More Pretty Pendants!!!

Emily and I have been hard at work making more of our soldered glass pendants. I am finally getting more of her work soldered and listed, so you'll get to see what she's been up to. I've had her busy creating art, cutting glass, even wrapping the pendants in the copper tape that goes on before the solder. She hasn't started soldering yet... a bit of a learning curve there and I am just getting it down myself. I will get her going on that end eventually though!

It's been a lot of fun creating these! More than I had ever thought it would be. We spend hours sitting at the table pouring over pages of digital art, working out each design until it is just right. While I know some people make the same pendant designs over and over, we are just making each one once. You may see the same art pop up again, but we won't be using it in exactly the same way twice. I like things that are made that way. It's nice to offer something that is not only handmade, but unique as well.  I have been putting a soldered jump ring on the bottom of about two thirds of the pendants we are making and wire wrapping Swarovski crystals and pearls directly onto them. I love the little bit of sparkle it adds and what girl doesn't like some embellishment??

We have a nice selection of Holiday themed pieces, and an ever growing pile of witty and sassy ones. Emily has quite the sense of humor and has come up with some pretty funny pendants! I like things in life that don't take themselves too seriously, since life itself, often tends to get all too serious.. I like anything that can liven things up a bit and lighten ones mood! We try to make some that are just middle of the road.. you know, Pleasant.. fun... nice... But don't expect to find a Hallmark card... Just not our style!

My Facebook Fan page is the first place all of my listings get shown, then they are later listed in my Etsy Jewelry shop and Bead shop. Stop by my Facebook and see what is new, or just drop by Etsy to see what has made it to be listed. I do sell quite a few things directly from Facebook, so many things never are shown on Etsy. Thanks for stopping by!

So Much New Stuff!

I have so many new things to share! It's been way too long since I last put up a post, but I have been busy working on quite a few projects, with a few more things I still have yet to accomplish! I have ventured into some new areas of jewelry design. One was inspired by my Daughters amazing ability to do collage art. I was sitting in her room and noticed the note books she was required to cover for school, sitting on her bed. She had done the most elaborate and interesting collages on them! It got me thinking about all the pendants I had seen becoming so popular using digital art in many different forms, but I ultimately settled on soldered glass pendants as the right thing to work on with Emily.

I have been blown away by her creativity and the way she can wield an exacto knife! She will sit and cut out the most intricate details with great precision for hours! I feel like I am learning a great deal from her doing this project, just watching her in her own creative process. I have a few of the pendants currently listed in my Juniper Gems Etsy shop, with many more to come.

I have also started playing around with making resin pendants in various forms. It started out as something to compliment the components I have been using in the long necklaces I have been making, but I found a lot of the bezels a bit larger than what I wanted, once I bought them, so I made them into altered art pendants with a resin glaze coating. I have both silver plated and antique brass versions available.

I have been making more jewelry pieces using antique brass, and love every piece! I adore the vintage style that the antique brass evokes. It is such a wonderful metal form to work with and I find it to be very versatile. I have many more things planned with this style. I am really enjoying the vintage jewels I have been incorporating into my designs. They are beautifully sparkly and have a bit of history involved.... I always like that aspect. It feels like you are putting a little bit of a story into each piece.

This past weekend I took a class from Canadian Lampwork artist, Kerri Fuhr. I found her to be the most delightful person and a fantastic instructor! I am eager to get back on my torch and see how I can develop the concepts I learned into my own work. I am very inspired by her beautiful work. She brought many pieces with her and had a trunk show going on at the studio where the class was held. The pieces are even more beautiful in person than I had imagined. I would have loved to have treated myself to a piece of her jewelry, but since these classes don't come cheap, I had to settle for the opportunity to look at and touch them.

As I have mentioned here before, I post items on my Facebook, and I am now doing so prior to listing them on Etsy, to give my Facebook fans/customers a little advantage. If you aren't already a fan of my Facebook page, it's quite easy to become one, if you have a Facebook account. There is a link on the right hand side of the page here that has my Facebook on it, just click "Like".  I don't have set times that I list items, but I am doing so with greater frequency with the Holidays coming up.

I am trying to keep more stock in my Lampwork glass shop, but with so many things going on, it has been challenging. Plus things tend to get purchased quickly off Facebook, and often never even  make it the point of getting to Etsy. I need to post thing's here more often so my post don't drag on forever!  Thanks for stopping by!