The Countdown: 19 Days to Market ........

There are only 19 more days to the start of market! I have literally been locked in my studio the past week creating product and dreaming up new packaging for the 2007 market season. No internet, no mopping the floor, nada ... nothing except beads :) My booth is 10ft square and given that jewelry is very, very small ... I have a lot of creating to do! For the next 19 days I will live in my studio, but will be giving periodic updates of what I'm working on. The Jeweled Elegance web boutique will not be updated with any of the new product until after the start of market, but everthing will be available for purchase. Right now I have barely anything finished ... but lots of things in the works :)

Above is my only completed piece so far. A gold/white lampwork glass and wedding cake bead Y necklace all done in handwrapped copper and handmade chain. It would be a great bridal piece, but I can see it glowing softly against tanned skin and think it would be a lovely summer necklace. You can also see my new necklace/bracelet tags in the photo. I developed and started using them about a month ago and they are WAY better than the old ones - trust me on that!

And bird fever has struck! I have been weaving nests with little pearl eggs in them and will make them into necklaces. On the right are lots of little handmade polymer clay eggs ready to be added to some of the nest charm necklaces to make Y necklaces. I have baby blue, soft green and Tahitian black pearls, so have a lot of nests to weave! I even made myself a huge nest egg ring .... which was promptly claimed by my munchkins as pirate treasure. I'm sure it will surface again in time :)

This is an example of technique for some of the new market pieces. The top chain link is bright, shiny copper. The bottom link has been hammered and then flameworked. Yes, put in a hot burner flame and then doused in cold water ... and it produces this really attractive finish! The one on the bottom looks like an antique find from a long forgotten copper mine. I find flameworking copper to produce patinas fun and addictive. I have produced red, gold, brown, black and even a silvery-grey patina, but it's a little like raku .. a mystery until you clean off the carbon film. (And I always stay safe with eye protection, fireproof surfaces, etc. Hot metal can burn and hot beads can shatter.)


Turquoise is a natural with copper and I've been making lots of different shapes of hand hammered and flameworked turquoise and copper earrings. I'm hoping to get some niobium in copper for the earwires, but they'll be sterling if I can't get the niobium in stock soon enough. In this picture, I'm trying to show the rich flameworked patina of the earrings contrasting with the bright, shiny finish of the necklace chain at the top. It is storming today and the light is very grey and dim, but hopefully you can see it :)

Now ...... it's back to the studio!

Happily Handmade Winner!

Congratulations to our Happily Handmade Giveaway winner!! Stacey Hammen won this fantastic gift box stuffed with fabulous indie products, worth an estimated $250, by entering the Happily Handmade Giveaway at Jeweled Elegance. Congrats Stacey!!!! Enjoy all your indie goodness and thank you for participating in the HHG and supporting indie artisans everywhere!

Amigurumi & Pendants

These cute little amigurumi snails were birthday presents I shipped off last week. They were super easy to make. The shell is just a long skinny scarf of chunky yarn rolled up like a sushi roll and the body is one long, unchanging continuous circle tube. The eyes started life as bunny arms for other amigurumi, but were conscripted, sewn on and pasted with googly eyes. I'd seen pictures of amigurumi snails before, but wanted bigger ones with really chunky shells, so I made these up as I went along. They ended up being 6 x 8 inches. Perfect size for cubicle decoration! When I started, I envisioned them dressed with beaded necklaces and hair flowers like flapper snails :) but since they were for a gentleman, I decided to leave them plain. Be warned - if you know me, you may be getting a flapper snail!

If you were an entrant in the Happily Handmade Giveaway, the drawing for the winning names was yesterday! I am super excited to announce that a winning entry was drawn from my shop!! Yeah! There were so many sponsors this year, and only 50 prizes, that not every sponsor was able to produce a winner, so I very pleased to congratulate my winner!! Winners are not confirmed yet, but I will be posting about my winner and have a picture of the exact fabulous indie prize basket she won.

The Saturday Market I sell at every year starts next month. I'm trying to clear out all my old stock of beads because I have some cool new handmade beads (and designs based on them) in the works for market goers this year. Here is a selection of pendants using up my pink beads. I especially love the wire wrapped and hand sewn flower pendant. Wirework has always been a great love of mine. I've taken a break from it the past two years to grow my skills in other areas, but this year I will be returning to it with lots of vintage style designs. Look for yummy wire wrapped diva jewelry at the market!