Midnight Kat Productions Art Jewelry

The Heat is On....

2012-01-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

Metal that is!!

Now that I have all of these lovely cut out bits in copper and bronze, it's time to add color them. I've played with alchol inks and paint before, but today I wanted to experiment with heat patinas. About half my bits are brass, and half are copper. The copper colored wonderfully... by the time I got to the last few bits I think I got the hang of it.. it doesn't take long to get a great purply-red and almost no time to loose it to an inky black. However black has it's place also.. but my point is it takes very little direct flame to color the copper.

The brass didn't color as well. That's OK, I'll do some more experiments on them.. I think maybe I need more flame, but the results are not consistent enough to be sure.. I'll do some research and try again. The top pic is brass, and the picture doesn't capture it well, but it has a very light pinkish shine in places.
None of the pictures capture the colors as bright as they are in person... I'll have to work on that as well!
Here is a group shot of all the copper I played with today.
Gorgeous color!!
only inky black! but I cleaned it off everything but the recesses and wow, it looks great! It turned the copper a darker color overall, I really like how it looks!
great hues from purple to green on this one!

This has been a good day!

2012-01-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at what I am working on right now!

Got up, got out of bed, ran a comb across my head....

OK, this isn't a Beatles song, but it's been a very good day, busy, productive and all around feel good kind of day.

Today was my Annual book treat outing to my Mom.

Every year for Christmas I buy my mom a gift card to Half-Price Books. That's only half of the present though, cause we make a day of it, hitting the book store, hitting Nan's Nummies for fudge ( and cookie for me!) and then out to eat somewhere. That's at a minimum.

We both look forward to our afternoon together, especially as we share a huge love of books. Mom got to reminiscing in the car this time around, and I learned that she still has a school friend who lives in Des Moines ( they both grew up in another state and moved to Iowa at different times)

They were friends from at least 5Th grade on, which means they have been friends for 70 years. They used to walk to school together.

WOW.

That's just so amazing!

I was suppose to pick up with Mom around 1pm, and since I got up early I putzed around the house, goofed on the computer and still had time to kill.

So I started working on something that's been teasing my brain for the last week or so... you can see a sneak peek at the top. I figured I could get it started, see if it would work or not... and after an hour of work I just couldn't stop.. I called Mom and she graciously agreed to a later pick up. Now I'm working with metal... cuting, bending, pounding, filing, and polishing. After almost 4 hours solid working with metals my both my hands hurt! I don't regret working on my new projects --- I'm very excited about them!! --- but maybe next time I'll chunk it out alittle and take a bunch of breaks to give my hands a rest.

I just wanted to get it finished so I could get to my Mom! I finally got all the pieces to the point where I could run them in the tumbler ( the photo is the load for the tumbler.. not everything pictured is for my current piece) and Left to pick Mom up.

I also set up the kiln to run a glass load while I was gone... I'm keeping fingers crossed that it turns out ... I'll have to check it either late tonight or tomorrow morning, it's still alittle hot right now.

It's almost 9pm now, I'm thinking I will just settle in and read one of the new books I have ( I scored a Georgette Heyer!! I haven't snagged a new Georgette in almost 2 months) and let my hands settle down ... and tomorrow I'll go to work again.

So great day... family, metalwork, fused glass, bakery goods and books. Woot!

who cares about chores????

2012-01-25T15:51:00.000-08:00

I have so MANY things that need to be done right now... household chores, researching art shows, filling out apps, doing bills, finishing up a commission, etc etc etc.

But I don't care!!

I order almost 2 lbs of mixed brass stampings, vintage glass cabs, vintage odds and ends, and it came in the mail today.

I'm going to sort, fondle, organize, and dream about what I'll make with my new goodies. I'm gonna put them in piles that make sense only to me, and store them in plastic bags. I'm going to count them and get some idea of what they cost me per piece. Some I'll put aside to sell on etsy, out with but most will be lovingly away in my stash. I might even make something tonight with them.

But I"m taking the night off and enjoying my treasure hunt!!

Fake it til you make it

2012-01-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

I started this months ago!! It's one of my fused glass cabs wrapped in Vintaj filigree. I got this far then stopped.. because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.

I am still not sure, but I've added chain and crystals and it will do for now.. if I get a better idea I'll just pull it apart and redo it.

That's one the the aspects of making jewelry that so appeals to me. I always try to make things that I'm proud of, but sometimes I have a hard time feeling "proud" of anything in my life. Everything I make (or do) looks crappy to my eyes, and everything just feels wrong. I become frozen in place, afraid of any move I make cause nothing I do will be right anyway.

So sometimes you just have to make it, and trust in your abilities and good taste, even if you aren't feeling it right then. Cause if you decide ( when you are feeling saner!!) that you can do it better, well, then you can do it better.

Sometimes you just have to put one foot in front of the other, even if you don't know where you are going, because moving is better than not moving.

Mental Health Weekend....

2012-01-21T12:26:00.001-08:00

Blues & purple, with dichro

I took Friday off from work as a mental health day. I finally got everything put away from my show last weekend, cleaned my studio ( and actually touch base in general house cleaning, as it's been neglected long enough to bother even my high threshold for dirty house!) and finally, finally got to play with glass. The nice thing is I"m pretty much free from household chores for the rest of the weekend cause I got most of it done Friday! WOOT!

I have 2 glass runs ready to go. I'm trying to make a artsy, net-like candle holder, so these 2 pictures show the glass ready to melt in the kiln. I put the top picture load in last night, and I'll run the blue/green load in tonight. My kiln will be cool enough soon so I 'll see what it looks like.. can't wait!!

Once I have the glass cleaned up, I'll run them trough the kiln again on the mold to slump them into shape.

Blues and Greens

Here's what my glass desk looks right right now... I'm setting up a pendant batch right now.
I went to the beady garage sale at Artistic Bead this morning... some really yummy stuff!
This crystal is to die for!!!
I got some yummy crystals, odd and ends, brass bits, metal clay tools, and a run of Art Jewelry from 2007. After the sale went out to eat at Maxie's for lunch with a friend. They really do have great onion rings!

And I stop by Nan's Nummies and got treats for this afternoon.

The only way this weekend would be better is if I get my package today.. but it's OK if I don't. With the garage sale stuff I've got hours of fun already.

Still, it's been an excellent weekend so far, I feel much more mentally healthy!

Random chores

2012-01-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Last batch of glass almost a month ago... urrrrrr!

I can't wait to get back to glass this weekend!!! I have 1 commission, and then I can do whatever I want this weekend in the studio!!

Well, actually I"ll probably clean it. Getting ready for that show last weekend I've not really put anything away, just stirred stuff on my desk around.

But I"m dyin' to get back to glass.

And I need to clean the house.. at least alittle. Or they will take away my Wife and Mom licence for making my family live in a substandard way. Damn.

This weekend is the Beady Garage Sale at the local shop.. I always look forward to that!
( I need to remember to buy black matte seeds in 6 or 8 or both.. almost out.....)

I'm working on a big order with some friends.. got to get that done too.

And I need to keep working on getting my jewelry transferred from Artfire to Etsy.

OH, and my daughter state play competition starts this weekend.. and I promised my mom to take her to the book store....

OH CRAP! I have 2 weeks to do my end of year taxes for the business and pay sales tax for 3-4 states.

I need to pull my Bead Soup Blog goodie bag for my partner Silver Parrot (OK, that's more of a pleasure than a duty!!)

ugh. Maybe I won't get to glass this weekend after all.... rats

artfire? etsy? artfire? etsy? something else????

2012-01-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

Online selling. ugh.

Short story long, I've been trying to sell my jewelry online for over 5 years.

Now don't get me wrong, I totally understand with my time constraints It's never going to be a steady income stream.

I work full time, I'm a wife, a mom, a so-so house keeper and I don't get enough sleep as it is. Somewhere in all of those roles, I have to find time to make art. Finding time to sell it too is HARD.

I do 20-25 shows each year, and time is a serious issue.

I tried for 2 years to sell jewelry directly on my website -- I had a sales cart set up and everything.

I never sold anything that way. No traffic to speak of... and it's very hard to set up and maintain a shopping cart.

So I scaled down my website, deleted the cart and just linked to Etsy. I sold something maybe every 3-4 months on average.

Not quite 2 years ago I learned about Artfire, and last year went "pro" on it, and moved most of my jewelry to it.

I haven't hardly sold anything since that move.

I opened a new Etsy shop in July to sell destash items (mkpdestash) and I'm selling something almost every week.

So it seems like a good time to try Etsy again for jewelry on my old Etsy site MKPjewelry . Now I know selling jewelry vs. selling supplies is a much different thing, but Etsy seems to have much more traffic than Artfire overall, and they have made changes the last year that I really like. (And Artfire has made changes I don't!)

But I want to do it right.. I'm tired of the categories of "bracelets" and "necklaces". I've been trying to focus my jewelry over the last year more into "lines" so I'm working on getting all of the artfire listings transferred to Etsy and categorized by line instead of function.

I'll be talking more about this in the coming weeks ( months? remember my time issues!) for for example, the necklace pictured today would fall under my "Romantic Fancies" line. This line is where I use brass stampings, vintage jewelry bits, crystals, stones, found items, glass etc. to make a wide range of jewelry with a vintage flair but modern aesthetics. The piece above has modern brass stampings made with vintage tooling, vintage & modern glass leaves and flowers, crystals and chain.

I'll keep both sites up for a couple of months, and see how it goes. Then one or the other is going to get closed down... I just don't have the time or energy to market 2 different jewelry sites to sell on.

So take a look at both of them... Artfire , and then the Etsy.

Let me know which one you like. Or let me know if there is something in peculiar you like about the sites.. I want to know.

Well it's the 3rd day of the show........

2012-01-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

and while I don't believe I"ll choose to do a gym meet in the future, it's been a pleasant experience so far. Just not profitable, at least in economic terms.

First for those of you in Des Moines it's being held at Vet's, and it now has floors. Serious!! They were not kidding about renovations. I mean, they added actual levels to the building!! It now has 4 floors and a Mezzo.

For those not in Des Moines and have no clue what I'm talking about, Vets is (was) a old fashion stadium, as in one big giant huge 3 story tall box of a room, to hold basketball games, concerts etc.

But now it has floors! It floored me! (hehehehe)

And they are very nice floors! We are on the Mezzo, with carpeting and really lovely bathrooms ( again, for those who know DSM, that isn't something that has ever been said about the bathrooms at Vet's before)

All my fellow vendors and the nice show volunteers are just super -- friendly, fun to talk to, and just down right nice as peaches.

The event has over 800 girls participating, with attendant family, friends, coaches etc. So I would guess 2000-3000 people have walked by my booth so far this weekend.

So the venue is super nice.

It's just that I'm not selling much. January is never a stellar month for jewelry anyway, coming on the heels of Christmas and large credit card bills, and I had no idea how well I would do at a large gymnastics meet, so I'm not crushed or anything; I view it as a learning experience. I can cross off doing this kind of thing from my list, though if it wasn't 4 very long days ( 8am to 9pm) you never know. ( say, 4 hours, on a weekend and free.. probably give it a go! )

I think the biggest factor is jewelry is mostly an impulse buy, and most of the adults are so focused on their kids right now, and aren't thinking impulsively. (and I think that's great on every level but the money one!! )

Still I've sold a few things (including my chain experiment necklace !! ) and had some great chats with vendors / customers/ browsers / etc.

and I've been very productive!! I've made several pieces while at the show -- here are some of them...

Rainbow chainmail!
These are mine!!!! the keys have a cat on them!

Here's a view of the dragonfly necklace I made, it has 3 strands on 1 side and 1 strand on the other... I"m really getting into this asymmetrical stuff!
close up of the pendant part.. the dragonfly is wrapped/ draped around the crystals.

Grand Tour: blanks and browns

2012-01-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I 'll be sharing here on my blog
This one is all about wanting to play with my new toys. I finally got my hands on the new Vintaj embossing /etching plates and had to experiment. Now mind, this was in November, I'm running a few blog entries behind. So I had all of these lovely art metal pieces featuring owls, so of course I needed to make something with them!

I have so many browns and yellows, and most of them are vintage glass

I am so into chain right now, but I wanted something else to make the pieces pop. Owls like many birds have gorgeous coloration, including very striking black and brown markings. That made me think of some vintage brown beads I have that are called "tortoise shell" because they are this great swirly mix of browns, creams and blacks. Perfect for owls!!

Grand Tour : Rhinestones

2012-01-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I 'll be sharing here on my blog

I love these images... someone took old paintings, added new backgrounds and cat kids to make new art, which I purchased for resin projects.

I've used them a few times, but lurking back in my heart was the idea of medieval miniatures or cameos using these images.

So when I saw these bezels on Etsy, I had to have them. They have that delightful old world feel with the swoops and details. they require rhinestones, so fortunately I have a stash of them, vintage and otherwise.

I really want these to feel old, not just look good, so before I applied the glass bubble top, I added a couple of layers of mica to give it that sepia tone. I also crinkled up one of the layers, to complete the more "aged" look to the "painting"

It's hard to capture by my camera, but you get some idea of the finished product here.. it really does look like a old painted portrait of a grand feline lady!

I haven't decided yet if I"m making these into necklaces or if I'll leave them as pendants.

Random Thoughs & Flea Market Finds

2012-01-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

I just signed up for the Bead Soup Blog Party and I hope I get in!

Went to the flea market today at the Des Moines Fair Grounds. I found a couple of worthy things:

Yummy Crystals!
close up, old chandelier part. it's 2-3/4 inches long, and it sparkles like crazy! I only spend a $1.00 on it, and I'm wishing she had more this size. (well she had one other but it wasn't in good shape) The rest were way too big.

The necklace is vintage crystals in volcano, rose, and medium vitriol. I will be taking this apart for, well, parts! ( there are cool brass frames around the crystals)

I didn't make resolutions this year, either personally or for my business. However, in the current economic climate, I think it's important to be open to new opportunities. With that in mind, when I got invited to a unique selling venue I jumped at it.

The show starts this Thursday and runs through Sunday night. I don't believe the venue is open to the public, but it's at the old vet's building during a gymnastics competition.

Since there will be hundreds of little girls there I've been busy making thing specifically for kids, at friendly kid pricing. I'll be featuring my normal line of yummy jewelry as well of course.

Since the show involves long hours and possible down times during active events, I'm planning on taking lots of stuff to play with... chainmaile, brass bits, wire etc.

If nothing else I'll get lots of inventory made for Spring shows!!

And I'm looking forward to the positive energy that several hundred bright, smart and active girls will generate -!

My family and I will be taking a 7 day cruise this summer! can't wait!!!!! Since this will probably be the last big family trip while little bit is a kid ( she's 15 now!!!) I want it to be extra special.. we booked a suite on the boat. I know that makes it more expensive but I figure you have to live once in a while. That means the room its much bigger, and we get a private balcony.

I'm also trying to get another week off of work, either before the cruise or after, and if I can, we spend a few days in New Orleans, and maybe hit St. Louis for a day or 2. I'm not planning that part of the trip in case I can't get the time off. Keep your fingers crossed!!

I've found another romance writer that I'm nutty about .. Barbara Metzger. So far I've only read 4 of her books, but I've liked them all, especially Father Christmas and Christmas Wishes. I laughed out loud so much reading these 2 books I got Jerry interested (until he figured out I was reading my romances again) Wishes especially is a hoot and holler. If you like Georgette (Heyer) you will like Barbara!

My New Toy...

2012-01-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Here's what I can do with my new squasher! these are all brass or copper...
I had a great holiday!!! What did you get for Christmas?? I bet I can beat whatever it is... My brother (with help from his bro-in-law) made me a 12 ton hydraulic press for jewelry making!!!! woot!!! wooo hooo!!!!! yippeee!!!!! (wild, enthusiastic clapping with a wolf whistle thrown in ) The press is the black and red thingie on the right side of the picture.

Now my hubby needs to drill a couple of holes and bolt it to the table so it won't fall on my toes when I use it ( it weights 48 lbs) but that hasn't stop me playing with it!
This shows how pancake dies work.. they "pinch" the shape out of the metal.
Here is a pancake die between 2 plastic boards in full squash mode in the press.

I can also use if I'm careful sizzix dies. There are lots of stuff you can do with a press, for now I"m mostly going to be making my own blanks for jewelry.. Jerry wants to squash a watch in it, that might actually make an interesting piece of jewelry!!

Taking a break for a few weeks...

2011-12-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

look at my messy desk!

I'm taking a break from the blog for a few weeks for the holidays, so I just want to wish everyone a HAPPY X-MAS AND A MERRY NEW YEAR!!!

Random Thoughts

2011-12-17T20:08:00.001-08:00

We went and visited my Great Aunt Poss today in Missouri. She's a tough old bird of 93 born this month in 1918.

Can you imagine how different life is now than it was when she was born??

My Dad was born in 1929. He just turned 82 yesterday.

I'm 43. When I think how things have changed in Poss's and Dad's lifetime, I wonder, with great anticipation, what things will be like when I"m 82 or 93.

Seriously, could flying cars be out of the question? A colony on the moon? Everything in your house controlled by a chip installed in your head? (they are working on this last one)

Think how the Internet has changed things just in 25 years.

I remember when I bought my first computer in 1993 and I discovered the Internet via AOL. Do kids my daughter's age even understand how revolutionary AOL was? It was the first mass Internet provider that made it easy for the average joe to get online.

newsnet anyone? When I first started beading/making jewelry, newsnet forums where the place to start.

When I was a kid, Atari seemed like the kewlest thing ever.. I mean playing games on the TV??

Now we have WII, but more importantly I can play games on my cell phone.. heck I can read books, surf the Internet and more with my phone and it fit's in my pants pocket!

While I look forward with delight to the future, I still love the past.

Several years ago Poss gave me a necklace that belonged to her Aunt. It's a lovely Edwardian brass pendant with chatons on it.

Now that I create pieces using brass stampings, that necklace inspires me. Heck some of the stampings I use are made using tooling from 100 years ago.

I like to add touches to brass stampings to give it a more modern vibe, yet retain that vintage flavor.

I wonder what great materials and tools I'll be using in the future... while enjoying vintage materials and tools from the past.

I post this under protest....

2011-12-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

Jerry demanded I post this. So I will... and all I can say is ick!

The above picture is the stint Jerry took out this evening from his surgery last week. To be clear, he had a string coming out of his male member, and this is what it was attached to. His post op instruction was to "take a warm shower and pull"

He is deliriously happy to have this out, but oh my! it's much much larger than we thought....

Jerry has decided to keep it as a memento, possibly hanging it on the fridge as a reminder if they tell him to restrict his diet at his follow up in 5 weeks. (let me say Ick! again)

But I'll allow it if it works.. cause neither of us EVER want to go through this again!!

Grand Tour : Bugles

2011-12-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I 'll be sharing here on my blog

I have a love-hate relationship with bugles. I love how they can look in a piece but they are dangerous!! Unlike most other "seed beads" , they are not fire polished as one of the steps, so they can have sharp sharp edges. I tend to not use them in seed bead projects just for that reason, and I've even had them cut thin beading wire from time to time. So you need to be careful and selective in how you use them. I usually try to use them in pieces that will not be stressed as much or with stronger thread or wire. So don't be surprised while this Grand Tour started out with bugles, they became only a small part of the finished piece.

I also pulled from my fiber box, which is *small* right now. I really wanted to incorporate at least something from the box.. so I pulled out this great green/gold/brown/turquoise ribbon and just had to use it. I ended up using bugles, fiber, crystals, seed beads, and even brass stampings to make this necklace. I'm not completely sure I like the fiber in the necklace... but I love how the earrings look!
yummy colors! Sharp edges!

Hubby doing great!

2011-12-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

This is shortly before Jerry's surgery on Thurs... It went super fast ( maybe 25 minutes?) and it had the best possible outcome.... the doctor got the stone ( which will be tested and hopefully future ones can be prevented once we know what kind this one is) Jerry is no longer in pain. Or at least compared to having the stone lodged, it's not painful.

for those who wondered, the book I picked was Sylvester, the wicked uncle by Georgette Heyer. It's excellent by the way.

so all the angst for nothing ( thank goodness!! ) other than to reinforce just how much I love this guy.

You all have a lovely weekend and make sure you hug and kiss your loves ones every chance you get.

I must pick the perfect book today....

2011-12-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a hell of a week.... had a good show, came home, got sick, hubby got sick. I got well but he's got a more serious issue, a kidney stone.

He's had one before last February. With that one he had pain during the night, finally couldn't keep still and hurt so much he woke me up and had me take him to the emergency room. I've never been so shocked.. this guy just doesn't feel pain like a normal person, so for him to be in pain enough to bring it up, let alone trot him to the emergency room??? It was down right scary, especially as we weren't sure yet what the problem was. Sure, a kidney stone was a good possibility, but if you haven't had one before, how would you know for sure??

It's beyond belief that something the size of a sesame seed can cause this kind of pain.

Several hours at the hospital ( and a morphine drip) he passed the stone. Regretfully he didn't catch it in the strainer ( if you don't know, don't ask.) The doctor stated he might have them from time to time or never have the problem again.

So this past Sunday morning at the show he woke up with back pain. It didn't take long to figure out he had another kidney stone. After a couple of hours, he felt better, so we assumed he passed the stone, just like last time.

Monday I woke up feeling crappy.. and so did Jerry. This time he vomited, and by the end of the day we were back in the emergency room for another several hours and a morphine drip. This time it didn't pass at the hospital. Damn.

They could see the stone, and advised him (again) he would probably pass it in a day or 2, but if he didn't then they recommended a urologist for further steps.

So a visit to the emergency room and to a urologist, Jerry in major pain off and on this week, and I had a virus or something, and all the normal stuff in our daily lives... this week has been fun.

He still hasn't passed the stone, so this morning he has lab work and this afternoon they will surgery remove the stone. If everything goes well, he comes home today. It's not considered a risky procedure, but all surgery has risks.

So I need to keep my mind occupied today. I need that perfect balance of a book, one that takes me away from my anxiety about my husband yet allows me to snap back to reality in an instant if need be. Something that will last 5 + hours during all of this mess. Should I reread something tried and true, or something unread before, but by a reliable author? Take a chance on something completely new?(you would not believe the books on the "to be read" pile on our TV right now.. so I took the picture as proof)

Cause I need to shut off my brain. I have a creative mind, it insists on running through all the possible permutations of today, when all I want to think of is fast, easy and completely successful surgery. And a speedy, complication free recovery. Or I don't want to think at all.

I think I'll take extra books just in case the first one doesn't work.

Post show notes and fusing in my future

2011-12-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

The Show in Iowa City this weekend went pretty well considering the economy, half of the show was jewelry ( though I'm pleased to report only 1 was most certainly buy/sell .... most of the jewelry was just out of this world) and always not fun unload /load up at this building. ( 100 odd artists and only maybe 10-12 "official" loading spaces)

We had a group shop lifting today around 230pm or so, they got us for 1 bracelet, 2 pendants and 1 pair of earrings.

I'm never happy when things walk out of the booth without getting paid, but it is just part of the business. Most of the time, after almost 15 years of doing this, you just shrug and move on. I think overall I've been lucky, as it really doesn't happen that much.. I will say it seems to happen more in winter shows.. I don't know if this is how some folks shop for Christmas or if it's something about being inside instead of outside, or if being crammed into a small space we just can't watch as well.

I really hate shoplifting, but at least this time they didn't take any of my "best" pieces. You always have pieces that mean more to you, are like little pieces of your soul. It's hard to be all "professionally" detached like I am today when it is something you really put your heart into. I mean I love everything I make, but realistically some pieces mean more.

Right now it's probably the etched pieces I'm making that would hurt me the most if they walked away. I like some of the new cuffs so much I almost didn't put them out for sale!

Speaking of love... now that I'm done with shows for at least a couple of months, now I can really devote time to playing with glass again. I made this bowl last weekend, it's kind of quirky but I like it.. I hope to make another this weekend. I also want to make more fused cabs, and play with glass clay. I've got a bunch of ideas ... and without shows on the horizon I can afford to have some play time!

my new bowl upside down

Etching yet again....

2011-11-30T16:29:00.000-08:00

It's been cleaned up, and sealed, and now you can really see the details. I love how LOS can give subtle color to metals, very hard to photograph.

Here is one of the panels for my segmented bracelet's cleaned up. I'm hoping to get both of them assembled before my Iowa City show this weekend, but I'm sure to get one of them done...

More Etching

2011-11-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

Like anything worth doing, etching takes several steps. You decide on the patterns, and apply the resist.

You dip in acid and then carefully neutralize the acid and clean it up.

And then it's time to add color to make the patterns pop! The funny thing is they look sort of, well, ugly until you clean some of the LOS off and seal it...

That's tomorrow's job... I want to get at least a couple of these done and really to go for my last show of the year, Thieves Market in Iowa City this weekend. I'll have pictures tomorrow of 1 or 2 finished bracelets!

More Etching in the future....

2011-11-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this 5x5 brass sheet for a couple of weeks. I've got about 4 other etching projects ready to go, and tomorrow is the day to dig out the acid and get it done. My plan on this sheet is the saw out interesting shapes to make at least 1 bracelet, possible other items. The last time I tried to etched a whole sheet it didn't turn out well but I have a good feeling about this one.. for one I have a better idea of what the heck I"m doing!!

Things I am thankful for ...

2011-11-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

These are presented in no real order, other than the Family and Friends!

Family, friends, cute distractions (see photo above)

birth control (now if it was 100% effective, free to everyone and completely encouraged for everyone to use)

Sleeping in.

4 day weekends! (woot!)

A sense of humor (or something I use for one)

working long enough at my $$ job to be granted another week of vacation!

Having a $$ job to grumble about!

The satisfaction and peace I gain when I make jewelry.

Good customers!

Cpap machines

seeing colors, hearing song.

Gay Marriage in Iowa.

Still having my parents on this earth with me.

My IPhone. love love love it! wish I hadn't waited so long to get a smart phone.

How cute my hubby is when he laughs

Having 1 child and only 1 child. And that child is so darn wonderful!

books, books booooooksss...

The Beatles

Blue October

Ingrid Michaelson

many other music artists!

That I live in the US, what ever it's faults, it's still the best game in town!

The colors in the fall leaves

getting mail.

I could go on, and probably will in my head all weekend. I realize some folks might look at this random list and conclude my thankfuls are rather shallow and small.

But it's the small things that make the big, horrid stuff you have no control over bearable.

I hope and wish everyone a great Thanksgiving weekend!

quick Random thoughts

2011-11-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

I'm working on both etching and fused glass projects, I hope to have them complete and show you end results this weekend!

I love my IPhone.. seriously in a few short months it's become invaluable to me. I'm evening changing over from a paper planner to one on my phone.

But boy, the automatic spell checker! It's really sneaky how it works. As you type in the word, it starts to think of suggestions, and you have to click on them if they are wrong... and just hit the space bar if they are right. I"m mostly used to it, but sometimes I"ll be spelling words that I know how to spell, twist around the letters without realizing it.. and since I don't expect the spell checker, I just blithely type away.

My favorite unrealized spelling error yet is "bra celery" when I accidentally but a space in bracelet. ouch!

I've put a few feelers out for galleries. Keeping fingers crossed.

For the holidays' I'm offering free US shipping in my Artfire shop... Good through Nov 30Th. I have plans to get a few new pieces listed in the next few days.... and if you see anything on facebook or the blog that hasn't made it to artfire yet, let me know you saw this and I'll honor free shipping on that piece of jewelry also! I've also reduced shipping to Canada and other countries for this special as well.

My last show for the year is coming up fast!! Dec 3rd & 4Th In Iowa City at the Iowa memorial Center on campus.

My family and I have decided to take a long family vacation this summer... I"m soooo excited!! I'm not sure of dates or just how long yet, waiting on my day job vacation scheduling. We hope to meander by car up to New Orleans, take a cruise to Mexico, and then meander back to Iowa. I know it sounds very ambitious ( and vague at this point) but with my daughter growing up (15, ACK!) we are running out of time to take long family trips together. So this one will be special!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and as much turkey/ham/whatever the special dish is for you and yours!

Grand Tour VIII: old jewelry

2011-11-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

I could call this the chain grand tour also... and the great thing is this piece is almost entirely made from items I bought at the flea market back in October!

I have 7 different chains in gradated sizes cascading down from a re purposed vintage broach. The broach pin on this was broken in a way you couldn't fix... so I carefully removed it and filed and sanded the back for safety's sake.
The rhinestones in this one are glass, I imagine this is early 60's because of it's style, but they are pronged so it's possible it's little older. They are a great tanzanite color. The tassel is from another vintage necklace.

I wanted the chains to increase in size, so everything on this is vintage except 2 of the chains, to give me the size spread I wanted.

I had a bunch of fun making this and working out issues such as weight balance.

Random thoughts

2011-11-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

I'm staying up too late again.

It's that time of year to be thankful. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could hold that feeling of gratitude in our hearts all the year round? I know, if pigs could fly......

How many woman melted when Jack stated to Helen " you make me want to be a better man"

You know, it's been years since I've seen As good as it gets.. I wondered if I remembered it wrong.
Nope.

My work show went very well! I sold some stuff I am really proud of, such as etched bracelet # 2, and of course the bonus is now I need to work on etched #3. I've got ideas swirling in my head already.. hehehehehehehe!!

I just packed my resin lot for mailing. I reused some zip-locks ( very clean, honest! ) I do this partly cause I'm cheap ( after all, it's a couple pennies more to spend on crystals or something) and partly cause if they are clean and in good shape, reusing them helps the environment.

Still I got to wonder if people who buy jewelry components from me wonder what the heck?, as I write on baggies all the time. For example one of the reused bags had "waxed" on it. Boy, that could lead to interesting conversations, couldn't it?

(for the curious, I used it prior to house some pendants that I'd already used Renaissance wax on but hadn't waxed everything in that pile yet...)

My daughter was in the fall school play, and did a bang up job of it. I'm soooooo proud of her!! I am hopeful she's found her passion in life, at 15, instead of 27-ish.

I really need to update website, blog etc. I've been making jewelry now for 16 years, and selling it for "officially" for 14 + . I realized this today at my work show... people would ask me if I made this ( pointing to a bracelet or something) and I would proudly say "why yes!" and proceed to over share in my joy and enthusiasm.

I usually get a laugh when I tell people why my company is named Midnight Kat Productions. While I actually started to play around with it just before I got pregnant, I really got into it just before Little Bit was born. The only time I could make things (productive) was late at night after everyone was in bed or at work ( Jerry worked nights at the time) So, Midnight Kat Productions.

Every few years I get the notion of changing my name to something else. All of the books/ magazine articles etc tell you to name your company something descriptive that tells them off the bat what you are doing. Example, "Kat's custom jewelry" or something. ( OK, that one is Ugh! but you know what I'm selling from the name)

But nothing else really pings in my soul so I don't. I did add "Art Jewelry" for my online stuff a few years ago, and I added to my newest batch of business cards " Jewelry Artist" so hopefully I have that whole descriptive thing covered.

I'm temporary on a different floor at the money job while they renovate my regular area. I love love love the floor I'm on now. the pod is bigger, and the pods are spaced out more, and the walls are higher and I'm right by a window, and I'm on the side of the building that actually gets sunlight. There is just so much more light on this floor!!

I walk in sunshine.... I kept thinking that today at work. It's a literal thing, but it's more. I have generally been happier at work the last 2 weeks, and I think it's because the work environment is so much more open and inviting and happy. I think some of the sunshine is actually coming from inside and not just the windows.... I walk in sunshine is a metaphor.

Makes me wonder if I have a touch of that winter depression stuff...

I'm staying up too late again.

Resin Deal.... SOLD

2011-11-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

Resin has been purchased, thank you !

Grand Tour VII: Red and Green ( boy, what does THAT make you think of ?)

2011-11-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I 'll be sharing here on my blog.

I can't help it! I'm getting into Christmas early this year! I'm normally very disciplined with myself, and try to contain it til the day after Thanksgiving, but it's not working this year. I think I'll watch White Christmas or Holiday-inn tonight!! And I think I'll go ahead and load Christmas music back on my ipod!

So what got me in a red and green mood? Some of the fault lies in the fact I've actually got Holiday shows this year. The last couple of years I haven't really done shows this time of year (the exception being Black Friday Market Day.. I"m not doing it this year but it's still a wonderful shopping experience!) So if I'm going to be at shows during the holiday season I might as well have holiday stuff right?
And I ordered this very kewl Christmas wreath clasp, which I just had to play with!
So knocking off my red and green boxes of glass beads seemed to be a grand idea!

So, hate me - or not - for being into Christmas early this year.

We Interrupt today's blog with this important.....

2011-11-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

Look! all four babies on the couch together! all doing their own thing even...

OK, I now have 3 holiday shows, 2 in the next week! So today's plan is to march right up to the studio and work work work. I need to get a few more items done in those classic Christmas colors red and green ( more on that next blog) and repack everything, plan out my displays ( as my space won't be the normal 10x10 for any of these shows, and I want to create a holiday mood or at least 1 area for the Christmas stuff!) and print stuff out and and and ...

But I had to share these... new clasps I bought (and I'm selling a few extra on etsy) I've never seen Christmas toggles before, and these are just beyond cute! I've used several now on bracelets for my upcoming shows.
This coming Saturday I'll be in Grimes for the FOFA show 9-3pm.

Then next Wednesday I'll be having a show at work (so it's not listed on my website, only fellow employees are allowed in the building)

December 3 & 4Th I'll be doing Thieves Market in Iowa City. I've done this show before but not for a couple of years, so I'm exited to be back in Iowa City!

Grand Tour VI: American Lampwork

2011-11-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I'll be sharing here on my blog

I love lampwork, I buy more than I should. So this time out I strolled through the box of lampwork beads by American Artists, most of them I know. I picked out a very interesting bead ( and made by Gothic Glass ) and made a pendant using sterling wire.

Look at all the goodies I'm still hording!! I love these so much, it's really hard to actually use them in jewelry.....

Part of the machine and studio musings

2011-11-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

OK, I had one last catch up picture in my files. This steampunk inspired pendant is made with copper and brass. I wanted the gears/cogs to rotate but I riveted them 2 strongly. I think I'll try it again sometime, I have a couple ideas on how to rivet looser to allow them to turn, but not so loose as to be ridiculous.

On the bright note, they are certainly not going to fall off!!

This weekend I'm working very hard to cleaning up my studio and re-arranging it. Last year I did this with the idea of individual work stations. It worked OK up to a point, but my metalwork and my glass shares space, so if I wanted to work on the one, I had to put away the other. I'm now working on creating 4 areas.

My primary bead/wire/etc desk will still be in the same old spot, but I'm moving the computer table and sharing that space with the "painting/resin" area. I don't paint or use resin all the time, but when I do it takes space ( especially as it requires drying time) so when ever I did do it, everything else sort of came to a screeching halt. What this means is the computer will live on that table, and the painting /resin supplies will live right by it. If I am in a paint mode I'll move the laptop. I've been using my laptop more and more in the studio, but the beauty of a laptop is it's easy to move! I can set it up on the day bed if I need to use it during a painting session.

I'm moving all of my metals to the bench the kiln used to be on. (I'm almost finished with this)

the second bench will be set up for glass working. I've finally dedicated a table to taking photos only ( something I've dreamed of doing for a year!)

And the kiln's new permanent home is right by the glass bench, which would facilitate using it. I'm really anxious to get back to glass fusing, I've been wanting to do so for weeks!!

My goal tomorrow is to finish the studio redo, and bonus points if I actually get a glass load going!!

Georgette Heyer

2011-11-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

I've gotten some further questions on Georgette Heyer, The author I mention last time in my blog. Since I'm on a mad for her and her books, I have absolutely no problem talking about her!

You can read a mini bio on Wiki , among other sites, so I shan't bore you with regurgitated facts about her life.

Instead I will share with you how I first met her works.

First I must share a confession, what my dear hubby has referred to as my dangerous infection: I suddenly like romance books.

Never really liked them before, and like most folks who don't read romance I was snobbish about it, and "pitied " romance readers for their poor taste in books ( with the caveat that at least they read books)

I take it back... yes there is some really trashy stuff out there, but some of it is quite good. Or at least decent reads and it must serve a need, or romance books wouldn't be the best selling genre in the US. (seriously, go check it out.. you are on the Internet already!!)

I could write several blog entries on why I think they are needed and my somewhat humorous musings on the "formula" of romances (My page 200 formula) but I am getting off track here.

Anyway, 4 months or so ago, I ran out of my book early at work, and there happens to be pile of books in the break room for folks to read. They are used paperbacks and since most of my fellow co-workers are female, most of the pile is romance. I picked up a book that happened to be a period romance, and quite to my surprise enjoyed it. That made me dig through the pile every few days and read another one.

I learned very quickly that I like historical the best, and regencies in peculiar. ( 1795 to approx 1840 is generally considered "regency" though the actual event it's named after - when King George's son was made regent was only 12 or so years long) I would go so far as to say the attraction for me is as much period pieces as the romance. I don't really like modern ones so far. (yes I've tried a few out of the work stash..)

I am very very fortunate that in the first few weeks I hit one of Georgette's books, The Devils' Cub.

The book didn't really fit the formula that most of the romances I've read do. The writing was filled with wit and charm and out and out belly laughs in a few places. And no actual sex scenes. Merely "Thoroughly Kissed" Hey, I like sex scenes as much as the next gal, but I don't need them to like a book! And all of her books are thoroughly researched by Heyer. Reading one of her romances is like reading Jane Austen who lived in that time period, but with enough extra in it to actually get some idea of what the heck she's talking about. (Jane didn't have to explain what something was as she lived it)( I adore Jane also so no hate email!)

I liked the book enough to do a quick Internet search on Georgette and learned she's considered the Mom of regency romances if not historical romances. She wrote over 50 books beginning in 1922 and ending only at her death in 1974 ( and one book published posthumously, in 1975)

She also wrote a string of mysteries of which I'm reading my first one right now. So far I like it very well, her characters are just so engaging. She wrote a few historical books of which I've read one so far (Simon the cold heart) which is my least favorite book so far.

So I borrowed a few from the library and liked her even more. So now I'm buying used books as fast as I can... I really like the newest series of reprints of her books, from Sourcebooks Casablanca. They are really well made trade size paperbacks with large printing. The covers are lovely paintings of the time era. Best of all they seem to be re-releasing a Heyer every month! Heaven! So I've been hitting used books store both on-line and off and buying Heyer, preferably in the Sourcebooks edition.

My favorite books so far, in no real order:

Arabella (1949) (OK, this really is my favorite to date!)
Frederica (1965)
The Grand Sophy (1950)
These Old Shades (1926)
Cotillion (1953)
The Convenient Marriage (1934)
The Unknown Ajax (1959)
The Corinthian (1940)
Devil's Cub (1932)

I could go on, at least 10 more, which is about what I've read so far.

If you want a book to start with , any of the above would be excellent, especially Arabella, Frederica, The Grand Sophy or Devil's Cub.

I have no doubt I'll be reading and rereading Heyer for years to come. I already want to reread Devil's Cub and The Convenient Marriage but alas, I don't own them... yet....

I am the soap fairy and other random musings

2011-10-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

I don't ever want to test this theory, but if something were to happen to me, I'm sure my family would be fine, but dirtier, Cause I am the soap fairy. ((goo goo g'joob)

I am the only one in the family to replace the bar of soap when it gets too tiny to use. If I am not there, I'm not sure what they are doing, but it's not using soap. I tested the theory a few years ago, and put in the new bar for me, and took it out again for 2 days. No one said anything about it. I lost my nerve and left it in the bathtub on the 3rd day.

Same with shampoo, toilet paper, Kleenex and probably clean clothes. Food I'm sure would be no problem, they are great at foraging for themselves. ( and leaving the proof on the counter in the kitchen)

I've had my studio covered with comics I've been trying to sell for the last 3 months or so. I am completely tired of it, and I've demanded they be exiled back to the closet from whist they came. I did actually get rid of a chunk and even made a few bucks, but I want my studio back! It wasn't such a big deal when we had shows all the time, I didn't really have time to make anything but quick stuff. But I'm yearning to play with glass again, and that requires getting my studio picked up and the comics out of the way! I've kept one box out to try to sell, and when I get rid of them I'll get another box out of the closet. At least they are more or less organized again.

My little 15 year old is in a play at school this week. It's amazing how fast they grow!! When I started making jewelry she was a babe in arms. Now she's in 9Th grade and has possibly found her passion in life. Or maybe not, it's hard to tell with a 15 year old. I can't wait to see her in it!

I have 2 shows now for winter, FOFA Craft Show 9-3pm, Dallas Center-Grimes High School on Nov 12Th and Thieves Market Dec 3-4Th in Iowa City.

I've been on a huge reading kick. I've discovered an Author named Georgette Heyer. I adore her and I've been buying her books used as fast as I can find them. She's new to me, but not new.. her first book was published in 1922, and she wrote over 50 more books by the time of her passing in 1974. It's so wonderful to discover a new author ( to you!) and new books to seek out to enjoy!

Grand Tour V : Copper findings

2011-10-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I'll be sharing here on my blog
OK I know I've gone on and on about brass stampings. Did you know you can get them in a copper finish? I don't have many yet (please feel free to read that as not enough!!) but I do have a small bin of them. So when I hit my copper findings box, that immediately made me think of my very small (Too Small!) stash of copper colored brass stampings. I found this lovely fairy girl face that I purchased from B'Sue a while back, added pearls and crystals in 3 shades of purple, and I must say I think it turned out wonderfully!

My copper findings has a range of pure copper beads, clasps etc, Tierracast pewter with copper plating, and "unknown" but copper like in color. I really love pure copper, but that can get heavy, and pure copper was hard to find until a few years ago with sterling started to shoot up in price. Most of the findings I used on this bracelet are Tierracast. (bead caps, clasp)

I added a small brass stamping of a butterfly as a dangle.
Strangely enough the bracelet actually fits me ... hm......

Grand Tour IV Misc. Metal Bits

2011-10-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I'll be sharing here on my blog

Finished Earrings!
OK, a friend of mine asked "Kat, just how do you decide on what box to hit next?

Great Question! Sometimes I have some idea of what I want to make, so I just pull those boxes out. Sometimes I have no clue and I roll dice and go it random. This evening's Grand Tour entry would be the random roll. I ended up in a box without a real name, but I've dubbed it Misc. Metal Bits. It has old keys, watch parts, odd and ends and just stuff that got deposited there for lack of a better place, as long as it's metal.
In this case, I decided these rusty brown patina brass drops needed something done to them. I just have 2 and they are from an old pair of earrings someone gave me years ago.

The funny thing is until a year or so ago when I started playing with brass stampings, I didn't really like them. Now I look at them and they are way more interesting!
I decided you can never go wrong with pearls, so I picked out beige and brown pearls that matched the tonal quality of the drops.

Etched Bracelets meets Zentangles.

2011-10-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

OK, a couple of days ago I was talking about how I boo-booed on my first etch bracelet by making the bar too short ( see handy reference picture here)

On bracelet #2, you can see the bar is much much bigger!
I only did 4 panels and the clasp instead of five as the first bracelet. I'm planning on a free form shaped bracelet next, hand cut into interesting shapes and then assembled with rings.
Strangely enough, in my daughter's art class at school they are doing Zentangles and I realized I am basically doing the same thing on the etched bracelets! How kewl is that?

The best definition of a Zentangle is doodling with intent. When I am drawing patterns for etching, I'm really searching for a pattern that strikes a cord somewhere in my heart. I adore spiral and most of my etched panels have a spiral somewhere.

Here are a couple of "in progress" pictures. I'm trying to make sure all the sharp bits on the size are smoothed down so the bracelet is comfy and safe.

A tale of redo...... or how I want a happy customer!

2011-10-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

Still cleaning out my photo files, and ran across my mistake. I hate Making Mistakes!!!! OK , OK, who does ? But when I make a designing error it just makes me cringe inside... The last thing I want is a customer not able to trust my work! I don't make alot of design errors ( at least I hope not!) but most of them are around tricky wickets like sizing issues and clasps. If you recall, I made this gorgeous and kewl etched bracelet...

It sold at the first show I had it at, and fortunate for me, to a good friend of mine. (Actually her boyfriend bought it for her on the sly, good boy!) When she ran into problems with it, she came to me directly and didn't hide the fact.

She wore it just once and it came off twice. A quick look suggested that the handmade toggle bar wasn't long enough. I think if the toggle had been round, it would have been, but since it's square, it has "corners" and if the bar scooted catty-corner, it could slip out. Add to the fact the bracelet is heavy, and it just about guaranteed to fall off.

ARRGH! such a stupid mistake !!
Since it was an out of town show, The choices were to fix it on site, or fix it at home and then mail it to her. She really wanted to wear it right then and there.. so I dug through my stuff and after much thought, I came up with this solution. I took the Vintaj hinge and textured it with my hammer, and with copper wire wound the original bar on top of it. Now it might be alittle 2 long, but as the happy owner is a steampunk fan she loved the new addition!!

The lession is I like happy customers that love to wear my jewelry. I want it to fit right, to be confy and of course attract compliments.

So If I messed something up, or if you just need something resized let me know! As much as I kick myself for errors I know about, it terrifies me to think of all of the ones I don't! Don't hesitate to approach me if something isn't working for you that I've made, especially if I have a design flaw involved. I will fix/repair/resize anything for free at least once (short of running over it with your car !) within the first year, and possibly longer.

I would much rather know, and fix it and make it right, than to have that bad karma floating around me unknown.

And I do learn from my mistakes.. I've made another etched bracelet ( and have plans for more) and I guarantee the toggle bar is long enough on it!

Grand Tour III: 2 holed beads.

2011-10-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I'll be sharing here on my blog.

I adore 2 hole beads!!! Most of them in my collection is tasty vintage stock, or made from vintage tooling.
Sketching some ideas out.. I used the last one...

I rarely use them, partly because I'm a dragon... hording all of my precious stock!! But partly because I don't know what to do with them.

Because 2 holed beads are so very special, I want to use them in designs that are special and require 2 hole beads to work.

Coming up with a good strong design that couldn't be done any other way than using 2 hole beads is difficult.

That's one of the things that is making my grand tour of the studio so much fun... It's forcing me to use materials I generally don't.
Here's my 2 hole stash!!

It gets my creative juices flowing, as witnessed by my sketch book! I ended up making simple earrings out of some great vintage flat pieces but I came up with ideas for the future.

I love these! They are so old most of the paint has worn off of them! They look very 1920s-30's to me.. but who knows??

Since the paint/inking on them was so faded, I used my green sharpie to pick the detail back out.. then added crystals. Simple, but funky and usual... I love vintage!!

Pumpkin faces, skeleton (key) & Halloween kitties

2011-10-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! (why else would I do a Zombie Walk?) This year I had to create a few jewelry pieces just for the holiday! I etched pumpkin faces and Halloween kitties in copper, and some of them are up on Artfire...
I had this great idea using the Vintaj brass key blanks... weave them through the eye of a skull bead I bought... it's my Skeleton Key! yuk yuk yuk! It's actually pretty cute, and I'll try it get it up on Artfire this week sometime.. if you are interested just drop me a line.

Stray Pictures

2011-10-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to clean up my photo files on the computer, and ran across some from the last few months that i never got around to posting.

Here is my latest version of a Woolley Worm, all very bright colors. Makes me think of a carnival or a circus. I have a fall one on the desk right now.. reds, yellows and oranges.
This is PMC made from an old vintage bone button I have. I made a mold of the button to cast the clay in.

The back side is really lovely swirls. This one is long gone, but I have a version done in Bronze clay also.

Fused glass cab (fused by me of course) wrapped in sterling. I think this one is gone also..

Grand Tour II: my Fused Glass Cabs

2011-10-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

I really really really need to get back to fusing... I'm feeling the urge very strongly but I need to get that side of the studio cleaned up and a couple thousand comics out of the way. sign.

In honor of these feelings ( and the fact it's going to take months to list and sell the comics and I really don't have anywhere else to put them) I decided to explore my box of fused glass pendants next.
Here is a shot of some of the goodies waiting their turn to be wrapped! Or filigreed, or something...

I selected this lovely purple cab. Like many of my cabs it's got glass recycled from blown glass art pieces. I bought several points of broken bits a couple of years ago and incorporate them into my cabs.

It's wrapped in 21 GA sterling silver.

Grand Tour I : Silver plated brass stampings

2011-10-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a grand tour of my jewelry making stash, box by box. Some of the adventures I'll be sharing here on my blog.
This entry features brass stampings in a silver finish. Just about a year ago, I really got into brass stampings via Vintaj Natural Brass. I've discovered other brands that I really like, such as Trinity Brass and B'Sue. These other companies offer a range of plating's and patinas. I'm very partial to silver plated. I can mix in a dash of sterling with some brass stampings and create really lovely, expensive looking pieces at more affordable prices.

Brass stampings have been around for hundreds of years, but the jewelry boom started in the mid 1800's.

The wonderful thing is a huge amount of the stampings made in the USA are made using vintage dies. You can actually buy a stamping in the exact style someone used 100 years ago, made from the same tools!

I've been buying brass at a prodigious rate. I started out with 1 plano box for Vintaj, and a smattering of "other". A couple of weeks ago I reorganized my brass collection loosely based on "color" .. ie vintaj's chocolate brown, ox gold, copper, silver etc. I've ended up with a large tube of the "golds" , 1 vintaj plano, 3 smaller containers of other finishes, and a couple of planos with findings and beads to go with all of these colors. If I buy much more I'm looking at another box or 2. Somehow this doesn't dismay me in the least!
Here's a overview shot of my silver plated brass stamping box.

Here I am just playing around with different components trying to find a combination I really liked.I really liked how these components meshed together!
I got such a romantic, vintage vibe from this I used vintage starlight crystals. In the end I used the following boxes in my studio: brass, silver plate; chain box; vintage crystal box black/purple/special; and a couple of finding boxes.

Flea Market Finds

2011-10-08T10:56:00.001-07:00

Doesn't this picture just want to make you drool?? These pieces I just bought this morning!

I love garage sales and flea markets, and it's such a lovely day today, and I have some birthday money, I just had to go.

The Iowa State Fair grounds has a huge flea market every month but August.. I don't think I've made one since maybe March due to shows, so going today was wonderful!

and I FOUND SOMETHING REALLY KEWL!
This is a really old picture ( it's backed by dark brown metal.. poss tin type? ) I bought it, believe it or not, for $1.00. It's brass-lined bezel glass , and it looks like maybe it was part of a locket. Hard to see in these pictures, but the bezel is very sharp and sparkly, which is why I noticed it. When I got it home I found out the picture wasn't permanently mounted in the glass bezel frame, so I can use them together or not, as it strikes my fancy. This is just unusual and really kewl! The picture was cut to fit this frame, I'm guessing it's pretty darn old! The bezel looks hand cut, which definitely dates it.

I spent $23.00 total on jewelry finds. Since I'm making more and more jewelry using chain, I've kept an eye out for interesting chains. Most of the chains I bought are probably in the 10-20 years old, but are in great shape.

I also bought a really nice vintage ( probably 1950's, it's strung on very fine tiny chain!) crystal necklace, and few nice glass/crystal pins.I did purchase a few other odds and ends... and cookies!! There are always a few booths selling baked goods... vintage jewelry and baked goods! and and got a couple of paperbacks, and some Tupperware...... really had a lovely morning!

Introducing the "grand tour"

2011-10-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Isn't she a cutie?? aw............

OK, now that I've got that out of my system, I've been looking around my studio trying to decide what is next.

I have 1 more show, (East Village Bazaar Oct 16Th) and I'm looking at signing up for a couple maybe in December. So really, I'm done for the year!!! Oh the Freedom to do whatever I want to!!! oh the lack of motivation and creative energy as i"m burned out.

So the last few weeks I've taken it easy, I haven't really made myself make things, caught up on real life stuff in the household and even cleaned up the studio alittle.

refreshed somewhat, I look around my studio, at the thousands of beads, findings, vintage jewelry, tools,books and mags and odd bits and I'm not sure what to do next.

I started thinking that it's time to really revisit my collection. I do this every couple of years.... go through my stuff and weed out the goodies I no longer want ( which I destash on etsy.. ) and get inspired by materials I've forgotten I have. Sometimes I think the fun of making jewelry is as much the search for that perfect component as it is in the making of it!

So I'm going through every box, container and drawer in my studio and making something from each one, and I'll journal most of them here.

I'm calling it the "Grand Tour" . In part because I've been reading regency books lately and it's what all the "ton" did back then. It also captures the scope of the project and it just sounds kewl!

I'm not going to go in any peculiar order, just as the mood strikes.

But I'm going to have fun!!

I'm also going to start listing new items again on Artfire.. so be looking out for new stuff !

Marshalltown Bead Bash 2011

2011-10-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend (Fri & Sunday) was the 9Th Annual Marshalltown bead Bash. I went down Friday night with friends Anne & Jodie, to check it out.

There were fewer vendors than in past years, but that never stops me from finding goodies!

Here is a shot of all of my stash. I got some brass in sheets and in bracelet form for more fun with etching. I bought some really nice irregular drops in fancy jasper ( one of my favorites, a lovely mix of neutral tones ranging from green to pinkish) a great cab and of course, a bunch of crystals. I can't help it, I love the sparklies!
I feel in love with this cab! It's candy corn shaped piece of Mookite with a great range of colors on it! It's more pinkish than it shows in the pic. It's going to be super fun to wrap!
the crystals, droool!

Zombie Walk 2011

2011-10-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Had more fun than a barrel of ...... zombies!

cute little girl zombie! lots of zombies families out today. Makes the heart warm as you run screaming for your lives....
Zombie friends!
Me as a Zombie!
Zombie protesters! Jerry's favorite sign read "Get a life!" . I liked "biting is naughty!"
Crowd shot during the walk.

Jerry as a Zombie!

Zombie walk Des Moines.. even the undead can have a good cause!

2011-09-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

I can hardly wait til Sat! I'm going to be in my first Zombie walk! It's actually the 3rd Annual Des Moines walk, but the last couple of years we were out of town.

More info here!

As if dressing up as the undead wasn't draw enough, it's for a good cause!! Central Iowa Shelter & Services is a wonderful organization helping Iowa families get back on their feet... they accept donations of money, and are on the look out for certain goods, such as coats and blankets. Read more about them here. They even take leftover food ... here is more information on donating.

If you need help on your make up, you can get it at the blazing saddle 11-1pm.

I hope I see you there, whether you are fast or slow, rabid or brain eater, or a trout zombie!

ID or Mommie Tags

2011-09-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

I've gotten some questions on my Mommie tags lately so I figured it was time to put up a blog on them.

I can stamp just about anything on them that will fit... names, dates, pithy statements or words that have special meaning for you.
I can do them in brass, copper and sterling.
I have 3 different fonts available, and the brass and copper and I can etch instead of, or in addition to, adding words.

I can add crystals, beads or found items for you... basically I can do whatever you want, as long as you can give me a clear idea of what that is. Prices start at $20.00, so if you are looking for a personalize memento you can wear, let me know

Recent Chainmaile

2011-09-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Just a few recent designs in chainmaile. I will fully admit I love rainbows and it seems I do rainbows quite a bit in chainmaile. It's just such a natural thing ! This Necklace is done in one of my favorite patterns: helm. The kewl thing about helm is you can make 2 necklaces in one.. this view you see mostly rainbow in the correct 6 color range. If you flip it over (sorry I know I should have a pick) it's large black rings with smaller colored rings inside.. so a dark rainbow.

Here are some earrings I've been making to match all of my rainbow chains.

This is a caterpillar pattern. This isn't a rainbow, but it's a progression of 7 different colors, with brass rings. I never seem to use the same size rings on this pattern.. the important thing is the middle rings are just large enough to keep the larger colored rings "floating" on the small inner rings. I realize that reading that doesn't make the most sense, but you should pick one of these things up, they are as fun to play with as a slinky and have the most wonderful drape!

Shows and Weather.....

2011-09-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

This is what my tent looks like normally:

And this is what it looked like this weekend ---- notice the lack of shelves ( gusts of 20+ mph wind kept trying to knock them down.. notice how much the tent wall is blowing inward...) Because of the rain and wind, I didn't put up my normal busts as they melt in rain while my jewelry only needs to be cleaned. Strange eh?

Customers were few and far between, and gosh darn it, I can't blame them! It was nasty, cold and Sunday, wet.

Here is a view of where I sat most of Sunday, making stuff to keep me occupied in-between the 10 or so customers...
LOOK! there is a customer! wow! (look how fast they march by, trying to get out of the bad weather)

Here is someone's tent after the overnight storms.....
and one of the kewlest things I've seen at an art show, stilt walkers... woot!

I've been doing shows for 9 odd years, and it's just part of the business that sometimes you have bad weather. Unfortunately the last 3 years the trend seems to be to more extreme weather. How many 500 year floods have we had in the last 3 years?

And this summer, I did a couple of shows in 106 degree heat. That's not counting index, that's what the mercury said!

I've only got 1 more show on the books ( October 16th, East Village Sunday Bazaar ). Now I do have my eye on a couple of holiday shows, but for the most part the show season is done.

This weekend I plan to spend up in the studio doing whatever the heck I feel like doing... cause I no longer have deadlines.

It's a good feeling. I'm thinking sometime in the next 2 weeks I'm breaking out glass again.. I hear the kiln calling me.....

Honestly I'll probably do spring, summer and fall cleaning all at once cause it's pit like right now! I haven't had time to really get it up to snuff since June.

Whatever I do, I'm not going to force anything for a couple of weeks. I need some "down" time, to just unwind and remember who I am again.

Life is good, when you can slow down enough to appreciate it.

motivation (as in lack of)

2011-09-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

trinity brass dragonflies and dyed agate beads.

I'm having motivation issues right now. I Have a big 2 day show coming up this weekend, in Maple Grove MN. I have today and tomorrow to get a few last minute projects done and I'm having trouble doing ANYTHING. seriously.

It's not that I don't want to make jewelry, I really do. There is so much I need to do right now... clean the house, help the kid with play practice ( she got a speaking part and she's only a freshman! woo woo ! ) do bills, research shows, print out all the materials for this weekend show, etc etc etc etc etc.

I just seem to be numb, unfocused and guilty cause I don't seem to be getting anything done.

I haven't even had supper yet... nothing sounds good from the fridge, and frankly nothing sounds good at all. Chinese is slightly tempting, mostly because I don't have a car so if I can't eat what's here it has to be delivered.

But calling the Chinese place seems like too much effort. Maybe I 'll just open a can of tuna or something. It would be cheaper.

I started a load of dishes, but the thought of actually *washing* them just makes me wilt.

It's like all the color has drained from my crayon box.

But hey, at least I can cross my blog entry off the list.

bali beads for sale 89.8 grams

2011-09-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

**** beads are sold, thanks! ****

OK, if I send these to the refinery I can get $100 + for them due to silver being so high right now. But they are lovely beads and it seems a shame to melt them down .. so here is the deal, I'll sell them for $95.00 postage paid in the US, which means after fees/ postage I'll get about $90.00 for them. So save the beads!!!
I took pictures in 3 lots, it's over 3 oz.s total between the 3 lots. I just don't really use big sterling beads in my designs anymore, so maybe someone who does can buy them. so just click the button on top or on the bottom to buy these. thank you for saving a bead.

Mage Con wrapup

2011-09-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here is this year's mega booth, with both my set up on Best Friends' set up.
While the guys wasted time playing games, Us ladies made jewelry! this is just one of the projects I worked on.
My hubby, Mathew ( Sue's hubby) , Ryan, and the back is showing of an unknown player.
The secret side of the booth: where we sit and make magic ! Say hi to Cathie and Sue of Best Friends Jewelry...

Puttering around the studio.....

2011-09-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

You know some days I just don't feel like making jewelry, or doing anything much. There is alot to be said about puttering. I've long been fond of puttering around the studio, but still, I don't like to waste my time either, as I have so little of it, to putter or otherwise.

So I always try to get *something* down even on a putter day. Something about that good German work ethic, darn it.

This past weekend I puttered quite abit. I also did some chores around the office that I've needed to do for some time. One of these is fix my colander.

I love my colander, it was a stocking stuffer from "Santa" this year. (Santa = hubby) The edge of the netting pulled away from the rim a couple of weeks ago, so I used some brass wire and sewed it up. I am pretty sure it will hold. I love how close the netting is on this one, it's darn helpful to clean small items that you don't want to go down the drain!

What's on the Desk 8/31/2011

2011-08-31T17:44:00.001-07:00

I'm working on more etching projects, this time a bunch of "pumpkin faces" for a series of Halloween jewelry. They are etched and turned out great! and I'm working on cleaning them up right this minute... more pics to come.

The odd shaped piece of metal is another stab at using scrapbook stamps. I'm trying a different ink this time, and it turned out pretty darn good, so I think I can make etched patterns using stamps. WOOT!

I'm also working on a woolly worm bracelet. No clue what I"m saying? here is an example here. One I'm working on is multi-colored and hopefully I'll have pics some other time.

I'm also packing projects for this weekend's Mage-Con convention. I get to see my best buddies from South Dakota, we set up our booths together and laugh, eat, and make jewelry and occasionally actually sell something.

and Hey, to prove I actually finish MOST of my projects, here is the key bracelet, finally all done.

Etching part IV: an actual, honest to Gawds finished piece!

2011-08-30T18:37:00.001-07:00

Yep, finally got something made all the way through. Let's recap the steps:
1/ cut metal out or use blanks ( a mix here)

2/ draw designs in sharpie on metal

3/ tape backs to protect from etching

4/ etch in acid for 30-50 minutes

5/ neutralize the acid with a dip in vinegar, salt and water mixture, and then baking soda

6/ clean and wash

7/ assemble in a pleasing configuration. In this case I punch holes in the pieces and used copper 18GA jump rings

8/ use liver of sulfur to darken recessed areas of the design

9/ clean again

10/use Renaissance Wax to help protect and shine the metal

11/ take a deep breath, and I'm done!

I really love how the clasp looks!

I'm working on more etching.

Odds and ends....

2011-08-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

can you believe I still hasn't finished this bracelet?? this weekend for sure!!!!

While in Dubuque this weekend, we hit one of the closing Border stores. While it's sad to see a book seller go away, (other than the thought maybe a smaller indie one can step in the market) I cannot resist a sale on books. Among the books I bought is Surface Treatment workshop by artist Darlene Olivia McElroy. Now this is not strictly a jewelry book, it's more of a mix media / painting book, but I'm fascinated by the results from the techniques presented. Just a casual browse I'm convinced I can apply at least some of these to jewelry making. I wouldn't have ever seen this book except it was misfiled in the yarn section, directly overhead the few remaining jewelry books, and the colorful cover just stood out. I anticipate many happy experiments once I'm through with show season..... which isn't very far away at all. In fact I have no shows this weekend. I'm already planning to work on some etching projects, it's possible I can squeeze a surface treatment or 2 in....

I'm also planning on doing, * something * with new key blanks I just got in. These are wonderful Vintaj natural brass in 25 GA. I'm thinking I might actually etch a couple ... I've made a couple of bracelets using brass stamped keys, how much fun would it be with designs and words on them?

I also got another order of aluminum jump rings from Blue Buddha . I've been making some lovely chainmail with rainbow color schemes, and I ran out of orange in 2 different sizes, if you can believe it. Hopefully I'm orange-enabled for some time to come with this order... more rainbows are coming on line soon!

I love Thursdays right now. It's Project Runway and we watch it as a family. It's hard to believe this show has been going on for 9 years now!! We started to watch together as of Season 4, still the best one IMHO. Last year really sucked, the judges so picked the wrong winner. This year the judging seem much more on track, but whether we agree with the judges or not, is so nice to have a regular show to watch as a family every week.

Happy Anniversary to Kirk and Cindy.....

2011-08-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary To my Bro and Sis, Kirk & Cindy!! 25 years ago they got married at the Four Mounds Mansion in Dubuque, IA. Then, they were renting it from the city and actually lived in it for 3+ years. Now, 25 years later, is a lovely bed and breakfast with period furniture and knockout views of the river. The foundation that runs it has done a remarkable job of restoring it to it's original 1908 glamor.To celebrate, we took over the whole Inn for the weekend.

Part of the fun -- Kirk got to jam with his old band. I really think Kirk is happiest banging on the drums. Here is a crappy pic of him, check out the very kewl hat.
Grandma and Grandpa ( my folks) surrounded by all the grand kids. (my baby is the 4Th one) Check out the view of the river!

Great weekend, great party, and I can't wait to attend their 50Th!

Etching III: second batch

2011-08-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

OK, the first batch was all about experimenting with resists.

This 2ND batch has an actual goal: I want to make 2 bracelets. The first bracelet I want to make is based on 2 of the squares that turned out great from the first batch (see the picture above) These were made with sharpie markers and it's free hand drawing. Now I'm not much for drawing, but I love doodling abstract spirals and lines, so I wanted to make more squares and a toggle with the same abstract styling.

The other bracelet I wanted in a thicker GA all in copper, based off the lovely paisley stamp that turned out so well in batch one:
My though on this one is I would stamp a large rectangle of copper, etch it and then cut out the shapes for my bracelet. That way each piece would have a unique but harmonious pattern.

I also dug out copper washers and stamped them just for fun. You can never have enough kewl and interesting components on hand!

These pictures give you a good idea of what they look like before the etching process.

I used the same process as before. After the acid and the vinegar bath, I let them sit in baking soda for a few minutes before I washed them off.

The hand-drawn squares turned out great! I cannot wait to make them into a bracelet!

Unfortunately the stamped pieces didn't turn out near as well. I need to play more with stamping, its possible I just cannot etch them as long, or maybe I need to explore different inks on the pads. Also on the first batch, some of the stamp pieces sat for almost a week before I got around to etching, and these I etched the very next day. It's possible I just need to let the stamp images "cure" longer.....

you can see on the large rectangle the pattern is very very faint. I'm going to try to make the pattern pop more with a patina, but it's very light and I don't think it's going to work for my bracelet.

The washers are very faint also... very light texture.

Some of the washers didn't turn out at all, these 4 are the best of the lot. Earrings maybe?

Etching part II

2011-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

I tried 3 different colored markers as resists, black, blue and pink. all three turned out very well. Here are 2 of them below.

I used sticker label paper with fancy designed cut out on them. They turned out pretty good ( though the paper started to disintegrate, so when using this as a resist I don't think I would leave it in the acid more than 50 minutes) I used the paper resists on Vintaj blanks, so I got this kewl effect of dark ( the vintaj finish) where the resist is... yummy! and I cannot wait to play more with this idea.

I used stamps and stamp pad ink on 3 and only one turned out well. The other two the ink must have come off and it was more or less just etched. The one that turned out though is wonderful!! Now I need to figure out why it worked and the other 2 didn't. It's possible I had the other 2 in the acid too long. I was experimenting with times ( 20 to 50 minutes) . the 20 minutes just wasn't really long enough for any of the batches.. 40-50 minutes seems optimum. I would suspect the thickness of the metal might play a part also... and how well the ink stuck to the metal..

Etching metals part I

2011-08-10T13:14:00.001-07:00

I've wanted to try etching for a long while now, and I finally had my materials gathered 2 weekend's ago. The week before I started to prep copper and brass pieces for my first test.

Etching is both easier and harder than you think it will be. You are dealing with acid, so you should take appropriate precautions. Wear protective hand gear, work in a well ventilated place, and you should probably designate the containers you use for future acid use only. Also you need to be prepared to neutralize the acid you don't reuse. The idea of using acid is scary but it's really not bad, and the acid I'm using is pretty mild as acids go. It only works on copper/bronze/brass.

The first circle shaped container (all of these are plastic- recycled from frozen food products) has the acid in it. The oblong next to it is a neutralizing bath made from 1 part salt, 1 part white vinegar and 6 parts water. The 2ND oblong is baking soda. after I rinse the pieces off in the vinegar solution, I cover them with baking soda. Then I rinse them off in the sink.

So really if you are careful, the acid part is the cake walk. The resists are where things really get interesting.

Resists are what you put on the metal to keep the acid from working. The areas that are left exposed are eaten away by the acid, the areas "covered" remain, or "resist" the wearing away.

The acid only works certain types of materials, so in theory anything that the acid doesn't "eat" should work as a resist. In practice, not so much. I really want to get a good idea of what works and what doesn't, so I am trying a variety of resists.

For my first time out, I tried 3 different colored sharpie markers. I used pink, blue, and black. When I researched this , several places recommended a fancy, expensive permanent marker in red. I might break down and get that eventually, but for this I used what I've got around the house.

I also did 3 with ink and scrapbook stamps.

And finally I used label paper that stuck on the metal like a sticker. The heart design in the 3rd picture shows the label paper.

Part II coming soon......

What's on the Desk 8/10/2011

2011-08-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm working on 3 projects right now:

I'm making a bracelet using a brass stamping of a key, which I've flattened and textured with a hammer. I'm planing on adding at least 3 different chains, maybe crystals or pearls.. still mulling it over.

My etching pieces are now clean and I"m adding color to some of them. This one I've added alcohol inks to, and it's drying. Once it's dry, I'll punch a couple of holes in it and seal it and then it can be used in... something. Not knowing where you are going on a piece is just as fun as knowing what road you are taking!
I've prepped batch 2 of etching. As I type these words the acid is doing it's thing. I'm going to do series on etching next blog entry...

Whats on the Desk 08/02/11

2011-08-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

What's on the desk #1: a mess. I've got several things going at once right now.. at least 4 different bits of projects are represented in this picture. Probably a as many projects where I just haven't put stuff away yet!! ugh! Seriously time to clean the desk....

What's on the desk #2: I'm working on what should be a lovely filigree necklace, featuring one of my handmade fused glass cabs.
What's on the Desk #3: etching!!! this is a sneak peak at my trial run of etching copper and brass... more to come!

Happy Wedding Anniversary to Me!

2011-07-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 17Th wedding anniversary to my wonderful Jerry.

I'm not sure how most people celebrate anniversaries -- probably dinner and a movie? Our idea of a good time is simple : we went garage sale-ing.

Actually just spending time together works; but with jewelry shows most summer weekends, spending a morning checking out garage sales together is a real treat. The main goal is trying to find vintage costume jewelry and old board games, but we always keep our eyes open for something interesting.

While I did buy 1 piece of jewelry ( a very interesting brass chain actually you can see the pic above) the big finds of the day were furniture! We found this beautiful maple wood dresser with hutch at a tag sale and I just had to have it. We moved my old dresser to Jesscera's room as it's much bigger than her old one and in better shape. I'll take pics of it soon, right now it's in place in my bed room but it's not assembled yet.

I also found a nice computer chair for downstairs for cheap, and a kitchen type cart that is going up to the studio.

And I found a cricut expressions in brand new condition at a great price! it didn't come with a cartridge so I splurged and bought one to play with. I can't wait to figure out ways to use this in my jewelry making! I've got several ideas bouncing around in my head already for this. It still has the how to use CD ( it's never been watched actually, it's still in it's originally sealed plastic) and instruction book.

Maybe since it was such a special occasion we had such good luck. Usually I find a few books, a piece of jewelry and maybe a shirt for the girl!

To top off our day together, we also hit a couple of bakeries ( Nan's Nummies in Valley Junction, and La Mie's on 42ND) and book stores ( 1/2 price book store, our family favorite and Barnes & Nobles)

To cap the day's experience we had a late lunch/ early supper at Cosi Cucina .

Oh, and we did watch a movie, Land of the Dead, George Romero's 4Th Zombie movie from 2005. CReeeepy!

What's on the Desk 7/27/11

2011-07-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

I received another brass stamping package in the mail and I'm having so much fun! I finished up these 2 bracelets last night.
The leaf is flat normally, I made it gently curvy with pliers and my raw hide mallet, added a few holes to add chain and riveted the butterfly to the front.

The one above with the copper butterfly just looked too plain, so I added a graceful chain and crystal that drapes beautifully under the leaf.

This one I also curved the leaf, added the black butterfly and some crystals dangles .

these are really great fun to wear and look great on!

I can't wait until my next "play date" with my new brass findings !

banner done..

2011-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

what do you think? it's small here, I did all lower case cause that what I ended up doing for the etsy store. here is how it looks on the store

I'll probably make a better one later, but it works for now!

banners on the brain.....

2011-07-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

sigh.

I have 2 shops on artfire, one for my jewelry, and one to destash supplies. I pay the monthly fee for my jewelry site, which gives me all kinds of tools to play with to help promote my pieces.

My destash store is free. That means I have almost no tools but I get to list my destash for free, and since most of it I just want out of my house, it allows me to price them reasonably.

Artfire is going away from free shops as of August 15Th. I understand the decision, and from a jewelry seller standpoint I'm excited as I think it's a good move overall. However I don't want to mix my beads with my jewelry on artfire, as I worked hard to achieve the 100% handmade badge. I cannot afford to pay for 2 shops. Right now the traffic really doesn't support paying for my jewelry site, but I believe in Artfire so I'm going to stick it out for now, in hopes it will just get better and better.

So now I need to switch my supplies somewhere else.

After giving it some thought, I've decided to open a new destash store on etsy. I have to pay fees to list which will change my pricing somewhat, but hopefully the greater traffic ( and better chance to sell) will worth the extra money.

Can you believe someone already had my name on etsy??!!?? (katsdestash) ugh!

So I've opened a shop named mkpdestash. I will be migrating listings from my artfire store over the next week, and then hopefully start listing new items.

Now I've got to remember how to make a banner again for the new etsy store!

What's on the Desk 7/20/11

2011-07-20T15:57:00.001-07:00

..... has been on my desk before. I made this over a month ago, and I'm very pleased with the colors, *BUT* it's stiffer than I like. I had it out to sell for a couple of weeks, but I've pulled it back, it just doesn't have the fluid, slinky nature that I love about chain mail. So I'm going to redo it somehow.. not sure just what I'm going to do to fix it. I really love the color combos.. it makes me think of flames! or the fall ... but I just can't stand it's lack of drape.

This bracelet though illustrates one of the quirky bits about chainmail. Even when you are using the same size rings from the same company, sometimes it just doesn't come together like it's suppose to. This is the same size as all the other Queen Link bracelets I've made, but the red colored aluminum rings seem slightly smaller than the orange and yellow. When I use red as one of many colors, just that little, tiny bit smaller doesn't effect the overall piece. But when it's every other ring, it makes the bracelet 2 stiff, and I should be ashamed it ever made it out to the table to begin with!!

Since I really like the color balance, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do to fix the problem. Course the first problem is REACHING my desk, as my studio is afloat with thousands of comics all over the floor and tables and just about every nook and cranny. ( you can read about my comic adventures here)

I have only 1 more show in July, it's my last Jazz in July event at 6:30pm this Friday July 22ND on the Casady Building lawn. I don't have anymore shows until August 6Th! I'm hoping this weekend I can take back my studio, at least most of it, and work on a few things!! I haven't made anything this week, and I'm getting antsy!

The super high temperatures and humidly haven't helped either. My studio in my converted attic, and even with the window unit when it's this hot and muggy, it's hard to keep it cool enough to get much done.

But I wanna play!!! I have some new brass coming in, some in a copper plate finish... I cannot wait to get that package!!

Comics, Comics, everywhere...

2011-07-17T09:55:00.001-07:00

Something you don't know about your favorite Jewelry designer. I've been collecting comics since I was 11-12 years old.
I know, shocking, strange, non-girl kind of thing huh? Not so much to me, to me reading comic books is just another form of reading, and I love to read.

Stranger still to be a 42 going on 43 year old woman who still reads comics. We still have a pull at the local comic / game shop, abet it's just 2-3 titles now. But I have something between 4000 to 5000 comic books in my collection, everything from original 1964 Fantastic Fours written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack the King Kirby, to SIP ( Strangers in Paradise) (which is fantastic series, and it's all available now in book form !! )

A couple of years ago I decided we had too much STUFF. And I started a closet clean up project. I did the first couple of closets quickly and easily. I even sold a few things on Craig's list, enough to buy a treat night out here or there.

That got me to thinking about all my material goods. I mean what GOOD are they?? What's useful about something I've stored for 13 years in my closet and I've not taken it out since?

I realized that included my comic books. So 2 years ago, I started to haul the boxes out 1 by 1 and was determined to get rid of at least some of them. I hit a road block in the very first box I pulled. It had Air-boy comics in it, and I wanted to reread them. I really enjoyed the series and I figured I should read them at least once more before I got them out of the house. Also I few comics have more than just reading value. A few comics have real memories built into them. But the issues were not all in that box, and I knew I had all the issues. The last several years when we received the comics, we would read them and then just put them in the closet.. it was too hard to pull boxes out and put them away correctly.

Time is always a issue in my house (Doesn't everyone wish they had more time?)

Since I work full time, run a home business, and I'm Wife and Mom, I didn't have much time to really work on this, let alone reading them. It dawned on me I would have to pull every box out at once, and sort through them. It would take up lot of room and time I really didn't have to do the job properly. Then I checked out the value of the comics. Some of my favorite comics are not worth what I paid for them... something to be expected, but it still hurts to learn something you value has no value. I had to decide if selling them /whatever was worth the time and effort, vs. what they were worth to me.

I had it in my head that I needed to get rid of everything, cause what was the point of keeping some of it? I mean I was trying to clean out material goods in my life right?? What is good about letting them rot in my closet ?

and it just sort of became this huge bugaboo, why did I need to do this, and why right now??? So I stopped, and put them all away.

I just wasn't ready emotionally to let go of a huge part of my childhood. I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do.

Now 2 years later, I'm ready to tackle the issue. It took me awhile to get to that place in my head were I could make the decisions I need to about this.

First, I can keep what I want. I'm keeping SIP!!! I'll probably keep air-boy, but I"m going to read it first. That was the key... reading. I'm going to use the same yard stick we use on books in the library... while I honestly re-read this comic again?

If I'm not going to re-read them, why keep them? Even if I have some emotional attachment to something in my collection... if I'm not going to re-read it, then it's senseless.

I'm ready to bargain basement those comics that have no real value except to someone that enjoys reading them.

And those few comics that are actually worth something I will sell for what I can get, either the local shop, Craig's list or eBay.

It's going to take time to go through them and prep them for sale / give away / whatever, and that's OK.

So all the boxes have journeyed up to the jewelry lair and I'm in the process of sorting them into the proper groupings. some comics I know I don't want anymore... some I am not sure of, and some I want to re-read right now !! ( I just finished re-reading SIP. Seriously, this is good stuff!)

It makes it hard to do jewelry, but I"m hoping a week of really working at it I can at least reclaim part of my studio. I should be able to get the piles off the floor at least, so I can move around.

I suspect I will end up with about 1/3 of my collection. If it ends up more or less, that's OK. It's all good. And I get to re-read some great stories in the process.

What's on the Desk 07/13/2011

2011-07-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

OK, OK I know my posting has been spotty the last month, but I think I've got a handle on my schedule again. I am moving my What's on the Desk to Wednesdays as that's just a better day for me, instead of Monday. Weekends get so busy I don't always have time to actually work on things, let alone take pictures of them. Since Tuesday is my "studio day" where I get a block of time in the studio it made sense to move this feature to Wednesday. (Now I don't always get my beloved block of time on Tuesdays but that's a different post!! ) I plan to post at least twice a week, three times if I can swing it, but Wednesdays and Saturdays are my target days.

So what's on Kat's desk? Chainmail! I've just really been enjoying playing with rings. The first pic is a necklace I did last week, but I loved the colors on it.
This is a shot of my desk last week.. but I never got around to posting it. The scales are so much fun to play with.
Now this is my current project I'm working on right now.. It's another queen's link done with copper and Aluminum.

Something I get asked nearly every show is do I cut my own rings or not. I know saying "sometimes" is alittle wishy washy, but it's honest.

First of all, I've been playing with Aluminum rings the most. Anodizing, cutting and finishing my own Aluminum rings would require tools and equipment I simply do not have, so all the Aluminum rings are manufactured by others. I use mostly rings from 2 small, family type operations. They both have great quality and service and I feel very comfy buying rings from them.

Most of the other metal rings it's about 50 / 50 if I cut them or not. I do have the tools and materials to make rings in copper, bronze, and brass. Some of my rings I make and some I purchase, because frankly cost and time wise it's actually more efficient to purchase rings in those metals. So some I buy, some I cut, and it depends on what the project is and if I have the rings on hand or the time to cut some. If i continue on my chainmail craze then I'll probably start cutting more of the base metals ones. It's actually easier to get all the stuff out at once and cut a bunch of sizes/GA's at once. If I'm making several hundred at a time, the cost/time ratio tips more to my favor over purchasing.

I do cut all my own sterling rings at this time, because it's cheaper to do so. It's much more cost/time effective to cut my own sterling, as I already have the silver on hand, and it's so very expensive right now.

I'm mostly doing Aluminum and Aluminum with copper or bronze, as I'm really enjoying playing with color combos.

See ya in a few days!

I've joined the smartphone generation.....

2011-07-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

Taken at Jazz in July just yesterday evening with my new i-phone. very fun evening!

After months of talking about it, Jerry and I broke down and finally got them. I got a iPhone, and he got an android ( so yes, we are a mixed household!) and frankly both are super! Both do incredibly cool things, and so far the differences between the 2 are minor and more of a cosmetic thing than not, except for 1 item.

I can make changes on my phone, easily, by doing them in i-tunes on the computer. It makes certain functions much easier to do, at least if you already have i-tunes loaded on your computer and you're familiar with them. But really the whole big fuss over "iPhone vs. androids" is really silly. I'm sure there are things on Jerry's phone I'll be green with envy, once we play with them more. Like most things in life, it all comes down to choices and trade-offs. One widget is great here, but if you have it you can't do this other thingie and visa versa.

I am loving what I can do with my new phone!! it has 2 cameras, one facing outward, and one Inward or screen facing. Eventually I could do teleconferencing with this if I wanted ( I don't really) but it's very neat feature. Here is me in my new sun hat with fancy hand painted scarf... lookin' good no?? I took this with my phone using the screen side. The picture on the top is taken using the normal "back" camera. The pics are pretty good unless I use the zoom feature 2 much, then they get fuzzy. I'm sure If I check settings I could increase the pixels and the pictures would be better.. I'll get around to it sometime. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get off level 4 in angry birds.

I love how I can take a pic with my camera and post it on facebook within minutes. Now that's really handy!

And I'm going to get a square for credit cards. Can't wait to try that out... easier for me and my customers at shows. I've been taking credit cards for years with a knuckle cruncher at shows, then running them when I got home. Now I can get instant wireless card processing and it's actually cheaper than my current option. woot!

anyone want to recommend apps, especially free ones?

What's on the desk without pictures...

2011-06-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

This isn't on my desk.. it's already sold but I'm really happy how it turned out.. it's 2 pieces of glass wrapped together with sterling wire. I might have to try more of these....

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. --Mark Twain

I love that quote! I love Mark Twain. Not only is he considered one of the great (if not THE great) American writers he's darn fun to quote.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. --Mark Twain

I'm very pleased that this weekend I'll be in Mark Twain land (specifically Hannibal MO) for Tom Sawyer Days selling my jewelry. Among very kewl events like a fence painting contest and frog jumping races they have a 3 day art show at the park.

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get. --Mark Twain

Currently it's forecasting rain for much of the weekend. Ugh. More rain.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. --Mark Twain

I of course choose to hope for the best, and NO RAIN. It could happen!!

I can live for two months on a good compliment. --Mark Twain

I sold something on Artfire! woot!! to a total stranger!! I love it. This is what sold...

Today not very productive in the studio. My desk is covered with an order of Aluminum rings for chainmail. Unfortunately they didn't label them. So I am trying to mark each package with it's size. Which of them is 16GA 1/4 ID vs. 16GA 7/32 ID? this is harder than it sounds. ID stands for Inside dimension, expressed as a part of an inch. So what I'm really comparing is is 8/32Th to 7/32Th. Suddenly I think I need bi-focals. UGH!

Times flies, regardless if you are having fun or not....

2011-06-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, those really are old watch faces. They are not exactly matched, but very very close! I punched holes and added the copper wings and brass clock arrows. And one crystal in the middle just for bling!

I actually am having fun, but busy busy busy... working on commissions again ( not complaining!! really!! Let me know if you want something done!) and trying to get ready for my first DownTown Farmer's Market on Sat!! WOOT! now hopefully it won't rain, but I'll be there either way, so please stop by.. I'm on 3rd street south side, the new area for this year! And on Sunday I'll be at Snake Alley Art Fair in Burlington, IA. So busy Weekend!! but it's good fun, and I hope to see you at one or the other.

What's on the Desk 06/12/11

2011-06-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

OK, not actually making much tonight, but boy I'm having fun!! I bought a couple of lots of mixed brass stampings, mostly raw. Now it's kind of dirty and raw brass often still has oily stuff on it from being made, so I'm now cleaning it. I got 2 pounds so it's going to take a few days to get it all cleaned up.. but I'm already getting all kinds of great ideas for future projects, and I can't wait to get started!!

Happy Birthday to the kittens!!

2011-06-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

I guess I can't really call them kittens anymore, they turned 1 year old today. Happy Birthday to the funny monkeys Kya and Kass! And thank you to my buddy Tammy for trusting us to have 2 of the furry butts!

Early pic, probably between 1 and 2 weeks. They are in this pile somewhere! There were 5 kittens and 1 partial momma cat in this pic.. can you count them all?

Probably around 8 weeks old here, tiny!
Kass Today. Doesn't he look willing??
Kya today.... wow, what a look!

What's your favorite number?

2011-06-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

I was listening to NPR at my "money" job which is something I do most every day. I didn't catch the website, but one of the guests is running a survey on what is your favorite number ( I just did a net search for it, and couldn't find an active site for it... go figure..) He is finding so far that about 10% of the population doesn't have one.

Now I've had a favorite number since I was 7, and it is 7. My birthday is the 7Th ( Of October, for those who wish to send me a gift..lol), it's a prime number, it looks kewl and that year was and is very special to me.

That was the first year I didn't spend a chunk of time in the hospital. I'm not going to go into details, but as a child I was very sick and nearly died more than once. I had my last hospital visit and episode right before I turned 7.

I can remember dancing around the house as a 7 year old playing with this pipe that was shaped like the number 7, singing a song I made up about how wonderful 7 is.

I don't sing and dance about 7 anymore but it's still my favorite number. I actually use it when making jewelry... when I string I often end up making repeat patterns based on that number.

In the necklace above, I have 7 pearls leading up from the pendant before the crystals. I doubt I did it on purpose, but there you go.

So what's your favorite number, and why?

Had such a good show in Omaha....

2011-06-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

Despite the heat and humidity we had a fab show in Omaha ! Met lots of great folks, had some great bakery goods ( always a plus) and sold some kewl jewelry. The sterling and quartz crystal cuff above, which I made last week sold among other items.

I even bought some art... a copper tray from Copper Creations, Inc Artist Randy Patzer takes copper, hammers the hell out of it ( something I love myself) and heat colors the metal. He then uses a heavy resin to seal in the colors and make them food and drink safe. I bought some small metal trays both for me and for future presents for others. Some of the colors he gets is amazing!! I really need to try this with my torch , its yet another thing on my list of stuff I want to play with in the future. I'm going to put the tray in my studio, and I have no doubt it will inspire me!

Next show up is Saturday's Oskaloosa's Art on the Square. I've done this show before and it's always fun, and the folks that run it are super nice and supportive. So stop by if you are in the area! Tomorrow I will be in the studio making items to debut at this show.

What's on the Desk (from Tues.. yep running late!)

2011-06-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

Using brass Filigree, I made a wrap for my handmade fused glass cab.. once I picked one that worked for me ...

It's actually hard to use filigree on my fused glass, as they are free form the size isn't standard -nor is the shape.. course that's why I love them!!

I wanted something that looked like a couple of butterflies just stopped by to investigate... the colors of the necklace are in the cab, which is hard to see in these pictures.

Here's another shot of the finished necklace.. which will be proudly displayed for sale at Countryside Art Fair this weekend.. if you are in the Omaha area stop by!

Website updated...

2011-05-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got my website back up and updated with correct show schedule. yeah!! now it's time to go play, got 2 packages in the mail today with goodies in them!! Woot!

My not so secret "shame"

2011-05-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

I have a dirty secret, well actually 2.

I no longer make homemade mash potatoes, or almost never - instead I eat the fridge kind. I know, it's shocking, but let me defend myself!

It leads into my 2ND shocking relation: My family, my beautiful daughter, has only 1 imperfection: the potato gene skipped her.

I'm so ashamed.

Jerry ( my hubby) isn't that fond of mash potatoes either, but since he's diabetic I can reason it away as it's "health issues, poor boy" No one could blame me or point fingers for that!

I have no excuse for my daughter. She's just not a potato eater. Once in a while she will steal a french fry or 2, but hates mash potatoes. Baked? not on your life!

I have managed my shame as best as I can. I would break out in a sweat, and then make me a batch of beef and noodles with mash potatoes. I would freeze portions of the noodles... there is no point in all that work and effort to make dishes like this without making alot! Mash potatoes don't seem to freeze that well in my experience. I am the youngest of 5, I was taught to make BIG meals. Now that I have a family of 3, I try to cook less at a time, or plan for the leftovers. I hate to waste food, especially how much it costs now...

Then about 5 years ago, mash potatoes started to show up in the freezer and fridge sections of the store. At first I scoffed, but I admit I was intrigued. It made so much sense.. I could have mash potatoes any time I wanted, provided they tasted OK, without all the work and left overs. When I'm making mash potatoes just for me, all that work just seems silly and a waste of time.

I finally succumbed to temptation. I've tried all the brands, and some of them are quite good. Don't get me wrong, homemade mash potatoes will always be better, but 2 brands come pretty close to that level of tasty: Country Crock and Bob Evans. I only buy the original style, I've tried some of the other flavors ( stay away from the garlic, they just don't do something right!) but I tend to stick with the original. I won't named the awful brands, cause I cannot remember the names, but one comes in green packaging. Avoid'em.

I divide the package in 2 or 3 servings, which makes it cost effective and healthy portions.

I still make homemade, but only when I will be feeding more than me, so it makes it not so often.

One of my favorite tricks is to buy a rotisserie chicken, shred the meat and make a wonderful chicken gravy and then I'll microwave me some mash potatoes to go with it. Just for me.. Jerry and Jesscera like the gravy OK.

So there you have it, my secret shame is no more.. I'm out of the microwave mash potato closet, and it feels good!!

Promise, jewelry next time!

Anyone else tired of rain???

2011-05-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

Boy I am!

Don't get get me wrong, had the normal fun time at West Glen Farmer's Market, but it rained almost the entire day (and for those few hardy souls who braved the just plain icky weather, we vendors thank you!) and to top it off, I've somehow cracked a rib this week. Now it feels better today ( I cracked it on Tuesday, or at least that's when it started to hurt) but let me tell you, trying to set up in the cold and the rain, with lots of lifting and bending over... well my sweet hubby had to do most of the work because I just couldn't. He's always helpful, I'm just plain luck y to be married to this man!

But he had to work extra hard to keep me from hurting myself worst.

Since this is Memorial Day Weekend, it's extra long, and my plan is to do house work very slowly ( with all the lift/bend over parts done by the kid or by the hubby), well spaced out with lots of studio time, in pj's. I've got some very kewl brass bits ordered as my extra special I cracked a rib treats, and all my fingers and toes are crossed at least one of the packages will arrive today.

If they don't that's OK.. I've got lots of projects to play with... chain maile, herringbone bracelets, metal work, pearls and I'm getting that itchy I want to melt glass feeling. I'm hoping I have a long, relaxing , productive weekend, with minimal rib involvement.

The pic is Kass, inspecting my camera tripod. He Decided he couldn't eat it or lick it dead, so wandered away.

What's on the Desk 05/23/2011

2011-05-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Well, not much actually. My plate is running over right now with business chores so I'm more or less between projects today.

I have a few last shows to apply for for the year, made easier by getting my new slides done. My website is apparently unchangeable, at least to this non web-geek. I have to start from scratch. This didn't make my day, but now I"m *trying* to turn this major annoyance into a positive. It's time to update the website anyway...

(repeat and click your heels 3 times)

sign.

The picture above is the brown and silver chain maile bracelet from last week, finished. I love love love how slinky it is!

Jury slides

2011-05-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

Psss... if you want to see all of my new jewelry slides, you can on my facebook page here.

Miscellaneous Musings...

2011-05-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

OK just got back from seeing the Thor movie. I think we have our new Brad Pitt. When the lead actor Chris Hemsworth smiles, it's truly dazzling. wow. He's in his 30's so he's not a puppy, it's OK for me to like him! woot!

I got my slide pictures back... wow! I've posted just 1 of them in the blog... what do you think? I had them down by Van Rossen Photography . I'm very very pleased, and now I can apply to a couple of shows I was waiting on the new slides for!

West Glen Farmer's Market went great, despite the icky weather. We unloaded in the rain, then it stopped.. and then by 1130 am or so the wind picked up enough to make people sheltering over what's basically giant box kites nervous. Still, good time had by all, and I'm looking forward to next week's market and hopefully better weather! Considering the last few weekends, we are due some good weekend weather here in Iowa, don't you think?

At the show one of the commissions got picked up, and the client seemed delighted. It really makes me feel wonderful when people trust me to make them something unique and special for them or a loved one. Makes my heart warm all the way to my toes!

This weekend I've got another commission to finish up on, apply to shows, try to get my website working again ( see previous post, ugh!) general house stuff, and of course if I have time more jewelry!! I'm still on the chain maile kick.. maybe if you are all good and eat your broccoli I'll show you a picture!

New Booth Set up

2011-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my new booth.. mostly. Still tweaking things here and there, but I needed to get a new booth shot to apply to a couple of shows for later this year. Since I just got my new jewelry slides done, and the application dates are fast approaching, Jerry and I put the booth together Wednesday for the pictures.

The little girl is one of the Neighborhood kids. My little girl helped for about 10 minutes then escaped back to the inside of the house. And Special thinks to Suzie my next door neighbor, who allowed us to set up on her yard, as hers is level. At least compared to mine. My yard could stand in for a miniature alps play set!
Close up of the table configuration. Since I was taking booth shots, I didn't put out quite as much. Better to be uncluttered in jury pics!

I'll be at West Glen Farmer's Market this weekend.. If you are in the area stop by and see my new booth arrangements in person!

What's on the Desk 05/16/11

2011-05-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Got in a chain metal mood yesterday, taking a break from commissions.. which I'll work on again hopefully Wednesday.

I find chain mail very soothing to do. This pattern is sometimes called the queens link. It's modified Byzantine. It's like doing the first 3-4 steps of Byzantine over and over.. and makes this lovely snake chain feel. Right now the one I'm working on is brown and silver ( all done in Aluminum rings) but I have the desire to make a rainbow one, except I lack green rings. Next order I place I need to buy green rings!!

I love doing chain mail but it is time consuming and if I do it for too many hours my hands start hurting. Most of the jewelry I make doesn't hurt, but the constant opening and closing of the rings stresses out my hands. Maybe it's just as well I rarely get to sit for more than a couple of hours up the the studio after all eh?? Course it could be that with chain mail you can really get into a zone and realize you needed to go pee 3 hours ago!!! It's a good idea to take frequent breaks when making any jewelry. You can really harm yourself, which is true of any repetitive tasks, such as working on the computer. It's good to get up and stretch and walk around.
I have a timer on my desk and when I remember I set it for 20-30 minutes to remind me to get up and stretch. Course I don't always remember.. and then it goes off and I tell myself just one more stitch, or I have to finish texturing this last bit or I need to get to a good stopping place... and next thing I know it's 2 hours later.

I'm hoping I find time to spend in the studio this week.. I need to finish the last couple of commissions, I really want to finish this bracelet I'm working on, and I need to get a few more items done before my show this weekend at West Glen Farmer's Market.

So another busy, if fun week ahead!

change and frustration

2011-05-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

sigh.

I don't mind change, I really don't. I roll with the punches because that's what BarronMiller's do.. we might vent out loud, say bad words for a few minutes but eventually we brush ourselves off and go back into the fray and if not win, at least go down fighting.

But why does change always seem to cost me time?

My website hosting company just had a server platform redo, and while I'm sure in the long run it's going to be great, more features etc etc etc. But so far it's cost me 3-4 hours and no end in sight.

I used to have open ended, "virtual" emails. That means, no matter what someone types in front of my @beadfix.com I would get the email. I set up a filter and had everything route to just 1 email address, which got downloaded everyday to my home computer to be handled.

Since this was so easy, I only created 2 real emails on my beadfix, and just used whatever entered my fool head for whatever I was doing at that moment. I was proud of this feature, and told lots of folks if they needed to email me just type whatever, as long as it had @beadfix.com on the end.

Now that is gone.. probably since Wednesday. I got an email from my company on Thursday that the transition had happened, but with a show on Saturday and the normal busy of life, I didn't realize I wasn't getting many emails until Saturday night. Upon investigation, I wasn't getting ANY, because most of my emails no longer existed.

So if you sent me something other than to sales@beadfix.com in the last few days, I'm really sorry I didn't get it, and it probably didn't even bounce.

So I had to spend a chunk of time researching, setting up my pop settings to the new platform, and trying to remember what emails I use all the time ( kat@, me@, bead@, art@ etc etc etc) and actually getting them set up as "real" emails. I'm sure I've forgotten a few, and will keep adding as I go along.

The new platform does have a "catch-all" type email account, which I've turned on, but from my experiments doesn't seem to work the best... don't know if it's still in "transition" or if it just don't work that great.....

Now I'm trying to update my website. I have more shows I'm in ( I'll be at West Glen Farmer's Market this month on the 21st & 28Th among others) and so of course I want to update my show listings.

I very carefully followed all the changes my web hosting service said to do, and it seem to find the ftp server and download the changes no problem. My web hosting control page even shows I've made changes. But the changes are not showing on my website. No clue why.

I've fussed with it for over an hour, and I've finally given up and sent smoke signals ( aka online form) begging for help.

sigh.

In the process of all the fact finding on changes, I've discovered my website hosting company merged/ got bought out/ hostile take over/ who knows? recently, which is probably why the server platform is changing.

I notice while none of the prices of what I have have gone up (yet) the service help doesn't seem to be as forth coming, and now you can get extra levels of service for additional $$.

Now maybe that changed a while ago, but honestly I have had this hosting service for 5-6 years, and I've had problems maybe twice ... so I wouldn't know.

Meanwhile, I can't update my website and I"m positive I'm missing out on emails.

Sigh.

did I say I liked change?

What's on the desk.... commissions & ramblings

2011-05-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

Only I don't really have pictures, so I"m being sneaking... I have a commission to make 3 of these colorful crystal square pendants for a wonderful artist and 2 of her friends. Each color will represent the artist and her friend. I love this idea.. I've been making these mom pendants ( each crystal a member of the family's birthstone) and it really nice thought to make them for such good friends.

I am also working on a pearl watch for a gal at work.

I've actually got several projects going at once. This past weekend I had my first show and the shake down showed me where I had a couple of inventory holes.. mostly bracelets ... so I've got a couple set up ready to go, and some sketches for a couple of more. Hopefully will get them done by this weekend's show at the Art Store. The Art store is also having their garage sale weekend, so it's an excellent time to check them out.. this Saturday 10-5pm!

Today is air-conditioner day. Jerry put the rest of the units in the house ( he was a sweetie and put my studio one up a few weeks ago.. it gets pretty hot in the attic otherwise!) Boy love that wonderful rush of cool air swirling around the house! I think the new windows we bought last November will make a difference in how effective the air-conditioners will run this year.

I've got jewelry to the photographer, so hopefully my new slides will be done in the next week.. very exciting!!

New Displays

2011-05-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here is another sneak peak at my new displays... yes, the busts are lovely, but check out the riser in blue. I made it!! I'm so pleased with myself. It's a empty cookie tin outfitted with extra fabric scraps from my new table cloths. I sewed a line of crystals along the top edge, which is hard to see in these photos. I guess you will just have to visit my booth sometime this summer to see it better!!

What's On The Desk 05/02/11

2011-05-02T20:04:00.001-07:00

Today I'm working with garnets and pearls, a more classic combo you will not find!! I'm working on a 2 strand necklace, one strand is done here and artfully draped over the supplies for strand two.
I had someone ask me to make sure I post the finished pieces, so here is last weeks fancy jasper necklace.
I'm getting ready for my first show of the year, Mage Con. Can't wait!

PMS

2011-04-28T17:25:00.001-07:00

I normally try to do 3 blogs a week... Mondays is usually "whats on the desk" day, where I share what I'm working on, and the others are about whatever I think of at the time. I usually try to think of topics the day before... Today's blog should be a gushing report on getting my new table cloths delivered, or that I'm making mommie tag's for Mom's day or something cheery like that.

Instead I can hardly stand to be at the computer and type. My guts are all twisted up one minute, and the next I'm crying. I scream at my husband without cause, and the next I"m all weepy. My thinking gets warped.. and my emotional reactions are all out of proportion. And then I might be normal for an hour or two, until something sets me off again. I absolutely hate this. I feel like a total stupid head and mentally diseased. I feel out of control. Sometimes I'll start PMS-ing and not realize that's the problem. Then I really feel crazy!

I don't get PMS every time, or if I do, the level varies. I would estimate this month it's "high". My original plans for the evening were to quickly get my computer stuff done, wash some dishes, work on my slides, watch Buffy with the family, and then run up to the studio and make a few things and hopefully not stay up too late. Instead I am thinking a night of reading is a much much better idea- a safer one. I think me with hammers and tools with pointy thingies would not be a good idea at all today. That or I will rust my tools from the tears!!

What's on the Desk 04/25/2011

2011-04-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

I love the color variations of Fancy Jasper! I envision Sterling silver artfully and Elegantly wrapped around the focal bead, and the necklace mostly being the chips with a few of the larger beads to give it some texture. Can't wait to get back to this! Probably tomorrow, because Mondays is List Artfire Day. I am trying to list 3 to 5 new pieces of jewelry every week, and I"m really proud of myself.. I've only missed 2 weeks since I started in November... OK, I admit I might have been late a few times! I've also updated my Show Schedule to include 2 more shows, The Art Store Art Show May 14th and Oskaloosa Art on the Square June 11th. I'll be posting more shows as I get notified!

I'm also working on updating my destash shop on Artfire. I still have a couple of lots of sterling silver charms, some great destash of glass beads, and Vintaj natural brass components. It's also "what's on the desk on my blog" and I try to catch up on facebook, twitter, and emails.

Tuesdays are suppose to be "studio day" where I get to go up to my room and spend most of the evening creating. Unlike listing each week, that's not been happening very regularly. Real life gets in the way. Still I always have to be the optimistic that this Tuesday will actually be as advertised and I'll get a decent chunk of time to make stuff. As a realist, I'm grateful for the 1/2 hour I typically get! LOL

Thank goodness for the weekends... Until shows start in 2 weeks ( ACK! 2 WEEKS!!) I can have time to play!

Recent commissions -- Amethyst

2011-04-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

A friend of ours went to an amethyst mine/farm on a vacation, and in exchange for some of the crystals, I made them a series of pendants for their family. Here is a batch of them! Sterling sliver wraps the rocks and of course, each one is a different style, cause it wouldn't be fun any other way....

What a great way to share a family experience!

Sneak Peek on new displays!

2011-04-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had a BLAST! working in my new displays with a sprinkling of old. Here is a couple of pics as a peek.. I was trying to work out groupings based on my jewelry "lines", so it may or may not end up quite like this, as I keep experimenting. I love the new mirror.... The stand up metal shelves in the back I bought at a thrift store for a buck each! I suspect they are gardening thingies, but they work great to give my booth set up more layers! I have a couple of displays I need to "build" which I"m hoping to get to this coming weekend or next..
I love the copper spinning racks from last year so they are staying. The back bust is on top of a can which I am planning on covering with fabric that matches my booth. ( one of those "displays" I need to make)

Anyway, just a glimpse, so make sure you make it out to one of my shows to see the whole new setup! Just check out my show Schedule for a good day!

what's on the desk 04/18/2011

2011-04-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

CRYSTALS! really , do I need to say more?? OK, maybe a few words.. just want to make a few more bracelets for the summer shows, and what better to play with that sparkies!
I'm also finally sorting through years and years and years of sterling silver beads. I'm getting a few lots ready to sell at my cost.. totally a destash going on here. I just won't ever use some of these beauties, it's time to pass them along. Not all of course.. I don't dare let my stash get too low! I have a couple of charm lots up right now, you can check them out here.

Gearing up for show season

2011-04-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've really been working on inventory for my shows coming up starting in May.

I love the beads that Jodie Marshall makes, I buy them almost every time I see her. Here is a whole group of earrings made using her wonderful lampwork disks beads! All done in sterling silver and crystals of course.... the red earring (4th one over) is at a new gallery that is opening May 6th. It's owned by Monika Agic ( one of the movers and shakers behind the Iowa Coop Gallery) and she personally picked several pieces of my newest creations to feature in her gallery. If you are in town May 6th check it out. I would be there but of course we have a show that weekend.. first one of the season.
Here's a group of finger rings fresh from the tumbler.

A selection of pendants from my Earth Doodle line.

I'm in the studio today... my biggest plans are to "mock" up my booth. I bought several new displays and I'm eager to see how they will work together. And I plan to make more goodies to put on those displays, so it's gonna be a good good day!

Recent doings in the studio

2011-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is a mom's pendant made for a friend at work. Each crystal represents the birthstone of one of her family members. I used sterling wire to make the pendant, and I could do these in any color/ birthstone combo you could possibly want. The crystals are 6mm Austrian crystals.
Another commission. A customer bought a pendant in copper and pink pearls, and wanted to gift her friend with matching earrings. I really love how these turned out!
These copper leaves are handmade by me, with sterling silver wire as accents.

What's on the Desk 04/11/11

2011-04-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend I've been working on a series of charm necklaces on chain. Of the dozen or so I made so far, this one is my favorite!! It has a real steampunk feel, and I love the movement on it.. the 2 gears can turn, and the way I have attached to the chain, the whole pendant shifts back and forth as you walk around. Now normally a pendant shifting around like that would be considered poor workmanship, but it's so kewl and part of the concept for this one.
Here is a shot of my very messy desk right now.. here are some of the necklaces I've made this weekend, and the back row you can see some of the chain I'm using and components waiting their turn to become a charm necklace. Hard to see but there are some painted brass pieces, a brass moon, and some larger crystals, among other little bits and pieces.

Here is a closer shot of a few of the necklaces. Coming to shows this summer, be sure to check out my schedule to see them in person.. or better yet, if you are in Des Moines, book a jewelry show.

Sterling Disc Bracelets Part III

2011-04-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

OK, I've got kewl sterling silver domed discs, now what? Since I had 2 bracelets I did different things to them. On one I used flower shaped rings, and on the other I made wrapped links. I think both turned out pretty good! My original intention was to add dangles between the discs, but I really like the simple lines of just sterling silver.

Here is a close up of one of the toggles I made. I"m really pleased how these turned out!

And matching earrings of course! this pair is for the flower ring version.

Sterling disc bracelets Part II

2011-04-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

OK once I'm all happy with the hammered texture on the sterling plates, I get out my wonderful disc cutter, and make discs. One disc per bracelet I make as a washer, which will be for the toggle clasp I'm making from scratch. After just a few swipes with files and sand paper, the edges are perfect! So I dome them, and then punch the holes in them. It's important to make the holes even with each other if possible, so I use this mandrel that has evenly spaced markers on it.

Next it's time to put it all together!