Hurray!

Today I had my first-ever almost immediate sale! I listed a really striking necklace and earrings set, and a half hour later it had sold!

I must list more pieces that use very gemmy and flashy labradorite slabs I bought at the last Gem Faire. They enchant everyone who sees them. :D

Back and Forth

You may have noticed the sudden disappearance of my last blogged item! Well, some people suggested that perhaps I should not sell pieces made with the vintage beads before consulting with the gift-giver. He gave me the go ahead to sell, but not until after I gave into temptation and wore the malachite set myself. I'll make another one for sale, I promise.

In the meantime, here are two more pieces made with vintage beads:


It's Love - rose quartz and quartz necklace and earrings

Nightshade - amethyst and prehnite earrings

And get an eyeful of these:




She Sells Sea Shells - abalone, apatite, and kyanite earrings

They make me want to drive out to the coast and stay there!

First one!

Here's the first item listed made with the vintage beads I was given for my birthday:


Malachite necklace and earrings

I am very happy with how it turned out! It was so difficult to figure out how to price this piece. I'll never have those beads again, as almost all the malachite strands I see for sale these days are a lot lighter/milky. I just hope someone will love it as much as I do. :)

Weekend Creativity!

After suffering from a major creative block, I have finally had a break through! I went to see my parents and took all my beads with me (yes, it was a heavy load). I made a necklace for myself, one for a friend of my mom's, and two necklace & earring sets for sale. For the first time, I have made jewelry with bigger beads. I received an amazing birthday present this year, which included the beads in this picture:



These are all beads from the 70s and 80s, and a lot of them are cuts and colors I just don't see these days. The malachite is super dark Arizona malachite, which in no longer mined. I was amazed to be given these pieces from a large collection, and am determined to make jewelry out of them that will blow the mind!

Speaking of my birthday, 28 is wonderful and don't let anyone tell you differently. I loved being 27... there is this level of understanding I have now that I didn't have at 26. It might sound ridiculous of me to say that, but it is absolutely the truth. Last summer, my mind did this shift that brought on a whole new calm and peace into my mind.

That peace is reflecting in my work. Check out these iolite and blue chalcedony earrings and this prehnite and onyx necklace & earrings set. I couldn't be more proud!

Tomorrow I have the day to myself, and I hope to photograph my new creations, and just maybe I'll be inspired enough to make something amazing!

Process is stumbling

I had a nice full weekend pretty much to myself, so I figured it would be perfect for making more pieces.

Unfortunately, I sat down with my very full bead boxes, looked over my new beautiful chains, opened my packs of findings... and did pretty much nothing! I started with these lovely faceted citrine coins, but became frustrated because absolutely nothing goes well with them! Smoky quartz? Too dusty. Carnelian? Too ketchup & mustard. I put together a few links and then took them apart.

The smoky quartz intrigued me, though. I dropped the golden citrine and went for brown instead. Only the chain I was working with just did not compliment the shapes of the stones well, so I took that project apart.

Finally I settled on an oval link chain with faceted smoky quartz coins and a seraphinite coins. To add a playful touch, I hung a few 6mm smoky rounds from the links. It looks pretty good: earthy and sparkly.

Unfortunately, that's ALL I accomplished this weekend! I set up to take photographs of my new(er) pieces today, and my battery was low. By the time it finished charging, the sun had moved too high to get well-lit shots.

Ah well, here's to the near future. May it hold many creative opportunities!

Iolite

Iolite
Originally uploaded by salyx

Long time, no type!

Dear world,

I really do apologize for my disappearance! My new job requires me from 8 - 5 and involves hours upon hours of typing. Hence upon my return home I really want to do anything but sit at the computer!

Last weekend I attended all three days of Gem Faire! How could I miss it? Here are the new beautiful strands of beads I have to play with:







I had a huge draw to apatite and moonstone (three strands of each!), and I wonder if perhaps something is telling me to spend time at the beach soon. I happily have no plans for tomorrow, so hopefully a lot of beautiful pieces will be created and listed!

All things earthcharms are not totally lost in the mean time. I did manage to list four new items yesterday. :)