Twilight - Amethyst and Sterling Silver Asymmetrical Necklace

Luxurious faceted amethyst pillow beads drape dramatically from delicate sterling silver wire. The asymmetrical design is bold and sophisticated. The necklace measures 16.5 inches, including the full length of the top section of amethysts, and is finished with a sterling silver hook clasp.

You can buy the necklace here.

FSOJ - Week 19 - Off Theme

Well, it's not on theme, but I like it anyway! The blue ovals are gorgeous blue kyanite, with freshwater pearls and handmade sterling silver beads. The links are of course handmade, which for some reason took longer than usual on this necklace. The kyanite is a bit funny to work with, it scratches easily, so you have to pay attention where the ends of the wires are waving. The clasp in the back that you can't see is a sterling s-hook.

Shy Violet

FSOJ - Week 9 - Glade

It's late, but here it is. It's called Glade, and it's part of my Moonlight Collection. It's an 18 gauge sterling silver wire frame coiled with 28 gauge fine silver, bali silver beads, faceted and round fancy jasper, and round and oval moss agate.

Cyclical?

Are there any other artists out there? I've read someone's suggestion that many artists go through acquisitive/creative/destructive cycles in their creativity. I know that for me this is true. Sometimes, I just want to buy, buy, buy supplies, with ideas for all of them, but I don't really do much actual, physical creating. Then there are times that I just feel inspired and create piece after piece. Then there are times that I can't work up the motivation to come up with a new idea, and find myself redoing something that needed tweaking, or finishing off something that had been sitting on the work table 95% complete for weeks.

Am I the only one that does this?

I HAVE to be through with my current acquisitive stage, since I've just gotten such a big order of new supplies. So it's on to the creative phase for me. A lot of times when I'm not really creative I can do some simple earrings or a relatively simple strung necklace and that will inspire me to something more artistic later on.

The picture posted is of a bracelet of blue aventurine and sterling silver. It's called Navy Sky.

Classes start a week from Monday. My orientation starts Tuesday afternoon and goes until Friday night - because we're special. My hubby's orientation is nonexistant and he gets a two hour class on being a TA. That's it. Nothing else. I also get an office, despite the fact that I'm NOT teaching, while DH (Dear Hubby) doesn't. Fair? I think not.

www.shyviolet.net

Frustrating

I've been frustrated with the response of jewelry stores and galleries when I present my jewelry, hoping they'll want to carry it. There seem to be two responses:

1) "Oh, that's WAYYY nicer than anything we carry. If it's over $10 or $15 dollars, it's too much for our customers." or
2) "Is it gold and diamonds? We don't carry anything but gold and diamonds." (insert condescending tone of voice here)

Unfortunately, I'm not going to work with sterling silver and gemstones and spend hours on a piece just to sell it for $15 dollars - I can find easier ways of losing money. I like working with silver. It's inexpensive enough that I can make a few mistakes without bankrupting myself. It's popular - if you haven't noticed, everyone under 30 and a large percentage of those over 30 are wearing silver quite a bit more often than they're wearing gold. It's pretty, it looks good with the techniques I'm using, it looks good with the stones.

If I used gold in the type of jewelry I'm making, a bracelet like the first picture I posted Tuesday would be thousands of dollars. Instead, because I used silver, it's only $295. Considering the amount of work that went into it, and the quality of the materials used, that's quite reasonable. I don't want to make my art inaccessible. I want real people to be able to enjoy what I do.

www.shyviolet.net