Inventory, Schmenventory; or, I Hate Counting

It's that time of year when the national bean counters known as the IRS send you little tax notices about what is and isn't acceptable, and don't forget this, and remember to do that, and oh, by the way, FILE ON TIME, OR ELSE. That, coupled with all the new beads I just got, necessitates counting beads. And findings. And chain and pins and bails and boxes, and, and, and.

Blech. I don't like to do the unfun stuff; I like to make things. I like putting colors together and beads together and textures together. Receipts? Not so much. But gather them you must, and add them all up, and make note of what's been damaged or sold, and a million other things no one really warns you about when you get stars in your eyes for a creative endeavor and think it'll all be so much fun.

Don't get me wrong; most of the time, it is. But twice a year...yeah, not so much. So, that's what I've been doing. And moving the site to a new server, which technically, I did not really do, someone else did, but since I am kvetching about inventory, I may as well throw that in, too, ay? Call me Tallulah and move on. :)

Besides, I have ruby-dyed quartz and some really pretty rose-colored pearls calling my name. Not to mention amazonite and amethyst and green chalcedony, as well as African opal and some really nifty carnelian. Who wants to count when there's that kinda stuff to play with?!

Bis Spater, Gator!
Jenie

Fun with Photography

I worked on images today. A lot of the images on the site are from back when I first started and was just working at getting a completed site up, so all 3 views of each piece are the same photo, in 3 different sizes: thumbnail, the medium size that goes with the description, and the larger size, which I had originally intended to show more detail. People have been asking to see alternative views, though, so now I'm working at getting those done. This is one I did for one of the newest pieces, a gold-fill y-necklace with red jade hearts cascading down from the center. I personally think it's a great necklace for Valentine's Day, so I named it Valeria, which seems a nice Valentine-y name to me. :) I wanted to name it Valentin, like val-en-teen, but I thought people might not pronounce it that way, and I used to know a really sweet, very pretty girl named Valeria (vuh-LAIR-ree-uh), so I named it after her. She had long, perfectly straight, absolutely gorgeous dark golden-brown hair and flawless eyebrows, the perfect body, and she was incredibly nice to every single person she knew. Wow. I think I kinda have to hate her now. ;)

Anyway, I was messing around and came up with this, which was an interesting proposition, because the glass had to be set pretty precariously on the backs of two chairs, which I had to lie down between (under the glass) to take the picture, and the cat kept trying to hop up on the chairs, which are rather rickety, so I had visions of this 8x10 sheet of glass falling and me trying to catch it while holding a digital camera, most probably breaking the glass or cutting myself or both. Happily, the glass did not fall and break, which is good, but there's no way I'm doing that again for the matching earrings! :)



Not bad, ay? :)

Jenie

Hammered silver

Here's a picture of the smaller (and way less crowded) hall the beads and jewelry were located in at the gift show. Luckily, Nicole had her camera phone with her and thought to take one.

I got an anvil and chasing hammer from Nicole for Christmas and have been having fun pounding silver wire into swirly shapes. I think they look very whimsical and can't wait to make them into pendants and earrings. Unfortunately, it seems that when you go about pounding on sterling silver wire, it kinda scratches up a bit...gee whiz, Wally, you'd think they'd make a sterling silver you could bash the heck out of without scratching it, wouldn't ya? ;)

Actually, the anvil surface leaves really neat marks that I like, but the hammer I'm using has tiny little pocks in the surface, and that makes the silver look pitted, kinda like I sprinkled it with teeny tiny bits of gravel before I set to whacking it. I shined it up fairly well, but I do not like the pitted look, so now I need rouge to polish it up again. And a snazzy new rotary tool. That means shopping. What a bummer. :)

I'm looking forward to perfecting my metal-mashing technique so I can make certain jewelry I've been thinking about. I want to make some satin and silver friendship bracelets and gold wire-wrapped hammered silver pendants, earrings, and charms. And then when that's done, I will tackle precious metal clay (PMC), and then silversmithing, and after that, the world!

Just call me Brain...

Jenie

currently listening to: Our Little Corner of the World: music from the WB series "The Gilmore Girls" (current song: Sam Phillips - "Tell Her What She Wants to Know")

Los Angeles Gift Show: Lots & Lots of Beads...and People. Holy Cow!

I went to the LA Gift Show yesterday, and it was quite an experience. It was my first time there, and the thing is huge. Nicole Harlow went with me, and it was absolutely exhausting trying to see everything (impossible to do in just one day), but we gave it the old college try! Nicole got some nice things for her fairy sticks, and I got a good supply of pearls and beads in new colors and shapes. I can't wait to turn them into jewelry, so look for new things, coming soon. Among the cool new beads I got are briolettes of ruby-dyed quartz, which is really cool, and amazonite, rose quartz and pink jade, and teardrops of pink jade and muscovite, which is a very cool, speckley rock in a dark burgundy-maroon color. I also scored some aquamarine rondelles and great pearls in all sorts of fun colors: lilac, lavender, rose, gold-tan, and beige, to name a few. I'm looking forward to going back when the show returns, in July.

I also got the chance to meet other jewelry artists and some of the vendors I've been using online, so it was a pretty busy day, all-around. I meant to take my camera so I could take pictures of the event, but I totally spaced and forgot it. So no photos for you guys, but hopefully some fun and pretty jewelry you'll like, coming soon. :)

Have a wonderful day,
Jenie

Welcome to the new Dragonfly Handcrafted Jewelry Weblog

Everyone who's anyone has a weblog, right? And a few more people, besides! :) Even those who make jewelry, all alone, in seclusion, slaving under bright lights over beads with tiny holes [insert swooning Tallulah image here] like to share their thoughts, you know. ;) So please feel free to post comments about the site, jewelry, what you'd like to see, or to just say hi!



currently listening to: mix album i made for a friend's birthday (the song on right this very minute is "Strange Condition," by Pete Yorn, from the musicforthemorningafter lp. wow and yes, i do say lp. call me old, but i remember vinyl. know what? i *liked* it too. but i have to admit, it is nice not having to get up to flip the cd over! ciao, bella; jenie