New Pieces: Seafoam Green

This is definitely the color for late summer 2010.

Here we have a nice apatite rock necklace on sterling silver chain, I'm liking these a lot lately. They're very iridescent. And the the rough layers of the rock make it fun to work with.


This one's faceted agate. A lone bead I found sitting in an old country store.


I'm working on a new collection... updates soon!

Today's little bits 'o one-of-a-kind necklaces, and a sad blog post about my other life.

agate slab necklace ^

rose quartz and antique brass necklace ^

I'm a philosophical tourist, speading myself out across many industries.

Music

I always listen to loud music on my iPod when I go running these days. I wonder when it came to be that I couldn't just rely on the rhythm of my pounding feet on the ground as the soundtrack to my run.

Glam Rock!

Here are some more of the hand-drilled geode necklaces. The rocks used are from local southwestern rockhounds. Aragonite is the best one to work with; the neighbors think you're crazy when you're outside with a hammer and a rock in a plastic bag.

aragonite and antique brass necklace ^

pyrite and antique brass necklace ^

More New Pieces

citrine and sterling silver necklace ^


kyanite bar on sterling silver ^

Some new creations!

turquoise necklace with copper chain ^

ocean jasper necklace ^

milk glass and deerskin necklace ^

Guest Curator Today

I curated a treasury of items on Etsy's front page today:



Some new shops were featured and I'm hoping this get them some more sales.

I Love This

I have to say, I really love this on both the conceptual and the aesthetic level. Mass-produced but small-run, indie, and customizable to the nth degree. This necklace comes as a gold or silver sheet grid of holes, with string to create your own macro-needlepoint-ey design.


(necklace by Return To Me)

Not to mention the sweet, pared-down website they've got going.

sale on etsy

I'm having a sale on etsy right now.

>>>SALE!<<<

I really want to sell some of this stuff so I can fulfill my new desire to make yarn-painting inspired braided nautical jewelry!

What's In

Here's what I'm thinking is in right now. Things for the modern flower child. The stuff that's making my cut.

Braids
CMYK Tie Dye
Minerals
Chain Maille
Printing on Tulle
Yarn Paintings
Layered Rocks
Scavenging for a unique specimen
Wood grain
Recycled Leather
Recycled Upholstery
Ceiling-height geodes

Wondering what will be next!

Nominated!

I've been nominated for RikRak Studio's 2010 Handmade Olympics! Vote for my crystal bar necklace if you get the chance, and check out all the other beautiful items in the running. Actually you'll probably vote for one of the other things because there is just too much amazing stuff. Check it out either way.

God, how I love shopping on the internet with blogs like RikRak as my guide!!

I have some new pieces posting to the Etsy shop. Again: simple, not fussy, but outrageous statements.

Melting

I was over in the jewelry district the other day, sourcing raw materials, and noticed how many people were going into the "WE BUY GOLD" places with little bags in their hands (full, I'm assuming, of their relationships gone awry in the midst of their personal financial chaos). It inspired me, and in the true spirit of the recession, I stepped foot into a pawn shop for the first time ever today, and I sold a few of my old ugly rings for the gold. The rest of my old ugly jewelry is in a storage locker in the valley, but I realized that I shouldn't have sold the metal, I should have saved it to melt down for myself so I can work with it! I definitely have the amount of ugly jewelry needed to make quite a few pieces, and I've been wanting to learn metalsmithing.

My next project will be to root through that storage locker and find all that crap. Yet another step one in the brilliant game of "becoming hippie" in which I'm currently partaking: spending time putting in the effort to utilize the stuff I have instead of spending time making more money to buy more stuff I won't use. What's the point of having stuff with value sitting in a big hot orange and purple building outside of L.A. where you're not even allowed inside after 5 PM?! Melting.