Photo Shoot

I have been busy the last few days working on next year's catalog. I have to work on it this early so I can get good, outdoor photographs. Our indoor lighting is pretty lousy when it comes to shooting jewelry. I have one of those photography tents, but I still can't get the lighting just right. Since my tagline is "naturally inspired", I prefer to have outdoor shots anyway.

I've been using the pictures I've posted here in my catalog. The pictures are reduced to thumbnail size and so much of the detail is lost. :( I've discovered that some of the pieces disappear almost completely! Take that Jolly Rancher necklace (I call it "Watermelon Candy" now), for example. I originally had it on a concrete slab. After touting how great it looks with burgundy, Mom convinced me to take a picture of that look. The picture turned out soooo much better, but you can't really tell it's on a blouse. I used the same technique with a different top for the "Iris" necklace.

Updated "Watermelon Candy":

Updated "Iris":

Taking pictures of a lot of the stuff I've made previously is amazingly time-consuming. I hope the outcome is worth it. Here's just a few of the pictures I took yesterday:

"Midnight at Sea" (mother of pearl, freshwater and blister pearls, glass pearls, abalone)

"Sea King" (dyed shell pieces, glass seed beads)

"Ahoy" (this one probably needs to be modeled on a person)

"Happiness Is" (Czech glass, lapis agate, the bird was salvaged from a pair of earrings)

Taking pictures is a lot of fun. Photo composition is not my strongsuit, but maybe someday, I'll get better at it. I'm getting the itch to compose more jewelry though.

On A Roll

I think I recently tapped into a fresh well of inspiration. I've had one idea after another spring up. I just hope that it's not a shallow well...

Anyway, this last week has generated six new sets. The first one pictured is the last of the color scheme groupings shown earlier. I call it "Demeter's Joy". Greek mythology is something I've always enjoyed. If you're unfamiliar with the story, the Greek god of the underworld, Hades, kidnaps the goddess Demeter's daughter, Persephone. Demeter is basically a Mother Earth figure who is in charge of seasons and all things that grow and the lost of her daughter sends her into such despair that the world becomes barren. Zeus, the head honcho of deity-world, is concerned that the earth would die so sends a messenger to retrieve Persephone. Before leaving the underworld, Persephone eats six pomegranate seeds. Doing so forces her to return to Hades for six months every year. When Demeter has her daughter with her during the year, the seasons are pleasant and fruitful. When Persephone returns to the underworld, the earth becomes barren again. This explained the change of seasons. Anyway, I thought "Persephone's Return" would be too much of a mouthful. :)

Here is "Demeter's Joy":




The next set I made features some cute, glass, fish-shaped beads I found. I can't decide on a good name yet, but for now, I call it "Fishy Fete":



Friday, I started playing with my domino beads again. I wanted to make a bracelet, but I wasn't sure if memory wire or elastic would be best. Since the domino pips weren't going to be covered up, I didn't want it to be reversible, so I opted for the memory wire. Originally, I was going to paint them to match "Wishes" (shown previously), but I liked the idea I saw of using scrap book paper to cover the blank side of the dominoes. I had gone to a bead store in Raleigh, NC called Panopolie (LOVE that place!) on a trip last year and found a box of miniature tarot cards. I'm not into tarot or anything, but I really liked them for their size and bright colors. They're almost the right size for dominoes. After trimming the cards slightly, I adhered them to the beads with Mod-Podge, painted the edges with a silver pen and then strung them on the wire with glass beads. I chose cards that said nice things like "pleasant memories," "a good marriage," "a good harvest," and stuff like that. I call the bracelet "What We Want":



Next is a set I call "Earthen Wear." Its rectangle beads are wood and the blue and brown beads are ceramic. The necklace is long enough to wear as a belt. Don't go into shock with the change of background!




The "Good Fortune" ensemble's necklace follows the same idea as "Wishes" as far as the treatment of the domino bead goes. You can't see it in the picture, but this time I added some gold into the mix of alcohol inks. It adds a nice sheen. I couldn't believe I had enough "antique gold" findings to make the whole set!

Here's the final set (whew!). I fell in love with this pendant. It's dyed shell with a metal applique. I found a bag of coordinating beads, added some from my own stash and a bright, silver chain, and voila! "Spring Meadow" blossomed.

In other news, I just got my business license from the city and my sales tax certificate from the state. Unfortunately, I am still obligated by a contract that I have from another company to not sell jewelry for a year since I left them. My contract renewal date was the end of January and I did not renew, so that would make this "hiatus" year end January of '09. I plan to open my website and my business OFFICIALLY on February 1st, 2009. In the meantime, all (well, at least most) of my new creations will wind up here. I'll be figuring out a way to make a beautiful catalog to put these in for next year!

Where the Wild Things Are

My four-year-old daughter has really kept me hopping lately. She's at a point now where I have to be in the same room with her all the time to keep her from getting into trouble. She's poured salt and pepper all over the stairway, in drawers throughout the house and on carpet. I haven't quite figured out the fascination she has with salt. She also sampled some kerosene which prompted the first call to Poison Control I have ever had to make. She turned out just fine, but that really must have tasted nasty! A day or two later, my husband discovers a box of matches in one of the drawers in her bedroom. Fifteen minutes before our Brownie Girl Scout meeting starts (at our house), I discovered that my little "darling" has dumped two packages of seed beads all over the couch and carpet where we have our meetings. What is going on with this girl??

Anyhoo, that's why I haven't been posting anything. I can't sit at the computer for any length of time without something bad happening. She's taking a nap right now plus Daddy's home. I was able to snatch some time every now and then to work on a new jewelry project. I had everything I needed loaded on a storage tote lid and carried it around the house with me as I followed my imp/daughter. I did take an "in progress" picture with the intention of posting sooner than this. This necklace and earring set uses the glass rectangle beads and copper chain that I showed you earlier. I call it "Wildflowers."

Necklace in the making:


Completed necklace (about 20"):



Earrings:



I hope that despite this latest delay to get something posted, you will keep coming back to see what's new. I'm still in the process of starting up my SummerSun Jewelry business, so I don't have anything to show on my official website. I need to get my business licensed, registered, and all that legal stuff. I'll be setting up a PO box this week too, I hope. I attended a Small Business Association workshop last Friday and learned a grim statistic: 50% of all new business ventures fail. Eww. I'll be working hard to avoid becoming part of that statistic. If you ever see something here that you are really interested in, just drop me a line and let me know. I can hold it for you until I'm "legal".

Iris

I mentioned earlier that if you click on a photo, it would open up in a new window. It does open as an enlarged photograph, but if you want to return to the blog, you have to click on the browser's "back" button. Whew! Sorry about that.

If you remember the first few pictures I added to the blog, they were varieties of beads put together in color combinations that struck my fancy. Instead of focusing on those bead groups, I got distracted and made a bunch of other stuff. I'm really bad about running off to the bead shop, coming home with a new load of treasure and forgetting the treasure that I already have. Last night, I decided that I'd better go back to those beads I've neglected. The result came out rather nice, I think. Art glass, glass pearls, silver, and crystal beads are randomly inserted into a two-layer chain necklace that I named "Iris":


I just had an idea pop into my head for a necklace! I need to go sketch it out before I forget--if I don't doze off first. A nap sounds really good right now.

Potpourri

There has been a lot of stuff going on around the house this week that has kept me from posting to the blog until now. I did, however, find time to make more jewelry--usually pretty late at night.


Wednesday night, I made a necklace reminiscent of a watermelon Jolly Rancher or something. It's a combination of really bright pink and green. Surprisingly, it looks fabulous when paired with a burgundy top. I haven't made any earrings yet, but I plan to.

Here's the necklace:


Thursday, I started tinkering with a concept I discovered in a magazine. Using alcohol inks, I painted three beads made from old dominos. The inks were really expensive, but they should go a long way. The beads came out so amazing! They look like neat pieces of stone or something. After coloring them with the ink, I lined them up and stamped a fairy image across all three using a black, solvent inkpad (also expensive). After it dried, I strung them on a leather cord that I had salvaged from some other necklace. Since this one has a fairy thing going on, I think I'll call this one "Wishes." I've GOT to make a bracelet for this one!



Next up is a set that I made just today. Yesterday, Mom gave me a cream, matlasse blazer that has large, pink, green, and brown butterflies printed all over it. Of course, I didn't have anything to go with it. At first, I thought that the colors in the jacket would lend themselves to gold accents. Copper turned out to be a better choice. Here's the necklace, bracelet, and earrings:








The beads I used for this last set included unakite chips, crackled glass, and Swarovsky crystals.

I have to cut this post short...I think my husband needs to use the computer. Gee whiz. ;)

My Impression

Yawn! I could not sleep at all last night. I kept getting these tics (NOT ticks!) all over in my calves and feet; it was driving me crazy. So, around 1 am, I mosied downstairs to fiddle with a necklace that I had put together some time ago that was constantly giving me problems. I wanted this necklace to work like a lariat, but the dangly part kept falling out of my metal, donut bead/pendant. I think it's because the pendant is so heavy and the dangles are just adorned with small dove charms that don't weigh anything. I couldn't put a big stopper charm or bead on the end because then you wouldn't be able to get the thing over your head or the length would wind up being longer than I wanted. I did rig up something that kept it in place, but it looked awful and completely messed up the drape of the necklace. While I was fidgeting around in bed last night, the answer came to me.

Here's the main attraction for this necklace:

I call it "Holy Spirit". It looks good either centered or off to the side. Because of that, I couldn't have a clasp in the center back--it had to be uninterrupted chain.

Here's the solution I came up with:

The doves are hanging from two chains threaded through that big bail on the back of the pendant. I couldn't fit any more chain through the bail's opening. I made a special pin (wrapped loops on both ends) with two chains attached on the left side and a lobster clasp clipped onto the right. You should be able to click on any photo to open a very large version of it in a new window. Anyway, problem solved and I'm happy. This Sunday, I'm talking to the kids about Jesus's baptism, so I really wanted to be able to wear this necklace!

With that problem out of the way, I was still not ready for sleep. I started another project around 2 this morning. I had a large, faceted, square pendant that was labeled as "turquoise jasper (dyed)" and a bunch of coordinating round beads and some amethyst to go with it. Figuring out what to do with such a cumbersome pendant was tricky. I talked to my sister about it a couple of days ago and I decided to hang the pendant from a torsade. The colors and the mottled nature of the pendant reminds me of a Monet painting. Especially "Water Lilies." Take your pick which one! So, I call this "Monet." (http://www.art.com/asp/display_artist-asp/_/CRID--43/posters.htm/_/posters.htm?ui=F66DCE717229402BBC06CC9FCFD8987B)

Necklace:

Earrings:

I'm really behind on boring housework, so I think I will have to stay away from my work table today. :( I won't be doing any laundry today, though! My older daughter generates about 90% of the laundry, so as of today, laundry is her duty. Nyah!

Complete Zebra Set

The resin necklace came out too short. It was a very nice choker, but not for my mom. I still added a second strand to the necklace, but out of the same shell and bone pieces as the first strand. The cool, resin beads became a bracelet. I put some earrings together, and voila! a whole set inspired by Africa. I'm giving it to Mom either tomorrow or Tuesday. I hope she likes it and that the length is doable for her.

The finished necklace:

Resin bracelet (I think the beads look like charred wood or even some kind of volcanic rock):

Earrings:

Mom's Zebra Bead

A while back, my mom hosted some children from an African children's choir that was touring the U.S. She bought a couple of mementos from them that they sold as fundraisers. One of the items was a necklace with a small bead--presumably soapstone--carved into a zebra. The rest of the necklace consisted of a suede cord, some jump rings, and some red and blue, plastic beads.



A few days ago (or was it a few weeks ago?), Mom gave me the necklace to see if I could possibly transform the necklace into something that she would actually wear.



This afternoon, I bought some beads to see what I could create. The beads I bought are bone, shell and resin. "Resin" probably doesn't sound as classy as "bone" or "shell" but these are really, really neat beads!



Here's an extreme closeup of the zebra:

Trust me, it IS supposed to be a zebra!

This is the first half of the necklace that I made:


So now, I'm working on another layer to this necklace using the resin beads. Mom doesn't like things (necklaces, shirt collars) right up against her neck, so I really hope that the second layer will be long enough for her. The stand shown in the picture is just under 20" long, including the clasp. I'll add another post when I get the next strand complete. IF it doesn't turn out too short. If it's too short, then she's just going to get the necklace as you see it here!

Happy Birthday

Today is my Aunt Mary's birthday! The weather was beautiful today and she seemed to have had a great day. Most of the family met for dinner at the Olive Garden and then gathered at her house for birthday goodies afterward. Well, I think I can say that she enjoyed the jewelry. :)




And now, just as I promised, I can reveal to everyone else the gift that I was so excited about. If anyone is interested in commissioning something similar, I'd be happy to make it. However, I can not find any more of these lovely pink, coin beads.

Dangle earrings ($25)

30" necklace with lobster clasp ($50) --length does not include the pendant drop

8" bracelet with toggle clasp ($45)

The bracelet can attach to the necklace for a more dynamic look.

Color Schemes

Okay, I promised I'd add some pictures of my ideas. I'm still working on those, but I've got some great color schemes put together.



These aren't the best photos in the world--the colors aren't as bright and sparkly as they are in person. This first one is an assortment of summertime colors in the small beads, a mix of topaz and pink in the Czech fire-polished glass beads, and a copper chain. I had thought of making some kind of choker with the pillow beads and using the round ones in a tassel-like dangle in the center. I want to do something fun that takes advantage of the lower necklines of spring and summer.





This second arrangement has a great color mix of teal, plum, rose, gold, black, and aqua in the focal beads. I thought I'd accent them with sparkly Swarovsky crystals, flourite chips and a variety of silver beads.

Finally, I just fell in love with these pastel, lucite leaves. They remind me of a hair clip I got for Easter 20+ years ago. They seemed magical or something. Unfortunately, I don't think the clip or its little lucite pieces of fruit exist anymore. So, I wanted to make something magical with these leaves. I'd like to construct a necklace similar to the arrangement shown in the picture, but it's going to take some engineering. The asymmetrical grouping of the leaves would be accented by olive and rose Swarovsky crystals and flanked by a symmetrical strand of pink and olive glass pearls. Well, that's the idea anyway.


Today is laundry day. Now that I've caught you up on what's going on in my beady brain, I'd better get to it! Hmmm, I wonder what I can put together between wash cycles...