The Birds and the Beads

My whole life has been one big obsession with color. As a younger lady, I made embroidery floss bracelets by the barrel full, and had more colors than DMC! My Chemistry teacher was inundated with purple and green inked lab reports. Bob Ross was (and still is) my hero!

I’m still a glutton for color. And I couldn’t pass up the chance to add these fabulous Marvy® Terra Cotta pens to my collection and to my store.

These new indoor and outdoor markers are a fabulous way to bring distinction and color to your terra cotta garden pots, unglazed tiles, and more. They’re great on pottery, wood, plaster statues, most foam products, stone, canvas and more.

The opaque water-based pigmented acrylic paint is lightfast, odorless, water resistant, acid-free and non-toxic. Be sure to sure your markers horizontally to keep them from drying up. 6mm tip.

I wasn’t going to do a Friday Beastblogging this week, and seeing how it is Saturday, maybe I shouldn’t have. But I just had to share these two silly Gulls I photographed this morning.

The complete gallery of photographs from this morning can be found on my personal / photography / music site: circumjacence.com.

This week Indira tried out her status as a Yardbird. Up until now her outside time has either been in a large dog crate, or in a small fenced-in area in our yard (where she spends most of her time pacing in front of the door waiting to come in). However, a few days ago we brought her out on the porch where we were sitting at the table. She spent some time with us, and then went for a brief wander around the yard until flying up to the roof. Eventually I shooed her down and she went back in the open door. Classic.

There are more pictures after the jump…
Continue Reading »

Back in November, when InStyle Magazine called and requested samples, I sent them of course, but never imagined it would actually amount to anything. So you can imagine my astonishment when one of our items was featured in the April Issue of InStyle – a national magazine with a circulation of nearly two million! Now they didn’t feature beads, or anything made with beads, but I’m not going to complain. They featured my 18-color set of Marvy LePens, and though the feature was in the very back of the issue (page 452!), InStyle readers must have enjoyed them because Eric and I spent most of March and a good bit of April making and shipping pen sets. You wouldn’t believe some of the names that have popped up on my caller ID – I hardly believe it myself!

While it was exciting, there is only so much excitement a person can handle! There’s a new issue of InStyle on the shelves, and I’ve been very glad to have the time to get caught up on website updates and projects, not to mention my laundry, my garden, and “Lost”.

Wishing you a delightful spring — Erin
http://www.123bead.com

Continue Reading »

Spring is in the air, the bees are working their magic in our orchard, and what could be more perfect than a sale on all of our “wing” beads & charms? Our current special includes all of our Swarovski & Cats Eye butterfly beads, plus our extensive “Wings” collection from TierraCast – Angel Wings, Fairies, Butterflys, Honeybees and more. Prices good through May 31, 2008.

Spring Wings 15% off Collections

With the soaring costs of precious metals, I could think of no time more ideal than now to introduce a new line of plated base metal beads & findings. This collection is in its infancy – more parts are due in next week, and even more in June. Our introductory line of silver, gold & gunmetal plated beads & findings is officially online and available for purchase. Keep checking back for more, and let me know what pieces you’d like to see added to the collection!

Plated Metal Beads & Findings

Copper is a relatively new found love for me. In 1996, my mother started beading with copper, and the unique and vibrant flavor that copper brings to a piece of jewelry made quite an impression. I’ve been hooked ever since!

Copper tarnishes very quickly – more more so than sterling silver. Just being exposed to the air will turn copper, but body oils will bring about a change very quickly. Copper in its untarnished state is a somewhat pinkish-orange-brown, and when worn will quickly turn to dark brown (with a touch of olive) as the surface of the metal reacts and forms a patina. During this period of chemical reaction, while the surface layer is changing, copper jewelry may cause the wearer to turn colors (usually green) where the metal touches. Once the chemical reaction is complete, and the copper has finished darkening (the patina is fully formed), it won’t change anymore (and won’t turn the wearer green), unless that surface layer is abraded.

New Collection – Solid Copper Beads & Findings

In addition to the solid copper beads and findings featured on these pages, I have an EXTENSIVE line of copper finished components from TierraCast. This line includes heishe and spacers, bead caps, toggles, beads, charms, earring and chandelier components, and much more. These stunning pieces are made from start to finish in America, and unlike the solid copper beads and findings shown on these pages, the TierraCast pieces have been lightly antique to bring out the detail, and given a tarnish inhibiting finish to keep them looking brighter and more colorful. I tend to use primarily TierraCast copper finished pieces in my copper jewelry, with solid copper rounds and findings as accents.

TierraCast® Beads, Charms & Findings