Mar 12 2010
It has precipitated here what feels like just about non stop since September. As a consequence – the ground is saturated. On one of the lower areas of our neighbor’s bison farm, there has been standing water, aka “Lake Bison”, for most of the winter. A couple of weeks ago, all the Canadian geese in Lancaster found it. The sound of nearly a thousand geese circling and landing was incredible. The view was pretty amazing, too. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
Mar 08 2010
I am a fickle human being. I am, and I’m proud of it. My tastes change – from year to year, from month to month, from minute to minute. I didn’t like it yesterday, so I’ll probably love it tomorrow…
When I first started making jewelry, I was strictly a sterling & gemstone kind of girl. I scorned glass, I disdained crystal. But then I realized that I actually loved glass and crystal. I had some gold findings and beads in my supply box, but I never used them because – bleh – they weren’t silver! But then I made something in gold one day and discovered that my heart had room for gold, too. And then there was copper. Oh, copper and I failed to see each other’s merits for a time, but we fell deeply in love about three years ago, and it has been bliss ever since.
Don’t tell copper, but I have found a new love. Two new loves, to be precise – aged brass and gun metal. Ah, sweet brass, richly aged to a deep hue somewhere between dull olive and chocolate. Ah, lovely gun metal, silver in hue, but darkened to a deep charcoal grey. I love them both.
The trick with these metals is to pair them with light-colored glass or crystal – fire polish czech glass, for example. The contrast between the dark metal and the pale colored glass is phenomenal!
Fortunately, my findings supplier just started carrying components in these metals. Unfortunately – they’re not very well stocked yet, which means these items linked below are just the tip of the iceburg and I’ll have more of these beautiful components just as soon as I can get my hands on them!
Gun Metal Plated
Aged Solid Brass
Mar 05 2010
Q.
Hi, I am new to all this jewelry stuff. Could you tell me why the thickness of the cord matters? Also, if you can point me to a good reference on the web as to how to use/tie this cord, and whether a tool is required, that would be great!
A.
The thickness (diameter) of elastic cord is important in two respects.
First, the thicker the cord, the stronger it is.
Second, the thickness is important relative to the size of the hole in the beads you’re using. Most Swarovski, czech glass, cats eye, and other relatively common beads have a maximum hole size of 1mm, so your cord has to be 1mm or less to work with it. Many delicate gemstones have smaller holes that will not accommodate a 1mm diameter cord so a skinnier one is needed. To sum up – you need to know the internal diameter of your beads in order to choose the right diameter cord.
Each package of Elasticity has a diagram and instructions on the back of the package for finishing/knotting the cord. Those instructions are also available from the Beadalon Website.
No tool is needed to tie/finish elastic cord, although some people like to put a little dot of adhesive on the knot after it is tied.
Welcome to the wonderfully absorbing and addictive world of jewelry making!
Readers – feel free to add your tips for working with stretch elastic cord in the comments! Send me your questions, here.
Mar 05 2010
I grew up in a cat-loving family, and am now the happy keeper of several felines. In all my time around cats, I’ve never seen another cat that lays like Izzy – with his legs straight out behind him. He looks like his legs have been broken… except that he doesn’t mind a bit. Do any of you have cats who do this? Are they double-jointed? What is it that makes this so unusual? I want to know!
Mar 04 2010
I get some awesome questions from time to time, which I like to think I provide awesome answers for. And in order to share the awesomeness, I’m opening a new Q&A category on the blog. Please feel free to chime in with your awesome answers in the comments field, and keep the questions coming!
Mar 03 2010
Arguably our most popular annual sale, all of our TierraCast heishi and spacers are currently 15% off. These fantastic components are beautifully machine cast in the United States, with precision and quality far superior to imported spacers. Most of our spacers are available in antique silver, gold and copper, and they range in size from the basic daisy heishi, to larger, ornate, bali-style and multi-strand spacer bar designs. Our large-hole spacers and heishi are also included in this special.
Feb 27 2010
My Website is, of course, my primary focus, and my primary sales venue. But I’ve slowly building an Etsy store and customer base, and I couldn’t resist posting a screenie of, and a brief “hurrah” for tonight’s total sale count – exactly 999.
And so, HURRAH! And seriously – THANK YOU Etsy customers.
Feb 26 2010
Last week was feline best buds, Hobbie and Izzy. This week – we have the canine best buddies, Sunny and Mouse, or as we like to call them – “Round Dog” and “Hound Dog”.
Feb 21 2010
My husband is a talented man – Drupal Ninja, CSS Master, PHP Dude and general all around maker and builder, and that is just where computers are concerned! And take a look at what he made for me!
Eric has spent a good bit of the past month building an online Kumihimo pattern designer and planner – an interactive application that lets you design kumihimo patterns, and then shows you exactly how to put together your braid to make that pattern. At present – the KumiPlanner only shows the 8-warp round braid, but now that the application is built, you can plan on seeing other braid styles in the near future.
To try this application – click on the image below.
Feb 21 2010
For a couple of years, I’ve had up a small example pair of earrings that could be made using our Swarovski Crystal Pearl Drops, and every so often I get a message asking how to make them. I don’t know why it never dawned on me before to put up a project for them, rather than writing instructions out every time I get an e-mail, but I finally figured that one out, and the instructions (and a kit) are now available.
My other new project is a pair of bracelets made with new link components from TierraCast’s new Viva Mexicana collection. With lots of metal, accented with sparkling Swarovski crystal, these flashy bracelets are an eye catching delight. These bracelets could also be easily converted into a fabulous watch design, too.
Feb 19 2010
I love snow. But I’m actually getting tired of it (twenty some inches in one month will do that to you). And I love it being cold enough to run the wood stove round the clock. But I’m running low on seasoned fire wood, and no one has any more (seasoned) for sale here. And I’m tired of apples, bananas and grapes – I want fresh strawberries and peaches! So I guess what this all probably means is that I’m ready for spring. Only four or five more weeks to go.
I’ve had flowers (and florals) on the mind. I’ve been checking every time I go out to see if our daffodils have poked their stems up (they have! they have!!) Early spring flowers have been a source of inspiration for several new kumihimo cord mixes, and two new Swarovski bicone blends.
I also have a bunch of new colors of Swarovski’s versatile and lovely crystal pearl teardrop beads:
By the way, I’ve seen Swarovski’s upcoming spring release – they’ll have a new Lavender pearl out soon that is gorgeous! Can’t wait.
Feb 19 2010
These two are the best of friends – Izzy in the back, and “Big Brudder” Hobie in the front.
Feb 05 2010
Technically – these photos are from last Sunday, after we got 8″ of snow on Saturday. But we’re sitting here with snow falling, expecting anywhere from 4-15″ to fall by tomorrow night, and its like the whole of last week never even happened.
Jan 22 2010
Earlier this week, Eric nabbed my new camera (while I was still snoozing – sneaky thing) and took it out on a photo expedition. This was the view, photographed just a few feet from the kitchen door, of our shaggy neighbors at Edmonds Farm on that beautifully frosty, misty morning.
Jan 21 2010
Shortly before Christmas I discovered Kumihimo – the Japanese art of braiding. This technique of creating complex, multi-stranded braids appeals to the middle-schooler in me who still occasionally and unabashedly makes embroidery floss friendship bracelets. The opportunity to play with color that Kumihimo affords makes me giddy with glee.
Traditionally, Kumihimo braids were created on a wooden device called the Marudai. While the Marudai is a more flexible tool, it is also more complicated, and you can’t pick it up and take it with you (Kumihimo makes a long car ride go more quickly!). Fortunately for modern braiders, foam kumihimo looms are portable, versatile, and easy to use.
Kumihimo braids can be created with many different yarns and ribbons. All of my example braids pictured right are made using our 1mm Satin Rattail Cord. You can add silk ribbon, eyelash yarn, hemp cord, and other stringing material as suits. The rattail cord is a nice place to start as it doesn’t tangle easily, and is inexpensive and available in a host of colors.
Many of the recent additions in the past month have been Kumihimo supplies. To start with, I have Kumihimo looms – portable, light weight foam disks designed to facilitate the braiding process. My looms come with printed braiding instructions and design ideas. You’ll also need something to braid with – like my thirty three new colors of 1mm “Petite” satin rattail cord, available by the yard as well as in several pre-cut kumihimo mixes. I have a fantastic collection of new TierraCast large hole pendant bails – just the thing for slipping onto a kumihimo braid. And finally, I have end caps and new adhesives for finishing braids and turning them into wearable art. All these goodies are listed or linked to from my kumihimo page:
Eric and I have great plans on expanding our Kumihimo page with tutorials, videos, and an online pattern predictor application – we hope you’ll keep checking back as we expand our selection for this wonderful, creative technique.