Win Unique Handmade Jewelry in the AJDJSS Treasure Hunt

The Artfire Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Shops Guild is currently running it's Spring Cleaning and Treasure Hunt event. Below are some of the beautiful selections available in the AJDJSS studios. Visiting these studios will allow you to check out some of the discounts and specials available, and maybe even qualify you to win a beautiful, handmade, unique jewelry design...or two! Check out the rules at http://artfirejewelrydesignjewelrysupplyshop.blogspot.com/.

We Marveled at Ancient Aztec Jewelry

We recently went to The Field Museum in Chicago. We decided to get membership there a couple of weeks ago, and it provided us with free tickets to the paid exhibits. One such exhibit, The Aztec World, was ending April 19th, so we squeaked in before it moved on. We were particularly excited to see the exhibit because we had been to the site in Mexico City on our honeymoon, and saw the beginnings of the excavations first hand.

It was a fascinating exhibit, but of course I was most intrigued by the jewelry that was on display. To think they were able to make such fine components without today's jewelry making techniques. There were mostly necklaces, and some rings, made of gold, shell, and greenstone such as

serpentine.

Also on display was a rare piece of textile from a woman's garment. It still had the patterning on it from the inks and stamps they used to decorate their clothing.

If you would like to see some of the exhibit highlights you can find it here: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/aztecs/index.html

Combining Colors, Not as Easy as it Sounds

It is a pleasure to work with so many supplies in a variety of colors. Not only do beads come in a rainbow of colors and finishes, so much so that you need a class to identify them all, but metal wire, beading wire, components all have colors and finishes that provide and endless number of combinations with which to work.

Sometimes having that many options at your disposal can paralyze your creativity in putting them together. There are some combinations that are intuitive, and you can easily drift off into creating with them. The true challenge is to put some colors together that are not classic combos, and see what you come up with.

There is a bunch of information on color theory out there, if you aren't already familiar with it. Even if you have the basics down, learning about Near Complementary Color Schemes or Square Tredatic Color Schemes is amazing. There are some wonderful articles out there for jewelry designers at the Beading Design Jewelry site.

Some colors I find easy to work with are black/white, black/silver, pink/purple, and black/red. But to grow as a designer and an artist, you sometimes have to leave the comfort zone and do something crazy. For me, dabbling in citrus and tropical colors can be daunting. Oranges, yellows, a bit of blue and red...oh my!

Our Favorite Vendors

I don't usually like to talk about what vendors I use. It inevitably will happen that someone will have a less than flattering comment about my vendor, and tries to convince me why vendor XYZ is so much better. This tends to get under my skin, and I'm sure I'm not alone. The reason is that there are so many practical, impractical, personal, and pragmatic reasons that people choose the vendors they work with.

The reasons won't always make sense to someone else. Sometimes it's not about the absolute lowest price, or the free shipping, or the lack of the need to purchase a minimum quantity. And sometimes it is about just those things. Other times doing business with a particular vendor is an emotional decision. They make you feel good about your craft, they make you feel they care about you and your order, they inspire you with examples of their in-house talent, and they gain your loyalty by providing useful tools and information in addition to their wares.

Sometimes the emotional and fudiciary reasons are not in alignment. Sometimes a vendor will gain your loyalty, but not provide the rock bottom prices on the latest crystals you need to finish a project.

I use several vendors because no single vendor has all the items I need when I need them. I have different vendors for wire, components, and general beads and crystals. I do try to keep my costs down, so I like when vendors offer assortments that I can use. I like those that offer flat shipping fees. I'm not fond of handling fees, but tolerate them when I have to. Free shipping and no minimums is a bonus but won't be the deciding factor in making a purchase.

Ultimately my point here is that I think sharing information about good vendor resources is always welcome and appreciated, but deprecating someone's preferred vendor, or trying to change their mind about which one is best, is usually a futile effort.

In the Pink for Spring

A collection of handmade jewelry for Spring, in shades of pink.

Spring Cleaning is Keeping Me Busy

Ok, anyone who knows me probably realized I didn't mean actual Spring "cleaning". Rather I'm talking about the upcoming event being run by my ArtFire guild. An ArtFire guild is a group of people brought together by a common mission, who help and support each other in building traffic and bringing business to their studios. Our guild's name is Artfire Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Shops.

This is my first experience with a guild. I was a bit hesitant at first, since I tend to be somewhat shy and quiet. But I am very fortunate to belong to this talented group of artisans. They are active within the group, they are supportive, they share information, and they are dedicated to success.

So our first event is kicking off April 17th, and I've been very busy preparing for it. It will combine "Spring Cleaning" specials in each member studio, and a treasure hunt where participants can win a number of lovely bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. I've been heads down preparing some new inventory for this event, so I can put my best foot forward. Come by and check it out. There is even a slideshow of the fantastic prizes: http://artfirejewelrydesignjewelrysupplyshop.blogspot.com/.

Something To Inspire Creativity

When creative people are not feeling all that creative, anything that can inspire is welcome. If you have a graphics pad at your disposal, you may enjoy tooling around with ArtRage. It is software that allows you to paint on your computer. I don't pretend I'm a painter. I actually started jewelry design after I realized I did not have my Dad's talent for painting.

Aside from paints, it also provides chalks, crayons, markers, airbrush, and pencil tools. The free version has less tools available than the full version, but still enough to splash colors together, blend, and experiment.

For those who find color combinations scary, this is a safe way to play with them. It even has an eraser if you don't like what you've done. I've included a painting example here, my abstract version of a heart.

I do this when I'm not feeling all that creative, and it relaxes me and allows my mind to wander, and I think that's a much better state to be in when trying to put something new together. I hope some of you may find this an interesting outlet with which to experiment.

Spring Blossoms in Metallic Blue

You may not be able to tell unless you look closely, but these two sets of earrings are actually different. The difference is in the color of seed beads used on the outer edge of the blossom. One is made with Amethyst Glow and the other uses a more subtle Rainbow Amethyst. Although not a traditional representation of Spring flowers, they make a colorful, bold statement.

Illusions in Light Blue

I love the look of illusion necklaces, especially made with monofilament cord where you don't have to use crimp beads. The monofilament is strong, and very thin, so it's easier to just suspend the beads by passing back through the beads as you string them. It also makes it easier to space the beads consistently, and is flexible enough to allow for an adjustment or two if needed. These necklaces are so light and elegant. This particular piece is made with 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, and one 10mm glass pearls, complemented with 4mm bicone crystals in heliotrope.

Spring is Here...Right?

It's been a long dreary winter, even for me, and I love the brisk weather and the snowfall. It seems that Spring is taking it's time getting here though, and I'm tired of days ranging from 50s, 60s, even 70s one day and back in to the 40s or 30s the next. This design is with a bit of green that came too late for St. Patrick's Day celebrations, but still represents the color of renewal and verdant growth. This is made using Beadalon Gold Beading wire, 4mm and 6mm glass cube beads I picked up at the Bead & Button Show a while back, and some silver-lined topaz seed beads. The clasp is adjustable, using gold colored chain and spring ring clasp.

Now It's Purple, Now it's Blue

There is a reason that artists use natural daylight bulbs, like the type that OTT brand uses. With certain materials, such as glass beads, the color looks different depending on if it's viewed in natural daylight or in fluorescent light. This particular illusion necklace was made with crackle glass beads, pink glass pearls and pink bicone glass beads, strung on clear monofilament cord. When I made it early in the day, I chose the beads because they were a light purple color. Later that evening, in the lamplight I noticed they were a light blue. So this piece is perfect for someone who likes variety and shifting shades of color.

Paige's Birthday Goodies

I can't believe my niece is 13 already, a newbie teen, with a keen fashion sense and highly developed individual style. It's actually intimidating to try to design something for such a person...you want them to like it more than just the polite "Thanks, Aunt Kelle." For the birthday girl, I put together a couple items. I like designing with pinks and purples, so it's great that she's a fan of the colors. I pulled out the Swarovski crystals and the lampwork beads...my precious babies! Below are the fruits of my labor, and they seemed to go over well.

Red and Black Dangle Earrings

Red and Black Dangle Earrings
Originally uploaded by Aridan Fashions

Representing Jeff's company, he, I and my aunt and uncle all participated in a bowling event to benefit Junior Achievement. As I had mentioned earlier, the shirts were black and red, with some white on the back. I took that as an opportunity to once again spar with my old friend the wire jig.

Such a simple tool in theory, there is much more than meets the eye. What gauge wire you use, and it's hardness will effect the wire shape. Additionally, how many pegs you place in the jig at any given time can make it much easier or much harder to complete a component. I have struggled with keeping the entire piece on all the pegs, and with flattening the piece after it's taken off the jig. Let me tell you, the little plastic spacers used to press the wire down as you shape it is well worth using.

This piece was fashioned on a Wig Jig Centaur jig, using 22 gauge non-tarnish brass Artistic Wire. The beads are 4mm fire polished red faceted rounds and 4mm jet faceted Preciosa crystal bicones. My aunt and I wore matching pairs for the event.

Teardrop Pearl Earrings

Teardrop Pearl Earrings
Originally uploaded by Aridan Fashions

These 6mm and 8mm glass pearls are nicely framed in teardrop shaped earring findings.

Cane Glass Memory Wire Bracelet

Cane glass memory bracelet
Originally uploaded by Aridan Fashions

I find cane glass, also known as furnace glass, beautiful and fascinating. It's made by creating and combining glass rods into colorful patterns, and encasing them in clear glass to make a larger rod, then sliding them into different bead shapes and sizes. It comes in varying qualities, with lesser quality glass lacking the shine, clean cuts, consistent holes, and vivid colors of the designer glass.

This bracelet was made using blue cane glass, metal beads, and jet AB faceted round glass beads. It was a gift for my cousin's birthday.

Reflections on ArtFire

So venturing out on artisan selling sites, like Etsy and ArtFire, is not for the faint of heart. It's truly amazing how many talented people there are out there, working hard on beautiful handmade pieces of art. And that's just the start on these sites. I have to admire all these artisans that put the time an energy not only creating their fine pieces of work, but also contributing to the vast community, providing feedback and help to other artisans and the site itself. As much as there is a sense of community, there is also fierce competition. When gathering together the best and brightest, how do you make yourself stand out in such fine company? That is the money question, and one many are still trying to answer. I'm enjoying putting my art out there, and I'm patient, and I learn from my mistakes. Balancing the day job, the family and friends, and other interests, I only have so much time to dedicate to my jewelry passion. It's good that I'm patient. I'm willing to take my time and see where these online venues take me, and what I can offer back.

So here is my latest listing in my ArtFire studio. It's actually the first time I've made a wire yoke. Something about 16 gauge wire used to scare me off, but I'm kind of in a "bring it on" frame of mind lately. These are glass pearls, and my lovely smokey irridescent glass chips.

Red and black, together again

I took bowling in high school, and I liked it. Unfortunately like many of the things I like, I was never very good at it. We can't all be good at everything of course. It's all in good fun. So I agreed to participate in my husband's charity bowling event for work. Low and behold we get bowling shirts! In honor of the black, red and white shirts, I put together this necklace. Among my new bead affairs is the crackle bead. They reflect the light nicely and come in a wonderful range of colors. These are two tone crackle beads, which are my favorite. I went crazy on the centerpiece, loading it down with two colors and two sizes of the beads. It feels nice and sturdy. Black and red always reminds me of a deck of cards, but perhaps from now on it will remind me of bowling.

Bling that reminds me of bubbly

I have a love of tear drop beads. They look so juicy, like a drop of liquid about to fall from a glass or a leaf. I've also developed a new fascination with glass chips. So I've combined my old love and my new love in this necklace. I thought the color of the chips looked like irridescent champagne, and who doesn't love champagne. Drop beads naturally lend themselves to cascading, thus the centerpiece of the necklace takes advantage of that.

Reflecting on creativity

It might be amusing to people who know me now to hear that I never considered myself a creative person. When friends and family see the fancy birthday cake or the new jewelry or the custom picture slide show, they always say "Oh, you are very creative."

My father was an artist, he could paint and draw. The urge to create runs deep in my family, as we have many talented artists and musicians in the family. I discovered that urge as an adult and a new mother.

Sure I liked to play with art supplies, and make crafts as a child. But it wasn't until I was an adult that the urge took shape, became imperative, to really makes something with my hands. I dabbled in art, water colors, pastels, paints, and drawings. That was fun but I had no real talent for that media. I began making cakes, and got a taste of what I was craving. But it wasn't until I started on jewelry that my passion ignited.

And even with the ignition of passion, and the creation of many pieces, and the experimentation with different material I do not feel that I am a creative person. I can and do make pieces, and enjoy working projects other people have put together, but I truly long to have the vision and talent to come up with those creative projects on my own.

I have learned that the biggest obstacle to creativity is fear. The fear of failure, the fear of wasting materials, the fear of ridicule, the fear of losing passion for the art. It's hard to take the risk of thinking and working outside the box when all those fears weigh on me.

But without risk there is no reward. I'm am eager to make this a year of expanding, building, nurturing my creativity to see what I can coax out of my imagination.

Wish me luck!

Fall is in the Air!

Fall is in the air, one of my favorite times of the year, and yet a time that always kicks off the busy holiday season. I like to make my kids something to commemorate the season, and with the cute and affortable lampwork beads out there, this is relatively easy to do.

My daughter loved the bracelet, and I made a zipper pull so my son wouldn't feel left out.

Our family enjoys Halloween, and we usually have a party every year, with some of the most outrageous homemade costumes you have ever seen. For my mother and her two sisters, I made matching spider web earrings.