o, world.

Save the date!

The silverware pieces are finished! I'll post a little sneak peak tomorrow, and I'm working on a slide show so you can see the process in detail from start to finish, but for right now - save this date! They'll be available in my etsy shop on Wednesday, November 11 at 7pm.

P.S. This post is a 'sticky'! It stays at the top of my blog until I check a little box to remove it. New posts are still being posted below.

{wonderfully} Busy.

So much happened this week{+end}. My afterschool art classes finally got into full swing. The kids painted, glued, drew, collaged, sculpted and built. I got a sticker that said 'I love you', more hugs than I can recall getting in the last several months, and two drawings of Wolverine.

I went to the thrift for the first time in awhile, where I bought several wonderful things: a cracked, kelly green coin purse that is essentially useless but un-pass-up-able, being practically perfect in every way (very green, very old, very tiny), an old, red leather bag with a very confusing strap, and...



...which quickly, excitedly became...



I made a necklace for a friend's wife...



...and something I can't show you quite yet with these Moo cards.



I spent Saturday wandering around Cincinnati, which kept my over-excited (Moo cards! Silverware to slice up! Tiny coin purses! *falls over*) brain from burning out, and made for some lovely photo ops.



The light was perfect, and I took more pictures than I had in a long time.



And now I'm here, catching up on emails, looking forward to tomorrow's dinner with my parents, and to next week's finishing of above-mentioned projects and the start, inevitably, of a few new ones.

Crafty.

Aren't these (vintage! glass!) cabochons kind of amazing? That bark texture is just perfect, and the color absolutely glows. Of course, being an experimenter, an 'Okay, yes, they're pretty much perfect, but wouldn't they be even more perfect if we tried this?' breed of person, I wanted to see what they would look like if I etched them. So, I etched a few, and I am (see, it was worth it!) so happy I did - the result is the same color, only wonderfully muted, with the texture defined in a really subtle, fabulous way.


Can I make a confession now? I bought these cabs knowing - KNOWING - I wouldn't use them in my own work. I just wanted to have them, and look at them on my studio's Shelf of Pretty Things, and maybe get them out and touch my fingers along the beautiful texture every once in awhile. But, once I etched a few, and saw how perfectly autumn-esque (can't you picture them in a darkly oxidized setting, hanging from a long chain or set into a ring?) they were, I decided to offer them for sale in the shop. You can check out more photos there, and wait patiently (or not so patiently; I won't judge) until tomorrow, Nov. 1, when they'll debut!

Sneak Peak.

I spent much of this week preparing for the launch of the first wave of my holiday items, and it was so hard for me to wait to take photos! But, I'm trying to be a bit more methodical, and do things in some sort of order, which is pretty opposite how I (and many artists, yeah? tell me I'm not alone, here..) normally go about things. But, I did. I waited. And today I took every single photograph that needed to be taken. Well, save for one, which is just not ready quite yet! I'm waiting on one last supply to arrive in the mail so I can finish them up. Of course, it's the piece I am most excited to show you. That's not to say I'm not pleased with how the other items turned out - I can't sell a piece of jewelry that I don't love. But I am particularly excited to watch these tiny little pendants take shape, partly because they are fun to make, and partly because I just know other people will be happy to give them as gifts. They're perfect for the holidays, and that's exciting - there's something really amazing when someone tells you that they like your work enough to give it as a gift to someone else. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

Anyway! Enough artsy-feely rambling. The photos came out better than I could have hoped (it was pretty overcast - I take my photos using natural light only, with one brief burst of sunlight that I took advantage of until my camera batteries gave out), and, though the pieces are available for sale starting November 1, I had had had to share the snaps of them right now. So, you can see the Hello, Jelly earrings , and peruse the other pieces (except for one, and that one will be available on Nov. 1 as well - you'll just have to be surprised!), too, here, if you like.

Hoops.

There's something satisfying about making hoops, especially when I'm able to find a way to tweak them a little. Turning a staple into something with a little..extra. I love these. The shape is just what I wanted - softly faceted, like airy, oversized gems. I made and photographed them today, and they will be available for sale on November 1st! You can see more photos (and bookmark the page in case you want to snap them up when they become available), here.