I love a productive week. On a scale from 1 to 100, this was a 83. Not a super score, but work got done even though my dear girl was extra needing of TLC due to her persistent chest cold. I finished 8 pieces or so. How nice to finally start something from scratch. I tend to start too many pieces and work on all at the same time....delaying their completion in the process.

blossom pendant with a sweet little antique button

dot bangle with 18k gold and ceylon sapphire

sterling bubble earrings

18k heart ring with filigree

Now onto the weekend. It's a cold one here in Maine! I plan to stay close to home, read, and enjoy the family (and maybe sneak off to the studio for an hour or two)! Good bye, January 2010!

Fluffing the Shop

I conquered a snarky graphics program on my PC (grrrr...) to make a more professional banner for my Esty shop. As a do-it-yourselfer, I'm quite tickled with the results. The bottom banner was the winner. Oh, and by the way, I had eight total, but only burdened you with three. Now, if I could just settle on a look for my blog....

I've been tweaking, fluffing, and virtually dusting the shop this week. I reshot a bunch of items with efforts to creating more visually appealing listings and to change the background color to gray on many items. I still would like to add props...but what? Wooden spools, stones, rusty washers, dioramas, sewing notions? The challenge is to commit to a theme/ or story with my work. ~sigh~ Not an easy task as my work embodies vastly differently expressions from my life's journeys. Perhaps a road map or chart would be in order....hmmm.

Another new listing! A 3 bangle piece from the Dot Collection! I LOVE THIS! If I didn't list it, you can imagine where it would be right now...dangling from my wrist and banging against this keyboard, of course!

Pardon me as I crawl out from this messy pile of work to blog a bit. Wow! Busy week...good busy. Friday, my daughter and I drove to Maine's jewel of a coastal city, Portland, to stock up on some jewelry essentials. When in town, one must make a stop at JS Ritter Jewelers Supply. From mallets to mandrels, beads to burnishers, they have what this jeweler needed (which was medium flow silver solder, sandpaper, brooch findings, and round sterling wire). My firecracker of a 2 year old found what SHE needed while mama shopped: a well-stocked children's play area . What a bonus!

The cuffs from my earlier post are complete. And ~sighing a deep sigh of relief~ the customer loves them!!!! Thank goodness for the wonders of digital photography and the Internet.

This was another commission I just completed for an old RISD friend. She's happy, too!!! Happy customers are a very good thing.

10 Helpful Items from my week:

1. my space heater

2. warm socks

3. my little camera

4. my rusty washer collection (more on this later)

5. coffee, coffee, coffee

6. naps, for my girl, not me

7. my burnisher

8. steel wool

9. my fine 1/2 round file

10. my dishwasher (a Bosch if you would like to know)

Thinking Ahead

New listing in my Etsy shop! Sterling charm bangle with green tourmaline, vintage shell button, and faceted black pearls. Yummy! I really had to hold myself back when making this. I wanted to fill the whole bangle with all sorts of stones, baubles, and, of course, buttons. But, I went with the magic number 3 for this one (I have this thing about 3's and it's multiples...three perennials, 3 vases, 3 planters, 3 cheeses, 3 candles, and so on). There are 2 more bangles on my bench waiting for me to set their stones (a pink tourmaline in one and an orange opal in the other) and rivet their buttons. I might try to making a bangle 'with all the fixins' soon...just to get it out of my system.

I've been thinking a bunch about the holiday season peeking above the horizon. Sort of the old eggs in the basket deal. Do I continue to make work for my Esty shop, OR do I make work for my Etsy shop and a trunk show, or do I make work for Etsy and a craft fair? I wish I could only live in the moment, but my pragmatic Capricorn self will not have any of THAT gibberish. So, I look forward, hoping to choose the right path. And, if you don't mind, please send metalsmithing elves my way to help with all the bench work.