How I Spent My Christmas Vacation...

Some people lolled on beaches all week. In my usual fashion, after procrastinating most of the week, I finally buckled down and starting making jewellery on the 23rd for the last market day before Christmas.

One of the perks was walking into the market on the 24th to an almost-set-up table at 4:57 a.m.

While at the market, I had plenty of time to play...

...and sell. Who woulda thunk that rhinestones and bone skulls would go so perfectly together?

I did surprisingly well for the day before Christmas, considering most people dash in for their turkeys, vegetables, pies, candles, chocolates and flowers -- everything it seems but jewellery -- and immediately dash outta there to the malls to do final shopping. Me, I dashed off to the bank and then to the Charles Dickens Pub for an incredibly good ooey, gooey grilled cheese sandwich. Four cheeses on it, something like that, including Gunn Hill, which is located about one or two kilometres south of me here in the wilderness of Southern Ontario.

Christmas Day I finally got off the desktop and into the other room to make jewellery and binge watch Death in Paradise on my laptop which has external speakers.

I made all of these in two days...

Alas, the triple wrap bracelet above has sold already, but I'm getting more leather and beads in so I can make lots more of these.

Please email me for details on any of the above bracelets. I still have lots, and while some are one of a kind, some styles I have sufficient beads that I can make more, and I can always adjust the size up or down to fit you perfectly. Email me here.

I hope everyone was able to spend time with family and friends or, like me, hunkered down in restorative peace and quiet. Thanks for looking!

Jasper Fans...

I finished an aqua terra jasper fan necklace this morning for a customer. I tore my place apart looking for 6mm round beads that matched this particular blue. Everything I thought I had was either the pale greenish aqua terra, or the navy blue, or purple or fuschia/red. Arrrrggghhh...

Then I remembered that I'd made a necklace a year and a half ago that I think I remembered I hadn't yet sold, but to get to it I had to completely tear apart my market bins. Then -- ta da! -- I found a crocheted bracelet from, oh, at least three years ago, with the perfect 6mm rounds. Turns out I'd used 8mm beads on the necklace, anyway.

I had originally planned to put the rounds between the fan segments but that spread them out too much. This  necklace is very short -- only 16" in length, with a 1" extender. It might have worked with 4mm beads, but lacking those, I decided to only use the 3.5mm antiqued Bali daisy spacers to just give a titch of pop. The customer had already picked out the pewter clasp, so I couldn't really go for copper. I also didn't want to use something that would change colour radically.

And seed beads. I have bins and bins of seed beads. Do you think I could find the right blue? Phhht. Then I found a single string of handmade beads, can't remember when I bought them or even why, but their colour variation perfectly matched the variations in the fan segments when you held the necklace next to your skin.

Thanks for looking!

Sneak Peek of New Bracelets, A Trip to Toth's & A Stunning Turquoise Score...

It was a really busy weekend. No Saturday market at least for the craft vendors, bread-sellers and meat guys because of the fair... and here I thought I could sleep in. Silly bobo. Somebody forgot to inform my internal clock, because, yeppers, I was wide awake at 3:30 a.m.

First, it was off to breakfast at 9:00 a.m. at the Chuckwagon with Brenda (a pal at the One of a Kind Antique Mall: Vendor 861 with crazy good prices on semi-precious and sterling silver jewellery, watches and doodads) and her brother Richard to fuel what became a four-hour marathon of oohing and aahing at Toth's Fossils and Minerals in Ingersoll. Even after four hours, we still didn't see everything.

You can see great pictures of the store itself on Geza's website, but here are pictures of our exploration of the backyard.

I didn't buy a lot... "only" some killer turquoise. Now, this is what really interests me: it was labelled as Pakistan Turquoise. Okay... I didn't know turquoise came from Pakistan and assumed that these beads may have been originally Chinese turquoise subsequently acquired in Pakistan, hence the label. On coming home, I did some research, and it turns out there are vast copper deposits in parts of Pakistan being fairly recently developed (also in Mongolia there huge copper and other mineral deposits being mined, with turquoise being found, as well), and some websites do mention turquoise along with the other semi-precious stones for which Pakistan is well-known, but no information is readily available on the exact location(s) of any producing turquoise deposits.

Flattish puff oval turquoise beads, some with 1mm-2mm holes:

Quartz geode in the back, two pieces of chrysocolla rough, and the most spectacular (to me, anyway) of the turquoise beads:

More puff oval turquoise beads.

Is this Pakistani turquoise or Chinese turquoise from a Pakistani dealer (in Tucson, actually) who originally acquired it in Pakistan? No idea. It bears a strong resemblance to Hubei turquoise from China, but this looks older and cruder (i.e. more "tribal", which is always a good thing!) than anything I've ever seen in my admittedly very limited experience. If anyone out there has any information, I would love for you to get back to me. I'll group, price and photograph the rest of the beads soon.

Meanwhile, on more domestic fronts, I made strawberry peach jam late on Sunday afternoon. Guess who in the background? Couldn't resist at one of the estate sales.

Yesterday I finally sat down and made a pile of seed bead bracelets and anklets for the market. For some reason this summer there was a run on all my seed bead and chip bracelets I'd made over the past three years.

I'm beginning to hate Blogger again: for some reason it wants to import photos in any view it wants to, so long as it's different from the way it was saved. This photo is upside down.

And this photo is sideways:

I'm preparing a little tutorial on how I do crimping which involves using two sizes of crimping pliers since a few of my pals have been asking. Stay tuned for that.

Thanks for looking!

Pewter Koi Earrings...

...and a couple of really cool websites.

Some of you may be aware that I'm looking for a new vehicle -- of course I'm looking now that the ancient Blazer is finally running well and I could derive some benefit from the six grand I put into it last year. I suppose it might be worth something to sell or as a trade-in. For now, I am reading everything RV I can find and watching videos about stealthy living; as well, the teensification of interior design is of great interest at the moment. Check this out...
www.tinyhouselistings.com

It doesn't escape me, the irony around stealth camping and how everyone blabs about it nonstop, including details of their current location.

And for eye candy, there's this...
http://maisonboheme.blogspot.ca/2012/06/easy-breezy-boho-day.html My latest discovery -- there are beautiful photos here throughout the blog. Check out the jewellery layering and those crocheted slippers in today's listing. Drool. I just may get back into crocheting this winter. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about rolling back the clock far too many years and looking like any of the models here, but I can definitely get the jewellery look.

After a morning spent typing and downloading files in preparation for a Sunday typing marathon, I've finally finished these earrings. I spent far too much time fiddling with them, but I guess they sorta kinda look interesting...

Pewter koi (from The Bead Boutique in Kitchener), blue silver-lined seed beads, silver-plated earwires. $35. The s/p earwires can be swapped out for sterling silver for an extra $5. Shipping and handling on request.

Thanks for looking!

Rainforest Gold necklace & some skull chokers for the kids...

...although I suspect some of those kids will be old enough to shave, if not semi-retired. Sigh......... I try.

On a more serious note, I remembered to buy some brass cones in Toronto on Tuesday and was able to finish this necklace. The seed bead mix is called Rainforest Crunch and I bought the beads from Spirt Bear Beads. I didn't get too creative with the beads themselves -- I wanted to see what they would look like as is. Pretty fine, I think.

The brass clasps I made three or so years ago when I first started hammering. I got sidetracked into using silver and copper -- kind of gave up on brass mainly because it's so frickin' hard to hammer! -- but I'm definitely going to be doing more with mixed metals. I still like these. The bought gold donut slides off easily. I like how it has an uneven surface -- it's quite heavy, not tinny -- and it also picks up whatever colours are around it, too.

The necklace is 24 inches long, with the donut, 25.5 inches. It could be temporarily extended very easily with two leather ties.

Howlite skull chokers (while they last), $5 each, plus $5 for shipping and handling.
Rainforest Gold necklace (OOAK), $55 plus $5 for shipping and handling.

Well, now to go make a ring and maybe get to bed before 9:00 p.m. Up at 3:45 a.m. and another market day will begin...

Thanks for looking!

PS: As of right now, 6:45 p.m. on 25 May 2012 I'm at 4,947 page views! Almost FIVE THOUSAND. Whoo hoo! Thanks, everyone!

I was told these are for old people...

My sunglasses live on top of my head so I have no use for glasses lanyards myself... not that I'm old or anything.

The specific request was that this be light in weight, hence using size 10/0 seed beads (a size 8/0 seed bead necklace in a similar length was deemed too heavy), and the string ends are finished in tinned copper and small pewter beads. Before I bought the bag of rubber thingies I wished I'd looked more closely at them. I know I've seen coloured rubber rings somewhere and I could've made these easily enough. Hot pink would've been good...

Two selections for a customer's approval. Sure hope she shows up on Saturday.

This was the first lanyard I made. Dunno if I like the spiral beads I used here. I'm also going to use a stronger, larger gauge jump ring to hold the lanyard onto the rubber thingies.

This was the actual commission -- for the patchwork seed bead style of lanyard and using pewter flower beads on the ends of the stringing...

These are about 26" to 27" long, $30 plus $5 shipping and handling. I take Paypal. Please email me for details and availability or a custom design/length.

Thank you for looking!

MORE skulls...

Got stuck typing all week, but managed tonight to put a few things together. This is a variation on a theme. I will photograph more stuff tomorrow or Sunday, but here's the first one.

I made a pile of seedbead necklaces last week, all about 23" long, some I've added deerskin strings to, to make them adjustable, add pendants, feathers, whatever one likes.

This for now is a fixed length, but easy enough to add leather strings.

BTW, I just got some mood beads. Are they ever wild! Amazing colours. I guess the '70s are back, bigger and better than ever -- except everyone from then keeps DYING so it's kind of a bittersweet trip down memory lane. I missed mood rings the first time around... I actually knew one person who had one. I thought it was the tackiest thing I'd ever seen, cheap glass set in plastic, basically. But they did turn colours. High tech for those days. These beads I just got are finished nicely, edged in silver colour metal with large holes, so they're a lot more useful.

Looks like I have the whole week coming up free of typing and I plan to get a lot done -- including my pesky taxes. Geez, didn't we just have to do those a few months ago? Time is flyin', innit? Only 8 months and 5 days until Christmas. Get your orders in now, folks.


This necklace is for sale: $35 plus shipping/handling. Email me if interested. Thanks for looking!