Faceted, polished, smooth

We recently dropped off an order at Honey and Hazel with some new faceted wooden charm necklaces.  Each of these are completely unique, handmade from scraps of exotic woods. They are cut into a faceted shape, then sanded down win increasingly finer grit paper until they are super-smooth. Finally they are polished with a beeswax based finish that makes them feel downright silky. They have a great tactile sense (for those of us who like to play with our jewelry) and they look cool too!  Right now these five necklaces are at Honey and Hazel, so get 'em while they last!

Some new things

We recently dropped an order at Honey and Hazel with a few new items.  I'm excited about the new cylindrical icicle earrings; they're a little bit softer and a tiny bit more understated.  I'm also in love with these v-shaped rose charms that look so good paired with a sparkly chain. You can check them out in the shop right now, but if you're in the area, I suggest you visit them in person at Honey and Hazel!

Beautiful

I am so in love with Van Der Glas's shop.  I want everything:

I love these pieces both as art jewelry and wear-it-everywhere jewelry. She's managed to take something slightly horrifying: cast off pieces of bodies; and made them into something hauntingly beautiful.  I especially love the teeth rings.  I'm also very interested in what she has to say about her materials:

"Hair and teeth were brushed, treated with colours and bleaches; fingernails were grown for show, painted and emphasized. When attached to the body, they are central to social values of beauty yet when they become disattached, the meanings they hold drastically transform."


And in case you were wondering, I like to make things out of hair, too.

3rd Ward

The 3rd Ward holiday craft fair was great!  Sadly, were tucked away in the corner, but we still made out well--look how crowded it was!  And don't forget that the Bust Craftacular is this Sunday!  (don't worry, we'll remind you again before the week is out)

We are so Excited!

Mark your calendars now: Saturday, December 4th at 3rd Ward, and Sunday, December 12th at the Metropolitan Pavilion for the Bust Craftacular!

These are both very big shows for us, and we'll be busy busy until then--so come see us!

Ancient Jewelry

Some of my favorite pieces of at the Met are in the Roman, Etruscan, and Greek jewelry collections.  The simple, hand forged earrings and rings with rock crystal (I love all the rock crystal!), agate and other polished stones always make me want to go straight home and hammer some metal.  Everything is technologically simple, but also has a  beautiful sophistication, and of course, I'm always enamored with the immense volume of gold in the collections! 

Here's that elegant and simple construction

Look at all the gold!

I love these earrings. 

There are a lot of earrings and rings with animal heads: rams, dogs, dolphins, lions.   

assemblage, part 2

 Some of the items I was working on last week.  I'm very excited about the watch band bracelets (like the one above)

Now that I have photos, I'll be working on a shop update!

Old Things

We've got a table at the BIM again, and this weekend is the annual steampunk fashion show.  It's not actually at the tent (it's a few subway stops up) but we're going to make a few special pieces anyways.  I am excited to get into my boxes of old, antiquey trash and play around with some new things.   I've compiled some of my inspiration today, and I'll show you what I've been working on soon!

I love this keyhole bracelet from Daniellerosebean:

And these brass filagree bead earrings from EricaWeinerJewelry (but of course I covet everything in her shop):

I love this key brooch from Redheart13:

But the queen of assemblage is Sparrow Salvage.  Her pieces are always fantastically pieced together, and she has a great blog too! (And I'm in love with her new collection postcards)

So I'm going to be using up some of my collection of lace, leather, old chains, brass findings, and bits of broken old jewelry.

This is what my table looks like now:

I'm having so much fun!

Telegram

Do you remember the mystery crochet horseshoe from this spring?  Well, I know who left it in my bin, and in a completely separate (well, almost) series of events, I have also found out where it came from.  Thank you, Anya!

There's a store in Tucson, Arizona called tel•e•gram, and I only wish it had existed while I was living there.  They carry beautiful handmade goods, jewelry, they have a loom and they hold quilting classes(!), while making some of the most beautiful, modern quilts I've ever seen:

But the best part is that they ordered a wholesale batch of rings and buttons from us! So now you can buy our line in Telegram on fourth avenue.  I love Tucson, and can't wait to visit this winter!

(see why we got all those fancy new cards?)

All of the beautiful photographs are courtesy of the telegram blog, which I highly recommend visiting for a superb dose of inspiration, and can be found here

chipboard cards

Check out our new laser cut cards--We tried out a few different styles, and still aren't quite sure which ones we're going to use. I like the cutout ones, but poking out the letters can get exasperating.  The etched ones are nice and subtle, and the blank ones can be stamped or left as is. Our website is on the back, so even the blank ones are branded. What do you think and which ones do you like?

Photoshoot!

We're putting together a catalog and a lookbook to take on wholesale orders.  Here's a sneak peek at what we did over the weekend!

Everyone is Wonderful

OK, so that may be a tad too saccharine a title, however, you should keep reading the amazing things below that would make me type it!

First off, our bottles are not in one, but two lovely treasuries right now:
Not your granny's square and Lovely Bunny.  Is it bad that I want every item in the crochet treasury?  And also all of the items in the bunny treasury (particularly this ring, but mostly so I can give it to Lock)?

And our customers are fabulous.  Look at this wonderful review by Dunnellev.

And then, we have another amazing write up in the blog: ponder and stitch.

It feels very good for people to notice your work.  Thank you, both of you!

Bits and Pieces

Our greyhound neighbors are moving (which is sad) but they gave us some old bits and pieces of broken jewelry to use in our creations (not as sad).  I really love the rings, especially the one with the silver blobs and the amethyst.  Some of it will be hard to take apart and reuse, but it is all very exciting.  Thank You, greyhound neighbors!