Selling Handmade Jewelry: March Madness

March is always pretty quiet in the retail industry and this year is no exception. I haven't made as many jewelry sales, mainly because Christmas and Valentine's Day are over and we still have some time before Mother's Day. It's still been busy, though! This is the proverbial calm before the storm.

I'm still working on my Morrocan-inspired enamel and wire wrapped bib necklace. We didn't have class this week, but I just got a new shipment of light blue square crystals, which I'm going to hang between the square tiles and the long, skinny pieces. They'l break up the pattern on the enamel pieces and add some extra "zing" to the necklace. This piece is taking me forever to finish, but I'm done with the squares and am about a third of the way through with the skinny blanks. So I'm getting there!

I haven't worked on any other new jewelry designs because I've been putting so much energy into this necklace, but I am gearing up for spring, which is the start of the craft fair season. I didn't do so well with fairs last year and would like to have a more active season. So far, I'm planning to do a charity fair with my friend Christopher, who works for a United Cerebral Palsy school. I'd also like to sell at some fairs in Manhattan. The registration fees are a little higher, but it'll be worth it if I sell more pieces.

Meantime, I'm working on my writing. Yeah, I feel like two different people sometimes, but I love to write and I love making jewelry! I'm finishing up a memoir writing class and signed on for a class on writing children's books. I'm also editing my second novel and plan to send it to some agents. I haven't forgotten about my jewelry book -- I still need to do that, too.

This has been a long, cold, hard winter in NY and I'm glad it's over. Just one more day until spring! Please check out my wire wrapped and enamel jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. And check out my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just $1.99 on Amazon.

Tales From Enameling Class 3/4/14

My latest enameling project is my largest and most detailed so far. I'm making a bib necklace that's going to be constructed of over 40 separate enameled pieces. Each piece has a sgraffito design so it's turning out to be a lot of work!

Here are a few pieces that I've done so far:

The squares are going to make up the base of the necklace and the long strips are going to hang from them, making up the bib. There will be a layer of blue square crystals in between. And I still have to make the wire wrapped chain. In other words, this thing is going to have about a million parts and is going to take me all semester to complete.

I saved myself a tiny bit of labor by purchasing ready-made 24 gauge copper blanks. Still, I have so much to do! When enameling, you actually have to put layers of glass on each side so that the piece is stable and doesn't bend from the weight of the glass. So I've had to put three layers of counter on each blank to match the three layers of glass on the front (for the front, I use a foundation of white enamel, then add aqua and Prussian blue). To get the swirls, I'm using a wire and etching out the design while the top layer (the darker blue) is still in powder form. When I heat the pieces, the swirly pattern comes out.

As of now, I've completed the squares. I like how they turned out because they look like Moroccan tiles. There's a tiny bit of burning in the center, but the darker sections make them look even more like tiles, I think.

I'm having a more difficult time with the strips. For one thing, they're really hard to flatten. I've applied extra counter, I've put them under an iron while they're still hot... but they have a slight curve to them. I might just have to keep them that way.

There are also so many of them to do! I have only seven squares, but over 30 strips... so it feels like a never-ending task. However, I just saw the movie Tim's Vermeer, in which an inventor makes his own version of a Vermeer painting in order to prove that the artist used optics and lenses. At one point, the inventor spent days and days simply painting tiny dots to bring out the fibers in a blanket. At least I'm making swirls, which is fun. I could be creating literally millions of dots, which would get old pretty quickly!

I'm excited about this necklace, though. It's unlike anything else I've done so far and is going to be really cool when it's complete. So stay tuned! My silver wire wrapped enamel tile necklace will be finished... someday.

Meanwhile, check out the rest of my wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Wire wrapped copper and enamel "Fire And Ice" necklace completed!

Yay! After weeks of work, I've finally finished my wire wrapped copper and enamel "Fire And Ice" bib necklace! Check it out:

This was one of those projects that I didn't think would ever be completed, so it's so satisfying to see it come together. At the same time, I've gotten so used to working on it that it feels strange to not be putting it together. Onto the next project then!

I'm not sure what I want to do next, maybe a bracelet or earrings? I definitely want to do something a little more simple and accessible. I enjoyed this challenge, though, and am up for another one after taking a well-earned break!

To purchase my jewellery, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

More on my Fire And Ice enameled necklace

For the past few weeks, I've been working on a really complicated and time-consuming enamel and wire wrapped project. I've been creating a 15-piece enamel bib necklace ... that's also reversable.

One one side, the large bib-style pendant is made up of circles of dark blue and aqua enamel, aka the "ice":

But if you turn it over, the circles are painted with coppery orange and yellow enamel, aka the "fire":

As you can see, I'm only about halfway through the project, but painting those discs took FOREVER. Altogether, there are 15 and they'll be in a pyramid shape of 5-4-3-2-1. I sifted two colors onto each side of the circle, and then put two coats of enamel on each, so I spent hours sifting and firing in the kiln, sifting and firing. I then had to clean each disc to get rid of the residue that collects onto the copper.

Now that I've finally finished with the circles, I'm constructing the actual bib pendant. I have to line up those holes exactly in order to put the pattern together correctly. As one of my classmates said, it's a little like a math problem -- or maye a jigsaw puzzle. I'm using 20 gauge copper wire to make the jumprings and the chain, when I get to it, because the copper goes well with both sides of the design.

When I eventually get to creating the chain, I'm going to make flat spiral links from the copper wire. This way, I can continue with the whole "circle" theme. I think it's going to be really unique looking when I'm finished -- which will, hopefully, be next week! It's taken me long enough to get to this point, but I'm taking my time to make it great.

To purchase my jewellery, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Fire and ice enamel necklace project

I've started a new project in my enameling class and it's going to be a complicated one! I'm making a bib necklace featuring 15 enameled circles, which I'm arranging into an upside-down pyramid shape (the bib). Not only that, the necklace is going to be reversable with a different design on the other side of the discs. It's going to be a lot of work!

So far, I've drilled the discs so that I can attach jump rings and connect them into the triangle pattern, and have applied enamel to one side. My teacher suggested that i sift on different colors right against the copper so I can get a cool, swirling design with a hint of the copper beneath. So I used transparent aqua and deep blue enamels, applying half of each color to the discs ... and sure enough, I got what looks like a funky tie-dyed design:

Actually, now that I look at the discs, they look more like little planets, no? My plan is to apply another coat of aqua/dark blue to this side and then apply orange and yellow to the counter side. This way, I'll have cool colors and warm colors -- or fire and ice. I think it'll be a neat contrast and the wearer can display whichever side she wants.

A statement necklace like this will need an amazing chain; I'm thinking of making a copper chain using spiral links. This way, I'll continue the whole circle theme -- and it'll be a nice way to connect my enamel and wire wrapping skills.

There's no enameling class next week, but I'm anxious to get going on my latest work in progress! I'll post more pics as I go along.

To purchase my wire wrapped and enamel jewellery, head to Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.