My First Front Page.... Hopefully Not My Last!

I can't believe I missed it, but about a week ago a piece of jewelry I have for sale on Etsy (middle picture, top row) was featured in a Treasury created by another Etsy jewelry designer, JennyBunny, and landed on the front page of Etsy. Fortunately, another user (monaraebeads.etsy.com) was kind enough to send me a congratulatory message. Otherwise, I'd never have known. Etsy is a wonderful community of very giving, thoughtful artists!

Getting on Etsy's front page is a big deal in Etsyland! To be in someone's Treasury is a real compliment. It means the curator somehow came across an item in your shop and liked the photo enough to use it when they had a chance to incorporate it into their Treasury. I've never attempted to create a Treasury myself. In the first place, they are very hard to come by as only a limited number can be created and posted at any given time, and it looks like it would take time, patience and of course talent, to make a good one. To see what I'm talking about, go to http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php and check it out for yourself. To see the current front page Treasury, go to Etsy.com.

Treasuries are picked by Etsy staffers to appear on their front page for some limited length of time. Unfortunately, not all of them make it. When it does, it gives all of the sellers in the Treasury free advertising and exposure, but most importantly of course, it provides that oh-so-coveted 15 seconds of, well, not 'fame' exactly, but a sense of affirmation that what you're creating is appreciated by other artists. Yes, that is a very big deal!

Many thanks to JennyBunny and Mona Rae Beads! Oh, and to Etsy, too!

Of a Wednesday

Today was a fairly productive day, which is not a claim I can make too often. I got my hair "done" (great euphemism, isn't it?), which took almost two hours out of my day, but still managed to make a couple of pairs of earrings, check in on the forums on Etsy a few times, update my Etsy shop, talk to my mother on the phone, and finish the laundry.

Please note that making dinner is not included among my list of accomplishments. I do my part though. When my husband calls and asks what he can bring home for dinner, because of my dedication to watching the food channel on TV, I'm usually ready with an answer. Don't tell me I'm not domestic!

Just to prove my point, I decided to include a recipe in today's posting, which, unlike the recipe I posted yesterday for removing tarnish, is actually edible. Just call me Betty.

Chinese Salad

1 large Napa or Chinese cabbage
6 green onions, chopped (I leave these out)
1 package chicken ramen soup
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sesame seeds
4 oz slivered almonds

Melt butter and add seasoning packet. Smash noodles and brown in butter along with almonds and sesame seeds. Set aside to cool.

Wash and chop cabbage. Put in large bowl.

Dressing:
1 Tbls soy sauce
1/4 cup oil
splash of toasted sesame oil is good too if you've got it
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Toss everything together right before serving. Plop some shredded chicken on top and you've got a complete meal.

I Love It When Things Actually Work

I decided to give one of the homemade "recipes" for removing tarnish a try. I sell my jewelry at a friend's custom clothing design shop here in Sacramento, as well as on Etsy. For some reason, the sterling silver jewelry I display in the shop tarnishes at warp speed compared to any other place I've had it. I don't know if it's the chemicals certain fabrics emit, the fluorescent lights, or even the humidity in the air that causes this. Most likely it's a combination of all of these things.

My friend's clientele includes a lot of brides, so many of the pieces I display for sale in her shop are made with pearls. When jewelry gets tarnished and the components include pearls, I never use a tarnish removing dip because that would ruin the luster on the pearls. Using a polishing cloth is safer, but it never works to remove all of the tarnish since the cloths only clean the areas you can actually wipe with the cloth, so chains and tiny jump rings can't possibly get completely shiny again. So I decided to give a home remedy a test on some pearl and sterling silver jewelry I recently brought home from the shop because they were getting so darkened with tarnish.

I lined a shallow dish with tin foil, shiny side up, then dissolved 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking soda in two cups of warm (not hot) water. I placed the jewelry on top of the foil, and poured the warm water solution over it, completely submerging it.




After 10-20 minutes, I was really pleased with the results (on right).





The most dramatic result, however, was on a pair of earrings that I had made using two different kinds of jump rings. Depending on the alloy used, sterling silver will tarnish at differing rates of speed. The twisted wire rings on these earrings possibly have more copper in the sterling silver than the plain smooth rings. The earring on the left is the untreated one. The earring on the right is the shining result of soaking it in the above-mentioned solution for 20 minutes.



I'm really pleased to find that this particular home remedy actually works and is safe enough to use on delicate pearls.

This Never Gets Old!

I seem to have a real appetite for apatite lately! The beautiful aqua colored stone is definitely a favorite of mine, and I love the name: apatite. (Reminds me it's time for a snack!) I made the bracelet on the left the other day and oxidized all the sterling silver components because I just love the contrast of the dark, gun metal gray with the bright aqua of the apatite.


Another huge favorite of mine is sapphire. The earrings on the right (also made with oxidized sterling silver) fade from light to dark, and are more heavily clustered at the top than at the bottom, so they fade visually in both respects. Sapphire is a little more costly than some other gemstones, and having just a small supply to work with makes the process of creating even more of a joy.

The sapphires in these earrings are tiny, too, only about 2.5m. They are like little droplets of water in my hands while I'm wrapping the wire on each one.

Beady-Ize Builds Baubles: Wish Bone Earrings

I just made these wish bone earrings and listed them for sale in my store yesterday. (Click on an image to go to that item for more information.)

These are a lot of fun to make, and the potential for variation is practically limitless. They are extremely light-weight and, being made with 20 gauge sterling silver wire, they are comfortable in the ear, won't stretch your lobe like thicker gauge wire can.

Unearthing Inspiration

This past weekend I've thought a lot about inspiration. I've been away for a short vacation to the scenic Sierra Nevada's near Yosemite, an absolutely gorgeous area of California, and one that is, fortunately, not battling wildfires right now.

I know that some people purposely set out to "get inspired". They take walks through the woods or a park, stroll along the shore, go to museums and galleries, garden, meditate, go to Paris.... So, before I left for my mini-vacation I thought, oh good, time away from my usual surroundings to spend contemplating among the pines and redwoods, get my creative juices flowing again.

Hm. Didn't happen. I guess I can't purposely set out to get inspired. My problem is that I over-think everything. But tomorrow morning, when I open my industrial-looking, gray metal drawers to paw through all the ziplock baggies containing all of my beautiful gemstones and beads, my mind will reel with design ideas that will tumble over each other in a torrent. I'll have to force myself to slow down and focus, breath deeply and relax. Otherwise the excitement, and, yes, the inspiration that I will feel when I come face-to-face with these raw materials will overwhelm me. How unpoetic.

Think of all the money I'll save on vacations that I can spend on beads!

So, what's right with the world?

I've met some amazing people online thru my Etsy store, from all over the world. There are days, like yesterday, when I get such nice emails from my "customers" (they feel more like friends) that I'm practically glowing by the end of the day.

You know the old saying, "It's nice to be nice to the nice". Or something like that.... By the way, there's a whole lot of 'nice' going on in Australia!

I love the bumper sticker that says "practice random acts of kindness". If more people did that instead of practicing some version of road rage (life rage, consumer rage, get-out-of-my-face rage) it could possibly spiral out of control into a veritable lovefest! Well, that may be an exaggeration, but without a doubt it would have a positive domino effect. I'm trying to be one of the dominoes in that line up.