Sunday, June 3, 2007

Newsletter


My newsletter list is really growing! Thank you to all that I have joined. I haven't sent one out in quite awhile but I do intend to do so very soon.


One of the reasons that I don't do it very often is because I don't want to feel like I'm spamming you guys with a bunch of emails. I also want to put something of interest in my newsletters and while I think my life is a wonderful one, it's not full of action.

Here's what I am thinking I'd like to do. . . Since many of you are jewelry makers by hobby, I think that I would like to start doing some tutorials on some of the jewelry that you see in my webstore. I am NOT at all guarded with my designs because I enjoy making the jewelry and I want to see more and more people enjoy the craft.


Beading and wire wrapping is a very soothing thing for me. As I've said before, I do it in my down time. I've created my share of "crap" in the past in efforts of finding my own personal style and what techniques create the most durable finished piece. I guess that's all a part of learning to make jewelry. So, if I can pass some of this along to some of you, it might save you a little time in trial and error.


Although I am no expert, I am pretty good at designing finished pieces. I've also been silver smithing for about two years. I'm fairly well versed in working with silver via cold connection too. I think that I want to start blogging a bit more about jewelry making. I would enjoy it and I hope that you will too. I also encourage you to ask as many questions here as you are comfortable in asking and I invite your comments if you have something special that YOU would like to share.


Recently I have been toying with some of my beads while they are up for auction. This is because I want to give a good illustration of what can be done with lampwork beads. You really don't need a ton of them in order to make a fantastic statement. . .


The picture above is a prime example of what I mean. While Egyptian Divinity was up for auction, I used the beads for this illustration. This design couldn't be more simple. Even if you are a beginner at wire wrapping, it's EASY. The design used 22 gauge half hard silver, domed disk bead caps, some large hammered jump rings (I made these but you can buy them in a lot of jewelry catalogs, if you do not do like to solder), 4 mm full hard jump rings, a lobster clasp and Thai silver charm. Not much of a materials list really and I think the design turned out great. I chose to use the hammered silver because I think it compliments the old world influence that inspired me to make the beads.
I didn't really want to go with a lot of "bling" for this one or even additional beads. I really wanted the lampwork to stand out and not be overstated by a bunch other stuff. I hated taking it apart but that's nothing new. I don't get the privilege of designing and selling finished pieces very often because my first love is in the making of the glass beads. Many of the sets that I list take a day to make. By that standard with the amount of time that I spend in my studio I should be able to produce at least 7 sets each week but it doesn't work that way for me. I am lucky to turn out 4 in a week. The rest of my time in the studio is spent screwing up. lol

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