New Goodies, A New Supplier, Lots of New Beads Coming & Introducing The Talking Couch

Christmas in August, my favourite season!

"Is there anything for me in there?" asks the Talking Couch. 

"Note the flash of Fox Turquoise a little to my right nostril. And are those turquoise bear fetishes I see over by my right hand... paw...? Whatever -- I'm already drooling. Okay, where are the bones? Yo, Lady Who Feeds Me, did you buy me some bones?"

"Phhht..." as he shakes his silly locks... silky. I meant silky.

A deep sigh from the Talking Couch. "There's never ever anything edible in these boxes from Magpie Gemstones. What good are they?" he wants to know. "Well," I say, "You do like the bone beads. They're nice and crunchy." "Oh, right," and he hangs his head in shame. "Those. I thought you'd put them out for me." "Well, I did put them at nose level on top of the bin, didn't I? My fault entirely."

Which reminds me -- I forgot to order more bone skulls from Happy Mango. Rats. And I think they were even on sale, too. Next time. "Yip-yip-yipeeee," from the Talking Couch.

Oh, hey -- check out Nelson Gemstones online. Finally, someone who stocks most, if not all, of the rounds of a given stone, meaning 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, etc. I mean, think about it. When was the last time you went anywhere and they had all the rounds for the stone you were looking for? Hmm? Nobody does that. Not for all the different semi-precious beads. Finally, someone IS doing it.

The deal is, if you go right now -- TODAY -- and "like" Nelson Gemstones on Facebook (and you can sneak in your order up until tomorrow -- Saturday -- morning) you can get the code that will give you a 25% discount on all the beads including new stock which Joanne will be bringing in based on the orders received up until then. I can hardly wait to see the lapis I've ordered.

And... I got more wire from Flim Flam last night in Brantford to make more fancy long headpins for stacking up big pendants and crystals and whatnot and to make wrapped rings, and I have a new order coming soon from Happy Mango. Whoo hoo, Christmas indeed. And Swarovskis coming in... and wait 'til you see the turquoise................ "Here comes Lynny Claus, here comes Lynny Claus..."

The goodies from my current shopping spree are mainly intended for the big 4th Annual Grand River Bead Society Bead Show in October in Guelph, but you can always get a sneak preview of my offerings on Saturday mornings at the Woodstock Farmer's Market.

Now I have to get busy pricing and then DO SOMETHING with all of my new treasures.

Thanks for looking!
 

Japanese chain maille bracelet & ring... creative procrastination at its finest

It's hot hot hot. I have typing out the yin yang still to do and I am blind with eyestrain. Off to the eye doc tomorrow morning, and that little problem should be resolved with new lenses in, oh, three weeks or so.

Good news: today I shipped my very first sale of turquoise beads off my long-neglected website. Thank you, Kaye! I have to start taking more pictures and posting new items. The prices are old -- I bought this turquoise three and four years ago -- and I checked a few places online. Wow, has it gone up. I did order myself some Fox Mine turquoise -- really looking forward to seeing that -- along with a pile of other cool stuff including some black tourmaline beads for a commission. That will be combined with some raw black tourmaline. My customer for this says black tourmaline conveys some serious power. Stay tuned for pix.

Japanese chain maille ring and bracelet. Would this be called 3 in 3? I forget. I'm sure someone will correct me. I had bought these copper rings mainly because they are so purty and shiny, and I was procrastinating, stacking them up and watching them flippety flop over, rather than sitting tight and square like more usual chain maille designs and thought they'd make a nice Japanese style chain maille ring, comfortable to wear due to generalised floppiness.

I have a customer in mind for this, hence the 9.75 size: note the tiny jump rings I used in the top photo (at about 7:45) to reduce the size to pretty much exactly 9.75 on the ring mandrel.

Then I thought a necklace or choker would be a cool idea, and a mindless (I'm so easily entertained) hour or so later... I realised I was going to run out of rings long before I got to 20 or 22 inches, so I stopped at an 8-inch bracelet. I'd forgotten how silky soft metals can be.

I'm working on a new "leaf" style of hammered clasp, plus it's a little more guyish than the usual curvy, twirly designs I do, and I'm hoping that the centre bit will prevent the jump ring from working its way loose all the time like it tends to do in the standard curvy style of hammered clasp. This still isn't quite what I picture in my mind -- I'd prefer sharper bends rather than soft curves -- but I'm working on that.

Thanks for looking!