Time to refill my Etsy store

Slowly but surely I am working on adding some more pieces to my Etsy store. It’s about time too!

The first piece I added was the deep pendant from the last post. But I also finished two more pendants that are now available:

I start the kiln and melt for you! Part 3

In the past, I have not made very many pairs of fused glass earrings and when I thought about why, two reasons popped in my head.

1. Making one pair of earrings is like making two pendants. (I know that you all know that a pair means two but bear with me.) The glass pieces might be slightly smaller than a pendant but there is not very much difference in material used or time spent.
Consequentially, the price for earrings should be higher than the price for a pendant. Actually, it should almost be double.
Unfortunately, I believe people would perceive this as overpriced.

2. In my somewhat compulsive thinking, the two pieces of a pair of earrings had to be exactly the same. And when I say ‘exactly’, I mean ‘EXACTLY‘!!!!

I am not sure why, all of a sudden, I felt that I needed to make a couple of pairs of earrings but when I started my color combo approach, I planed in a few dangles.
For some reason, the two pieces didn’t have to be EXACTLY the same this time either. It was obvious to me now that the charm of handmade jewelry is very much based on “imperfections” and it defeats the purpose to create things that look so perfect, a machine could have created them.
I am not sure why it took so long for me to understand that. I did always know about that principle and it applied to other people’s creations but somehow it did not sink in regarding my own work until very recently.

Anyways, here are two pairs:

They have been added to my Etsy store and hopefully the earring category is going to fill out a bit more in the future.

Let me know what you think please! I always welcome comments and suggestions as well as critique!

Spring is springing so plant your planters! Outdoor planters Etsy finds.

It’s that time of year! The air smells like spring. Everywhere little green leaves are peeking out into the world and the gardeners are plotting out this years greenery.

Let me show you what I found on Etsy regarding outdoor planters.

And I also stumbled upon a series of neat, funny and totally artistic vegetable row markers and other garden stakes by The Rows Garden. They are worth checking out!

Fused glass jewelry seeking roomy and stylish jewelry box

Since this is the blog of a person that makes jewelry, a lot of my posts actually have something to do with jewelry. OK, I think I just heard a “well, duh!” through my cable connection.
Anyway, without stating the obvious again, here is another jewelry related subject.
If you got trinkets, you need a safe place to keep them.
Check out these very cool and stylish jewelry boxes from KRT Woodworking!

Check out the KRT Woodworking Etsy store.
You can either build your own size and combination one with their nifty component system or pick from a good variety of unique and fashionable boxes.

Neat ways to keep your brain warm

I am looking out the window and it’s snowing once again. We are in full swing of winter and it is an important time to keep your family’s brains warm.

So I browsed through the whole array of handmade fleece hats on Etsy and picked out a couple of samples for you.

Kids:

Adults:

Pets:

New Fused Glass Donut Listings on Etsy and 1000 Markets

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!

I finished all the fused glass donuts that you saw in the last post and listed them with Etsy and 1000 Markets.
Here are some photos and links:

Your cat’s dream house!

Have you ever seen a more content cat as the one in this photo?

I’m not a cat but my hunch is that Smelvin (not sure whether the name is correct) really likes this wonderful tree house.
Little does he know that Amelia is about to smack the crap out of him because she also very much enjoys the tree house, just in a very different way.

Well, how can you not?! It’s just absolutely awesome for your feline friends to either snooze, climb, hide, ambush or pounce and it also has a really nice decorative value to it. It doesn’t have this awkward look that says: I know I should put this ugly scratch post into the laundry room but I have to put it here so they don’t scratch the back of the couch instead.

So you should really take a peek at the different models of cat trees from PetTreeHouses on Etsy.

And if you don’t have a cat, no problem! Either adopt one from your local shelter or get a tree house for your bird instead. Or maybe just talk to Shelley and Joe from PetTreeHouses to make you a custom one that fits your need.

It’s beautiful but what is it?

It’s tatting!

I didn’t know that. I had to look it up. Since I know nothing of yarn and these kinds of things, I will at this point simply quote the definition from wordnet.princeton.edu:

• needlework consisting of handmade lace made by looping and knotting a single thread on a small shuttle
• lace making: the act or art of making handmade lace

At any rate, I am absolutely awestruck by the work Pamela from TotusMel is doing.

It definitely has something of old times. It’s so delicate and elegant and  it is also absolutely stylishly goth or vampire.

And here we are again at the South Park episode that seems to follow me. Please refer to this post if you would like to know what I am babbling about =) but this time I will refrain from putting Pamela’s work on the cartoon characters.

Unique Handmade Art Dolls – More Art Than Doll

Christmas is approaching fast! If you are looking for a very much unique and memorable gift, this may just be it!

I stumbled upon this handmade artisan doll maker on Etsy. She makes these beautiful art dolls but also has a variety of fun and very joyous little Pocket Palls and other colorful characters.

Visit her Etsy store HERE.

Handmade Jewelry Hub

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!

Twitter just introduced a new way of organizing the blizzard of tweets that you may get hit by on their site. You can now create lists of people that have one common denominator in some shape or form. It makes it a lot easier to filter what you may be interested in and avoid some of the stuff you are not.

So, since I am making handmade jewelry, it was merely a matter of time until I started a list about just that. I have accumulated more than 450 artisans that all make handmade jewelry of some kind. You will find glass, steam punk, wire wrapping, silversmithing, PMC and lots more. Come take a peek and get emerged in style, fashion, color, luxury and bling!

If you are creating handmade jewelry, have a twitter account and would like to be included in this list, please leave a comment or send me a direct message on Twitter.