Makin' the Makies

I've been making a bunch of beads. Can't seem to stop. Fractured Stones
The crackled ones turned out totally different than last time. And I made myself crazy with the back painting on these. I found though that it's much easier wiping the top paint off if you use a cloth (I used an old T shirt) and some rubbing alcohol. I was inhaling fumes but other than that, much easier.
Polymer clay art bead sets
As you can see, all kinds of things.
Shapes and facets.
On a whim I bought a bicone bead roller. I just don't think I'm meant for even-shaped beads.
Gold fissures.
On the upper right? Those are Angelina fibers. I'm not done experimenting with them.
Silver long drops. 
The silver veneer on these is not metal leaf but rather these rolls of nail transfer foil stuff that I found on eBay. The gold is metal leaf though.
White abalone.
This abalone pattern is from those rolls too.
Gleaming grays.
Again, not done experimenting with these. Lower right, more Angelina fibers but with a layer of translucent clay over the top.

Sparkling wobblies.
These are made with crushed shells.

Blue roses.
Here's some decal connectors, but this time I used bezel settings so that the rings would be external and I wasn't making myself crazy with the little holes.

Triangle earring pairs.

Connectors set using the last of my Chinese decals.

Bracelet connectors with more crackle experiments. I added the wire rings to show where they're drilled but maybe that's unnecessary.

Altered mop earring pairs with vintage floral decals and crackles, double sided. These aren't polymer but they're cute, hu?



Jewelry inspiration kit. Look at all the special bits you get!

Rustic Resin Shrine Earring Pairs. I've started listing these cuz I have too much stuff and I only want to make beads.

Rustic Resin Pendants.

Rustic Resin Focals
They're not getting snapped up because I priced them decently. A lot of the beads below went quickly because I thought of them as experiments so I sorta undercharged.

Like good lord, ladies like these heishi. 

On the one hand they're super easy to make so I might do a free tute. On the other I'm having some tackiness issues with the inexpensive enamel paints I use over the tops.

So yeah folks are eagle-eyed for the deal$.

Connectors...


I find these kits very fun to put together. Gathering up coordinating supplies is such a huge part of making jewelry anyways that this is definitely artistically fulfilling.
What else? Oh I have butt-loads more to post:


Dun dun dun!!! That was the dramatic sound effect as they got closer and closer.
If I'm not my usual chatty self... You know lately, with the... lets just call it politics, shall we? I feel like there's this slimy layer of hatefulness over our whole society and it's got me all ugh. Well, I was sick last week too but it all coalesced when someone I chatted with regularly on etsy said some wildly ignorant shit about how "open borders" was the reason I was sick. What with the Mexican drug dealing rapist lepers coming to get us all. Do you remember in the movie The Help when the evil white lady was like "They carry different diseases"? Same thing. As a Latin American immigrant myself, who has heard first hand the INDESCRIBABLE shit undocumented immigrants go through... OMG. I'd like to say I was all tough and fuck you about it but I was shivering with fever and when I get sick all my walls fall down and I have emotional open borders so I spent the night sobbing and crying "Why do you hate us so much?" (Cuz oh yeah, the conversation developed, more outrageous claims were made. I couldn't tell if I was shaking from fever or anger or horror...)
Ignorance is so easy y'all. Bullying people who can't fight back is so easy... Coming up with excuses for hate when you've never even talked to the people you're judging.
I could write about this forever but you know what I do instead? I hide away in my home, play with beads and pretend everything is just as pretty outside as it is on my work table. I can do this because of white middle-class privilege of course. (Obviously, I'm hispanic and also white.) But for the last couple months I've felt like I can't push it away, it's eating it's way in.
Deep breath. Deep breath again. Oh god, head rush from too many deep breaths it's not working...
OK yeah. Don't mean to start a shit storm but oh well. I'm almost all the way healthy again and I know not to talk to toxic people so it's all good.
Now for a palette cleanser, lets look at some border walls shall we?

Love you guys, stay safe.