Bear Chick Friday

This week I started the necklace for the Orange County Fair, which is being a total pill. The Day Job has been crazy this week so I don't know if my concentration is just off but it hasn't been easy, either design wise or doing the actual chain weave. I have a feeling what I'll end up doing is making several designs and picking the one I like best for the contest.

Sneak peak!

Tomorrow is the Foothill Ranch Library Fundraiser. If you're in the South County of the OC tomorrow, I hope you can drop in. I'll have all of my earrings out plus anklets, bracelets and necklaces. I don't think I'll have as much table space as last weekend but I'll have as much out as I can. After all, it's for a good cause! Jewelry and books~*~ it doesn't get much better than that!

May 1 10AM-3PM

Library Fundraiser

Foothill Ranch Library

27002 Cabriole Way

Foothill Ranch

Do What You Love!

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

Busy Business Weekend

I did an inventory of jewelry a few weeks ago and discovered I had a LOT of jewelry that isn’t online. So yesterday I spent a good part of the day photographing necklaces, bracelets, anklets and earrings.

I was eager to list my first aluminum jump ring project. I love the mix of silver and lavender:

It’s called Byzantine ala Mare, since it’s not truly the Byzantine pattern as it should be done. I broke it up a bit, partly because I didn’t quite understand it in the beginning and made up a bunch of the patterns only to realize each pattern builds on the next… Live and learn. But then I really liked the way I had connected them separately. I think it gives a bit of breathing space to a very dense pattern. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

I also got a new bracelet and anklet listed on Etsy.


You R A Star bracelet was done with pieces that are meant to be dividers for multi-strand necklaces. I love working with things in ways they weren’t intended. Makes me feel really creative! And stars are right up there in my list of fave shapes, just under hearts.

The Diamond Girl anklet started out as sale items from my wholesaler. I connected them with oval shaped jump rings and finished with a lobster claw clasp. All my anklets are self-adjusting, so you can attach the clasp where it feels most comfortable and the remainder of the chain dangles stylishly.

Click on any photo to take you to Etsy or ArtFire, where it's posted for sale :-)

Anyone on Facebook? I’m working on a Fan Page. I’ll probably make an official announcement in a week or so but if anyone wants to be a Bear Chick Fan ahead of the crowd, here’s the link (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bear-Chick/40472594959) or just search Bear Chick. I’m planning to have discounts and contests and other fun stuff. I’ll keep you posted.

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day. I did some gardening this morning in the below 70 degrees weather (nice) but now I’m all congested from the dust and pollen (not nice). It was good exercise and my yard looks better, so it’s all good!

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

My Favorite Clasps

Here's a quick rundown of the types of clasps I use and why I use certain ones on certain pieces.

Toggle

Toggle clasps are my favorite favorite, because they're so easy to use and they're made in endless variations of design. A lot of my older personal jewelry had those boxes you needed to line up the thinner piece with and slide it in till it clicked and connected. I spent many frustrating mornings trying to get those to work. When I started making jewelry, I fell in love with toggles. It's generally not difficult to find the hole in the design of the larger piece, send the bar piece through and then settle it on the surface. Of course, I'm partial to heart shapes, but I also like flower themes, stars and anything with a pattern to it. Using the toggle as part of the overall design makes for an interesting piece. I use them for all my necklaces and a lot of my bracelets.

Magnetic

Lately, I've been using magnetic clasps more and more for bracelets since it's so hard to put on a bracelet by yourself. With the magnetic clasps, you just have to get them close enough together, usually by hanging both ends down from the wrist and, woosh, they attract each other easily. But remember when using them you need to slide them apart, not pull them apart. Pulling will dislodge the actual magnet. Learned that the hard way, although I was able to slide the magnet back in and all was well.

Lobster Claw

I use the lobster claw clasps primarily on anklets. Most of my anklets are self-adjusting, which means you can pick the length you want by attaching the clasp where it feels comfortable. You can't do that with the toggle or magnetic clasps because they're basically finite. They're relatively easy to use since you can see what you're doing with an anklet, which isn't always true when you're trying to work a lobster claw on a necklace. They also fit well into the design of most anklets since they're relatively flat and make a pretty statement wherever they're clipped.

If you see a piece of mine that you like but would rather have a different type of clasp, let me know. There's always a way to create what you want!

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

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

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