New

******** A little note about the song above.  I was watching an episode of Ray Donovan on Showtime.  They played this hit.   I had forgotten about this golden oldie.  Big ups to Ray Donovan.********

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New year, new energy, new me(hopefully).   I decided to buy some equipment to take better pictures of my inventory.  I finally broke down.  Since I had some money on the books at Amazon, I was able to purchase a light tent, necklace display and a tripod.  I made a light box from cardboard( I am all about being frugal), but my work space is small and I needed something that I could collapse and put away.   I would rather make a product than buy, but  I needed to make my jewelry POP, I needed (wanted, you pick) these items.  I just hope my frugal crowd understands.     

I had never brought from Amazon before and I found the experience to be well..... alright. 

  I don't really know what I expected.   More fanfare, light flashing, angels weeping. 

 Oh well, let me show you what I got.   

Here is my light tent.   A little smaller than I would like only 12 inches, but it will do.  I have not tired it yet.  I am going to ask a friend of my to build me a stand to hold my clamp lights that will surround the tent.  This way I can get the crisp,  clean white background for my jewelry.

My Tripod came in the mail next. 

Eventually, I will purchase one that stands a little taller. 

 I plan to photograph other items.  

And last but not least, my necklace display.  

Ebony and Ivory.  

I can't wait to get started. 

Red, Red, Red

I stated in my previous post that I had some red beads in which to make a necklace for a customer I had met at my show.  She requested a red necklace for her sister.  I had a few beads at home and I brought the rest.   For a history lesson this is what I started with.   You can see all the beads in my new catchall. with
  



A mixture of different shades of red.  Oh, la, la

Here is the end results.   A single strand leading to 3 strands, in a mixture of reds. 
I also made matching earrings.  I hope her sister likes it. 
  I will be attaching the fish hooks upon delivery. As you can see I photographed the piece in different angles for a complete look.


 



Completed necklace and matching earrings. 



Recycling for a friend

 A friend of mine ask me to redo a necklace for her.  I love the beads and wanted to make something very pretty for her.

 I took several pictures of the necklace so that you could get a good view of what I was working.  As I said before the beads were beautiful and I liked the color.   The necklace was two strands only at the bottom, so I had more than enough beads to remake a bracelet and earrings

 With only two attempts(the first design, I was not pleased with.  I placed the bigger beads together, which threw the weight of the bracelet off balanced).  I made the bracelet on memory wire(my favorite method to make bracelets these days).  Due the size of the beads, I only had three complete circle.

 I was comfortable with this decision.  My friend has a small wrist and could carry the look off.

 After counting my beads(which is something I rarely do), I made the earrings to accompany the bracelet.  If you can look closely, the tops do not match the bottom half of the earrings. 

 I think they came out rather good.  My friend was pleased with the results and so was I.  Sometimes, I have incorporate some of my own bead to complete a redo.  Not this time.  See how pretty the beads are?