Time to Catch Up!

Wow, obviously I've been away from my blog for a while...a long while! A lot has happened, some good, some not good. My Mom passed away in August 2011, and it took 3 months to get her house cleaned out and get my Dad into full time care. He has Alzheimer's. Also lots of trips to the lawyer who is probating my parents' estate. I stepped down as Captain of the Etsy Beagles Team, but luckily, another team member has taken over. I still update the Beagles blog (link on sidebar). Then, it was Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's....Whew! Well, it's Leap Day today, so I'm leaping into the blogging again! I've listed some new things in my Etsy shop; mostly vintage. I have some new necklaces that I made, but no photos yet, except for the one named "Vicious," that is listed in my Etsy shop. I have serious "cabin fever" now, even though our Ohio winter was not bad at all; can't wait to get out in my garden again! I hope everyone's 2012 has been and continues to be a good year!

Whazitcalled?

I made a necklace with some really pretty stone beads I bought. They were labeled lapis, but I don't think so, unless they're a lower grade. They have a lot of white in them for lapis lazuli, and no gold flecks either. And, the coloring is more blue-grey than a true lapis blue. I'm thinking the beads are either sodalite or even dyed howlite, because of the veining. I really want to list this necklace in my Etsy shop, but I need to have an accurate description. I'm a bead-lady, not really a gemstone expert, so any help would be appreciated! THANKS! Linda

Ready for Fall!

It's been a crazy summer, and it flew by. My son is settled in at college, and this month I've been inspired to start making jewelry again. Making I can do; photographing...not so much. I always seem to get frustrated with my photos. I'm too picky. I did get some new listings in my Etsy shop, and hopefully I can get more listed soon. Meanwhile, we are getting cold nights here in Ohio, and the leaves are falling already. It's been hard getting all my summer garden decorations put away. At first, I didn't want to admit that fall was here. As I packed up my "summer stuff," though, I started getting excited about hauling all my fall decor out and setting up my big front porch for Halloween! I LOVE Halloween, maybe because I'm an October baby myself. Speaking of babies, my beagle, Flash, seems to find the cooler weather much to his liking! He wants longer walks than he did when we had 90 degree temps, and I must agree that it is more pleasant to walk him when we both aren't panting! My Etsy Beagles team is getting ready for our fall challenge, and our theme is "Halloween Treats." We will be holding our blog giveaway (see the Etsy Beagles link on the sidebar to view our Beagles Team blog) Oct. 13th-16th, and one of our team members will be donating the prize again.

Beagles, Snow Queens, and Kings

This ornament is my entry for the Etsy Beagles Street Team's "Happy Howl-i-days" winter team challenge. The bead is made by Etsy artist NanjoDogz. I've previously used 2 other beagle head beads from Nancy to make other beagle figures. I love the detail in her beads. You can see how beagle-like the little Snow Queen bead is, when compared to my beagle, Flash, aka king of all furniture. He loves to knock the back seat cushion down on this chair in front of our picture window, and lie on it to observe the comings and goings within his kingdom. I hope you enjoyed seeing the Snow Queen ornament, and my spoiled little guy, too!

Shameless promotion: the Beagle Snow Queen ornament is currently for sale in my Etsy shop. I will donate a portion of its sale to the local Animal welfare League of Trumbull Co., OH! :0)

More Colassal Flops Yay

Tried these in my Etsy shop. Didn't sell a single one. The pendants are from Los Angeles, bought at a flea market. They are made from brass bullet shell casings that have been melted down and re-cast. I made the necklaces using vintage beads, jewelry findings, and my 2 hands. The necklace designs are from my itty bitty head. So much for my creativity. Anyway, here are what I call the Ladies from L.A. Meh

Just wondering....

I've been thinking a lot about my jewelry-making ways. I just can't seem to figure out what makes my jewelry so unsellable. I like to do necklaces in different styles, use different materials, and therefore have a wide range of choices in my Etsy shop. Maybe a bad idea? I'm wondering if I should make one "kind" of necklace only, and see if having a certain "style" would help my sales. Maybe I'm confusing people. If they are looking for a certain type of necklace, probably nobody would say," Hey, MsAnomaly makes those. I'll look in her shop!" Nope, probably not. It's because I don't make only "those." I make summa them, fewa that, couple'a this, a buncha these, and of course, those, too.

My biggest problem with sticking to one style of jewelry; boredom. My boredom. When I make the same thing over and over and over, it gets tedious, I get bored (there's no challenge anymore), and then I hate doing it. It's work, not fun. It's production, not art. It's efficiency, not creativity. I was not made to be cranking out identical items like a one-woman jewelry factory.

O.K. , maybe I'm being selfish and unfair to my family. Maybe I should throw all my necklaces to the crowds at the next Mardi Gras parade, be rid of them, and get that "real" job. Maybe not.

Truth is, I have a "passion." I really, really love taking discarded old jewelry and other vintage stuff, trying to fit it all together into an interesting design, and bringing all the pieces back as something new and unique. The necklaces shown here are some of the ones I had the the most fun making. I thought, "Oh, this will sell!" I thought wrong. So, I've kept them, and I wear them, and when I do, people say, "Oh, I love your necklace!" I tell them I made it, and it is for sale. When I tell them the price, I get instant hesitation. So, I give them one of my business cards for my Etsy shop. Doesn't seem to work. Few views; few sales. Are my prices too high? From what I've read in the Etsy forums, the "holy grail" is: Don't underprice your merchandise! Gee, I don't even factor in minimum wage for myself in the cost of the necklaces! I work for nothin'! I just can't figure out where I've gone so terribly wrong.

Another thing, I am recycling. That's supposed to be a big thing right now. Nobody seems to realize that, but I am SERIOUSLY recycling. What can you do with a broken old brooch? an old toy? a lone earring? some strangely ugly yet beautifully interesting beads? a space shuttle? ;) I love that challenge. It's what drives my creativity. Plus, it's a lot more fun than buying packages of new beads and stringing them one, two; bead, spacer; blah, blah; zzzz, zzzz.

Maybe it's me. I'm just not a "dinky pendant on a plain chain," or "plain string of pearls" kinda girl. I like unique (overused word, I know, but it's the best there is for what I make). Am I putting too much of "me" into my jewelry? I don't know if I could put much of anybody else into it...after all, I am the artisan! Sigh. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Well, I guess all frustration aside, I'll just keep doing what I love to do, and know how to do. I'll hold on to the ideology/illusion that I can make interesting jewelry. Maybe when I'm dead it'll sell like hotcakes. Joy.

New From Old

I've recently decided to dig into my "parts box" and try to combine some of the broken vintage brooches, lone earrings, vintage buttons, and unusual findings into a cohesive necklace. It's been interesting, and I've actually used my pliers a lot more than I do for my beaded necklaces! Honestly, I really am not crazy about head pins, eye pins, jump rings, and wire cutters, but I figure I might as well work on becoming a little more adept at using them. I also get more satisfaction from making these "new" jewelry pieces, because most are compilations of things that would have probably been tossed out as useless. shudder, shudder. That so goes against the grain for me. If it's vintage, and pretty, and most of all unique, it's not useless; it just needs reinvented! So, here are a few of my recent attempts. I've not sold any from my Etsy shop yet, though they are all listed there now. http://www.MsAnomaly.etsy.com I realize many people don't look at vintage the way I do (TREASURE!). The necklaces certainly are unique, though, and creative...I think, and it's also a great way to follow the 3 R's of recycling. I hope you like them. :)

Third Team Challenge and 2 Successes!

Oh, so busy over the holidays! Cleaning, decorating, baking, baking, baking! I was also sick with bronchitis for two weeks before Christmas, though I ignored it until I finally felt so horrible I did go to the Dr. Many meds got me finally feeling better, but not 100%. Good enough to finally get something posted here, though! I would like to share the item I made for the third Etsy Beagle Street Team's challenge. The theme was "Warm Winter Wishes," and I purchased the beagle-head bead on my ornament entry from Etsy bead artist NanjoDogz. It is the second time I have used one of her beagle beads in my designs, and I absolutely love the details and expressive little beagle faces! I named this entry "Angeleagle." Since so many dogs are beagle mixes, the names for them are just adorable: puggles, bagles, poogles....well, my ornament is a beagle and an angel, so Angeleagle! I am happy to report that she was purchased and "flew" to Florida. I think she will enjoy the climate there much more than what she dealt with in Ohio! After the New Year, my autumn challenge necklace, with the Bronze Beagle pendant (see previous post) was also purchased. Bronze Beagle moved to Texas. Looks like my beagle jewelry is seeking warmer climates. I don't blame them! I'd like to thank the two ladies who purchased these challenge entries. I have donated the stated percentage of each sale to our local Animal Welfare League, a non-kill shelter and adoption center for abandoned dogs and cats. I know the Trumbull Co. AWL greatly appreciates all donations, and I am happy to do my part to ensure that all their wards get a fair chance at finding a happy loving home. Paws Up to my 2 customers who made this donation possible in such financially difficult times; Paws Up to the AWL for continuing their good work; Paws Up to NanjoDogz for sharing her talents and allowing me to make my beagle jewelry; Paws Up to my dear Etsy Beagles team; and Paws Up to my sweet beagle Flash, my inspiration! I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year, and thank all of you for taking a little time to read my blog! :0)

Finally Back!

Hello, all! I know I am behind on updating this blog, so here goes! The Etsy Beagle Street team, which I belong to, has had two team challenges. The entries have been really great, and you can see them at our team's blog: http://etsybeagles.blogspot.com/ Here are the two I made for the challenges. The first challenge was in August, and the theme was "Dog Days of Summer." I made this Victorian Summer blue vintage glass and brass findings necklace. I purchased the findings from Etsian amuzemee's shop. An old clip-on earring, sans clip, is the focal piece of this necklace. The earrings colors matched the brass and glass beads "just right!" The second Autumn/Fall challenge had the theme "Hounds and Harvest." I used my stash of vintage carved bone tube beads, vintage bakelite and lucite beads, small vintage "root beer" glass beads, and this wonderful jewelers bronze pendant that I purchased from eBay seller celticmorph. The little beaded dangles above the pendant help transition the large size of the pendant from the necklace strands. Plus, I just kinda liked doing that! :) The team is going to have a winter/holidays challenge with the theme of "Warm Winter Wishes." It will be starting Nov. 1st, and I've already got "my plan" for my entry.

Link to my Bronze Beagle Necklace
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15149760

Link to my Victorian Summer Necklace
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14569650

The Coral Collection

For a while, I was making jewelry with red branch coral. My sister wanted some custom pieces done, and sent me some coral - too much coral! :) It had been sitting around for quite a while, and I wanted to pair it up with something different, but nothing seemed to be "right." A friend of mine gave me some seashells from her vacation at Myrtle Beach. These weren't the kind of shells you buy at tourist shops. They were much better! I instantly fell in love with the texture of these really worn shell pieces. They had been tumbled by nature, and the sand and salt-water had left small holes in them. They screamed "organic," and were a perfect match with my red coral. Great pendants! Stringing them together and getting the coral pieces to "hug" the shells was not as easy as I thought it would be. I use monofilament line for most of my jewelry. I like it because it's strong, lays more softly, like string, and holds a nice tight knot. I ended up trying each pendant combo several times, then found it was best to actually "hand-sew" the shell and coral together. The coral had been machine-drilled, I assume, but not the shells. The little holes drilled by nature did not go straight through,; some were "foolers," and didn't go through the shell completely at all. I finally discovered that holding the shell in front of my work-light would let me see the tiny holes straight through, and also what angle they were. I decided that in starting with a long section of monofilament, I could sew the pendant pieces together, then continue beading small shells, stone chips, or beads up the same strand. It took time! Anyway, here are the end results, and I hope you enjoy them!