Sale for St. Jude Children's Hospital

Hosted by the Etsy Jewlery Artist Guild. All proceeds benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital.
There are some really beautiful pieces in the shop! If you're still looking for gifts for any of the women on your list, check out the EJAG Shop for some great deals and give two gifts at once!

Happiness

I made a bunch of these small fused glass pendants quite awhile back with the intention of fusing the variety of precious metal decals that I've collected. Then, I had an inspirational moment...and Voila!! I absolutely love this new design and have been experimenting with color combinations. The amber chips on this necklace work perfectly with the faceted purple glass beads, and it truly makes me happy!!

My re-worked lovelies...

No! Not those, silly:)
These:

Yes, after a year of sitting in my dressing table drawer, I pulled out this great necklace that I made and disassembled it for re-creation!
Sadly, I don't have a before picture to compare it with, but if you use your imagination to blank out the blue squiggles, you'll have the necklace in its before state.
The fused glass beads would flip over to show the blank side and a peek through to the high temp wire findings - Not Appealing!
So, I refired the pieces with a little Glassline Enamel Liquid Paints.
Such a simple process, but it made all the difference!
I can now proudly wear this bold necklace with my favorite penny jacket and par-tay!!

Add-A-Bead Necklace

I love this new chain that I got from Fire Mountain Gems!
I've had this bead laying around for about a year, and I didn't know what to do with it...
Now it's my favorite understated necklace:)

Art Nouveau "Hanging Gardens" Necklace

My newest listing on Etsy, I've finished the third of my Art Nouveau-inspired stained glass necklaces. Although, the first two were gone before I was able to take pictures! Oops!
Spring Cleaning is in full force, so there's not much to add to this post, except that the bathrooms and the kitchen are clean!! Yea!

Soldered Pendant Necklaces

Finally, I've assembled not only the soldered pendants, but I've gathered all the components to actually piece together the entire necklace. I've got two beautiful necklaces so far...













These are both made with Czech fire-polished glass beads, about half of them have an Aurora Borealis coating which gives them a gorgeous shimmering effect. Both necklaces are finished with pure silver findings and silver chain measuring a total of 16".








I also thought that my fused plaid pendants could use some dressing up, so I wired this one together with silver chain and assorted glass beads:

My Very Own Dichroic Tile

Today, for the first time, I really dug in and played with some dichroic glass. It's always been a bit intimidating for me, because the stuff is so expensive! But, I must say, it was far less painful than I had made it out to be.
For the tile, we started with a 4"x4" piece of thin glass. For the next layer, we used mosaic nippers to break up opaque dichroic pieces, staggering them on the bottom layer. And then, we topped that layer with broken pieces of transparent dichroic glass. The last layer is a thin piece of 4"x4" clear glass.
The tiles will be dammed in the kiln with fiber paper and hot bricks so that they keep their dimensions. After firing, we will cut them, re-fire them at a low temp to soften the edges, then glue on bails, or drill holes into them and they are ready to wear!

The line down the middle of the tile is the score line I made to start cutting it into little pieces for pendants...Then, I remembered I wanted to photograph the before image! So, I've finished snipping it into littler pieces, and the next step is to fire them in the kiln again to soften the sharp edges.

Finally getting some soldered pendants done!

You may recall back in my March 16, 2007 post, that I mentioned I had some new pendant ideas...
I have finally figured them out completely and have taken the pictures I need:
First, my custom pendants...
This one is for my friend who's daughter is turning 3 this year. Although, I've got presents for her daughter, Sequoia, I thought that it would be appropriate to put together a necklace for Mommy. Someday she can pass it down to Sequoia, when she's old enough to appreciate it.

Another custom image pendant I did was with a photo of a Giant Sequoia:

And then, finally, I finished my stained glass leaf and flower pendants. Very time consuming, indeed! First, you cut all the tiny pieces. Then, you wrap each one with copper foil and burnish. Then, arrange them without letting them slide all over while soldering. Attach a jump ring, rinse, polish, and voila! They are very pretty. I think I'll incorporate them into some beautiful beaded necklaces.

New pendant ideas!

Well, it's been quite awhile now since I've produced any new pendants. What with being away from the studio for two months, and then having my father visit for a month, and fighting the "blahs" of winter, and not having the proper lead-free Silvergleem solder...I'm finally approaching the day of reckoning! Yes, today I am gathering all of my design ideas from the last three months and beginning to cut some glass!!!
I've wanted to make some glass pendants that are "stained glass"-esque, and I've got lots of ideas floating around in my head. So, keep your eyes out for my new offerings!

Update...check out this post for finished pendants.

Business Development Grant for Bridge Jewelry

So for those of you who are over-achievers, and have your taxes done already...I'm sure you're looking for another project to tackle. PLUS, this one gets you money back...a whopping $6,000.00!!!

Okay, so what's the catch? Well, you must be an aspiring businesswoman who:
-is a student or professional jewelry designer
-intends on pursuing a full-time career in bridge jewelry
-intends on developing a branded line of bridge jewelry for resale
-intends on selling their branded line on a regional or national level
-started their bridge jewelry business after January 1, 2004
-has never been convicted of a felony
-is a US citizen

What is bridge jewelry, you say?
It is the middle segment of the jewelry industry that falls between fine jewelry (precious metals and gemstones) and costume jewelry.

Halstead Bead Inc. is interested in supporting jewelry designers in this segment due to the increasing competition from mass merchandising and cheap products from overseas.

A list of the things they require for entrants:
-Short Answer Application Questions
-Long Answer Application Questions
-Application Form
-Signed Contest Terms and Declaration of Originality
-5-10 Color Photographs of Original Bridge Jewelry Designs
-List of Materials Used in Each Design
-Wholesale and-or Retail Price for Each Design
-Marketing Collateral Materials- tags, brochures, catalog, etc.
-Resume including education and past employment
-Business Plan

If this sounds like something you may be interested in, check out http://www.halsteadbead.com/Grant/.

Have fun and good luck!