Meet the Design Board!

Sometimes I get stuck when I am trying to design a new piece of jewelry and I need a little help figuring out the layout of the piece.

I have some fun leaf charms that I have been wanting to use in a necklace design for a while now and I decided that I wanted to use them as links instead of dangles. I punched a hole into the leaf ends and then I started laying them out in different ways on my design board until I found the pattern that made me the most happy.

My next post will be about what design I picked and how I finished the piece.

Design 1 - Simple symetric

Design 2 - Simple symetric with dangle

Design 3- Simple assymetric

Design 4 - Assymetric with single dangle

Design 5 - Assymetric with double dangle

Design 6 - Not so simple assymetric.

More Fun Things at the Rings & Things Bead Show

I had a chance today to run over to McClellan and check out the Rings & Things Bead Tour for a short while today and I picked up a few things I had been needing (more about that in a sec). While I was there I ran into some of my jewelry buddies from the Midtown Bazaar! Steven from New Old Jewelry was there as were North and Sharon of Jewelry by North, and it was a first time for all of them!

So, what did I get you might ask; well, lemme tell you!

I got four packets of Crystal Jams, which are a 1 gross (144 pieces) mix of 4mm Swarovski xillions and bicones in complimentary color themes AND they all have cute names too! They are $12.00 per packet (which works out to $.08 per bead-CHEAP!).

I got (from L to R, top row) Walking on Sunshine and True Colors and (from L to R, bottom row) Jailhouse Rock and I Knew the Bride

I also got these cool, copper gears and sprockets. $4.10 for a dozen pieces per style ($.34 per each).

The style are Gear, Gear Outline and Sprocket

And last but not least, I picked up these beautiful, faceted smoky quartz beads. Here is why going to the R & T Bead Tour shows is such a great thing...These beads are 50% off the ticketed price and then another 15% off on top of that! So the 6mm faceted rounds are tagged at $23.00, so that means I got the strand for $9.78! The 16x20mm ovals are tagged $32.5o; I paid $13.81!


While I was there, I also got to meet Dave Robertson of Rings & Things (he is in charge of us blog partners). He was really nice and we had out picture taken and he will post that on the Rings & Things Blog! Look for it!

Better Late Than Never!

I am not normally a skin-of-my-teeth kinda gal, as we all know, but this November has totally gotten away from me! Way back at the beginning of the month, I was given a fabulous opportunity from Rings & Things (Yup, the jewelry supply company from Spokane, Washington) to do a design challenge using some of their new glass bezels and tiles. Apparently my big challenge this month was designing some stuff for the challenge! The first picture at left is the assortment of tiles, bezels and some bails that I received from Rings & Things to use in the challenge.

I started with the tiles, and some images that I had hanging around from ARTchix Studio, that I cut down to fit the tiles. I then sealed the images, and after letting them dry fully, I adhered them to the back of the tiles. I added the bails after the images & tiles were fully dried with a dab of 2-part epoxy resin.

The pieces that were stumping me, were the glass bezels. What, you say. Yes, I know, I've been working with bezels for at least a year now, plus resin, etc. But I was completely intimidated because, well, you can see through the glass. (I understand that that is the whole idea...) ...but I was completely stumped! What to do? Add images to the back? Just float some stuff in the in the bezel and then add resin and cal it good? Well, my super awesome pal, Krissi Sandvik (of Krissi's Art Studio), noticed that some of the glass tiles fit on top of the glass bezels! MAKE A BOX? Why not! Still, I was trying to decide how to deal with my "fear" of the clear. I jumped in with both feet and put a couple of metal leaf charms (I cut off the loops) into the bezel and then epoxied the "lid" to the bezel to create the box, then waited for the epoxy to dry. While I waited, I tried to decide what I wanted to do with all that clear space. I decided to add gold foil to the outside of the box, adding to the overall Autumn feel to the piece. Once the epoxy

was dry, I sanded very lightly around the edge of the box and then cleaned the outside of the box with a little bit of rubbing alcohol, after which I added leafing adhesive to the bottom of the box. After the adhesive had dried to "tacky" I took random colored flakes of gold foil and tapped them onto the piece and allowed the adhesive to dry fully. I brushed off the excess foil and then added the adhesive to the sides and repeated the process. I intentionally scraped off a few spots of the foil to "age" the appearance of the piece and add a little light to peek through. I added a bail to the piece with 2-part epoxy. I am very happy with how the piece turned out and look forward to working with the glass bezels again.

I was given the tiles and bezels for use in this design challenge, but have not been compensated by Rings & Things in any other way. I also have not been compensated for the use of the images by ARTchix Studio, the images were purchased for my own personal use.

Upcoming sale dates and other important info.

Upcoming sale dates and other important info...Yup! It's that time again. The Holidays.

This year for your holiday shopping pleasure I have bunches of stuff for you. New shops to check out and steals and deals for one and all. First off, I have been included in a grat DIY group; Glitter-Bitches Handmade! You can also find and fan them on Facebook and really should, that's where you'll here about specials, promotions and any other cool happenings with the group.

Okay, know we're ready to get our shop on, right? Stay away from the insanity of the malls and big box stores and shop online, and more importantly, HANDMADE!

Juli's Jewels (Yup, that's me!) - Black Friday through Cyber-Monday; Free shipping on all orders over $50 in my Artfire shop (use coupon code freeshipblkfriday), plus a free pair of holiday earrings or a snowflake pin free with any order. Plus, for my Facebook fans, there will be a special something posted on my page, just for you! (Also, I will be vending several of the upcoming Saturdays, including December's 2nd Saturday, at the Midtown Bazaar. You can also find the Bazaar on Facebook)

Krissi's Art Studio - Krissi is the creator of Skelekitty! In her shop you will find original artwork, prints and even some select pieces of jewelry (lots, featuring her artwork) Krissi is now offering Gift Certificates and she has some great coupons for her Artfire shop! Don't forget to fan her on Facebook.

Save 10% on purchases over $10 by entering coupon code SAVE10OVER10 when you check out

Save 15% on purchases of $25 or more with coupon code SAVE15OVER25

Save 20% on $40 or more with coupon code SAVE20OVER40

Save 25% on $75 or more with coupon code SAVE25OVER75

Save 30% on $100 or more with coupon code SAVE30OVER100

Brooke Van Gory Designs - Brooke creates fabulous custom bags! Diaper bags, camera bags & handbags too! Brooke is offering 1/2 off any wetbag or changing pad with any diaper bag purchase, and free shipping!

Sweets N Stuff - Cherry creates "1 of a kind altered items and accesories". To truly get what that means, go check out her shop. Holiday Sale from 11/23 - 11/30: FREE Shipping and 10% off of all orders under $25, 15% off of purchases $25-$50 and 25% off all orders $50+(Including Gift Certificates)

Madd Style Cosmetics - Mo creates wonderful lipglosses, lip bombs, perfumes and her wicked eye paints (loose pigment eyeshadows) are to die for! She has also just recently opened a shop on Artfire (it's not replacing her Etsy shop) Black Friday Sales Are:♥ FREE SHIPPING on ALL orders ANYWHERE on Black Friday (11/26) THRU Cyber Monday (11/29)!! ♥ FREE MYSTERY PIGMENT (brand *new* never seen before!!) Given with ALL orders made on BLACK FRIDAY and CYBER MONDAY!♥ ANY 6 piggies for ONLY $20 from Fri thru Mon!!

Wenchkin - The Art of Wenchcraft - You will find Wenchkin and her fabulous Bonies on Facebook! Fan her page to find out what awesomeness she will offering up at 15% off plus free shipping!

Ant Farm Studio - Home of The Ant Farm Gang and Loco Folko folk art - Kim is also only on Facebook! Fan her page to find out what's new and check out her 1/2 price Sugar Skulls (included in the price - FREE SHIPPING)!

Kisszombies DIY - ArJay is responsible for some"morbid and cute" accesories and hand screened t-shirts! She will be offering 20% off (use coupon code TURKEY20), and there will be a free surprise with each order and free giftwrap (by request).

Muddslinger Ceramics and Crafts - Brandy makes fun and occasionally mature accesories plus has some of her handthrow pottery available. She is also available on Artfire. Her deals are; 10%-15% off on specific items in both Etsy and Artfire shops; $3 5x7 Prints, $8 8x10 Prints, Facebook fan page special (Fan her page and find out what it is); Full Site Artfire 15% discount starting sometime between tomorrow and Friday; Also if you've received a coupon, you can use the 20% code)

Scarlette Wrists - Christina has an Etsy shop where "she shares the joys of embracing the darker side of life while still looking gorgeous." Check out her shop and her Facebook fan page for upcoming Black Friday deals like - Earrings are 1/2 off (were $10, now $5) and Chokers are $2 off (were $8, now $6)

Trying New Things!

In an effort to do a better job of blogging, I’m going to try some new things. I am going to do book and DVD reviews and I think I’ll even try my hand at the occasional interview! My new goal is one blog post per week…wish me luck.

Okay, so this week I am going to review a DVD I just purchased recently – Exploring Resin Jewelry Making with Susan Lenart Kazmer which I purchased from Objects and Elements for $29.99.

As many of you already know, I have been using resin in my work for a couple of years now, but only in the most basic way (i.e. put a picture and/or a small item in some type of bezel or bottle cap and then pour in the resin…) occasionally being very brave and layering in a few watch bits or a dimensional, but not to much of that.

Recently, I have seen resin in open backed bezels and also doing resined paper over wire framework to make charms and pendants. I have really wanted to try some of these things but felt intimidated. Those of you who know me know that normally I would just jump in with both feet and sink or swim, but resin is very messy and can go really wrong if you aren’t a little bit careful.

So I’ve been pining away for months…until just this last month when I happened across the DVD while looking at open backed bezels (longingly) at the Objects and Elements shop. Definitely a woohoo moment! The description of the DVD from the website was, “Susan Lenart Kazmer has done it again! This great video explores ways to incorporate resin into your work. She shows it all from how to use the resin right through molding and casting. It's like taking her class with a rewind button.” I bought it right then and there (along with a texture hammer and some enameled rings and cones) and waited. Three days later it was on my doorstep. The fun part was it arrived on a day when I was heading up to hang out with my friend and fellow artist/crafter, Krissi (a.k.a. Skelekitty), so I took it along for a viewing (she has been thinking about playing with Ice Resin). There was a lot that I already knew covered in the DVD, which I expected, but there was a bunch of common sense stuff that just had me whacking myself in the forehead. Simple things like putting your domed bezel on a piece of duct tape to keep it steady (Insert forehead slap here!). I would have jerry-rigged some elaborate setup (and still probably would have tipped over my dome…), and measuring but not mixing your resin until you are ready to use it (brilliant!), double sided tape for your images (because if you glue them down you have to wait the extra time for the glue to dry & if you don’t use anything your image will float up), and using transparencies with resin.

All I can say is this DVD, Exploring Resin Jewelry Making with Susan Lenart Zazmer, is a must for anyone who wants to do resin really well. With her common sense approach, you will wonder why you didn’t think of these simple yet awesome techniques yourself.

Custom Work

I admit it, I like to do custom work...alot! I like making jewelry very specifically for people per their requests because it is often a different kind of challenge. I have an album on my facebook fan page devoted to custom pieces (you can find it here). They are all varied in type and style. I love it when someone feels confident in my ability to create what they are looking for.

A few months back, my pal Krissi (check her out at Krissi's Art Sudio) asked me to recreate a vintage necklace that she loved with one in the same style but with different colors. The original is in a dark/antique brass with dark red beads, the recreation in sterling silver and black. THE HUNT WAS ON!

First, black beads. The original red beads were smooth, round and transparent. You can't have true black and transparent. So how do you get them to be shiny? Get a faceted bead! I could also find nothing like the original "fringed" bead cap, so I went with the same shape, only with kind of filigree style instead. I stayed true to the style, but added a little flair with this choice of bead cap. Ironically, the hardest part was finding a chain I liked, that would fit the style without making it to heavy...I think I forgot to mention, this style of necklace can be a little hefty with so many glass beads.

I think I did a pretty fair job of staying within the style of the original while giving it a little bit of an updated flair.

What do you think?

Hot Diggity Blog!

Just a quicky...I found out that Rings & Things (one of my most favorite jewelry findings suppliers) has changed their Blog Partners program. I won't go into the details of the change, but suffice it to say I get to be a blog partner know. WooHoo!

So, what happens now is I wait and cross my fingers. All of the blog partner names will go into a "hat" and ten will be drawn randomly to receive the Rings & Things goodie bags. If you are one of the lucky ones, you will get a bunch of jewelry making bits which you then take pictures of, make fabulous stuff with and then take more pictures of an ulitmately you BLOG about. According to the law I will have to fully disclose any and all compensation I receive from Rings & Things as a blog partner, but no problem there.

So anyway, I am very excited about the opportunity and I hope I get a goodie bag soon!