Snarky Idol

Wow!  I just had my idol knocked off her pedestal this morning.  I won't tell you who she is because that would be wrong.  I really admire her work.  Her stuff is amazing and if I could be half as successful as she is I would be happy.  BUT, I read an article today and this is what she said..

"I want you to feel comfortable in knowing you ARE purchasing an ORIGINAL and AUTHENTIC [redacted] design. There are far too many wannabes in the market and I want you to collect the original with confidence and comfort."

Wow!  "far too many wannabes"!  ouch!  and so snarky!  It smacks not only of a lack of generosity for those of us up and comers but also a little insecurity.

Though I am still impressed with her work, I'm not impressed with her.  So disappointing! 

A little shopping and then a little organization

I went shopping for new tools with my dad today.  As you may or may not remember he is starting up his silver working again.  (take a look at his stuff from an earlier post.  It's awesome!)  So we went today to pick up some tools for him and, of course, I had a few things I just had to have as well.

Now, ashamedly I admit , this was my current organizational system for my rings.

 The larger rings were put into their own little cubby in these boxes, while the smaller rings were grouped by style (birthstone rings, hammered rings, gemstone rings, etc.)  I wasn't happy with this system and, though I am very careful with my pieces, I just didn't think it did them any justice.  I've seen ring organizers before, in boxes with slits that you can put rings into.  They have always been so expensive and, since I don't do shows, I couldn't justify in my mind spending that kind of money on a storage system.  I've even thought of what it would take to make my own! 

Today, while perusing the myriad of aisles in the supply store I came across just the insert for this type of box!  Woo hoo!  and only $6.00?  SOLD!

So, here is my new system.

I really can't believe I have this many rings in stock.  Not all are for sale in my shop, some are old stock I just don't make anymore, but others are my...oh what do you call it?...the first one I made so I could photograph it.....whatever. 

I am happy to be more organized and to have my rings displayed like they deserve to be.  It almost makes me think I could do a show...only almost.

Oh, and here are some tools I got today.

 A new chasing hammer, some flat nose pliers and a new bench block.  I also got more little oval turquoise cabs so I could make more of these!

  Oh, of course, a little iced coffee to assist in the organization and clean up!

Putting all those hearts to good use

You may recall when I shared this with you:

Well, I've begun to put them to use.  I made this right away,

but now I've added this,

and these.

I love these little things.  They are somewhat fiddly to work with at first but once you get the hang of how to shape the silver into a heart shape, it goes much quicker. 

Coming Soon

My dad retired recently and is going to be making jewelry again.  He will be sharing studio space with me and I can't wait!  He's going to have his own Etsy store. We have to get a shop name, tax id, etc.  and then we'll get it all set up.

In the mean time we are working on cleaning up and photographing some pieces he still has that he made in the 1970s.  These will be the first pieces in his shop.


Here are previews of some rings.

Gorgeous stuff! 

Laughter

As I have talked about before I am working on simple and inexpensive items for the holidays.  This week I started making simple hoops and put them in my shop. 

Today I had time and light to photograph my busy daughter wearing my hoops.  She was so funny and got tickled just standing there.  We ended up having a laughing fit on the back porch..over nothing.  It was wonderful.