ArtBeads Artistry: Crystal Week: Furnace Fire Necklace

Brr! The weather turned a little chilly today! I even turned on the furnace for the first time to prepare for the time we night need to turn on the heat... which might be tonight! Anyway, it seems appropriate that the new design that I have to show today is based on fire and furnaces. The Steam Stone in the center was inspired by steampunk movies that feature ovens and furnaces, and the Rusty Engine glaze color is so warm and reminds me of fire. I paired the Steam Stone with some Steam accent bead in a matching glaze, and added Swarovski crystals in topaz and red crystal pearls, copper accents, Vintaj brass centerpiece, and a Green Girl shibiuchi clasp.

Of course, the main inspiration for the whole piece was the Swarovski crystal Rock Pendant in Topaz from Art Beads. I started with the crystal, and wire wrapped it with some Vintaj brass wire, in sort of a freeform way, layering the wire wraps to make a sort of primitive and rough looking pendant. I really love this Rock Pendant... I think it is my favorite of all the crystal pieces I got from Art Beads to play with.

Well, it's past midnight now, and I am sleepy and a little chilly. Time to snuggle up in bed with the doggie and get all warm and zzz...

ArtBeads Artistry: Crystal Week: Love's Beauty Necklace

Today's necklace was designed with spring in mind. The crystal pendant from Art Beads was the inspiration for the whole piece. I used a Swarovski Lily Pendant (which looks strangely yellow-green in this picture...must be picking up the background paper). It is a very elegant bead, beautifully faceted with a very lovely *swoop* to the shape. I had a shibiuchi bird pendant from Green Girl Studios, and I liked the way the crystal pendant echoed the shape when it was next to it. I only had one crystal though, so I decided to go for an asymmetrical design. I also wanted to use a more colorful and springtimey palette, so I used some strawberry quartz ovals, turquoise, and pale green glass leaves. I really like the way those pastel colors contrast with the dark metal of the shibiuchi and brass and the brown glazed porcelain. I threw in a couple of pewter beads, too, because I have been enjoying the mixed metal work.


The back of the bird pendant has a lovely quote, by the way..."Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." -Rumi.

So that was one attempt at a colorful and springy necklace. Not too bad. I have another one to show soon, but after this one I felt the need to dip into the earthy beads again. This time, fire and earth were the inspiration! Stop by tomorrow to see it!

ArtBeads Artistry: Crystal Week: Fairy Wings Necklace

It has taken me some time to clear out a space for my new beading area in the studio and get down to work, but I finally got a chance to play with the delightful Swarovski crystal pendants that I received last month from Art Beads. Part of the reason it took me so long is that when I picked out the beads, I had several projects in mind instead of one major project. I have been a busy beader the past couple of days and I want to share the things I made with you this week.

The first piece I used was the Dragonfly Pendant in Crystal Satin. I really like this wing shaped bead, particularly the asymmetry of it. It is a very weighty bead with a large hole, and the shape looked like it would be perfect with my little fairy beads as a suggestion of wings.

I wired together a large pendant with the crystal pendant, a leaf, and a fairy bead and attached them to a large Vintaj butterfly filigree piece. Onto that, I layered a Swarovski crystal button and a Vintaj leaf. For the necklace, I used heavy bronze SoftFlex and wired it in and out of some Czech Picasso brick beads, brass beads, and colored crystal pearls (detail below).

Clearly, I was in an autumn woodland fairy kind of mood! And working in the browns and greens and bronzes was a good way for me to warm up to this beading session. But of course, I want to be able to submit these new designs for magazines, and the editors are probably looking for spring and summer looks right now, so I tried to keep that in mind in the next piece I made. Come back tomorrow to see it!

Submerged and Extra Links

This past week has been quite busy and full, and I feel like so much happened! I fired some kilns and got completely caught up on my orders, which is amazing. It only lasted for a few minutes, but still! I listed a bunch of items in my Etsy shop (over 60 bead pairs and sets under $20!) and sent out a newsletter. I battled a cold and a terrible case of the monthlies all week, and feel pretty much all better now. I helped Alex clean out the garage (really, he did all the work) and set up the space for an outdoor studio space for metalwork and other fun stuff. I went to Runyan Pottery and bought some new Raku glazes and supplies. I finished the repair work on my scarab carving, which had an edge break off during carving, and started a new molding technique in rubber (shown above... the mold that Jeremy made for me) and I started carving the new dragonfly too! I also cleaned up my beading studio and did some beadwork for the first time in forever. I did ALL of that this week, AND I was a pretty social butterfly on top of it all, going out for dinner a few nights, to a party, and general hanging out with friends.

Since I am caught up on orders, I think this week will be devoted to making stock for the Bead Bonanza on Oct 11th. I also have some great press just starting to come out, so I want to make some stock of those items, in case people come looking for the beads that are in the magazines (fingers crossed). This weekend is Michigan Mud, and Jeremy and I are planning to spend the weekend being clay geeks in Grand Rapids. He is presenting a demo called Mold and Modify: Systems in Ceramic Casting, which I am excited to see.

That's what has been going on! Here are this week's Extra Links:

A Bead A Day
If you are "mousing" all day and still want to wear a bracelet, memory wire rubber tubing is a simple and comfortable option

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy is already thinking about and making Halloween jewelry so she can wear it next month. What about you?

Art Bead Scene
Keep misplacing your ruler? Get one for free!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
29 Days of Giving starts with a Japanese book giveaway.

Beading Arts
So, what to do with all those left over seed beads...?

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi discovers Free Trade Kazuri beads from Kenya.

Cindy Gimbrone
Cindy imagines a movie and writes a script.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Check out the beads and goodies Lorelei bought on her recent trip to London, England

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done.
Jean reviews Big and Bold, a really pretty book of jewelry designs culled from BeadStyle Magazine

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off her new "Twilight" choker made with Swarovski crystal from Artbeads.com

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
The pace is picking up for Andrew and his BIG SALE. Check out where he'll be next and celebrate his birthday with a special 15% off promotional code!

Leafy Face Stone in Beadwork Magazine!

The fabulous Jean Campbell used one of my Leafy Face Stones in her recent project Eau Claire, which is featured in the most recent issue of Beadwork Magazine. This is a gorgeous project! The colors are beautiful and I love what she did with my Face Stone. Congrats to Jean, who was named one of Beadwork's Designers of the Year! Check out this project in the magazine, on bookshelves now. And I hope you will also check out my full selection of Face Stones, many of which have been brought back to the Earthenwood website.

Shaping Up and Shipping Out

It's Monday morning and I am waking up late and having my coffee, planning my day. I was looking forward to my Punk Fitness class today, but sadly, it was canceled. What a bummer. I guess I will check the website to see if there is something else I can take in its place. Maybe I will use the money to go and buy Wii Active, as I have been enjoying Wii Fit so much. Or maybe I will look into that fitness center I pass on the way to the post office. I am determined to get in better shape, slowly but surely. Oh, and dang it, I didn't see the hula hoop guy at the fair yesterday either! I will have to make my own, I guess!

Let's see, now my day looks a little different with these changes, so it's time to replan. I need to do some glazing today and some shipping. I listed a bunch of new charm and link pairs and bead assortments in the Etsy shop last night, as I am continuing with the studio cleaning. They have been selling very well, which makes me happy! I am looking ahead to a bead show in October, and I am getting a little nervous because I don't have much inventory, so it might end up being a whole table full of studio clearance. I guess instead of spring cleaning, I am in an autumn cleaning frame of mind. So I will continue to get my assortments together and list them on Etsy, and then pull them from the shop right before the show.

I have officially moved my shipping area back to the dining room, and I am happy with it again. It allows me to work when I have friends over instead of being locked away in my bead room. Also, I still hope to have some help with shipping someday, so it is set up for that when I need it. I was able to get my brother's printer to work with my laptop, so it is a pretty streamlined task at this point. Anyway, enough babble... it's time to get to some work!

DIY Fair and Extra Extra Linkage

I wandered around the Ferndale DIY Fair yesterday and thought is was really great! It had such a great atmosphere and energy to it... something really different from the classic art fairs that I have done and attended. It's so indie and focused on small businesses and handmade. I don't know, not much tempts me to return to my days of doing street fairs, but this show really did. I will have to consider it for next year. I am planning to go back today, for a few reasons. I want to see more (and maybe pick up a punk rock hula hoop if I can find that guy again!), and I also want to drop off some jewelry with vendors at the art fair who have a gallery called Domaci that sells my work. I haven't given them new work in a while. I pulled all of my resin pendants from the Etsy shop and I am going to consign those with them. I think they will do very well. I don't think I ever blogged the resin necklace above, which I decided to keep for myself for now! It is one of the last pieces I did in resin, and when I ever get a chance to do more, I want to do more like it.

Ok, lots of inventory to do before I go, so I better get to it. I shall leave you with this week's Extra Links:

About.com Jewelry Making
Loving some filigree, check out these new filigree jewelry projects.

A Bead A Day
Bead-wiring vs. bead-weaving...which do you prefer?

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe goes crazy over Mixed Metals book

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene shows off her top art bead picks for this month's Kandinsky Challenge.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy makes more Through the Looking Glass Nuggets Charms that match perfectly with Frost Links.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmis creates a necklace using canvas and leather.
http://carmicimicata.blogspot.com/2009/09/van-gogh-meets-sticky-back-canvas.html

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Bead cones can be used in more way than one and Lorelei shows an example!

Jewelry & Beading
Why wouldn't we talk about fashion on a jewelry and beadwork blog?

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew announces his BIG SALE! Check out all the goodies!

Product Playtime: Wire Forms and Celestial Inspiration

I recently had the opportunity to play with some of Rings and Things' Silver and Gold Filled Wire Connectors. I received the three pieces above and they have been sitting around my studio taunting me for a little over a month. I knew one day I would get to them, and do something fun with wire, and yesterday was the day! I was inspired by the star design, which made me think of moons and other celestial ideas. And since I recently brought back my Moon Face beads to my website, I thought they would be a good match.

For the first piece, Moonlight Coil, I used the circular wire form for the centerpiece, with bronze wire coiled onto the wire at the top and bottom. I really like the bottom two loops of the wire form and how they are attached to the larger ring from which the leaf charm drops. I think that's a nice little detail. I really wasn't sure what to do with the long bar wire form, but with a little bit of heavier bronze wire to hold the center pendant in place, it seemed to form itself into a more elaborate centerpiece. I used my medium sized Moon Face bead in this piece, along with leaves and accent oval links, all in Peachy Tan.

For the second piece, called Star Child, I had more fun with wire, and hanging tiny smoky quartz beads from each of the small loops on the star wire form. I used some larger smoky quartz for the centerpiece and sides, along with three Baby Moon Beads in Earthy Green. I also used a little bit of thin bronze wire to wrap around the star itself to add a little bit of decoration.

Overall, I really enjoyed working with these wire forms! The little loops on them were a little small, but I was able to work with them. I think they would be fun to use in a more delicate way, with thin wire and sparkly crystals. I would try some of the other shapes, too. I recommend them for your own beading experiments!

Hands to Heal

I listed the rest of the "vintage" Stoneware Collage Boxes in the Etsy shop this morning. As I mentioned in a previous post, many of these pendants feature hand imagery in them. I think that being a person who works with my hands daily, I am drawn to hand imagery. My hands are important to me. Sadly, I don't take care of them as well as I should. And the clay and glazes and tools that I use really abuse my hands. Right now I am dreading today's task of glazing, because my hands are sore. I tend to be prone to very dry and cracking skin, and my right hand is in bad shape right now. I am sure I should quit whining about it and go to a dermatologist, but I just never seem to make the time to do it and end up just waiting out the healing process. Besides, I had a lot of skin issues as a kid and the doctors never seemed to be able to help with it, so I guess I have a bad attitude about it now. I guess I just figure I will spend a lot of money for te appointment and the prescriptions and get no relief. *shrug* Anyway , that's my little rant for the day. Its time to put on some rubber gloves (oh how i hate working with them on) and get my glazing done!

More Works in Progress and Inspiration from Biology

I am moving along with the new designs! I spent a couple of hours yesterday sketching and researching, and I am really happy with this new dragonfly design (the bottom one). I can't wait to start carving it! It was too late last night, and I knew I would never sleep if I started, so instead I worked on yet another variation of the scarab carving I did a few months ago. This one has a background that is more interactive with the scarab itself, with a sort of Egyptian/Art Deco sort of feeling to it. I want this series of insects and wildlife carvings to reference historical art styles. Hopefully the historical inspiration will tie the series together and make them interesting.

Another bit of inspiration has been entertaining me lately, the work of nineteenth century scientist/biologist/illustrator/artist Ernst Haeckel. I discovered his work Art Forms in Nature when I was in college, and it had a big influence on my work then. I recently rediscovered his work because I found a documentary about him called Proteus. I had originally fallen in love with his illustrations on a purely aesthetic level, but this documentary taught me more about his life and influence on the world of science. He is a rather controversial figure, it seems, because of his ideas and works having to do with evolution. It's fascinating stuff! But mostly I love to look at his gorgeous drawings of Radiolaria and other sea creatures. Here is a short video with images of his work that I would like to share with you:

And one more thing! Thanks to Skennedy for my new banners for the blog and the Etsy shop! They look awesome!

Dragonfly Carving Experiment

I am very happy to say that I finally just dug in and started (and finished) a new carving! I have been wanting to do a dragonfly for a while, to replace a charm design that I used to make that was a really good seller. That old design was cast from a vintage button, and while it is beautiful, it wasn't an original design. So when I discontinued it, I decided to make my own version, with my own imagery. This is what came out last night and this morning. I didn't sketch it first, I just started carving the clay while looking at several pictures of dragonflies. Perhaps next time I will start with a sketch.

I like it alright, but I want to do another one. This feels a little stiff to me, and I want to have a more art nouveau feel to it, so I am going to start a new one. This one has too many roundy spiral things for what I was going for. But since I am working on a new molding technique, I think this one will start the experimentation. Also, I have another line that I want to start carving that will have a lot of roundy spirals, so I think this was good practice.

I am never sure if I should post these experiments and process pieces that I am unsure about. I am not posting and questioning the design to fish for compliments or to have my ego boosted. This is just my process, and I like to share it, even when I am not entirely sure of the direction. Anyway, I have had too little to blog about lately, I am excited to at least have the start of something new.

And now that I have started something and have a direction to go, I am motivated to work on more things. Carving is very addictive to me, once I start, I want to do more and more. I just love working in porcelain!

Woodland Beetle Necklace

Just a quick post today to show the new necklace I made for my Ren Fest fairy costume over the weekend. It's made of a pewter scarab that Alex and I cast, which is set in Vintaj brass. I added some of my porcelain leaves for some color, and used a pair of cool oval brass links that I found at a bead store over the summer. I really love it, but its HEAVY! I like the mix of the metals, and the way the pewter really stands out against the brass.

Anyway, I had a productive day today doing some really frustrating and unpleasant business stuff. But I pushed on through and went out for a nice dinner. I watched an art documentary (yay! I have netflix again!) which inspired me and I started carving a new piece! I am excited to get back to it, so I shall say goodbye for the night.

Sunny Weekend and Extra Links

I had a wonderful, sunny weekend! Had some crafty time on Friday night, working on some new accessories for my old fairy costume. I made a fun earthy scarab necklace that I will blog about this week. Saturday I went to the Reniassance Festival and had a great time! Got some sun (and sunburn) and walked around watching shows and shopping. My feet were killing me by mid afternoon, so we headed home. After dinner, it was movie time! We saw 9, which was an excellent movie. So beautiful in a dirty, post apocalyptic, kinda steampunk sort of way. We ended the evening playing Beatles Rock Band. Now that's a full and fun day! Today I have been relaxing a bit... doing some shopping, cutting some fruit and veggies for the food dehydrator, and making beads and watching movies and the VMA awards. Overall, it was a great way to enjoy what may be one of the last really summery weekends of the year. It's getting to be autumn time, isn't it?

I am looking forward to a creative and productive week ahead. Before I post this week's Extra Links, I will take a look back with a picture of the finished accessories that I made for my Steampunky Brewster costume. They are really day-glo, and have the added bonus of glitter paint too!

Here are this week's Extra Links:

A Bead A Day
Design ideas wanted!! If you have an extra minute, please stop by to see if you can help Lisa out with a suggestion for her co-worker's designer Italian pendant.

About.com Jewelry Making
Copper is hot right now! Find out about a new book review just posted concerning copper.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene's September Challenge is Kandinsky's Improvisation No. 23.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi uses chessboard crystals to create a floor for her ballerina necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's obsession with bronze metal clay continues. She shows off her new Art Nouveau floral charms.

Jean Campbell
Jean reviews the new Crystallized Swarovski Elements #5328 bicone

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi has finished another CopprClay necklace and wants to share the instructions!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei is having fun using lots of Lynn Davis components in her designs this week!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean comes across her "Digg it" necklace--far out! She's like an archaeologist!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Matcha green tea from Matcha Source defeats the doldrums and inspires Andrew to create a new bracelet!

Lending a Hand

So today I had a friend come over to help me work! And we actually worked (not just making pudding shots instead, like we did last time we planned a work date). It was great to have an extra set of hands, and we concentrated on getting some jewelry assembled and carded. We were super productive and the two hours seemed to zoom right by, at least for me. We chatted, took phone calls and text messages, and looked at stuff online, while listening to music for a while... it was barely like working at all. Except my hands are a bit sore now. But that's ok because I feel like I did two or three times as much as I would have done on my own, because we were concentrating. I will be taking tomorrow off to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, and i am really looking forward to the break.

Speaking of hands, I uncovered some "vintage" Earthenwood pendants, many of which have cast metal hands contained within them. Several years ago, I made a series of these colored stoneware boxes. I really enjoyed the precision of making the boxes, carving out the centers, firing them, and tumbling them to give them a super smooth finish. I added metal and other materials to them to fill the boxes, usually with a focus on hands and goddesses. They were very popular but became too time consuming to continue making. I recently found some of these Stoneware Collage Boxes while cleaning the studio, and wanted to offer them on Etsy! I have three listed now, and plan to add more later.

Crystals, Cleaning, and Computers

Still cleaning up the house/studio and fighting with computers and printers today, so I don't have too much new to say. In my cleaning, I did find this pendant that I made that I had wanted to blog about. It was a prototype for a super secret project, but I decided on something else instead. It's a fun little experiment, though, so I thought I would blog it and add it to my Etsy shop later tonight, along with some other pendants that I just photographed.

The pendant is made from a Vintaj brass frame and matching brass wire. Onto the frame, I wrapped four gorgeous 8mm crystal cube beads from Rings & Things. I think it turned out pretty well, but the wire work part was a little tricky to do. I love the way the crystals are so sparkly, and yet earthy at the same time. Particularly that Crystal Copper color, which is becoming one of my new favorite Swarovski colors.

All right, my break is over, and its time to get back to straightening up and trying not to smash my computers and printer with a sledgehammer. Wish my technology good luck against me!

More links and random thoughts

I spent today editing pictures for the Etsy shop. This time, I have lots of pairs of charms and links to list, which go really well with the accent pairs that I listed yesterday. Most of these pieces are things that I am discontinuing and moving on from, and it feels really good to be cleaning up and finding homes for these. I have listed about half of the charms and links, and then took a bunch more pictures this morning of some Halloween listings. Those will be a lot of fun, but I wanted to get these older beads done first.

Speaking of cleaning, I made some progress in the studio/shipping migration. Mostly just moved one messy pile of stuff from one room to the other. I think it will be a better working situation once it all gets done. Not much else going on. I have been trying to work on exercising more, and it has made me a bit tired. I actually napped today, which is rare for me. I am looking forward to doing some work in the kitchen tomorrow...maybe figuring out the food dehydrator and the bread machine that I borrowed from my mom. I am looking forward to the Renaissance Festival this weekend, although I don't know if I will have time to do anything costume related. I might have more fun just going and people watching and being comfortable.

Pairing Up

I have gotten some work done in the past couple of days, along with having some fun. I spent some time over Labor Day weekend taking some pictures of bead accent pairs and sets for the Etsy shop, and got them listed there. So if you are looking for small accent beads to go with my charms, you can find them there, as they are no longer available on my website. They are the perfect size for bracelets and earrings!

I am sort of cleaning things up a bit before moving onto new stuff. I think part of that was procrastinating, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. Part of it is just dealing with the messes though, too. Today, I am working on cleaning out my computer desk, because my PC sorta exploded (and I lost a whole lot of information...poo). I think I am going to move my beading area back into that room, maybe put up some storage shelves, so I can work in there again. I don't like when my craft stuff takes over my living space, and it has taken up permanent residence in the dining room, so I hope to change that.

I started sketching my new ideas, and have been trying to figure out how I want to make them, technique wise. There are ways that I could do it that are easier and faster, but I do not enjoy them, and lose interest quickly. The techniques I prefer, carving porcelain in particular, take much more time, but I will stick to those designs more because they have more of my heart and hand in them. But the problem is in the molding, which I haven't found a good solution for myself. But now that I have an amazing mold making expert (my brother) living with me, I think I am going to try something new... something he is confident will work for me. So onward with the carving! I hope once I start that I will get really addicted to it and will continue making new pieces in a frenzied manner. It's just a matter of making that first tool mark.

Laboring Heart and Extra Links

Last week, I drove out to Pewabic to drop off some tiles and jewelry for the gift gallery. It has been WAY too long since I gave them any new work. I still need to make some earrings and bracelets and carded charms for them. Its getting to be holiday stocking time, and I really want to be able to have some finished items and gifts for the few galleries I work with. I would also love to be able to participate in a holiday show, and maybe have my own open house, all with lots of finished jewelry for sale! I am looking forward to having some help with the assembly part of the jewelry line. At this point, its the only way I can really do it. I ended up putting some of my brass filigree pendants on some simple chains for Pewabic. I think they look really nice, as simplicity is sometimes best to showcase intricate works.

I had a breakthrough last night in my creative block that I have been struggling with. I even got out the sketchbook to put down some ideas. I am really excited about the new line that is starting to come to life. And it comes to me in a way that is perfect... following along with my personal goals and thoughts and processes. I sometimes forget how healing the process of art can be. I think these new designs will remind me of this time, when my heart is being challenged and is healing and growing.

More thoughts on that later. For now, this week's Extra Links. Happy Labor Day!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew and Diana Ptaszynski of Vintage Blue Studio have a throw down! See how Andrew uses Heather Powers of Humble Beads' Polymer Bird-Head Pendant!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviews Contemporary Copper Jewelry by the wonderful Sharilyn Miller

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
While in Philadelphia for Bead Fest, Lorelei met up with Andrew Thornton and he gave her some presents!

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi shares another CopprClay project, which includes making your own mold!

Jean Campbell
Jean's got a cool job--check out what she's been working on!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy brings some color to her new bronze floral medallions.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi shows off her unexpected bead finds from a store in Little Portugal.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Tool talk-this time its hole punching pliers & wire cutters

Art Bead Scene
Wondering how big 20mm really is? Here's a handy size chart to keep by your computer. It'll help you out!

About.com Jewelry Making
What's in a name, the name of your jewelry pieces that is? Here are a few tips to consider when naming jewelry you sell through the web.

A Bead A Day
Do you have some favorite beads that bring you joy? Lisa is using "inspirational sliders" to make gifts for friends and would love to hear about your joyful beads!

Last chances and new beginnings

I have been going through my collection of bead inventory and discovered these Toolbox Treasure links that I never listed in the Etsy shop. I made many pairs of them and sold almost all of them at the Bead & Button show, but never got around to stocking and listing more of them. They can be found in the Toolbox Treasure section.

And speaking of Toolbox Treasures, I have put the remainder of the original batch of large pendants on sale for a very short time only! I will be stringing these up and sending them off as necklaces to a gallery tomorrow, so if you have had your eye on one, now it the time to get it! It will be gone forever by tomorrow afternoon. Just for tonight, they are on sale for $30 each, and you can find them all in my Etsy shop.

In other news, I have been getting things done and feeling more caught up, and have even been thinking about new work a little bit. In an effort to speed up production, I bought a food dehydrator, which I intend to use to dry my beads (after I try dehydrating some fruits to see how I like it). I hope it works... either for the food or for the clay! What a handy machine!

Also, yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a meeting for the I3Detroit hacker space group. I was mostly there to research for programming ideas for Penguicon, but I found the group to be very energizing and full of great ideas. Looks like they are ready to jump into getting a physical space, and I was so pleased to be able to sit in on their business conversation and thought process about selecting a space. I will definitely be keeping in touch and watching out for these guys... I think they have some real possibilities in their futures.