Copper Heart for Valentine's Day...

I wanted to wire-weave a heart pendant for Valentine's Day, even though it's very time-consuming. It's sure fun to play with.

My big thing at the moment is learning to turn and/or weave around sharp corners without leaving huge lopsided gaps, and I used a design by Nicole Hanna as my jumping off point for the bottom. (The messy top is all mine, though and the bail did NOT work out as envisioned.)

I deliberately left that bloopy loop down at the bottom thinking I'd add a dangle.

Originally that whole circle bit was off-centre and to the right. It looked HORRIBLE! I tend never to plan things. My modus operandi is to weave a length in some pattern and then figure out what to do with it. Sometimes it works out; more often than not it doesn't.

It was when I was manipulating the woven length of wire into shape I realised I'd used too light of a gauge -- 20 instead of 18 -- and the pendant is far too open and wobbly despite its relatively small size: 1-1/4" wide and 1-3/4" tall, including the bail.

I left it for a day and went online and looked at more hearts, and decided to try and rescue it with a bead, found several lighter colours that worked, but being for Valentine's Day, figured go with garnet. Here you can see the way I've trapped the garnet. I also at this point, moved the circle-y bit to the centre of the pendant; one of my fave things about wire-weaving in general is how forgiving it is to move and manipulate. The curls trapping the garnet turned out to be surprisingly secure, but I did weave it in place with a bit of wire just to be sure it didn't pop off.

Here's a slightly different angle showing the curled "prongs". The bead should've been seated further down into the circlet, but I'd already stitched those into place, and there was no more wiggle room.

I'll have this and other pendants and great gifts available for sale at the Woodstock Farmers Market every Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to noon, or email me for availability and shipping/handling cost. You can also contact me via my Facebook page.

Thanks for looking!

Saturday Market Chokers & Bracelet...

Saturday was a good market for some reason. The place was packed right from 7:00 a.m. until noon. Valentine's Day? Phhht. Around here, come holidays, people buy their flowers, chocolates and good eats to throw on the grill and then vamoose to the malls and big box stores. I did overhear people talking about the price of roses, everything from $100+ for a dozen roses from a "real" flower store to $20+ from Wally-World and its ilk for roses of dubious quality. I think somehow the word got out about the crazy good price for roses at the Woodstock Farmer's Market, which could explain why so many new people were at the market. The Floral Express sells roses as well as all kinds of mixed flowers, your choice, 3 bunches for $10 with baby's breath. Not to mention, as I mentioned a post or two ago, with care the roses in particular will last up to ten days. Even I, with my notorious black thumb, can keep 'em going for ten days.

Remember the budding paperwhites: look at us NOW!!!

Note: It's about -40C today with the windchill, but sure looks like spring in here. I don't know how my poor truck started in that obscene cold this morning, but it did. AND the heater worked!

Meanwhile, back at the market, there was one lady very pleased to have finally tracked me down. A while ago, she'd bought some very distinctive earrings from a store which suddenly went out of business (wow, was I surprised!) and for a year and a half she's been looking for me. Told me she was talking about the earrings to a friend just the other day and now she's found me again. Bought another pair of the same style of earrings, took my card this time and promised to be back.

In between lots of customers and pals stopping by to chat, I made these four chokers and an adjustable bracelet, all which are currently out on approval:

This particular customer has very specific likes and dislikes, and the easiest way to make things he will like is to as much as possible narrow down a selection of beads he does like out of all the new ones I get in and then riff on various combinations thereof. He didn't like any of the multiple skull designs I made last week, so this week I used only one skull.

Something else is coming up: another big move for me at the One of a Kind Antique Mall. You know the tired old mantra, "location, location, location"? Of course you do -- and like all cliches it sucks that it's so true. When I first started selling at the Antique Mall, my showcase was right up by the front door and sales were pleasantly steady. In a long overdue expansion from one to three computerised cash stations, I was turfed out to make way for a wrapping station, and ended up just a few feet around the corner lost amongst at least a dozen other showcases -- and where my sales have tanked bigtime.

May 1st, though, I will be in this shiny white showcase right next to the cash desk. Yes, when the place is particularly busy on weekends people will be lining up right in front of and blocking the showcase to anyone walking by, but every single customer in that store will be standing in line there for a few seconds to one, two, five, ten, maybe even fifteen minutes with nothing better to do than to look at Nancy's and my jewellery, collectible beads, antiques and junque.

Every. Single. Customer. Talk about location. Same vendor number: 800. Nancy's is 847.

I'm standing to take this picture just inside the front door of the mall right where my old showcase used to be.

To the right of and just past that guy walking down the aisle
is Booth 800/847, which is mine and Nancy's.

John and Jack, the two owners of the Antique Mall. 

Dapper Jack behind my new showcase, 800. 

(No, the rifle is a reproduction)

Don't forget, The Gem Expo is coming up in Toronto at the Hyatt Regency in the middle of March, the weekend of the 13th, 14th and 15th. PLUS... for the first time, I will be selling Nancy's and my antiques and junque and Roman glass and collectible beads at the Woodstock Nostalgia Show and Sale on Sunday, March 8 at the Fairgrounds on Nellis Street.

Thanks for looking!

Mixed Pearl Necklace & Earrings

It's February 15th! Happy Half-Price Chocolate Day to you all!

A long silence. With both the weather and roads being the height of crappy the past two Saturdays I erred on the side of caution and skipped the markets. I had visions of sitting at my kitchen table, the only semi-clear space in here (I have four -- count'em -- work tables each of which is completely buried a foot deep in stuff plus the kitchen table), snow silently piling up to the eaves outside and putting jewellery together, but with another onslaught of transcription to plough through not much jewellery-making got done at all.

I finally got around to adding this pretty heart clasp to the mixed cream, pink and purple pearl and Swarovski crystal necklace I started two weeks ago. I have a feeling the clasp could be sterling, but like a lot of things there including these mixed pearls, unmarked and unpriced bags of this, that and the other surface periodically and with no idea from where or whence they came. No .925 on the clasp anywhere to be seen, but it has the sheen and weight of sterling, so mebbe. Sterling earwires for sure on the matching earrings.

Necklace is approximately 25" long

I have a million ideas of things to make but unlike so many of the prolific bloggers I follow, I'm mired deeply in the winter doldrums (and those pesky files). Fortunately the emergence of the sun the past few days is working its slow but sure magic. Now if the temperature could just get above freezing and stay there... how nice that would be!

This is what my pal Lynn (aka Lynny Claus) over at http://cattaildesigns.blogspot.com/ has been working on -- the jewellery display frame AND the earrings. Once the hangers are attached, this and its duplicate will be winging their way to her daughters (2 frames, 2 daughters) as combo V-Day/B-day gifts.

Again, Happy Half-Price Chocolate Day everyone, and thanks for looking!

Blue Hebron, Majapahit & Trade Beads, Plus Some Market Chokers...

Whoo hoooo! BLUE  HEBRON BEADS! I have been lusting after these for the longest time. An early birthday present to myself, plus these gorgeous Majapahit Javanese beads and more trade beads (pink Cheyenne and African glass trade beads). I'll tell you, I sure wish I'd bought more of the Majapahit beads. They are stunning. The pictures do not do them justice at all.

The blue Hebron beads will be available for sale in small lots. Email me if you're interested and tell me what size(s) you're interested in. To be fair I'll probably sell them by weight. Ditto the Majapahits.

The market itself was again slow this past Saturday, but I kept myself busy and made these chokers, some of which my client bought, the rest of which are now on the table available for sale.



Top to bottom: copper jump rings & copper beads, silver-plated & hematite beads; copper jump rings & copper, stainless steel-plated & hematite beads; silver-plated, copper jump rings & hematite beads; & copper jump rings, silver-plated, stainless steel and gunmetal plated beads & a copper-wrapped silver-plated skull bead



Top bracelet and choker: silver-plated base metal "rock";
Lower choker: silver-plated beads flanking a jumble of large-holed pewter spacers

And, because V-Day is coming up...



Glass beads, sterling earwires

 Thanks for looking!