Posts from — March 2009

Doesn’t that title make you smile? I love purple, so I tend to use a lot of it in my jewelry. Today I found out that a fellow EART team member, Monarchdancer, chose my “Spring Fancy” earrings to be in her treasury called Purple Nurples. Here’s a picture of it–I’m bottom row middle. These earrings were made with purple freshwater pearls, peridot green faceted glass beads, and copper wire.

I’m participating in a “Blog Carnival” with my fellow Etsy EART (Eclectic Artisans Team), and the first topic is for us to write a wishlist of up to five things we want for our business this year. So here goes! I don’t have five wishes (unless you count making a million or so bucks selling my jewelry), so I’ll just start with the two at the top of my list.

1. I’d really like to have a kiln. Since I love to work with polymer clay, I’ve been dying to try precious metal clay as a new medium. You can use a torch to work with precious metal clay, but I’ve heard it’s better to have a kiln. I even have a picture of a nice small kiln magneted to my fridge in hopes it will magically appear. Ha! I could also fuse glass in a kiln, and that’s another medium I’d love to try. Ah, to make my own fused glass cabochons to wrap! That would be wonderful. I’ve bought a couple, and here’s a picture of one of them that I wrapped and sold last year at the Renaissance Fair in Santa Fe.

2. My husband and I have been talking about a wheeled display cart/kiosk of some kind, maybe something like a “Gypsy” wagon, to display my jewelry at shows and other venues where we might not use the tent. One day when we went to Coronado Mall in Albuquerque, we studied some of the cart/kiosks there and came up with some ideas. My overworked carpenter husband needs another project, don’t you think? And I’d love to paint my business name, Kell’s Creations, on it. So that might be in the works at some point. Maybe this year, maybe next. Who knows?

One thing I do know is that I spent too much money on things for the business in 2008, so I may just have to make do with what I already have. But a girl can dream, right? One of these days…

What an interesting day I’ve had! First, I got an email from Steve at Artbeads.com telling me they were looking for a few jewelry designers who also blog to feature reviews of some of their items. In exchange, Artbeads.com is offering these bloggers free supplies to review. So of course I was flattered, and I jumped at the chance! There were so many great choices, but I decided on a blue enameled copper pendant with the Chinese symbol for “faith” on it. Since faith has been such a struggle for me lately, I had to have it as a reminder that good things can come “out of the blue” if we just have faith. I’m really excited about this opportunity. I’ll post pictures when I’ve finished my design–I plan to make it reversible.

A few days ago I joined a new “street team” at Etsy called EART–Eclectic Artisans Team. So this morning I got an email from fellow EART member telling me that I was featured in a treasury! My item is the denim lapis lazuli heart pendant in the middle of the bottom row; be sure to check it out. There are some really talented people in this street team.

And last but not least, it looks like I’ll be participating in my first ever virtual “trunk show” with other EART team members on Etsy tomorrow 7 pm Eastern time (5:00 pm Land of Enchantment time). If you’d like to join the fun, click here. It’s a combination chat room/virtual conference room. Some people use their webcams, so you can see them and hear them talking! Very cool.

I’m excited to report that I’ve teamed up with Heather Kingsmore, the owner of a great new jewelry and bead store called Beads to Beauty in Ruidoso, NM, and we’ll be teaching classes. Heather creates some of the prettiest strung bead jewelry pieces I’ve seen, so she’ll be teaching stringing lessons. Meanwhile, I’ll be teaching wire-wrapping techniques, starting with a basic or beginning class. My first class will be Thursday, March 12, from 5-6:30, and the repeat class for those who can’t make it on Thursday the 12th will be Saturday morning, March 21, from 10 to 11:30. For this first class I’ll be showing people how to make some simple bead and wire earrings and a link bracelet using the basic techniques that serve as the building blocks for more complex wire designs. I have future plans to teach different styles of wire-wrapped rings, creative wraps for polished stones, more traditionally wrapped cabochons, wrapped crystal points, and a bonsai/tree of life pendant. The possibilities in wire will provide plenty of fodder for future classes.

So if you plan to be in the Ruidoso area this spring and summer, and you want to see what classes Heather at Beads to Beauty has lined up, give her a call at 575-257-9903. The first class on basic wire wrapping will be $45.  Beads to Beauty is located in the Four Seasons Mall at 2500 Sudderth #3, in Ruidoso, New Mexico.