Inspiration and a cat model!

I mentioned the other day that i’m thinking about joining a group of metalworkers on deviantArt. I’m still thinking about it, but inspiration has struck.

I am still trying to get some designs fleshed out for a design contest this summer. I’m really thinking I ought to order some rings, and work on patterns again. I have one that I’m just making to explore the construction of it, but after looking at some of the work in MetalWeavers, I’m really now thinking about turning it into a cat collar!

My cat would hate me, but those of you who know her understand that a chain collar really does suit her personality. Of course, I’d also want to figure out how to put a breakaway latch on it. Choked cats are no fun.

To join…or not to join…

I’ve been made aware of this neat group on deviantArt known as MetalWeavers. It’s a talented group of people who work in metal to create lovely wearables (and not so wearables).

In the short time I’ve been following them, I’ve been quite inspired to start working on designs again. That always happens to me when I get around people who work in a medium I do. I always want to create more. It’s pretty fun!

I’m fairly certain the owner of the group brought the group to my attention with the hopes I would join, but I admit I’m feeling pretty uncertain. As I said, there are some pretty talented artists in the group, and I am my own worst critic. I’m not sure my own work would measure up, and I hate feeling like I’m competing in something I do for fun.

It would be great exposure for my work, and a chance to receive some great feedback. I’m just worried it would feed my ever-turbulent self-esteem levels.

Finding inspiration in others’ work

When I first decided to try teaching jewelry techniques, I think my mother decided I’d lost my mind. She couldn’t believe I wanted to enable my competition. My first thought was, Why would that be an issue? They aren’t me. They aren’t going to design the same way I do.

Even now, I still feel this way. I have books full of jewelry design. I see other people’s work all the time. Sometimes, I see elements I’d love to steal. Sometimes, I sit down, figure out the design, and then create my own work based off the ideas present in the construction of that design. (I think I can count the direct reproductions I’ve attempted on one hand.)

The point is, I don’t really see it as giving up my own potential as a designer. I look at it as the opportunity to inspire other designers to create, to find their own voice, their own expression. I often feel inspired by the designers around me, and I enjoy being part of that cycle.

Writing copy

I’m working on developing a catalog for my jewelry business. Actually, I’ve been working on it for a couple of weeks now. I have the pictures set. I have the pages titled.

I’m stuck on the copy…the descriptions of the items. My catalog pages are no larger than a 4″ X 6″ picture, and the title and picture take up maybe one-third to one-half of the available space. I’m trying to keep the font readable, so I figure I have maybe 100-150 words to highlight a piece’s high points.

Over the past few months, I’ve come to the realization that I pretty much write one of two lengths: 250 words or 1500 words. Anything else is a real struggle for me. The catalog has sixteen pages to it, which means sixteen opportunities to try to become comfortable writing half of what I can write comfortably. I actually picked up a tiny composition notebook to help me work on making my thoughts as concise as possible, the theory being that each page can hold at most 50 words. If I have to explain something and limit it to one or two pages, then perhaps I can become more comfortable writing less.

Only the completed catalog will be able to tell how successful this attempt is!

Introducing…Citrine!

In my most recent order from Fire Mountain Gems, they included an irregular citrine pendant as the free gift.

I think it took me all of five seconds to deicde what to do with it. I’m going to make it into a necklace similar to the Ugly Duckling necklace and give it to a friend when she moves at the end of the month! It’s my first time playing with citrine, so I thought it would be a great time to learn more about this bright, light yellow stone!

Citrine is a yellow quartz that has been confused for the semi-precious topaz at times. It is commonly found in Brazil, and is very heat sensitive. Much of the citrine on the market today was created by heating low-grade amethyst, causing the heat sensitivity.

In ancient times, citrine was thought to cancel the properties of snake venom and relieve health conditions related to the digestive tract. Citrine is thought to promote clarity and creativity as well as block evil thoughts.

Citrine serves as an alternate birthstone for November, and is often associated with the zodialogical signs Leo and Virgo.

Shipwreck Beads

After having a very important part of an order with Fire Mountain Gems backordered (which is definitely not normal for them), I decided to drive down to Lacey and check out Shipwreck Beads.

I’d heard a lot of good things about them from beaders in the area, and decided it was worth the drive.

They have a showroom and a warehouse. The showroom is humongous, but seems to mostly cater to beaders rather than wire designers. I did, however, locate what I really was after, thanks to an adorably energetic young man. He tried to help me find something else I was looking for, but sadly, we were unsuccessful. I also found some great charms.

In the future, I suspect if I use them, I’ll just order. I suspect it would be cheaper than driving down there. I also suspect I’ll only use them as I used them this time- in a pinch. While they offer incredible bulk deals, they are otherwise one of the pricier bead suppliers I’ve ever used.

But their customer service was top-notch, and they had a snack bar, which really is necessary if you intend to cover the entire place, which really is quite large!

The Ugly Duckling necklace

All right, that’s probably unfair, especially since I don’t have a picture of what the original necklace looked like, but I do enjoy explaining to people how my moss agate necklace came into being.

My mother found this necklace in a thrift store. She admitted that she thought it was atrocious when she handed it to me, but some of the beads looked like me, so she figured I could probably make something out of them. I looked at this…thing… It was awful! These nice green, splotchy beads interspersed between gold-toned beads of varying sizes. a flat, splotchy green disk served as the centerpiece. The necklace was long, and just painful to look at. I took it and agreed to consider doing something with it before throwing it in my craft caddy and forgetting about it.

A year or two later, I was pulling together craft items in preparation for my move to Seattle and tossed the necklace into my carrying case. Just in case…

Last year, I was debating returning to a medieval recreation group I used to enjoy being a part of, and pulled the necklace out again. For some reason, sitting there staring at it, I knew what the necklaces fate would be! I snipped the string holding the necklace together and pulled it apart, carefully keeping the green beads in their clusters. Then, I threaded the clusters back onto hand-turned eyepins, with silver beads serving as spacers. When I linked the clusters back together around the centerpiece, everyone agreed the resulting necklace was gorgeous!

It has a totally different look and feel to it, but now it gets worn and gets mad compliments!

Introducing…Onyx!

I’m working on a piece this week involving the beautiful black onyx, and thought this might be a great opportunity to sit down and blog about this stone.

Also referred to as Monk’s Stone, onyx is a microcrystalline quartz that is most commonly found in layers that can easily be carved. For this reason, it is used frequently for creating cameos because the contrast can be easily achieved by carving. Onyx also comes in varieties that may appear to be a solid color because the layers are of very similar colors.

Onyx has been thought to promote balance, creativity, and good fortune. It has also been thought to keep troublesome people at bay.