Okay, it’s time to push myself out there again. I’ve booked some gallery space and sent out the invitations. We’re gonna have a party!
Here is the invitation. It’s a bit hard to read here, so click on it to view a bigger version. You can also download the PDF version.
The invitation
This lovely necklace was made by Kate from CatsEye using my purple honeycomb lampwork beads. Great design, Kate! And thanks for the photo.
Kate's necklace
Trying to psyche myself up for the next round of marketing/promotion/PR.
Ugh.
Okay. Don’t dwell on the ugh-ness of it. Just think about ways and means. Besides the newsletter that I still haven’t gotten around to writing, I’ve been looking into ESellerAds.
As far as I can figure out, ESellerAds is a way of offering my Etsy shop wherever I want to on the internet. Well, okay, that was the gist of their marketing story. It could even be true.
Let’s see: at the moment ESellerAds is free in exchange for my email address; it offers to show a rotating exhibition of my Etsy shop either two, three, or four items at a time. I’ve replaced the Etsy Mini, in the blog sidebar, with the three-at-a-time version of ESellerAds. It looks okay, but doesn’t always seem to revolve. Mmm, and it doesn’t seem to be showing any of the newer items that I’ve listed on Etsy since installing it. Which would be a bit useless… Oh, okay, I see. You also get your own ESellerAds web page where you have to tell it to update your ads by pressing the update button. As an added bonus you can check your Ad Performance stats from the same page.
I almost forgot the most useful aspect is that by clicking on an image you can read the Etsy listing, the price is shown and you can “Buy it!” and be taken directly to the Etsy shop. Another interesting feature is that there is a Share button under the ads, so that you (I mean You, dear reader) can share my ads in all the Hip places (y’know, Facebook, Twitter, etc, etc, etc). Isn’t that modern?
I was getting a bit fed up with apologising for my website because it hadn’t been updated in eons. Part of the problem was that my photo organisation was out of control. So I finally sat down and did something about it.
I purchased Adobe Lightroom 2 a few months ago and have been figuring out how to use this rather powerful beast. It’s a neat program, I’m really impressed with it. I use it to catalogue, process and output my photos.
Lightroom is modular and it’s pretty easy to add in third-party engines. There are five modules: Library, Develop, Slide, Print and Web. If you have used Camera Raw and Adobe Bridge, then Lightroom will feel familiar.
I purchased the SlimBox “web engine” from The Turning Gate. After messing around for a while I managed to output different galleries and seamlessly integrate them into my website. So now I finally have galleries of my most recent work: lapel pins and stud earrings, and drawing pins (aka push pins).
I love Lightroom. I’m gonna be writing more about it…
Black and silver lampwork glass stud earrings
Actually although I make it sound like stud earrings are the next logical progression from the lapel pin, I have been working on these stud earrings for a much longer time. It has taken me a long while to come up with some good designs as these are so much smaller than a lapel pin.
In fact I have been reminded of the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” I am too impatient to make large beads as it takes longer to melt the glass. Well, these are much smaller quantities of glass, but the designs are also correspondingly smaller and more difficult—it’s a smaller canvas.
Each earring is small and light: about 10-12 mm in diameter and weighs about 2 grams. They are secured with clear rubber disk earring clutches (backs) which keep the earrings secure and flat on your ear lobes.
Here are some pretty cute ladybirds (ladybugs to our American friends).
Ladybirds lampwork glass stud earrings
If you have been following this blog then you may have noticed that I have been obsessing about drawing pins for quite a while. In which case you may be pleased to know that I have been working on the follow-up to the glass drawing pin. Ta dah! Lampwork lapel pins.
Here is an example from the Line Art series, an opal yellow base with raised silver scroll work in Triton. Triton, made by Double Helix, is a very special glass, containing minute amounts of silver. By waving the bead/pin in a reduction flame (low oxygen) the silver particles are brought to the surface of the glass. Triton reduces easily and consistently (unlike a lot of silver glasses) and is so much fun to work with.
Opal yellow and silver lapel pin
The lapel pin measures about 15 mm (5/8 inch) in diameter. It comes with a military clutch so it can used as a lapel pin, or a scarf pin, or a hat pin, or a tie tack. You can pin it on a sweater, or a jumper, or even a shirt (but I would avoid fine wool or silk as the pin shaft is 1.1 mm thick).
I love making these lapel pins, as they are a neat cross between a bead and instant, multi-functional jewellery.
Here’s one from the Net Effect series:
Copper green and black lapel pin
I have several others listed in my Etsy shop and I’m pleased to say that I’ve already sold one on Etsy.
Note to self: The images were produced with the imagemagick montage command.
montage -background "#666666" -geometry "x400+1+1" yip*.jpg montage.jpg
Well, much as I secretly suspected, having splurged out and bought several Lindstrom pliers, the Rolls-Royce brand among pliers, I have become obsessed by making chain maille again. I could wax lyrical about my Lindstrom pliers, but that would look a little nerdy, so I won’t. But, I must say that they are very nice pliers.
Chain maille. Time-consuming. Finicky. Nerdy? You want nerdy? Then you should try chain maille. “Monnikenwerk” as the Dutch would call it (Monks’ tasks, think of them copying and illustrating those incredibly detailed bibles).
What does chain maille involve? Going from metal wire to a set of earrings involves:
- winding the wire around a mandrel to create a spiral of uncut rings
- cutting the rings. You can cut them by hand with a jeweller’s saw, or easier, using a ring/coil cutter.
- tumbling the freshly cut rings to remove any burrs
- weaving the rings into the chosen design
- tumbling the finished object until it sparkles and shines
I now have several earring designs, most of which I came up with myself, though I have to admit that I “borrowed” a couple of ideas.
I figured that if nothing else I would end up with a bunch of earrings for myself. To my delight the designs appeal to a lot of people.
Anyway here is my favourite, I call in “Slinky”. The weave (or pattern) is called European 4-in-1. When you think of chain maille (if indeed you actually ever thought about it), then this is the weave that you are probably familiar with. It is the weave that was used in medieval chain maille armour, at least here in Europe, hence the “European”. And the “4-in-1″ comes from the fact that every inner ring is joined to four other rings.
The earrings measure about 7 cm from the top of the ear wire. The rings that I’ve used here are tiny, there are 75 rings per earring. The tiny rings and close weave mean that these earrings almost feel like metal silk. Very slinky and fine.
Okay! I did it. The gallery has been booked. The date has been set. The invitations have been mailed out. It’s a Launch Party!
Here is the invitation:
I have been working on an idea that a friend of mine, Mariejo, came up with: necklaces with a single focal bead, accompanied by a suitable quotation, and presented in a handmade box. A gift for someone who is graduating, a departing work colleague, a special friend, etc.
![](http://www.icedmoments.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/dsc_0734.jpg "\\"A work of art...\\" - Zola")
Here is the first example: “A work of art is a corner of creation seen through a temperament.” – Émile Zola.
The focal is called “Sandy Beach”. It measures 24 x 20 x 10 mm. It is mounted on sterling silver findings, and strung on 1.5 mm Greek leather.
The lid of the box measures 5 x 5 cm. The box is handmade and constructed from very sturdy, richly textured paper. The box is one of a limited edition of 10 or less.
Close-up of the quotation.
And the bottom of the box.
