song of my soul

But someone's gotta do it.


That someone is me and my mama. Those fingers in the photo belong to yours truly. Surprisingly, they are actually pretty clean for an afternoon at the bench. Those fingers usually walk away much dirtier than that, but it was a relatively small job and I had already washed them a few times in between.

That green stuff, if you're wondering, is a safety tape that helps protect my tender little digits from burns while polishing metal. You'd be surprised at how quickly metal heats up to incredible ouchiness while being polished by a rotary tool at 22,000 RPM.

My poor little fingers. I abuse them so. You see the bandaid under the safety tape? That was from jamming the tip of an X-Acto knife into it while cleaning my bench. Cleaning is bad, bloggy buds, and trying to put a cover on an X-Acto knife when the cover belongs to your OTHER X-Acto knife, so it does not fit this one properly is even more bad. I jammed it in pretty good. Shhhh, don't tell my doctor... I'm not exactly up to date on my tetanus shot.

Ah well. All the dirt, shmudge, cuts, bruises and burns are worth it cause those dirty and abused fingers make such pretty things.

Like this pair of tassel earrings:



Or this textured pendant made from metal clay:



How about some gorgeous pink coral stones from Hawaii?



Or another PMC pendant, this time with a Celtic knot:


Aren't you glad we aren't afraid of getting our hands a little (or a lot!) dirty?

I'm guessing we won't qualify for a visit from Mike Rowe.

I think he's my new hero.

Excerpt from YouTube:

Dude does this in a mere 2 minutes, 35 seconds. Is that cool, or is that cool?! The big tool he uses to draw the wire is called a rolling mill, one of the three biggies on my wish list. Only his rolling mill is probably one of the ones that costs more than I make in a year.

The stuff heroes are made of. If you're a metal head like yours truly, I mean. *wink*

The Tagaholic, Errrrr, Sandy tagged me for the random things meme. The rules are to post the rules on your blog, write six random things about yourself, and then tag six people.

But you see, I'm not much for rule following. I think rules were made to be broken, or at least tested (and I can hear my parents singing the Ballad of the Parent of the Strong-Willed Child right now...). SO, will she follow the rules? Will she or won't she?

I guess we'll find out.

I like writing random posts. I've been meaning to do one for a while, but you know how that goes. I'm a bad blogger lately. Shame, shame. Someone throw chocolate at me as punishment already. Oh well. Here we go! Wait!! Before we do, I should also thank all of you who nominated my blog for the "I Love Your Blog" award. You know who you are (and I know who you are too, but I'm paranoid that if I start listing you all, I'll leave one out on accident and that would just be bad.) So thank you. All of you. I adore you all. Will that work? *grin*

Here we go for real...

* I hate scrapbooking. I've now spent over forty hours on a digital scrapbook (aka "adoption profile"). I've secretly enjoyed it. But I hate scrapbooking. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Kristin, are you still my friend?)

* I need a good kick in the rear. Well, what's left of it anyway. You see, I've been working it off for the past few weeks. Figuratively, I mean, in my jewelry business. Not actually, you know, like with exercise. Who exercises anyway? I think that died with the invention of the internet. At least it did for me.

* This bullet point is a continuation of the last one just cause I feel like it. Gosh! So, the kick I need in what's left of my rear is because of my goal setting and reaching. I don't need help setting them and reaching them. I need help rewarding myself for setting and reaching them. I set one sales goal for myself and decided that when I hit it, I'd reward myself with a nice, new toy (a rolling mill, new camera lens, or kiln). I reached that goal and bumped up the reward to the next goal. I met that goal and put it off even more. And so on and so forth and now I'm one tiny sale away from doubling my original goal and I can't make myself do it. I decided I'd go for the lens (and oh what a sweet lens it is!) but even though I want it so much I daydream about it daily, I just can't write that check. What's wrong with me?! I'm a shopaholic - this should not be a problem. Commitment issues. I have commitment issues.

* I secretly wish I were a photographer instead of a jeweler.

* I still love designing jewelry, but the volume of repetitious items I've made lately has made me want a vacation. I'll have to slow down once we get a baby. I won't be able to keep up this pace and be a mom at the same time. Please note that I'm not complaining. Not at all. I'm thrilled! But I'm also tired. I need a nap. Or thirty.

* Our home study might be submitted for approval this week. Finally. Maybe. Don't hold your breath.

* This is random point #7. See? It's the whole rule thing.

* I'm really pushing it now, aren't I?

* Sandy, are you still my friend?

* I took this photo over the weekend, at my parents' new house. They just bought a new house. Yay, new ho-boaters! (If you're scratching your head in confusion right now, "ho-boaters" is "home owners" when you have the flu... which is what I had when we closed on our house a few years ago. Ho-boaters just stuck. Got it? Cool.) I took it in their new bathroom, which has a window. I wish my bathroom had a window. I wish my house had their house. It's a nice house. It's not so easy to photograph yourself photographing yourself in a mirror. Although it is easier than photographing your own ear. Ladies and gentlemen (man?), this is me without makeup (but also without zits - Photoshop is my friend).


* The photo is in our scrapbook/profile. Want to see the page it's on? Here you go. Sneak peek. Maybe I'll be nice and show you the rest someday.

* You see the necklace I'm wearing? It's an "oops!". It was an order for this cherry blossom pendant. However, I drilled the hole just a little off-center, so it hung quite crooked. Oops. I won't sell something like that, but I will keep it and wear it. You really can't tell when it's on, I found out this weekend, so oooooops! Yay me. I like my cherry blossom pendants, and now I have one! (If you were wondering, I did re-make it, though much better, and it is happily on its way to its new owner as we speak. Err, type. Or whatever we're doing right now. I guess I'm typing and you're reading. Or bathing in a vat of chocolate. I don't know you. I can't pretend to know what you're doing, you sick freak.)

* That's all!

* WAIT. Not quite. I can't end on #13. I just can't.

* So I guess I'll say something else.

* I'm supposed to tag 6 people, but I'll just leave that choice up to you. Who has time to do a meme anyway these days when there is chocolate to be eaten (or bathed in)?

* That's all.

* For real this time. I think. Who can tell though, really? Those pesky commitment issues again...

First of all, thank you all so much for playing along. Your sweet comments on our work warmed my heart. *grin*

Now, for the winner!

By random computer generation, comment #33 - Cheryl from Hope for Each Day said:

You got it, Cheryl. You're in! I will be contacting you regarding redeeming your prize. *grin*

Thanks to everyone, again, who played along. If you didn't win these earrings, then stay tuned and keep an eye out for the 2 Belles monthly newsletter. You'll have a chance to win earrings every month. You can't beat that!

I'm addicted, y'all.

Can't.Stop.With.The.Mixed.Metals.

They call out to me, begging me to make them all harmonize. The sterling tells me it can't stand to be alone, and the copper is all, "yo, I need a bright and shiny bud".

Seriously. My jewelry talks to me. Doesn't yours talk to you? No? Well, maybe you just aren't listening! (Or maybe you're just, you know, sane.)

I actually had a little creativity in the past few days. Not much, but a little. Mostly I've been bogged down with adoption stuff or filling orders for my handmade supplies shop for things that have long been designed (not that I'm complaining, mind you). I haven't gotten to actually design something in a few weeks.

I've been wanting to make a triple metal Jens Pind bracelet for a while. My Shaggy Loops bracelet was originally going to be a Jens Pind, but the aspect ratio was off just a touch, and Jens Pind is a very picky little weave. So picky, in fact, that it is apparently one of the hardest weaves to learn. But never fear, jewelry loving friends, for I have mastered it. I guess chain maille becomes me, because I actually found it fairly easy to learn. (Am I allowed to say that I'm dang proud of my mad chain maille skillz, yo? Cause I am. I have now mastered two of the so-called "hardest weaves". Go me! Woooo! I kick massive chain maille booty!)

(You do realize that I don't really say words like "mad skillz" and "yo" and "kick massive booty" and "fart in your general direction", right? It's all an online act. Sorry. It's true. In person I am quite eloquent and have mad speaking skillz, yo.)

(Stop laughing.)

(For real, Dustin. Stop laughing.)

My photo set up is packed away while my office is getting the new flooring, so these photos taken on my kitchen table (with a cool little wooden dish that came from Hawaii!) aren't the best.



Here is what I made today. Six gemstone pendants (from left to right, top row first: black water jasper, blue pearl, lapis lazuli, kiwi jasper, Russian charoite, and a wooden teardrop, all wrapped with sterling silver wire) and some mixed metal earrings. Copper flowers, hammered antiqued brass teardrops, and antiqued brass lotus flowers, all on sterling ear wires.



Oh, and just look at these little earrings! I did not make them. My parents brought them back from Maui (where they are handmade! Woo!) and gifted them to me (along with... *happy sigh*... handmade soap!! Do they love me or what?). These earrings are little sterling plumerias. I think they're just the most darling earrings ever, so I had to share.


What is your jewelry saying you to you these days? ;oP

They done gone out and got themselves a blog!

http://2belles.wordpress.com/

If you check it out, let me know what you think! *grin*

I named this piece "Chaos" because when it is being made, it is indeed an organized chaotic mess of rings until that last step when it all comes together into this gorgeous pendant. It's the kind of weave you're not sure you're doing right the whole time because surely it isn't supposed to look like that, but then all of a sudden, viola! (Yes, my blog pronounced "voila" properly in case you were wondering, thankyouverymuch.)



It is made with close to 100 copper rings, all hand cut and woven into this Oriental ball chain maille weave. A sterling silver box chain is threaded through the center, so it hangs oh so perfectly around the neck. The pendant is approximately 7/8" in diameter.

Do you love it? I think this weave is super cool. I see myself making it in brass and maybe even in sterling soon. Mixed metals would work well for it too.



Oooh, and I took these with my new lens. I didn't think I'd be able to use it at all with jewelry, but it doesn't do too badly. I have to move the tripod waaaay back for it to focus, so my next lens purchase will definitely be a macro (which is $$$$ so it might be a while!), but it surprised me that it sort of worked okay for this.

Well, I suppose it's jewelry more than bags.

It was a pretty decent day in jewelry land. This is a good thing, since I've made the decision to use some profits from my jewelry and jewelry supply sales (I have an Etsy shop that is strictly jewelry supplies, mostly handmade by moi) to knock things off my "Crystal Needs Likes New Toys" list. On this list, you will find at least four camera lenses, a kiln, and a rolling mill. People, that's the short list. *grin*

I've had lots of decent days in jewelry land lately, which enabled me to knock the first item off my list... a 50mm 1.8 prime lens! Wooo! I'm so excited. The lovely Chelsea helped me pick it out after I deliberated over its purchase for years. Ok, I suppose it was days more than years, but it was long enough for me to pick up on some cool photog lingo. Like "prime lens". Oooh. Doesn't that sound important? And my new favorite word: "bokeh". Aaaaah. Bokeh. Now that's just the funkiest way you could ever say "blurry". I dare you to figure out a funkier way. Go on. Try. You won't succeed.

I also dare you to work that word into at least one conversation this weekend. Go on. Do it. And report back to me on Monday. I want to hear about the strange looks you get.

My new funky bokeh-inducing prime lens is currently on a UPS truck just a few hours away, and my patience is getting seriously bokeh-fied.

The tracking information doesn't say what the delivery date is, which should be illegal. 'Scuse me, but a girl orders a lens and a girl needs to know when said lens will be here because UPS has the nasty habit of leaving boxes of expensive goods on my doorstep whether I'm home or not. I've had things stolen this way. This is not a good thing for a girl who orders massive quantities of precious metals and gemstones, especially in this market!

So now UPS is PageRanking its big bokeh butt right alongside Google at a 10/10 on my "Crystal's Most Hated" list. If my lens goes missing because I don't know when to expect its delivery, I just might go postal (which, in my opinion, everyone should since despite all of its frustrating issues, at least the USPS won't leave an expensive package unattended on my doorstep).

But anyway, now that I'm all packed up and ready to go, I'll wish you all a good night. Errrr, morning. There's nothing like waking up all bokeh-eyed to an email box notifying you of little steps closer to knocking off the next item on your list. Hopefully tomorrow... errrr, today... will be one of those days.

Happy Monday!

Ana of The Pretty Peacock has written a guest post to share her practical advice on having an Etsy obsession. I know I can identify with that. Can you? *grin*

I'm sure some of you remember the butterfly necklace I entered into a contest early this year. I love butterflies. There's just something special about them. Maybe it's that they start life so ugly and end it so fantastically beautiful. Whatever it is, they always catch my eye.

The little guy I entered into the contest was very very much out of my box. I don't really do resin work. I just decided to give it a go because I had to work within a color palate and thought it would be an interesting way to get the bold colors needed. If you haven't noticed, I'm more of a minimalist metal maven, myself... with maybe a mite of multicolor morsels mixed in once in a blue moon. (Sorry. That was bad. Even I want to slap myself.)

So, enter little butterfly guy II. He's hand cut from solid copper with a sterling silver accent on a sterling silver chain. He's more my style. In fact, I sort of love him. I want to keep him and hold him and hug him and stare at him until the cows come home (and I don't have any cows, so this could take a while). But, I can't hold a flutterbye captive. He needs to flutter and flitter and fly. He also needs some little flutterbye earring buddies, which will arrive shortly.

Hopefully he and his little friends will all flutter and flitter and fly away to a new home really soon. *grin* Until then... enjoy!

Yes, yes. I know that the proper term is "yae or nay", but I'm wavering between "nay" and "YAY!" with this new pendant I've been working on.

I've found myself strangely obsessed with dandelions lately. Not in my yard, of course, but artsy representations of them. I've seen some cool dandelion jewelry and other art on Etsy (including this super fabulous wall art that I've been arguing with myself over whether or not I.NEED.IT. for the past couple of weeks), and even though I try to not be a bandwagon-jumper, I had to this time. I thought about doing something in metal, but that's already been done. Sooo, I thought I'd try it on some polymer clay.

This is a whimsy representation of a dandelion, so not what you might be expecting. I just can't figure out if I like it or not. I may try it again but with the colors reversed.

Soo what do you think? Is it a yay!? Or is it a nay?

Ever wonder what a day at the bench is like? I thought you might, so I documented a little bit of a normal afternoon of jewelry making. I had to make several discs of copper and sterling for a few projects. Enjoy!

Well, Moby Wrap has heard of the 2 Belles! They asked us to donate some jewelry for their Summer Gift Basket Giveaway and we were more than happy to oblige.

If you've not heard of them, they are a wonderful company that employs women in Thailand (with good wages & benefits) to make these fabulous and versatile baby carriers. Being friends with lots of AP mommies and other "baby wearers", I've known of Moby Wraps for quite a while and was thrilled when they approached us. I expect to try a Moby Wrap out myself when we get our little baby.

Anyway, check them out and enter to win one of three gift baskets, including some 2 Belles pieces! Have fun and good luck. *grin*

This is a copper pendant made with a fold-forming technique. Actually, I don't really know much about fold-forming. I just sort of winged it, but it came out mostly how I imagined. I've seen some really neat things made with fold-forming. From a funky piece like mine to something really unique such as metal origami! Now that is cool.

Dustin says it looks like it went through someone's intestine. LOL A jewelry buddy called it "edgy". I think "edgy" sounds better than "digested", don't you? ;o) Either way, it's definitely different. Sometimes I like to go outside my little box. But not for long. I'll hop back on the symmetrical bandwagon really soon. I promise.

The second photo shows the pendant hanging on one of those new black steel chokers. They have nickel-free (not sterling, sorry!) magnetic clasps.

I have gotten a few questions related to jewelry lately, but instead of replying in the comments I thought I'd make a new post for them.

Catherine asked if some of my new pendants would make it to the Etsy shop. Yep! I can put any of them in there... just let me know what you're interested in. I need to price them and probably re-photograph them (which is why they're not there yet) but I can certainly do that.

Heidi asked how I design my jewelry. Each piece is different, really. I get inspiration from all sorts of things... art, nature, the materials themselves, jewelry I see people wear on tv. It's surprising sometimes what gets my wheels turning. :) I don't usually sketch something out before I do it, but some things I do. For some items, I've drawn out templates so I can easily remember the exact dimensions of the pieces for easier reproduction. I used to be bad about this, so when I would have to remake something, I'd go nuts trying to remember the exact dimensions! Not a good thing. :)

Sometimes I see a gemstone or other component and know exactly what I want to do with it, but other times it takes me months to find the right match. This stuff has a mind of its own too. I've sat down to make one thing and the wire and metal and stones or what have you decided they wanted to be something else instead. There are also some pieces I just can't let go yet! For example, I have a gorgeous strand of absolutely perfect chocolate brown freshwater pearls. I'm not usually big on pearls myself, but these, man, all I want to do is stare at them... no sharesies! *giggle*

Of course there are things that have been around for decades if not centuries. Chain maille weaves, basic metalsmithed items, certain types of wire wrapping... it really is true that there is nothing (or at least very little) new under the sun.

I hope that was interesting to read. I love talking about jewelry, so feel free to ask more questions. :)

Have I mentioned lately how much I love clay? Metal clay, polymer clay... I think I love it all. I'd really love to learn ceramics and intend to play around in that medium one day as soon as I can afford a kiln and pottery wheel (and have room for them). That's probably a few years off at least, so for now, it's metal and polymer clay.

Dustin and I just bought some cold porcelain clay the other day and we plan to play with it soon. We'll see what kind of jewelry bits and bobs I can make with that. :o) Apparently my man knows how to throw clay (like on a wheel!) and sculpt with it and all. *gasp* I married an ahr-teest. But you know, he won't admit how good he is with stuff like that. ;o) He's a man. A tough man. Tough men don't play with clay. They... play XBox?

Here are a couple polymer clay things I've been working on. Various beads and pendants and such. The first one I will probably coat with a shiny glaze, but I was too impatient to do that before taking the photo. *giggle*



And of course, the metal clay. Here are two pendants... a little kitty face (aww!) and cherry blossoms. I have a thing for cherry blossoms. I don't have a thing for kitties (I love kittens, but they do grow up into cats, and cats I can live without, especially their litter boxes and dirty paws on my kitchen counters. Though the last time we were at Petco we DID see the cutest little kitten ever and I so wanted to take it home... but alas, it would not stay a kitten forever and would inevitably end up on my kitchen counter with its dirty paws.) but lots of people adore cats and I did a dog pendant already so it was only fair to give the kitty equal play time. :o)

All of my precious metal clay pendants are, of course, pure silver and can be bought alone or with a variety of chain/cord options. I have sterling box chain (as seen with the kitty), brown, tan, and black microsuede cord, brown and black leather cord (black is shown with the cherry blossom pendant), and these cool new black steel cords that have a magnetic clasp. I bought one for myself and liked it so much that I bought a few to sell along with my pendants. They're insanely easy to put on, look nice and sleek, and are a very affordable way to show off a cool new pendant.



And these are two little heart links I made for a pair of earrings. I'm hanging some gorgeous green amethyst off of them and will be sending them to a secret earring swap pal, but I plan to remake the links soon and can put just about anything with them. I love hearts... so cute!



I hope you like looking at my clay goodies as much as I enjoy making them. :o)

2 Belles & a Bead has donated a $10 gift certificate to a raffle that my friend Jessica is holding for her friend Shelly. Shelly is raising money to help send children battling cancer to a special summer camp just for them. What a gem! Be sure to check out Jessica's post here to find out more - it's a wonderful cause.

I get to have a toxin injected under my skin next week. Sounds fun, no? Why in the world would I ever subject myself to such foolishness, you ask? Well, I don't have a choice. TB tests are required if we want to adopt. Yay. Can you tell I'm less than thrilled about this? I don't normally enjoy injecting foreign matter into my body, especially when that foreign matter is a, you know, disease. I've not been exposed to TB so I think it's silly that I have to be tested for it. But whatever. Plus, it's quite possible that I could have an allergy to whatever it is and end up having to get chest x-rays anyway. Yay. Radiation in my body!

The hoops we have to jump through to get a child are endless. I will not bore you with details of the paperwork we have been filling out. Very personal questions. Very detailed information. We have to write autobiographies, and I am not even kidding. "The more detailed, the better."

We're traveling to attend the seminar required for our homestudy around the end of the month. I'm dreading this.

We have a big zucchini growing and several little cucumbers. Tiny baby cucumbers are very odd looking - like little vegetable aliens. I'd take photos, but it's so windy outside that I'm afraid I'd end up in Kansas.

I've been playing more with my metal clay and have some pretties to show you once I photograph them.

This might be the first mother's day in a very long time that I will not end up in tears.

That is all.