New Tutorials To Learn New Skills With!

I have several new tutorials I am excited to try out! One is Iza Malczyk's Wire Woven Bead Cap Tutorial. My fingers are literally itching to give this one a whirl. First I have to go to the bead store and get some wire to learn this with!

The other is Mary Tucker's Twining With Wire Lesson Tutorial. I've been wanting to apply basketry techniques to my wire wrapping skills for a while. This tutorial should give me a great foundation to get started. I took a basketry workshop 18 years ago and enjoyed myself. (Wowsa, it's really been that long ago?)

These tutorials are the first techniques I'm adding to my repertoire of wire wrapping skills! Also going to learn to solder silver wire into frames, practice headpin making....

Red Earrings & Ideas For 2012

Here is a pair of my new earring design done in reds and golds.

I have been working on ideas for next year. Where I plan to go with my jewelry, how to improve my blogging and such.

I need to get back on the regular blogging bandwagon and make it a habit again. I am thinking of doing four weekly features. I can research a different gem for one week, two different jewelry design challenges would fill another two weeks and I'm thinking a stained glass challenge for the fourth week. I can show the design sketches, creation along with the finished project.

I have definitely decided to concentrate on making the intricate wire wrapped jewelry designs that I so love doing. I want to challenge myself and setting myself weekly theme challenges would really help with that. I'm thinking one for every month of the year and still debating the other. I was thinking of a "name" challenge, but am not sure.

I miss writing a short sci-fi-fantasy story for my jewelry using my alter ego Willow and am thinking about doing that again. We'll see.

I need to sit back and evaluate how things went at the end of each month. Figure out what is working and what is not.

And I really need to get serious about doing some fancier, higher end shows with my jewelry. I think my stuff is to fancy for a lot of the shows I have been doing. I seem to end up at the window shopping ones anymore courtesy of this lovely economy.

Raspberry Parfait Wire Wrapped Necklace Set

Raspberry Parfait Wire Wrapped Necklace Set! I've finally listed this gorgeous set on Artfire. I also uploaded it on jewelrylessons.com where it received an astounding amount of compliments within the first 12 hours it was posted.

This is the kind of work you will be seeing from me in the future. I love setting my dichroic glass cabochons into intricate wire wrapped settings especially when I can add in some gemmies too! These are time consuming creations that I love making!

When I first started listing I would write short stories about the piece using my alter ego, jewelry designer whom I named "Willow" She's was a sci-fi fantasy gal living and traveling in the future who was also settling on a new world with others. With these fancier pieces I have been playing with bringing her back with new short stories. What do you think?

New Pendant Style!

For the most part I have tried to take it easy today and be lazy. As you can tell my muse had other ideas! Up till now I hadn't found a way to make swirly wire wrapped cabs. I came across a variation of the "traditional" wire wrapped cabs with swirls-but it wasn't quite what I was looking for and I didn't want to buy a bunch of wire for it either.

A week ago Sunday when I was at the Crook County Gem & Mineral show I picked up two new wire wrapping books. I must confess that I have a weakness for books...I always love to see how others do things and I figure the more I learn the more I can expand my creativity. One of the pictures on the cover that caught my eye were swirly wrapped pendants. I had looked through the books and decided I would pursue them more later. Well later was this morning as I was trying to be lazy. . I was so excited when I looked at the swirly wrapped dichroic pendants in the book and realized that they were built around a channeled dichroic cabochons!!! My muse took over and I managed to wrap two today! I found the instructions to be confusing-BUT I was able to figure it out enough to make these. My fingers are sore and my muse is happy!

These are listed in my Artfire studio! Blue Dichroic Glass Swirled Wire Wrapped Pendant and Purple Dichroic Glass Swirly Wire Wrapped Pendant!

Working While On The Road

Well I started wrapping cabs while it was my aunts turn to drive. I managed to get eleven pairs wrapped! Now I still need to finish them by putting on the earwires. I wrapped the red hearts last night so I could wear them today. I took this picture in my room here at the hotel/motel. The best lighting was in the bathroom. I think it isn't too bad of a picture (although the color on the turquoise cabs doesn't really show due to glare). My Aunt Jackie was quite taken with the little round cab so I am going to wire wrap it in silver (her preference) and gift it to her tomorrow.

We had a lovely drive up here to Hoaquim/Aberdeen, WA from Bend, OR. It is about a five hour drive not counting any stops! Actually this the best drive up here that I have ever had. Hardly any traffic, no rain, not to sunny and no snow with dry pavement over the Mt. Pass. There was more snow when we came up last fall. Three winters ago the snowpack was so high my kid was climbing the snow and jumping off the roof of the rest area on Mt. Hood! The snow was almost gone. Nice for driving but this also means a dry summer as there isn't much of a snowpack to provide us with water for the coming summer....

I know I said I'd be gone and not posting. I decided at the last minute to take my laptop along. The inn we are staying at has free wireless! So I decided to post anyway. I will be at another hotel/motel tomorrow so if I post is still unknown.

Recap Of 2009 & Clearance Sale

I moved a bunch of pieces over to the Sales/Clearance section of my shop. These pieces have been around for at least a year. There are many great prices to be had. I have taken anywhere from $8.00 to $20.00 off these pieces. Just like this beauty shown. My original asking price was $35.00. Now it is down to $20.00!

As I take a few moments to reflect on the past year I realize I have come a long way. The past year has been one of healing. 2009 was about recovery and rebuilding my life after having it shattered by the horrible, devastating loss of my daughter in July of 2008. I feel like I am finally crawling out of the shadows of sorrow and loss back into the sunshine of the living world.

In 2009 I reclaimed my room and finally discovered a good arrangement for it that really works. I made a good start on reclaiming the yard and flower borders. I learned a lot about selling on line. And tried to take the selling of my pretties waaay to seriously. I joined Plurk and made a lot of wonderful, new friends. I did some higher end shows. Two of my usual shows I did the best I have I have ever done. I found it to be quite disheartening to realize that for all the work and energy I put into a show that my profit margin is so small! Twenty or thirty dollars for 8-10 hours of work....but it is still more than I would of had sitting at home and it gets me out to be seen. On the other hand I don't think I did all that bad considering the state of the economy. I learned a lot of new wire working techniques to add to my repertoire of wire wrapping techniques. I've combined the method I use to wire wrap a cab with the technique for wire woven bails to give my pendants a much nicer appearance. I also designed a simple, adjustable wire wrapped ring for my cabs. I've taken up blogging and have become much better about it in the past two or three months. I joined the Create Art Every Day Month challenge in November and did fairly well if I do say so myself. Christmas was the best one we've had in years.