New

Two little, simple things, but I'm at that point where you're working on a ton of pieces at all different stages and none have come together quite yet. Those days can feel like you got nothing done, but then the next day, a couple steps will lead you to finish a ton of things and you'll be like "I did all this today? I'm amazing!" And then you realize you're deluding yourself. About having made everything in that one day, not about being amazing, of course.

 

  

So, despite a recent big sale, business is sloooowww.  So I purchased a couple of showcase spots.  Don't know if it's even worth it, I'm sure it's hit-or-miss like any renewing on etsy.  But yeah, there sure is a lot of demand for those spots.  Couldn't even get regular jewelry, but rather earring and bracelet showcases.  Or wait- earring and necklace.  So, earring June 10th and necklace June 11th.  

But other than that, I'm not going to sweat it.  If I did this for the money well, I wouldn't do this!  Or if it were for the popularity, I'd make things that were more mass-market appealing.  That is, I'd run a factory in Malaysia. 

Favorites

Here are some recent favorites.  Starting with the best of all:

 I find that the best ideas are always surprising in their simplicity.  This necklace by Grace and Greta blows me away.  It could have been executed very tackily but it's perfect.  I just realized it reminds me of that show on HGTV where the lady comes up w/a color wheel made up of different things the home owners like so they won't be intimidated by color. (Although it never makes any sense to me since she doesn't account for hue and tone and the wall color never looks like the color they picked to me....)  I'm resisting buying it b/c I have something in my brain that keeps me from spending money on anything other than food and rent...  I'm an immigrant raised by old Socialists, by the way.  But it's way affordable.  Underpriced, in fact.  The one cream bead w/the holes, looks like bone, that one kills me.  Breaks my heart somehow...  If only I went anywhere to show it off...

I'd even like it more with even chunkier, larger rocks...

(Looking for something with bigger chunks lead me to discover this:

And this: from a shop that's all about lovely rainbows.)

Where was I?  Oh, yeah, favorites.

This necklace by Laurel's Bench is made of petrified wood.  I love how it's capped off.  Again, the best ideas surprise you with their simplicity.  But they have something that clicks in you right away.  And you go- why didn't I think of that?  Now I'm gonna want to copy that!  But I'll be trying with regular branches and my solder gun instead of these refined materials, cuz I always think 'how can I do that but quick and dirty?' and it'll take me forever and end up all crappy...

I love well executed asymmetrical earrings.  Not often seen.  These by azsolla are a divine.  I also love those that flip or reverse the weight... the large or heavy element on top in one earring, on the bottom in the other.  Or the reversing of color in the same way (though the best aren't that obvious).  Love it, never occurs to me when I'm making stuff.  It should.  It's so inspiring, creative and energizing to the eye somehow.

Here's two gorgeous examples of that among many from Mia Montgomery:

  I also never hear photos but this little thing stole my heart.

This necklace by Deryn Mentlock is dreamy:

The piece of bone above the medal actually looks like scrimshaw.  Maybe it is.  Y'all know I'm all about mixing "ethnic" with antique.  Drool!  I wish all my items were as, I don't know, valuable? antique? unique? as her elements.  Maybe I mean that if every bit you use to make a thing is in itself clearly already quite a thing, your final thing will really be something!  Yeah!

And finally, back on the rainbow brights:

This is from a shop called Over the Top, and boy is it!  

She has several necklaces which use big bright fishing lures as the focals.  

As so:

from the tree

My other most recent bracelet is also in a treasury, yay


Curated by ACrookedSixpence.  Man, this new treasury east sure has me busy.  I guess it's the best busy to be, other than actually, you know, selling things. (note- I'll stop whining- I just sold the most expensive necklace I've made so far.  Yipee!  Not being crass, it's just exciting.  From selling $15 to $115 dollar necklace is a big step in 2 years...  2 more and I'll be at $1,115 necklaces!  Not.)

Behold the Bread of Angels

The images I promised yesterday.

Ecce Panis Angelorum- behold the bread of angels.  Except "ecce"- couldn't that be like in spanish- ese- that one? like "that's angel bread"?  Like, "have some angel food cake"?  That would rock.

Here it reads Na Sa D Carmen.  Our Lady of Carmen.

Now this one below, turns out, is an award for scholarship.  It reads on the back Colegio Santa Maria Premio Para Tarea de Vacaciones- Saint Mary Private School Award for Vacation Homework.  

 And you know it had to be a pretty big deal- that medal couldn't have been cheap to have made.  Back in the Stone Age.... On the other hand, it was a ritzy private school.  That's what "colegio" means.  That's why them freners always say university instead of college.  Little lesson for ya.

And God knows you come here to learn.... alternate spellings for foreigners.  

And, OK, one might suggest I could have actually looked at the medals and figured this out before making them into a necklace.  But where's the intrigue?  I just like things for their evocativeness, not their value at some Antiques Roadshow-type gathering.  I think of that as the male side of antiques.  The when-where-did-it-come-from-what-actually-is-it side.  That's my idea of male, lol.

au sujet des images

A buyer wants better images of my Jesus in the Koran necklace.  I guess there is a lot going on and the focal medals are hard to see. Tomorrow I'll take pictures, but tonight I experimented with my scanner, the technological version of an abusive man you always go back to.

naughty palace, stupid disease, flying saucer

From Engrish.com, any ESL teacher's favorite stress relief.
Can you tell I'm on the 1st day of my period?

While I'm at it, this one is not so much funny as genius:

I'm feeling unloved b/c I haven't sold anything in a while. Especially not any big, significant piece.  I should lower my prices. Or raise them or do the hokey-pokey, what do I know.

I make pretties. I show. You look.

I had to saw off the narrow tops of these casings.  I also broke 2 drill bits making holes in their bases.  The quartz nuggets look so much more valuable somehow, displayed in the casings.  Here's what they looked like in their etsy listing:

Don't they look less special?  Well, it'll be more noticeable in a real, non-scanner, picture.  You'll see.

Now, this image shows the quartz nugget at the focal as very grey and dirty.  It's not, though.  Also, there's a lovely stripe down the image that developed when I cleaned the scanner glass.  It was so filthy, I actually got my lazy ass up and cleaned it.  My monitor screen is also filthy.  What was I saying?

Whatever, this necklace is quite satisfying.  Yup.  Even in my state of extreme PMS miserable-excuse-for-a-mammal....  Grammar fail.

It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is "shake" and the 46th word from the last word is "spear". 

-from

19. Bezirk

This treasury is by emmarts.

It features this guy: