A Little Custom Work

I did this bracelet today for a regular customer; she had requested a bracelet similar to one I had done before, but in different hues. I just happened to have recently acquired some beads in those very colors (ivory, tan and gray) and had been wanting to do something in those colors. I went and found some fabulous wooden jasper barrels on Ebay and was thrilled that they worked in the bracelet like I hoped they would. Here's how it turned out:

"High Sierra"

Pewter sun totem, little sun-looking bead and pewter toggle clasp from Happy Mango Beads. From left, crazy agate, ivory bone, one lampwork spacer bead in vanilla by Beingbeads, pewter sun totem, labradorite, wooden jasper, more bone beads, and some little mystery beads which I think might be scenic jasper. Sterling silver beadcaps from ArtBeads.

My Industrial Brain

OK, the lizard didn't last long. I've now switched to the melancholy but strangely romantic turn-of-the-century urban factory scene. It must be my fevered brain. I'm sick today. I'm like the Nyquil poster child. The scratchy (throat, mind you)/achy thing. But it's boring here. I thought I would use those precious moments of post-prandial low-grade energy to show you what I made yesterday. So here it is.



More of that Ornamentea chain. Has a nice urban feel. I love the toggle clasp, looks like it was made from machine parts. Forget where I got it. That seems to be a problem lately.

You can see the blue/green flashes in the labradorite in this pic:


This is how it looks on. If you have no head. I can only guess it would look better with a head.


That's all I got. Heading back to the couch.

Liquid Sunshine

Otherwise known as rain here in the northwest United States.

This bracelet took its inspiration from the sun totem bead in the center (from Happy Mango).



I was dying to use some of the sesame jasper buttons I found locally--I was surprised they had so much pale blue-green in them. I thought they would look cool with one of the pewter totem beads I got from Happy Mango, which are apparently inspired by northwest Native American totems. It would have made more sense to use the orca one, or a salmon one (what with the watery blue greens and grays I wanted to use), but I really wanted to use a round one, which meant the sun one. But wait! This made sense. Northwest, sun, gray, vague blue-green...that IS sun in the northwest!! Very, very diffused sunshine. Like diffused by thick layers of clouds. So, it's like a joke. (Ironically the sun is shining here and it's 46 degrees. Might have to leave the house.)

Apologies, and On Being Submissive and Compliant

Sorry everybody for the radio silence. Haven't felt like writing anything. My Grandma passed away Friday before last and we were pretty tight so I haven't been in an entertaining mood. Super busy at work too (day job I mean) so I'm just dog tired. Anyway, figured I'd better surface before you all wandered off.

I am slowly learning to be pliable and accommodating, as I get more custom orders. "I can do that" is my new mantra. Unfortunately this pliability had to come from somewhere, and it appears to be getting diverted from my day job. I feel I am becoming less pliable at my day job ("What NOW????"), while I am becoming more pliable with my jewelry. My pliability is finite, there is only so much to go around. Except for Becky. Hi Becky. I have reserved some day-job pliability for Becky because I like Becky. Although she might have recently gotten a heavy sigh and The Look. Sorry.

So here's what happened recently when some people told me what to do:







These happened when I was told EXACTLY what to do (which was based on something else I made completely under my own direction so it wasn't quite so galling):



And this happened when I was left to my own devices:

I have more of both types of items in the pipeline. My new plan for accomplishing these is to NOT work 16 hours a day and accomplish surprisingly little. My new plan is to NOT make jewelry or do anything jewelry related maybe a few nights a week and just come home from work and do nothing. Maybe read a book or watch the tube. And maybe on the weekend I will NOT make jewelry or do anything jewelry related for a day, or a half a day, and see if I get more productive. I should write a book: "Conquering Fatigue with Rest: a Novel Approach."