Posts from — April 2009

I thought about making a list of “You might be an eclectic artist if…” items, but a list like that really needs to be at least a little bit humorous, and unfortunately writing humor is not one of my eclectic talents.

I definitely qualify as eclectic, from my tastes in music to my tastes in home decor. There isn’t really one unified theme about me or anything in my life except that I tend to prefer order to chaos (You might not believe that if you looked at my house right now!), and flowing, curving lines to sharp angles.

As for my creative endeavors, I’ve tried a little bit of just about everything most people call creative: writing, calligraphy, doll making, sewing, crochet, drawing, painting, jewelry making, floral designing, and even helping my carpenter husband design attractive cabinets and furniture.

You’d think it would be great to enjoy so many different things and be relatively “good” at most of them. It is!

And it isn’t.

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I was late turning on the ol’ computer this morning, but when I opened my email I found out that fellow EART team member maybeads featured one of my best-selling lampwork glass heart pendants, this one is called “Be Mine,” in her treasury called It’s Electric! Here is the treasury. “Be Mine” is in the second row, far right.  Thank you, Maybeads!

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing through the forums at Etsy, and I came across a request by Etsy seller HopeSparkles, who was asking other Etsy sellers for any extra beading and jewelry supplies they might have, because she plans to volunteer her time to teach jewelry classes at The Shade Tree, a homeless women’s shelter near her home. For every $20.00 sold, $5.00 will go towards her “Shade Tree” fund to buy beading supplies for her classes. I sent HopeSparkles some beads I wasn’t using, and in return she created a wonderful treasury featuring items from the many Etsy sellers who had donated to her commendable cause. Here’s the treasury link: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=50016&show_panel=true  And here is a picture of the items in the treasury. My item is “Romance in Red,” a wire-wrapped lampwork glass heart pendant. Take a look! The treasury expires April 6.

Here’s what I created with my enameled copper Chinese Faith Pendant from Artbeads.com, a company I buy some of my supplies from, and a company I occasionally blog for in exchange for trying out fun new items. This was one of those fun new items I had to try. When I received the pendant, I immediately fell in love with the deep blue color and the underlying texture. Each one is handmade–not mass produced! I had no idea enameled copper could be so pretty. When I requested the item, I had a picture in mind for the final creation, but of course my idea was waylaid when I realized how pretty the purple and green freshwater pearls I had just bought from Beads to Beauty in Ruidoso would be with this piece. So I decided on rich jewel tones, and I was very happy with the results. I listed this piece in my Etsy shop, so you can see more images of it by clicking on the picture or at the item listing link.  Update: Sold!

A couple of these beauties together would make great earrings. They’re not overly large–about 1-1/2 inches square (bead language measurements are 34.5 mm by 34.5 mm), and the color is wonderful. But if blue isn’t your color, Artbeads.com has a great selection of other handmade enameled copper pendants to choose from, along with other styles of pendants. Since I’m also a sometime calligrapher, I almost chose one of the bronze alphabet pendants because they remind me of embellished calligraphy letters in illuminated manuscripts.

So far, even before now, I’ve been very happy with everything I’ve received from Artbeads.com.