Use the coupon code HappyHolidays2010 for 15% off my Etsy shop, and Etsy Galleria, where I have listed fresh batches of ceramic ornaments, gift tiles, and jewelry! Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.
I had a great Thanksgiving and have been luxuriating in having two days of open studio time. I have made a few fun new things and have tidied up the studio a little bit, which makes me happy. This upcoming week is very busy with both business and social events, so I may take a break from the blog to get it all done. I will leave you with this week's Extra Links:
A Bead A Day Do you have a quick and easy jewelry project or design that you would like to share with others? Stop by A Bead A Day to pick up an idea or leave an idea!
About.com Jewelry Making Find out the latest news, including a tight deadline, for an awesome jewelry making challenge sponsored by Rio Grande and Lark Books.
Art Bead Scene Get your jewelry shop ready for the holiday shopping season with help from Art Bead Scene!
Beading Arts Don't miss the beautiful Murano glass pendants that Cyndi will be giving away now and all through next month!
Beads & Books Michelle searches the toy store to get ideas for earring displays for her upcoming craft show.
Carmi's Art/Life World In a two part story Carmi glams up a name tag with jewelery components.
Cindy Gimbrone, The Lampwork Diva Watching your pennies while trying to make fabulous jewelry for gifts this holiday season? Cindy can help you, read on!
Welcome to the second Song Lore post this week, since I skipped a week. It's a Smiths double header weekend. Today's song is "Jeane". I think I first heard this song as a Billy Bragg cover, actually, and then discovered it was written by Morrissey.
So, as a side track... when I started the Song Lore posts earlier this year it was a challenge to myself. I wanted to make new work regularly and give myself the weekly goals. But I was also going through so much emotional stuff at the time with the divorce and creating a new life for myself... I didn't really want to focus on all that stuff in my artwork. I thought I would choose songs I love and they would provide a more distanced source of inspiration so I wasn't drowning in inspiration from my personal life. heh. Well that worked to some degree, as I have done a few purely fun songs that have been unexpected inspirations. But for the most part, I ended up choosing songs that expressed thoughts I was having or things I was going through. I realized this a few months into the project and just decided to run with it. It makes sense, honestly, because the music I listen to is very much related to my emotions and memories and thoughts. So eventually, in the last couple of months, I started specifically looking for songs to set the mood for things I wanted to make....still serving as inspiration, but a little less organically discovered than I thought they would be when I started the project.
So I have had plumbing done recently and was noticing how cool the plumbing parts look and wanted to create some jewelry components based on them. I started looking for a song about plumbing and didn't have much luck. But I did remember this lyric from the song "Jeane" about a sink, very cold and sad. I won't say much more than that I have related to these words in my life, but not for some time now.
"Jeane, There's ice on the sink where we bathe
So how can you call this a home
When you know it's a grave?
But you still hold a greedy grace
As you tidy the place
But it'll never be clean, Jeane "
So I made my plumbing part components out of porcelain and I am pleased with them. For the centerpiece, I made a classic four petaled bathtub faucet knob, which I want desperately for my bathtub. Alas, the recent plumbing work included the plumber looking at the old leaky faucet in the bathtub and estimating that it would be more than I can currently afford to replace it, so I will be saving up for another time.
Here is a video for the Billy Bragg version of the Smiths' "Jeane"
Well I ended up having to skip last week for Song Lore Saturday. I'm just too busy with the holidays! I hope to continue the rest of the year. There are really only 5 left! Anyway, I hope to make up for last week with two song posts this weekend. And there is a theme...The Smiths! Before you worry that the music is part of an emo-filled weekend, fear not! I am in very good spirits actually. I don't listen to the Smiths too often anymore, they are just a bit too depressing. They are almost a guilty pleasure. I do adore them, but I did spend too many long evenings of my teenage years alone in the dark, sadly crooning along with Morrissey. I do think it is amazing music and he has some amazing lyrics that have really stuck with me over the years. Here are some sketches I did for pieces inspired by the song "Ask".
"Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it's not love, then it's the bomb
That will bring us together"
I wasn't able to bring these pieces to life yet, but really enjoyed sitting at my kitchen table sketching them wile looking at images online. I am strangely amused by the twisted idea of the threat of annihilation bringing people together, as a last resort, instead of love bringing them together. I decided to create "love bombs". I was looking at images of real missiles and bombs, which was depressing, so I looked up cartoon ones instead. Lots of cutesy anime and video game images came up, which is a regular source of inspiration. I also thought of this image from the Green Day American Idiot album that I have always loved:
I actually think this would be a good line of beads. Kinda fun, kinda punky. What do you think? Should I bring them to life in clay?
Hey everyone! Just a quick post before I am off on my errands. I wanted to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and thank you for being awesome with an early sale announcement! I will be offering 25% off of all items in my Earthenwood Etsy shop, my Earthenwood Website, and the Earthenwood Galleria (which should be full of newly listed jewelry, ornaments and tiles by the end of the weekend... keep an eye on it for the new listings!) There is one code for them all! Just enter HOLIDAYSALE2010 on any of the sites for 25% off your whole order from now until December 1st! Thanks again and have a great holiday! Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.
In the rush to get the house cleaned for the home show, I added a few decorative touches to the living room that I have been excited about!
I found these pieces at the Royal Oak Farmers Market/ Antique Flea Market a couple of months ago. This piece on top is some old decorated tin from a building ceiling. The artist takes the old building materials, reforms them and repaints them to create these great new pieces. I have been back a couple of times to get pieces for my living room and bedroom!
Jeremy helped me put this one above the fireplace. I love it! Soon, I will get out the Christmas stockings and hang them up! I need something new for the mantle, too. Maybe I will do a seasonal display and change it up every few months!
I also found two of these shelves made from old doors. I picked the first one up and then found the second one a month or so later. I love them! At the big antique mall in Ohio, I found some antique doorknobs to finish them off. Alex put the doorknobs on and Jeremy hung them above the couch.
Zoey thinks they are cozy! I am not sure what to put on them, but I am thinking of finding a few cool antiques, or maybe changing it up just like the fireplace. I feel like my living room is finally complete! Finally, after 10 years, I have some artwork hanging above the couch, lol. Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.
Big news in Earthenwood land! I opened a new Etsy site just for wholesale! I have been wanting to make some changes to my wholesale procedure for a while, and my testing of Wholesale Bundles in my regular Etsy shop have been successful, so I hope this will help solve some of my wholesale dilemmas. I want to make it convenient for my high volume designers and store buyers to make purchases without having to wait forever and without me losing my mind!
I logged into Etsy a couple of days ago and discovered they have new coupon codes. YAY! So now I can put the whole shop on sale (which I will be doing this week for Thanksgiving sales weekend!) But I can't discount my wholesale bundles any further, so I decided it was time to split into retail and wholesale Etsy sites. I am celebrating by adding a bunch of $100 Wholesale Bundles for now and I hope to add some more standard wholesale packages in the future, which will all be in stock and ready to ship.
This is the start of another series of changes I will be making to Earthenwood in the new year. I really love the way I can sell and ship in-stock items from my Etsy shops so easily, but I am getting more and more frustrated by my website sales that are made to order. I think I will be moving towards an inventory based system (which my website at Big Cartel allows me to do very easily) and I hope that will open up more time for me to be creative and make new things. Also, it will end some of the frustration of customers having to wait for me to make orders, especially the smaller retail orders. I still will make some wholesale orders to order, but how great would it be to have speedy delivery of the items in my website catalog? I will have to shut down for a few weeks and work on stocking up and I will have to be vigilant about being organized. So, that's the plan for now, at least. I still haven't got it all figured out, but this feels right. And that's pretty much how I run my business... going with my gut. I would love to hear your thoughts about these potential changes! Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.
Here are a few pics I took from my home show. I had a good turn out and a great time! I will definitely do it again next year and will be sure to promote it earlier and maybe have it last two days long. I might even have another mini sale night in December, if I find there is enough interest from people who missed this weekend's event...
My dining room transformed pretty easily into a fancy jewelry and bead boutique! I used the shelves that usually display my Yixing teapots to hold necklace displays and my kitchen table and slate shipping table to hold bead and more jewelry displays.
Jeremy put up a shelf I bought for the room and I filled it up with more displays. It will be used to hold my wine glasses or some kitchen items now that the show is over, but I am pleased to know how easily I can transform the room again for another show!
I set up a little table in the living room for my gifts and ornaments. I don't know where they all came from! I kept unearthing boxes from the basement from all my years of Potters Markets. I'll be putting these up on Etsy soon.
I also had a table full of gift tiles, which sold well. These will go on Etsy, too. Soon! I will be photographing and listing all week in order to have some special sales and full Etsy shops for Thanksgiving shopping.
Sadly, I missed a Song Lore Saturday in all this madness. Hopefully I can make up for it this week or double up over next weekend. I knew the end of the year would be hard to keep up with the project. I feel rather relieved now that the home show is done. I think the rest of the year will be easier than past years, work wise, because of the changes I have made in my schedule. This makes me happy! I want to enjoy the holidays this year with my friends and family.
Here are this week's Extra Links:
A Bead A Day In celebration of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, Lisa is collecting stories and photos of the gifts of jewelry we make and give to show our thanks to others.
About.com Jewelry Making Tammy tackles the never ending question about soldering irons and making jewelry.
Art Bead Scene Take a Trip into the Woods via ABS's Friday Picks!
Beading Arts Cyndi currently has TWO fabulous giveaways going on: Acculon beading wire and a Murano glass pendant!
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean has an amazing, don't miss, book giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog and you might becme the winner of Lark's completely stunning 500 Plastics Jewelry Designs--what a marvel of a book!
Still super busy with a million things going on... mostly finishing the big order and getting ready for Saturday's home show. Part of that preparation involved clearing the dining room and the file cabinet, so I have been sorting and shredding papers, which I admit is rather liberating and enjoyable. All those tiny shreds of paper, the sound of the shredder, the bags full of paper going out to the curb for recycling... very satisfying. Also in the mix was some plumbing issues that had me a bit anxious. The important ones were likely fixed today, thankfully. The show stuff is getting done and the house is looking good. I have lots more work to do, but it will get done. It always does. But I will probably be quiet for a while until things settle down. I didn't get around to posting last week's Extra links yet, so I thought I would do a quick check in and post them today. Here ya go:
A Bead A Day
Do you enjoy making more than one piece of jewelry in the same design? Lisa is exploring this topic over at A Bead A Day.
About.com Jewelry Making
Thanksgiving is not just about the turkey. It's a perfect time to make some fun themed jewelry as well.
Art Bead Scene
November is here and so is the monthly challenge. This month it's Klimt's Tree of Life.
Beading Arts
Registration has just opened for next year's Bead Journal Project! Don't get left behind!
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
ArtBeads.com and Pantone inspire Melanie to work with some new fall colors to create an asymmetrical autumn cluster necklace.
Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Tis the season for Craft Fairs! Lorelei had a great weekend at the Raise the Roof Fundraiser last weekend.
Kathy Van Kleeck helps Andrew out with his medical bills by placing a magical, fairytale style fine silver and beach glass box up for auction. Check it out!
Today's Song Lore inspiration is DINOSAURS! rawr! It all started a week or so ago when I went to a thrift store and found these great plastic dinosaur molds. There was a whole bag of them, two sided, for use with plasticine or maybe other kid's clay materials. I loved the textures and brought them home to play with them.
The important thing to me was to not use the entire mold. They were too big, for one thing, and I think the textures are more interesting when there is just a peek of them. I like that they are barely recognizable as dinosaurs anymore.
I started looking for a dinosaur themed song to inspire me while I played with the new molds, and I found this song called "Dinosaur Tears" bu Molly Nilsson. I had never heard of the song or the artist before, but I find the video quite charming. And I felt a teardrop shape would be perfect for pressing into the molds. Thus, Dino Tears were born!
I haven't had much to blog about for the last couple of days. I have been making beads, lots of beads, for a few orders I have that need to be filled. During my breaks, I have been cleaning and organizing to get ready for the home studio show next Saturday and working on house projects like raking the leaves and organizing paperwork. Not terribly exciting stuff. I have been making a few fun and new things every now and then as I work on production, so hopefully I will have some of those things to show soon... Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.
First today, I want to announce the winner of the Auntie's Beads copper giveaway! Congrats to Marcie Abney of La Bella Joya! Email me at earthenwood@gmail.com with your address and I will send you the copper goodies!
And now onto part two of the ArtBeads.com and Pantone autumn challenge. The challenge was to use the Pantone Fall 2010 guide as color inspiration and shop from ArtBeads online catalog for items to make Autumn inspired jewelry. I chose a variety of things and worked on two projects. Today I will show you the project I created using Resin Flowers* from the catalog. I picked several colors from the Pantone guide in jewel tones like amethyst and ruby and tourmaline along with some topaz and peach tones. I wanted to cluster them all together, but how?
I ended up using some natural brass rivets, beaded one flower on each rivet, and sticking them into copper resin clay in clustered patterns. The clay sets up pretty quickly, so I made a simple shape and quickly inserted the flowers before it set. It worked great!
I just need to drill holes in them and sand the backs up a bit because I didn't use a non-stick surface to set the clay on... they have paper stuck to the backs (I made these in a hotel room the night before a show, so I didn't have all the proper tools...oops!) I think they are really fun and they open up lots of neat possibilities!
Here are the flowers that I used, available from ArtBeads.com:
*FTC compliance disclosure: the '*' items mentioned in this post credited to Art Beads were provided as a promotional gift for review or design purposes.
A month or so ago, I received some wonderful items from ArtBeads as part of their blogger program. The challenge was to use the Pantone Fall 2010 guide as color inspiration and shop from ArtBeads online catalog for items to make Autumn inspired jewelry. I chose a variety of things and worked on two projects. Today I will show you the project I created using Gemstone Beads from the catalog.
From the Pantone list, I chose the colors Lagoon and a combination of Endive and Woodbine for this creation. From ArtBeads, I selected Jade Oval Bead Strand* and 6x8mm Stabilized Chinese Turquoise Ovals* and combined them with some antique brass findings and my own green based pendant, leaf and acorn charms, and disk beads. I like the asymmetry and the cluster effect on the side of the necklace and the way all the greens and aqua tones work together.
I think this still has an autumn feel to it, even though I think it could be spring-like too. I was trying to branch out into colors beyond the browns and rusts that I usually use for fall designs. Next blog post, I will show you even more color with a fun experiment I did using some more items from ArtBeads!
*FTC compliance disclosure: the '*' items mentioned in this post credited to Art Beads were provided as a promotional gift for review or design purposes.
Guess what! It's my birthday! I am writing this from the past, because I have planned a fun couple of days for a birthday trip with my sweetie, having an adventurous two days of strolling around a huge antique mall, having a couple of fine meals, hot tubbing and a hotel stay. Fun birthday times!
I wanted to share a new necklace design I made. It started with these oval copper links (Antique Copper Pewter Lined Oval Connector/Link, 12x18mm*) by Auntie's Beads. I love the woodsy quality they have and I like how they go with my little lumber links. I added some gorgeous dark gunmetal chain and findings to contrast with the brown and copper, and then added a red pendant, charm, and beads for a pop of color. The theme behind this necklace is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, with the mystical little red door, the apple, the lock and key, and the woodland elements. I think it is a fun design with a subtle hint of a fairy tale...
*FTC compliance disclosure: the '*' items mentioned in this post credited to Auntie's Beads were provided as a promotional gift for review or design purposes. Melanie is an artist, blogger, writer, and ceramic beadmaker at Earthenwood Studio. Her beads and components can be found at her Etsy shop and her jewelry can be found in her Etsy Galleria. To comment on this post, visit the original post at the Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Blog.
Here are pictures of some more treasures I found at an antique show last weekend. I didn't find much, the show was made up of all the things I don't like about antique shows and stores. Mostly high end glassware and ceramic and china dishes and silverware and lots of costume jewelry. But one of the last booths we saw had a bunch of postcards and buttons and little items, so I picked up these things.
I am in love with these leather postcards! I bought them to cut them into strips and add to something, maybe a leather cuff bracelet, maybe with eyelets? Lots of possibilities here.
I also love these Dutch-American postcards, too. They are so colorful and I love the Dutch sayings on them. So very cute! I will be going to another antique mall for my birthday, so I hope to find even more treasures!
Here are this week's Extra Links:
A Bead A Day Are you getting ready to make holiday jewelry? It's time to start searching the bead stash for holiday bling to use in gift making!
About.com Jewelry Making Tammy is catching up on her book reviews. Take a look as some of her latest .
Art Bead Scene Make a lovely autumn wreath with this Art Bead Scene free project!
Beading Arts Cyndi has a SIGNED copy of the wonderful new book "30-Minute Necklaces" to give away!
Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi makes some Peter Rabbit clay pendants using new rubber stamps.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Inspired by bones, Melanie experiments with some resin clays and silver noodle beads to create some boney, buggy pendants
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Indian Creek Studios has generously donated some rustic ceramic pieces to be featured in this week's Thursday Giveaway! Find out how you can win these beauties!
Last week's Song Lore post was the song "Bones" and while it was a good experiment, it didn't turn out the way I expected and hoped. I had intended to use real animal bones from my collection to press into clay for texture, but took a different direction to play with some new materials. The bone-pressing idea was still on my mind though, so I decided to do it this week. During the week, I went to a thrift store and found a bag of toy dinosaur skeleton bones along with another skeleton toy. I bought them and my brother gave me a plastic spine that he had for using in clay, too! This was a much better idea than using the real bones, which are very fragile, plus they have more detail and interesting shapes. So I started pressing them into clay!
I am really excited about these pendants. They are making me think backwards and inside out! Let me see if I can explain. Usually when I make an imprint or carved line into clay, it gets glazed with a color that pools darker in the crevasses. I have been using a new technique/glaze combination of a dark base with a white crackle glaze in the cracks...I used this on the fence pendants. Using this technique, when I press something into the clay, I have to switch my mind to think of it as being light instead of dark. Sort of like this:
See what I mean? It's in reverse!
Earlier this month, I carved this little skull head with the intention of pressing it into clay as a stamp for this very effect. I hadn't used it yet and I love how the addition of the texture of the plastic spines adds to the skull. I can't wait to see how these will turn out. Maybe a little like this:
Today's song inspiration is "Poor Skeleton Steps Out" by XTC. Here is a video of a neat walking skeleton paired with a demo version of the song by Andy Partridge.
