Wild Rose Tourmaline Bracelet

The newest addition to the Garden Collection, Wild Rose is subtly sophisticated. Two strands of small translucent tourmaline rondelles range from deep rose to delicate pink, yellow, and through shades of light and deep green shading to black. It is finished with a delicate square sterling silver clasp. It is 7.5 inches long. You can check it out at my Etsy store or at my website.

I've been working really hard to promote my jewelry recently, but I'm unsure whether it will pay off. I've joined EtsyLux, a group of Etsy sellers (Street Team) focused on promoting the finer works on Etsy. It's not just about pricing (although that is a large part of it). Part of it is a mentality - although there are sellers who sell gorgeous stuff for pennies, we're trying to promote the idea of Etsy as a place to get quality artisan pieces, not just handcrafted steals. Some of it as about the quality of the work, but sometimes artists (who make beautiful things - not just beginning crafters!) drastically undercharge for their time, expertise, and materials, either consciously in order to be competitive or simply because they don't value their work as they should. EtsyLux is NOT about overpricing - in fact many of us are STILL undercharging. But we're trying to recognize the value of craftsmanship, and promote that value to others as well. We value our own work enough to be confident in charging a price that's fair to us and to buyers.

I've also joined EJA, Eclectic Jewelry Artisans (another Street Team on Etsy). This group is more focused on jewelry (as should be obvious by the name).

www.shyviolet.net

Week 28 - Offtheme (as usual)

So simple it doesn't really deserve to be part of the FSOJ project, but it's one of the few things I have pictures of at the moment. I've recently sent a pile of new things (that actually involve wirework and that I didn't get pictures of!) off to a gallery in Houston, so at least you can imagine something involving wirework! Comments welcome, of course!

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 25 - Off-Theme

Obviously I'm a bit behind on the Four Seasons of Jewelry. I'm posting this in week 25, but I'll be catching up on the last *counts on fingers* um.... 6 weeks in the next few days, I hope. I'm waiting for my hubby to finish the editing, etc. Since he does it (and I don't have to!), I'm not going to complain when things get a little slow!

This is blue lace agate and crystal quartz with sterling silver beads (bali) and my first swirly clasp, made of 16 gauge sterling wire and then hammered. I LOVE the matte finish from hammering. All comments, criticism, etc. are welcome as always.

Available at ShyViolet.

FSOJ - Week 17 - Leaves

It's a bit late, but better than never. Here's my take on the Leaves theme. The pendant is Thai hilltribe silver, accented by freshwater pearls dyed green and gold. It also has matching earrings, not pictured because the bust/neck seems to not work with French hooks. The holes for the earrings are photoshopped out because I thought it looked silly for there to be holes with no earrings in them! All comments welcome, as usual.

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 10 - Sun Dew

The theme this week was "critters." Well, there are no critters in this, but it is part of the Garden Collection, so maybe there might be some critters in the garden? This one is called Sun Dew, and it's citrine nuggets and buttons, peridot rounds and chips, bali silver, crystal quartz rondelles, and 28 gauge fine silver wire coiled over an 18 guage sterling wire frame.

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 6 - Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not is made of sterling silver, fine silver, and blue lace agate nuggets. This is one of the bracelets where the clasp worked out pretty well - sometimes they are more difficult than others.

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 5 - Off-Theme

The theme this week was Something Old is New. The topic didn't really inspire me this week, so I'm off-theme. However, the piece DOES fit into my Garden Collection. It is called Primrose, and also has matching earrings. It is made of pink Peruvian opal, freshwater pearls, and sterling silver.

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 2 - Complementary Colors

We finally replaced our stolen digital camera, but hubby and I both had tests and homework that prevented us from taking pictures in time for the due date, so the picture was several days late.

The theme this week was Complementary Colors. The bracelet is a link bracelet with carnelian nuggets (look familiar?) and apple green chrysoprase nuggets. The links and clasp of course are SS wire, and the beads are bali silver. Simple, and also complementary colors (if you use your imagination a little bit!). The bracelet is quite comfortable to wear - I really like making these link bracelets. I've been on a real bracelet kick lately, so you'll probably see a lot more of them.

Shy Violet