Another Wordless Wednesday - Enjoy!

Sea Glass Anklets & New Creations

For quite some time, I have received many requests for sea glass anklets.

Creating them didn't seem like a big deal, but my first pieces, like the image above, resembled some of the sea glass bracelets that I made in the past and I wanted something different for the anklets. I wanted to "introduce" a new line, with a new look. I wanted a bigger piece of glass, something bold. Most of the sea glass I find in the US is flat and rather than drill two holes and connect the sea glass on two sides to the sterling silver, I wanted something different.

I have several gorgeous pieces of English sea glass that are just too big for me to consider using them as the focal bead of a necklace. These pieces resemble marbles or are egg-shaped and would be very tough for me to wrap. I decided to drill these thicker, bulkier pieces right down the middle, from top to bottom and use them for my anklets. English sea glass, for those of you that aren't familiar, is also referred to as end-of-day glass. Before plastics replaced glass in many commercial uses, there were many glass factories in the UK and several were located near the ocean. At the end of the day, all the excess was dumped into the ocean. Several different jobs might get mixed into the same barrel and into the sea it went, where it would spend the next several decades, tumbling about and turning into some of the most beautiful examples of sea glass. It is truly amazing how mother nature can take man-made garbage and turn it into something so very beautiful.

Some of my customers are loving my new anklet creations. And some of them want to wear them as a bracelet, while others say they will wear it both ways. I think they look great as an anklet, and that is how I wear my piece. And I'm now on the hunt for an knock-out piece of English sea glass to create another one-of-a-kind treasure for myself. While I'm posting images, check out this bold and brilliant piece of dark red sea glass....

'til next time... R

Wordless Wednesday

New Sea Glass, New Creations

It's taken a while for my first post of the New Year.

After a tough finish to 2011, I had decided to take it slowly going forward
in 2012. But several of my sea glass friends motivated me to jump in and
get started.

With some new sea glass- including a few gorgeous English blues from fellow Etsy member Penny Parker, my creative juices were invigorated and I found myself sitting
at my crafting table and things just started flowing.

After about 30 minutes, I had a few hundred pieces of sea glass spread out on
one table and I picked out a few jewelry quality pieces for wrapping. The next
thing I knew, I had finished 8 or 9 sea glass pendants, the sun was peaking out
from behind the clouds and there I was with my trusty camera, capturing images
my new creations.

One or two of my new creations will go into my Etsy shop. As for the rest, who
knows...but I think one is just to gorgeous to part with and it'll look great
on me this spring and summer.

There is nothing like some beautiful new sea glass to rid the winter blues and I
can't wait for my next trip to the beach- in search of some new sea glass for my
collection.

'til next time,
R

Meet and Greet at Jersey Made

If you are still looking for a gift for a hard to buy for family member, friend, work mate, and they love the beach/ocean, then come on down to Jersey Made tomorrow night!
I will have a portion of my sea glass collection with me, along with wire to wrap pendants, and a few sterling silver chains.

Or you can bring a piece of sea glass and I'll create a custom wrap for you. I also have several new jewelry creations that I will be bringing with me, along with some pre-drilled pieces of sea glass, that can be used to create earrings, or bracelets.

Jersey-Made is located in the Mill Race Village section of Mount Holly, NJ and the meet and greet is scheduled tomorrow, Friday December 17th, from 5pm- 9pm. Stop in and talk sea-glassing and bring your prize "finds". We would love to hear your stories!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

R

Wordless Wednesday- Going To New Homes

Sprucing Up My Shop For Spring & Summer...New Items, Ideas

Just when I thought winter was over (according to my last blog entry) and spring was right around the corner, Mother Nature gave us a "not so fast" dose of late winter weather. A couple more snow warnings, coupled with strong winds of the Atlantic Ocean, gave my children a few more days off from school and extended the their school year a few more days (and one day of their upcoming spring break)

Through all of this, I was able to get over to one of my consignment locations, clean up the silver, and add several new pieces to the display despite the less than stellar weather. I think it's really a good idea for anyone offering their creations in a shop/gallery/store, to get in during the slower sales season, to touch base with the owner.

I found the owner of the gallery I just visited, was not rushed and she was able to give me quite a bit of one-on-one time to talk about what she finds her customers looking for, what she would like to see on the displays and she inquired about what ideas I had planned for the spring and summer seasons.

Even though the roads weren't prime for traveling, it was well worth stopping in when the gallery was barely busy. I wasn't rushed, the owner wasn't rushed and we both have clear pictures of each of our plans for the next few months. One shop down, one more to go : )

The cold weather has kept us off the beach for much of the last few weeks. Brutal winds, rain/snow mix, and tide times all made for unfriendly sea glassing opps. Despite the unfriendly weather, I was able to to add a few choice pieces of sea glass through trades and a decent sized purchase from collectors in warmer climates. I now think I have enough jewelry quality pieces to prepare for one or two new consignment opportunities and to increase my Etsy shop to the total number of items I feel good about (28-34 items)
,
There was a nice window of opportunity to buy silver components a few weeks ago, and that window has closed for the time being, as the price of silver has climbed more than $1.00 an ounce recently. Watching the prices of silver and gold become a very important aspect of jewelry making and being able to make purchases, especially larger long-term purchases, at lower prices is critical. Buying at the wrong time and paying optimum prices (and having to charge higher prices) can sometimes be the difference in making the sale in a still unsteady economy.

At this point of the winter, I am already planning my spring/summer and early fall shows and fairs and I am waiting for some of the seasonal galleries and shops in the tourists-vacation areas to reopen. I'd like to find a perfect selling opportunity or two in the area, so I (or my hubby) can plan inventory-replenishing trips during the week.

Sunny, 50 degree days this weekend indicate that spring wants to force winter out the door. I'm right where I want to be with my jewelry making. I'm ready...bring on Spring!!

'til next time...
R

I was featured in a blog!

I logged onto my Etsy shop this morning and found a convo a few minutes later that informed me I was featured in her blog! Apparently, the blogger had a tough time selecting an image to use because of a couple of the sales I made this week : )

Julie is a great photographer and I've been secretly watching her work for a bit...appearing in her blog is an honor. Thank you JulieMagersSoulen for the feature...

http://juliemagerssoulen.blogspot.com

Please visit Julie's shop and check out this talented photographer-

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6112976