An unusual source for components

I decided to make goblet tags for some people’s Christmas presents this year, hoping that the smaller projects would inspire me to bigger things…or to at least get back to my regular design schedule.

I wandered into the local craft store’s scrapbooking section (which honestly takes up a larger portion of the store than every section except floral, framing, and knitting) looking for cards and stamps to create nice display cards for the tags.

This was a mistake for far too many reasons.

The first was that I couldn’t find any stamps I liked, so the white cards I found ended up being plain. The second was that i lost some time trying to find a punch that could handle just creating an outline of half a circle. I seriously think such a thing must exist! (Actually, I think I should stop the insanity and find a supplier for display cards.)

The third was the clincher. There are nifty components that work well, or would work well, if they were turned into jewelry components. Seriously! I found little metal stamps that ended up becoming a couple of sets of goblet tags because they were just too cute to be wated on any scrapbooking project!

This means that future trips to the craft store for jewelry components or inspiration are going to have to include a stroll through the scrapbooking area. Even worse…there’s a scrapbooking store in the same shopping center as my workplace.

This could be dangerous!

Jewelry games

I had a pretty hard time figuring out what I was going to write about and keep it games oriented. Then I remembered this game that came out when I was in high school.

Pretty, pretty princess lets you collect pieces of jewelry. I think the winner is determined by who gets the last piece of jewelry first.

Okay, that wasn’t such a great post.

Hmm…. Oh! I know!

You can use the jewelry design process with younger children (use pony beads if you do this) to help teach and reinforce counting and pattern skills!

• Set up a pattern of beads and have your little designer copy it.
• Give your little designer a “pattern” by telling them how many of each color and shape of bead they need. Then let them develop their creativity by exploring how to order their beads.
• Ask them to make a piece of jewelry of a certain length, and make sure to have a ruler handy.
• Let them set up a stand to sell their jewelry. They can practice counting money.
• Go the library and find books on the jewelry of different cultures (your local children’s librarian will be able to help). Read some stories from the selected culture with your little designer and then let them design a jewelry piece that fits in with the culture.

Many of these really are more educational than obvious games, but at the younger ages, playing is learning, and if you create the right situation, it can be a game for the older ones, too!

Inspiring designers

I know, you’re wondering how the game theme affects jewelry.

Well, I thought about it and realized it would be pretty tight, but I figured out a couple of things.

The first isn’t so much a game as it was a toy. As a kid, I was always designing. I had my Fashion Plates that I was always playing with. I kept around scarves and bits of material, along with an army of safety pins to create outfits for some of my dolls.

I also had the neatest toys for creating jewelry. I started out with pop-beads, a simple, yet versatile concept. You linked beads together in whatever color pattern and to whatever length you wanted. They were just flexible enough to let me design bracelets, necklaces, and headpieces for my model dolls.

Then Click-Its arrived on the scene, and I had to have them. They added a fantastic shiny element to my designs. I even made a few for myself!

I keep telling people that I started designing jewelry in the spring of 2002, but that’s not true. I started designing jewelry as a kid with whatever toys I could fashion into wearable pieces.

Patterning the original designs

For reasons unknown, I’ve managed to go nearly five years without writing down the patterns for my original designs. This came back to bite me the other day when I was wearing my beaded box chain and someone inquired if I could make one for her. I came home, flipped through my design notebook to see what I was charging for that particular design, and discovered it’s nowhere in my book.

Looking through the book, it would appear that neither it nor my beaded Byzantine chain are in the book. They were my first two designs. The beaded Byzantine is still my favorite one to date. I created a page for the beaded box chain, and hope to have one written up for the beaded Byzantine by the end of the weekend.

The legality of buying supplies

I was a bit horrified when I saw this article in my feed reader this morning. No…”horrified” doesn’t even come close to explaining how I felt. If nothing else, it’s taught me to exercise caution about where I get my supplies from in this copyright-protection-happy world.

I have a friend who has considered making glass beads, and when he does, I’m looking forward to incorporating them into my own work. I love being able to search for the right beads and wires for any project. They’re supplies; that’s what they’re there for. It’s expected that someone will buy the supplies and create something with them. In this age of hobbyists-turned-businesspeople, it’s even expected that these supplies will end up resold as part of something the crafter made.

Can you imagine if you honestly had to license rather than purchase your materials? How would it change the face of designing, of crafting?

Perhaps we each as artists need to consider why we create. I know that discussion has already started in Canada, but it will be interesting to see how this all settles.

On running a web storefront

I mentioned on Tuesday that I spent Sunday putting three jewelry pieces in the Etsy shop, and that things didn’t go so smoothly. That’s something of an understatement.

You see, in the process of trying to make these lovely chains available to the world, I blew up a router and a server. Actually, I’m sure I’ve been exonerated on both counts now, but…

The chains had already been scanned and cleaned up when I sat down to work Sunday afternoon. I moved them off the other computer onto this one, and uploaded them all to Flickr. That was perhaps the easiest part of the afternoon. The pictures uploaded, and I wrote great labels for them. Then I focused my attention on the Etsy tab.

I started trying to list the first chain. Everything went fine until I got to uploading the images. Etsy repeatedly told me my images didn’t exist or weren’t the right size. Realizing I hadn’t actully thought to check file sizes, I started investigating. All but one of the images was the proper size. Snarling, I set about to upload one set of pictures again. This time, I was successful. I posted the chain, linked it to its Flickr photo, and started on the second.

This is where it all fell apart. When I got to the uploading page, I only tried to upload the images that were the correct size, figuring I could fix the third later and edit the listing. It was a moot point. Etsy adamantly refused to let me upload anything. I was thinking about crying…and then the Gmail notifier informed me there was no network connection.

Okay…fine… I’m a big girl. The network had been flaky all day. I was okay with this. My roommate would fix it when he got home, and life would be happy. So, I went ahead and resized the overly big file to make it smaller so it would be ready when the web came back. Then I sat down to read my manga magazine. (All of my non-network work had been finished earlier that day.)

I was just debating working on the outline for my NaNovel when my other roommate came in and announced that the network was up. (This is maybe three hours after it went down.) I jumped back to my laptop, excited that I was going to be able to get everything done…only to find that right as our router died, Etsy’s servers crashed.

Yes, I blew up a router and a server. I’m proud, really.

It took another hour or so for the server to come back up, and from there it was fifteen minutes of work uploading, writing copy, and linking to Flickr.

I had to wait four hours to do fifteen minutes’ worth of work.

And somehow, I wouldn’t give up my web storefront for the world!

Keep your glasses close!

Despite a rather large comedy of errors, I managed to put some new pieces in the Etsy shop over the weekend.

For lack of a better idea, I’m calling these chains “eyeglass minders”. You’ve seen these before, mostly on little old ladies and sterotyped pictures of librarians. They’re the chains you slide onto your glasses so that when you aren’t wearing them on your eyes, you can just let them hang from your neck. The chain keeps them convenient and findable.

A few years ago, I was wandering through some craft store and saw a pattern for one of these chains. The chain in the image wasn’t my style, but I was fascinated to see how they made the loop ends. It was another couple of years before I sat down to design my own chains (and yes, I do have a chain I designed for myself), but I’m really pleased with the way these are turning out.

I thought it might be fun to let the DIY types in the audience in on how to make the ends. You start with a bail and about and inch and a half of elasticord. Fold the elasticord in half and place the ends in the bail so that the loop goes away from the link on the bail. With a pair of either needle-nosed or flat-nosed pliers, flatten one side of the bail over the elasticord, and then flatten the other side over the first side. It will be difficult to flatten the second side, but make it wrap as firmly as you can. Voila! End loop for the eyeglass minder!

A string of pearls

They say a string of pearls is a sign of utter elegance. My students often wander about with pearl strands over their track suits or otherwise uncoordinated outfits. The strands vary in color, length, and bead size.

It got me to thinking- how much personality can be set into a pearl necklace. Last year, inspired by a book on elegance, I actually created my own strand of pearls, incorporating 5mm white pearls into my Linnea design.

It’s cute. It’s catchy. I really want to redo the necklace with black pearls for fun. But I’m wondering how else I could design a pearl necklace.

My challenge to you all is to design your own pearl necklace. Make it fit your personality. It can be strung on beading wire. It can be accented with non-pearl beads. It can be wrapped wire. Use your imagination and design a pearl necklace. Then post a picture of it and link the picture in the comments!

Let’s see how we can redesign the pearl necklace!

Storing completed pieces

Now that i’m starting to actively put pieces on Etsy, I’m trying to figure out how to store completed pieces that are waiting for a new home. My current method seems somewhat effective, but I’m quickly realizing that it really doesn’t permit for good inventory control.

Right now, I’m using a small tackle box to hold all of the pieces that are either finished, or just waiting for a clasp. It keeps everything in one place, but it makes finding pieces quickly a real pain in the neck. To make matters worse, some pieces are in my portable store, and so I’ve often lost track of what I actually have on hand.

Not a good situation when you’re trying to be serious about doing business.

I’m trying to find a better solution. Ideas include a small accordion file or index card box. I can put one piece behind each divider along with a card containing all of the pertinient information, including whether or not the piece has been listed on Etsy, is away on consignment, or is in the portable store.

I foresee a major inventory phase going on very soon…

Introducing…Amber!

Amber is a pretty unique gemstone. Instead of being formed from some sort of mineral that has had an excessive amount of pressure or heat applied to it, it’s actually fossilized tree sap mainly located around the Baltic region of Europe.

Traditionally, amber ranges in color from a light opaque yellow to a dark, translucent brown. You can also find green and red varieties of amber. Regardless of its hue, it is a gorgeous stone that makes for gorgeous jewelry!

As a stone, amber has been associated with the Western zodialogical signs Leo and Virgo, a nod to its warm autumn tones. In Eastern traditions, it is associated with the tiger. As an essential oil, amber is thought to bring love to the user.