This is the case with blogging! What with yet another crazy semester, running a business, and wanting to spend time with friends and family, I have a backlog of a year's worth of pictures to blog about. Literally thousands of pictures sitting on my harddrive, waiting to be shared with the world. A couple dozen custom orders that no one but the client and myself have seen. Footage for six vlogs. Artwork and personal craft projects galore. And five sketchbook pages full of a "To Blog About in the Future" list.
And, now that it is truly summer vacation, I want to do nothing else with my time but to actually make jewelry and art, to go hiking and biking, to play board games with my family, and to spend time with friends.
Today I uploaded twenty new items to my Etsy shop and had my little sister help me with my inventory. She's been wanting to "apprentice," and we've discovered that in addition to having a knack for the technical aspects of jewelry making, she's also got a talent for organizing and helping to manage inventory!
It's just a wee bit overwhelming... everything you see here still needs to be photographed and listed online! You see what I mean; it's hard to know where to start?
Where to start... this evening I will start blogging again by simply uploading these pictures I've been working with for hours. Say hello to all of the new items of the day!
Just in time for summer! This is a fun experiment-- I have a special clay epoxy resin that I am able to color by hand with Gilder's Paste. I use tiny-nosed tweezers to set all of these loose rhinestones into seashells!
Yay pretty seashells!
I simply can't wait for later this summer. I will be seeing an ocean for the first time since I first saw an ocean at age twelve. :)
I've always loved the awesomeness (and cheesiness) of Once Upon a Time the TV show. Awhile back, I made a bright gold glitter necklace with a glass heart-shaped bottle inspired by a scene with Snow White and Prince Charming, and it's been selling well.
So I took that as an excellent excuse for making glitter vial necklaces in other colors. :) Above is a dark gold; below is the deep purple.
I have a lot of Evenstar necklaces and earrings that I never photographed as I mostly was selling them in person. However, since they've been sitting in a box unloved for the entire school year, it was high time to get them online.
I CAN'T FIND ANY MORE OF THESE MONTANA BLUE CZECH GLASS LEAF BEADS!
It's a calamity!
So, a few years ago, when I first started making Evenstars, I bought my Czech beads through Brightlings Beads. This gorgeous reversible iridescent blue was one that I always stocked up on. It's a color that has been pretty popular, and I loved it so much that I used these beads to make some personal jewelry for myself.
I used up my batch of the midnight blue beads a year ago and didn't think much of it. After all, I could just purchase more when I needed to, right?
WRONG.
Everyone-- and I mean everyone, even the very expensive bead suppliers-- seems to no longer carry them. My best guess is that the manufacturer discontinued this color. :(
Just soak in those beautiful deep blues and teals. This may very well be my last Evenstar jewelry set in this color (it's a miracle I found it, in the bottom of a box of beads and not in my offline inventory box). It's up on Etsy, and once it's sold, it's gone. Probably forever. And that makes me veddy sad.
At least there are other gorgeous colors! This is actually the backside of the Pixie Pink Evenstar set, but I love the way that the beads catch pastel blues, purples, greens, and yellows.
It's so fairylike.
It helps that I am listening to the Cinderella movie soundtrack while working on this blog post, and that I am drinking tea with fresh mint from our garden. Small beautiful things that that make everything start to feel like a fairytale.
I even have a Goth black Evenstar... which I really like, even though I can't imagine my inspiration, Arwen from The Lord of the Rings, wearing this particular set.
This purple one is kind of steampunky. :)
There are three more G.K. Chesterton stamped and etched metal book necklaces available. My goodness do these book necklaces take a lot of work. Yet they are my favorite ever. :)
Yay for fairy glitter sparkles; I'm really playing up the fairytale aspect of the jewelry today, aren't I?
Another time and skill intensive piece, the Celtic Puzzle Ring, has been on my workbench lately. Or, rather, my soldering block. Four more of these beauties are ready to find a home!
SEASHELLS! SUMMER! RUNNING ELECTRICITY THROUGH ACID BATHS TO MAKE COOL JEWELRY!
...I just really like summer and dangerous power tools.
This seashell was electroformed (coated with copper), oxidized and sanded (to darken the ridges) and sealed before being strung on a bronze chain.
Well, I can't seem to get the "Mermaid Seashell" rhinestone pictures into this blog post, but here's the one with a glitter ombre.
Oh, hey, another seashell picture finally uploaded! My favorite small one, with blue-ombre with pink, teal, and green rhinestones!
Another item that I've been making was inspired by a college friend who made something similar... miniature rosary bracelets!
Most rosary bracelets are single-decade, meaning that they have only ten beads, or they are wrap-around bracelets.
These are actual full five-decade miniature rosaries that are worn like bead bracelets! I've been using my dad's drill press to add extra holes to the crucifixes to make this possible.
The only downside is that the length isn't adjustable. This one is bigger-- 8 full inches-- but the smaller beads make small bracelets.
So, there you are-- most all of the new jewelry I've added to Etsy today.
Have a great summer, and I hope to blog more soon!
Toodles,
Shaylynn
