More Show, Less Tell

Goodness, it's been a month since I had anything worth showing you, or telling you. Actually, I still don't have anything worth telling you, but I do have some nice, sweaty bead pictures for you. (And I'll probably break down and put some mundane babbling in here, just for filler.)

Here is the mundane babbling part. July has been a month of artistic constipation--not so much that creative juices aren't flowing, I just don't have time to stop and let them out. Not healthy at all. I think I'm getting septic. We had a family reunion for a week, see below:

This is one afternoon after a thunderstorm on Flathead Lake. Big waves! We stayed at a friend's house there for our reunion. So that week I didn't accomplish much. But I did sell a lot of stuff to family. Made room for more stuff in the shop, that I don't have time to make. And then later in the month I socialized a few times with old high school friends and girlfriends. And then I discovered that I was low on pretty much every component I make myself so I had to make more. And then I had some custom work that I didn't show you. It's kind of in the same vein of what I've been doing and I didn't want to bore you. I was on a bead diet for a long time too, but I just broke that the other day so I'll show you that. How about we get to that right now?

Bracelet bars by CapturedMoments--these are FABULOUS. They're big! Perfect for bracelets. I like the little ones too. My favorites are the brown ones (the big one is called "Treasure Chest"--it's ceramic but it looks like leather).

More groovy buttons from Lyanwood--these ones are metal! Too cool. The smallest ones are itty bitty, like about 1/4" across.

 And these lampwork beads from BeadAbundant, one of my favorite lampwork sellers:

I did make these items in the last month:

Lampwork Sampler Bangle

The bracelet above includes lampwork by BebesGlassBeads (the big one in the center), BeingBeads (the two flanking that), KelleysBeads (the ivory ones with the "lily pad" design), and Meital (the teensy turquoise spacers on the ends). Trying some fancier wrapping on my underbars.

I also made this one the other day, with some hook and ring clasps I've been making. They're a little different than the typical hook clasp. I was sort of thinking of those hook and eye sets you get for sewing.

I listed these earrings last week. The "mango raku" are by Kelley Wenzel--they remind me of the most exotic, poisonous berries you've ever seen! Or a Klimt painting. The turquoise spacers are by Meital again (I got 50 of them!!) Leafy sterling silver beadcaps.

Don't touch those berries!!! Your skin will fall off or something.

I did a couple custom bangles:

I made this one below for someone I "met" on Flickr--the whole thing happened on Flickr! (Customer: "Hey can you make me one of those in colors X, Y and Z?" Me: "Sure.") Flickr is a very powerful marketing tool. If you have the time to post your work there, I would highly recommend it! The center beads are by BeingBeads, and the little ones are from TheSpacerQueen.

I think I'll stop there before Blogger tells me I can't post any more photos. I should probably make something anyway.