fan necklaces in progress

hi everyone! hope you're all finding fun things to do inside on this rainy weekend in Toronto. 

lately i've been in the mood to restock and make some new jewellery pieces, but after i sprained my thumb, i also managed to suffer from multiple spells of vertigo - leaving me light headed and weak. it was not a fun time. nor was sitting in waiting rooms for hours on end.

anyway, i couldn't decide for a long time, but in the end i sent in my application to the Queen West Art Crawl show set for the third weekend in september. i hope to have a whole bunch of new, colourful work by then for everyone to see.

this table is one of my favourite places to work - it's in my room, and it opens out to three times its original size. i love when it's clear and i can spread out all my materials.

these are some process shots of my fan necklaces. i spent a day last week trying some new colours and fabrics. i made new ones in a wine red, forest green and grape purple that got picked up by The Devil's Workshop right away. for some reason i thought that the stiffer fabrics were no good for these pieces, but it turns out they work much better. time to buy more fabric!

i've also decided to antique the taco looking bits on the fan necklaces from now on since it's fairly difficult to clean the tarnish off the silver when there's fabric attached. i think it's a nice and practical change.

enjoy your sunday readers!

seeing red

Valentine's Day is coming up soon and people have started scrambling for their gifts already. please don't hesitate to contact me if you're thinking about giving jewellery to your loved one.

with that in mind, i'm definitely seeing red. my oriental red enamel is one of my favourites. it can be very dynamic, especially when it's in combination with black as you can see here. if you like it too this necklace is currently available in the shop.

and, in a post about giving gifts for Valentine's Day, the Toronto Etsy Street Team was kind enough to feature my fire red fan necklace on their blog as a recommended romantic gift for the one you love.

hot, Hot, HOT!

i'm always glad to see when someone appreciates my work. sometimes the artist is a little removed from that process when someone else is selling their work for them. when that happens you don't get to see the excitement the customer has for the piece or hear what they like best about the design.

i like etsy because it's so fast and easy for people to share the fact that they appreciate your work. this is also why i like doing the art/craft shows. i like to meet the people who are going to wear my work, or hear them tell me that it's just perfect for a certain outfit of the person they're giving it to.

being part of etsy gives me the chance to let people from all over the world see my work, and in turn i get to see some great handmade goodies from everyone else.

this hot, Hot, HOT! treasury was compiled by CoquetteBath and includes my fire red fan necklace. she made it to combat the cold.

filling up the shop

i've spent the weekend trying to fill up my etsy shop with work like this. it may not seem like it, but it takes A LOT of time to get to that point!

after all the work that goes into designing and making, i also have to take photos, and then edit them for the web, then figure out pricing, shipping and descriptions.

i am spent. this is a new piece i made right before the holidays. it was inspired by lichens and it looks really cute and fresh when its on near the collarbone.

Sapphire Blue Treasury

I just posted my Sapphire and Black Enamel Petal Pendant on Etsy and i'm very glad to see that it got picked up by CandSNoland for this sapphire treasury almost immediately.

i'm building up my favourites list as the days go on. that way i can do a treasury of my own someday soon.

antiqued lichens

i decided to change up my lichen series by antiquing them to this dark colour. the fused texture leaves the raised portions the natural silver colour giving them a nice contrast. i just added this necklace to my etsy shop.

i recently sold my last pair of these earrings so you can't find them anywhere at the moment. i was in the studio yesterday making some new ones, so hopefully i'll get them back in the shop asap. i really like this series because each design is hand drawn so no two pairs are alike.

Hearts Afire Etsy Treasury

Hope you're all having a good new year. I was excited to see my fire red fan necklace featured in another etsy treasury today. This one was a "collection of V-day goodies" curated by alienlabel.

new etsy items

i was supposed to put up new etsy photos a loooong time ago. but things didn't work out with my model. these will have to do for now. at least i have my hand in some shots for scale purposes. check out my shop for some newish stuff like this fire-y red fan necklace:

fan earrings for a fan

a little while ago i got a commission to make some fan earrings. Tiff really liked my fan necklaces but prefers earrings to wearing jewellery around her neck.

she wanted them a pastel pink and dangly. i had to make them a tad smaller, so these have less creases than the necklaces do.

well she loved them, and is now showing them off in Taiwan :)

the prototype

this was the first fan style necklace i made before i started doing these ones. both styles only work with certain kinds of fabric.

i think i'm particularly partial to this one because it's exactly my favorite colour.

more fans

here's a picture of a blue version of my fan necklace.

i recently got a commission to make earrings of these in a rose pink colour. if i like them i think i'll start making the earrings as part of my collection as well. i also plan on making more necklaces in new colours in time for cabbagetown (next month!).

fan necklaces

here are some newish fabric and sterling silver necklaces i had made just in time for the outdoor show. i also had some in a fiery orange red, turquoise and a light cabbage green (my fav one). i didn't have time to take photos of them before the show, so these two are the survivors who are lucky enough to be documented.