Sunday, January 25, 2009

Charm Swap at Cloth Paper Scissors


I always say I’m going to participate in contests or whatnot, but somehow life always intrudes. But not this time! The excellent magazine, Cloth Paper Scissors, is offering a charm swap. You send in up to 5 handmade charms and you get back the same number made by other people. I just thought that was a cool invite and so, even though they’re not due till April, I sent mine in already. Who knew if life would intrude and get me off track. So, here they are:






Some of my red vinyl record album discs hanging from a rubber ring.







Copper painted kukui nut bead with crystal









Found filigree globe with peacock freshwater pearls.














This is a paper bead I made, embellished with faceted glass and bead caps













Pretty Japanese Washi Paper over a wooden bead













Some may even get published. That would be cooler than cool!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Bio of a Jewelry Fanatic


I'm Bear Chick and I'm a jewelry addict. I love to buy it and I love to create it. Be kind to me!

As if you didn't already know that, if you've been reading my blog for more than an entry or two. But I joined Blogfire, a guild for blogging ArtFire members, and I need to write a little introduction and bio for the latest Blog Carnival. It occurred to me that I probably haven't actually done anything like that on my blog, so here goes.

As long as I can remember, my mother and grandmother were jewelry fanatics. My grandmother's last gift to me was a shirt box full of her old jewerly. So, the adornment obsession comes naturally.

I came to jewelry making late in life, not believing I could craft anything people would like. But I took one adult ed jewelry class and I was hooked. I've always loved pattern-I can pick out a pattern in the most mundane things-a tile roof, shadows, polka dots. When I first started beading, making patterns of colors and shapes and materials fascinated me. I'd stay up late into the night, stringing, stringing, stringing. Now I've branched out into other things, like chain making, which is Pattern Nirvana! But I've also been doing a Charm N Bead series of necklaces and bracelets that are as random as I'll ever get-I admit, I place the charms in somewhat of a design, but the beads are totally random!



I sell my creations on ArtFire (chains and a Charm N Bead or two) and Etsy (beaded jewelry and artwork). This spring I'm planning on upgrading my show booth to go out into the world and do some shows again in the summer/fall. I love to do custom work because it's like a puzzle, especially when someone comes to me with the materials to make something--that's my kind of challenge.


In my life outside of jewelry, I work full time for a Shoppers Guide publisher, where I just celebrated my 20th anniversary. I've been in payroll most of that time, first doing actual payroll checks and now more into the auditing side of the department. 20 years is a long time and I'm happy to say the people I work with have made that time fly by.


I've been married for 28 1/2 years to the nicest guy on the planet. The Husband works at a SoCal amusement park, playing banjo and robbing trains and he's my biggest supporter. We have two crazy cats, who enjoy keeping us up at night. We love to travel and can occasionally agree on what to watch on TV.



Reading is one of my biggest pleasures. Books, magazines, blogs. If it's got words, I'll read 'em, even backwards and upside down!

So, that's my story. I'm looking forward to reading all my fellow BlogFire members' bio's now!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

How Did All This Work Get Done?


Even though I was fighting a cold this week and working my butt off at The Day Job, I managed to make a few things and list them on ArtFire and Etsy. I kinda took a miss on Valentines Day. I intended to do a bunch of new ATC’s but that never happened… Since I had a couple of strings of these cute green shamrock beads, I worked with them to get a jump on St. Patrick’s Day. So, here’s an Irish themed bracelet on ArtFire:


And a cute pair of earrings on Etsy:


And I also experimented with gold and silver and made this flower design chain with a gold heart toggle, also on ArtFire:


And I FINALLY finished the travel themed Charm N Bead necklace I’ve been working on for weeks. It was one of those times, I guess, when I’d come up with ideas and just work on them, "you know, really quick… I’ll get back to the CNB tomorrow… " So here’s a sneak peak at the Travel necklace. It’ll be going on ArtFire soon.


The weather here is ridiculous! It was over 80 degrees today. We were driving around in shirt sleeves with the windows rolled down. My Massachusetts friends curse me, since they’re having a really cold winter. The subject line of my BFF’s last email was, “My face is freezing off.”


Well, back to work tomorrow for a week of craziness. They’re merging two companies into the payroll system, so there’s going to be a lot of checking and double checking of all the info that we’re importing for all these new people. I’ll be cross eyed by the end of the week.


Have a good one. Stay warm or cool, whichever applies!


www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Bear Chick is SRAJD #2116!


I kept seeing Self-Representing Artist Jewelry Designer #’s and logo’s on people’s websites and shop pages, so I finally Googled it to get the scoop. It’s basically a web world of jewelry artists who can encourage and learn from each other.


Here’s how the website describes it:

Member Benefits: You don’t receive anything tangible from the SRAJD organization, but you benefit from being part of a growing grassroots effort to raise customer awareness of the difference between artists trying to sell their own creations versus middlemen trying to make a buck off of slave labor and/or assembly-line craftsmanship. Connecting with like minds and being part of a team that strives to improve conditions for the artist can be considered a benefit, too.

So, I’ve already been browsing and posting in the forums and looking over the roster to see the other talented people I’m included with. I am totally inspired by the beautiful jewelry displayed! It makes me want to work all that much harder!

You’ll want to check this out, whether you’re a jewelry artist or a jewelry enthusiast (click Roster on the left side of the screen).

www.srajd.com

I was very happy to be included in this up and coming group and I’m looking forward to participating on the forums. Poor Husband. Just something else to keep me tied to the Evil Computer! (see today’s post on Maresjourney.blogspot.com for more computer ties…)

Another Anklet on Artfire!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bear Chick’s Artfire Studio


Ok, I finally broke down and started an Artfire shop. I’ll tell you why. Two reasons.

1.) I wanted to be able to differentiate my chain work from my bead work. When I look at a shop, it’s a little chaotic when they sell a bunch of different styles or products. That’s why I opened BearChickArt for the ATC’s (which I haven’t been inspired to work on in a while--ATC muse is on winter break, apparently).

2.) I had just read an article saying the more places you are on the web, the better to be found in Search Engine searches. That ended my debate on whether I should just quit thinking so much and have everything stay on Etsy only.

So, I closed the Shophandmade shop because their beta never got better. I found them to be very uninspiring and just didn’t like the layout. Artfire is more like Etsy, in that they’re trying to foster a community of artists by offering forums and featuring articles by and about the artists themselves. It’s still in the Beta stage but I’ve heard a lot of good things and I follow the founder on Twitter, who seems to be very hands on. It’s a snap to add new items and I like the search feature. There are things I miss from Etsy, but it’s all good. Here I am:

http://www.bearchick.artfire.com


And here are two of the new anklets you’ll find at Artfire.



Pretty metal swirlies with a flower design chain



Sterling silver swirl connectors with a double chain pattern


So, come by and see me. We need all the traffic we can get. And tell two friends so they’ll tell two friends and so on and so on and Scooby dooby dooby. OK, I was up late last night…

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Record Album Beads


The Husband and I went to Vegas a year and a half ago. Anywhere I go, I have to check out the bead shops in the area. This one, Vegas Beads, was across the street from a nudie club. Ah, after all, it’s Vegas…



So, they had these long strings of reddish heishe beads (like discs) that were kind of interesting looking. They became way more interesting when I realized they were made from those old red record albums I remember from long ago. My mother had some from the 50’s. “Nola” might have been one of those red 45’s. Anyway, I had to have them. And I’ve had them sitting on my work desk for a year and a half.



Now that I’m playing with chain and jump rings, I thought they’d be great to hang from some chain. These two projects were done while watching the Rose Parade on New Year’s.


Here’s the necklace. I staggered the jump rings, every other one being bigger than the ones between, for a pattern to please the eye. Working with chain is cool because I can always make something smaller if the buyer chooses.

And here’s the earrings. They were so much fun to make! Don’t they look like a bunch of red grapes?


Tomorrow, I’ll be posting the anklets I made recently, if I don’t get too caught up in cleaning the house (LOL!).



We actually saw the sun today, for a few minutes. Dang, it’s been gloomy and cold all weekend. But I’m grateful it isn’t snowing and that our heater is working. Gotta look on the bright side!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Post Holiday World


Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We spent both in our jammies!

Last weekend, I posted some new Etsy jewelry. Here’s what’s there now:


Getting ready for Valentine’s Day? I spotted this bracelet at down and almost out Mervyn’s (a retail store in CA that’s closing it’s doors after many years--a sad story we’ll hear repeated, I’m sure, before things in this country start on the upswing again) and just knew it had potential. So I took it home and added lots more hearts and bling.


Lampwork beads from Wales provide most of the outrageous color in this necklace. I just love it and will be hard put to see it go!


I wish I was a better photographer. It’s one of my business goals for this year, to take better pictures. But I hope you can see how awesome this necklace is, if I do say so myself. It’s the latest Charm N Bead, in foggy, icy colors. As always, these necklaces make the coolest sounds when you move a lot (like running across a street or jumping up and down in glee), like a wind chime. I used wrapped loops on all of the beads, which takes a little more time but they’re so much more secure than plain loops.
This week I’ve been making anklets (inspired by my best friend, who requested one for her Christmas present) and intermittently working on a new Charm N Bead necklace with a travel theme (they take me between 6 and 8 hours to create). And today, while watching the Rose Parade, I made a couple of pieces with heishe beads made out of old red record albums! I’m planning to photograph all these pieces this weekend and get them on Etsy.

Have a great New Year’s Day!

http://www.bearchick.etsy.com/
www.bearchickart.etsy.com