some gift suggestions from artisan friends of mine

have you heard of Etsy? an online venue for handcrafted items, supplies and vintage?
one of the great things about Etsy is the community of artisans from around the world. we can join teams based on techniques used, business topics, etc to help with business ideas and to get answers on how to do certain techiniques.

so the starting gate is just about to open on the holiday shopping season...
i thought i'd showcase some of my teamies. the artisan industry has huge dollar influx into USA economy but artisans are constantly battling up against mass produced imported items.we unusually can't compete on price but we pour lots of love into our creations...please take a look at these handmade items and try to support an artisan... school budgets keep leading to more arts programs cut so where is our next generation of artisan going to learn? american crafts have always been a big part of our culture. please help keep us around... and the best part is you get some unique items to enjoy...

laura lives in MA and has a goat herd, how cool is that? her soaps are fabulous
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TrystingTreeFarm?ref=pr_shop_more

Tropical xmas tree skirt

Annie is a  local Southern Californian. as you know we can have wonderfully warm xmas. i don't miss MI winter. would it be tooo cruel to send this xmas skirt to someone buried in snow?!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/anniekdesigns

 whimsey, what a great word and feeling, lets add some in to our lives....
you can order custom banners for your special events
http://www.etsy.com/shop/simplewhimsey?ref=ss_profile

Jenn can also create custom cards for you. i love this happy card
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sophienme?ref=ss_profile

carol has cards for many occasions
http://www.etsy.com/shop/QuirkynBerkeleyCards?ref=seller_info

okay it can get cold here...
dana makes fun hats
http://www.etsy.com/shop/danadooleydesigns?ref=seller_info


heres one last one, a tote bag to carry with you, made by a high school friend and former neighbor.


melissa is a fabulous seamstress. we have a baby quilt she made Scott. she has bags in many styles along with other fabric items such as book covers
http://www.etsy.com/shop/japanesqueaccents?ref=seller_info

wishing you all a safe fun Thanksgiving weekend,
jeanne

how many earrings can i design in a year's time?

how many pairs of earrings can i design in a year's time? it turns out alot! at the beginning of the year in 2010, i set a goal of just going in the studio and making 5 pairs a month.... lol now i could easily make 50 different pairs a month
obviously i can't give all of them a home on MOI ears, so i will be listing alot of pretty new ones to go on their way to a new home all over the USA...
here are some samples. i still struggle drastically with my photos, my creations are much prettier in person...

a pair of lampwork glass barn owls for my MOD friends, you know whooooo you are

a small pair of xmas ornament looking red glass beads with copper accents swirled around

i love these eggplanty purple glass beads, the side is a matte finish, the front and back are polished so it's like you can see into the heart.. accented w/ assorted glass beads these are on sterling silver earwires

i love the ocean, anyone want to go on an island vacation? these remind me of ocean waters, the triangular glass bead has several ocean blue tones, the shell dangle is silverplate

so those are just a few of the ones waiting to go up in the shop. i've got scads more using freshwater pearls in assorted colors and shapes, fance semiprecious gems in briolette shapes w/ faceted rondelles...
hopefully tomorrow will be a good day of photgraphing and uploading...

say kumihimo 3 times

kumihimo you ask what is that?! an ancient Japanese braiding technique using silk cording.... it is now the rage with beaders using various size and shapes of seed beads...
i spent Sunday in San Diego learning the technique from Margie Fish, one of my favorite instructors at the Shepherdess bead and yarn shop in Old Town San Diego.
Margie has 'invented' an updated way of using kumihimo to insert focal beads in the middle of a bracelet. It was her inventive take on the ancient craft i was most excited to learn.
as usual, my brain was ready to explode with all the potential ways to incorporate the different braiding patterns and finishing methods in my creations...
i was fortunate to be able to spend the nite on the boat after class which kept me from driving home on the freeway in the rain. today was an absolute gorgeous day to drive 120 miles on the San Diego Fwy: gorgeous blue sky, puffy white clouds, sparkling ocean and mountains with snow on them were all visible for various portions of my drive.

a gorgeous day to make necklaces in san diego

oh it's a cruel world. while the Nor'east has been hit with a very early wet snowstorm, i'm spending the day in San Diego where it is bright sunny and probably 77 degrees. Ray and I arrived just at sunset last nite and will be leaving in about 45 mins, so just 22 hrs spent on this visit to the boat...

i brought jewelry tools and supplies so i could make necklaces while ray was sleeping ( thankfully we have a salon area that is separate from the master cabin so i can move around, make noise, watch TV while he sleeps)

so i apologize for the poor photos i took with my blackberry. i find it impossible to edit photos on a laptop, it's too hard to tell what the true color is.. i can't even tell which picture is the ruby and which the sapphire...
but i wanted to share these now...



studio move going well, can't wait to sit down and create in the new space

oh the move of jewelry tools to new area is going soooo WELL! i avoided it forever it seems, such a big project was overwhelming to my brain. it's not the 'perfect' environment for metal tools as originally it was an outside room and rain water runs through it. a new security screen door cut down the ease that lizards, snakes, rats and mice had to get under old door. maybe i will just be soooo HARD at work in the winter, i won't notice how COLD the un heated room is...
i've got a whole LIST of items i want to make....maybe i'll take some time on my birthday this week as a treat to myself and just lose myself in pretty semi-precious jeweltone briolettes making up the necklaces and earrings that i've sketched out....
the former jewelry studio is transitioning to fiber/fabric studio ( I just can't let loose of that passion yet!) plus a bedroom for Mom to use when she stays with us this Winter.
i'm amazed how the furniture is just falling into place for new setup... okay , YES i have to CARRY it out there first LOL but i'm getting some much overdue exercise in the bargain.....
just been reviewing in my mind all the different ways we've used various rooms in our house since moving here in mid-80s...

i'm using 2 bookcase nightstands that were in Ray's childhood bedroom to raise up my wire shelf units to better eye level. when the boys were young, i painted "Welcome" and a bird on the side and had them sitting on front stoop for our shoes...took me down memory lane seeing the paintings yesterday. Son Scott says he remembers them on the porch. Now his shoes are too long for the shelf... boy they grow up quickly, don't they?!

NEVER throw anything away is a motto that does work for me for the most part but i admit i took it to the extreme last couple years and was veering into HOARDERS ANONYMOUS territory.
thank goodness i've figured out some storage containers that work for me...

well hoping sooon the men folk wake up so i can get back to moving stuff...WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP

moving the studio to new area is alot of work but gonna be soooo worth it!

i'm so addicted to learning new jewelry techniques which leads to have sooooo many different jewelry making supplies and tools. really my rational brain knows it would be much cheaper to just buy resin beads instead of all the stuff required to make my own...but that doesn't seem to deter me.
finally the bedroom i'd converted to a studio reached maximum capacity...then i bought my friend Julie's casting equipment. so the casting equipment was set up in another area....my brain tried to figure out which other techniques i needed to relocate to that area but it overloaded my brain... i wanted certain bead findings in the new area for use in enamelling but also use them plain in designs soooo i made the big leap and decided to move ALL the jewelry studio to the new area
now this area was already too full of its own collection of stuff since we have no attic or basement and i have hoarding tendencies. there, i admit it...
day one of the relocation went well. once i started to move stuff around i discarded my 1st plan of arrangement.
day two and mom is here so i might be distracted by processing some of the veggies in the garden such as tomatoes and bell peppers. apples are waiting to be dried as well
but i'm anxious to get everything organized in new setup and then test out did i locate items in the most usable place...key for me is having multiple worktops/desks so i can have a setup for various stages of work. it's too much of an irritation if i have to put away the tools from one stage and switch over to tools/components for the next stage of creation. i like my own assembly line setup.
boy those 3 bookcases i acquired spur of moment at garage sale for $20 sure are working out well.
waiting for family to wake up so i can start making noise, moving stuff...

gotta do the things that 'scare' you

So in July i went up to Campbell CA to purchase Julie's casting equipment... the scariest thing about that was I was going to have to learn how to USE the freaky scarey centrifuge casting machine... i mean come on what is the point of buying it if I'm AFRAID to use it...
Julie was a super teacher. She planned on us doing 6 castings flasks so the kiln would be full for the burn out and there were 6 times the centrifuge would be loaded and let go... it's the letting go so it spins the 1675 degree silver or the 1945 degree bronze....MOLTEN METAL  as in melted liquid BURNING HOT... yikes

Julie was kind enough to light and adjust her torch to the proper flame. She had me load the casting flasks in place and she torched/melted the first silver castings. After lunch (when my brain had FORGOTTEN what she'd taught me in the morning..) was my turn. We did one as a 'team'...I was too afraid to hold the centrifuge machine with it torqued up and brake off as I wasn't sure my left hand was strong enough but I did melt the metal..and jump back when the machine spun the metal into the burned out investment.

Then the last two were my 'babies'. After the 1000 degree flask was in position and the metal loaded in the crucible Julie lit the torch and handed it to MOI, gulp....i can't quite recall if she helped hold the centrifuge on this firing but the last one I did on my own after she lit the torch... It was an amazing feeling to do all the steps by myself SAFELY. I was exhausted at that point after very little sleep for 4 nites plus 2.5 days of instruction.. all 6 of the castings turned out... what a GREAT teacher.. i wish her well in her creative endeavors in Slovenia...thankful we can still stay in touch through the internet.

The other freaky scarey thing i did this summer was adopting an F2 Savannah male. he seemed HUGE to me when i first met him and i had no experience around any F2 savannahs just my F3 so i didn't know how WILD he might be. I know they aren't mean cats but they do get startled and react like a wild Serval...It helped that he has golden eyes, when he is EXCITED they turn a luscious ORANGEY AMBER color so i just think calming thoughts about JEWELRY hahaha

Today is 6 wks exactly since i learned he was available for adoption...Friday he will have lived with us 6 wks...pushing my comfort zone out with the casting MELTED metal has helped me trust i can handle this HUGE cat who can seem freaky scarey, not really for what he is doing but what my mind imagines...

some might recall i picked him up for the first time on day 11... a high point in my life forever...
Sunday i thought i'd give a try to trimming his nails by myself. that went well while he was laying beside me on the bed...
yesterday he got loose in rest of house and met our F3 and whippet nose to nose. that brief meeting was positive on all sides. today i let him loose in hallway, his room and our master bedroom while the whippet was in there. they met nose to nose in the hallway, neither one reacted. then whippet jumped up on our king size bed, Squeak cautiously approached and then POP POP struck through the metal footboard openings and struck the whippet on the nose... whippet just gave a little whine then i shut the bedroom door... that left me with realisation that all cat nails needed to be trimmed shorter before any further meet ups.... gulppp
could i do it on my own?
well this great big cat that i thought was so freaky scarey on July 18 laid calmly on his side on the floor while i trimmed his hind feet w/ the nail clippers... i tell you he was the easist cat to trim of ANY we have ever had in our family... i finished off the front nails while he was beside me on the bed...
so i could have just lived with my fear, imagining awful scenario and taken him to the vet for a trimming but instead i decided to calmly attempt a trimming on my own... HOORAY the success of this coupled with the conquering of my fear of the freaky scarey centrifuge will encourage me to try other new things that are out of my normal comfort zone... like the marathon i plan to run when i turn 60... now that is freaky scarey. i've let my fear of that stop me from even starting my weight loss efforts... but now that I'm done getting our house/yard ready for Ray's reunion party I can switch my energies over to fall/winter veggie planting, jewelry production and exercising..(anybody know where i can find a few more hours in the day?)

So if you have something you are too timid to attempt i encourage you to safely cautiously push your comfort zone out to a wider range... it is so 'free-ing' in all areas of your life when you do that. I remember how training and running a half marathon opened my horizons...