Showing posts with label jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewelry. Show all posts

Jul 31, 2009

Recent Craft Fair

On the 4th of July I participated in the Les Artisans Craft Fair at Hidden Cove in Bradley IL. This new venue was huge, actually 4 basketball courts in one and although the whole space was not taken up with craft booths, it still had a nice turnout of fine wares.

Last year was the 1st time I had sold at this show and it was one of the best shows I had in all the years of selling. This year was not quite as profitable but I was very pleased. With the lousy economy and our area has been especially hit hard, I didn't know what to expect.


This is a rather blurry picture of one side of my booth, I do much better using a tripod. The picture from the other side is really blurry!

I did sell a wide variety of my goods - totes & romantic bags, cigar box purses, scrabble tile charms, domino necklaces, soldered glass necklaces, dragonfly & butterfly pins made from 2-liter pop bottle plastic. (sounds weird but they turn out beautiful) I do have one of these pins listed in my Etsy shop if you'd like to see one up close.


This is my jewelry display table. I sold most of the Scrabble tile charms - they were rather inexpensive and drew in a lot of buyers. The longer a buyer stays in your booth the better!



The Twilight purse and the 2 Captain Jack purses sold right away. It was the first Edward purse I made and I wanted to see how it was received. It sold so quickly that hardly anyone else got to see it. Guess I need to make more but finding the right box is not easy.

Pam Ash, the show's organizer/promoter does a super job - www.springcreekcraftshows.bravehost.com. I may or may not do her Christmas show this year, we could be out of town at the time.

There is a small show that I may do in September, the main reason I would do it is that it is located on property that my great-great grandfather owned and is named after him. I thought it would be nice for a relative to show up!

Then I have a terrific show the 1st weekend in October in Watseka IL, two days & I sell tons.

Always busy, busy, busy...

Jul 29, 2009

1st Attempt at Steampunk Jewelry


Well I can't believe it has been this long since I have written anything on my blog!!

I have recently become intrigued by the Steampunk style in jewelry. A couple of days ago I tried my hand at creating a piece in this Victorian/Industrial/Jules Verne theme.

This piece that I call Time - a Convertible Brooch/Necklace went together rather quickly. Sure wish the glue would have dried faster so I could have continued uninterrupted.

Starting with a antiqued goldtone brooch base, I added silver & gold filigree pieces, a watch face that actually was once a buttoncover, some vintage gold chain with a charm & few other things.

Actually the first layer of the piece was a small image of some clock fabric that I printed on muted green paper. Then I went from there.

Now I have to decide if I want to keep my first attempt since I do love the way it turned out, or do I list it on Etsy? Maybe I should try to make a similar one and list it.

Mar 17, 2009

Conquering Resin


Conquering Resin

I finally tried my hand at pouring resin to add a durable coating to my altered dominoes.

This altered domino necklace, Romeo & Juliet is one of my first attempts and it is now listed in my Etsy shop - http://www.gmPurseanalities.etsy.com.

It really wasn't difficult working with the resin at all. You just have to make sure you have everything ready before you start mixing the two components. There is only so much working time with the mixed resin.

I set up the dominoes to coat on some glazed tiles that fit inside a large cookie tin. The dominoes were elevated about 1" on the tiles with tiny bits of wood.

Once I started pouring the resin I used an old paintbrush to dab resin on the edges where it hadn't flowed. This wasn't hard, just a bit time consuming.

When the gas bubbles appeared on the surface I just gently exhaled on them and they magically vanished.

The hard part is waiting the 72 hours for the resin to cure. I did peak a number of times inside the tins to see how things were progessing.

I am pleased with the results, the surface is certainly more durable than any other product I have tried. All others seemed to scuff or scratch way to easily. Resin is the way to go.

Now I have loads more to coat!