In this day and age, it’s hard to spend some quality time without a lot of distractions from friends, family, and the constant call of technology.  While I really couldn’t avoid much of it, I did manage to stay home for most of the weekend and work on some on-going chainmaille projects I wanted to finish.  I had a wonderful time finishing everything up with my He-Man DVD playing in the background.  Nothing really makes me happier than that… save for a few other things.

Here, a Viper weave bracelet with unique fluorite clasp…

And a new weave for me, Stepping Stone…

I have a necklace as well, but no good pictures yet… but I think these are enough eye candy for now. 

I love Swarovski crystal, chainmaille, artisan glass, and stones. So I decided to get back to the basics that I love so much and the muse started singing. After a long and tiring day, this has been the light tha makes it all worthwhile. And it’s pink…

Oh my, that’s very pink…

I started playing with a new weave from scratch… well, a picture off the Internet.  Found a basic pattern online to get the right aspect ratio, and just started chaining.  I really like this weave and it’s called a “stepping stone”.  Yeah, it definitely is a stepping stone alright.  It takes a long time to weave and I haven’t been focused enough to seriously concentrate.  I think I have about half of it finished for my wrist size (which is larger than average).  On a side note, it’s better to have your bracelets too big than too small.  That way I can adjust to fit.

This is a beautiful weave and has really gotten my creative juices back into gear… I hope they stay.

I learned a lot after selling at Pagan Pride Day… none of my “quick” sales stuff sold and my more expensive chainmaille pieces did.  And oxidized sterling silver.  So I’ve been wondering what the correlation is here.  I think in spite of the economy, people are willing to pay for something different and unique.  The oxidized jewelry is definitely something I can cash in on, considering that bright shiny silver doesn’t go with everyone’s skin tone.  It’s also different and more unique.  I think that definitely helped my first sale of the day.

As far as the chainmaille goes, it’s a nice alternative to the jewelry company that shall not be named with the cute little blue green bags and white bows… a good majority of people have their charm bracelets and “Return to _____” bracelets.  I think ever since Legally Blonde came out in 2001 is when they had their big boost in sales of those particular items.  I was never impressed with those bracelets and necklaces.  It’s a chain with a heart shaped dog tag.

I just have to be true to myself and be the unique jewelry designer that I am.  A rock on a chain with a little bit of chainmaile is definitely not the answer… gotta keep cranking out the chainmaille at decent prices.  Yay for chainmaille!

I’m actually surprised that most of my sales were the chainmaille bracelets and pendants.  There were a lot of nice people who were oogling and complimenting my work.  So that was really nice.  My first sale was the oxidized labradorite necklace and oxidized barrel bracelet, so it looks like I need more chainmaille and more oxidized stuff.  Good to know for later.  And it’s also the universe saying that I need to be true to myself and go with my gut, not the market or what I think the market will want… so no more gemstone pendants.  I need a better bracelet display because the 3-tier wasn’t attracting enough attention.  Hmm.  Thoughts for next time.

OMG, I’ve been producing as much stuff as I can for this event.  I’ve never been a vendor here, so it will be interesting.  It’s exciting to try out the whole outdoor thing, but unless I actually have an SUV and tables and an EZ Up, I won’t be doing this very often by myself.  Just stocking my little table is hard enough as it is.  I prefer to be a jewelry consultant, but hey, gotta sweat occasionally for what you love.

Today I get to setup my display and have my boothmates help me price things out… hopefully they won’t butcher the prices I have in my head…

Oh yeah, I forgot to post this when I finished it.  I have been working on this silly chain ever since… late last year when I bought the moonstone pendant.  It went perfectly with the little HP 4-1 chain I was working on and it later turned into a necklace.  The chain is just so dense… it’s breathtakingly lovely and even more so when you’re wearing it.  Not as crazy as the Euro 4-1 collar in its full glory, but this is definitely simple elegance.

It’s been a wonderful summer… I hope yours has been as bountiful and relaxing as mine has.

I’m surprised I didn’t buy anything at this rock show.  I think part of it has to do with the fact that I need to re-organize my room/studio space to accomodate more rocks, especially giant chunks of amethyst, and the fact that I had Glmory with me.  I did want to buy a pretty piece of Azurite druzy, which he did think was cool, but I got lazy and we left in search of lunch.  The more I think about it, the more I prefer buying beads online because my 2 suppliers are so good that I know exactly what I’m getting.  It’s hard to tell what you’re getting at shows because they really don’t say if the beads have been altered in some way.  Looks like I’m spoiled by the Internet.  In more ways than one.

Check it out, I’m on Twitter!

The best word of creative advice given to me has been something like this… “Creativity is right-brain work.  Words and numbers are left-brain.  Listen to music without words and be in a pleasant state of mind.  If you make jewelry in a dark and dreary place, then you’ll make dark and dreary jewelry.  Don’t do that to your jewelry.”

So, with that in mind, I’ve been playing a lot of muscial scores and classical music lately.  I also realized I have about 6 CDs worth of Hercules and Xena score, so that’s quite literally SCORE!  Now I have to dig up my Buffy CD because there are a few tracks at the end that are score tracks.  In addition to the music, I started donning some larimar this week.  Monday I was working with it and created a new design with a twist.  I haven’t felt a little creative burst like that for awhile and it’s been the energy I’ve been looking for.  So last night, after I put on the larimar and poked at my desk, something hit me and I almost finished a new necklace with rose gold, pearls, crystals, and my favorite lampwork beads.  It was magical.