Stinky Dog Beads Black Friday Sale

Stinky Dog Beads, One of my favorite online jewelry supply stores is having a Black Friday sale, from Friday November 27 through Wednesday December 2--20% off of already great prices!! You MUST check it out--use code BLACKFRI20.

SALE!!!

Here are some items I made this fall from Stinky Dog's offerings:

These earrings are made with Mykonos glazed ceramic cubes, in a soft turquoise with a wonderful copper raku spatter effect. The little verdigris flower beads at the bottom are also Mykonos, as are the Czech glass beads adorning the chain and on the earwires--all from Stinky Dog Beads! ("SDB", to us insiders.)

These two pair of earrings are made with Unicorne lampwork glass teardrops (usually available at SDB but currently out of stock), and two different styles of "sea glass" beads, from SDB. The first pair is a little spicy...

And the second pair is a little sweet!

Here's another SDB teaser...

I made these using some of my favorite Mykonos elements--big chunky brass stars! I threw in some metallic matte Czech glass spacers and Czech glass English cut beads in champagne for a mixed metal party look:

For this pair I went all Aegean, with Mykonos seahorses, cherry red sea glass nuggets, striped Czech glass Picasso beads, translucent aqua Czech glass beads, and little pewter shell charms (ADORE those):

But wait, there's more! These I made with some wonderful antique finish red round leather cord (very supple too, for a colored Greek leather), big Czech Picasso beads, pewter flower crimp connectors, and little Czech glass rondelles in vivid aqua (on the earwires). This was a really fun design to do! (Of course all of these parts and pieces--not including the earwires, which I made myself--are from SDB.)

Then I made this little matched set of necklace + earrings from some of my favorite Mykonos items in the verdigris finish:

My Art Deco Surprise necklace (because I was surprised it turned out Art Deco). That wonderful cut-work panel in verdigris is another Mykonos element, from SDB (not available just yet). The rest of the elements I pulled from here and there.

I made this pair of earrings to go with it--and was floored/thrilled when they were actually purchased together! That NEVER happens. You might recognize those little Mykonos flower beads from the first pair above. Love them!! And little Czech beauties in azure are on the earwires.

If I quit my job and had all the time in the world, and had piles of money anyway (like a highly unlikely lottery scenario) I would buy Stinky Dog clean out. If you've not shopped with The Dog yet, it might be time!

Stinky Dog Beads Part I

My fabulous friend Kitty has started a webstore with a truly awesome selection of beads (including art beads), findings and textiles--I've not seen this mix of items anywhere else. I give you: Stinky Dog Beads.

Evocative, yes? I guarantee you won't forget! Especially after you visit and peruse the inventory--you'll also be pleased by the great prices, regular discount offers, and quick shipping.

Here is a little taste of some of my favorites:

Among her unique offerings:
Art beads and findings by Lorelei Eurto, Golem Studio, Genea Beads, Birgitta Lejonklou, and Gaea Cannaday among others
Mykonos beads and findings
Shibori ribbon and Japanese Chirimen cording (even the really fat 7mm stuff!)
Wooly Wire
Lots of fabulous Czech glass
Rhinestone rondelle spacers (in black and brass finishes--squeeee!!!)
Czech superduos and rullas
Super funky chain
. . .  and lots more!!

I've become especially fond of the Mykonos items--they just scream ANCIENT GREECE to my pasty W.A.S.P. ears (my mother got Anthony Quinn's autograph in a restaurant once, I think this makes me an honorary Greek. Second generation twice removed.). I made this pendant below with one of the large rings:

Zorba's Treasure

I LOVE this super-rustic undyed waxed Irish linen cording--it's thicker than the regular 4-ply. I got a giant spool of it from Element Beads. Round copper beads and teal glass seed beads from Afrobeadia.

I finally found a home for my "book chain" experiment with this one, and used another large Mykonos ring, a bumpy drop (love dem bumpy drops), and a pair of cones:

Zorba's Other More Expensive Treasure

Those big teal glass ovals in both pieces are from Happy Mango Beads. I LOVE these big glass ovals, I wish they had more. I should have bought five strands of this color instead of one, because what will happen when I run out???? I can't say exactly but it won't be good.

Another item from Stinky Dog (it's catchy, isn't it?) I have become obsessed with is the Unicorn lampwork drops, particularly the "Midnight Special" color:

Trippin' on this

They're strange little beads. I admit I was completely perplexed how to use them at first--you can really only see the glass design when you're looking head-on at the bottom, the way they're oriented up in the picture there. When they're just hanging there like a regular drop, they don't look like much. How to get them to face forward like that all the time....EUREKA!!!

Star Factory

I fashioned little brackets for them from heavy gauge copper ball headpins that I hammered flat--when they're hanging on a wide strip of metal (as opposed to just a round piece) they don't turn around. I WIN. Keirsten-1, Naughty Beads-0. SHAZAM.

Zorba likes it. A lot.

Stay tuned for more Stinky Dog projects!

Like Peanut Butter and Chocolate

The other day I thought of these Ghanaian brass medallions I had gotten from Happy Mango Beads eons ago (and have been mostly hoarding ever since), and wondered if they would take a patina. Why not, I thought? They appear to be a rustic blending of brass and copper, perfect for patinas! As perfect together as peanut butter and chocolate. I gave it a shot, and the results are above. Clockwise from upper left: 1) Traditional verdigris patina from MissFickleMedia; 2) Saffron Yellow universal patina from MissFickleMedia, with a little bit of Blood Red and Tangerine Swellegant patinas, and just a touch of Violet dye oxide patina mixed with Old Lace (off-white) patina from MissFickleMedia; and 3) lastly more Violet + Old Lace patina, with little dabs of Saffron, Blood Red and Tangerine. (Adding just a bit of the Old Lace to the Violet makes it nicely opaque and really makes the color brilliant). I'd say it worked!

Happy Mango doesn't appear to have these precise beads in stock currently, but they have other African metal beads with a similar look that would probably work really well for this, as long as they were brass or copper. (And just this second I thought of some other brass beads from Happy Mango I have....hmm....)

Thank you Jana!

Jana of Be-Jeweled by Jana just awarded me with the "Kreativ Blogger" award! Thank you Jana! (Stop by and visit her! She makes lovely wire crochet jewelry.) I think I got another award once before but I didn't know what to do with it. Jana has thoughtfully posted the instructions on her blog.

Here are the rules for the award:

1. Post the award on my blog

2. Thank the person who gave me the award

3. Link the person who gave me this award

4. Share 7 things that you probably don't know about me

5. Choose 7 great bloggers to give the award to

6. Share a link to their blogs

7. Leave a comment on their blog

Seven things you probably don't know about me:

1. I loathe mornings. I find that as I get older I can't stay up very late anymore either so my days are rapidly shrinking. Definitely an evening owl.
2. I love the smell of fingernail polish remover, rubbing alcohol, varnish, paint thinner and gasoline. And rubber cement, probably because it smells like gasoline.
3. I've been to South Africa 8 or 9 times (Gorgeous and charming place and people). Couple times to Zimbabwe. Once or twice to Swaziland. Had killer vacations in Egypt and Ireland. Spent part of a summer in Japan. Had a few vacations in Holland (LOVE Holland).
4. I used to speak French, Spanish and German. Not so much now. It's all mostly gone.
5. I can convincingly mimic pretty much any accent.
6. I was in a play once, I played the Shelby character in Steel Magnolias.
7. At one time I had the International Code of Signal Flags memorized, thanks to flashcards I made myself. I found it was not a system of communications I used very much (primarily because I had no actual flags and lived deeply inland) so I eventually forgot about it.

I would like to bequeath this award to the following bloggers:

1. Kelley's Bead Studio -- Kelley is a very talented lampwork bead artist (I own many of her beads and LOVE them), and I love all the videos she posts of her process, and her frequent asides about animals (both pets and the uninvited), and kids.
2. Miss Fickle Media -- Shannon does phenomenal things with metal patinas! I love her humor, her passion for her art, and her posts about the joy she finds in her family.
3. Silver Parrot -- what can I say? Laugh-out-loud funny (do not read while imbibing a beverage), adventures in resin, the perils and joys of motherhood, and lots of bead porn. KJ rocks!
4. Hint -- Love the Zen-like simplicity of Beth's blog, her pithy musings on being human, and her periodic tutorials--super helpful for both the mind and the artist!
5. Maire Dodd -- Mary Jane's jewelry designs are exquisite and wonderfully unique, always infused with heart, soul and spirituality, with a gem to ponder in every post.
6. Put a Little Magic in Your Life -- I really enjoy Renate's posts about her flea market finds (the anvil! the hammers!), photos of the gorgeous work she is doing with metal and resin, and pictures of her home and travels.
7. Diva Designs -- Lynda does things with polymer clay I have never seen anyone do before (maybe I'm just sheltered). She is, as far as I am concerned, the "Queen of Fauxtiquities". Her beads and focals are both convincing facsimiles of everything she puts her hand to (leather, metal, amber, jade, jet, ivory...), as well as deliciously exotic and absolutely gorgeous. I love visiting her blog to see her new creations.

Stop by and check all these ladies out! You'll be glad you did!

Monster Giveaway!!!!

Monster-SIZED I mean! I don't see any monsters in the photo above. Kelley Wenzel of Kelley's Beads is giving away a sh!tpile of beads on her blog! A full pound and-a-half of mouthwatering stones and beads guaranteed to make you SQUEEE! with delight. All you have to do is go to her blog and comment on the post, mentioning your favorite blog and/or Etsy shop. CLICK HERE to go to the post!!


Good luck!

A Brief, Dizzying, Barely Controlled Fall Into the Terrifying World of Multi-Color

I decided to take a page from the design sensibility of the fabulous Lorelei Eurto, and take a small, wavering step away from my beloved Woobie, Monochrome/Duochrome. Just for the day.

It was terrifying.

This is what issued from my fevered brain during my descent into madness, into the topsy-turvy world of More Than Two Colors.

The bracelet above features, from upper right, denim blue coral, little Czech rounds in Montana blue, striped lampwork from Blue Seraphim, some weird seed-like bead I got from Ben Franklin (the store, not the man), green magnesite, lampwork from Kelley Wenzel, wood, a pewter Celtic charm, lampwork from Being Beads, more Montana blue Czech glass and wood, and lastly another lampwork Bead from Kelley Wenzel. Rolo chain from Lima Beads. As you can see I cheated just a little and kept everything pretty much in muted, earthy tones, even the (gulp) blue.

I stepped out just a tad further on this one, with the brighter blue of the little sodalite rounds, but I still had one hand on the Woobie. The beads are (deep breath) first, a lovely lampwork bead at center by Kelley Wenzel, yellow turquoise (which would be green in this case), golden jade, carnelian, sodalite, blue aventurine, chrysanthemum stone, brecciated jasper, Czech pressed and fire-polished glass, striped Javanese glass beads, mahogany obsidian, and green magnesite. This is going to be a FPITA to price out. Perhaps one of the reasons I avoid using a lot of different kinds of beads in something. Oh, and that's annealed steel wire. I formed and hammered every one of those little rat bastard spirals.


This one technically has more than two colors--brown, cream, and green, but one could argue that the brown/cream distinction is mere semantics and I cheated. So sue me. The stones/beads starting from the big barrel bead in the middle are an etched agate barrel (from my recent goodie bag from Kelley Wenzel) which looks amazingly like an ancient African clay bead, a half-dome "shell cap", more yellow (a/k/a green) turquoise, a commercial lampwork bead (I think) from Bead Outlet, a fabulous ceramic bead from Macarrol, lampwork from Kelley Wenzel (right next to the clasp), wood, and lampwork from Blue Seraphim.


I started to feel panicky after this however so I retreated back to the safety of Just Two Colors, and made these. The first one is just basically pink and green. Unless you count copper as a color. Large lampwork bead from Bebes Glass Beads (it's actually a nice olive green, can't see it here), pink jasper nuggets, commercial lampwork from Bead Outlet, yellow (i.e., green) turquoise, another nubby green "seed" bead, and dangling cherry quartz, moukaite, apple green howlite, green magnesite and pearls. Rolo chain from Ornamentea. (I don't really care for any of the pictures I took today--I was all happy because there was bright overcast light but it just looked like fake light. Going to have to redo them all one day.)


I don't like this one. I don't really like yellow and green together all by themselves but I felt constrained by the verdite. I don't want to take it apart because of all the silver I used. If anybody has any suggestions for making it less putrid, I'd be thrilled. I'm not going to list it until it's less putrid.


I have other bead combinations lying around that involve more than two colors but I ran out of time and energy to make them into anything. I'm soooo slow. However, I think I had best come off the color highwire for awhile and do some monochrome. I miss my Woobie.

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.)

Every Day

is Bead Porn Day at The Cerebral Dilettante. Because I'm just not that organized.

Today is devoted to Pewter Porn.

I stopped by the knitting shop (finally) to pick up some pewter buttons because Erin Prais-Hintz dared me to use a button in something. (Because I mentioned I really needed to learn how to use buttons). FINE. Here they are:



No, they're not terribly button-like. I'm starting out slow with the button thing.

And I got another dang email from Happy Mango Beads about another one of their silly pewter sales so I had to buy these pewter totem beads:



Pictured clockwise from upper left are an owl (upside-down, sorry), an orca (also upside-down), a frog, a raven (again, upside-down), a salmon and another salmon (both naturally upside-down), and two suns in the middle. I'm thinking a bracelet or two, maybe some simple knotted necklaces. Not sure I will be able to resist the impulse of turning the two suns into earrings. Really heavy earrings.

Interview with Lorelei Eurto (for Mostly Self-Serving, Opportunistic Reasons)

I was recently feeling some artistic growing pains, and feeling a little overwhelmed by the unfavorable free time:inspiration ratio in my life (too many ideas, not enough time). Jewelry designing seems to have awoken some latent ADHD in me, and focusing enough to actually create something had seemed beyond me for some weeks. So I decided to pick the brain of one of my favorite designers, Lorelei Eurto—she is constantly offering up new jewelry pieces on a pretty regular basis, they are all very unique and each obviously involve a lot of contemplation, and she also works a full time job. The first I aspired to, and the second two I felt we had in common, so I thought some input from her would probably be pretty relevant to my dilemma. She was kind enough to respond to my questions, and her answers were really helpful, mainly in sort of giving myself permission to let up on myself a little. With her permission, I’ve shared her insights below (my questions are in italics) into her own creative process, along with photos of some of her recent pieces. (To see more visit her Etsy shop, or her new Artfire shop; for information on the artists who make the art beads she uses, visit her blog). Hope you find it helpful too (especially those of you with the keeper day job and the jewelry gig on the side)!

What is your creative process? Do you plan somehow, what you create? Do you have production goals? (Like make X bracelets, or make X items using X beads you just got)? Or is it totally organic?
There is no science behind my motivation. You say you've been feeling really overwhelmed with too many ideas and not enough time to put them out there. What's the rush? I have the same issues. There are days when I cannot keep up with my fingers and I bead my heart out for hours on end and still don't complete everything I set out to do. But I don't put any pressure on myself ... I don't have a quota where I want to make so many bracelets, so many necklaces. 95% of the time, I sit down in my studio and I have no idea what I'll come up with.

This past year I have really gotten my name out there and have promoted myself in publications. But I have never been in this to make a ton of money. Beading is like therapy for me. It's my one creative outlet that helps me relax at the end of a long day. And if I can make something that will sell quickly so that I can buy more beads to make something else, then my goal has been reached. I have always just wanted to keep beading.



Do you complete a design in your head/on paper first, and then put it together? Or do the beads just talk to you?
A lot of my work revolves around art beads. Handmade beads and components make it easy to design around. I don't make a whole lot of jewelry that doesn't incorporate some sort of art bead in it. I have a very large collection of art beads. I hoard them. I think when I buy certain things from people, their hope is that I create something around their beads right away. But sometimes I sit on them for a while before creating anything because the ideas have to build up over time.

It's rare that I come up with an idea ahead of time. This happens occasionally but more with my art jewelry type of pieces. Like the necklace I did with the Alice in Wonderland theme. That piece happened slowly.



Do you work 40 hours/week? How do you balance studio time/time with your husband/other personal time?
I work 40 hours a week at the Museum. I work on jewelry in the evenings after dinner for a few hours. We go to bed fairly early so I'd say I don't bead past 9:30 pm generally. Sometimes I like to have stuff to list in my Etsy shop every day. If I take an evening off, sometimes I whip something up in the morning before I go to work. I get up at 6:00 am, and this is when a lot of business stuff happens. Packaging orders. Printing labels. Taking pictures of jewelry made the night before. Editing photos. Listing pieces on Etsy. Putting pics on Flickr and Facebook. I'm out the door to work by 8:45 am.

I do spend time with my husband during the week, when I take evenings off from beading. And on the weekends. I do create a lot on the weekends but Joe usually works on the weekends too so that gives me a lot of time during the day to get stuff made. We don't have a lot of plans generally.



My technique toolbox is pretty petite still, and I'm relatively new to the creative process, but I'm afraid I'm going to burn out from lack of direction. Any words of wisdom?
I'd say my technique toolbox is also petite. I find that I don't have to do a whole lot of fancy beadwork and wire work for my jewelry to sell well. Once you get into a routine, and a niche with your designs, you'll create what sells best.



Do you ever suffer from a lack of focus, and how did you deal with it? Any organizational aides you've developed that help you bring to life what's in your head?
There have definitely been times when the creative process falters. Where I feel overwhelmed and can't focus. When this happens, I walk away for a while. It doesn't take long, away from the studio, to get inspired again. My advice for you is to not put so much pressure on yourself. Put pressure on yourself after you've quit your job and are creating jewelry for a living...I am lucky in that I've got my dream job, and my dream hobby all wrapped up in one. I have no intentions right now to do jewelry full-time. That would feel too much like work and I'm not into making my hobby feel like work. It's supposed to be fun and relaxing and it's nice because there is no pressure. So take advantage of the fact that you have another job that pays the bills and treat the jewelry thing like your hobby.

Don't worry so much about techniques. Find your niche and continue with the designs that sell well. Get comfortable with this and then if time permits, try something new.

Happy Mango Beads--A Happy I Can Live With

I am quickly becoming a rabid fan of Happy Mango Beads. Of course they sent me an email yesterday about their 20% off pewter pendant sale, knowing full well that it's their pewter pendants that sucked me in. I think that email was directed at me personally, and they figured if they caught a few more fish in their little net it would just be gravy. And it worked. I was reminding myself as I drifted off to sleep last night, "Go to Happy Mango tomorrow. Go to Happy Mango tomorrow." It's my new happy place. Well, actually it's my first happy place. I've never had a happy place before. Tried to find one, couldn't. (Made therapy problematic).

Here is an assortment of pendants I just bought at the 20% off sale, and a few I bought before. I haven't made anything with them yet, I'm sort of hoarding them. Whatever I make is going to have to be REALLY REALLY special. Which means it will take me three days of shuffling beads around (per pendant), staring at them, changing them, changing them back, more staring, putting them all away and starting over with other stuff and then deciding the first thing I had going was better and hauling all that out again. More staring. Some minor pointless changes. Mild anxiety. Some Klonopin. Maybe a brief spate of weeping. And then some tough love self-talk, "Oh for f$%&k's sake Keirsten, just put something together. Someone will like it." Do that, look at it critically, say "Eh."

So here they are, most of them--apparently Blogger has a per-post image limit and I hit it (sale is for a week, hurry!!!):

Tuareg Ring (is this not the coolest)
Tuareg Cross
Maori symbol (probably should find out what it means)
Squash Blossom
Fire Goddess

Good God, did I really buy all this stuff? Apparently I believe I'm going to be in business for several years.

Ethiopian Coptic Cross
Celtic Knotwork
Cambodian Spirit Lock (I don't know what that means but I probably need one)

Holy crap, there's even more. No wonder there's no money in my PayPal account.

Bonefish
Balinese Shield
Ashanti Cross
African Shield

Yes, I bought ALL of these (for ridiculously low prices, and FREE SHIPPING ALWAYS, $15 minimum order). Plus three more I couldn't fit in here, and I bought two of the brass Ethiopian Coptic Crosses. Getting ready for Christmas shopping season, don't you know. Not to mention all the other stuff I bought from Happy M--bone and wood beads, recycled glass, etc. I am choosing to believe the Great GREAT Depression will not start before I can unload all the finished products (several years from now, because I didn't mention the 30 gemstone pendants I bought for even more ridiculous prices from GemMall--sorry, you missed that sale by like, weeks). And I figure if the Great Great Depression comes before I can turn this stuff into wearable jewelry I will have lots of trinkets to trade for soap and firewood and I won't have to use sex to get that stuff which would be bad because antibiotics would be like GOLD during the Great Great Depression. You'd have to know someone. The only doctor I know is an ophthalmologist and we don't talk anymore.

Well I've never been to Spain but I kinda like the music

I bought this stone donut a couple weeks ago with a vague idea what I would do with it. I nearly drooled in the store over the creepy black veining in it--makes me think of the black moss that hangs from the conifers up here. It is so not my usual style, but I was determined to try something different (I think the market for casual jewelry is probably a little bigger than the market for royal interview/Academy Awards/ballroom jewelry.) I was nervous about making the bail though (I mean, my God, 16 gauge wire is, like TWENTY THREE CENTS an inch--that's like, a quarter. Seven more and I could do one small load of laundry.) I wanted to make something kind of almost noir, maybe sort of Old World, maybe it would turn out kind of Mad Maxx. Or Anne Rice. Or sort of industrial. My only goal was that it not be frou frou. I collect shiny things and hide them and then make jewelry out of them that tries gamely to be casual but doesn't quite make it. Too much flash. Things start out as Just a Simple Pendant and end up as a Coronation Neckpiece.

Well, this one didn't quite make it to Mad Maxx. Little too dressy probably for Aunty Entity. Stopped just shy of casual. It's more like, maybe, something the wife of the Mayor of Barcelona would wear. But I think it's a step in a good direction that it looks more like Spain than Beverly Hills. I think that's partly because of the focal piece--it doesn't glitter or anything. Just trying to diversify. My current inspiration is an artist named Lorelei Eurto. Here is one of my favorites of hers:



(CLEARLY I HAVE A REALLY LONG WAY TO GO). This kind of design doesn't come naturally to me (being, apparently, a disturbing human-magpie hybrid, all the supplies I have are really shiny), and I'm trying to be disciplined to use what I have before buying more. But I did buy four bottles of highly caustic substances for oxidizing metal in an effort to increase my inventory of "casual" (non-shiny) jewelry--if you never hear from me again you'll know that I used it in a poorly ventilated area.