Been busy but....

... I am trying to keep things in my Artfire studio going. I have some pieces still on the backburner that I hope to have listed sometime this week... as well as some finished pieces that have yet to be listed. Haven't sold anything yet but I am hoping that will change when people start getting their tax refunds.... or maybe someone will need a birthday gift or two.
I am planning to finish up the piece I started a while back... the one in a pervious post with the red and pik briolettes. I FINALLY got the rest of the copper chain to finish it up. I should have pictures of the finished piece later on this afternoon.
And to tide you over until then.... some pictures of other pieces I have completed already.

Pendants gallore....

I have been so busy in my day job (I'm a music teacher) that I haven't had much blog time lately. However, in what little time I've managed to find, I have been working on a few pendants. I've only gotten one new one listed in my Artfire studio but I will hopefully be listing more shortly.

I am here today to promote a fellow artisan on Artfire.com. Her shop name is cleangreenbunny and her bath and body products are AMAZING! I recently arranged a trade with her for some handmade soap... which is a weakness of mine. She sent along a sample of some lovely lavendar sugar scrub with the soap bars. I tried out the sugar scrub last night after a VERY long day and it absolutely blew my mind how great it was! I had a bit of a headache when I got in the bath. After using the sugar scrub, not only did I smell fantastic but my hhead ache was gone. I felt lighter. All the stress and worries of my day were gone. Not just lessened but GONE. The sugar scrub took a good deal of that icky dry winter skin off my legs and it did not leave a sticky residue like a lot of sugar scrubs can. I was just blown away. So today, I am recommending that EVERYONE go out and check out her products.

http://www.artfire.com/users/cleangreenbunny

Grab bags fun!

Today I decided that since I have literally SO many resin pendant pieces, I would start offering them in lots or "grab bags". I have listed three lots so far, a mixed resin lot, a bottle cap lot and a steampunk lot. I feel that will be the most cost effective solution for both myself, since they will be going out of my house, and to the customers, since they will get a great deal!

Snow Day!

Snow days allow me to work on new pieces. I have recently been inspired to do more wire wrapped cabachons by a goo theater friend who ordered a similar piece from me. So, today I have been working on some wire wrapped cabachon pieces. I have also begun to add chain and pearls to the pendant I created earlier this week but have run out of the bright copper chain I was using and have thus been stalled into deciding what to do with the piece next.

A rough day but....

...I still managed to bust out a new piece. I sat down last night with every intention of finishing the necklace to accompany a pendant I have been working on. However, there was another cabachon calling my name and so this pendant was born. I'm not certain if its soapstone or a type of agate. I made a frame around the cabachon from copper wire and then began once agian working my wire wrapping magic on it. I accented the piece with smokey quartz, garnet and tourmaline briolettes as well as freshwater pearls in a champagne color. I am very pleased with how this piece came out.

I'm back and hopefully to stay

I have been scuh a slacker in regards to this blog. Let me catch everyone up with what's happening with my shop.

My Etsy shop has not been doing very well at all. I have begun researching other online shop options and have started a studio at Artfire. I have been there a little over a week and I simply ADORE it. Its so much easier to use and has so many more options for promotion. Its also cheaper... a basic account is absolutely free. And by free I mean they charge NO fees for listing items, you have unlimited listing, and there are NO fees for selling an item. They do offer an upgraded account for $12 a month... and I did in fact upgrade my account this week. The benefits of an upgraded account FAR outweigh the cost. In my Etsy shop for example, I can easily spend over $15 a month just on listings... let alone if there's a sale (for which they charge a 3% fee) or if I decide to get a feature slot for a 24 hours period (which costs $7 a slot). So, needless to say I am EXTREMELY pleased with the experience so far. And that's just with the money side of the situation. There are so many more things I like about the site but this is getting long.

I've also recently joined Twitter. Not sure how I am going to use that but I am giving it a whirl. I also opened a Ning network but am not certain I will need it honestly. I already have so many networking plates in the air. I have a personal Facebook page with a page for my jewelry added to it. My Artfire shop has a Kiosk that attaches right to my FB page as well. So.... busy busy me. Network network network.

I would like to leave this blog post with a little snipet of things I have been creating lately. I am branching out and making more and more wire wrapped pieces. They are turning heads finally. And I am extremely proud of my work.