The Birds and the Beads

Finishing Kumihimo Braids with End Caps

Erin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:01:46 +0000

My 2nd video tutorial is better lit, and almost all the action occurs on screen this time! I’ve been asked many times about how to finish kumihimo cord ends with the closed cord end caps and glue. Here’s how I do it…..

New Mixes and an Old Gadget

Erin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:36:46 +0000

With autumn around the corner, and my leaf beads recently featured in a project, I thought it might be prudent to create several different assortments of these colorful, seasonal beads to make it easier to try them out. And in the process of photographing them (and my project), I rediscovered an old gadget.

A few years ago, I bought one of the complete bead-photography sets from Table Top Studio, and it came with this lit flat panel that you put your beads or jewelry on top of for photographing, so that your pieces are lit from the sides, top and bottom. Long story short – I never could get a good picture from it with my old camera, and it has been collecting dust next to the fax machine for the past few years.

Armed with my new camera, I dug it out last week and gave it a try, and doesn’t it look great with glass? The last few pictures here on the blog (all with these leaves) look like they’re glowing. Which they are – because the beads are lit from the bottom! It won’t work with everything, of course, but I am loving the effect with glass.

Back to the beads – the new mixes can be found here:

Friday Beast Blogging – EGG Edition

Erin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:11:56 +0000

One of these things is not like the other… One of these things just doesn’t belong….

An egg from Indira (our peafowl – see previous FBB’s) in with some chicken eggs.

Buddies

Erin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:19:56 +0000

Loved this video of a rather unique set of friends – a lab and a dolphin! And you can read about this pair, here.

2011 Calendars, Datebooks & Almanacs

Erin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:31:53 +0000

It’s that time of the year, and I’m stocking up on calendars and almanacs for 2011. We have Jen Delyth’s gorgeous mini and full size Celtic Mandala calender, plus her fabulous datebook (I use mine about a million times every day!). We also have many of Llewellyn’s most popular calendar, almanac and datebook titles – a must for planning your magical workings.

I have a couple others on order – check back in early September for the last of the 2011 designs.

2011 Calendars, Datebooks & Almanacs

Friday Beast Blogging – Drupal Kitty

Erin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:06:46 +0000

Eric cleared up his desk yesterday…a fact which Hobbie immediately took advantage of. (Note the impressive collection of Drupal books in the background. My Drupal Ninja STUDIES!)

Experimenting with Liver of Sulfur

Erin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:02:59 +0000

I’ve never used LOS before, but today I was feeling daring and I tried it for the first time – on copper! I’ll grant you this post might have been more useful if I had though to take a “before” shot. But – I oxidized several pieces that were made with raw copper wire, and a copper-plated TierraCast component. I was very happy with it all, and pleased to discover I can age TierraCast so quickly. I know that TC copper is already antiqued, but I like my copper best when it is almost chocolate colored, and the LOS got me there in a minute or two!

I used “Liver of Sulfur Gel” which I liked so well I will get it for the shop next week!

My First Video Tutorial… It’s Okay to Laugh…

Erin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:19:43 +0000

Well – I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I got my new camera in January, and I finally did it… I made a video tutorial. It isn’t perfect.. Especially the thirty five seconds or so where none of the action actually takes place on screen. I’ll get better, I promise! In the mean time, I hope you enjoy!

New Chain & New Bracelets

Erin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:15:58 +0000

Just a quick note of two sets of new items on the website this weekend. I’ve got a new selection of solid copper chain – I’ve got several styles that are bright copper, and several styles that have been oxidized to age them. I’ve also added new add-a-bead style cuffs – designed to be used with large hole beads.

Friday Beast Blogging – Anka Style

Erin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:05:59 +0000

This past weekend, my best friend since the 5th grade (!!) came to visit, and brought her beautiful dog, Anka. Anka is a Siberian Husky mix that Desiree and her fellow adopted from a rescue, is a sweet, sweet dog. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the three way tug of war between Anka, Sunny and Mouse. This picture doesn’t do them justice, but Anka has the most beautiful ice-blue eyes.

ElectricRainbow Inspirations

Erin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:17:14 +0000

I’ve been wanting to set up a category for pictures and notes from customers for quite some time, and this beautiful bracelet design sent to me by my new customer and fellow Virginian, Cori, was the kick in the metaphorical pants I needed to get this section rolling.

Cori used my beautiful Swarovski “Graphic” Beads as the center point of this amazingly wire wrapped bracelet. Check out more of Cori’s designs at her Etsy Store – ElectricRainbow1.

(Not My) Beast Blogging

Erin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:48:31 +0000

My beast-blogging folder was empty the past few weeks, but I’ve been taking lots of photos the last few days, and will be up and running on Friday with our normal Friday Beast Blogging installment. In the mean time… Here’s a fun video of Scottish Fold Maru..

I’ve enjoyed Maru’s Blog for many years – and like Izzy – she’s double-jointed!

First Drupal Lesson

Erin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:13:29 +0000

Today I received my first lesson in DRUPAL from my live-in Drupal Ninja. Lest some (I’m looking at you dear Mona) think my hubby is some kind of black belt in the martial arts, a Drupal Ninja is a title that those with the most geek cred (skill) in the content management system Drupal may claim for themselves.

Okay – all that probably made very little sense unless you, yourself, or someone close to you works on content management and the web. So let me put it another way… Today was the first step towards a new Lytha Studios. Eric and I have great plans of upgrading the website to a much more flexible and dynamic system. Eric has the skill, but I need to understand how it will work, too. And I’m on the way! This has been planned for about two years now, so it was a great feeling to take that first step. With a site the size of Lytha Studios, it is going to be an intense project. I hope that we’ll be able to launch it early next spring.

Friday Beast Blogging

Erin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:27:09 +0000

This candid portrait of Izzy was taken a few weeks ago. I’m running a little low on new animal photos… The only one I’ve taken recently that I haven’t shown you yet is a house fly laying eggs on the outside of the office door. Waiting for a special creepy-crawling edition of FBB for that one.

Friday Beast Blogging – The Laundry Monster

Erin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:42:05 +0000

We frequently refer to the Laundry Monster in our house hold (thank you, Sara Jane!), but this isn’t exactly what we usually mean by that phrase….