Making Jewelry is the Easy Part

We were in a quick stop while on the road the other day and the girl in front of me in the line for paying, handed the cashier and her friend some business cards and said they were having a sale that weekend.  When my time to be first in line came -  I handed them my business card and said that I made jewelry, and if they needed anything to give me a call.  The "friend" behind the counter, said " I make jewelry too" and showed off a pair of glass earrings.  She then turned to me and said - "I never realized how easy it is to make jewelry"

I've thought long and hard on her statement and have decided that it is definitely worthy of a blog...mostly because it's true and at the same time, it isn't.

I can't disagree with the premise - it doesn't take a mental giant to make ( or buy ) a couple of eye     pins...throw something on them and dangle something from them, and voila - one pair of earrings.  Or buy some memory wire and necklaces and bracelets are right around the corner. Purchase a piece of leather or cord, buy a bail  or make one for the stone that you have, and you have a pendant necklace.  Yes, all of the above is easy and doesn't take any skills and any idiot could do it.

Is this how I make jewelry - NO! ! !  I spend hours on line looking for the new, the different, the appealing to incorporate into my jewelry.  I spend 4 to 5 days at the Tucson Gem and Bead show and other shows, doing the same thing.  I rarely have a complete idea of what I want to make.  I buy things that appeal to me and then combine them into something that appeals to me even more.  I wish what I did WAS easy...but it isn't.  It's a combination of magic, a good color sense, and intelligent shopping.  Is it quick?  Never! Is it easy - sometimes, if I've made wise purchases - but sometimes, I rip things apart umpteen times to achieve the look that I want.  That elusive "look" that I know when I see it, but don't always know what it is I'm looking for until I get there.

I work with wire allot too.  Mistakes or wrong turns here are even more demanding - sometimes it must all be discarded and you have to start over.  Sometimes the wire just won't go where you want it to. Sometimes the wire and beads don't fit each other.  Depending on the type of wire you are using - you have to decide early on how you plan to finish it because many stones cannot be oxidized - or tumbled - and forging can easily ruin a stone unless you possess perfect aim....I don't.

I came to this obsession too late in life, and there are many things that I wish that I could explore, but I haven't for one reason or another.  Soldering - make a mistake there and the house is gone.  Precious and other metal clays...which I so badly want to do, but that $600.00 kiln can buy allot of other goodies.  Enameling - blowing glass - making beads like Rona Sarvas.  Real metal work with presses and all those cool machines.  All of  these different avenues to jewelry require an expense for new equipment, some sort of training and learning curves, and at least through the intro parts, they cannot be easy, because learning something totally new is never easy.

So I guess the answer here is - that depending on what you want - making jewelry can be very easy.....or very difficult.  I am no longer satisfied with a couple of beads hanging on a premade earring of some type.  I do like easy especially for what I sell, because then I can keep the prices down and they are more apt to sell fast.  But the most soul satisfying pieces are those that I agonize over, until they are perfect...and that is never easy.  Please come visit my shop and take a look at what I've been agonizing over lately....til next time

Tangerine in Jewelry

No, I have not gone fruity, that is Pantone's color of the year or the season...as I am sure that any of you who make jewelry or anything crafty, already know. It is a great color - it is orange, but it is not ORANGE.  In other words, it doesn't scream at you.  In the right tones, it is very wearable and does not make you look like a Halloween pumpkin, unless you wear too much black with it, and that might confuse some people.

The trouble with tangerine, or orange,if you prefer...especially if you make jewelry...is there are not allot of choices out there.  There is sun stone which is a great subdued orange, but it is moderately pricey and is hard to find in large pieces...and I would assume, if you did find large pieces, that you could remove the "moderately" from that pricey label.  There is carnelian, which I love and use allot of, but there is no way that one would assume that dark carnelian, the kind that I like, that anyone  would ever, willingly use "tangerine" to describe it.  To me, good carnelian is burnt orange, bordering on the red...nothing whatsoever to suggest tangerine.  Then there are various colored sapphires, and here we are looking at definitely pricey, for very small stones.  Last but not least are man made stones - Swarovski crystals and cubic zircons.  I use Swarovski and rarely use CZ's.  I don't use CZ's because it is hard to find them in bead form, they may have holes, but they usually have the pointed backs of  fine stones and I don't care for that look in strung jewelry.  I ordered some hyacinth Swarovski crystals this week and they are going back - they scream ORANGE at me, and although they are pretty, they are not what I am looking for.

The last time that I visited the shops that carry my jewelry,  and they are all very au currant with their products and colors, because they are all very high end types of boutiques.  I saw lots of tangerine...and yellows...and touches of red..at times, I felt like I was in a 1960's time warp.  I even saw some of those paisley type prints that we used to wear...I guess all things do come back if you wait long enough.

As many of you know that follow this blog, I am doing allot of my work with resin right now and I really enjoy it.  I love the bright colors that you usually cannot find in gemstones, and right now, I love the fact that I am able to get some tangerine choices.  The following are available at my Artfire shop:

I have one on my bench right now that is  the above orange and bright pink - granted, it's an acquired taste, but I loved it in the sweater set I saw in one of my boutiques and the owner said that if I made it ...she wanted one to go with the remaining sweater sets.  The market here still stinks, but people seem willing to buy less expensive if they really set an outfit off  and the price  is right around $100.00.  So that is what I have been trying to do and so far it seems to be working.  I do feel very lucky that I have been able to meet the need for tangerine.

Time versus Money in Jewelry Making

As allot of you know, I have started working with annealed steel wire and I love the product.  It is inexpensive and extremely easy to work with.  If you make a mistake, you can fix it, unlike most metal wires that we, as jewelry artisans, normally work with.  Forgivable goes a long way in my book - especially when I am saving major time by rescuing a piece that I have put allot of effort into already.  


I have made many necklaces with the industrial look of the steel wire combined with both Swarovski  crystal and  or freshwater pearls.  I love the combination of these two opposites - it really meets my esthetic.  My pearl and steel necklace is in my Artfire shop and every time that I make one, they seem to sell.  I keep making them because I want one for me...but I can't get upset because they are selling...

I really do think that this is a great look.  It's funny though, I have two retail shops that sell my jewelry and they will not touch the steel.  One owner doesn't like the color of the steel and the other one feels that the pieces belong in a gallery, not a retail location.  The shops that do carry it, sell it consistantly...life really is a crap shoot, isn't it??


In any case - back to the reason for this blog.  I have been wanting to make a couple of very dark, almost black, necklaces out of the steel for me.  I worked on them this weekend and they came out even better than I expected. As soon as I get some pictures taken, I will insert them here.

Remember - I promised the pictures and here they are - unfortunately they are not the cropped, fixed pictures. But, as confirmed techno-tard, I have to be happy that I am able to upload a picture, something I couldn't have done about a year ago.
 I said to my husband that much as I liked them, I'd never be able to sell them - it took me almost 3 full days to make these 2 necklaces.  He thought that was my learning curve and any more that I made could be done faster - I said no, it's just that they are very labor intensive.  These are simple link necklaces, one with large links and one with medium large links and they are connected with fairly small jump rings.  Each piece is hand forged. Each ring is hand filed, even if I do use the dremel for the initial clean up.  I did wrap each joint on the large and medium link with fine wire because I don't solder and they were too flexible just left alone.  They needed something and the fine wire wrapping filled that need - and I did add a few very small Swarovskis to the wraps on the large chain as eye candy. Both of these were minimally cleaned, to keep them black, and waxed so they wouldn't rust.  All in all, allot of work.


Before we make anything that we intend to sell, we need to assess the old time versus money equation.  Is the piece going to be so expensive to make, that no one is going to be able or willing to pay the price that the piece must command if we intend to sell it.  It's a fine line that we must tread...are we making something to make us money, or are making something to give ourselves pleasure.  Material like steel wire is a great thing to gauge this on, because it is so inexpensive that time is really your only investment...so my advice is to think long and hard as you plan what you are creating, and why you are creating it.


I could conceivably charge $500.00 to $600.00 for these to barely cover my labor costs, but no one is going to pay for them...I could do them in sterling for about the same price, but I don't want them in sterling.  So I am left between a rock and a hard place...I'm just gonna use them as I envisioned them.  Necklaces for Linda, lucky girl. I know that, at some point, someone is going to say..."I love that necklace and I want one, how much does it cost?" At that point I will reassess these points and see what I want to do...and I will report back here.

RESINation Revisited or Fun Resin Jewelry

I did a blog several weeks ago called "Do These Resinate with You" that was about my new resin earrings and I related how I had made these because of the demographics of one shop that my jewelry is in.  I was trying for a lower price point, but still with allot of pizazz...and I felt like I got what I was attempting.

So now I have to complete that story.  I had several earrings remaining from the first batch that I made and decided to take them out to my "high end" shops just before Christmas.  I had 11 pairs.  I figured that nothing was selling, so why not try something that I would never have thought would fit these shops.  The first shop that I went to wanted all eleven and I asked her to give me the pair that she like least so I had something tangible to show to my other shop owners.  The other owner that I was able to see, went bonkers...she loved them and wanted lots.  I got them to her just before Christmas.

Meanwhile, I am reordering stock like crazy, even did a rush shipment...something I've never done before and I decided to try some necklaces, too.  I took the necklaces out last Friday, intending to visit my 5 most active shops and I never got past the first one, the one who went bonkers with the earrings.  She not only took 95% of the earrings that I had with me, but she took 19 of 21 necklaces.  She kept saying that these are going to sell and sell fast!  She has added the necklaces to her website and is now in L.A. on a buying trip and says she is going to find a rep for me for the west coast.  I had to come home and reorder again, because I needed necklaces for my other shops.

I am starting my fourth full year as a business, the first 8 months last year were record breaking for me. I envisioned not only a huge leap in sales, but also profits...and then Sept hit. My best shop sold one pair of earrings from mid September til December...not one other piece of jewelry.  She had sold exceptionally well during the summer, when nothing sells in Phoenix...but it's hard for a small business to absorb no sales for almost 3 months...needless to say, I am not breaking any records this year...but these resin pieces may resurrect me.  I have sold allot of earrings in the last several weeks and now the necklaces are out and ready to go...I'm working harder with this much lower price point, but profits are profits whether you get there with one $250.00 or five $50.00 checks. So I have my fingers crossed that clients will like these as much as my shop owners have. The funny part of this whole thing is - the shop that I orginally made these for - the beads I never would have ordered if this owner hadn't given me a go ahead - she has not sold one pair.  Boy, life sure is a crap shot isn't it????

Here are pictures of some of these necklaces and they are available in my shop

Soooooooooooooo - whaddya think - kinda fun aren't they????Have a great day, all...til next time

Fun with Steel Wire or Making Steel Magnolias

I purchased a new book a few weeks ago - Brenda Schweder's "Steel Wire Jewelry  " and it is the best book I have purchased since I started purchasing books about making jewelry about 6 years ago.  I buy books more for the tips and background of the material rather than for ideas or how to make a specific thing.  I am one of the fortunate ones who is usually overflowing with ideas, I poccess a kind muse. But I might need help getting a certain finish on metal or just to see a process - I bought a book on making beads and I am never going to make beads - but I so admired this artists' beads that I wanted her book to see what she went through to get the product that I admired so much.  Basically the same thing happened with Brenda's book...I was looking through the class schedule for Santa Fe and saw one of her pieces, and loved it.  A little while later, I got an email about Tucson and some classes that were being offered - and again there was a piece that I loved, and it was the same person I'd admired from Santa Fe - so I did some Google work and finally found her Etsy shop...bought the book and a bit of wire and I was hooked.

I found out that steel has been used for jewelry since forever and that steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world and is the most recycled material in the U.S.. I also found out that    Alexander Calder did much of his jewelry in annealed steel...anyone who makes jewelry should take a look at some of his pieces. He made a chandelier earring that I think was big enough to use as an actual chandelier.  By the way, annealed steel is steel that has carbon added to it, but not more than 2%.  It is  soft and very workable, and unlike other metal wires - it does not get brittle and break if you work it too much.  It usually has a coating on it, that needs to be removed for most jewelry, this is put on as a rust inhibitor.  That is the one drawback to steel wire - it can rust, but if it is coated with an archival wax, like Rennaisance, that won't happen.

These are some of the pieces that I have created with steel wire and I have loved every minute of the creative process.  Before this, copper wire was my favorite medium, but the steel is a little firmer and it most certainly is more forgiving.  Steel does not require the lengthy finishing and patinas that copper does either, so the process is less expensive.

I have finally gotten some pictures taken so these will be in my Artfire shop as soon as I have a few   free hours - it's such a time consuming boring job to enter pieces and pictures onto your website and I do tend to put it off as long as possible.  These are the first pieces that I made and I do like them allot.

The Medicinal Effects of Copper

I wrote a blog several years ago about copper jewelry and the medicinal benefits of it.
The website that I wrote it on is long gone, and I assume that the article is sitting out there in the ether somewhere, but I sure can't find it.  First of all - I lay no claims to any medical knowledge, other than being the wife of a retired dentist.  Neither am I a witch doctor or a holistic guru...but this is what I have seen.

Over three years ago my husband was diagnosed by a very competent orthopedic doctor with rheumatoid  arthritis of the wrist.  In about four months, he had had three attacks where his wrist swelled to almost three times it normal size and it was extremely painful.  Each time he could not play golf for almost a week. I was doing allot of work with copper wire at that time and literally begged him to let me make him a copper bracelet and he finally relented because he would have done anything, at that point, not to have another attack.  My husband is definitely not the bracelet type, but he was desperate.  He will have had the bracelet for four years this May and has not had another attack since and he wears it 24/7.

He was so amazed by all this that he did some research and the article that most impressed him was on Web MD, and it was written by a German physician who had been the doctor for almost all the copper mines in Germany. What struck John the most was the fact that in all the years that this doctor worked at the Copper Company, he had never had one patient with rheumatoid arthritis.  We filed this in the fact file that really isn't too important and went on with our lives.

About three weeks ago, I sold a copper bracelet to a woman in my neighborhood.  She bought it because she liked the design and the way that it looked. I told her John's little story because she said that she ( and basically her whole extended family ) suffers tremendously from arthritis and she had lived in constant pain since 1999.  Subsequent visits with her have lead to her believing that this bracelet that she bought is a miracle worker.  Not only was she sleeping better because of the absence of pain, but the constant pain she has lived in for the last 12 years gets lesser every day.  I truly hope that this continues to be the case, it has really made me feel like a miracle worker as it is...I would hate to lose that.

Her husband is an engineer who worked in the IT industry.  So this man knows his way around a computer.  He has been so intriqued with the improvement in his wife that he too has done some research and the article that struck him the most was written by a physician, an orthopedist.  He said that several years ago, a complete scientific research project was conducted on the relationship between copper and arthritis...and the results were that the research scientists could find no relationship at all.  However, this doctor contended that any orthopedic doctor who diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis in a patient should recommend that the patient, at least, try a copper bracelet and see if it offered any relief to the pain.

I wear a copper bracelet 24/7 too and I am still able to do things with my hands that should be difficult in someone of my advanced years, and hopefully that will continue ad infinatum. Here's the new bracelet I just made and am wearing now...and it will soon be available in my shop with either the sterling silver finish, which I prefer and all in copper .

I am very partial to copper and have allot of bracelets in my shop from plain and simple to fairly ornate and decorative.

jewelry Open Studio and Christmas Sale

I had an open studio last spring that I actually wrote about here, and foolish me, I decided that I needed to do another one. I had forgotten how much work is involved.  It has taken me at least a day and 1/2 to get everything out.  I've sent out 3 emails with pictures and for techno tard me, that's a big job.

My house keeper (John, my husband) has been cleaning for 2 days and has dish pan hands and on top of that, I made him take me out for a late lunch/early dinner, because there was no where to eat, let alone cook.  Every counter top and table is weighted down with jewelry.  I have to admit, it looks great, but I won't know til tomorrow if anyone is coming - it could be a whole lot of work, down the old draino - I hope not, but for something like this, you don't know until your door bell rings.

I have tried everything to get the post before this one with the same title removed - Once again, a technological problem has me stumped.  So it's going to stay there as a testament to my techno-tard status..because I have no other choice in the matter and I will continue what I started here! ! 

Okay -back to my open studio.  This one was not as busy as the one that I held in the spring, but there has been continuing business from it.  I had the sale on Wednesday  and today is Sunday and I had another sale today. I used all of my dining room, most of my kitchen and parts of my great room to display product...so it's a great activity if you claim part of your home as business space.

As you can see - it's really nice to have unlimited space to display your product.  I have allot of product   cuz I am way too prolific and I never know when to stop when I get a good idea and one thing leads to another - and I'm not happy unless I follow those shots all the way to the end and make everything along the way.

I will definitely do another one of these - all my sales are in boutiques about 50 miles from my home, so it is nice that my neighbors in my subdivision know what I do and what is available to them that I can supply.  Since we live in Arizona and many people go north for the summer, I will do an open studio in March before everyone leaves and this one that is closer to Christmas will be earlier.  There's allot of stuff going on now most of which was not on the community calendar.  I think that I will do it as soon after Thanksgiving weekend as I am able to and I may get a few more people wandering in.

Both of these Open Studios have been good for me.  I have sold enough to make it very worthwhile - more than any single show I ever did when I was doing shows.  I have met new people that like my work and reconnected with old customers.  All in all, it has been worth the effort - it would be fantastic if I didn't have to get everything out and then put  it all                away again :)

If any of this product, catches your eye - it is all available in my shop - Come visit.