Happy Holidays!

The Holiday season is officially upon us. Please pardon my temporary absence. I have an overuse injury to my right hand which makes crafting and typing a bit of a pain if I do to much of it. I can tell I'm far more stressed out without beading, so rest assured, I am looking for projects... I'm just getting through them a lot slower than usual.

By the way, if you click on that little "Subscribe to post" link on the bottom, you'll get a note whenever I update the blog.


On a personal note, I'm really looking forward to watching the Army-Navy game on Saturday morning!



GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!!

More earrings...

I started having fun making chandeliers out of bead caps. Hee hee. Me thinks I might be getting a bit carried away...

This one has tiny little butterflies peeking out at the bottom.


And of course, what would Christmas be without more Christmas-y earrings?!?

Can you tell I like flowers?

(I ended up giving this one to a girlfriend.)

Some bracelets...

I like bracelets. Since they're smaller than necklaces, you can get a little more elaborate and chunkier than you would with a necklace. You also have to use materials which are a little more durable, which is a great excuse to splurge on a little somethin' somethin' at the bead store...

This one has a cute little shamrock, inspired by my son's favorite color- green. The spacers are Bali silver, as is the clasp. The Swarovski crystals are 5mm, so this is a dainty little bracelet.


Here's one I've got on eBay, called Hydrangea, since the bicone clusters remind me of hydrangeas. I can never remember whether you need acid or alkaline for the pink or blue blossoms... was it pink if the soil is acidic and blue if alkaline???

Self-Critique

Hmmm... well, I think I have the craft fair bug. :) One thing I probably should've done was pack up early and walk around to check out what other folks were making and what they were charging. Maybe next time...


I love these doves, particularly the little olive branch. Incidentally, there's a flash flood going on here. Started around midnight and the road in front of my house is literally a river.


These are my son's favorites- he kept trying to sneak and grab them off the table as I was working on them.

Here Goes Nothing

Well, I'm off for my first craft fair! Wish me luck!

Christmas-y Earrings

Here are those cute little Christmas Trees and Snowman earrings. I got these ideas from the firemountaingems.com project list (and then, of course, tweaked it until I found something I liked). The best part about these is that I cranked out several pairs during soccer practice! (These trees have one less tier than I originally planned to keep the price point closer to the other Christmas earrings. The last thing I want to do at the fair is worry about making change.)


Those lampwork Christmas beads should be in today, too! I can't wait! Like I said, it's a sick, sick addiction.

Craft Fair Display Dilemma

The upcoming craft fair is this coming weekend and I do NOT feel prepared AT ALL! First of all, I haven't figured out what kind of display to set up. It's an outdoor craft fair/garage sale- each vendor gets a 10x10 spot plus a 10x15 spot for their car. So basically, I have to set up a booth??? I was thinking of just setting up a table with baskets, packaging most of of the "less expensive" pieces in plastic ziplocs, and letting folks thumb through. Should be ok for this sort of setting, right? Once my supplies for Christmas-y earrings come in (should be tomorrow, I hope!) most of the items I'm selling will actually be under $15. It's not like I'm trying to sell folks a bunch of $300 bracelets like you see at some high end places.

Well, maybe it's ok to "go ghetto" and maybe not. After looking around online a bit, it seems most folks would actually opt to pitch a 10x10 canopy and erect three walls made of pegboard in addition to 1-3 tables with varying professional cases... and place the jewelry in gift boxes to make it look more professional. Um, I don't even know if I WANT to keep doing craft fairs, and I don't have a whole lot of inventory. Buying the supplies to make this stupid display would eat any potential profits I made!!! The whole point of starting at this particular craft fair is that the booth fee is only $17 for me. (Most of these can run well over $100 depending on the location!) I guess one way to look at it is that these folks are hardcore, professional crafters with established businesses. I'm just getting my pinky toe wet. Anyway, I won't be buying or renting a canopy or building three pegboard walls or multiple jewelry cases... if I do this, it's going to be me, one folding chair, and one folding table in the middle of my 10x10 piece of grass. :)

The primary logistical challenge is that the fair runs from 8-12 I need to leave by 10:30 to get to my son's soccer game at 11. My first idea was to pack the car up and leave it there, catch the bus to the soccer field, then come back for the car at noon, but this is the last game of the season and there's a potluck following the game. The other option is to park the car elsewhere, and just hand carry everything when I'm done. Maybe I can find someone willing to pack up an extra table, or since I don't already have a table, find a lightweight alternative? Maybe some plywood and horses?

I did find some really cute Christmas lampwork beads online which would make the MOST ADORABLE charm bracelets and earrings. It's tough not to go nuts and order another $200 worth of beads before I ever sell a piece, though. I've already spent way more on beads than I want to admit to anyone I know. Let's just say it would've paid for that new dishwasher I really want. It's a sick, sick addition. Maybe I'll look into Etsy.com too.

"Palaka"

Here's another fairly simple weave pattern, which we'll call the "Palaka," after the plaid patterned materials used for making work clothes for plantation laborers. (Both of my grandfathers worked on sugar plantations!) All of these are composed of Swarovski crystal and will be priced around $20-30 at the craft fair, depending on overall length of the bracelet and type of clasp.

This one is blue and blue green, and reminds me of the ocean. Since the clasp is vermeil, it'll have a higher price tag than the others. (Gold is so expensive!)

Here are some other "Palaka" combos I've completed. This picture is slightly yellow due to the artificial lighting... natural sunlight shows off the true colors so much better, but it's been raining all weekend!

I'm also working on figuring out how to connect multiple patterns together to get more of that checkerboard effect. Maybe by the end of the week? We'll see.

More for Less

So, here's the conundrum of the novice beader... how to produce something unique and still keep the costs down? There are some really interesting patterns out there for elaborate woven bracelets, but the amount of time that goes into producing them means I'd have to mark up more for labor because that takes away from the time it takes to produce more of the simpler stuff. That is, if I pick this up as a money making venture. At any rate, purchasing beads, charms, and findings (clasps, ear wires, etc.) in bulk is significantly cheaper than buying items per piece in a local bead shop. Of course, the disadvantage is that you'd better come up with something people like. :) But that's part of the fun in creating!

For under $10, you can make foil lined glass bead coiled bracelets such as these:
(To make these out of crystal beads would essentially quadruple the price.)

These have "inspirational" pewter components with two strands of beads... these three are made of colored glass alternating with freshwater pearls and sterling silver seed beads.



A little more expensive option, freshwater pearls and sterling silver seed beads:


A little less expensive option, imitation pearls (glass):


I think I also solved some of the lighting problems I had last week. Still playing with the aperture on the camera. :)