Introducing Firefly

When I made the decision to focus on my own jewelry I also made the decision to let the Cara Luna name go dormant for now.  I needed a name that encompasses the new direction my jewelry designs are taking.

The new name  is a hint.  I’m not quite ready to reveal the new line as I’m still doing some research and trying to budget for the new tools I need.  Suffice it to say that it involves melting something.  Glass to be exact. Oboy, oboy, oboy!!

I’ve started the website that will feature the new line.  It can be seen HERE.  It’s just the flash intro and the “Coming Soon” page, but it’s PRETTY.  Yellows and oranges are my thing these days;  I think it’s tied to my fire obsession.  This page will ultimately link to my Etsy store and should be up and running as soon as I have enough product to post.  So check it out and tell me what you think.

While you’re at it, leave me a note here in the comments if there’s something specific you’d like to see in the new line.  I want the line to reflect the tastes of those close to me.  I’m not terribly interested in designing for anonymous people whose tastes may or may not even resemble my own.  Let me know what you like.  Who knows, you might see it here soon!

In the meantime, dream of Fireflies.  They’re magical, mystical, and miraculous.

JUMP!!!

Ever feel like the fog has finally lifted from your brain?  That’s me right now.

For the last 2 years I’ve had my jewelry in a local business on consignment.  When I started putting things there, there were the remnants of my old stock from my storefront that consisted of a lot of imported jewelry.  It was affordable and sold well, but it wasn’t a lot of my own designs.  Things have changed markedly since then.  I don’t want to sell a lot of imported stuff.  You can buy jewelry from Nepal and Mexico everywhere and unless you know a lot about your supplier, you’re likely buying jewelry made at virtual slave wages in abysmal working conditions.  I was lucky enough to have great suppliers but I want to sell my own jewelry now.  I no longer NEED to keep large amounts of stock to fill store-shelves, so I can concentrate my energy and finances on building my own line.

It was a really tough decision to let the storefront deal go but it was a necessary one.  They offered me a place to sell when I really had no clue what to do about storefront space and I am very grateful for that, but I want to access the global marketplace.  I do a lot of shopping online for items I cannot purchase locally so I am well aware of the power of the internet.  I’m  a Facebooker and if you’re reading this you already know I’m a blogger.  In order to sell online I need constant access to my stock.  It would be a bad, bad thing to have an online customer purchase something and then to discover it had just sold at the storefront.  It’s a simple case of “either-or” and the decision had to be made.

So I’ve done a ton of research and have made the leap.  I’m setting up an Etsy store, have signed up for PayPal, have registered my domain name and now I’m telling YOU.   As we work far less in the summer at our music studio, we’re also going to look at selling at Fairs and Farmer’s Markets.

I’m so excited I almost can’t stand myself.  I feel inspired again.  Maybe it’s because it’s spring.  Maybe it’s because I know you guys are going to support and encourage me as you always do and I love you SO MUCH for that.  Maybe it’s the sense of anticipation.  You know….the kind where you’re on the high rocks at the river….you’re looking over the edge….you’re thinking the water looks sooooo cool and inviting…..

………you’re thinking “OMG that’s a long way down”………..

……………………….”I don’t think I can do this”………………..

…..”but I really WANT to do this”…………………………

…………………………………………………………………..so you take a reeeeeally deep

breath, close your eyes……..and

……..

…….

…….

JUMP!!!!!!!

Ahhhh, Ammonite!

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda.  That is according to Wikipedia, word for word.  Unlike other gemstones, Ammonites are really fossils.  They have elements of nacre and mother-of-pearl like the oysters and clams they’re related to and in the fossilization process they become something with an otherworldly beauty.

Ammonites vary in size from small ones you can easily hold in your hand to the Granddaddy pictured above:  it’s 2.5 FEET in diameter.

While we tend to get all excited about the colours these beauties exude, the entire creature was a marvel.  Don’t even get me started on Fibonacci Sequences.  Just look at the spiral precision of these marvels.

A great deal of ammonite is found in North America and, of specific importance to me, in Alberta, Canada, right next door.  When ammonite is found that is iridescent, if it is in good condition and graded as gem quality, it is called Ammolite.

I picked up some cabochons this week that these pictures just don’t do justice to.  It’s so tough to properly photograph something that has glowing colours that shift and change.

It’s sort of like trying to capture the northern lights in a brightly-lit room.

Or a firefly at midday.

Seriously, if you love opals or labradorite, Ammonites will make you very happy.

I’m thinking pendants.  Swirly pendants.  I need fire……fire…..heh heh heh…..fire.

 

Z is for Zebra

Zebra seems to be popping into my life a lot lately.  Not ZebraS….Zebra designs.  I have a friend *cough*Brandy*cough* who has a thing for Zebra designs and since I’ve been spending time with her it seems that Zebra-style is everywhere I look.

I first noticed it before Christmas.  I had to come up with decorations for my table at the craft fair.  I ended up with this:

I needed black and white so Zebra ribbon was a perfect fit.  Guess where that ribbon is now?

I bought fancy pencils this week for my music students.  There were Zebra pencils in the bag.  I held them up in front of you-know-who and they disappeared faster than ….well, considering the only witticism I can come up with here involves goose and some grossness, let’s just say it was FAST.  There’s no picture of them, well, because they’re gone.

Which brings me to this.  I’ve had this piece for quite a while.  I pulled it out this week and got looking at it again.

I swear….I’m seeing Zebraness everywhere.

It’s on this weekend’s to-do list.  Know anyone you think might like it?

Beachy Beads

I’ll get to the beads in a second.  First things first though.  Remember the pastel coneflower picture?  Yeah?  Well….it’s dead.  I killed it.  The plan  I had for it did not work out so it got turfed.  I felt bad about it for all of 15 seconds, until I remember what my friend Michele, another phenomenally talented artist friend of mine said to me once.  She told me that her philosophy was “Quantity over Quality”.  What she meant was that you need to just create lots and lots of pieces…..just don’t stop.  Out of a thousand pieces you might have one great piece…or you might have hundreds.  But you never know.  You just have to make lots…lots of mistakes, lots of baby steps, lots of great strides.  You just can’t beat yourself up over the ones that go south.  So I’m not.  Moving on now.

When setting up my bench again after Christmas, I found a treasure.  I forgot I had them and now I’m all intrigued by what I might do with them.

These are some uber-funky shell beads I found in a bead store.  I immediately fell in love with them and had to have them all.  If they’d had more I would have bought them too.  Between the swirliness and the colours in them, I positively swooned when I saw them.

They’re big too.

That’s a quarter (for my American readers).  They’re smooth and satiny and look almost like gorgeous candy.

So I’m thinking hand-wrought swirly chain….with shell-bead drops….with carnelian and mother of pearl……Oh Momma!  Time to fire up the torch!