Fire Painted beads...

Here's some of the beads and things that I made in class.

We did 50 beads, the first 20 were just butt ugly, the next 30 got progressively better. We also did some cutout blanks and some bead caps. These are my favorites.

Colors I did that I actually liked :D

Some cones in a bluish color and dipped in orient red :D

Some misc. things. I like how the blue flower turned out :D

I like doing the flat surfaces, can't wait to try some rings :D

Painting with Fire!

I've been wanting to add a little color to my jewelry for some time, but just wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. I'm not really into super-shiny, colorful gemstones or beads, I do like some handblown glasswork, but it doesn't "fit" into my jewelry style that well.

I did occasionally see some wonderful, earthy colors incorporated into some jewelry. I loved it. It was perfect. It was enameling... Enameling is gorgeous, but a big production, kilns, and equipment, and lots of things I'd have to buy, hmmm... not something that I was ready for. Then, by chance, I came across a class called Painting with Fire! Isn't that an awesome name?!

Painting with fire is applying enamels to metal, but in a much simpler process for those of us who want to use enamel as accents and smaller applications and don't want to buy a ton of new equipment. Basically you need a very hot soldering torch (which I have) and some enamel powders. Easy. --Woo-Hooo, looks like I'm gettin' me some color! :D

I took an all day class this last weekend and it was awesome. It was taught by a lady named Barbara Lewis, who has beautiful enameled jewelry of her own, and I learned a lot! The room had about 15 people in it all working with torches at the same time, so it got Wicked hot, but nobody really cared (just an occasional complaint to your neighbor about being really hot :) because we were really cranking out some enameled beads. 50 of them, along with a few flat copper tabs for charms or pendants. Yay! They were beautiful! Well, the last half of the beads I made were beautiful... the first half was a bit of a mess, luckily my learning curve was pretty sharp.

Anyway, I'll post a pic of the beads and things I made at the class and then later some of the jewelry that I make including enameling. I really want to try some enameled rings and bangles.

I can't wait :D

If you live in the Washington DC area, I have FREE tickets for you.

Hi all, the show I'm doing on Feb 20,21 is going to be awesome! and I have access to free tickets for those of my fans who want them (as long as you promise to stop by and say hi to me ;)

It's a Luxury Home Show and Art Expo and I'm very excited, and proud, to be one of the few artists to be showing there.

These tickets get you in the show and free food tastings. You can also get Libations tastings if you are so inclined for a little $, I think they have wines, artisan beer and spirits.

Here's the banner with the link, just click to download your complimentary tickets!

See you there!

FREE Upgrade to Priority Shipping -- You Still Have Time for V-Day

I'm offering a FREE upgrade to Priority shipping on any item $35 and up in my shop.

I have some really cute and unique heart designs up also, plus all my other sterling and copper jewelry!

--No code needed, just order between now and February 11 and I'll automatically send it Priority for 1st class price!

http://aweshop.etsy.com

Shot Through the Heart Lariat Necklace
(for Bon Jovi lovers and just lovers in general ;)

Oh, and here's the info on my shows...

February 6, 2010 - McLean Jewelry Showcase

McLean, Virginia

February 20 & 21, 2010 - Howard Live Art Expo

Turf Valley Resort | 2700 Turf Valley Rd | Ellicott City, MD 21042

March 27 & 28, 2010 - DC Metropolitan Art Expo

Waterfront, Washington DC

It's been so long...

that I've posted that I'm actually embarassed!

So much has been going on! I have 3 shows I've been preparing for, one of them is this Saturday and is a jewelry showcase! One is a high-end juried show that I was personally invited to (how cool is that) called the DC Metropolitan Art Expo and the other is another high-end juried show, the Howard Live Art Expo.

The latter two are both 2 day shows and are only one month apart so I need to get plenty of jewelry made and I had to upgrade my displays a little, which is fun, but difficult without spending a fortune.

Anyway, I've also been chugging away on my website and my Etsy shop where I had a donation pledge running for Haiti in my shop, I'm donating 50% of my Etsy profits to Doctors without Borders (I'm sorry, I should have posted here about this before). It was awesome though, I had quite a few sales and am able to donate...

Drum Roll Please...

!!!!Donation total to Doctors with out Borders is $60! Hurray!!!!

Remember we can all help in small ways to give relief to all the Haitian people and everyone else in need!

You can donate directly here: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/

Well, I'm off to do some more work. I promise I'll try to check in and post a bit more often :D

Wow! Super Security!

With another "almost" airplane tragedy happening while I was in Portugal I was anticipating security to be more of a pain, but what we got was amazing (if that's the right word for it!)

The rigamarole that we had to go through was incredible!

First, we went through the normal, very intensive, security with long waits, searches, and such -- ok, expected. Super scrutiny of passports with more long waits -- well, ok, again expected.

But then it got rediculous. The Paris airport had sectioned all the US flights on one side of the international terminal and to get there, we had to again wait through long lines to show our passports again (where they literally look you straight in the eye, then look at your passport, then in the eye again to be double sure that you are indeed you). Continuing on through the long line, we had to wait for one of 4 security personnel to completely search everyone's bags, purses, backpacks, coats, etc before we were directed to the male/female specified security personnel where they pat searched us and scanned us with the wand detector (even my 9 year old son got this treatment! Wow!! Do suicide bombers really take their kids with them to be blown up too?)

So, after finally getting through that (and thankfully our flight had been delayed about 45 minutes, otherwise we would have missed it!) we were herded onto the ramp to what we thought was the plane. But, no... we were herded down a stairwell & onto a shuttle, we shuttled about 100 yards over to the next terminal (that was outside of the cordoned off US security side, I guess), where we filed off the shuttle, climbed up a stairwell and --finally-- onto the plain!

Wow!!!

Honestly, I was in Portugal during 9/11 and returned to the US about a week after (NY was still in turmoil, and quite empty) and I have to say that security was not half of what it was coming back from this trip after the attempted bombing on Christmas Day. Incredible.

It's just a good thing that the stay in Portugal was really nice, otherwise the hassle of the trip there and the trip back might scare me off of dealing with travel for quite a while! As it is, I'll think twice before scheduling my next trip!

And that's a bummer! I love traveling and it's just really a shame that the world has come to a point where you can't feel perfectly secure traveling to different countries and cultures around the world. Hate is isolating and isolation is never a good thing for humanity!

hmmm...