Great New Shop I Found!!

Tags

art, Artisan, artisans, Craft, Design, eco-friendly designs, etsy

When I started this blog there were a few things I promised myself!  The first promise was that this blog would not be about ME or anything personal and the second goal was to find some really great artisans and highlight their beautiful creations.  Well I found a great shop over at Etsy and here is the link:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/greenbaboondesigns.

I also wanted to show you a couple of her beautiful creations…

A very cool needle felted geode pin cushion!

I love that the artisan of this shop uses found things and creates such magical and wonderful things that bring my mind back to nature!  If you had read a few of my rantings posts from my previous blog, you would have found out that I had a few things to say about the reuse of materials and the over development of our land.

I hope you find this shop as pleasing as I do and she also has a cute blog that you can find here: http://www.homemadeserenity.blogspot.com.

Have a great and creative Weekend!!

Lampwork Beads and Glass Sculpture

Tags

Bead, etsy, Glass, Handcrafted Beads, jewelry, Lampwork, lampwork artist

I love lampwork beads!  I think they are absolutely beautiful, so I thought maybe I would show some of my favorites found on Etsy and other places.  My goal is to someday make the beauties myself, but with buying a new home my budget is a bit tight these days!  So I just enjoy the creativity and beauty other artisans create.

Image via Wikipedia

I don’t even want to pretend to that I know the first thing about this wonderful art form, but I love reading about the process.  I have been lusting wanting to buy the equipment for sometime now and know that when I do take the “plunge” I will become a little “glass crazy“.  There are so many beautiful things to create with glass.

To explain my love of glass I would have to explain my love of the work of the brilliant Dale Chihuly, to say the least I am a big fan.  I love his glass sculptures.  I was smitten the first time I saw one and have followed his creations ever since.  Here are a few:

http://www.chihuly.com/  This is his website and it is worth bookmarking!!

But of course, my main topic was lampworking!  So in the interest of space and your patience I will move on and show you a few beautiful pieces I have found.

Here is a beautiful lampwork bead from FireForgedStudio, hover over the photo and click to go to this beautiful lampwork artist’s studio!

Here is a beauty called Coral Blush by betsybeads!  Just hover on image and click!

Here is an example of a fish bead that is a tiny sculpture by glassbead on Etsy.  Once again just hover and click!

Well, that is all for now!  I hope you enjoyed my little foray into lampwork beads and glass sculptures!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Where Does Competition Belong in the Creative Process?

Tags

art, Creativity, etsy, Handcrafted, Innovation, jewelry, selling handmade

I think this is a hard question whenever you enter the world of selling your artistic creations.  I know people who create beautiful works of art and never sell a piece to another person their entire life.  They create for the pure joy of it and did not wish to enter into the marketplace.

To enter into the sellers world takes courage because at first it felt like I was exposing my designs to others, my thoughts, my dreams.  Then comes the critiques, helpful suggestions, and just downright rejection of a design.

I can be competitive in board games, field games, at games cheering on my kids, but in the artistic community it is so hard to compete with what I know and find so very beautiful.  I have been at arts and crafts events and watched people flock to one vendor and buy, buy, buy.  Instead of wondering “why not me”,  I have walked over and admired the work of the artisan and truly found their work to be unique and beautiful.  I found many times that they also faced many ups and downs in their creative years and finally found their niche’ in their artistic endeavor.  They hit the sweet spot and found the creative process and selling process fulfilling.

I recently came across a jewelry maker whose creations so stunned me that I had to write and compliment her on her creations.  They are simply beautiful.  I have never had a problem recognizing another person’s talents.  Something she said in her post really made me stop and think!  She talked about her creations and that she was not getting rich doing what she does because of the time it takes and the meticulous work of her pieces.  She finds more joy in the creation than the sale!

I couldn’t agree more!  Yes, I sell my things on Etsy and enjoy when sales are brisk, but that is not my only goal.  I really enjoy the process of the creation.  It is my personal therapy and some pieces have gone unsold for quite a while.  Does that make me rethink my design, doubt myself, or even change it to suit current trends.  I can honestly say that I don’t do that, I do not have a problem with trending with the current jewelry trends, but I make sure that it is something I truly find interesting and want to explore.

There are so many talented people out there and I can honestly say that they truly inspire me to push myself to try new things.  To push myself into areas I may not have thought of in the past, but now feel that edge of excitement stirring.

I, too,  may not get rich doing what I do, but I sure am having a great time doing it!

Valentine Coupon!

Tags

Artisan, etsy, handmade, jewelrymaking

Color and the Design Process

Tags

art, Bead, color and design, Color preferences, jewelry, Jewelry design

If you look at my shop it is easy to figure out my favorite colors ~ turquoise, greens, blues.  I don’t necessarily think that is a good thing!  Anytime I sit down to work on a piece I gravitate toward silver and turquoise, that would be great if I was catering to customers that only wanted a ”southwest” theme, but my jewelry is not “southwest”, although that is some of my favorite type of jewelry!

I really would love to expand my horizons or should I say color horizons.  I have tried to work with colors that don’t really appeal to me personally.   It has proven a bit hard to design with a color I am not inspired by nor do I envision wearing.  So for me the answer is color combining and that is something I would really like to do in my next season of jewelry design.

When I am finally settled in my own house, I want to build a workshop and start a metalsmith area to begin to work on making pieces with metal!  My space is limited right now so I make do with what I have to work with.

Something like this watercolor (http://www.blprnt.com/treegrowth/) with the variations of greens with bits of red prove inspiration to me!  Even in how the artist painted this beautiful piece with the bead-looking leaves could translate to clusters of greens beads in the design.

This photo from http://www.knackstudios.com/contactUs.php gave me the idea of using the beautiful purples, yellows, oranges, and greens in a design.

There are some colors in this palette that I don’t often work with and even though this is from a wedding site http://www.modernwedding.org/quick-palette-5/ it has proven perfect for me as it really gives offers some great ideas!

My head is swirling with inspiration just because I wrote this little post, better get moving and work on some designs.

P.S.  I always want to give credit to the wonderful people from where I gather photos, so I try like crazy to properly link them back to the correct site.

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Metal jewelry

Tags

art, artisans, Handcrafted, handmade, jewelry, jewelrymaking, metal jewelry, Pinterest

These earrings are just one of the beautiful wire jewelry pieces found in this Pinterest board titled “Metal Jewelry” by Barbara Naslund.

Just love metal jewelry and that is my goal to learn how to make beautiful metal pieces such as the ones pictured!  I began taking some classes on wire work.

Here is a perfect example of jewelry that looks like sculpture.

Beautiful wearable art by Vicki Embery-Smith.

Hope you are inspired!

Related articles

• Layered Metal Jewelry Designs and Tutorial (beadinggem.com)

Rings and Things!

Tags

Artisan, etsy

Image via CrunchBase

I am an Etsy seller, but I am also a Etsy lover and I try to support my fellow artisans there and across the artisan community.  In the future, it is my desire to not only talk about my own design process, but to highlight the wonderful creations I find on Etsy and elsewhere.  My one steadfast criteria is that it be handmade!  Meaning that hands not machines made it!!  Minds not programs designed it, and it is not a copy of someone else’s idea.

Now onto this beautiful ring, I found this in an Etsy treasury and it is a painted pebble !  The beautiful artist is ShebboDesign, who lives in Istanbul, Turkey!

         ** Painted Geometric Retro Pebble Ring Adjustable by ShebboDesign**

I really love big bold rings and wear them at every opportunity.  I think they are like wearing a big piece of art on my hand!

Here are some more examples of large rings I found…

   To find this and other beautiful big and bold cocktail rings just visit this shop at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioLeanne

I have not even come close to the “BIG” of these rings, but here are a few of mine.  The first is my Pearl Locket Ring, and I used a verdigris patina filigree ring base and added the tiny locket and pearl cab.  I also added the tiny little pearl that dangles from the locket.  The locket is big enough to write the tiniest note or hold a memento!

 

Where does one find the design inspiration?  For me it could be a combination of color, a curve in architecture.  I love to shop in vintage and secondhand shops, I found some old earrings and BAM! the idea hit to disassemble the earrings and use the salvaged parts in a few rings.  Here are two examples of rings I designed and made:

 

The pink flower I cut from a pair of earrings and on the second ring I only used the multi-faceted iridescent crystal with  it original silver base from the pair of earrings.  I placed the crystal in a new setting and attached it to a ring base and sold two of the OOAK rings I had made from the vintage earrings!

What fun to find something meant to be used one way and create it into something different and unique.  To find a second purpose for something old and maybe headed for the “junk” box.  I love to create and dream up new designs, what is your passion?

Jewelry I Love and Pinned!

Tags

Crafts, Earring, Ethnic and Regional, Jewellery, jewelry

I

Jewelry is my thing!  I love to make my own jewelry, but I drool over other the jewelry other people create.  On Pinterest I have a Jewelry Board where I can put all the beautiful pieces that I find!  Here are just a few for you to enjoy!

Join Our Censorship Protest!

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censorship

Join Our Censorship Protest!.  I am joining!

Hello, My First Post!

Tags

etsy, handmade, jewelry, jewelrymaking

Hello, my name is Cherie and I run an online Etsy shop called Lots of Jewels.  My entire goal for this blog is to introduce my jewelry and talk about the design process and hopefully sell a few pieces of jewelry!  But I would also love to have guest posts from other handmade artisans explaining their design process.  I have been involved in the handmade community for quite a while and selling my jewelry through custom orders, friends and my community and online for while now.

The Ginkgo Leaf Earrings above are one of my most popular earrings and they are made with verdigris patina brass.

Hope to be back soon with another post.