Wednesday, October 23, 2013

New Pieces and On Going Projects


New pieces and ongoing projects... I haz 'em. Several many even. Getting them listed however... not so much. 

Out of my 6 new pieces, I've managed to get a whole whoppin' 1 listed. My new Malachite Cab Tree, "Kentucky Bluegrass" is up...


... truth be told, it's only listed because an awesome friend wrote the blurb for me. They rock the blurb thing sooooo much better than I do. Truth be told... I totally suck at it. Which is part of the reason it takes me so long to get listings done. Shinies grrl does not rock the wordsmithing. Not even a little bit. I just want to make the shinies. Not write about them. The whole listing thing takes too long. And it's no fun. 

Darn listing thing.

Anyhoo, with one down, that leaves 5 to go...


My once lost but now found Faceted Tsavorite Garnet/Ruby Apple Tree, Gold Rutilated Quartz/Peridot Fall Aspen Tree, Aquamarine Cabochon Tree, Aurora Borealis Labradorite Cab Tree and my new Sterling/Charoite Scroll Medallion. With a little luck, and better time management, hopefully those will be listed this week. :)

In and amongst all this other jazz that's been going on, like taxes and... life... I managed to make some progress one some of my other projects. The one I'm trying to finish up first is a book bling project I've been knockin' around for too many months to count. I've blogged some ideas in the past. Twas the scorpion...


... but in the end, I didn't like it. Wasn't feelin' it. This weekend, the project morphed itself into this...


... a sterling silver scorpion medallion. I love it, love it, love it, love it. I'm holding off finishing it up while I try to decide if I want to put a stone in it somehow, somewhere. Perhaps a tiny garnet in the top infinity loop, or maybe where the frame wires come together at the top in the 'will be bail' section. Not sure yet. Not really even sure it needs a stone at all. Still pondering. Either way, I love it. UBER love it. Problem is... true to form, and as usual and all that jazz, I've kinda gone a bit overboard on the project. As much as I love the piece, I'm not entirely sure it fits the intended end use. Actually... I'm pretty darn sure it doesn't. *blushes* I get a little carried away when I get excited. To those of you that know me... that's probably not a huge shocker. And... I did it again. Can't help it. Excitable shinymaker is excitable. So, since I've gone so over the top with the whole deal, I'm also working on a much more simplified shiny for the project. One that will perhaps fit the intended use of the piece. I figure, options are always good. Can't hurt anyway. Right? Right. So, until I finish that one too, the project remains ongoing.

However, getting the medallion to a mostly finished state, I felt like I had some breathing room. For a minute.  So I let the shiny muse wander. With all the medallions I've been working on and all the scrolls I've been making, I've had a gazillion ideas run thru my head. Sadly, I've not allowed them the time they need to actually become anything. Uber sadly, when I don't allow them to run wild, I lose them. While I was working on the scorpion one last weekend, I thru a few other scrolls in a pile out of the way and when I looked back down they screamed... EARRINGS! Feeling like I could take the time to explore the idea a bit, I went for it; made some of the scrolls larger, wrapped in some garnets and ended up with some accidentally pretty cool little scrolly component thingies...


Surely there is an earring in there somewhere. This week, I let myself play a bit more with it and...


... oh yeah. Earring. Long, dangly, scrolly, garnet earring. Needs a real earwire, but I think even proto-type earring is a winner. Can't wait to try it in silver. Should be all kinds of shiny! :D

New pieces, on going projects and even an accidental pair of earrings. Not to bad, if I do say so mahself.

Now to get on those listings. Silly things don't seem to want to list themselves. Must get busy!

Later taters!





Wednesday, October 2, 2013

A vera exciting shiny vacation


Things have slowed down a bit over here, shiny wise. Feels that way anyway, considering how much I used to crank out. Life got a little... berserk...so I decided I needed to escape for a bit. Told work I was outta here and went on a short vacation. To the beach.

Everything is just better at the beach.

So I loaded up all my shiny supplies (cuz surely I'd be wire wrapping my little heart out) and headed out. While I was there I managed to make...

nada.

Not a single thing.

When I got home however, I managed to finish up several goodies. A couple of writer's bracelets I had on order, and a new kind of Tree Charm Bracelet...


Rather diggin' the tree charm idea. Bracelet itself needs more stones though. I think.

The big shiny piece I finally finished up has me all excited. It's an Antique Silver Charoite Medallion. Been working on that baby forEVER. It finally all came together and...


is UBER shiny! Note to self: No, you can't keep it. This one isn't for you.

Darn self wants to keep all the shinies these days.

The BIG and vera exciting part of my vacation was...

OMG I'M IN A GALLERY NOW!!!! A REAL LIVE UBER FANCY ONE EVEN!! :D :D :D

It's called Breach the Moon...



and it's down on the historic bayfront in Newport, Oregon. The go to place for shopping on the central part of the Oregon Coast. Not sure if it's even possible to go to the coast and not go to the warf for a bit of shopping fun. It's just not done.

The whole thing came about rather by accident. I'd been approached while shopping for daughter up in Lincoln City by a lady at a rock and gem shop when she noticed my tree necklace. We chatted for a bit and I left... totally turned off and more than a bit scared. I'd brought my trees with me, just in case I got brave, but what that lady was telling me was just... not at all going to work for me. Especially given where and what her shop was. I decided to hold off on the whole getting into real life stores thing, for now.

The next day I headed to Newport for some bayfront awesome, walked in to Breach the Moon to drool over the art and the shinies when the sales woman noticed my necklace too.

"OMG what a beautiful necklace!"

"Thank you. *beams* I made it."

"You did?! Wait.Right.Here. You simply MUST speak to my manager."

"uh... ok..."

The next thing I knew, the manager of the gallery wanted my trees. Whatever I had with me. One, or 100, she didn't care. She just wanted them. NOW.

O.O

Uh...

O.O

Ok. :D :D :D

I went back to the hotel, tried to make some makeshift displays that look 1/2 way decent and carried them in the next day. She took them... ALL.

ALL!

I am now featured in a "Fine Art and Jewelry Gallery".

I still may be full of a bit of ... SKWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :D :D :D :D

Before I came home, I managed to go back one last time, and they had already started putting the trees out. This time I managed to control my shaking to fire off 1 clear pic of one of the displays. Each display is in a glass case and designed to look like a fancy aquarium... type thingy. With corals and shells and and and...


...lots of shiny. Now with my little ol' tree of life hanging out with the other shinies. :D

I still feel a bit like I'm in a dream. I had hoped someday to be able to be in such a place. Down on the bayfront. In one of a couple of their 'look but don't touch' awesome galleries. This very one even. Someday. Ya know, when I "made it". Never in a million years did I think that day was today.

Best accidental awesome ever.

EVER!!!

I... am in a gallery. Not just a shop, but a gall-er-yyyyyyy.

If I'm dreaming, please don't pinch me. I don't wanna wake up. I wanna be in a gallery. :D :D

And I am.

I still can't breathe when I think about it.

Now I need to make new trees. Because I don't have a single one. Not a single solitary one.

Best get wrappin'!

ps: SKWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

:D :D :D

Best adventure in jewelry ever.

The end.

:D

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Magic Coils

Made a new kind of bracelet this week. A whole new wire, a whole new wrap, a whole new... shiny :D

For months now, maybe even the last year, I've wanted to make layered bracelets. I love the layered look. Always have.  I've been trying to make multi-chained bracelets by wrapping stones w/sterling and chaining them together, but oh my, time consuming! Not only time consuming, but not giving me the look I'm after. Not ... exactly. This week, I thought I'd give memory wire a try. Grabbed my strand of Rainbow Fluorite chips and ...

voila!



Magic Coil Bracelet! :D

I love it! It's just what I wanted it to look like. And it's super cool too. Coil after coil that just wraps around and holds it's shape quite nicely...


It's not sterling, but silver plated stainless steel... I think. Rather cost effective. Not quite as quick to put together as I'd hoped, but that could just be because I keep dropping all the chips. Oops. Things tend to take longer when you're chasing stones across the floor.


I am totally diggin' it. I'm testing it out this week to make sure it holds up. As much as I adore the look of the coiled Fluorite chips with the beautiful colors and hodgepodge of sizes and shapes, I'm concerned about the stones. Chips are notorious for bad drills. Bad drills = break and fall off. I'm really hoping that won't be the case because I won't sell break and fall off shinies, but ... won't know for sure until I give 'er a good solid testing.

If all goes well, I'll have some Magic Coil bracelets vera soon.

Magic coil bracelets. Oh what fun!

W00T!

:D

Sunday, September 8, 2013

New this Week: Leather Tree of Life Bracelets

It's been a busy busy week over here. A lot of finishing up the last steps of some projects, dabbling with others, plotting and planning for others still. 

The biggest things for me this week were actually managing to get a couple things listed. Like the copper/jade infinity medallion I've had laying around for weeks. And my Mahogany / Silver Sheen Obsidian tree too. :D


*pets* It's name is Stargazing in the Bitterroot. :D *stares* Goodness, I love that stone. So unique. Kinda bummed I didn't get more of those. Hopefully he'll be back next summer, with more. 

My uber big accomplishment this week are my new leather Tree of Life bracelets. The one I'm most excited about is my new LGBTQ Pride tree "Pride Rock"...


It's a rainbow tree with Garnet, Sunstone, Citrine, Peridot, Lapis and Amethyst.

I really wanted to make a whole line of new tree bracelets, so I carried on. Now there is also an Antique Copper Pride Tree, and bare trees in both antique copper and antique silver.


Bracelets a plenty! A whole new kind of tree grove even. W00T!

Today's goal is getting those last 3 listed. And the poor antique silver labradorite cab tree that's been sitting here ever so patiently, waiting to be listed for weeks now.

Best get busy!

Shinies. W00T! :D

Friday, September 6, 2013

Antique Silver Tree of Life Leather Bracelet

Antique Silver Tree of Life Leather Bracelet...






All the metal components are handmade using sterling silver. Formed, twisted, antiqued, burnished, and polished. 

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