I Bop, You Bop, They Bop

Pardon my lapse in posting this week thus far, but my day job was particularly challenging this week and left me with very little time/energy for extracurricular activities, sadly. But as it’s Dedication Thursday, I thought I would at least post something today. So here goes:


Before there was Gaga, there was Cyndi. If you are a woman of a certain age (i.e. my age) you probably have vivid memories of the magic that was Cyndi Lauper in the mid-eighties. Not that she’s not still completely amazing (any doubters, please click here) but the impression she made on me as a tween was life-changing. I really didn’t identify with or admire Madonna at all. So for girls like me, we looked to Cyndi…


...and she never disappointed. She always looked amazing with her signature looks and her signature smile. She was always sweet and decent (she would never have gotten caught flashing her bits, like so many female celebs of late who believe that any morsel of attention from the media trumps having even a modicum of decency or self-respect) And she was legitimately talented. She really could sing and she could write a killer pop song. And that was exactly what I needed. Girls really do just want to have fun. How did she know that?...

Ms. Lauper, there will always be a place in my heart for you. And kudos to you for this one (I’ll bet Madonna had something to do with that -- I really wouldn’t put it past her…)

Random Mondays...

I’d been thinking about posting this video for a while now – it’s such a great song on it's own, but the video is so amazing and inspiring: doesn’t it make you want to pick up some paper & scissors and start cutting?!

Weekly Progress and Goals...

Recent Progress:

• Got all new items photographed
• Got all new items listed
• Custom order fell through, but I worked with all new beads and nearly completed 6 new bracelets (more photos to come!)
• Decided against taking photography class for monetary reasons, but played around with photographing items using different backgrounds. I also studied what I feel are the more successful photographs of jewelry on Etsy and have decided to purchase a slate tile and some large river rocks
• Began working on a new soft necklace design (will post photos as it develops!)
• Decided to share a table in Jersey City's upcoming Not Yo' Mama's Craft Fair with my fellow Craft Mafia member, the very gifted Katherine Ramos of Sweet Ruination, who also custom made this amazing print of pox viruses for my infectious-disease-specialist sister, Edie

Goals by end of next weekend:

• Finish getting my biz materials together for tax time
• Purchase a slate tile and some large river rocks for photographing

(I'm not planning to get too much done as it's crunch-time at my day job and will be lucky if I make any progress at all in the next week)


Goals for the (near) future:

• Complete work on the soft necklace idea I started
• Continue working on further development of my photography skills
• Get a metal jig (for bending metal uniformly) and a metal hardening kit (to help bent metal keep its shape)
• Re-learn soldering (haven't tried it since my college days)
• Complete the pair of cold-forged earrings I started with my newly acquired metal polishing and soldering skills
• Attempt to make a bezel setting for a stone
• If all goes well, make a bracelet of bezel set stones
• If all goes well, buy my own wet saw and cut my own damned stones (I have to promise Brad I won’t cut off any fingers first, though)

Here are the six new bracelets in their current state. Some are anxiously awaiting a few more rows, while others are just waiting for their toggles:

Below is the experimental one I started during x-mas break pictured on the top here -- it's just woven with a nice quality seed beed and is going to have an adjustable chain with a traditional clasp instead of a toggle. I think it's going to look really nice, but the delica beads (as shown on the rest of the bunch) would have been a better choice as it's a little wonkier than I would have liked...

Inspirational Thursdays: Tavi Gevinson

If I were a teenager again, this young girl would most definitely be my hero. Actually I’m 35, and she’s still my hero. Her name is Tavi Gevinson.

I remember what it was like to be 13. And this girl is so much braver than I ever was. She is interesting without trying to be. She knows what she loves and she is who she is. And people love her for it. I could definitely still learn a thing or two from this girl and I hope she keeps up the momentum and gets to exactly where she wants to be. If you love fashion and you’ve yet to check out her blog, I highly recommend it.

Oh, to be such a force to be reckoned with at such a tender age…

Dexter Wednesdays

Dexter likes to give me "makeovers" by obsessively licking my eyes until none of my makeup is left where it was originally deposited. Brad and I tried to capture that on film tonight, but instead we documented Dexter's talents for making his toys squeak and his mastery of "kisses on command" -- both very endearing skills for a puppy to have. One of these days we will get a "makeover" on video, tho'... the transformation is quite a sight to behold!

New Items Tuesdays!

New Items Tuesday!

Here is the newest listing in my shop:



These are some other things I’ve been working on that will be listed soon!

I'm still not enthused about my photographs, although I do see improvement. I tried using felt in colors I thought complimented the stones, but they all ended up looking washed out and funky. Note to self: stop using felt backdrops. I think I may try using some natural items like sand and stones next go around. I haven't tried that yet, so maybe that's the way to go?...

Just Another Random Monday...

For today's "Random Monday" theme, I'd like to give another shout-out to my neighborhood:

This past weekend, while awaiting my order from Dunkin Donuts (yes, I know they’re evil – but that’s all we have around here) I snapped these delightful photos of the current state of the local “beautification initiative” planters on West Side Ave. Mind you, we still don’t have trash cans, thus the planters are now serving as trash receptacles.

I’d love to know A) whose brilliant idea this was and B) how much they spent on this project. In other local news which is paradoxically as upsetting as it is encouraging, they made another drug bust (this time it was a meth lab) right near our house. But, like I said to my husband, “I’m sure the meth lab next door is just excited to get all of that extra business…”

Oh, West Bergen, you really are something special, aren't you...?

Recent Progress:

• I finally have all of my leftovers from the Holiday Craftacular listed in my shop.
• I’ve decided to participate in 2 craft shows this spring (more to come on this!)
• I finally got the chance to hone my skills with Precious Metal Clay (LOVE IT!) and am looking forward to sculpting more fine silver pieces


Goals for this weekend:

• Get my craft show applications in
• Finish getting my biz materials together for tax time
• Get all new items photographed
• Get further along on a custom order and send customer some pix (more to come on this!)
• Figure out whether or not I’ll be taking a much-needed photography class at FIT


Goals for the (near) future:

• List all new items
• Work on some of the soft necklace ideas I started
• Work on my photography skills (with or without help from an FIT class!)
• Get a metal jig (for bending metal uniformly) and a metal hardening kit (to help bent metal keep its shape)
• Re-learn soldering (haven't tried it since my college days)
• Complete the pair of cold-forged earrings I started with my newly acquired metal polishing and soldering skills
• Attempt to make a bezel setting for a stone
• If all goes well, make a bracelet of bezel set stones
• If all goes well, buy my own wet saw and cut my own damned stones (I have to promise Brad I won’t cut off any fingers first, though)

And now for something COMPLETELY different:
(please make sure to watch with your sound ON for some prosh whinnying action)

Dedication Thursdays: All Good Things Must Come to an End

As Thursday is my day to dedicate to someone inspiring, I can’t think of anyone more inspirational for me in today’s current fashion industry than the one individual who very unfortunately chose to take his life today. I can’t imagine what drove Alexander McQueen to do this, but I can only hope that wherever he is now, is a much better place.

I don’t subscribe to many fashion magazines. I generally wait until the full collections come out in paperback so I can see how the lines were represented on the runways – as interpreted by the designers themselves, not the stylists and photographers. I always eagerly thumb through the collections to find his first and just pour over the details with wonder and amazement.

His latest collection was due to be shown this week during London Fashion Week and in Paris early next month. I really hope they move forward with those shows, as I have no doubt they will be as mind-blowing as always and the world will be all the better for it.

Lee Alexander McQueen, I miss you already...

I can't believe it fits...!!!

Well, thanks to Mother Nature (i.e. a massive snow storm hit the New York/NJ area today so I stayed home from work) I got to finish Brad's ring today which he is now proudly wearing because he loves it!!! It shrunk SO much that even though I'd followed the instructions and made it 2 sizes larger, I had my doubts when I looked down after firing it. But it turned out to be a perfect fit -- whew! And the best part is (drum roll please...)

I didn't set anything on fire!

Although, I did manage to stink up the basement with the smell of my freshly cooked up batch of liver of sulpher which pretty much smells exactly as unappealing as it sounds.

Here is the freshly fired ring -- still hot from the torch!

Here is the ring after a good, thorough polishing and a nice dunking into the liver of sulpher bath -- :6

And here is the finished product after it's final polishing

I have a wee bit of my PMC left and I think I'm going to experiment making earrings and a toggle with it next... Hopefully more PMC experiments to come soon!

Oh! I almost forgot: I'm supposed to be posting something animal themed today... Here's a must-see from Cute Overload:

New Projects Tuesday ;)

Here are some of the new techniques I’m working on:


Earrings with clusters of individually wrapped small stones (Time-consuming? Yes! But so worth it…)


Here is another pair that incorporates some cold-forged silver (basically, I just hammered the bejeezus out of a snippet of fat, silver wire with my ball peen hammer) combined with some small stone clusters.


And here is my latest work in progress: the as of yet unfired PMC ring for my hubby for V-Day. I’ll post more pics as it develops! Yay, my first ring!!! I’m loading up my torch tonight in preparation… and testing out our fire extinguisher to make sure it still works...

My dilemma is this: my etsy shop is sort of all over the place already and I still don’t know what it is that I want to specialize in. I’m still developing so much and I’m just not satisfied 100% with anything I’m doing thus far to take it to the next level. I have several opportunities available to me right now to do craft shows this spring, and I still don’t know what I want to make yet… and I still have a bunch of ideas for soft necklaces that I want to try out. Do you guys think it’s a bad thing to have a whole bunch of different things at a craft show – would that be confusing?

Long time, no post. Sorry guys. I’m working on expanding my repertoire right now. I’ve added cold-forging (the manipulation of metal without the use of heat) and wrapped, beaded clusters so far and am playing around with precious metal clay (or PMC to those in the know) which is a material that ultimately becomes fine silver and gives you a result that is somewhere between clay sculpture and actual metal sculpture. My first experiment is going to be a ring for the hubby. If all goes well, the next step will be making my own toggles and making settings for stones – something that has interested me for a long, long time now. The downside to PMC (and in a wholesale setting, it’s potentially a HUGE problem) is that it’s fairly cost-prohibitive because you’re buying a highly specialized, imported product that is imbibed with fine metal. I may end up reserving it for custom items and otherwise using it very sparingly where absolutely needed. But the skills I’ll be gleaning from working with it, not to mention the fancy new tools I’m accumulating are all definitely things that will no doubt be useful later on and can only add to my jewelry designer’s vocabulary. But mostly, I’m just excited about working with a torch! Which reminds me: I still need to buy a new fire extinguisher…

In other news, I just completed a very exciting swap with my buddy Michelle over at Digs of Vaudeville! I got this kick-ass vintage dress and “sexy librarian” skirt in exchange for a necklace that I forgot to photograph – oopsies. It was something like this, only with a navy flower and instead of pearls, it had coconut beads. Ok, so it was completely different. Nevermind.

More photos to come of my new-found skills as they develop…!!!