My Favourite Fidget Gadget

Date: 2010.07.19 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

At next weekend’s Portobello West Market (July 25, 2010), I will be introducing my favourite fidget gadget, the “Stress Ball” aka a chainmaille concoction called a dodechahedron. I could get technical with the definition of a dodechahedron (and yes, I’m kind of a math geek type) but in general I just call it a sphere. It is made from 96 rings and in this larger size, assembled one ring at a time. In the centre is a mysterious big glass bead that lets its colour shimmer through every so often. Attached to a long chain, it makes a fabulous and conversation eliciting piece. The aluminum rings make it very light weight, the glass bead adds just a spark of colour and the long chain makes it a fun fashion statement. You have to come and give it a feel. The rings move ever so slightly and at about a 1″ diameter, you’ll find yourself placing it in your hand and fidgeting with it. The fidget factor makes it my idea of a stress ball.

I also make these in a couple of other variations. There’s one that’s slightly larger than my standard size and that houses a glass marble in the centre and then there’s the dainty little sphere that I’ve created in colourful combinations as cell phone charms and in sterling silver, sometimes mixed with colourful anodized niobium as delicate little pendants on a much shorter sterling silver chain.

See you at Portobello West next Sunday!!!!

Summer Forecast!!!

Date: 2010.07.04 | Category: earrings | Response: 0

It seems I keep talking about summer but I think that’s because we are all starved for some great summer weather.  The kids are out of school now and the Canada Long Weekend has come and gone and I was so cold in the house today that I contemplated wearing long sleeves today.  But then, there’s the weather forecast and it’s calling for hot temperatures by the middle of the week.  Yahooo!!!  Maybe the July Portobello West market will be blessed with dry and warm weather so that it can be held outside.  The June market, my first go at Portobello West, was forced back inside the train station because of the cool and suspect weather forecast.  I had a fun day.  I had a fabulous neighbour which always makes it a better day.

In preparation for scorching sunshine, I photographed some of my earrings that make me think summer sun in blazing reds, yellows and oranges.  Fun, No?

Blazing Sun Shaggy Loops Earrings

The Blazing Sun Shaggy Loops earrings are made from enameled copper rings in bright and shiny colours.  Shaggy loops is such a fun weave.  There’s structure and there’s chaos and these will look fabulous with your dog days of summer casual outfits.  I’m looking forward to being more laid back and just chilling out a bit.

And in similar colourways, are another version of my jingly scale maille earrings.  I love, love, love this colour combination.

Warm Scale Maille

Back to work for me tomorrow after a nice 4-day Canada Day weekend.  I wish I had found more time to do a bit more chain weaving but at the same time, it’s been fun hanging with the kids and the hubby.  Have an awesome week!!!

Summer Fun

Date: 2010.06.25 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

School is almost out. Summer is officially here and eventually, we’ll have some awesome summer weather (it has improved already compared to May and early June). There will be days when our favourite foot wear will be sandals and we’ll be in capris, and skirts and shorts. What better way to add that little bit of extra than to show off an anklet!!

This pink and stainless steel double barrel anklet will be on show at Sunday’s Portobello West Market. I have a few styles of anklets ready to go but the double barrel weave is my favourite of them all.

Since I’m on a bit of a pink streak, just for today, I’d also like to introduce another piece in my new “scale maille” line. These metal scales are fun!!! They are made from anodized aluminum which makes them super light weight and these earrings jingle just a bit when you walk around or shake your head. I can make these up in lots of colour combinations, not only pink and silver. I had thought that this style of jewelry has potential for belly dancers and I actually ended up selling a fun pair of longer style rainbow scale maille earrings to a young lady at my last show who wanted them for belly dancing. Too cool!!!

My hours leading up to the market are crazy busy right now but I’m so excited about Sunday. I have lots of little things I’d like to add to my show inventory before Sunday but I’m not sure how that will all work out since there aren’t many more free minutes available. Somehow, between, the last dance weekend of the school year for my daughter tomorrow and my wonderful plans to sit and prep some more goodies, a trip out to the inlaws was snuck into my weekend plans.

Have a great first weekend of summer!!!

A Slump

Date: 2010.06.23 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

Every once in a while, life throws you a little curve ball and sometimes that curve ball is a bit of a slump.

On the heels of Fab Fair, which was a nice event, I had a lot of visions and plans of the things I wanted to design and create next but I decided to take a bit of a break the first few days after Fab Fair. I had worked so hard getting ready for it that I needed a bit of time to de-stress and to just take a bit of a breather from the pliers and the rings. The hard thing for me is that when I have all my stuff out to work on, I work on it all the time. When it’s all neatly put away and organized, I struggle pulling it out. In the mean time, I have had many, many ideas swirling around in my head.

Fast forward to a few days after Fab Fair when I’m ready to put some of those ideas into reality and poof, life happens. Work has been super busy and life as well. Now, though, the end of the school year is in sight and it’s hard to believe that the big year end dance show is over, too. My little tap dance group (this year named the Circus Cougars) finished off the year with a couple of great performances on stage. Of course, it was my daughter who stole all of our hearts as her hard work and determination this year really showed off on stage. It was a proud Mama moment and I wouldn’t change a thing, not even the countless hours of driving to, picking up from and waiting at the dance studio for her to finish yet another practice or another picture shoot or whatever else there was at any given moment. And there was that final curtain call after the curtain closed for the last time this past weekend and we were going out on stage to take our bows…. And here is my little girl, too embarrassed to hold her Mom’s hand running across the stage for our final bow… I’ll never forget that. Maybe next year, I won’t try to embarrass her by making her go out on stage with her old Mom.

Now that this is all done and school is almost finished for the year and life will hopefully adopt a bit slower pace, even if just for a few weeks, I’m settling back into my creative routine. There are things that I want to do this summer: Crating lots of great new chainmaille pieces is at the top of my list. Dyeing yarn and fibre in the backyard ranks a close second (I just finished up a course in yarn dyeing and I’m in love) and of course, I will try to spend some good quality time with the kids and husband during our “staycation” in August.

Up next is Portobello West on June 27 and I’m more than excited at showcasing my jewelry at this most wonderful market. One of the many pieces you’ll find me displaying at the show is my Chainmaille Star Flower, currently one of my favourite pendants.

See you there!!!

Held Captive – Poor Beads, Oh My….

Date: 2010.05.28 | Category: Chainmaille Necklaces, New Listings | Response: 0

How tragic for these beautiful, yet simple, black and white Czech glass beads…… many hundred (I lost count but there are at least 450 rings in this necklace) bright aluminum rings got together and trapped all these lovely black and white beads in their little cages. There is no escaping!!!

I really enjoyed creating this necklace over the course of last weekend, a long weekend, no less. The weave I used is called “captive inverted round” and the captive part refers to the beads that are captive inside the rope like structure. I had no idea what ring size to use to make this work but trial and error helped me find the right size to work with these beads I had at hand. I have seen the captive part be other things than beads such as more rings, for example, rings of a contrasting colour. I will experiment with that concept at some point in time as well.

This particular necklace is fairly long at over 26″ and I haven’t used a clasp. It’s one continuous loop and easily slides over my head (and I have a pretty big one). I kept contemplating, as I was working on this piece, whether I should make it a short choker style necklace or a longer one and the long style won out. I do have plans though to make another one that’s a whole lot shorter with sparkly Swarovski crystals inside the cage. I already have the crystals at home. I just need to sit down and make it.

Speaking of making it, Fab Fair is coming up in just another short week and I have some great new pieces ready to go as well as tons of earrings. However, I’ve fallen prey to a bit of procrastinating. I have several bracelets and necklaces half finished and quite a few lonely earrings – earrings that are either just missing the ear wire or lonely earrings that don’t have a partner yet. Before getting too much more creative with new ideas, I need to sit down and finish what’s waiting for me to be finished. In the sock knitting world (which I’m deeply entrenched in – I try to knit at least one pair of socks a month), we call this sort of thing the second sock syndrome when you knit one sock and then lose interest in making the sock’s buddy. I guess I’m suffering second earring syndrome…. I think.

Aside from creating jewelry, I am currently in the middle of a yarn/fibre dyeing workshop. We started last night and are continuing tomorrow. I will blog about my yarn dyeing experience over on my “other blog” when the workshop is done.  Tomorrow I will spend the day learning to dye up 108 little hanks of silk (little hanks that I spent countless days winding) in the full spectrum of the colours. I just wish the weather would coordinate. On Sunday, I’ll get back to the jewelry!!! Enjoy the weekend!

The Beauty of New Supplies

Date: 2010.05.19 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

The beauty of receiving new supplies in the mail is that it really gets me excited about creating new things. Over the last few days, I’ve been dabbling with some new weaves and getting back to some materials I hadn’t used in a while.

Early on, I started using copper and loved the feel of working with the metal. I never made a whole lot of copper pieces, however, because I was always worried about disappointing my customers if the copper, over time tarnishes. Some love the look that copper develops into after some time of wear and exposure to oxygen and others prefer it to stay like a clean, shiny penny. When you see one of my copper pieces, they will be as shiny and sparkly as a shiny penny because I tumble my pieces in my tumbler which polishes them beautifully. Now, of course, not everyone has a tumbler at hand once they bring a piece of copper jewelry home but there are several ways to bring copper back to that shiny glow. The easiest I have experimented with is just a bath in some lemon juice or some vinegar, water and a pinch of salt. I haven’t tried it but some people swear by putting their copper in ketchup…. Yes, ketchup. It’s all about the acid. I think I must go and try the Ketchup trick myself to see if I can support the claim. I have tried a commercial tarnish remover that said it was good on copper but I didn’t enjoy the results. Right now, I’ve got about 3 copper pieces in various stages of completeness but this one is all finished, shiny and bright:

Now, stainless steel is not a first for me. I LOVE stainless steel. I think it’s cool. It’s kind of industrial looking, not as shiny as bright aluminum or sterling silver but it’s a work horse of a material. It does not tarnish and gets shinier with lots of wear. It’s also very strong. I’ve been wearing a basic Byzantine bracelet, one of my first creations when I first was learning, pretty much 24/7 for several years and it’s as good as new. That’s so boring, I know, but I love that bracelet and I love seeing how it stands the test of time. The novelty of the bracelet I’m about to show off is that I have never made a double spiral using 18 gauge rings before. I love how this bracelet turned out. It’s like a thick, heavy rope and would look great on a girl as well as a guy. Here it is:

And last but not least, I was enamoured with these little metal scales. I picked some sterling silver ones up and then also some made from anodized aluminum. They are so much fun to play with and I’ve made a bunch of earrings from them. They are not huge, maybe about 1″ in length and I have them in many bright colours. If you combine more than one scale in an earring, they will jingle softly.

Aren’t they fun? Maybe I’ll play with the sterling silver ones tonight. I’m not sure how I’ll use them as I don’t have many. I bought those for experimenting.

I have some necklace designs in my head, too. I drew them out on scrap paper yesterday so I just have to play and experiment with those.

On Wednesday nights (tonight), I spend time waiting for my daughter, sitting in a highschool cafeteria. I used to have a chatting partner (one of the other Moms) but she had other commitments to tend to so for the last few weeks, I’ve been solo. It’s a good time for me though. I can tune out the world, nobody is talking to me or wanting something from me, I put the i-pod on and listen to something good (usually podcasts of some nature) and I play with rings. I love it. I’ll have to think about what box of rings to take tonight. I think I need some more anklets.

Until next time…………….

First Event in 2010

Date: 2010.05.17 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

This weekend was my first event of the year. I got to ease into the spring/summer sales season with a low-key outdoor market at a local elementary school. Take a peek at my overall set-up. After having had some larger spaces at various Christmas shows, it took me a bit of playing to fit everything on to one smaller table. It worked although I have some ideas for improvement. I brought all my gear in my little Honda Civic but when we took everything down, my hubby was on hand to help and he just pulled up the truck and we slid everything in there. Now, I wonder if he’ll let me borrow the truck one day when I have other shows to go to where I can’t count on him to help??? I’m dreaming, I know…. I don’t have help to set-up and take-down often because of course, while I’m about doing “my thing” hubby hangs out with the kids – which I’m forever grateful for.

We enjoyed a warm day with lots of sunshine. My kids came by a couple of times during the day and had fun with the bouncy castle and my boy especially enjoyed meeting the firemen and having a good climb in the fire truck. All in all, it was a great family event. Not necessarily the right market for my pieces but the day really did give me the chance to look over my finished jewelry inventory as it was all out in front of me and I managed to play with my set-up and all those things are important as I move along in the season. Take a look at my casual earring stand……. It’s full of fun and simple goodness – while, at the same time, I really saw that I need to fill out my inventory of the earrings made from the precious metals.

My centre pieces are my sterling silver necklaces – I love my focal pieces:

Last week I received an enormous amount of new rings (and I still managed to forget some critical sizes on my order). I received sterling silver, titanium, stainless steel, anodized aluminum, enamelled copper, pure copper, bright aluminum and niobium – these rings are really getting my creative juices flowing and I’ve just been scribbling out a new necklace design.

Next up is Fab Fair in Vancouver on Main Street at Heritage Hall. This event takes place on June 5^th and 6^th. Until then, I’ll keep plugging away with the new (and the old) rings and hopefully have a whole bunch of new things on hand.

An Earring a Day – Day #3

Date: 2010.05.05 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

I’m a pretty simple girl when it comes to my own wardrobe and bling. I love every piece I create but every once in a while, I make a piece that is “so me” and these earrings are one of them. I used these hex shaped seed beads in a bracelet design before and although the bracelets turned out great, the bead wasn’t quite right for the bracelet. The beads were a bit too small. That particular weave in the size of rings I was using generally needs Size 6 seed beads and these ones were a size 8 (the bead gets smaller as the number increases). When I found them, all lonely, waiting for some attention on my desk in my room, they really wanted to be turned into something and I knew they were perfect for these earrings. The stainless steel rings worked perfectly with the silvery beads. Last weekend, I even went back to the bead store where I originally bought these beads to see if they had more and they didn’t have any in stock. I really, really want to make a matching bracelet and necklace. I have since found them available through one of my other regular on-line suppliers so a bead order must be placed!!!

I listed them in my Etsy shop. Until I get more beads, this is the only pair of these earrings I’ve got.

I’m looking forward to a creative weekend, among all the other stuff that’s the norm for me on a weekend. There will be all the normal weekend things plus Mother’s Day activities. I figure spring and summer will arrive at some point soon (it feels really quite cool for May 5^th where I am right now) so my next creative focus will be some new anklet designs. I look forward to experimenting and creating.

An Earring A Day – Day #2

Date: 2010.05.03 | Category: New Listings, earrings | Response: 0

I Love Purple Earrings

Today’s pair of  earrings are made from light weight bright aluminum and display a fun purple spade shaped bead as the design feature at the bottom.  These earrings are casual and fun.  The dangle is woven in the box chain weave.

They are now listed in my Etsy shop.

Chainmaille Earring a Day

Date: 2010.05.02 | Category: At Events, earrings | Response: 0

I’ve been busy…. with lots of things. A little peek into my life away from creating chainmaille jewelry – I’ve been running my Grade 3 daughter around to her dance classes all weekend including some auditions today for the competitive dance troupe at her studio. When I’m ‘taxi Mom’, I often have either some knitting with me or, especially if I’m prepping for a big event, I’ll have my rings and pliers with me and you’ll see me weaving chainmaille as I patiently wait. We also had my Mom’s birthday to celebrate this weekend and my little boy’s soccer practices… so now, as I reflect on the weekend, I’m surprised that we’ve already reached the end of Sunday evening and that Monday is already around the corner.

Box Chain Anodized Titanium Chainmaille Earrings

Nonetheless, I did sneak in creative moments left right an centre and earrings were the name of the game.  Stay tuned as I present one earring a day over the course of this week.  First up, I was playing around with my favourite, the anodized titanium rings in a muted rainbow mix of colours.  I created a short dangle using the box chain weave and then finished it off with a moebius chainmaille flower.  The ear wires are made from natural coloured niobium which is said to be hypo-allergenic so these earrings are great for individuals with metal sensitivities.  They are now available in my Etsy shop

Watch this spot for more new earrings!!!

In event news, I just added my next confirmed Christmas show to the event calendar – the Abbotsford Arts Council Christmas Craft Fair which will take place the weekend of November 27-29!!!  It seems like a long way off but I always fool myself into thinking how far off events are and the next thing I know, the time as snuck up on me!!!