Laura Bracken Designs Blog

Why I've been scarce and my new Japanese line

2012-01-25T17:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in the program... first I got sick (no big deal) then my computer got sick (very big deal). It's still in the shop as we speak (along with all my favorites and bookmarks and passwords and files).

So yeah, I've been feeling a little lost this week... well, on the computer anyway.

As for jewelry, I started a new line... I'd like to refer to it as the "Zen" line, but that wouldn't really describe it. Since the designs are influenced by things Japanese, however, I am for now referring to it as the "Japanese" line.

Here are two pair of earrings and a necklace (click a pic for more info):

Annual Clearance Sale, Jewelry-Making Video Library

2012-01-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical. -- Arthur C. Clarke

Clearance Sale

As some of you know, I have my annual clearance sale going on right now at eBay. The first of the listings end tomorrow, so don’t delay if you want to get in on the action.

Click here --> My auction listings

Here are some of the items up for grabs:

Jewelry-Making Video Library

Here’s a great resource from the Rio Grande website: Video Library

Make sure you notice that at the top of the video rectangle, there are different sections to go to, such as “Silver”, “Metal Clay”, and “Soldering”.

New Items

I just got in some neat vintage-style steampunk watch charms that I’m having fun making necklaces out of. Here’s the first:

This is one of my most favorite necklaces. It’s weighty and modern-feeling and the colors are warm.

And here’s a fun little pair of Sterling Silver and Garnet earrings.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Firing up the Kiln, Picking Tangerines, and Winter Magic

2012-01-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

”We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anais Nin

I want to get back into metal clay, but the amount that I’ve forgotten, combined with the amount that that’s changed has be realizing I’m going back to square one.

Today I made simple pieces (just textured discs, most likely) and will be testing my kiln settings.

I hope this goes well. I enjoy the process of working with metal clay… the rolling the cutting, the sanding and polishing. It’s very calming because you have to move slowly.

Working with clay forces me to “think ahead”… something I’m not in the habit of doing.

Phase one in the kiln is done. I’ll fire the pieces at phase two tomorrow morning. I hope no one pees or sprays on my kiln while it’s vulnerable (on the cement patio, raised up only on kiln bricks). There are two unneutered toms in the area. Hmph!

I mention this because someone DID once spray on my kiln. And yes, there is something worse than the odor of cat spray… it’s cat spray ramping up to 1800 degrees. The smell has mostly faded from the kiln brick and the fiber blanket at the bead door has been replaced (thanks to the kindness of an LE soul).

And wow… I really hope the raccoons don’t think it’s something to play with, even after the kiln cools down. I’ve got STUFF in there.

Wonder if I’ll get any sleep tonight.

I hope I don’t have to build some kind of caged fortress for my kiln. That wouldn’t be a lovely addition to the patio.

Oh, got a couple of nice photos of my Alaska kid over Christmas. She was taking full advantage of our nice weather here and picking tangerines from a tree in the orchard.

And from that… here’s a necklace I made called Winter Magic… don’t you just LOVE that Lampwork bead? Was made by a local glass worker by the name of Vanessa Hahn.

Book Review of How to Make Polymer Clay Beads: 35 step-by-step projects show how to make beautiful beads and jewelry by Linda Peterson

2012-01-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

How to Make Polymer Clay Beads: 35 step-by-step projects show how to make beautiful beads and jewelry by Linda Peterson

Pros: Techniques and projects that would be nice additions to one’s polymer clay repertoire.
Cons: Not as hand-holding as a beginner might need.

First off, I have to say I’m not sure where Amazon got their photo of the front of this book (above) because my copy of the book has beautiful, intensely colored photos on the front cover. But the book was first published in 2008, so maybe they’ve changed the colors on the cover since then.

This book has four chapters:
Simulating Stone Effects (52 pages, 21 projects)
Mokume Gane Technique (12 pages, 3 projects)
Sculpted Beads (12 pages, four projects)
Millefiore Caning & Skinner Blend (22 pages, 6 projects)

The book starts with an introduction which includes a mention that this book is for beginners as well as people familiar with polymer clay. Then there are a couple of pages each on “tools”, “materials” and “techniques”. These few pages are really nice; lots of photos with the explanations and a plethora of “tips”.

If you’re not overly familiar with polymer clay and/or don’t have extensive knowledge on the subject, those first 16 pages really pack quite the bang for your buck.

The first chapter (simulating stone effects) is longer than the following three chapters combined. And although there are some clever tips and techniques to making your clay look like stones, there are also quite a few other techniques showcased in this chapter: how to embed a wire into the clay before baking, how to work with texture plates, adding alcohol inks, using UTEE (ultra-thick embossing enamel), image transfer, cloisonné, etc.

I read the second chapter (Mokume Gane) and made note of some of the techniques shown in the jewelry-making portion of the project, like using pewter sheet metal for bezel-setting. I will revisit this chapter at a later date and explore some more.

The third chapter is about sculptural shapes and de-mystifying the amazing finished creations. The author shows in detail how to make an end product that is more than the sum of its parts. She also shows how easy those parts are to make.

The fourth and final chapter is “Millefiore Caning & Skinner Blend”. After reading through these last projects, my respect for polymer clay artists continues to grow. I’m sure if one works with clay for long enough and gets into some sort of creative rhythm, things would go faster than what I’m imagining it would be like. But not coming from a polymer clay background, these final projects appear a little daunting (as in, I’d have to have a big work table and a couple of days to kill).

The final pages of the book include four shape templates, a supplier list, and an index.

As someone who has a desire to learn more about making polymer clay beads (I would definitely consider myself a beginner), I found this book useful. Whether or not the projects are your exact taste, there are enough techniques explored to help you create beads in a variety of styles.

But (for me) no book review is complete until I try at least a couple of the projects, so I flipped through them again and decided on “Moonstruck” (the fifth project in the book).

As I proceeded with this project, I began to think that someone just starting out in polymer clay might become frustrated, particularly if they prefer exacts and hand-holding.

There was nothing in the book to indicate the projects were a progression (as in “you need to start at the beginning and work your way through the book”).

65% of the projects in this book have 4 or fewer steps. Truthfully, I think these might be better thought of as “stages” rather than steps because within each “step” are several steps.

Be that as it may, I believe the instructions may be too pithy for a beginner.

Each project is laid out like this:
A list of materials
A paragraph on “preparation”
Three or four steps
A paragraph about assembling the finished beads into a jewelry piece

For my first project attempt, I already felt lost when in step 1 the author says “mix 1 part Translucent to a pea-size ball of Leaf Green”. I had no idea what “one part” referred to.

After I “Cut out 14 circles in the desired size,” I’m instructed to: “Place the circles onto a light bulb, trim any rough edges with a craft knife. Bake the circles.”

I get that I needed to place the circles onto the light bulb because each circle is half of the domed final bead and they need to be convex, but I don’t have 14 incandescent bulbs laying around the house or even five bulbs (assuming I could fit three of my clay discs onto each bulb). Polymer clay doesn’t “dry” the way metal clay dries, so I couldn’t rotate my pieces in stages either. An hour later after placing one disc onto my bulb, the disc was pretty much just as soft as when I’d placed it there. Removing the circle from the bulb removed any curvature I was trying to keep in the clay form.

But surely we’re not supposed to bake the clay ON the bulb, are we? I mean, the author would have mentioned this if I was to do that. And besides, even if I could find 14 incandescent light bulbs, I can’t get more than two or three at a time into my toaster oven.

I decided to read through some of the earlier projects to see if there was more explanation regarding this whole light bulb thing.

I go two projects back and found it. Yes, we indeed bake the clay ON the bulb. Okay… but if I put more than one piece onto my light bulb, they fall off during baking. Also, I have to rig something to hold the bulb in place. Little tips for how to accomplish some of this would be nice for beginners.

But regarding my project with 14 discs: the materials list for this project merely states “light bulb”, leading me to believe I’m to have many baking cycles. This is becoming a long project.

Once baked, the beads are made by gluing two of the discs together. As you can see by my photo (below), however, I had two problems with this. One, the discs (for me) didn’t cure completely evenly (user error, I’m sure). And two, even if I were able to glue these two discs together, I find the result to be clumsy and unfinished. The edges are not shaped in a way that makes them mesh.

I’m gave up on this project and went back to reading the book.

Project #2 looks interesting. These are slightly curved tube-shaped beads. The first sentence of Step 1 is: “Create eight tube beads using the tube bead roller.” Hm… what if I don’t have a tube roller? No alternative instructions? I flip back to the “techniques” section of the book and see that bead rollers seems to be the only description for making a lot of the beads in the book. Maybe they’re kind of standard with polymer clay artists. I didn’t realize this.

As with the other projects, there are no exact measurements for the beads to be created. There are photos with fingertips included, so I try to make fairly good guesses to the sizes.

I continue to read Project #2 and get to the end (step three) then ask myself: “How do these beads go onto jewelry? Where did I miss the step about making bead holes, let along HOW to?”

There is nothing in the project about making the stringing holes so I see now that when she states “Create eight tube beads using the tube bead roller” it is implied that you also put holes in the beads. It may take some getting used to, but things roll right along if you do.

For as many different kinds of teachers as there are, there are probably an equal number of different kinds of students. Some students don’t require as much hand-holding and/or exact step-by-step instructions, others do.

The next project I attempted was the Cloisonné technique on page 74. My finished projects didn’t look quite as glossy and thickly coated as the sample. The final instructions state: “apply a thin clear coat of gel” twice.

These are my pieces after following the directions…

Here’s what I was comparing mine to (the book example)…

So I decided to go beyond the steps in the book.

I tried three experiments. On one I use resin (left)…

On one I followed the exact book directions (middle) …

And on the final one I re-did the penultimate step in the project (“apply a thin layer of gel over the top and bake”), but instead of a thin layer of gel I put a really thick layer. Then finished it with polyurethane as the directions state “apply gloss sealer”, leaving the choice to the reader as to which type of “gloss sealer” to use (left)…

In my opinion, the only one that looks like the book sample is the one with resin on it.

But I like the project and will probably revisit it at some point.

I think a lot of the steps in these projects assume one has some familiarity with basic, standard clay bead making techniques. Honestly, if I’m new to something and it doesn’t specifically tell me to put a hole in the clay, then guess what… I didn’t know I was supposed to.

So I had to rethink how to approach these projects. I decided to think of them as overviews to new techniques that can be used to make cool effects with polymer clay. I won’t think of them as step-by-step instructions for beginners.

The front cover flap states: “Hand-made jewelry is always in fashion. So why not start the process from scratch and make your own beads? This beautifully illustrated book, packed with clear step-by-step instructions, will show you how.”

Either I took that the wrong way or it’s a bit misleading.

The last sentence there reads: “Beginners and more advanced practitioners alike will find both practical advice and inspiration.” Yes, there is indeed practical advice and inspiration. This is not necessarily a “how-to” book for beginners, but even a beginner can find practical advice and inspiration here.

All in all, I did find a lot of fun, new, and useful things in the book. I just think if you took a roomful of beginners, gave them this book, and said “have at it”… there’d be a lot of questions and at least some frustration.

There are implied steps and measurements, but if you can get past that there are hours of new things to learn.

Changing the Color of My Mannequin, Adding a LINKS Page to my Website, Looking for Jewelry Making Questions, and Showing off My New Purse Holders

2012-01-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

MY MANNEQUIN

Yesterday I spray painted my mannequin. I’m okay with pale skin, but she was as white as a sheet of paper and it made way too reflective for photographs.

The color I ended up getting wasn’t actually that much darker than white-white, but I think even a little darker makes a huge difference.

Here are some before and after shots.

As you can see, the change isn’t drastic, but it is enough for me to now be able to color correct without watching out any of the mannequin’s contours. No more zombie effect.

She is a bit shiny though, and I tried applying some make-up powder, but to no effect. I’m afraid to mess with her any further though… mannequins aren’t cheap.

LINKS!!!

I have a new page on my website. I want to share some of my favorite websites with my friends so here you go: Click here for the new “Links page”

THE BOOK

As some of you know, I’m in the process of finishing up a book on jewelry making. I set up a form for anyone to ask a question they may have about the process of jewelry making and/or to add a helpful tip or bit of advice. Click here for the form.

NEW ITEMS

I have recently started using these table purse hooks when I go out. I *LOVE* the ability to hang my purse on the table’s edge… no more waiters running into the back of my chair and knocking my purse off… no more putting my purse on the floor only to discover someone spilled root beer there earlier in the day… and no more tucking my purse in some out of the way place and then forgetting about it. Eek!

I kept for myself the first one I made, but here are two others I’m offering for sale. Made with artisan Lampwork glass, of course.

Tallying Up Last Year's Jewelry Sales

2012-01-05T23:13:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do in January is tally up the previous year.

I like to see how much I spent and where. I like to see what types of pieces sell and which ones don’t. And I like to see WHERE most of my sales come from.

Here are the percentages of my sales:
0% Artfire
4% Etsy
4% Private (people buying things from me outside of any formal selling venue)
41% eBay (auctions = 4%, eBay store = 37%)
51% My website (www.BrackenDesigns.com)

And the percentages of WHAT sold:
28% of sales were earrings
36% of sales were bracelets
36% of sales were necklaces

And now it’s after 10pm and I want to crawl into my nice warm bed and read my book (The Hunger Games).

I’ll leave you with a few more recent listings from my shop. (Click on a photo for more details)

Staying Organized

2012-01-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

Part of staying organized (which means MORE TIME FOR ME… YAY!) has to do with the word “immediately”.

Here’s an example: The other day I got in the mail a catalog of tools/supplies from what appears to be a model train company. It’s actually called something like micro-tools, though. Anyway, I decided to flip through the catalog while I was eating breakfast and I kept seeing things that I either want or at least want to look into at a later date.

I don’t want to keep the whole catalog so I just cut out each item I was interested in. At the end of my meal, I had a small pile of clippings.

If I put them in my room, do they just get added to more piles of papers that serve no purpose until I need something then go through the entire stack to find what I’m looking for? Eek! Not anymore.

So I “immediately” take a manila folder (I keep a stack in a handy place… it’s always there… I never have to look for manila folders) and slip the clippings into it, writing a note on the label tab: “Micro Tool Catalog”.

Then I place that manila folder alongside other ones in a green hanging folder in my file cabinet which is labeled: “To Order Someday”.

My file cabinet is very much like my computer. Folders and sub-folders. But it’s all organized and it makes sense to me and I can find what I need when I need WITHOUT wasting time.

If I had a penny for every minute I spent in the past 50 years LOOKING for things, I would really have an obscene amount of pennies.

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing some of my bead and tool organizing tips in my upcoming book.

I used to have boxes of papers. And each time I wanted something, I’d sit on the floor with a box in front of me and go through the entire stack to find what I needed. That is NO WAY to live your life, seriously.

Y’know, these were all papers I was going to file “someday”. Ugh!

Being organized is such a time saver. And truthfully, time is one of our most precious commodities these days. So I’m trying. I’m trying to put things into a place that makes sense… immediately.

Granted, there are times when my workspace looks not unlike that of Einstein’s desk…

… but I try to keep that to a minimum.

I'm a little behind in showing you any of my latest listings. I made a couple of necklaces that are pretty noticeable.

You can click on either of these photos to see details of the necklaces.

Make Your Own Inspirational Rotating Art Boards

2012-01-03T12:25:00.001-08:00

Last week I put some “inspiration boards” on my wall.

When I look at magazines and something strikes me as visually appealing, I clip the image and add it to a folder of other cut-out images. Last week I went to Michael’s (craft store) and got some of those poster-sized school project foam boards and glued the pages onto the boards.

(I purposely blurred my photo a bit because I'm not comfortable publishing pictures of other people's images.)

The boards are so lightweight that I was able to put them up with thumbtacks.

So now, when I’m at my computer or at my work table, I’m surrounded by inspiring images of color and form. Everything from other people’s jewelry to seashells on a beach. There are clippings of animals, trees, buildings, galaxies, etc.

Also, it’s easy to swap them out with new boards at any time. I love change! Rotating the artwork in my room is a monthly habit.

“To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” Albert Schweitzer

How to Combine Two Blogs into One

2012-01-01T07:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

Maybe 2012 can be a year of taking care of projects that have been sitting on the back burner for awhile.

One of those, for me, is straightening up my "blog" house.

In July of 2009, I started a blog project called "Going Green Jewelry". I had decided to try to use up components I already had before buying any new ones.

I had some cool info in that blog (including how to easily make a DIY photo cube for a couple bucks) and I was thinking I'd have to copy and paste that info into my regular blog (this one) in order to share with my readers.

But this morning I discovered a tool that Blogger recently finished beta-testing.

Export/Import

If you have two blogs that you want to mesh, you can export all of your postings from one of them into a holding area to be imported into your other blog.

Let's go one step at a time and you'll see how easy, fast, and workable this is.

First, go to the blog you want to take the posts FROM.

Go to the dashboard of that blog and select SETTINGS.

Right there at the top of that page, next to BLOG TOOLS, you should now see “Import Blog” – “Export Blog” – “Delete Blog”.

Click on “Export Blog”.

Click on “Download Blog”.

Select “Save File” (the default is “Open with…”.

Now go to the dashboard of the blog you want to add these posts TO.

Select SETTINGS.

This time select “Import Blog”.

Browse until you find the file that was exported (usually in the DOWNLOADS directory… named “blog-today’s date.xml”).

Enter the characters shown in the white box and click IMPORT BLOG.

Note: Do not put a check mark on “Automatically publish all imported posts” if you think you may want to go through the posts one by one to edit or ignore any.

As soon as you click IMPORT BLOG, you will get a new screen (the process is pretty fast) that will show you a listing of all the imported posts with an option to IMPORT them all if you like. I wanted all of mine imported, so I clicked on that, but you can just keep them in the listings and go through them at your leisure, adding what you want when you want and editing as you go.

BTW, this tool is also helpful if you just want a back-up of your blog. You don't necessarily have to import any blog entries. Just keep the XML file on your computer as a back-up of your entries and comments.

I still have lots of “stuff” to go through and clean up in my blog, but at least all the info is in one place now.

Talk to you later and happy blogging!

Photos of Penryn in the Fog

2011-12-02T20:48:00.001-08:00

"People will forget what you said; People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel."

Before the big winds came, we had a couple of lovely, foggy days… very serene.

The tree in the first photo is completely nekkid now. Three days of really heavy winds have taken those leaves (along with a couple of chair cushions).

I have begun a new project… it’s slow going, but hopefully I’ll have something to show you soon. Things have to be formed then painted, then the paint has to dry. Then other parts are painted and added to the first part and the glue that holds those has to dry. Then the whole thing needs to be made waterproof. Then we’ll sink it in resin and wait for the resin to dry. Fingers crossed.

I should have opted for the miniature work back when my eyes had amazing close-up vision. Now, let’s just say my magnifying visor is becoming my best friend.

My Adventures at 2011 BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza)

2011-11-16T20:51:00.001-08:00

From their website: “This is the largest two-day bead and jewelry show on the West Coast, with over 225 exhibitor spaces showing handmade, ethnic and vintage beads, jewelry, buttons, findings, books and DVDs. There will be more than 80 studio glass, silver, ceramic and polymer clay bead artists. Many artists or vendors will be exhibiting for the first time in the Bay Area. Classes are available for every level of experience and in many mediums…”

Last weekend, I attended BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza). Three days of bead shopping, classes, and mingling with other creative-types.

I’d like to thank Donna Conklin for letting me share some of her BABE photos (show floor, JC Herrel, Leah Fairbainks, Lori & Kim):

On Friday, I was signed up to take Christi Friesen’s
class called “Lovely Lily Pond”. And guess what? I actually made a lovely lily pond (as well as a little “in-law” pond. See!

I was so impressed with what we learned. We made EVERYTHING you see on these lily ponds out of polymer clay (except the resin in the pool and some of the shimmering embossing powder effects)… the pebbles, the moss, the flowers and fish!

Christi is a hoot and I learned a TON in the four-hour class. I had planned to visit some friends in the afternoon, but that plan bombed so I stuck around for Christi’s second class: Seeing the Light (faux stained glass out of polymer clay).

Here’s what I made there, but I have to tell you that I’m not an “all day class” kind of gal. My brain gets fried after about four hours of learning. So my intention was to learn the techniques in class and work on being more creative once I got home and tried it on my own. Take these two photos with a grain of salt. The second photo shows what the pieces actually look like when the sun shines through them. I need to remember that you can’t have four layers of clay if you want the stained glass effect.

Oh, that reminds me… I need to pick up an oven thermometer soon… I think I left my other ones behind when I moved (or they’re packed somewhere ridiculous and I’ll find them in a few months… d’oh!).

Saturday was Resin-Wire Forms with Tracy Stanley. Another very friendly and helpful instructor. The class was super fun and my fear of resin is now removed.

Some of you may remember my one-time previous attempt at resin.

A few days later, this turned cloudy and totally caved in. I decided I wasn’t interested in resin if it was going to be that fickle… after all, it’s not like there’s a shortage of things to play with and do in the world of jewelry-making.

But it’s always been in the back of my mind to try again someday. So… when this class was offered, I decided to give it a go.

SO GLAD I DID!

Here’s what I made:

The first one was for me. I like the concept of an "ideas" pendant... and I made sure to purposely include a shell within a shell to represent that impression of having something inside, the creative kernal, so to speak.

The second one I made for my mom. I like the idea of joy because I'm a big believer in happiness as a way of life. And Mom really likes the beach so I put seashells and pearls in her pendant.

The third one was an experiment in 3-D. I've included moss and bark. This one is called "Starry Night".

One thing I’m learning about resin is that people have opinions. In the past three days, I’ve used four different kinds of resin and what I find funny is that most people who talk about (and/or are selling) resin have fairly strong opinions on the type of resin they use and they recommend ONLY the kind they use and usually dis all other forms of resin. (Not everyone does this, but enough do it that it struck me as funny… and scary.)

There’s two-part UV cured, two-part air dry, one part glaze adhesive, and more. And within each of those are several different brands with strong recommendations and strong non-recommendations. I decided my best bet is to experiment.

So my first “test” is using an air-drying two-part epoxy. I’m also testing papers.

Here are the five things I applied the resin to for my first test:
1) Washi paper decoupaged to vintage metal forms
2) Photos printed (ink jet) on the “special” and expensive glossy photo paper from one of the specialty resin companies
3) Photos printed (ink jet) on HP glossy photo paper (‘cause, y’know… if they come out the same as the “exclusively recommended fancy resin paper” I can save a ton of money and time)
4) Photos printed (ink jet) on JP glossy paper then mod podged (to seal them)
5) Painted metal

I applied doming 2-part air dry epoxy resin to a sample of each of these then covered them and set them aside. Sort of. They were on my work bench and since they take so long to dry and I didn’t want my work bench to be indisposed for that long, I moved them to a less trafficked area. In doing so, however, I managed to wreck two of them, I think. Maybe the resin that got touched will settle back down, but if not, I did enough pieces of each so at least I’ll know what works and what doesn’t.

Stay tuned for those results.

One of the key things to have (in my opinion) when doing resin is a plethora of little plastic cups and stirring sticks because you have to (or at least I was told you have to) throw them away after each use. The stirring cups are about the size of a Nyquil dosing cup so if you’re doing small work, you may want to get a squeeze bottle to make application easier.

I didn’t have a squeeze bottle on-hand so I used one of these:

And my segue winds back to BABE as Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent in the “shopping” portion of the show.

I go to a lot of bead/gem shows (probably 8-10 per year) and the ones that feature self-representing artists, particularly lampworkers, are my absolute favorite. I only wish I had thousands of dollars to spend on the amazingly beautiful beads being offered at the show.

BABE comes to Oakland, California once a year, usually in the fall and I highly recommend it to anyone in the bead/jewelry industry. Three days of classes and two days of bead shopping (also tools, finished product, and more). Icing on the cake is getting to meet in person the people you’ve been getting to know online throughout the year(s).

I had a lot of fun and spent a lot of money. Now I’m off to create.

Yeah, I've been away

2011-11-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

So I spent some concentrated time getting things in order so I could leave everything for three days. And then I spent three days gone. :-)

I was at B.A.B.E (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza) in Oakland. It was awesome.

I took a class... er, two classes from Christi Friesen and another class on resin and wire work. I'll give you the details and show you some photos on these classes in my next blog post.

I met some LE lampworkers and saw some amazing beads. I purchased a few (yeah, I know... do I really need more beads?!).

I've got another book review coming up. I'll find some goodie to give away again. That was so much fun! BTW, Sheila Gibson was the winner of the Lapis, Serpentine Sterling Silver bangle. Congrats, Sheila!

I gotta tell ya, I'm pretty stoked about some of the stuff I made at my BABE classes. I hope I can find ways to incorporate these new techniques into my jewelry making.

Well, just wanted to touch base, let you all know I'm still alive and well (just swamped).

Talk later!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

A Free Bracelet, A Book Review, and Four New Earring Pairs

2011-11-01T21:05:00.001-07:00

So I made this bracelet and messed up the pattern (see the 8 o'clock position) and I can't redo it because it's on 18 gauge sterling silver and is only 6¾ inches (so can't make it smaller). It's Lapis, Serpentine and all Sterling Silver.

And because of the boo-boo, I'm giving it away.

I just did a book review (30-Minute Earrings) and everyone who leaves a comment on my review is entered into the contest.

This Friday (Nov 4th), I will randomly select a winner from among those who left a comment.

Here's the review: 30-Minute Earrings

And check out these earrings I made from projects in the book (click on a photo for more info):

What I'm Watching/Reading Currently... and Downtown Oakland Interactive Map for Bay Area Bead Extravaganza

2011-10-31T22:16:00.000-07:00

MOVIES and TV SHOWS and BOOKS

Watched the X-Men prequel today. Now I feel like I must find the other X-Men movies and catch up. :-)

So I finished watching the only two seasons of Reaper. Liked it, but the show kind of stopped midstream. I don’t know if they’ll ever revive it.

Then I watched all eight seasons of Monk. Those were enjoyable.

That led me to re-watching Murder, She Wrote. It’s so funny seeing how dated some of the clothing, actions, and plot lines are, but it’s still kind of fun.

Probably sounds like I watch a lot of tv… and I guess I do, but it’s never just plopping my rear-end down and watching. I like to have something going in the background when I’m doing certain jewelry work (wire-wrapping, photographing, listing, etc).

Murder, She Wrote made me think of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, so I downloaded a couple books onto my Kindle and am reading those before bed (no multi-tasking there).

B.A.B.E.

I’ll be attending a couple classes at BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza ) in two weeks. If anyone else reading this blog will be going and isn’t overly familiar with the area, here’s a cool interactive map
showing some of the things within a couple blocks’ radius.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

New Wall Art, Kumihimo Video Tutorial, Sign up for email notifications now

2011-10-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

WALL ART

I haven’t been too experimental this week. Oh, I did make a wall hanging…

I plan to continue my foray into wall art.

KUMIHIMO VIDEO

After watching this really well-made video on Kumihimo, I took the plunge and finally bought the book that had been in my Amazon shopping cart for the last three months. I figured it’s something I can do maybe in front of the tv in the evenings when I’m too tired for things that take more concentration.

NEW JEWELRY LISTINGS

Here’s a piece I had a lot of fun with. I etched, then enameled the copper leaf shape. It seems a great color to match the BHB I put on this great silk ribbon and once I patinated the sterling it all blended together well.

This bracelet’s pretty wild. It features ginormous Quartz Crystal beads and vintage tin bead caps made by Donna Millard .

I am so in love with these beads (and really mad at myself for forgetting the lampworker’s name who made them…. I’m pretty sure I saw them on LE… and I can GUESS whose they are, but I’m not sure).

And these are rather eye-catching.

MISC

I added a new gadget to my blog here… if you look over there on the right-hand sidebar, up near the top, you’ll see a way to follow this blog via email. (You get notified when I post a new entry.).

Here’s a really heart-warming video about a guy on a motorcycle who rescues a stranded calf.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Use It Or Lose It and Logging Out of PayPal

2011-10-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

BUYING ON ETSY

Here’s something you should know if you shop on Etsy: If you pay via PayPal, when you are done and the page returns you to Etsy, you are still logged in to your PayPal account. Yes, after the usual amount of time it will “time out”, but if you prefer to be overly cautious (as I do), you will open another window (or you can do it in your current window too) and open PayPal (you’ll see you won’t have to log in). From there, you can log out.

KEEPING IT ALL STRAIGHT

Today I compared how many items I have listed in Etsy versus how many items I thought I had listed in Etsy. There was a discrepancy. The missing items weren’t in DRAFT, EXPIRED, or INACTIVE. Shrug. Sometimes I feel so lost. I like everything to have a reasonable explanation, but it seems there are so many things that defy explanation.

USE IT OR LOSE IT… SORT OF

As I was closing one of my drawers in my bead dresser tonight, I glanced down at the contents and saw some beautiful big hole beads. Big hole beads that had been sitting in that drawer for over a year… WAY over a year.

And I was instantly struck by two things. One, my current efforts to downsize. And two, my ever-changing interests. Let’s tackle #1 first.

As I get rid of “things” in my life, I find myself throwing out, giving away, or selling many things that I had the intention of using SOME DAY. Well, my ability to create was much smaller than my ability to collect art supplies and crafting materials, and things easily got out of hand regarding my intake versus my outgo. The end result is that I have to get rid of stuff and it’s rarely at a profit, if you know what I mean.

Okay, #2… sometimes I keep things because I’m not ready to use them. I figure I have to wait until I have the PERFECT idea and more skill… or something. Shrug. Well, what I’ve learned about keeping things is that my interest in doing certain kinds of techniques or designs changes and that framed pendant I bought two years ago and was going to make into a certain kind of necklace but didn’t … well, now it’s just sitting there and I no longer have the desire to make that necklace. My style has changed. The problem is, it’s not just one pendant… it’s hundreds if not thousands of beads and components.

So I say embrace your ability to just use up everything you have. :-) Tomorrow is a new day and you have no idea what you’ll feel like making or what components you’ll come across. Use what you have now to make room for new things to come into your life.

Okay, internal peptalk done.

On to the jewelry. (Click a photo for more details!)

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

New Jewelry Listings, Enamel and Etching Experiments, Disc Cutters

2011-10-13T20:50:00.001-07:00

Whoa, I apologize for showing you the same newly listed jewelry in multiple blog posts. Maybe I shouldn’t wait until the end of the day (when I’m tired) to do my bloggling.

Anyway, I got out the enameling and etching stuff this past week.

My etching had a few hiccups, but experimenting and practicing are always good.

Then here are some of my enamel experiments. I’m working on cloisonné technique (but at some point soon, I’m going to have to break out the klin).

Only the first photo is an actual listing… the rest are experiments.

I’m thinking of making a charm bracelet of most of these practice pieces. I don’t know, though, how well enamel holds up to the kind of abuse a charm bracelet might cause. My pieces are counter-enameled, at least.

I listed a lot more this week and didn’t do as much blogging… so here’s a bunch of new listings. (Click on a photo for more info.)

One a personal note, I’m up to season 7 of Monk. :-)

From Comments: Hey Chris , I’ve never heard of Two Weeks Notice. Will have to check it out. And I completely agree with you about Sandra Bullock. BTW, I’m lovin’ your blog! It’s so colorful and “inspirational”. :-)

This looks like a good article on Disc Cutters.

Alright… goodnight for now.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

New Jewelry Listings, Romantic Comedies, and Photos of Monica

2011-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

My apologies. I didn’t end up taking any pictures today so will show you the etched stuff tomorrow (I also have a bracelet to photograph).

I do, however, have some new listings (click a photo for more info).

ROMANTIC COMEDIES

So… what’s your favorite Romantic Comedy? I’m always looking for new ones to watch. These are totally my guilty pleasure.

Some of my favorites are:
The Proposal
27 Dresses
Leap Year
While You Were Sleeping
Sleepless in Seattle

MY DAUGHTER

Luckily for me, my daughter’s hockey coach loves taking photos, so my normally camera-shy daughter is getting used to it.

New Jewelry Listings, Blue Tide Video, Lightning Strike Video

2011-10-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

Got out the etching stuff today. Learned that I definitely need some practice. Ha!

When I get to the finished product, I have a hard time figuring out what my piece looks like because shiny copper and patina’d copper look almost the same to me. Only in MY pieces, mind you. I seem to be able to see the difference in other people’s pieces. I truthfully don’t understand this at all. Shrug.

Anyway, I’ll photo the two pieces tomorrow probably and show you in my next blog post.

Otherwise, I did get some new listings up…

Long Necklace of Pink and Blue Peruvian Opal in Sterling Silver

Two-Strand Bracelet of Bright SRA Lampwork Glass Beads and Sterling Silver

MISC

Wanna see a close-up of a lightning strike? I don’t know why, but this totally intrigues me.

Click here to go to WIMP for the video

And how about this…

By day, a red tide is unsightly and uninviting, with water the color of coffee. But at night, during this unusual phenomenon caused by a plankton bloom, the waves are a brilliant, almost neon blue.

New Jewelry Listings, Featured Artist JC Herrell, Cashing in your scrap gold and silver

2011-09-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

NEW JEWELRY

I listed some new pieces today. As always, click on a photo for more info.

A bit of lampwork and a LOT of Bali silver.

FEATURED ARTIST: JC HERRELL

As promised, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite lampwork artists. Her name is JC Herrell and she has her regular website
and an Etsy store .

AND… she was kind enough to let me show you some of her totally awesome beads on my blog today.

If you have a chance to meet JC at one of the bead shows, say hi and introduce yourself. She’s a totally warm and friendly person.

And yeah, this may be a repeat… some people are worth repeating. :-)

Please check her out next time you’re in the mood for some bead buyin’ action.

SELLING YOUR SCRAP SILVER AND GOLD

I can now tell you with first-hand experience under my belt that MidWest Refineries are awesome. 95% for gold and 90% for silver and a pretty quick turnaround. I don’t know anyone else who can beat their prices.

FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS

You are quite right, IAM (comment on Sept 23rd’s post). It certainly CAN be played both ways. I do think women suffer the greater brunt of the effect, however, but yes, anyone can be manipulative.

Remember that your thoughts are the primary cause of everything.

Four Silver-Heavy Bangles, Underwater Bedroom Can Be Yours, Gaslighting Women

2011-09-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

NEW MOTIVATION, NEW JEWELRY

This week, I ran across two self-representing artists who have an output that is so unbelievable you’d swear they must have others doing the work for them. I was astounded to think they could be making everything themselves. But evidence showed otherwise and I’ve just got to say WOW. I wish I could be HALF that productive. My hat’s off to them.

And it motivated me to get my rear in gear (that, and a phone call from my son saying that job-hunting isn’t going to well… eek!).

But I loved what my motivation came up with last night. These are bangle bracelets with 14g sterling silver wire running through the entire length. They’re pretty weighty (lots of silver Bali beads!), which I adore.

UNDERWATER BEDROOM

I would LOVE to stay here!

That’s one of the suites in a hotel on one of the Maldive Islands (Indian ocean). Pretty cool, huh?

GREAT ARTICLE

A Message To Women From A Man: You Are Not “Crazy”

You’re so sensitive. You’re so emotional. You’re defensive. You’re overreacting. Calm down. Relax. Stop freaking out! You’re crazy! I was just joking, don’t you have a sense of humor? You’re so dramatic. Just get over it already!

Sound familiar?

If you’re a woman, it probably does.
… read the rest of this eye-opening article here.

TOMORROW SNEAK PEAK

Featured artist: JC Herrell… stay tuned!

If you want something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done.

New Jewelry Listings

2011-09-19T07:50:00.001-07:00

Hope everyone’s doing well. This is a busy month.

I’ll start off with my new items…

Re-visited the Quad and Trio necklaces
that were so popular in my store last year.

Here’s a necklace I’ve been getting a lot of compliments about. See that silver loop around the lampwork bead? I made that AGES ago, probably back when silver was like $20 an ounce. Then it got stuck into my WIP drawer (“works in progress”). My works in progress are more like ideas I had that got guillotined somewhere along the way because I realized I had no clue where I was going with the idea.

Anyway, last week I pulled the silver loop out and said, “Now here’s a total waste of good sterling. Do something, woman!” And so I did. Thank goodness for my drawer of Alex beads. Yay!

This necklace you’ve all seen before. It’s sort of a staple with me… I have to make at least one each year. :-)

This next one is one of my latest experiments. I *adore* smooth rocks. I decided to paint on these with permanent paint (won’t wash off… I tested my own piece for four months… never removed my necklace the whole time).

Decided I wanted Enochian symbols on them (also known as the Angels’ alphabet). This is homage to one of my favorite shows of all time (I’m not always full of depth), Supernatural .

BTW, if you aren’t familiar with IMDB (the website link I just showed you), it’s my “go-to” for movie, tv, actor, director info.

So anyway, here’s a sample. I wanted to get kind of a surfer-feel to the necklaces (which also meant I wanted them to be able to stand up to some good old fashioned wear and tear).

Okay, enough of the new offerings.

Yesterday I went to the Arrowsprings bead show. Wow, it was so cool! (But not the weather.)

I love bead shopping. And everyone there was SOOOO nice.

The beads were AMAZING. And seeing everyone’s new lines... wow! I’m going to contact some of the artists and ask if I can share their work on my blog for you to see.

Well, I’d better go just now ‘cause I actually wrote this last night then forgot to post it. Mornings are my most productive time, so let’s hope for some productivity today. :-)

New Bracken Designs Listings (including a tutorial), Swarovski Color Chart, Another DIY Light Box

2011-09-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

New Bracken Designs Listings

Some new listings include a page full of stacker bracelets (except for the ones that sold already).

A stacker bracelet is a bracelet that works just as well as a stand-alone piece as it does when worn in combination (stacked on the wrist).

Stacker bracelets generally have evenly sized beads in a simple pattern, rarely have a focal or counterweight charms, and they are not adjustable.

This is what they look like when stacked:

One of the two new items I’m really excited about is this pair of earrings…

… because I’m also offering kits to make your own…

… as well as just the tutorial (without the kit).

Swarovski Color Chart

I try to remember to share my resources with you (when I think of it). Here’s one I’ve been using a lot lately… Swarovski Crystal Color Chart by FusionBeads.com

Another DIY Light Box

Thank you, Bill Huber, for taking the time to share this with us. Click here for instructions (including photos) on how to craft a homemade light tent for photography.

And with that, I bid you farewell… until next time!

A Trip to Grover Hot Springs and Featured Artist Bonnie Belt

2011-09-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Grover Hot Springs

So a week or so ago, I took a trip up to Grover Hot Springs.

Here’s the view from a walk we had from our motel:

BTW, when I was shrinking and cropping this photo, I noticed something in the sky:

Most likely a plane or helicopter, but I like to pretend it’s a UFO. :-) If you’re wondering what I’m talking about… it’s that tiny white speck in the upper righthand side of the photo.

These beautiful yellow flowers were outside our motel:

This was my first time going to a hot springs. I had no idea we’d be at 7500 feet during that trip. My ears didn’t have any trouble on the drive, but when I went from the hot springs to the cool pool, I got really light-headed. Yikes! That’s a shame… the cool pool felt really nice.

The hot springs did too… but it’s already summer and I tend to run warm these days anyway (if you know what I mean) so it was kind of like taking an outdoor bath in the middle of a heatwave.

Here are two views from the hot springs:

The water comes out of the ground at 115 degrees Fahrenheit and they add cold water to the pool so it’s around 102 when we get in.

I apologize for not having very good photos. Apparently I’ve been taking indoor photos of small items at close range for way too long. I don’t even know how to use my camera for regular purposes. Ha!

I couldn’t resist snapping these dandelions, though:

Here’s a shot from the trip home (we had to stop twice for road construction):

It was a neat trip. I enjoyed seeing a lot of the things along the way, too. If I stopped every place I wanted to “check something out”, though, we’d never arrive anywhere.

As far as jewelry-making adventures go, I’ll blog tomorrow about some new listings and my latest tutorial.

But now…

Featured Artist Bonnie Belt

I stumbled (or Binged) across the work of Bonnie Belt the other day and she was kind enough to give me permission for me to share her website and a couple photos of her work with my readers.

I love randomly finding someone whose work is (to me) just outstanding. See for yourself…

To see more of her work and read about her, visit her website: http://www.bonniebelt.com

Well, that’s it for tonight. Hope everyone has a great day/evening/night… and I’ll see you tomorrow!

The Penryn Creatures and Other Misc Stuff

2011-08-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my “views” the other day in ArtFire and Etsy. My items get five times the views in Etsy than they get in ArtFire.

I don’t participate in forums on either site. I don’t advertise my Etsy or ArtFire stores. Fairly level playing field.

Do views always mean sales? No, but fewer views does seem to mean fewer sales.

My last ArtFire sale: May 2011
My last Etsy sale: August 2011

But I am the eternal optimist.

Do I like the new thing where one-third of your logo is covered up? No. I think making people redo their logos is ridiculous. Move the box that’s covering our logos; don’t tell us to change our logos.

My fave is still my real website where the majority of my sales take place.

Took the train on Tuesday, back into the Bay Area (had some errands to run). It was kind of neat.

Not sure it’s something I’d want to do daily, but it was a nice experience once. For some unknown reason, we stopped over this river for a few minutes:

Plenty of creatures here.

Went blackberry picking the other day. Didn’t pick this one (of course), but had to snag a photo of the pretty colors.

And thistle…

Oh, and here’s me and the back of my R2D2.

Here’s Mom’s Bougainvillea…

And a very tired kitty…

And my darling little Ten-Ten, who will never lose his scaredy-cat sensibilities (he’s behind the table post)…

I’m very excited about the next installment to Bracken Designs… I have a slew of “Stacker Bracelets” ready to be photographed and listed. Yay!

Talk soon!

Finally retired and moved... Check out my latest jewelry creations

2011-08-06T09:53:00.001-07:00

Thank you faithful friends for returning to my blog after my long absence.

The move is over (pretty much).

For those who don’t know, I have retired from my day job and plan to spend more time working on my creative endeavors now.

I moved from a city with a population of 450,000 to a town (well, it’s not even a town… and the one next to it only became a town 20 years ago) of 2000.

It’s still going to be a while before I feel completely settled in.

Although I should now have more time to explore some of the other mediums I love (enamel, polymer clay, metal clay, lampwork, etc), I have come to the realization that I just plain old love beads and beading. I love the challenge of finding interesting high-quality components and putting them together in an appealing way.

That being said, here are a few items I made in the past few days (click a photo for more info):

After several requests, I finally got my dangle earring tutorial/kit finished:

Sorry this was such a brief entry, but I am enormously behind on listing, so that’s where I have to put some of my time now.

Talk soon!

Learning to Make a Love Knot

2011-06-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I bought a “love knot” (aka “Danish knot”) tutorial and… well, never did anything with it. I was thinking this would be a neat component to add to my chunky bangle bracelets.

Recently a friend of mine, Bonnie Jacobson, showed me a photo of a gorgeous bracelet she made that featured some of these components, kicking up my desire to finally give it a go.

My first results were funny (I can say “funny” because I’ve learned to use base metal when trying new things rather than just diving right in with silver or gold… which is definitely NOT funny).

I used 13 gauge copper and coiled the wire onto a 9mm mandrel. Whoa! Way too tight for three coil sections (I have since learned that I can just leave it at two when they’re this chunky and tight).

So then I decided to learn the technique… end of story… not caring what the end result looked like… I just had to first figure out what I was doing.

So I used 20 gauge brass on a 9mm mandrel. Ha ha ha! Got the technique down, but the finished product looks like something only an entomologist might be interested in.

Next I went to 16 gauge brass on a 17mm mandrel. Better than the previous one, but still way too loose.

Trying to tighten it up a bit, I then went to 16 gauge brass on a 10mm mandrel. Still too loose, but I’m getting the technique down.

Then I decided to try the two-coil version (notice you have to have more coils per section than the three-coil version). This is 14 gauge brass on a 9mm mandrel.

And then, because I figured I’d learned enough now to try a tighter one, I went back to my original (13 gauage copper on a 9mm mandrel).

This one is actually listed for sale.

I am happy with the results. The knot is tight enough to maintain its shape (and keep the ends on the interior of the knot), but not so tight the coils get misshapen.

Feeling brave at this point, I went ahead with 20 inches of 14 gauge sterling silver and produced this (also for sale).

There is a HUGE difference in the softness of the wires I used today. The brass is a painful struggle. The copper (in the same gauge) was a breeze to wrap around the mandrel. The silver (also the same gauge) was only a little stiffer than the copper.

I don’t think the 2-coil knots look as good on their own as the 3-coil knots, so for now I’ll try to incorporate the 2-coil knots as necklace and bracelet components.

I look forward to teaching these techniques in my new location.

Jewelry Display Sale from Fetpak and a Couple New Jewelry Pieces

2011-06-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank my friends who took time out of there day to post comments on my blog. Thanks! I love hearing these opinions, thoughts, and advice. Keep it up!

Wanted to tell you about this before it's over... I have ordered many time from Fetpak. I started ordering from them because they offered free shipping (I think it was on orders over $100, but when have I ever spent under $100 online?). When I order, it's usually like 5000 jewelry boxes or something.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass along a sale their having that ENDS TODAY: "Only a few days remaining to receive our $25 Discount on our Closeout Jewelry Displays. Order must be over $100 on items on these two pages only: Page 1 and/or Page 2 Use code #FB25. Offer good through June 14, 2011."

Got a few more pieces of jewelry up.

The first is a pendant I created using texturing, cold connection rivits, and patina (the photo is a da Vinci sketch).

Then I wanted to use these wire-wrapped briolettes from the tutorial I did, so I paired them with infinity-shaped brass wire (that I've found in this LOVELY shade that looks just like gold).

New Jewelry Listings and a Few Words About Copying and Stealing Ideas

2011-06-08T19:59:00.001-07:00

The following is an excerpt from a forum I like to frequent. The discussion was about the subject of “stealing ideas”. The talk is mostly about bead-making because the forum is mostly for bead-makers. But I think jewelry makers would also find this interesting. This excerpt is going onto the SRAJD Resources page (for easy finding).

So here’s what one person has to say on the subject and I was so impressed I asked her if I could share her words with you:

Since the thread is several years old, I'd be interested to hear how people's thinking has changed about copying / inspiration as they have more years experience making beads? I find that my own feelings about the copying / inspiration subject have continued to evolve, the longer I am involved with glass.

The first year or three that I was making beads, I was uber sensitive about being careful not to copy, or even be too inspired by other people's beads. I stopped looking at beads on the internet, because I didn't want to be even subliminally tempted to copy someone else's ideas. And I sure didn't want to be accused of it publicly! (My father always said I was too sensitive to be an artist.... and he may have been right)

After I'd been making beads for a good six plus years, I realized that what I had thought of as "copying", say, seeing a rosebud bead and making a similar style rosebud - on purpose, to see if I could figure out how it was done - isn't copying, it's inspiration - an idea or visual calling me to try new things.

In the process, you bet I learned a bunch, and it was no threat to the person whose beads had inspired me - even if I had put the bead(s) up for sale. (although making beads has always been higher on my priority list than selling them!) Making a rosebud bead that looks like an actual rosebud isn't anyone's intellectual property (except perhaps Mother Nature). How it's done is a technique, but if I sat down to figure it out, how is that different than the person's whose bead inspired me in the first place? (For the record: I never did get the hang of making decent rosebuds. So all the floral artists out there can breathe a sigh of relief.)

And now, a dozen years into beadmaking, I finally feel comfortable admitting that I think the whole copying issue has taken up entirely too much of our energy, passion, and time which could have been a whole lot more productive spent behind the torch. I can only think of maybe a half dozen times when I felt that intellectual property (a completely unique bead design developed over time by one person) was truly "stolen", causing them to potentially lose income and the rights to that design.

Of course, none of those times was it my design, and I know that the suspicion that you've been copied is like a sucker punch to the gut, so I'm not trying to minimize the anguish that others have felt when they think they've been copied. It's real, just sometimes I think we spend so much energy on it, it gives the impression that it's happening much more often than it actually is.

For me, the copying issue is not about the finished product, regardless of how closely it resembles what is being called the original. It is about the intention of someone to attempt to recreate a design specifically to benefit from it - either in sales or taking credit for it. I think we lose sight of this when someone starts a thread in the bathroom hinting that someone has copied their design. People weigh in on the similarities between the original and the alleged copy, completely bypassing something that no one can say for sure: Was this an intentional act of copying someone's design in order to profit or claim ownership? That is not something that can usually be determined with any degree of certainty, and a public discussion of it is usually more harmful to the community than helpful.

In my experience, especially as a teacher of beginning beadmaking, beadmakers who are fairly new to the craft are so excited by all the new thoughts and ideas which pop into their heads as they obsess over their new found addiction that they mistake an idea (or even design) which is new to them for being something that is new in the world of glass. (If I had a dollar for every time I heard a new beadmaker say, "I've never seen this done before...." !) As many have said before - there's very little that's new under the sun. So I think the copying issue is probably a much bigger deal to those who are just starting out in beadmaking. But, I'd like to hear from others who've been in it a while, if they think that is true?

So, for those of you who've been around as long - or longer - than this thread, have your thoughts about copying changed over time? How do those of you who are relatively new feel about it? This is always an interesting discussion!!

Ann “Schermo” Baldwin (visit her website… rockin’ beads!)

Now to completely change the subject, here are a few of my new jewelry listings.

Some more stacker bracelets… these very affordable pieces are made with sterling silver and the teeniest tiniest lampwork beads I’ve ever seen.

Then I added two to my Artifact Line (jewelry inspired by ancient creations).

This next bracelet is one of those “notice me” pieces that I love to make. I just wild for bold, bright colors.

Featured Artist (more torch-colored copper!) Verrel Martin of The Artists Torch

2011-05-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Featured Artist

Continuing with the “torched copper” theme, today’s featured artist is Verrel Martin. His Etsy store is The Artists Torch. I can’t tell you how much I love these guitar picks. Aren’t they awesome? Pretty cool what you can do with copper and heat.

New Laura Listings

(BTW, I didn’t realize the last photo on my previous blog post wasn’t working… it’s working now.)

So I decided to make my minimalist bezel set stone necklaces into one listing. I really adore these necklaces. They’re precisely the type I put on and leave for months at a time.

When I did my annual show (ha ha ha, yeah, I hate doing shows), I had the nicest neighbor. He was selling gemstones (I bought some) and a few other things, including this really neat fabric chain. At the time, I had no ideas how I would use it but I thought it would be a fun thing to try at some point. So here we have a VERY lightweight three-strand necklace featuring Garnets and Pearls.

Several years ago I made a necklace with rectangular Smoky Quartz and lots of sterling silver. I’ve often thought of revisiting the design with something similar. I attended a bead show a week or so ago and found these lovely stones (not quite rectangular, but that’s okay). A really simple design, but I think it has quite the elegant look.

And because I just ADORE Pyrite…

Then I made some stacker bracelets. One of my favorite ways to wear bracelets is to pile on three or four at a time… stacking them in various combinations of stones and metals.

The bracelet with Aquamarine and Lapis already sold, but the rest are still available.

Look how fab they look together!

Well, back to work now. TTYL!

New Jewelry Listings

2011-05-21T21:33:00.001-07:00

I’ve changed some of the settings on my camera and hope to come up with some photos today that don’t make me want to scream.

I’m getting way too much grain… not clear focus at all. Look!

I miss my Nikon CoolPix, but I refuse to go back. FORWARD!!!

Since I love “stacker bracelets” so much, I’ve decided to dedicate some time to making them for my customers.

I’m starting with faceted gemstones and lots of sterling silver.

Oh, I think I’m behind on showing you some of the things I put in my store over the last few weeks.

Let’s see…

I’ve gotta go now… it’s unbelievable how long it takes to photograph and list.

TTYL!

Featured Artist: Dawily (torch colored copper jewelry)

2011-05-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

Featured Artist: Dawily

I’ve been kind of a slacker in showing you artists I’ve run across that I like. I’ll try to remedy that in the next couple of weeks.

The first I’ll mention is a fellow up in Canada who does the most amazing things with copper, fire and water.

His name is Dave… something that I can’t read because I ripped through the return address when opening the envelope and I don’t think his name is listed on his website.

But here is the website. Etsy: Dawily

Here’s a small blurb from his “read more” page on Etsy: “The colors are the natural, organically produced, oxides of copper created entirely by heat....absolutely no dyes or paints are used.......As the copper is heated it changes from raw copper color right through the range of colors you see below... “

Check these out…

I just think they’re really neat and unique. I like wearing jewelry that takes me into conversation with admirers. I love explaining how the designs are made.

BTW, absolutely top notch customer service. I highly recommend this seller.

Keeping Track of Things

Finally dealt with my latest batch of beads I purchased online. Each set is taped to half of an index card with the artist, their location, and the price written down.

Okay, going back to game 7… TTYL!

How to Wire-Wrap Briolette Gemstones a Photo Tutorial

2011-05-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

1) Start with about 3 inches of wire and a briolette. You only need three tools: needle nose pliers, chain nose pliers, and flush cutters. I use regular hardware store wire cutters (shown at top) for any metal other than sterling/fine silver or gold fill.

2) Put the wire through the briolette hole so that it’s fairly centered. Gently pull up on ends of the wire evenly.

3) Continue bringing the wires together until they cross. Slide your finger down between the crossed wires until the “x” is about 2-3mm above the tip of the gemstone.

4) Take your needle nose pliers and squeeze then at the “x” in the wires. This will bend then at the crossing point.

5) With your chain nose pliers, hold the triangle portion that is left just above the top of the gemstone.

6) While holding the chain nose pliers with one hand, use needle nose pliers in the other hand and grab the end of one of the wires.

7) Bend the wire to a 90-degree angle so that it’s perpendicular to the remaining wire, and begin wrapping it around the upright remaining wire 2-3 times.

8) Wrap from as close to the chain nose pliers as possible, upward away from the briolette.

9) Clip the wire off close and press the end in with your chain nose pliers.

10) Make a 90-degree angle in the remaining wire, about 2mm above where the wire-wrapping ends.

That space is where the rest of the wire-wrapping will go.

11) From that right angle, make a circle (loop) with your needle nose pliers.

12) At this point, you can grab the wire tail with your fingers and wrap it the rest of the way around that side of the pliers…

,,, until it looks like this.

13) Use your chain nose pliers to hold the loop.

14) Take the remaining wire tail with your needle nose pliers and wrap it from top to bottom (from as close to the chain nose pliers as possible downward toward the briolette).

15) Clip this wire and press it in as with the previous one.

Tada!

If you want to wrap part of the gemstone, see below…

This time take a 9-inch piece of wire.

Make the “x” as before, but not in the center of the wire. You only need about one-inch of wire on the short side.

After pinching (step 4 from above), take the short end and wrap 2-3 times (continue steps 5-14 from above).

When you’ve wrapped the wire to about this point, you can release the pliers and begin holding the top with your fingers…

… as you continue wrapping the long wire tail down and down and down…

… when the wire ends, you press the tail as tightly as you can into the body of the bead.

Some people tuck the end of the wire under the wrapping, but I’ve never had great luck with that.

You can have a neat wrap like this….

… or a more chaotic wrap like this.

Have fun!

Corrected Recipe

2011-05-03T16:56:00.001-07:00

See below

Banana Nut Coconut Bread with Lime Drizzle Topping

2011-05-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

I've made one edit to the recipe I posted below... since walnuts didn't go with either the wet or the dry ingredients, I forgot about them. But don't... they're awesome!

Well, the overwhelming applications for the SRAJD this week demolished my Monday evening (and most of my Sunday). Ha ha ha! That’s right… I’m putting off a decent blog post… still!

I will, however, at least try to remember what I put into the Banana Nut Coconut Bread I was talking about on Facebook. This was a mish-mash of several different recipes I have for banana nut bread. Sometimes you have to improvise based on what you've got in your pantry. :-)

As with most baked products, you mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix the liquid ingredients in another bowl, then add the dry mix to the wet mix and stir.

Dry Stuff:
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat, but you can probably use whatever)
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 C white sugar
3 T dark brown sugar

Wet Stuff:
5 very ripe mashed bananas
¼ C butter or oil
2 eggs
¼ C milk, sour cream, or yogurt
½ t vanilla

I mixed these things together then added 1¼ C shredded coconut (actually, it was probably sweetened coconut flakes).

Then a folded in about 3/4 C of chopped walnuts.

I put the mixture into two 9x9” cooking pans that I had sprayed with Pam.

I threw some more coconut on top, then put them into a 350-degree pre-heated oven for … oh wow… I don’t remember… I usually just bake stuff until it’s done. Um… I’m thinking it was probably about 40 minutes. You know, test it with a knife or toothpick… does it come out clean or still wet?

You can pretty much tell when their done also when they start to get brown on the edges and on top.

After being out of the oven for half an hour, I flipped them over onto a paper plate, then flipped them back onto a regular plate so they were then face up, outside of the cooking pan.

Then I take ½ C of powdered sugar and mix it with 1½ T of lime juice… whisk together and drizzle over the warm cake.

Slice and eat… this stuff is super yummy when still warm. Mmmmm…

Okay, TTYL!

Sunday Evening (yes, it's that boring at the moment)

2011-05-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

First, I'd like to thank Amanda for letting me know one of my blog posts was featured on EBSQ Friday Five. Thanks!

This weekend, I was hoping to make a pair of earrings for a friend, but I think she knows me better than I know me... and thank goodness she'll be patient with me.

I didn't make anything new this weekend. I finished a necklace, took photos, and then finished listing some stuff (I'll show you tomorrow).

Within the span of two weeks, I went from making super chunky necklaces to making super dainty and minimalist necklaces.

Alright, that's about it... I have a lot to tell you about this week, but it will have to wait another day or two. We had a TON of SRAJD activity this week and although we normally do our updating on Monday, I knew I had to get a head start so I spent a good part of Saturday and Sunday getting the new pages ready for posting.

TTYL!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Just Stayin' In Touch

2011-04-25T14:37:00.001-07:00

Don’t really have too much to say today.

I felt like making “chunky” necklaces (short ones, not long), so that’s what I did. But I hate setting up my photo studio for just a couple items, so I have to make some more things before I take pictures. Hopefully by late summer I’ll have a studio where I can keep my photo corner set up at all times. That’d be sweet.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Stinson Beach and New Jewelry

2011-04-22T22:11:00.001-07:00

Stinson Beach

Took Mon and some of her friends to Stinson beach today.

No people photos… I had to “keep my distance” from the teens, so I just walked on my own along the shore until I arrived at an outcropping of rocks. Then I pulled out my Agatha Christie book and read for a few hours.

I really like the beach.

I decided that I really must find ways to get to a warm beach a couple times a year. And yes, I said warm. There is nothing I like better than letting ocean waves wash over me, my feet, whatever… but man, cold water is WAY TOO PAINFUL!

The beach today was freezing (by my standards). The young people were in bathing suits and were actually going into the water. BBBBRRRR!!! The rest of us had sweaters, coats, scarves, gloves, etc.

Monica said the little shops were fun to look at. I’ll have to check them out next time. Who knows… maybe I can find a gallery interested in carrying some of my work.

New Jewelry Listings

Tried some new techniques last week. And I’d like to thank Katherine for make me realize I am “coloring” not “painting”. It seems like such a little thing, but makes all the difference to my designs and my nerves. Thanks KG!

Those two pieces are already spoken for, but the following photos can be clicked on for more info. The first two are from my “Exquisite Colors” line. They’re bracelets, but the necklaces will soon also be available.

I hope to get some more “playing” time in with my rolling mill this weekend. I think I’ll also go pick up some additional colors of paint. That’s another technique I want to really explore. Maybe I can do something beach-inspired.

Wow… it’s after ten. I’ll have to continue this tomorrow!

TTYL!

Update on Bracken Designs Jewelry Pricing Calculator and More "In Your Face" Commentary about Not Selling Your Jewelry for Materials Cost

2011-04-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

I like to try new things. Sometimes my experimenting leads me to cool, new ways of making jewelry. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I’m in the process of trying something new. I want to paint on metal.

I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. And by “artist” here, I mean I can’t paint and I can’t draw. This kind of makes me wonder, what exactly do I plan to paint onto metal.

As I ponder that, I run my first test (applying various colors to some metal). I should have photos at some point… the paint is currently drying.

So later on today, I’ll sit with my thoughts and my sketch pad, and I’ll see if I can come up with any kind of starting point.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a cartoon I’ve created as an attempt to prove my point to buyers and sellers alike. We are not selling components. :-) Think about it.

My cartoon can help us segue into my next subject which is that in the past year I’ve learned a bit more about using EXCEL and so I’ve “prettied up” my Jewelry Pricing Calculator. Still just as functional as before, but more aesthetically pleasing now too.

I’ve also taken some of the suggestions from users of the file and added and removed features.

There’s now a specified spot where you can drag a photo of your item to the page you’ll be printing out for your record keeping.

The formulas are virtually the same but more streamlined. The file still includes the wire calculator (which I use CONSTANTLY).

The materials list is now on the same page that you print for your record-keeping binder.

The Supplies Inventory pages are completely changeable to fit your needs.

And the instructions have been updated.

If you’ve already purchased this pricing calculator from me, expect an email this weekend. I’ll be sending all previous customers a free upgrade of the new version merely for the asking.

Talk to you later and happy beading!

Help Sanzuma Purchse Solar Ovens for Guatemala

2011-03-30T10:00:00.001-07:00

Today’s blog post is dedicated to something one of my friends is doing that I think is really neat.

The project is called Sanzuma and it basically has everything to do with a wonderful energy source and compassion for fellow human beings.

My friend Lori Davis is the founder of this movement (from the Environmental Action Club at the College of Marin, California) to get solar ovens to people and places that can really benefit from them.

I’m not a good paraphraser, though, so I’m just going to quote from the website:

“Sanzuma’s goal is to educate people around the world how to use solar ovens. These ovens can be used for a family or an entire village. The Villager Oven can support a solar bakery as well. The purpose of these bakeries is to alleviate poverty and enhance the quality of the recipients’ life, as well as teach them a more environmentally friendly alternative to cooking than wood and charcoal.”

Please go to the website and read more about this wonderful project.

Lori will be traveling to Guatemala soon to help distribute the solar ovens purchased through your donations.

Their goal is to raise $5000 by May 1st (I think that’s totally do-able!).

As Lori said to me the other night, “If 50 people donate $5 each, that’s one oven purchased!”

They have a super-easy donate through PayPal button right on the homepage.

Sanzuma

TTYL!

Selling Your Scrap Metals, Gold-Filled Defined, Finally Get Your Show Banner, and New Jewelry Listings

2011-03-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

What is “Gold-Filled”?

Here’s an article describing the process. The visuals are really helpful.

Where Can I Sell My Silver/Gold Scraps?

And if you’re planning to destash some of your bits and pieces, Midwest Refineries has gotten rave reviews by some of my friends. I will be shipping a baggie of silver very soon.

Ever Wanted a Sign for Your Shows?

I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but FedEx is having a killer sale right now on signage.

The sale.

Outdoor banners, used to be $135, now $60
Indoor banners, used to be $120, now $60

New Jewelry Listings

I got a couple new items up for sale. One of the listings is for these long earrings, and you get to choose if you want an orange Spessartite Garnet, a dark red Almandine Garnet, or a bright green Peridot.

And a necklace of fine silver and Toni Lutman glass beads (“Three Moons”).

Dog or wookie?

Non-Attachment

2011-03-20T12:41:00.001-07:00

Today’s thoughts are about non-attachment (in correlation to my unshakeable belief that happiness is one of human being’s ultimate goals).

There is much about the philosophy of “non-attachment” that lends itself to an easier, happier life. Let’s start with the simple relief from worry about how much stuff you’ve got at any given time, hauling it around with you, protecting it, preserving it, etc.

I recently read a passage someone wrote about all the things they’d lost recently in a tragic event. The words were something to the effect of: “… all the hard work over the years to collect these things and now they’re all gone. It’s like I worked all my life for nothing.”

Hearing this made me think about the way one’s life would be easier (mentally) if one embraced non-attachment. Then, if you lost your “stuff”, it wouldn’t seem like the end of the world to you.

But is it possible? I mean, for us raised in the Western hemisphere, in a capitalist society, with possessions being a focal part of our entire lives?

I’m in the process of downsizing… again. Not that I have that many possessions, but sometimes when you go from one location to another (particularly if the second one is miniscule), you’ve got to think about downsizing.

I realized that most of what I’m “holding onto” isn’t about “memories” or anything like that… it’s about value. I’ve collected things over the years that I’m having a hard time getting rid of because they are worth more than what can currently get for them.

So it’s only about money. Money. Phft! Yeah, money’s important, but I don’t need to stress and keep these things around me merely because someday I can go through a bunch of effort to sell them for a decent price and make what…? Just how much is piece of mind worth? Do I own anything that’s worth THAT much? No, I don’t think so. I need to let it go… just let it all go. *****breathe*****

But it’s not just about “stuff” (possessions). “Non-attachment” is also about people. That part can be much trickier to think about and I’m not actually going to talk about that today.

Does “non-attachment” make a person distant or seem non-caring? If you detach yourself from pain are you also detaching yourself from pleasure?

Embracing the philosophy of non-attachment makes sense when you consider we live in an impermanent world. Is there anything in this world that is permanent? Is non-attachment about enjoying what we have in the moment? Is it okay to grieve for our loss when something that made us happy is gone?

Buddhists believe (I think) that attachment is the root of suffering.

I think one of the things I’d like to meditate on is to question my motives. What is my motivation of any and all the things I do?

I can’t criticize anyone about anything… I see me in everyone else in the world. I am no better and no worse than others. I’m not even different. I am reminded daily that I’m a lot more ignorant than a lot of people who cross my path, but I cut myself some slack and just say that I’m still learning and hope to improve on a daily basis.

When you think about it, we can become attached, not only to material things and people, but also to ideas. I will continue to work toward not being fixed in my ideas, to really listen to others rather than be mentally composing my next sentence as the other person is speaking, and to try to keep an open mind at all times, seeing as many sides of the issue as possible… without judgment or prejudice.

Next subject for musing: right and wrong.

New Jewelry Listings, More Controversial Etsy Changes, Fix Your Facebook Security Settings

2011-03-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have been away for awhile. Hockey life took over for awhile… and now I’m fighting off a virus of some sort.

NEW JEWELRY LISTINGS

Got a couple up for the Ancient Artifacts line. These two bracelets are inspired by Egyptian designs.

Tomorrow, if I have the energy, I’ll get a photo of these bracelets worn in “stacker” fashion.

Oh, and it’s been so long, I don’t think I even showed you my fish pendant…

ETSY, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

I want to buy and sell on Etsy. I don’t need them to be a social network. Their latest bad move: Article: “Etsy users irked after buyers, purchases exposed to the world”

MAKE SURE YOUR FACEBOOK IS SECURE

Or at least as secure as you can make it. This article/slideshow: Facebook Privacy: 10 Must-Know Security Settings can help you be less exposed. At the very least you can CHOOSE which things you want others to see and/or know about you.

I'm a prima donna

2011-03-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have a real aversion to typing on a laptop. I suppose that given enough time I'd get used to it, but for now I feel less than fluid.

Got a GOOD night's sleep last night. Yay! The boys are still sleeping, but I'll have to wake them up soon as practice is at 11am.

I haven't met anyone on the teams yet other than a couple of the girls and one mom. All SUPER nice!!!

Saw a photo of the Honda and figure it's going to be a total loss. Well, will wait to hear from my insurance company now that the other insurance company is disputing if they were in fact covering the other driver (seriously, how can it take more than one day to figure it out?! You either were covering him or you weren't).

OKay, just wanted to touch base with everyone and say I'm alive and well. If I get time, I'll be working on a new line of Viking knit bracelets for the website.

Later!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Liver of Sulfur, Dancing at the Movies, Family Photo Albums, Milk

2011-02-20T20:35:00.001-08:00

Milk

Monica and I drink non-fat milk. We like it. We’re used to it. I had no idea how “used to it” I was until this week. I bought milk, but they didn’t have non-fat so I got low-fat. Wow… I felt like I was drinking cream. It’s MASSIVELY different from non-fat. After a few days of it in my cereal, however, I’m finding myself a little too fond of it. Heh. Maybe I’ll get it once in a while just for fun.

Family Photo Albums

I was looking through old family photo albums and noticed something. In every other photo of my brother, starting as early as age six (maybe even younger), he’s dressed in some kind of costume and pretending to be somebody or something. He’s in his early 40’s now and he’s an actor. We should have all seen this coming.

So I started to look for signs of me and my natural fate. Hm… nothing. Well, nothing as obvious as my brother’s anyway. Although there weren’t any photos of all the times I played with the boxes of treasures my mom would let me dig through (buttons, old jewelry, ect), there was a photo of me playing with a chemistry set I received as a Christmas present once. I loved that thing. :-)

If you look back at your childhood photos, can you see that there was something way back then that would lead you to what/who you are now?

Dancing at the Movies

The embedding option for this YouTube video is disabled, but if you click on this link you’ll be taken to a video of dancing clips from various movies. I enjoyed it. :-)

Liver of Sulfur

And here are some AWESOME photos of jewelry and patina recipes by Holly Gage.

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The Picasso Story, Epoxy Resin Tutorial, Bonnie’s Best Art Tools, New Jewelry Listings

2011-02-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are again. :-)

New Listings

These are only in my website store so far (click a photo for more info)…

JINGLE BALI (yep… all sterling silver!)

TIGRIS (bronze metal clay)

BLOWING BUBBLES

COILS

I may have some simple Swarovski creations coming up soon. Taking the Swarks and tools to Mom’s house tomorrow and I can usually yap and create at the same time.

The eBay sale is finished and it’s always fun because I get to see some of my regular customers, some of my old customers, and I get to meet new customers. And they’re all so freakin’ nice!

Kudos

I want to give a big shout out to Bonnie’s Best Art Tools.

A couple months ago I placed my first ever order with them. Anyway, I just wanted to say that THEY provide the kind of customer service I would love to see in all vendors I deal with.

Because I don’t want them inundated with similar requests, I won’t go into the details of my question to them but they didn’t hesitate to accommodate me.

My hat’s off to you, people at Bonnie’s Best… and I hope I’ve turned some customers your way.

Resin

Here’s a nice online tutorial showing some ins and outs of using two-part epoxy resin.

Misc

Heard a news story earlier this week in which a baby bassinet was recalled because "if not assembled correctly it may collapse". Now... Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't that be the case with every baby bassinet?

Don’t You Love This Story

“The famous Pablo Picasso was at a party. A woman recognized him and approached the Master. She asked, “Will you create a sketch for me?” Picasso agreed, and, as he pulled out his sketchpad, asked her for a subject. “A bird in a tree will do,” she responded. So Picasso spent about a five minutes doing what Picasso does on the sketchpad. When finished, he ripped the sketch off the pad, handed it to the woman and said, “That will be $10,000.” The woman was floored. “Ten thousand dollars! Why, it only took you five minutes to draw that sketch!” To which, Picasso replied, “No, madam. That sketch took me thirty years.”

Camera Settings, Spinner Ring Tutorial, Etsy Seller Handbook, Turning Beads into Cabs, Copyrighting Photos

2011-02-13T20:46:00.001-08:00

Copyrighting Photos

If you’ve visited jewelry/bead forums for any length of time, you know the subject of “stolen photos” comes up every now and again.

Here’s an article about copyrighting photographs that I found rather interesting.

I used to put a watermark (and at times just a copyright notice) on every one of my jewelry photos. I don’t bother anymore. I do, however, think a watermark on certain things does make sense. If I were selling 2-dimensional artwork (photography prints, oil paintings, etc), then I would add a watermark.

Turning Beads into Cabs

Have you seen this tutorial on “Turning Beads into Cabs”? I’d like to try it. If you do, send me your photos. I’ll post ‘em!

Etsy Seller Handbook

If you sell on Etsy, this article has some nice ins and outs and useful tips.

Spinner Ring Tutorial

I love spinner rings. Would love to try making one someday. Here’s an article that’s not overly detail-oriented, but it could definitely be a helpful if you want to try your hand at this technique.

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was cod with modified beurre blanc sauce, pesto spaghetti, and grilled crookneck squash. When I saw that beurre blanc calls for 7 oz of butter (that’s 1¾ sticks!!!), I decided to change it up a bit. Instead of heavy cream, I used non-fat plain yogurt. And instead of 14 tablespoons of butter, I used three tablespoons and the juice of one lemon.

Camera Settings

So my brilliant idea for the day was to try out different settings on my camera, taking notes the whole time, and then compare the photos so really pinpoint how I want to set up my camera for jewelry photos.

Well Photoshop 7 isn’t compatible with Windows 7, and I was getting frustrated with the inability of being able to do certain things in my photo-editing software when my monitor is set-up for the highest resolution, so I had to change it back. But in order for the change to lower resolution, my computer had to log me off and reboot. OMG! Why did WORD not autosave (yes, I have it configured to autosave) the document with all my notes?! Ggggrrr!!! So… 43 shots wasted. Start over.

So far I’ve covered ISO, shutter speed, aperture, metering, white balance and macro vs super macro (something fairly interesting there).

But my day is done now. I’ll continue this… Wednesday I guess (Monday is SRAJD applications and Tuesday is hockey).

Hockey

The kids had a good day today. Actually, first… Gabe’s team won last night (Gabe stopped all five shots in the shootout). They won again today. Yay! Monica’s team won today too (a really important game). Mon was in net and played really well. Five more days until Chicago.

Designs

For some (most) of my upcoming jewelry creations, I need to hit the sketchbooks. I hope to have some new metal designs in a couple of weeks. Lots to do in life right now, so jewelry creating is taking a back seat… but hopefully that’s only temporary.

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Dinner and Jewelry Sale

2011-02-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

MEALS

Dinner is Roast Chicken and Sweet Potatoes Recipe and Quinoa Black Bean Salad. It’s my first time cooking sweet potatoes. Oh, and I used chicken fillets rather than bone-in breasts.

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PNP Instructions, Another DIY Photographer’s Light Box, PayPal Resolving Issues

2011-02-04T16:28:00.001-08:00

PayPal… on the ball!

This week I received two emails from PayPal asking me to fill out a survey regarding my recent trouble ticket filed with them. Normally, I just delete these spasm, but in these emails they referred to me by name, rather than “Dear Customer”.

So I called PayPal and said, “I haven’t called you guys in many months for anything, so why am I receiving a notice that I recently submitted a trouble ticket?”

The guy looked up the number referenced in the email. Turns out this is a response to a trouble ticket I filed… last March. Ha ha ha! Way to scare the heck out of your customers! I thought someone hacked my account.

Photographer’s Light Box

Another great DIY (do-it-yourself) photo light tent tutorial.

PNP Instructions

For those into metal etching, if you haven’t tried PNP (press-n-peel) paper yet… you may want to consider experimenting with it. You can get some pretty precise designs using it. Here is a page with some specific directions.

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Just checking in

2011-01-30T22:52:00.001-08:00

Good grief… I promised myself I’d get to get early tonight. Hmph!

Friday, Mon and I drove to Bakersfield and caught a Junior Condors (WSHL) game. In the morning we continued on to southern California for the girls select camp tryouts.

Got back around 2am last night… neither Mon nor I could fall asleep so we watched a movie. Then I woke up early (habit). I sorted some papers, then we watched the all star (NHL) game, went to a Tech (HS hockey) game, went grocery shopping, then came home and started cooking (gotta have healthy choices ready to eat every day).

Made two pots (Monica ate the first pot!) of quinoa, got a beef and veggie stew in the crockpot, made a quinoa and white bean salad, and hard-boiled some eggs.

I actually have some new items to list. No hockey for me this week so I should be able to catch up on quite a bit. I’ve got a couple pieces ready for the kiln. I’d love to do some more bronze clay, but I’m out… maybe I can call Hadar and see if I can go over to pick some up Tuesday.

Okay, heading to bed now.

A quick preview

2011-01-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

I'm only here to say I have nothing to say. :-)

Apparently I'm taking it easy a bit this week. I must be because I'm behind in a few things... listing new jewelry being one of those things.

I'll show you a preview of what's coming, though.

Bronze Metal Clay from the Kiln and a Question of Repurposing

2011-01-23T19:21:00.001-08:00

I was looking around at other bronze metal clay jewelry today, and no one seems to be addressing the fact that patina can change and even disappear over time. Is it common knowledge that colors on metal change over time? Should we (as sellers) not care if our pieces change color after they’re purchased… even if it’s years down the line? Should I put a note in my listings letting customers know that all patinas will change over time, some more and faster than others, and that keeping an item in a Ziploc bag when not being worn will slow that process down?

Anyway, here’s a bit of my weekend’s work. Here’s the wildly colorful bronze straight from the kiln.

And this is what the pieces look like after the first buff.

Since that photo, I’ve done a couple hours of sanding (from coarse grit to extra-fine grit). No picture of that yet… I’m sort of pooped out for the evening.

I’m very happy with my new Bronze ring, however. Now that I know I can do it, I’ll try something a little fancier next time. I have some ideas based on ancient artifacts that I’d like to try.

BTW, I noticed, as I was spending intimate time sanding my bronze pieces that I really (REALLY) like bronze. I realize gold has more yellow in it, but for the price difference… WOW… give me bronze any day.

And it’s not just about the monetary cost of gold. There are other costs involved… in the mining.

Which brings up something I’ve been thinking about lately.

If a person doesn’t want to use items for personal reasons, like they don’t want to use animal fur because they don’t believe in the killing of animals for our vanity, or people who don’t want to work with gold because of the dangerous mining conditions…. Anyway, if they don’t want to use or work with items for these kinds of reasons, what about recycling?

Is there a difference if you repurpose these kinds of items?

I haven’t quite figured out how I feel about it. I’ve actually got some beads made from repurposed mink fur, but I haven’t used them yet. If I make something with them and offer it for sale, am I promoting the idea of using animal fur for vanity reasons or am I promoting the idea of reusing and recycling things already in existence so we don’t have to make/create more?

New Jewelry and More Etsy Mysteries

2011-01-22T21:07:00.001-08:00

Feeling Badly For Others… Is There a Point?

This is actually a statement/question upon my lips when I awoke this morning.

New Jewelry

I seem to have fallen into a system of making five new items a week, which works out well for the home page of my shop because I get to show five featured items… so I’m just updating the featured items when I get my new listings up (usually Monday evening).

Decided to do a little bronze metal clay this weekend. I feel like I’m starting over. Used very basic techniques and designs. It’ll be nice if I get some workable stuff out of the kiln (which I’ll probably run tonight after Monica’s game).

Well, since it’s been so long since I blogged, let me at least show you what I made and listed last week (clicking on any photo will show you more details).

More Etsy Mysteries

Did you know that some people use Etsy listings as advertising… ONLY! There are people who have items NOT available for sale (already sold, one of a kind) that are pretending the items are for sale for the purpose of exposure.

Yes, it’s against Etsy’s terms of service to list items for sale that you don’t actually have and don’t intend to make if the item is purchased.

But the 3000+ items marked in the selling area as “SOLD” make it obvious that a lot of people don’t care about Etsy’s terms of service.

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New Necklace Listings and Some Etsy News

2011-01-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

Aside from making two necklaces tonight, I got three new ones listed.

Here are the ones I got listed (click a photo for more info).

Rio Caño Cristales is a river in Colombia, South America, known for a special display of fabulous colors. “During a brief span between the wet and dry seasons when the water level is just right, the many varieties of algae and moss located at the bottom of the river bloom in a brilliant display of colors.” Harold’s wild lampwork beads remind me of this world famous natural occurrence.

Corinth is an ancient Greek city with ruins that Alex’s beads totally brought to my mind. I’m left speechless in trying to describe the beauty of the city. Very much worth a web image search of “ruins of Corinth”.

ETSY Stuff

I ran across this interesting article… Top 10 Reasons You Should Not Sell on Etsy.

And speaking of Etsy, don’t know if you know about the latest brouhaha, but some Etsy vendors were quite up in arms about a seller who made light of some very serious and sad situations in life. Etsy tried to stand by their TOS claiming freedom of speech, etc. but there was apparently enough pressure by their customers (the people who SELL on Etsy) that they decided to change their TOS and disallow “Listings That Disparage or Promote Hate”. You can read some of the details here

I can’t find the source page for the original CNN story on the subject, but here it is embedded on this blog.

TTYL!

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Removing Geotags From Your Online Photos, How To Accept Credit Cards And Craft Fairs And Bead Shows, Thoughts On Earrings

2011-01-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

I was talking with someone the other day and I recall that I spent a significant amount of time focusing on her earrings. They weren’t anything that would normally captivate me (they were simple gold hoops), leading me to believe my mind subconsciously did this because:
A) Being a jewelry person, I’m fascinated with looking at people’s jewelry
B) Earrings are nearly at eye level so it’s much easier to be in a conversation with someone and spend a good amount of time checking out their earrings without them being that aware that you’re doing it (staring at someone’s necklace during a conversation is VERY noticeable).

Knowing this, I’m simply going to have to force myself to start wearing earrings. :-)

NYRs

So how are we all doing with our New Year’s resolutions? Mine were few, but significant. I’m not doing GREAT, but it’s more like a plodding along type thing… and so I am… plodding along. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Oh, remember that youtube video I posted the other night (the animated lecture)? I’m still struck (but totally not surprised) by the one part that was talking about how busy people are and how they never had time for family/friends/relaxation/etc and if they were given an eighth day in the week to do whatever they wanted… how many said they’d spend it doing more of the things that still aren’t family/friends/relaxation/etc. I can’t claim to be any different. But I can decide to be different from this point forward.

CREDIT CARDS AND CRAFT FAIRS

For those of you who have wanted to accept credit cards at bead/jewelry shows (and prefer to swipe rather than data enter someone’s info into your laptop), you may want to check into this option:

SQUARE cell phone credit card reader

That’s an article/review about the product/service. Here’s the actual website.

Doesn’t work on all cell phones, but here’s the list of phones it currently works with:
Apple iOS
• iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4
• iPod touch (2nd generation or later)
• iPad
Google Android
• Motorola Droid, Droid X
• HTC Nexus One, Droid Incredible, Evo, Desire, Hero (With Android 2.X)
• Samsung Galaxy S Series, Intercept
• LG Ally

Now, speaking of cell-phones (and posting pictures you’ve taken with yours)…

REMOVING GEOTAGS FROM YOUR ONLINE PHOTOS

“The storage of location based data, in the form of Latitude and Longitude inside of images is called Geotagging; essentially tagging your photograph with the geographic location… Most people don't realize that the action of automatic geotagging takes place on their smart phones… As a result, individuals often share too much information about their location, right down to the exact Latitude and Longitude when snapping photos with their smartpphone and posting them online…”

Can you say, “I don’t want any creepy stalkers knowing where I live?”

Here’s an article explaining what it is and how freaky it can be.

And an article explaining how to remove geotag ability from your phone.

Here’s an article about removing geotags specifically from your Picasa photos.

A New Bracelet and Thoughts About Time

2011-01-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

Today was on ‘ludes. It just seemed to go on forever and ever. Which normally wouldn’t be a bad thing… except when you’re in an office at work.

I only got one listing up last night…

Will list the necklaces tonight IF I get the dishes done, dinner made, and do my SRAJD work in a timely fashion. Will probably try to get to bed tonight earlier than normal to make up for some missed sleep this morning… AHEM… I shall name no names… but dog breath is gross.

Started on a new book today… Body Mind Mastery by Dan Millman. I realized (after listening to a few chapters) that it isn’t the book I thought I was picking up. I was TRYING to grab The Mind and the Brain by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley. Oh well… I wasn’t even wanting any non-fiction to begin with. I wanted a nice lazy fiction book… but in light of Fringe and Pillars of Earth (I’m watching both series when I can), I guess I could stand to squeeze one non-fiction book in there.

Found a neat recommendation of one I might pick up.

Here’s an animated snippet of a lecture on the subject.

And if that interests you, here’s the whole lecture, I believe… haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.

I’d like to visit southern Italy. :-)

VAT & Import Duty Calculator and an eBay Decision

2011-01-06T20:14:00.001-08:00

Totally new thing… I’m deleting emails once I respond to them. It’s very scary because a huge part of me that has very deep roots says, “But what if you need that original email someday?”

Sigh…

This is also how houses get cluttered. “But what if I need it someday?”

Tsk tsk

eBay

I’ll be phasing out my eBay store. I know a lot of other people have already done this, particularly after the massive changes that adversely affect small sellers over the past few years, but being the eternal optimist I kept hoping for the best.

I looked at some things the other day, though, the way I used to look… research of past sales in my area. Holy cow. The bottom line is that people aren’t going to eBay for quality artisan jewelry.

My time is precious so I prefer to spend that valuable commodity in more productive areas… mostly, my own website.

VAT & Import Duty Calculator

Kind of neat. http://www.dutycalculator.com

Short post tonight… going back to Sharks game now.

Cellphone Instant Language Translator and New Listings

2011-01-03T21:53:00.001-08:00

Lori, thanks for the nice comment! That suede bracelet is totally the kind of thing I would wear… like, it would be my “go to” bracelet. I won’t even bother showing it to my son… he wouldn’t understand. :-)

My current “go to” bracelet is a fab bracelet of lampwork on elastic (yes, you heard me right… I’m a proponent!) made by Bonnie Jacobsen.

New Listings

I stayed up too late last night (habit from two weeks off work).

Need to make sure I go to bed earlier tonight.

Got three listings in (click a pic for more info):

Cellphone Instant Language Translator

Have you seen this app? And it’s not an online app.

And it’s almost 10pm and I’ve got to jump into bed (with Little Dorri on my MP3 player… OMG, Matthew Macfadyen… sigh…).

After this, I need to load up season three of Fringe.

TTYL!

Organizing My Living Space, Necklace or Art, and New Listings

2011-01-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

New Listings

Finally took some time to make a few new items. Here they are (click a photo for more info).

This one already sold:

It’s funny; several of these are multi-strand. Something I’m less than comfortable with. I find it rather hard to make everything come out to the right lengths. Maybe that’s why I continue to do them… the challenge. Heh

Necklace or Art

Some things I learned this week while looking around at listings for necklaces.

If I were buying a necklace, I would want to see what it looks like in the “as worn” position. There are a lot of listings for necklaces that look great artistically arranged in front of the camera. But I still want to know what it looks like in its practical use… as a necklace… hanging from someone’s neck.

One exception… if it’s a minimalist type of thing, like a pendant on a chain, then no… a model photo isn’t necessary (unless I want a better sense of size).

Organizing My Living Space

Okay, onto something else… cleaning my digs.

It was a big job, but here’s how I did it:

Mentally divide the room into a clock and start at noon (then work around the clock until you return to twelve).

Pick up one item at a time and decide these things about it:

1) Do I want to keep this in my life?
a) If no, toss it (or put it in a pile of stuff to sell on eBay/Craigslist)
b) If yes, go to next step

2) If “1b”, is it something I want:
a) In my immediate living area
b) Somewhere up on a shelf or in a closet
c) Somewhere even further like put away into storage

3) If “2c”, put item into box to take to storage area (label outside of box)

4) If “2b”, put item into box that will go into closet or on shelf (label outside of box)

5) If “2a”, do I already have a specific place designated for this item so when I want to find it, I’ll know precisely where to go?
a) No
b) Yes

6) If “5b”, put it in that place immediately

7) If “5a”, create a place for item based on how often it will be needed

Here are some of the areas I had to create last week:
• Frames for projects
• To sell/trade (non beads/jewelry)
• Craft papers
• Large Etching Supplies

Otherwise, I pretty much had a place for everything. It all just needed to be put away.

As I clean, I pick up all papers and put them into three piles:
1) Things I need to take care of in the next week or two
2) Things for the business
3) Things to put into the filing cabinet

Numbers 2 and 3 can be further filed away some night while I’m watching tv.

Well, I’d better get back to stuff. Happy New Year everyone!!!

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see more Lolcats and funny pictures

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A Custom Order with Etched Copper Charms

2010-12-19T21:01:00.001-08:00

I wish I were a good enough jewelry maker to be anything but a stressed out mess when doing a custom order.

It’s infinitely easier to do what I want, stop doing something if I don’t like how it’s turning out, and have absolutely no time constraints for any given project.

The latest was “chunky bracelets with lots of sterling silver in the team colors of black and red”. And silly me, offered to personalize each bracelet with an etched charm of the child of each of the mothers receiving these bracelets… which might have been a more clever idea if I had a couple of months of experience with this newly learned technique, as opposed to… oh, I’ve tried it a couple of times… y’know, with words and patterns so far.

Here’s the three bracelets in one quick photo… sorry for the poor quality of photo, but Mon had a late game last night and an early one this morning so time was tight… couldn’t set up the photo studio.

Next weekend is Christmas. I don’t “gear up” for Christmas. But people were still buying in droves. This is the only time of year people panic about getting their packages on time (totally understandable).

We sellers give the USPS delivery confirmation # to our buyers, but what they may not know (if they aren’t familiar with the online system) is that USPS doesn’t update the delivery confirmation information in any kind of consistent or reliable way.

It’s like, you can see if something WAS delivered (if it says something was delivered), but the ABSENCE of a “delivery status” does not necessarily mean the item was NOT delivered. Know what I mean?

And right now they’ve even got some Delivery Confirmation #’s not even showing as viable. Ack! Sigh… no wonder my customers are panicking. Well, hopefully they will: A) receive their packages in time and B) notice the postmark date. :-)

Gabe’s team finished the Vegas showcase and Gabe is on a plane on his way here as I type.

Mon leaves Saturday for Connecticut and Vermont.

Well, that’s it for the moment.

TTYL!

My Latest Jewelry Creations and Featured Artist Pat Pruitt

2010-12-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

I’ve done some more experimenting with etching copper, but it’s a really busy time of year so I’m (obviously) behind in blogging.

I did want to share two things with you.

One is a bracelet I ran across on Etsy today. It’s rare to find good men’s jewelry. I really like this one.

Mens Rectangular Link Oxidized Sterling Silver Bracelet

FEATURED ARTIST: PAT PRUITT

Pat was kind enough to give me the okay to share his work on my blog (via hotlinks to his website).

I think the price of silver got to me the other day, and I spent some time perusing the ‘net to see about the possibility of working in stainless steel. I’d seen a few pieces over the years, and truthfully I find it a beautiful metal.

However, after a little more investigating, I’ve got to say it’s not for me… not at the moment, anyway. It’s hard… figuratively and literally. I can’t even begin to tell you what all is involved, but someday if you’re interested… google it… you will be amazed.

Now, without further ado, I’d love to show you some of the jaw-dropping work of this jewelry designer/maker.

And I love the piece on his homepage (but I can’t link to it... it’s not a regular jpg).

Anyway, I’d like to thank Pat for sending me such a nice email and for letting me share his work with my friends.

MY WORK

Um… maybe it wasn’t such great planning to show my work after Pat’s, but c’est la vie.

Here are my latest creations:

I’ve got to get going now… taking Mon to practice. Tomorrow night she works in SF, Saturday I need to do some custom work, then Sunday morning is a game in Fremont.

TTYL!

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Getting Organized, Simplifying Your Life, New Year's Resolutions

2010-12-09T16:32:00.001-08:00

As the New Year approaches, I’ve been thinking about my life and changes I want to make. Not surprisingly, these are changes I have wanted to make for many years… and don’t quite accomplish them.

Not to say I’ve failed at everything. I can clearly see that the main problem with my attempts are that I don’t have focus. Picking too many things to “improve” upon in one’s life can lead to “deer in the headlights” syndrome… which means nothing gets improved upon.

I was interested and encouraged to learn that of the people who make New Year’s resolutions, a whopping 46% of them are still maintained after six months. Research shows that people who make resolutions are ten times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.

Actually, that’s probably been my problem. I tend to just think in vague terms about what I want or what I want to do. I don’t actually put anything into a concrete sentence.

Saying, “I want to simplify my life” might be too nebulous. Perhaps I need to outline WAYS in which I want to simplify my life.

I’ve got a list of things to do that would help simplify a life. I’ve accomplished two of the things (the list has about 30 things on it).

The two I’ve accomplished are that I don’t pay bills… I have things set up to automatically deduct from my checking account when they’re due. This is actually such a huge relief to me for many reasons.

The other thing is to carry less stuff with me on a daily basis. My purse is 8x5 inches. I love not having a big purse. Granted, I’m often seen with my backpack in order to tote jewelry projects and or bulkier items, but the backpack doesn’t go everywhere with me at all times, the way my purse does. When I gotta get up and run, it’s just the little purse that goes with me. Yay!

There’s a reason, too, that this year’s resolution is of more importance than many previous years… but I won’t say why in print. Let’s just say I have incentive to get my things in order and down to a minimum.

So let’s look at a few of the other things.

I think if I evaluated my day, I’d find that I fritter a lot of time away. Yes, I do accomplish quite a bit in a day, but I also spend a certain amount of time in “wasted time”. Wasted time isn’t the same as relaxed, do-nothing time. I don’t mind sitting on the couch and vegging for half an hour or taking a super long bath. To me, that’s infinitely more important and helpful than sitting at the computer getting into a forum argument with someone for half an hour.

Limiting my communications might be tricky. There are already so many people who don’t think I communicate often enough as it is. So maybe this isn’t one that’s geared toward me. I certainly don’t yap on the phone much and I never IM.

But, speaking of email, one thing I need to do (and wow is my mom good at this!) is to get my email inboxes back to manageable status. They are ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.

I’ve been purging my life of things that I no longer want or feel I need. I’m okay with throwing out stuff… have been doing great at it for the past few years. One of the problems is I have a lot of stuff that could/should be sold (like on eBay), but that is time-consuming. Maybe I should put all that stuff into boxes and take it somewhere… and I can deal with it in one or two months, solely devoted to that task. In the end, though, I need to decide if the small payback I get for items is worth all the stress of selling them (photos, listing, emailing, packaging, shipping).

I do need to work on my wardrobe. I need to go shopping, buy a couple of new items, and get rid of some of the tired old things in my closet.

My computer files could use streamlining. I’ll have to think about this, make a plan, and devote some time to it.

One thing I’m doing now, though, that helps is that I don’t keep the raw photos on my PC anymore. When I download from my camera, I edit the photo, then keep only the edited (smaller) version and delete the original and all the ones that didn’t make the cut. Yay!

As I think about the way I want to live in the near future, I am making progress toward getting there. One thing I realize I need to do, however, is really get a good picture of what I’m after. Specifics.

One simple example is that I don’t like carpeted floors. So I want to picture any future digs I have with hardwood floors. I don’t mind throw rugs… I intend to have many. I just don’t want wall-to-wall carpeting.

I’d like to focus on what I’m doing at any given time. No multi-tasking or getting distracted.

I have been working over the past few months on organizing and streamlining my paper system. This is not an easy task and I am no where near where I want to be yet.

Meal planning is something else that helps me (when I do it). Less trips to the grocery store, healthier foods at the table, and less time spent in the kitchen.

Not sure how to work more exercise into my life. I will… but that may not happen for a month or so.

One organizing system that is continually worked on, but also continually getting better and better is my jewelry-making supplies.

I want to make time for quiet reflection… meditation. It doesn’t have to be a big commitment… just a few minutes a day, consistently.

One of the things that I do allow as far as multi-tasking is listening to audio books while I walk to and from work (an hour a day). Routine drives me up the wall and walking the same route day after day for years on end… well, yeah… listening to books while I do this helps immensely.

Time's up... more later.

'Night all!

Monterey Bay Aquarium, New Jewelry, Hard-Wired Nurturers, Planet Earth, Metal Etching

2010-11-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

METAL ETCHING

Oh, big week (behind me now). Played around with some more metal-etching.

(This one is already sold)

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend -- or a meaningful day.”

This one I have decided to make into a bracelet rather than sell as a component (not listed yet).

Here are a pair of earrings listed and still available:

Oh, I also posted a video (sort of) to YouTube showing most of the steps for this form of metal-etching that I’m doing. So many of my customers were asking. Thanks!

PLANET EARTH (on the Discovery Channel, I think)

As I was trying to fall asleep last night at 1am or so (just got back from picking Mon up from San Diego tournament), there was a show on tv with a segment on penguins and it was captivating.

I had to turn the tv off so I wouldn’t be tempted to watch it. I’ll catch a repeat or see if it’s on NetFlix. It was an episode of Planet Earth. This one: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/guide/ice-worlds.html

I totally have to see it again… the baby penguins are cuter than anything I’ve seen in ages. Watching the hungry polar bear was very sad and I was rooting for him to get one of the walruses. :-(

HARD-WIRED NURTURERS

And speaking of cute, that got me to wondering how much Gabe’s experience of the Aquarium (and other things too) differed from my experience.

If I see something “cute”, I have a fondness for it. It makes me feel happy. But I think women are hard-wired for that.

And I don’t mean “hard-wired” as in genetics… I mean “hard-wired” as in primal instincts.

Human newborns aren’t able to fend for themselves, and they don’t do much to endear themselves to us (they cry, they poop, they don’t help in the slightest, etc). So… nature instilled in us a primal instinct to adore them in a nearly foolproof way. Women (mostly) were given the ability to get all mushy over infants (this carries over into infants of almost all species).

So I would say getting “mushy” over cute things is a survival instinct… keeps our infants cared for and helps keep the species surviving.

I speak in generalizations, but have no current doubt that this “thing” most people and almost ALL women feel for babies is a hard-wired survival instinct and not something we learned from our environment.

Thought for today: Activate your ocytocin!

So, I will quit saying to any man, “Oh c’mon, how can you not think that is the cutest thing ever!? Doesn’t is just melt your heart?!” I will try to remember that we each see the world differently and we each react to the world differently. Some of these differences can be learned and some can be hard-wired. But don’t assume that everyone sees/feels what I see/feel.

NEW JEWELRY

Aside from the one that sold and the one that isn’t made into a bracelet yet, I do have a few other new listings.

Click any photo for more info:

I put up some colorful gemstone pendant necklaces (that are already selling quickly)…

Oh, don’t forget that last batch of one-penny auctions I listed ends tomorrow!

The listings

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM

So yeah, Gabe and I went there yesterday. Here are a couple photos (more later), but please keep in mind these were taken with a cell phone and with flash turned off.

I’ve always loved the fish tanks filled with saturated colors of fish.

I was totally bummed that the otter exhibit was closed yesterday. I’m not a bird person, so the flamingo exhibit was a poor substitute.

Jellyfish fascinate me.

And science fiction looking plant life.

Turtles are cool too (even when they’re tortoises and I don’t know the difference so just call them all turtles).

A bunch of one-cent listings... HURRY HURRY HURRY!!!

2010-11-23T22:16:00.000-08:00

The other day, half the hockey team had to be waitresses for the other half of the team as well as the parents.

We all brought food, pot-luck style, then the kids took our orders and served us.

Here’s a photo of Monica doing her duty…

She leaves tomorrow for the San Diego tournament (and she has A LOT to do before she goes).

I didn’t get any photos done today. :-(

But I did finish a couple bracelets and a slew of new (and COLORFUL!) gemstone necklaces and a pair of earrings.

Oh, I also listed about half a dozen items on eBay with ONE PENNY starting bids.

Well, time for bed… Night!

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Just Touching Base...

2010-11-22T22:12:00.001-08:00

METAL ETCHING

Yesterday, Monica and I practiced our new skill of metal etching. We are still a few supplies short for some of the methods, but we were still able to work on the basics.

I realize now that I need to work more on “planning”. This isn’t like beading where I could just let the moment guide me.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH…

When it comes to seller/customer communication?

Should a seller send an email when the sale happens… then another when the item is shipped… then another to ask if the item’s been received?

I used to do hardly ANY communication, but after reading some forum threads, I realized how lame that was… but recently I read (again on a forum) a sarcastic post about sellers who contact you through every step of the transaction and how annoying that is.

Gack!

FABULOUS YOUTUBE

If you’ve ever done a craft show, this is a must-see…

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Where I've been... and new stuff, including Viking Knit and Metal Etching

2010-11-19T20:25:00.000-08:00

Wow… that was an eventful few weeks!

Since I’ve been gone I:
Took a class in metal-etching
Shopped at BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza)
Had a partial Matrixectomy with chemical burn
Decided never to do that again because it’s week #3 and I’m still in a lot of baby-wa-wa pain
Had a mammogram (negative)
Had a mole biopsy (negative)
Had some lab work (blood sugar levels and cholesterol all okay)
Found out I have allergies (to like dust and pollution) that affect my sinuses (not a surprise)
And lots more stuff that ate up my days

But I finally have a few new listings, including some of my new-learned techniques (metal etching and Viking knit).

The other etched metal necklace I listed already sold… yay!

Monica and I look forward to our first experiments with metal etching (outside of the classroom) this weekend.

Did I show you my first riveting attempts?

Oh yeah, I think I showed that to you when it was still on my work bench.

The other night at Monica’s practice I made a charm bracelet (listing soon) and some tri- and quad-gemstone necklaces. Then I tried to learn a new chain maille pattern. It turned out okay and I will have another bracelet to list soon… I’m thinking, however, of making it a “change-a-bead” kind of bracelet.

Monica’s at work at the moment and Gabe’s team plays in half an hour… I should be able to watch it live, but we’ll see… last weekend they had technical difficulties.
Tomorrow, I’ll ship orders in the morning then take Mon to her community service work… then it’s a game in Fremont and a post-game potluck.

Sunday will be for METAL ETCHING! Whoohoo!!! Monica’s dying to try out her idea.

I wrote three different blog entries comparing the purchase of knock-off Gucci/Tiffany/Rolex to knock-off beads and jewelry. Decided to delete my post. :-)

Anyway, I’ve got orders to package and post, so TTYL!

Oh Judith, thanks for your comment. I got my silver riser here.

Best Menopause Question Ever

Question: How many women with MENOPAUSE does it take to change a light bulb?

Woman's Answer: One!

ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!! They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out.

And, once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the #&%!* light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CABINET for the past 17 YEARS!

But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find them, 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE FREAKING LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!! BECAUSE NO ONE EVER PICKS UP OR CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!!!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!! IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS PLACE! AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON WHO CHANGES THE TOILET PAPER ROLL!!!

I'm sorry. What was the question?

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My Workspace (in use) and Photos of the Kids

2010-11-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

Had a relaxing weekend. And I LOVE my extra hour. Whoohoo!

So I played with rivets and continued my exploration of Viking knit (now working on necklace length, sterling silver, double knit).

But around noon today I realized I don’t want to spend time LOOKING for things so I’m calling it quits for creating today and moving on to organizing. Going to spend a couple hours putting things into their proper place so that when I want to see what I’ve got to work with, I’ll know.

BTW, that photo I showed you last month… of my work place… well, that’s what it looks like during the week. Here’s what it looks like on the weekends when I’m actually USING the space.

I would, however, like to at least take photos tonight of the new stuff to list.

CATCHING UP

I think I’m in possession of some photos that I’ve not yet shared.

Here’s a pic of the 19U team with their championship trophy. This was the Ohio tournament Mon went to in September. Mon is the one on the far right.

Same tournament…

Oh… here are some more photos from Gabe’s Close-Up trip (to Washington and New York). I’ll eventually add them in to the other photo area where I have Gabe’s other pix of that trip.

Well, I’m going to go start sorting now, so TTYL!

New Techniques... Viking Knit and Riveting

2010-11-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comment, Alex. :-)

I'm working on changing the laws of physics so I can have more hours in the day. I'll let you know how it goes.

Just a quick entry before we head off to Monica’s hockey game.

We got home last night after Gabe’s game, but the games from Peoria aren’t being video-cast anyway. Booooo!

Anyway, wanted to show you two things I’m experimenting with (aka: trying to learn) with week.

Viking knit and riveting.

Okay, gotta go.

But I have all day tomorrow to “play”, so hopefully I’ll have some new listings up soon.

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Rolling Mill Musings and Fusing Success Story

2010-10-30T22:35:00.001-07:00

Things I learned upon trying to use my rolling mill for the first time.

1) Attaching the handle to the machine isn’t intuitive… not for tentative people, anyway. I ended up having to use a little elbow grease and a rawhide mallet to get the “pin” into the slot and the handle onto the pin.

2) It works much better if you put your metal in the right direction. Yes, I actually wondered why my metal was falling out of the rollers. It seemed natural to put the metal in BEHIND the machine and have it come out IN FRONT of the machine… but not so.

3) I’m gonna have to find something to bolt it down to because it needs to be held down when the handle is being turned… and it’s like holding a greased pig… or a greased rolling mill.

4) I need to figure out what kind of “oil” I’m supposed to put into the cloth that I will put over the rollers to keep them from rusting. All I know if vegetable and olive oil. I’m sure there’s something at a hardware store that is more appropriate… something like WD40 or machine oil. Okay, I don’t really know what “machine oil” is, but the phrase popped into my head and it sounded good.

5) Oh, and I need a short, sturdy flat-head screw

So I’ll put it away for tonight and start again tomorrow. I think the most difficult will be deciding what I want to attach it to.

Okay, I temporarily give up on the rolling mill… and move on to something else I’ve never mastered… fusing silver.

Well yeah, I can fuse like 20 gauge, but I want to fuse really fat silver. Anne Mitchell, inspiring metalsmith, assured me it can be done… with a micro blazer.

I tried… on multiple occasions… without success… until… tada… I tried filing the ends of the ring to make them as flush as humanly (for me) possible.

12g fine silver…

Maybe my new work area inspired me to succeed. :-)

BTW, I’ve got this new thing where I delete photos from my computer as soon as I’ve edited and saved them. Yes, I used to keep all those original over-sized raw photo files… y’know… just in case. Oh my gosh, “just in case” has caused me MANY problems over the years. I really have to STOP worrying about “what if I need it some day?”

Okay, Sharks won… time for bed. TTYL!

Featured Artist Pipyr... and other kinds of catching up things

2010-10-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

WHAT AM I GOING TO WORK ON

I have a new (tiny) studio set-up. I can try to get a photo of it this weekend. In my new workspace, though, I plan to try out my rolling mill for the first time. I admit I’m a little intimidated. The instructions emphasize all the ways in which you can ruin your rolling mill forever. Ha! Hopefully I won’t do any of those things.

If time allows, I’d also love to bring out the PMC too. I’ll keep you posted.

NEW LISTINGS

Got four more listed for the ARTIFACTS line:

And three new lampwork threader necklaces:

And one herringbone lampwork bracelet in copper:

FEATURED ARTIST

Here’s an artist I’ve admired for quite some time now… Pipyr.

Here’s a sampling of some of my faves:

She sells on eBay and Etsy.

Thank you, Pipyr, for allowing me to post some of your photos on my blog.

THE KIDS

So Monica spent another weekend with her Alaska team recently (Toronto tournament). Who said she’s not getting anything out of these trips? By golly, now she’s got the “Alaska bun” down pat!

Gabe is another matter. He’s a rookie on his team (along with many others) and part of the initiation is drawing a haircut option out of a hat. Compared to some of the others (“monk”, for example), I don’t think he did too badly. I had him send me a photo (but I didn’t ask permission to post it so I won’t) and it appears to be a shaved head except for the bangs.

Well, that’s about it for today. Let me see if there’s anything irresistible over at Cheezburger…

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Creative Whining, 50% off Sale, How to Have an Etsy Sale

2010-10-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

NO MORE WHINING

“I don’t want to do this side of the business. I just want to create things.”

Today, after listening to someone else (in an online forum) complain about how they’d rather do the fun part of this business (creating the item) and not have to do the pricing, listing, photographing, marketing, etc… well, I realized what a boob I, too, am… because I have said similar.

Until it comes out of someone else’s mouth, you don’t realize how pompous and snobbish it sounds.

Sorry, but doing “those other things” is part of it… so buck up and shut up (or decide that you only want a hobby, not a business). That message is to me.

I will try hard from now on to never sound like a whiny prima donna who feels she’s too good for the grunt work.

Whether or not that’s how one really feels when they say those things, that’s how it comes off. *shudder*

RIDICULOUS SALE

Now… speaking of *shudder*…. Aside from the three items that are currently at 30% off in my store… I just listed 16 more at 50% off!!! EEEK! Must be my spooky Halloween sale. :-)

Perfect time for Christmas shopping...

Here's the link!

LISTING A SALE IN YOUR ETSY STORE

BTW, if you ever wanted to run a sale on your Etsy shop but didn’t want to go in and make all the changes, try this.

HOCKEY KIDS

Gabe’s team leaves tomorrow morning (via bus) for Arizona.

Mon arrived in Toronto a couple hours ago… first game tomorrow.

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Buddhism and the Law of Attraction

2010-10-18T15:48:00.001-07:00

Gabe and I watched The Book of Eli last night. He’d already seen it, but we wanted to spend some time together since he’s leaving tomorrow.

I enjoyed the movie. It’s the last of our 3-movies from NetFlix… we’re downgrading to one movie at a time now. No biggie.

I still have a documentary on Tibet to watch.

My car’s in the shop as we speak... getting new brake pads and rotors. Also had him change the oil while he was there.

No kids this weekend… Gabe’s off to join his new team (road trip to Arizona this weekend… but I’ll watch the games online) and Monica will be doing the Can/Am tournament with her Alaska 16U team up in Toronto (she’d better text me with updates!).

I did a lot of work on the book last week. Mostly organizing so I can get on with figuring out what I still need photos of. Undecided if I want to contact anyone to include their photos in it or not. Also undecided what format I want to publish the book in… ebook, hardcopy, print on demand, etc.

Still studying many books about the Law of Attraction… also studying lectures by the Dalai Lama.

Some things run very parallel between the two ways of thinking, but one seemingly big difference is that with the Law of Attraction, you’re not supposed to feel limited. You are supposed to feel as though you deserve everything you want in life, material items included and that they are easily attained.

Whereas with Buddhism, or the teachings of the Dalai Lama, it seems to teach you more to disdain greed in any form.

They both, however, heavily discuss being thankful for what you currently have.

But it leaves one wondering… should I learn to be satisfied with whatever comes into my life without effort… or should I go ahead and work toward getting some of those material things I want?

So back to the similarities for a second. Both philosophies seem to emphasize the importance of: happiness, meditation, compassion/love for others, and being grateful/thankful for what you already have.

Segue: No, I don’t think “all religions share in the list of “similarities”. I was raised as a Methodist. Maybe it’s all about who teaches you or instructs you, but I never got a sense that unconditional love is a driving force in that religion. I mostly felt like I was being instructed to mind my P’s and Q’s. But if you think about it, I’ll bet one’s P’S and Q’s pretty much fall into place if you make unconditional love your driving force.

Shrug.

Anyway, although Buddha is quoted as saying, “We are what we think” and “With our thoughts we make the world”… which SEEM in line with Law of Attraction thinking, I find that Buddhist teachings are more about separating yourself from desires.

While LOA teachings say go ahead and want it all; you can have it all… Buddhist teachings seem more along the line of getting us to accept what we have and be happy for it rather than wanting more.

One thing that makes sense of the Buddhist way is that if you accept what you have now, you may be happier (ie, you’re not waiting for some future desire).

Although, the LOA teachings also emphasize being happy where you are at this moment and being happy with what you have at this moment. But they go on to add that you should also plan big and expect to get what you plan.

I’m reading “The Art of Happiness” right now, by the Dalai Lama. And even only in the very beginning of the book there are eye-opening passages.

The Dalai Lama discusses how so much of who we are and what we experience is based on our outlook… our perception of the world.

He also made a wonderful analogy when talking about the difference between western medicine’s approach to a mental problem versus traditional eastern medicine’s approach. He said that in western medicine, we tend to say that most mental problems (that aren’t physiological) are attributed to something in the subconscious… something that happened in the past.

He said when you do that it’s like saying you’ve lost something but it must be in this one room. Thereby excluding the possibility that your lost item can be anywhere else.

When reading Law of Attraction works, I feel like I’m being told I am the center of the universe. When reading Buddhist works, I feel like I’m being told something rather different.

I don’t want to sound like a spiritual snob, but at times the Law of Attraction sounds like it’s all about material gains. That’s not entirely true… there’s a lot of discussion surrounding happy relationships and health, too. It’s just that there’s so much emphasis on “things”. Shrug.

The Buddhist writings seem to take it farther… encouraging dispassion and detachment from many of the things the LOA seems to be telling us to focus on.

Is there a way to want and focus on getting material gains without being completely self-centered?

Doesn’t Buddhist teachings emphasize frugality and sparseness? “Nothing outside ourselves is a reliable source of happiness.”

Are “happiness” and “feeling good” synonymous?

Maybe I’m just looking at things wrong because I tend to focus on material wants. Maybe LOA and Buddhism aren’t as different as I’m making out.

But just because I can’t leave well enough alone… what about time? It seems that in Buddhist tradition you are instructed to “live in the moment” where as in LOA you are instructed to live in some future moment (of what you want). Like, if you’re struggling financially at the moment, you’re supposed to get that struggle out of your mind and believe and affirm that money comes easily and frequently to you. Isn’t that living in the future?

Buddhism is about cause and effect. And so is LOA.

Maybe LOA isn’t so different from Buddhism, but books like “The Secret” emphasize the attainment of material possessions, giving a rather skewed vision of the whole Law of Attraction thing. Maybe.

Maybe the author emphasized material gains because that’s what western society mainly thinks about and wants.

Well, that’s enough ego-centric babbling on this subject.

Lucked out today in that two of my work conference calls were cancelled… seeing as how I didn’t remember about the calls until four hours after they were supposed to happen.

The internet is amazing. Yes, it can be overwhelming at times, but at other times it’s so helpful.

For example, just now, as I was typing this, it was bugging me that my cursor seemed really small. I thought maybe there was a font change code somewhere on the page, but couldn’t fix it.

So I typed into Google: “why is my WORD cursor so little”.

The first link that I clicked on gave me the answer right away. Whoohoo!!!

Got one new necklace up (have others, but listing takes time). And I might have to reshoot this one anyway… the close-up photo is totally blown out… these beads are really cool in person.

Alternating Clear and Crackled Quartz Crystal

Alright… talk to you later!

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Some New Necklaces

2010-10-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

So the other day I took off the requirement for people to write the code shown when leaving a comment. Ugh! I've had nothing but spam since then. Just turned that feature back on... I apologize to those who legitimately want to leave a comment... for having to go through that extra step... but jeez... spam is useless and annoying.

Got something new in the "tools" department. It's a set of rods ranging from coarse to fine that fit into my dremel. So far I'm finding them a lot easier to use than the strips of sandpaper I was using, wound around a mandrel.

Oh, also got a super flush cutter. I'm going to try taking macro photos of the results and see if I notice a difference.

Got those so I can try fusing fine silver... again.

NEW JEWELRY

Just listed three gemstone necklaces:

Bubbles

Facets

Royal

I also added a new category: Gemstone Pendant Necklaces

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Nothing... really and truly nothing

2010-10-07T16:17:00.001-07:00

I posted my preliminary blog index. It doesn’t have links… but I can Ctrl+F to find what I need.

Did I mention how Monica’s Ohio tournament went? Six undefeated games. Yay!

I’m giving up on Internet Explorer and making the transition to FireFox.

I’d love to stay and chat more, but we have to leave for hockey shortly and dinner needs to be made before that.

I did manage to send out my monthly newsletter (and got to announce the first $25 winner… randomly chosen from everyone who gets my newsletter)

Oh man… gotta go!

TTYL!

The Show Is Over

2010-10-03T19:42:00.001-07:00

Oh man... I'm exhausted. Ha! What a wimp.

The show went well... but it really takes it out of me, physically.

I'm going to go veg now... will update you later (probably tomorrow... even though Mondays are SRAJD days).

I took some really bad photos with my cell phone... I'll consider sharing them. :-)

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I'll be doing a jewelry show this weekend

2010-09-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the nice comments, Janrik!

Unfortunately I still feel like photographing jewelry is like trying to trap smoke with your bare hands. Once in a while, I do get lucky, and I love those moments. What people see as my “really good photos of jewelry” is merely ten years of research and practice.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that even if you can’t have things flow as smoothly as you want and even if your photos aren’t up to whatever personal standard you’ve set, you can still come up with a VERY usable photo by just following a few common practices (a lot of those are covered in my upcoming ebook, but there’s also a TON of info on the internet… google is your friend).

In my research of SRA jewelry offered online, I’ve noticed there are two things that really stick out like sore thumbs in a way that will ALWAYS take sales away from the jewelry maker. And one of them is sub-par photos.

As to my equipment and set-up… I have a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS. But that’s a recent acquisition… for the first ten or eleven years of my jewelry selling career, I used a Nikon CoolPix 995. That camera was a 3.1 megapixel … and took photos like this:

So don’t ever let anyone tell you that you need 10 megapixels to have good online photos. Hogwash!

My set-up varies… depending on what I am shooting, my time constraints, my location constraints, and my mood.

For the majority of shots I use a light-diffusing photo cube:

The camera is always on a tripod.

I also show a way to make a $6 photo cube in these two blog posts:

Entry 1

Entry 2

Anyway, wanted to stop in here and explain why I’ve been rather scarce. I’m doing a show this weekend. I know… totally surprising, huh?

I hope to have updates and photos for you by early next week. Oh, and I’ll have be launching the new line next week too (as soon as I get photos and time to list).

All very exciting.

Well, here are some photos to entertain you until then.

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Getting ready for the launch of a new line

2010-09-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned, no new listings for a couple of weeks as I prepare to roll out the new line ("Auspicious Gemstone" Jewelry). Hopefully, I'll also have more of the Quote in a Pendant jewelry as well as the Gratitude Necklaces from my Law of Attraction line.

Monica leaves for Ohio on Thursday (well, Wednesday midnight), so we're making sure she's all ready for that... and there's a practice with the boys' team tomorrow, so really hardly any time left (I'm doing her laundry while she's out playing tennis with Gabe at the moment... I encourage them to spend time together in case he leaves soon).

I'm very tired/sleepy. I was thinking about that week this summer when both kids were gone... I was going to bed at 9:30... alseep before 10:30.

I wish Monica would get more sleep. Well, so far she's working very hard to keep her grades up... to one end only... getting into a D1 school. Good thing she has hockey as a motivator... for everything in her life.

Okay, that's it... just wanted to touch base. Going to clean up a bit then go to bed.

TTYL!

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New Jewelry Listings and DPI vs PPI

2010-09-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

NEW JEWELRY LISTINGS

Yesterday was the first day I didn’t ship something.

I listed some new items, but three of them are already sold. Yay!

Here’s what sold:

And here’s what’s still available (click the photos for more info):

"Rabat"

"1001 Nights"

"Night Life"

So anyway, there may not be anything new listed for a few weeks. Big project coming up and then a new line unveiled.

PHOTO INFORMATION

Chad (a forum member on LE posted the following information and graciously allowed me to repost it here.

There is so much confusion about these kinds of subjects. I find Chad’s explanation really helpful.

DPI is dots per inch. PPI is pixels per inch.

DPI actually has nothing to do with what you see on the screen. It determines how the image is translated to whatever output device it is sent to. When you take a picture and send it to a printer, the resolution of the image should be at least 1/4 the resolution of the printer. So if you have a 1200 dpi printer, the image should be 300 dpi (which is industry standard for color images anyways). A printer converts data into "dots" (for lack of a better term) when it prints it, so the more data, the clearer the picture.

PPI is just a relationship of total pixels to inches. So, if you have a 1000 pixel wide image and set it at 100 ppi, the image will be 10" wide. If you set it at 10 ppi it will be 100" wide, but only on the screen. A pixel has no size in reality. It's just data.

Chad
http://www.cosmoglassworks.com/
http://www.brokenspokedesign.com/

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New Jewelry Listings

2010-09-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just realized I never told you the outcome of the tournament. They won three and tied one, which was good enough to get them into the championship game. It was a good game but the other goalie stopped 36 out of 37 shots, giving the other team a 2-1 win over our team.

This is going to be an exciting season. This team is going to develop like crazy, I can just tell.

NEW JEWELRY
I listed new items and have been busy with already shipping some of them out. I love it when new listings sell within 24 hours of posting.

Anyway, here are the new items. The ones that you can click on are ones that are still available:

"ATUM" One of a Kind Sterling Silver Chain Maille Bracelet with Patina and Bronze Metal Clay Scarab Charm

"Gustav's Girl" One of a Kind Bronze Metal Clay Textured Pendant Frame on Sterling Silver Rolo Chain

"Ares" One of a Kind Necklace of SRA Lampwork Glass and Sterling Silver from the Fidget Jewelry Line

"Orbs" Necklace and Earring Set of Small Turquoise Cabachon Set in Sterling Silver Circles on Rolo Chain

"Blue Quad" Lapis Lazuli and Blue Chalcedony Briolette Gemstones on Sterling Silver Rolo Necklace

"Purple Quad" Small Faceted Amethyst Briolette Gemstone Beads on Sterling Silver Rolo Necklace

"Baby Blues" Tiny Turquoise Raised Ovals in Unique Settings Sterling Silver Rolo Chain Necklace with Earrings

TRIBUTE TO TIBET

PALLASITES

ANTEROS

AZRAQ

EMAIL

The other day, I took one of my email accounts and pared it down from 4354 emails to 236. Whew! I also unsubscribed from another 15 places that were sending me newsletters I never asked for.

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER LIST

Oh, speaking of newsletters, let me tell you something that’s actually cool about being on mine. First, I only send out ONE email a month. In that email I tell you about sales I’m having that month. I also sometimes talk about jewelry care, tips, resources, etc. Second, on the last day of each month I have a random drawing from all the names on my email list and present one lucky winner with a $25 gift certificate to be spent on any purchase(s) in my Bracken Designs website store (including on my sale and/or clearance items).

If you want to be on my email list, send me a message by clicking here.

SPEAKING OF EMAILS

I’m one of those people who get a lot of email in a day. Sometimes I read a message but I’m not in a place or at a time where I can respond, but by the time I *am* in a place where I can respond I’ve had so much more email that the other one got buried and… sadly, I occasionally forget to respond to one I really wanted to respond to.

If you feel this may have happened to you, please email me a reminder. I don’t ignore people on purpose.

Also, I’ve noticed that sometimes I delete emails that I probably shouldn’t have, but in this I feel I have little choice. If I don’t recognize the “sender”, I go by what is in the message line. If it’s something that makes no sense to me, I will delete it without opening the email. I do this because of the massive amount of spam I receive in my public email accounts.

So if you want to get my attention, it’s probably best not to just write “hi” or “order” in the subject line or to leave it blank. I didn’t used to delete these kinds of emails… but a few years of opening them only to see URLs to online pharmacies has taught me better.

Not sure this is entertaining or scary as heck.

"There are no facts, only interpretations." Friedrich Nietzsche

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Goin’ to my happy place…

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Long-Tailed Macaque Adopts Abandoned Kitten

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In Southern California

2010-09-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all... Monica and I are in Valencia at the Endless Summer hockey tournament.

They won their first game (5-1) and tied their second game (2-2).

Two games today.

Talk later!

Short Update

2010-08-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

MY PROGRESS IN LIFE

I’m not going anywhere. Well, I’m going, but it’s like my wheels are slipping and my progress is miniscule.

What am I talking about? Sigh… During the making of my “blog index”, I looked at some of my old blog posts. It’s shocking to see how many things I talk about over and over throughout the years. Things I’m going to do… but don’t do.

My intentions are good, but my time is so limited. Well, things should be a little different this year… at least I’m only taking ONE kid to hockey this season… also, we have the opportunity for some ride-sharing.

Shrug. I need to continue to whittle things down… life is too big and too bold.

MY PROGRESS IN THIS WEEK’S JEWELRY

I have a drawer full of items to be photographed. Most are new. Some are pieces currently listed but I think the photos are dreadful.

My jewelry-making is often mood-induced and I haven’t been in a metal clay or even metal smithing mood lately… beading and wire-wrapping, mostly.

RAMBLING

Oh wow… tomorrow’s September. Yikes!

I did make a really scrumptious meatloaf today and homemade mashed potatoes.

Gabe’s at work. Mon and I are about to watch Schindler’s List.

TTYL!

A Whole Lotta Stuff

2010-08-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

It’s been so long I don’t feel comfortable just jumping in and yapping. Ugh.

Okay, this will probably sound all disjointed and rambly, but at least I’m posting.

I have a necklace that I started in January, that is half way made and then I just stopped. Perhaps I can actually finish it this weekend. It features some beautiful Toni Lutman beads and I wonder if that’s some of my fear/trepidation… y’know, like my design didn’t do them justice.

I’ve done that before. I feel really badly when I do an icky design with someone’s great lampwork beads. I don’t usually forget that either… I can still remember one I did with Anita Pepper beads. Yes… Anita Pepper beads… OMG, talk about sacrilege.

So… did I already mention that Monica’s Ohio thing is in September not August?

Gabe and I were watching tv the other night… scrolling through the directory to find something… when we ran across this:

In an attempt to:
A) Not repeat myself
B) Be able to find things quickly if I want to refer to them

… I’ve decided to create a quick blog index.

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth" - Oscar Wilde

Boy… ain’t that the truth. And the internet is the epitome of a mask these days.

This is a tool that looks kind of neat. Someone on LE brought it to my attention.

Bench Top Cut-Off Saw

Speaking of LE finds… here’s another one:

Amazing Tile And Glass Cutter

Check out the video for this thing.

Did I already show you these? Engineering Wonders of the World

It’s a must see.

Ever wanted to know where to buy leather cord? This place looks like a good starting point.

Leather Cord USA

Okay, I think that’s enough show of how distracted I am.

I plan to get back into the groove.

As a matter of fact, I even have a plan for my upcoming jewelry. But the apartment is getting claustrophobic. I think I’ll spend tonight cleaning it. Tomorrow I take Mon to practice sometime Saturday will be my first attempt at new creations, most likely.

TTYL!

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Monica's Alaska Trip

2010-08-16T21:06:00.001-07:00

I’d better write this posting before I get too tired.

So… Monica’s flight home was cancelled. She’s now schedule to come back home tomorrow. Haven’t heard any more about Ohio, though, so not sure if that’s still on.

But I can at least post the photos of her Alaska trip.

Their mall rink looks a lot nicer than OUR mall rink (Valco):

This is the neighborhood moose:

Mon had a trip to the zoo:

I love the scenery!

Berry picking in the mountains:

Well, I actually have some jewelry to finish off and photograph and it’s already past 9pm so I’m gonna say good night for now.

New Listings, Shark Tooth Debacle, More Great Artists

2010-08-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

ARTISTS WHO ROCK!

If you like working with polymer clay (a highly underrated medium, IMO), you have GOT to put Chris’s blog (Crafts by Chris) on your list of favorites.

She is TOTALLY one of my most favorite clay heroes and she’s so freakin’ generous in her blog with inspirational photos, tips, tricks, etc.

And speaking of artists I admire, let me make sure you know about Gina DeStevens of GMD Lampwork. She is a wonderful lampwork artist and a super nice person.

Here are some of my favorites from her magnificent gallery of work:

And these, which are currently available on eBay (for less than 24 hrs, though):

THE SAD SHARK’S TOOTH NECKLACE

Thanks everyone who commented (and I did take all the comments even if I didn’t approve them until after the deadline… I get emails when they come in). The winner is Truly Younts… but I explained to Truly (who is always so gracious) that after I posted that, the resin in the charm developed a haze. I’m so disappointed. I will continue to experiment and try to determine if it was me, the embedded item, or the resin. Fingers crossed!

NEW LISTINGS

Yes, I actually have some metal clay to show you.

Here are the new listings made of fine silver (clickable photos):

"Prometheus"

"Ashrays"

"Achiote"

Then there’s an off-center necklace in neutral tones with a lampwork focal.

And one more quad necklace (these are flying off the shelves!).

Whoops… I’m more behind than I thought… sorry… here’s one from my line of “Fidget Jewelry”.

"Pearl-a-Palooza"

"Cerveteri"

And one more… yikes!
“CHO OYU”

THE KIDS

Monica’s still in Alaska. She gets back on Monday, has two practices and a game then is supposed to fly out to Ohio for three days. Then she’ll have her first week of school (Junior year) then we go down to Valencia for a tournament.

Gabe’s still here and we’re enjoying some quiet time together. Last night we made fajitis, guacamole, and zucchini bread (thanks Laura B! who is not me).

Well, I’d better go. Still tons to do. TTYL!

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Giving Away Resinated Shark Tooth Necklace and Showing New Jewelry

2010-08-12T14:31:00.001-07:00

I think a long time ago, I was in the middle of a blog post… that never got posted.

Today I went through a couple pages of one of my email addresses. I responded to a few emails and deleted most of the rest. I also unsubscribed to many lists I was apparently on.

Why do I really hate drinking water when I’m not thirsty?

Okay, my brain feels fried… but at least I have an excuse (this time).

Gabe left southern California last night at 10:30pm. At 2am, I called him to make sure, y’know… he wasn’t getting tired and stuff. We ended up talking until 4:30am… when his phone ran out of battery and he was 20 minutes from the apartment. It was worth losing sleep to know that my son was fully awake while driving that boring highway 5 in the dark after a long day of hockey.

Speaking of hockey, Monica will be home (from Alaska) on Monday. So far I believe she’s seen four moose and a black bear. I wanna go to Alaska (but only in the summer).

I think she has practices with her Midget team on Wednesday and Thursday and then has a game on Sunday. School starts soon and the week after that is the Valencia tournament. She probably doesn’t meet up with her girls’ team again until October.

JEWELRY, SPECIFICALLY METAL CLAY

So I pulled out that old project I was working on months ago… the one where I was trying to embed CZs into silver metal clay… and was failing (they kept popping out during the drying process). Well, I went back to it. I put the escaped CZs back into their spots and put clay around the rims, but… well, it’s a lot harder than it looks. My hat is off to those who do a grand job at this. I imagine I’ll improve with practice, but for now… yeow!

Anyway, I baked the stuff last night and looked at it this morning. My pieces look cool. Nothing has popped off yet… but I still have the polishing process to go through. Fingers crossed.

I’ll post photos as soon as possible.

Oh, and I mentioned I was experimenting with resins, right? Well, here’s one I’m giving away. This is a one million year old shark tooth in resin in a fine silver frame with a fine silver bail and a sterling silver 18” rolo chain.

It’s not large… maybe one inch in diameter.

I’m giving it away because it’s imperfect… more imperfect than I’m used to. Ha ha ha! I’m okay with little “things” here and there than make something not look machine made, but I feel some things are too sloppy… this is one of them.

There are flat spots on the back of the pendant (where the resin stuck to the surface while drying) and there is a bubble in the resin and there is (I see now) a speck of something that managed to get in with the shark tooth.

But I figured someone might like it so who am I to throw it away.

So… let’s see… anyone out there want it? (BTW, I’d rather you really want it… not just say you want it so you can throw the charm away and keep the sterling silver rolo necklace for some other purpose.)

Post a comment on my blog before tomorrow at 6pm PDT and I’ll pick a winner at random from those who post.

LISTED STUFF

It comes to my attention I’ve been rather remiss about showing my new stuff on here. My bad.

Here are the latest bracelets that went up (click a pic for more info):

And necklaces:

And since I can’t remember the last earrings I showed you…

I have some new items to list tonight too. Yay!

Upcoming: “Pearl-a-Palooza” charm bracelet, a necklace from my “Fidget Jewelry” line, ginormous copper earrings, and a simple copper bead necklace from my “Minimalist” line.

The weekend's over... ALREADY!?

2010-08-08T20:45:00.001-07:00

Today, I took things very slowly, very relaxed.

Got up and showered, decided to dye my hair. The only color I had was... well, it turned out to be rather burgundy, but I still like it better than gray.

I did a couple jewelry pieces, but nothing fantastic.

I added another layer (or two) to my two resin projects (one of which I'm pretty sure I'll give away on my blog).

The more I do things, though, the more I can tweak my techniques and get closer to the results I want.

Went to watch the Santa Clara Blackhawks tryouts (Monica had her tryouts a week earlier because she is out of town this weekend). Spent some quality time with Debbie. Didn't get to see Laura (soon, I hope, though). Got to spend time with Matt and Dann who are AWESOME people. Laura should feel INCREDIBLY proud of raising them into the people they are today. Oh, except for the money part... little sneaks.

I realize some people just aren't comfortable with accepting things from others. These people are usually the nurturers and givers of the world. The problem is, when they run into another nurturer/giver and they don't let that person do their thing, it can make the person attempting to give feel estranged. Please remember, it's okay to let friends do for you. Phft! I'm talking to myself as much as anyone else.

Okay, it's barely 9pm and I'm TIRED. Ha! I'm not going to do work... I'm going to go to bed early. Yay!

Tonight is the last chapter in the book I'm reading. Hm... what am I going to do now?

Oh, here's a picture I took of myself (without camera flash this time).

More Alaska Updates

2010-08-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

So... today she tells me she ate a "moosedog". Yep... a hotdog made out of moose. I didn't even know people ate moose. And WHO got her to eat a hotdog?!?! She doesn't eat hotdogs here!

Sounds like she's having fun, both on and off the ice.

Speaking of hockey, though, I have to admit something... when it comes to youth hockey there's something even worse than all the driving. Making decisions. Today, was one of those days when something came along AFTER we'd already committed to something else. I hate regrets so I try not to have them... no "might have beens" or "what ifs".

And still speaking of hockey, today (and tomorrow and Monday) are the tryouts for the team Monica wants to be on. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Now, what have I been up to? Riveting and hammering and finishing a few pieces that have been laying around wondering if they were going to be "unfinished" the rest of their lives.

Alright... my eyes are closing... TTYL!

Empty Nest? Uh... not yet. :-)

2010-08-05T21:21:00.001-07:00

I've got about a week to myself.

Gabe's in southern California and Monica's in Alaska. I love having the kids here but right now I'm really enjoying the quiet and solitude.

After walking the dogs and having a relaxing dinner, I messed around with some wire, some hammers, some patinas, and some dremeling. Didn't produce anything useful, but it was still relaxing.

Tomorrow's Friday... yay!

Not sure yet what project(s) I'll work on, but I'll keep you posted. I also have two or three pieces that just need a finishing touch and will be ready to photograph. Actually, they're Monica pieces... I just need to put clasps on them.

TTYL!

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New Bronze Metal Clay Additions to the Website

2010-08-02T16:05:00.001-07:00

Finally got the new items photographed and listed (click a photo for more details).

First up is a very simple charm bracelet made with some gorgeous lampwork beads by Lori Robbins.

"Glory of the Snow"

Followed by three bronze metal clay creations…

"California Poppies"

"Rounds"

"The Porthole"

BTW, if you're likin' that yummy porcelain vase (holding up the necklace in the last photo), you should check out Judy's Etsy shop: Aquarian Pottery Works.

Oh, don’t forget about the newly assigned 30% off prices for four select items in August.

I think I’ll have time again Wednesday evening to work on more items.

Monica leaves Wednesday for Alaska. Gabe leaves tomorrow for southern California.

SCAM WARNING
This was brought to my attention by an LE member. There is a site that was pretending to be a drop-ship for Etsy stores. They stole Etsy store photos and descriptions.

Apparently, the site collects the customer’s money (acting as a go-between for the customer and the item shipper) then says that if there was a problem or the product didn’t arrive they should take it up with the merchant (that’s you, the Etsy store owner).

Egads!

The website (http://www.walldecalsart.com) is down for now… I wouldn’t think this is an isolated incident, however.

Okay, well, back to work for me.

TTYL!

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Just lettin' ya know why I've been quiet

2010-08-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been in a bit of a tizzy this past week. Mon came back from New York and practically within days we're sending her off to Alaska for nearly a fortnight.

Seems Gabe is leaving for the opposite direction at the same time or soon.

So we're making sure hotels and airline reservations are in order... shoes and replacement hockey sticks are bought... skates are sharpened, clothes are cleaned, etc.

Monica is also at tryouts this weekend.

And I'm madly trying to squeeze some creating in here and there because I've made the split between my beaded jewelry and my forged (or more handcrafted) jewelry. So I actually have to GET some forged jewelry up and running. :-)

I actually DO have three small pieces made for the new section... but I still have to photo them.

Monica's been great. She's working on items for the the beaded jewelry portion of the business.

Oh, and we're also taking care of a neighbor's dog and cats.

I think things will be much more quiet in a few days... maybe TOO quiet.

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Still Polishing That Bronze

2010-07-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Came home from work tonight and Gabe had a friend over (I know, will wonders never cease?).

They're in the living room (aka: my work room) playing a video game, so I've relegated myself to the computer corner.

I spent the last several hours polishing the rest of the bronze: steel brush, 100 grit sandpaper, 240 grit, 320 grit, 500 grit. Whew! What a job.

There something I very much like about bronze, though. Much more than copper, almost as much as silver.

I'm up to chapter five in both my books (Ayn Rand and Lilian Braun).

Finished the first episode of The Lost Room. I'll try a couple more... see how it goes. The first episode didn't captivate me... not the way Fringe did.

Mon's plane gets in at 11:30 tonight. Blah! I think I'll have Gabe drive.

Well, it's only 10pm, but my brain already feels tired. Well, normally at this time, I'm crawling into bed to read for an hour then fall asleep. Hmph!

Okay, I'll see if I can get some photos tomorrow.

Hand-forged stuff is very time-consuming. Heh

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Bronze Clay Project

2010-07-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not a project so much as just getting back to practicing.

Here's my pile of green goods, ready to be filed and smoothed.

And here's the weirdness that comes out of the kiln.

Came home from work tonight, went to the gym with Gabe, ate dinner, and started polishing the bronze.

I did make one "thing" by the time it was 8:30. It took hours. I am definitely at the beginning stages of working with cold connections.

Anyway, got the pendant done (no photos yet), but there wasn't room left for the jumprings or chain so I am using a wire... which means finding beads tomorrow and finishing it.

Then I snapped a few more photos and uploaded them.

I'm REALLY tired, so going to take a shower now and hit the hay. Hopefully I'll wake more refreshed. Hopefully my daughter will remember that when she calls me at 8am, it's 5am California time. ;-)

TTYL!

FEATURED ARTIST: AMBER VAN METER

2010-07-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

BRONZE CLAY REVISTED

Yes, I finally broke out the metal clays again. Yesterday, I made a few small beads/components, dried them, filed them, and did the first firing. Tonight, I’ll do phase two in the kiln and hopefully I’ll have something tomorrow to show for my efforts.

I didn’t do any big projects… I was just kind of getting my feet wet again.

Now, speaking of metal clay, I’d like to remind you of Hadar’s blog with awesome tips and techniques.

One entry of particular note is “compatibility chart for firing different clays together”: which metal clays can be fired in one piece, in one firing, and at what schedule. The chart also shows which metals can be fired together in more than one firing.

FEATURED ARTIST: AMBER VAN METER

Today I’d like to share with you the work of someone who, to me, epitomizes the word “organic” when it comes to lampwork beads. Truthfully, she does way way WAY more than organic, but her work is the first that comes to my mind when someone mentions that word.

I was going to blog about Amber several days ago, but I got caught up in other things and never blogged at all. So… the auction I was going to show you is already gone, but you still HAVE to see these beads (click the pic for more info).

Sorry guys. They’re sold… but, here are some other goodies that I simply must share with you:

I love this next one too… reminds me of a canopic jar.

Oh, and for the record, Amber is one of the nicest people you will ever ever ever meet online (probably in person too, but I only know her online).

Thanks for letting me share, Amber!

FOR THE TOOL HO IN YOU

Ran across this today…

I’ll save for it. Looks pretty neat.

FOLLOW-UP TO MY BOOK RANT

So, I settled on two. I’m (re)reading one of the Cat Who mysteries (surprisingly still interesting). And I’m reading my first Ayn Rand… sort of cheating… it’s just a novella, but it’s a start.

Thanks again to everyone who recommended books for me. I will go through the list and let you know how it goes.

HOCKEY

For the record, I really miss it! I miss going to watch my kids play. I miss talking to the cool moms. I don’t miss driving to practices, but it shouldn’t be so bad this year with just Monica.

Mon’s on the ice as I type this. They won their first game and have one today and one tomorrow.

No update on Gabe yet, but I am on my toes for last minute notice if we have to send him somewhere.

Well, I’d better go… TTYL!

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Wee Little Update

2010-07-21T20:28:00.001-07:00

Just got back from the aiport. Monica will be in New York for the next week at the National Select Camp for girls ice hockey. What a cool thing to be able to play with and against the best in the nation. Two of her former teammates are there too... Bridget Baker and Lexi Romanchuk.

I'll let you know of any updates.

Okay, Gabe and I have a date to watch Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole.

'Night!

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