News from the Creative Front

Flexing some under-used muscles. Hopefully soon I'll have more to share.

[elle] and August

Today starts the longest month of the year. Sure there are other months with 31 days, but August always seems to take a longer time. July flies by and I anticipate September...just a peek into my head.



Sent those scraps off to be buttonized. I've fallen for pinbacks, just like I've fallen for chain. Plus my plaid scraps were too nice to just be thrown away. No only specks remain of those shirts. :)

I want to work on ornament designs this month. I already have one, a sort of carry-over from last year. I came up with the idea to re-introduce ornaments to my shop late last year. Since I'm doing shows this year, and just generally trying harder to make elpy successful, I want to have more and the only way to do that is to start working earlier.

Also I want to add photo cards to rJax and add more supplies to elpy [Closet]. I must ramp up work on my off-Etsy site. It will probably still point back to Etsy for sales, but I want a web presence independent of...everything, make use of my domain. Maybe one of my lists is in order...I do better with a list.

Post Picture:New necklace! Elle has been added to my shop. It's part of the Minta Collection. There is more to the Elle subset of Minta, must get photographed, etc. I really like the pictures for that necklace though. I always like when very little editing has to be done. :)

[dots]

I upped my productive over the last two weeks. As a result I've come up with a plethora of new items/ideas. One that I can introduce now is a collection I'm calling Dots.

Dotsare small earrings, some based on necklace patterns (for example in the picture the second and third pairs are Foray and Sumeria Dots.) The others will simply be cute and little. They're on sterling silver earwires and a balled wrapped headpin...I love wrapping the headpins.

Finding Me 5.15 - [sumeria]

I go on creative kicks and just want to stay locked in my room, eschewing all else, to just churn out piece after piece. Of course, that can't happen.

I'm learning not to be so 'predictable' with my work. At the moment I'm not sure that's the right word. I cram myself in a box, this is the way it has to be. I'm learning to 'introduce elements of the unexpected'. (that's from a Jane Austen movie) Give into ideas I think will be boring. Rarely does a design stay the same from ideation to completion. And boring in my mind, isn't necessarily boring to someone else. There's nothing wrong with simple, not everything has to be elaborate and take days to complete. I'm learning, this process within a process. Growing up, becoming me. I'll get there.

Also, if you see a darkly colored wooden frame that is square please let me know. I bought a print ages ago from mlee and didn't frame it for a variety of reasons. I got a quote today of $130+, just for the frame. Uh, yeah. I tried eBay...almost nothing. I'll keep looking.

Post Picture: Me wearing my latest necklace-y creation. Will probably come to the shop on a made-to-order basis in the coming days.

[Convex]

I'm learning to go with the flow of design. This necklace changed several times during 'construction'. The rings were too big, the weave too loose, the chain too big. Instead of giving up, as is my wont in other areas, I persisted. Then, as often happens with me, this flashed in my mind. I found and bought the oval beads. They arrived lickety-split. Suddenly, I'd made a necklace.

This matches the Convex earrings. It's industrial, the jumprings in the double spiral weave are stainless steel, but sophisticated, too, methinks. And it's asymmetric which is a huge favorite of mine.

I got an answer to a long answered question yesterday. Again, by chance, in a sort of tumbled-together way. It's beautiful. And, perhaps foolishly, it gives me hope.

Post Picture: Me, with the help of Photoshop Elements, modeling the Convex necklace.