I really love how this necklace turned out. The metal piece is silver plated brass, and then I used pearls, sterling, crystals and pewter drops to flesh it out. Again it's got a great vintage vibe to it, something I'm really into right now. 
OK I've always been into vintage, but the last few months it's gotten to be a serious creative branch in my tree of thinking. One of my goals for this year is to steer my creative impulses into more or less defined "lines" of jewelry. This is actually kind of scary, as I've always just made whatever I want with a few bread and butter pieces on the side. When a person looks at my jewelry booth or even my artfire store it's a crazy mix of mediums and styles. While this is a strength (I'm really versatile), it's also a weakness (it's crazy). If you look around my booth, it's hard to lock on to a peculator piece of jewelry, because it's a riot of color and types. They always say to "group" your jewelry, by price color etc, so it's easier for the customer to find items.
When jewelry makers talk about lines or collections they usually mean just 2-3, and they stick to that. I know I can't do that, that's too confining for me. But what if I have 8-10 "lines" or broad groupings for my jewelry? I have the perfect displays now for such an adventures, when my Husband and I bought the shelves for the booth last year. I figure each shelf can be it's own "line" or "collection". We tested that in the 2ND half of the show season, and it seemed to be working. That way folks who like pearl jewelry just went to the pearl shelf, and those who like stone focused on that shelf. I'm just expending that idea this year, and really going to focus on that idea. So far I don't feel limited or stressed at all. Right now I'm just making what I feel like, and then in April or so I'll figure out what "collections" I have, and try to fill in the blanks from there. I also figure I can have more than 8 collections if I want- Since at the start of show season I usually have enough jewelry to fill 2 jewelry booths, I can always just hold a collection or 2 back, and rotate them at shows. That will certainly keep my booth fresh through the year!
Matching earrings of course.
The humble beginnings
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