It's my birthday!

And more myself I made some amethyst earrings and a swirlie pendant! I love them! Thank you, me! The earrings i based on a design in the Sundance catalog, but I added a big amethyst briolette in the center, which I bought in Vermont. I tried these in a dangly the other night, but it just wasn't working for me, so I took it all apart. The shape is a little wiggly. I need to find some sort of a shape to bend it around instead of freeforming it.

The pendant I completely stole the design from one that Pam emailed me from a lady on etsy. The s shape in the middle is a little angular. this is with 18 gauge half hard wire and it's just too hard to bend into shapes like that. I may invest in some 18 gauge dead soft wire for stuff like this. I'm just a little nervous about dead soft since I've never worked with it and I'm not sure how it holds its shape.

The 2nd pair was attempt #2 at copying a design from etsy (see yesterday's entry for teh 1st attempt). I still didn't get it right, but I think I ended up with yet another cool design.

Well, summer has finally made it to Maine, which means we're busy busy busy. We have bees, and gardens, and triathlon training, and house projects, etc. etc. etc. Which probably means less time for jewelry making, alas. But we'll see how it goes. Even wtih this busy weekend, I was able to make a few pairs. For now, I've given up my dreams of a kiln, but I'm seriously thinking about getting a blow torch and at least learning how to solder. You can do some pretty cool things. AND my two favorite sisters in teh world each got me $50 gift certifictates to my two favorite online jewelry suppliers! Yay! Yay! Yay! Unfortunately my internet (and phone) have been acting up so I can't do a proper shop, but wait till I get in to work tomorrow! I can't wait!

Just a little somethin'

This weekend I've been trying hard to do things other than make jewelry. It's important to remain a well-balanced person, after all. So I only made one tonight. This one I tried to steal a design from a lady on etsy. I sketched it on an envelope and carried it upstairs. And ended up totally screwing it up, then I added a chain and a labradorite, and voila! Another LoveLarisa original:

Not a very productive day

I started out the day working on some pearl minis, but they turned out dumb! grr. So I gave up and did other things!

Here's a pictures of the turquoise ones from my last post, to show you how big these are.

And.. I've branched out into pendants!

Well, that's all for tonight! I won't bother posting a picture of the one that sucked. : )

Oh, they're all green

Thank god Jon is never home and my friends don't invite me anywhere. I have time to create! Yay!

Ok, so these were based (full disclosure) on a design from sundance but instead of pearls, I used turquoise pebbles! I think these turned out super cool! Assuming I can make a matching one tonight, I am SO wearing these tomorrow:

Ok, so they look cooler in person. I need to work on my photography skills, that is clear.

I finished a pair of rain drops. These are still in the prototype phase but have SO much potential.

And I made a new pair of minis. These feature a really cool jasper brown and green jasper bead that I bought in Vermont. They're small. But small doesn't have to mean boring. Right?!

And finally. I 'm not sure if I ever posted these. Another pair that I eventually need to make a match for. These have silver tube beads witih an etched spiral shape surrounding a green swarovski crystal. They are self locking hoops. I made these a while ago, and kind of like them:

Ok, I admit it: I opened the birthday present Samara got me early! She got me a gift certificate to Rio Grande! I nearly started crying - ask Jon. It's been a rough month for finances - I needed new brakes on my Subaru, we unexpectedly had to pay a lot in state taxes, we refinanced the house (again), and well, I've done a little shopping (not much, but a little.. .a new dress, a new handbag, a "few" jewelry supplies), SO I had decided to NOT buy any more supplies or tools ( no kiln, boo hoo) until I actually sell some of my existing inventory. So THANK GOD for birthdays because I was totally jonesing for some Peridot and some more apatite and some sterling silver round beads! YAY!! Happy Dance!

Back home

I've been away since Sunday and have been AWAY FROM MY JEWELRY. It's just been terrible! Ha ha...just kidding. Jon took me to Vermont and it was actually lovely. AND I got to stop in at a beadstore in Brattleboro, Vermont, called Beadnicks, and I picked up some supplies. : ) i got a few amethyst briolettes, some lapis lazuli beads, some rose quartz briolettes, and some big chunky apatite coins! Fun fun.

This afternoon, I finished up some swirlies I started on Saturday, did a spiral design I saw in a store in Brattleboro and kept working on refining "the paperclip."

These have rutilated quartz (gold streaks) briolettes. Right now, they don't match. I realize that. : ) I'll have to do a better match and switch one of them out. These were a real challenge getting them to look the same.

These are just some fun onyx danglies.

Swirlie with a green swarovski crystal.

I have a lot of new designs I want to try, but I feel like I should do some "housekeeping." There are a lot of designs that I've done one of, but never a matching pair. In order to clear my table of prototypes, I need to make some matchies and just put them in boxes and hopefully sell them. : ) I'm trying my hardest to not buy any more inventory until I sell some of the stuff I've already made. I like having a big inventory, but i don't want THAT big of an inventory.

Wrapped spirals

I saw this design on another etsy site and decided to give it a try. It looked easy in concept - just 2 s shaped spirals wrapped together:

It took a bit of wok to figure out how to wrap it without making it messy or too tight or without it slipping out of the right spot, but eventually I got it. I have to admit, I am madly in love with these earrings. Some earrings look better in pictures or better when you're looking at them in a box. These look better when you're wearing them than they do in pictures. They're not huge - they're probably about 2 inches long, including the earwire. Even with my hair down, these show through and shine. I've been thinking of how to incorporate some gemstones into them... I suppose I could dangle one from the bottom. But they look pretty good without anything too...

I printed off a few similar designs to try, but haven't had a chance yet. I also made kind of a fun pair this morning with onyx beads, but I'm too lazy to take a picture of it. : )

The Vermonter

I saw some earrings on a girl I work with (I look at everyone's earrings, obviously), and at first I thought they were hoops, and then I realized they were basically "the paperclips" with beads attached to the end. So I've been thinking about these all week, sure I could make ones cooler than hers. : )

I looked through my ever-growing inventory and decided on these adorable little hessonite flat round disks. I picked these because they perfectly matched the shirt I was wearing today. Hessonite is commonly called Cinnamon Stone (according to my new book). It's usually mined in Sri Lanka but there is also an excellent source of it in Lowell, Vermont. And since I am going to Vermont this weekend, I've decided to name these, the Vermonter (yes, like the Amtrak train!)

Ok, I'll admit...these are not show stoppers, jaw droppers, or eye poppers. But I think they are super fabulous everyday earrings. Great for work. Great for the weekend. Fairly subtle, not too distracting, but a perfect complement to say.. a Ralph Lauren button down with cinnamon colored stripes.

That's all I got for tonight. It's been a weird, stressful, anxiety filled week at work, so I took it out on my coworkers today by soliciting them hard-core to buy earrings from me. So, from my ex-boss, I got a semi-order for some smallish somethings with peridot with his wife, who apparently doesn't wear the jewelry he buys for her. A semi-order from another guy for a peridot something or other for his mother (apparently peridot is the birthstone for august...good to know as guys seem to like buyinig birthstone jewelry for the women in their lives), a semi-order from the director of marketing for a cupcake shaped design for his 13 year old daughter (who likes to bake) (btw, have no idea how I'm going to pull that off, but I'm totally up for the challenge), an offer of interest from my 65 year old cube neighbor (who I totally adore) for something vague maybe for his wife, and something green (maybe serpentine) for a girl who obviously has disposable income to spend on expensive looking silver jewelry (from my observations). So my plan is to make stuff, bring it in for them and pressure them to buy it from me. : ) LoveLarisa is takin' off baby! I think if you put your joy and passion out there to the world, how can you not be successful?

Squirrels and Eggs

I had high hopes to get a LOT of jewelry designing tonight, but... we caught a squirrel in a trap on our roof (the squirrel was in our ceiling) so we had to take him on a road trip. Then in a not-so-rare of impulsive non-future planning kindness, I promised to make a cake for my friend's birthday tomorrow. I remembered to buy the cake mix and frosting, but I forgot the eggs. So another trip out. BUT ANYWAY,

I actually sat down afraid that I would have no idea of what to make. But that quickly passed. I've been wanting to try these for a while, and finally did:

These are self locking hoops with silver beads. They are not sterling silver, just in full disclosure, but they LOOK like it. In this picture, they look more black/gray, but in real life they are sparkly silver. These are not huge - a little over an inch in diameter and look very sophisticated. They actually sort of look like diamonds because they really reflect the light. In all honesty, I have two beefs with this design. One - I have to make them in 20 gauge wire because it really is the most comfortable gauge to put in your ear. I make all my earwires in 20 gauge. However, in this design, it makes the rest of the earring a little flimsy, in my opinion. It wont' start drooping or anything, but you have to be careful when you handle them or you can bend them out of shape. I mean, you would sort of have to try, but still. My other beef is that they are a little tricky to put in your ear. It's not my fault - it's just the nature of them (I guess). At any rate, I plan on fixing both of those problems. There has to be a way of "work hardening" the metal without hammering (I can't hammer these or the beads won't fit on). And I'm sure I can find a workaround for the "hard to fit in the ear" problem.

Anyway, the beads are fire polished czech silver beads. I can hear the question "can't you do them with sterling silver beads?" Yes, of course I can, but they would be very very pricey. Another alternative would be silver plated brass, but that would make them heavier (but probably not too heavy). In all honesty, I've put sterling silver, silver plated brass and the fire polished glass in a lineup and even I can't tell the difference (and I'm pretty darn smart).

Here's the first item in my new "mini" collection:

These are like teeny tiny versions of my "glass of pinot"s  but with gorgeous little saucer shaped apatite beads. They're miniature teardrops. My original idea was to do 3 of these on each side and hang them with different lengths of silver chain, so they look like raindrops. That is actually still my plan, but I only had time to do 2 and couldnt' resist putting them on earwires to see how they looked. I actually think they are adorable and wore them to work yesterday.

A note on the paperclip earrings. I do want to tweak these a bit, but I wore these to work today and nobody could believe that I actually made them! It's actually pretty ironic, because they are probably the simplest design out there. I mean, it's a piece of wire, bent, and hammered on one side. Granted, it's a little tricky to get the proportions exactly right and to make them easy to put in the ear (always a challenge!), but everyone thought they were totally too hard for me to make. So cool. : ) They actually did look pretty awesome BUT I have some work yet to do. I may still get to it tonight. You never know.

Tomorrow I hope to do more and Saturday. Sunday we are heading to Brattleboro Vermont for my birthday weekend ( a week early). We got a coupon for a hotel on Groupon. : ) Never been to Vermont before so it should be fun. Maybe I'll bring my wire and plyers and see if I get inspired (wow, that kind of rhymed!)

Zen hoops

I was home sick today so you would think I would have had a chance to make lots of earrings. But no. Between dayquil and naps and finalizing the sale of my labradorite and apatite danglies, I just didn't really have a chance. BUT I did make one pair:

I call these my zen ribbons. They have one labradorite bead in the center. Tonight, I'm also making another pair of my Pinot Noirs for my friend Sam, who ordered a pair. That's probably all I'll get done.

In other news, this weekend I bought a thingamajig. That's actually what it's called. It's a little thing with pegs (sort of like a Battleship game board) that you can write wire around to make shapes. It's kinda cool, so maybe you'll see some fancy wire designs in the future.

Also, I did the math today and realized I have $800 tied up in inventory! Yikes! Or else I've given away $800 worth of earrings. Or wasted supplies on prototypes. Or some combination of the three. Anyway, I'm not discouraged, because I have also made $200 in sales! And it takes a lot of start up capital to start up a business. I'm happy with the skills I've learned and pretty pleased with the materials I have in stock. Obviously I always need more. BUT I am totally stocked up on wire and for the first time in I don't know how long I feel absolutely no "wire anxiety." Whew!

I bought a book at Borders this weekend about rocks and gems. Until I started making jewelry I had no idea how many there were. Like Labradorite for example. It's a type of feldspar (remember those geology classes, Ursula?) originally discovered in Labrador, Canada. And that's your tidbit for the day.

Where does the weekend go?

Well here it is...Sunday night and the litterbox is still not scooped...what have I done all weekend? WELL.. .I'm glad you asked!

I got my shipment on Saturday. I saw the Fedex guy pull up and peered out the window waiting for him to leave, and then went out to look for the package on the front porch. WTF? I swear I had a hot flash. Did he not find my package? Did he come down to the house by mistake? I paced the house for a while, thinking of what to do. Finally, I went out to vent my frustration to Jon, who was mowing the lawn, and then I saw the package sitting on top of one of the cars. Jerk.

Anyway, so I got my stuff and found excuses to not do everything else on my list (it looked like it was going to rain, so that was reason enough not to run, go for a bike ride, stain the front steps, paint the bee hives...darn). So first:

I had been thinking of making some big hoops with the emerald green aventurine and small apatite saucers. So I made this one:

It's hard to see the colors in this picture, but even with the cool colors, I wasn't wowed by this design. So I tried a teardrop shape:

Better, but for some reason still not wowing me. I didn't make a pair for either of these, though I probably will eventually, since I did do them in my good wire. I mean, I like them. I just don't love them.

So moving on, I did a prototype of this upside down heart shaped thing with a dangly, which I found in a book I have. I really liked it, so I decided to do it in sterling silver filled wire and make it a little bigger:

I hung czech glass teardrops on the end and am pretty happy with this design.

Then... my sister Ursula has talked about these "paperclip" earrings that Samara got her but she lost one of them. I've also seen this girl at work, Marcia, wear a pair that I envision were probably pretty similar. Then I saw a gold pair in the sundance catalog (the source of many earring design thefts on my part) and decided to try it out. The concept is very simple. It's just a wire, bent over and then hammered out on one end. The execution is surprisingly tricky. First I did it in 18 gauge wire, thinking it would hammer out more dramatically (it did), but I think the thickness of it makes it a little uncomfortable to put in an ear. I fit it in, but it was a tight squeeze. So I tried it in 20 gauge, and that turned out better. These are still a little messy, but you get the idea:

They're kinda cool. A little plain, but hey, some days you just don't feel like shouting out to the world "look at my earrings!" (Ok, that's a total lie, but I bet some people feel that way). I can't always think of myself when I'm making earrings after all.

And finally. I got some labradorite briolettes, which I was totally looking forward to. I only got one strand, so I started getting that anxious feeling. What if I do the wrong thing? What if it sucks? How do I choose between the 5 designs I want to try? So finally, I just shut off all the chatter and decided to try some dangles. I paired the labradorite (which are pretty teeny tiny) with apatite saucer beads, hung them on very fine sterling silver wire and then topped it with an emerald green aventurine bead. The colors are pretty subtle, but stunning in their own way. I wore these today, but I have to admit (though I hate to) their subtely kind of gets lost in the mass of hair on my head. So I put my hair up (even though I hate to). voila!

I think my new favorite stone may be labradorite. It's SO pretty. It's gray, but it has these luminescent green and blue hues coming off of it. I'd like to order somer larger ones, because these are pretty small. But I have a few left so I think I will try a few other designs. I'm trying to think of something that will showcase it to its potential.

Well, that's all for tonight. I managed to make it all the way through a Maine winter without getting sick at all, only to get a cold as soon as spring gets here. So unfortunately I'm giving up perfectly good jewelery making hours to take nyquil and get some sleep!

Another problem solved

Being a do-it-yourselfer (I don't like to buy ready-made components generally) and not knowing how to solder (yet), I've had some issues doing the "hoop in hoop" designs I've seen in my head and elsewhere. I've made a few, but haven't been able to get them to hang right. On the drive home from work on Thursday, it finally came to me. The solution!

Instead of trying to hang the smaller hoop as a whole, I would hang the left to the left side of the big one and the right side to the right side of the big one. Ok, maybe that sounds obvious to you, but to me, it was a revelation. I'm so happy with the way these turned out. In fact, I love them! I think the hanging chains give them a unique look too. I also made this pair last night.

I've been prototyping these for a while in different variations - different sizes, different beads, different bead locations. I finally decided on Indian Pink swarovski crystals and I like the way it turned out. These fit my own personal style a lot - If I saw these in a store, I would probably buy them for myself. With thing like that I have a hard time gauging whether other people will like them. Anyway, I've seen other people do similar designs and I think there are a lot of possibilities, so I'll probably be trying some further variations.

Well, I've decided to do something other than jewelry making today (though I don't want to!). I have bee hives to build and paint and dandelion jelly to fix. I am expecting a shipment, so tonight I will resume...

Color Wheels

I've been thinking about these a long time and finally created them:

I'm pretty happy with them. I thought about buying some large loop chain and doing them, but then I thought I'd just do them with a lock and loop thing... the loop ends up falling down by the bead and I think it's ok. They're a little bit uneven - one's a bit longer than the other, but they actually turned out better than I thought they would - the bead ends up lining up right inside the hoop, so that was cool. I wore these to work today and I like them a lot. They may not be "fine art" but they are definitely totally wearable everyday kind of earrings. And so many possibilities... I could do single color beads. I could do teardrops.. I could do bead clusters. The possibilities are endless.

At work today I got an email about an arts display at one of our buildings, that is just available to employees. the visibility would be limited, but I would say in the hundreds. I sent in some photos and descriptions and said I could frame my jewelry in picture frames. I think most people will probably do photography, painting, etc. but I DO think my jewelry is art. So hopefully I will make the cut and maybe get a customer or two.

I was in a boring meeting at work today (which ones AREN'T boring is the obvious question) and I thought "I could do 5 o'clock earrings!" So I tried a prototype tonight and it kinda sucked, but I think the concept is still good. also thinking about a Martini design. So many possibilities... so little time. Tonight I had to plan a lesson plan for my tutoring session AND scoop the damn litterbox. I love my client and I love my cats BUT I HAVE JEWELRY TO MAKE. So nothing big accomplished tonight, but I have a big shipment coming on Saturday, so big plans for teh weekend. I order from an online store called Fire Mountain Gems and decided to bite the bullet and just buy 100 feet of 18 gauge and 20 gauge wire. the total came to $250 but they offer quantity pricing based on 15 quantity limits. So I had teh 2 wires in my shopping cart. Then I went out and looked at the sale beads, priced from $1 to $5 and just loaded up my basket. I ended up with 15 items in my basket and the cost was still $250 but I ended up with 13 types of beads... labradorite briolettes and amethysts and quartzite and turquoise... etc. etc. all for the same price I woud have paid for just the wire. One word for you: YAY!

I also have another concept piece in the works. It has square turquoise (imitation..sorry..I missed the fine print) and round jasper beads). The frame is rectangular. I can't quite get it to work, but eventually the images I see in my head will match reality!

Pearls!

I ordered some rice shaped cultured pearls in white and peacock and got them earlier this week, but havent' had time to try them out in any designs until today. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, based on a design I saw in a catalog. The ones in white I made BIG:

I like the way they turned out, but they are definitely not subtle. I then made them slightly smaller in the peacock color:

I like these also but I've found the dark colored beads sort of get lost in the color of my hair. The white ones really pop. I suppose I could wear my hair up, which I have actually been doing lately for the first time in my life (for the sole purpose of showcasing my earrings). Posted a few more things to etsy. Nobody's buying anything. Sometimes I get discouraged, but I keep making them anyway!

The Lisa

I knew I wanted to do an onyx and silver design in honor of my friend Lisa, but it took awhile tonight to come up with the right design. I did some prototypes in copper wire, which all sucked, but finally I came across this design, which has onyx, silver sire, and glass Czech beads that look like sterling silver, but are much cheaper.

I'm exhausted but really should make a matching one for this one lonely Lisa. I'm getting into a bad habit of only creating one earring and then getting bored. There are just so many designs I want to try out. I really want to use some of the new pearls I got, but I feel like I should match up some of the lonelies first. I wish I had more time.

PMC Crazy!

Here are the earrings I made in my PMC (precious metal clay) class:

Pretty groovy, huh? I made another set of earrings last night modeled after 5 yen coins and a "dream" button, which I'll have to glue to a backing. I got some more 26 gauge sterling silver wire in stock (25 feet) and some white pearls (rice shaped) and black ones. I've gotten into the bad habit of making one earring and getting bored and I need to stop doing that. Tonight I made some teardrop shaped stacked bead earrings - one with jasper, one with garnet. The jaspers looked ok but something was missing. I'm starting to get all mystical about it and decided that the design just wasn't bringing out the natural essence of the jasper. The garnet ones were much nicer, they reminded me of a basket of pomegranite berries, and I decided that our brains are naturally attuned to believe that anything that looks like food is beautiful (at least mine is).

Well enough rambling. I posted a few more to my etsy site at www.etsy.com/shop/lovelarisa. More in the works but this pesky 9 to 5 (7 to 5) job is really cramping my style. If only more people would buy my earrings. sigh....

P.So. I want a kiln!

The Judi

Jon's been bugging me to make his mother a pair of earrings for Mother's Day, but he doesn't like any of my ideas. He's clearly sick of hoops. I suggested quartz briolettes, but he said she liked color. I suggested red, and he said "subdued color." Sigh... But finally, tonight I was inspired.

I made these:

They have color, but not too bright color. They're not tiny, but not huge. They're not hoops! I have to admit, it actually feels good to make a pair of earrings that are not hoops. I mean, there are so many possibilities with hoops (and I'm halfway through making myself a pair of red and black agate self-hoops), but I was starting to think I was getting into a rut. I've also been craving a pair of blue earrings. I'm sort of sad to give these away (as is usually the case). These are made with Czech glass teardrop beads and silver wire, btw.

Anyway, today marked a big day for me. I made a double sale! And not to either one of my sisters! But she was a friend of my sister's (see the Pamela) from yesterday. She bought TWO pairs of earrings...the Pamelas and the moonstone and silvers (not sure if I posted them, but they are very similar to the Ursulas - just with white moonstones around the edge and 6 of them on each side instead of 4). I made a teeny profit, though after the paypal fees, packaging, etc. etc., I'm clearly not going to get rich at this hobby. BUT I can now buy more supplies! Yay! I'm thinking of saving up for a kiln.

Speaking of which, my next PMC class is tomorrow! I can't wait to see how my earrings turned out. Tomorrow, I'm going to use a 5 yen coin I have (with a hole in the middle) to base another pair of earrings on. I've been looking for some coin beads with holes in the middle, but couldn't find what I was looking for. So I'll just make them myself!

Well, that's all. This weekend I did try not to make too much jewelry, but I got moonstone madness. This morning I was making a pair and I realized that I was in FLOW. I've read about flow before and have experienced it from time to time, but earring making totally puts me there. I think I've found my passion in life.