's of posts will still be there, penalizing me in search rankings. I googled, I have over 11,000 posts in combined forums and message boards - but Google will only allow me to actually look at three pages. I've already been truncated.

On a brighter note, I've been quite productive this week taking pics, writing descriptions, pricing, and even managed to get several items listed in both shops. I have a couple projects nearly finished, several planned out for Art with Heart, the Christmas swap on the jewelry forum and of course gifts to friends and family.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are inching ever closer and I suddenly feel an urgent need to get MOVING! I'm hoping to make a piece a day, but I'm sure there will be days where I won't make it. I did ask for my Master Bath to be finished for Christmas and that means I have taping, texturing, tiling and grouting in my very near future. On top of rocking the basement!

Not much has happened on that front this last month. Alan has been busy working and the backhoe/sand transporter has not been available for grout mixing and I have discovered I don't have the upper body strength to tip a full mixer of grout. At least not at the height it is set to allow for dumping into the wheelbarrow. I just don't have enough leverage. But the trim is up around the windows, stained and varnished, the rocks are stacked up to the trim, and it sure is looking pretty!

Well, I have some pictures to take, an e-mail to send, a Peacock to get finished, a bracelet the needs a clasp, a couple necklaces that need chains revamped and several projects to get started and mortar to mix. So I had better get moving!

'Til next time!
Dana

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a busy couple of weeks and very productive, even if at times it didn't feel that way. I told you I had started using my iCal to better manage my time. Except for the oversight to send that e-mail reminder to exercise, it's been working out very well.

I've gotten a great deal of my supplies inventoried and costs broke down to simplify pricing. I'm networking more efficiently. Taken photos and actually got a new item listed, though I still have quite a few to go. I even found a pair of earrings I thought I had listed but hadn't, while cleaning some of the silver jewelry I've made. I've finished applying the texture in the laundry room, got the first coat of primer on, all but the wall behind the freezer - it's stocked full and much too heavy to move. My daughter has been busy priming her walls, she's outgrown the plaid and mural, has chosen new colors and is ready to get going on the new look. The front of the house is coming along and I should be able to start laying rock soon. We've got calls in to insurance companies for quotes just in case our current insurance decides too little too late on getting the rock and balconies up.

Best of all, all my Beads n Blessings prizes arrived safe and sound! The Tronex cutters are amazing! I can't thank my friend Jodi of Jewels by Jules, enough for recommending them to me! She has a new book coming out this winter - So be sure to swing by her site to take a peek! I am so excited for her! The only problem with all my pretties arriving is I have so many ideas I can't seem to settle on one to get started on anything! Might be time to get back to work on some of the unfinished projects, at least until I can narrow down the new ideas! Top of that list is a pair of earrings for my friend Ne, I've had the wire cut for some time now and they really need to be finished before her birthday!

My iCal is telling me it's time to get some work done on the house! So I'll leave you with these links.....


http://www.etsy.com/listing/51026684/grace-a-14kt-gold-filled-filigree-cross
http://www.jewels-by-jules.com/
http://www.beads-n-blessings.com/art_with_heart_beading_competition


'Til next time!
Dana