Thursday, April 28, 2011

April Challenge - Celebrate Earth Day!

The Starving Jewelry Artists Monthly Team Challenge is a way of encouraging one another to grow as artists by stimulating our minds and our creativity to move in a new direction.
There is no voting.
There are no prizes.
There is fun, the joy of creating, and the pleasure of seeing how other jewelry artists interpret the theme.

Earth Day was April 22. This years event celebrated a billion acts of green, because the actions of individuals do matter on our small planet.

April's assignment was to make a piece of jewelry to celebrate Earth Day.
5 fearless artists rose to the challenge.

Lynne was the first to post. Her necklace, which also was entered in the Art bead Scene monthly challenge, was based on the realistic painting Finches and Bamboo from the Chinese Song Dynasty. Our island girl made an intricate glass bead with bamboo design and complemented it with natural earthy copper.

Cat made a triple pendant necklace in her trademark wire crochet style. The three pendants include a shell wrapped in blue to represent water, a leaf wrapped in green to represent plants and a pebble wrapped in brown to represent ground. The bezels are embellished with Swarovski crystals to add to the celebration.

Dawn chose recycling as her theme. She made rolled paper beads from old catalogs and hung them on copper findings. The copper wire was snatched from the scrap bucket to finish the ecofriendly and fashionable earrings. 
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Caron represented the endangered leopard in this beautiful fluid cuff made of tiny beads. There must be a million of them in there.
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My own offering to represent The FamiLee Jewels is all about recycling. The pressed penny in this ring is a "penny from Heaven"(one found on the ground.) I made it in a penny press machine at the Empire State Building. The wire in the band is recycled used electrical wire stolen out of the garbage in my husbands shop.



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Thank you to every one of you that participated. We all agree that living green is important and that there is more that we all could be doing. Let's call this exercise a step in the right direction.
Please consider joining us in May when the challenge will involve photographs.

Bonnie



The Starving Artists Mother’s Day Giveaway Event is on now, but time is running out! What are we giving away? Three gift certificates that can be used towards the purchase of jewelry from any of the participating team members! See this post for the complete list of participating shops, and to find out how to enter. The giveaway ends on May 1, so don't delay!

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Color Report: Silver Peony

Today in our color report we look at Silver Peony, one of Pantone's top 10 colors for Spring 2011. A light, creamy peach color, this shade is easily found in natural pearls. Our talented SATeam members have created many items in this color. Click on the links below the pictures to learn more about the item: 








The Starving Artists Mother’s Day Giveaway Event is on now, but time is running out! What are we giving away? Three gift certificates that can be used towards the purchase of jewelry from any of the participating team members! See this post for the complete list of participating shops, and to find out how to enter. The giveaway ends on May 1, so don't delay!

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Deep red

Warm, luscious, hot, sweet, rich, fire, wine, sweet, love - all these words came to mind when first seeing this beautiful treasury.
Let the reds roll on your tongue and enjoy looking at all the treasures which are only two clicks away!
All jewelry and lampwork items were made by talented members of the Starving Artists Team.

Red, red wine and a few other things for mum - a treasury by BeadSire 

Have you heard about our great giveaway yet? You better hurry because you are running out of time! There are three gift certificates to be won which can be used towards the purchase of jewelry from any of the participating shops.
Check out this post now!

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Favorite Tool - Bead Stopper


This is a handy little tool. It may seem very simple but it can prevent a lot of re stringing when assembling bracelets etc.

It's called a Bead Stopper. The little spring opens up and clamps around your stringing medium. I've used it on Fireline type medium, waxed cord, ribbon and elastic and it holds well on all of them. It holds pretty tight. I can pick my pieces up, and handle them quite a bit without the worry about the beads sliding off.

I like that I can work on assembling my piece without using crimps. I can take out or add beads without much hassle.

I purchased mine at Micheals. I've seen them in most bead shops. A small purchase that will save you a lot of grief!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter! Last Week to Enter Giveaway

Happy Easter!  I hope the Easter Bunny brought you lovely chocolate goodies.  I love chocolate, spring and rabbits, so I think Easter is a fabulous holiday.  Plus it's a four day weekend here, and who doesn't love an extra long weekend? 

Today also marks the beginning of the last week to enter the SATeam Mother's Day Giveaway Event.  Three lucky winners will receive gift certificates to be used toward beautiful handmade jewelry from participating SATeam shops.  For all the details and to find out how to enter, go to this post

The members of the SATeam are a talented bunch that work with a wide variety of materials, techniques and styles.  Here are a few examples that caught my eye this week.


Copper and Light Amethyst Earrings by Tasha Chowner

Purple Rain Earrings by Red Bird Jewellery

Hammered Copper Triangle with Amethyst Necklace by Jewelry Art by Dawn

Amethyst Necklace - Delicate Woven Heart by Ava Designs

DNA Beaded Earrings by Gwen Beads

Mint and Black Floral Earrings by Alegria Designs

Emerald Earrings by Colla


Green Emerald Tube Set Ring by TJR Jewellery

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Chrysocolla

It's Earth Day, and the greenest thing on my list of things to blog about is chrysocolla (even though it's mostly blue).

This gorgeous gem is a hydrated copper silicate. It forms near copper ore which is why this unusual specimen was found, more ore less, in my back yard of Bisbee, Arizona:



It forms often as small stalactites or a thin and unstable crust on the surfaces of rocks:





Other copper bearing minerals also occur alongside chrysocolla: malachite, cuprite, and azurite. Quartz occurrences are as ubiquitous as always. Fine specimens of chrysocolla in chalcedony are called gem silica:



And the occasional druzy happens:



Plain chrysocolla is a soft stone at 2.5-3.5 on the Moh's scale. This makes it unsuitable for rings and rough wear. Chrysocolla occuring in chalcedony is suitable for anything you might like to use quartz for.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Behind the Scenes...

I have spent the better part of the past week or two trying to understand the behind the scenes workings of promoting my web pages on and off Artfire. First and foremost is SEO...getting the search engines to read your content and rank your pages. Obviously, the object is to get your pages ranked higher in the searches, first 3 pages is good, but first page is great. There isn't any hard and fast rule on how to achieve this positioning, it is really best done through trial and error. This process can and does take a lot of time making changes and waiting until enough time has passed to determine if the content and keywords you are using is placing your pages any higher than they did before you started tweaking them.

Then there is the social media that we are strongly advised to participate in to develop connections, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging...and there is a recommended mix of the type of sharing we should do amongst our connections, lest we come off as spammers that do nothing but promote our shops and listings. For Twitter there is a recommended mix of tweet types to use if you are a business that includes:

  • Personal - let your target audience get to know you. Show your human side.
  • Useful 3rd party information - provide links to content of interest to you from blogs, your favorite e-books, helpful hints of interest to most anybody.
  • Re-tweets - Re-tweeting something posted by someone else tells your followers that you find value in what this person has to say and increases your value to your followers by sharing meaningful or entertaining posts.
  • Thank-yous - Thank your audience for following you, or thank others for off site activities that they have done for you or helped you with.
  • Promotional - too much of this can turn people off. It is highly recommended to limit the self-promotion to as little as 1 in 10 tweets...1 in 5 maybe okay for some and it may bother others.
I am getting my feet wet, I have had a Facebook page for a good while, I recently joined Twitter and I have just resurrected my own blog in my attempt to meet the prescribed mix of social media networking needed to optimize my SEO...my head is spinning.

Thanks to Artfire I am learning a great deal about SEO on their forums and getting the most mileage from social media by participating in their hosted Social Media Boot Camp.


The Starving Artists Mother’s Day Giveaway Event is on now! What are we giving away? Three gift certificates that can be used towards the purchase of jewelry from any of the participating team members! See this post for the complete list of participating shops, and to find out how to enter.

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Lesson Time: Tutorials

Are you in the mood to try a new technique? Look no further than the library of tutorials by the talented teachers of the SATeam! Click on the links below the images to learn more about the tutorials. 







The Starving Artists Mother’s Day Giveaway Event is on now! What are we giving away? Three gift certificates that can be used towards the purchase of jewelry from any of the participating team members! See this post for the complete list of participating shops, and to find out how to enter.

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I've got the blues

We all know it's not a good thing if you've got the blues. You won't believe it, but I got pretty blue after finding a treasury doesn't fit on my screen anymore, not even if I click full image. I got even more blue after trying about ten times to post the picture here. I'm totally blue because we ran out of the milk just now when I am so craving a cup of chai. Now if only the book I finished today had a happy ending. Alas, it did not.

So, isn't it a good thing there are blues which are just perfect? Check them out and maybe they'll put a smile on your face just as on mine!

I've got the blues curated by MC Stoneworks

By Cat's Wire

The Starving Artists Mother’s Day Giveaway Event is on now! What are we giving away? Three gift certificates that can be used towards the purchase of jewelry from any of the participating team members! See this post for the complete list of participating shops, and to find out how to enter.
 
Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Favorite Tool - My Kiln




I have a Jen Ken bead annealing kiln, I have the octagonal kiln with a bead door. I like that I could fuse a plate in it if I wanted, there is enough room for that. I have bricks filling in the back 1/2 of the kiln and mandrel racks in front of them to place my mandrels in. It has a Bartlett digital controller I adore! I can program 4 different programs into it and after baby sitting my old kiln while it ramped down for a couple years I decided to get a digital controller when I got this kiln. Money well spent!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Something in the Air

There's something in the air.  Do you feel it?  The days are getting longer, the birds are singing in the morning, the frogs and performing their froggy concerts in the evenings, and the trees have buds that are bursting...  It's spring! 

Spring is quite possibly the favorite season of the majority of members of the Starving Artists Team and as a result, we like to offer something special at this time of year.  This year, it's the SATeam Mother's Day Giveaway Event.  We are offering you the opportunity to win one of 3 gift certificates that can be redeemed for beautiful, well crafted, original handmade jewelry.  There are 33 shops participating in the giveaway, and our winners will be able to select the jewelry of their choice from those shops. 

Entering the Mother's Day Giveaway Event is easy and free.  To find out everything you need to know to about the prizes and how to participate, see our giveaway announcement here

To celebrate spring, here are some light, happy, uplifting pieces available from participating shops. 


Sterling Silver Leaf Tourmaline and Chrysoprase Charm Necklace by Marie Cristine


Trembling Rose Cherry Blossom Earrings by Erika Price

Floating in the Wind Glass Bead by Island Girl

Ribbons Lampwork Glass Focal Bead by Bead Up a Storm

Purple, Teal and Sterling Silver Bracelet by Northern Girl Jewelry

Flower Brooch by A Latvian


Stack Rings - Set of Three by Mme Magpie

Sterling Earrings Cascade of Pearls by Azoho

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com and here on ArtFire.


Saturday, April 16, 2011

Yes, Chocolate Talks to Me!

Okay, this is a subject near and dear to many of us, especially while shopping. What chocoholic hasn't heard candy bars whispering: "Pssst, over here!". Or those bags of candy that just happened to follow you home. So I got to thinking: what if jewelry pieces should do the same thing? Granted, it would have to put itself in a box and mail itself to me but I would gladly pay the postage COD.

So, in honor of the Mother's Day promotion here I thought I might list just a few of the pieces that ought to be in my mail box.

Here's a very blue bangle from Galadryl Design



You can't get much more red than this from Bead Sire



And this pretty pink red from MC Stoneworks




For spring, a lovely green from: Red Bird Jewellery



And I have always been fascinated with Labradorite. So here's a necklace from Shiny Adornments



And, being a copper lover, heres a pair of earrings from Tasha Chawner



Finally, in keeping with the candy theme (no, haven't forgot chocolate, was trying to tie it in with jewelry) here's a Candy Jade necklace from Studio DTQ



You may be asking how I made these choices. They are from the talented artists participating in the SAT Mother's Day Give Away. See this post for a complete list of the shops.

(In case you were really wondering why the title with chocolate in it, I'm sure it got your attention!)

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Starving Artists Jewelry Team, the SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current shop owner members can be found at SATeam on Etsy and here on ArtFire.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Ametrine

Ametrine is a bi-colored quartz: part amethyst and part citrine. It occurs in eastern Bolivia near the border with Brazil.



Typically, gem cutters aim for a well balanced color split and show it off with a rectangular step cut.



I am unsure of the particulars of how the coloring occurs naturally, but this is how it looks:



This distinctive color zoning, in the hands of an imaginative gem cutter, can yield striking stones.



Ametrine can be produced through careful heating of amethyst, as well. Heat changes the purple to yellow.

In 1994, a Russian lab perfected the synthesis of bi-color quartz, so beware of high quality goods at low prices or sold as Russian in origin.



This is a beautiful example of synthetic quartz. Note the seed plate in the center:



And to end on a happy note, I leave you with a particularly artful example of unconventional lapidary: