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Week #4 Musings and More

I want to make another resolution of sorts.  I want to try to get a photo of every piece of jewelry before I take it to one of the galleries.  It's rather nice having a record of my work.  I go back and reference things quite a bit.

There.  Now that I'ver written it down, and in public no less, does that make it official?

Week #3 Musings and More

Sorry... no real musings this week.

First off, I'm two days late.  Apologies.

I have three custom orders on my plate and I'm procrastinating.  Anyone else feel huge pressure when it comes to custom orders?

Anyway, to get this out of the way, yes, I did meet my weekly goal of making at least 10 pieces of jewelry.  As a matter of fact, I made 14.  Twelve of the 14 were more of the hammer textured gold-fill earrings.

Week #2 Musings and More

Let's see how long I can keep this up.  I'm a fan of New Year's Resolutions.  I'm a fan of starting anything.  I love starting projects!  It's so exciting with the potential and the expectations, the lists, the organizing, the research, etc.

What I'm not overly brilliant at is the follow through.  Therefore, I go into this thinking I'll be providing a couple weeks (months if I'm amazing) of these weekly posts.  But time will tell.

Organizing My Books

Today was “sorting the books” day.  Although I did a big purge of my books a few months ago, today I decided to organize what I had decided to keep.  I have a lot.  A lot of reference books… mostly on jewelry, of course.

Experimenting with Enamels

Getting up at 5am has its advantages.  I was finished with my enameling experiments by noon.  That's a good thing because I don't leave my kiln on without me being there (other than for a minute or two at a time).  So on days dedicated to enameling, I'm pretty much in the studio all day long.  No leisurely lunch in front of the TV, no checking out posts on Facebook, and no answering the phone because I'm using the timers on my phone.

Figuring Out the Best Way to Organize My Schedule

Sometimes things in our lives can seem difficult and we can't get a handle on what the problem is.  Sometimes we don't even know there IS a problem... we just chalk the thing up to "something we don't like to do".

Colored Pencil on Metal Workshop

My first online workshop for 2018 is coming to a close and it was fantastic.  The students were awesome and creative and super learners!

That class was Jewelry Photography and I intend to continue to befriend and support however I can the people I met through this experience.  We will continue to discuss and share in the private Facebook group I created for the workshop.

If jewelry photography interests you, I am planning to repeat the workshop in the late fall.

Why I Recommend IndieMade for Artists' Websites

This is a blog post about my experience with IndieMade.  They provide websites for artists.  I am asked on a monthly basis who hosts my online shop and what I think of them.  So now I can just point those inquiring minds to this blog post.

How I ended up on IndieMade

My first stand-alone website was a ProStores shop.  Do you remember ProStores?  It was an offshoot of eBay (my first selling platform) and you could integrate your listings with eBay which seemed convenient.

My Adventures in Enamel January 2018

My jewelry making techniques sort of go in binges.  A lot of that has to do with my teaching schedule.  For example, last month I had two workshops teaching enameling so I definitely had some quality time with my kiln (which I've decided is rather nice in winter).

I've also decided that when I finish my current online workshop, I'm going to start work on my next one which will be enameling.

I always start people with torch enameling.  Nothing like watching your piece in real time go from sugar to orange peel to glossy smooth.

Tucson Gem and Mineral Show How To Advice and Tips

One day late i 2016 I was perusing Facebook when I saw a thread (probably in a metalsmithing group) about the Tucson show.  (schedule)

This is one of the biggest and most well-known shows in the jewelry-making industry. Days and days and miles and miles of workshops, vendors, buyers, sellers, stones, jewelry components, etc.

Anyway, the person posting the thread inquired about how to prepare for going to the Tucson show, and one of the responses just blew me away.