Featured in Darkness Treasury

My lovely, gothic "Golden Serpent Scales" chainmaille earrings were chosen for this beautiful Etsy Treasury: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=73151

Sigh. Sadly, the realities of finances are keeping me from doing much more in the jewelry department. I have half-finished pendants waiting for the rest of their components; I have ideas without materials. It's a frustrating world, but there is little I can do about it but wait. And maybe give some artists some showcases. We'll see about that during the next few weeks.

I'll probably do more writing. Unfortunately, not my writing, since I have everyone else's writing to do right now.

Sunday Showcase

Vampire Tears earrings

I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for the gothic aesthetic, particularly when a piece can be used for other purposes as well. My Bountiful Winepress series is inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula, and I consider it more gothic romance than pure gothic jewelry. The brass, filigree, and cut of the glass or style of the jewelry has an air of refinement that undeniably hints at something dark, yet beautiful. I may stick to a few colors in this series, but it will be interesting to see how many things I can come up with within the aesthetic before I have to find something else.

Opalescent Treasury

Check out this ethereal Etsy Treasury made from the inspiration in the top center and working outward with the search term "opalescent." A lovely, darkly rainbow-colored collection of items.

What I Do

Autumn Nights earrings

I have two stores. One has ice cream sundae jewelry, soda rose necklaces, and bold and colorful resin ball necklaces. I call it my casual and kitschy store for cute and fun items. My other store was made so that my first store didn't seem cluttered with too many themes. I like a variety of things in one place, but too much variety ends up looking like a junk store and doesn't look consistent. The second store is for my elegant and eccentric jewelry that can be dressed up or down. Most of it is elegant with a dash of eccentric - some nostalgic, some gothic, some romantic, but they all have a quality about them that's a class above my fun shop. In both shops, my staging for the themes are varied, but there still seems to be a thread of consistency, even among the most different items.

I don't like to be tied down by one or two themes. I create jewelry as something to occupy my hands, as a form of art therapy. It's a little above hobby and more into artistic expression than I originally intended back in October 2008. I'm still finding my footing as a jewelry artist, and I imagine it will be some years ahead before I find what really sets me apart from other people. Right now, I think it's more to do with my photo staging than the jewelry pieces themselves, although they are lovely and I want most of them for myself. :) In just a few months, I've played with any number of styles just within my new shop (I need to reacquaint myself with my other shop, but I haven't been inspired lately ... or at least I can't afford the inspiration). I began with destash bead lots and remnants from other projects, playing with color and simple design. I still like the simplicity of a beaded necklace, but now my tastes are running toward to the more intricate. If you check out the progression of jewelry pictures at my second shop, you'll see a noticeable change in supplies and artistic temperament. You may also notice that the photography has changed slightly.

I'm constantly growing, constantly changing. Fortunately, I've given myself two very open-ended Etsy stores to work with - they were created with the knowledge that I was probably not going to do just one thing. I want to do everything as it comes to me, skill set and finances willing. I anticipate honing those skills even more over the next few months in the areas of necklace design, steampunk, wire-wrapping, and hopefully some chainmaille. The worst part is the waiting to be able to afford the tools and components to begin. But I'm excited anyway.

Sunday Showcase (late)

Cephalopod necklace

I was sitting at work today and finally realized that it was Monday rather than Sunday, and I forgot to do a showcase.

I cannot solder or weld, and glue is messy and unreliable, so the only alternate sometimes for a good hold is wire-wrapping. Most of the time, like for most of my beaded necklaces and earrings, a simple closed curve is strong enough, since I use 18-20ga half hard wire. However, in the above case, when the tentacles were too wide for a simple closed curve, I have to defer to wire-wrapping.

It is not my favorite thing to do, and I don't always like how it turns out in other people's items, much less mine, although I know that other people like it just fine (so I usually leave it when I'm pleased enough). But in the few cases where I've wire-wrapped, I've taken the slightly eccentric route rather than the ordered one that I mostly prefer. For a plain solid hold, the wire usually goes around twice so that not too much attention is called to the wire - the bead should be the focus. In this case, the beads are the accents and the curve was so wide that more rounds were needed. And I was pleasantly surprised that the messier look worked with the eccentric feel of the piece.

Insectus Treasury

Visit this Arthropod and Arachnid "Insectus" Etsy Treasury for these beautiful many-legged creatures.

Blog Giveaway - Bubble gum waffle cone necklace

It's the first official blog giveaway, and in this case, I'm giving away a very appropriate item to cool you off in this awful heat. Here's an opportunity to win a bubble gum waffle cone sundae necklace from my Sundae Everyday line! (alternative waffle cone available by request)

Here's what you do:

- Go to my fun and casual shop (www.magdalune.etsy.com) and pick out your favorite ice cream sundae item. Be sure to also let me know what your favorite ice cream in real life is, too. :) Include some way for me to contact you if you win.

- If you're on Twitter, Tweet "RT: Chance for a free bubble gum ice cream sundae necklace at http://theothermagdalene.blogspot.com/." Post here if you tweet and get an extra chance to win. Be sure to give me your twitter name.

Sign-ups end on July 25. On July 30, I'll put everyone's name in a hat and draw for the winner.

Tuesday Showcase: NighBluey

I clicked on an ad on Craftopolis and was immediately hooked. NighBluey distinguishes herself among all the other jewelry artists on Etsy with her colorful hardware and glass and crystal, combining geometric shapes with eccentric glows and bead combos. And that's nothing on her excellent photography that captures light, shadow, and color in just the right way. It is a pleasure to feature her on this blog and show you some of the pieces in her shop.


Peachy Keen earrings


More Vertigo necklace


Alison earrings

Selected for Treasury

My "hard to fake a blush" necklace was chosen for this lovely garden Etsy treasury!

Sunday Showcase

My Etsy Shop

Happy Day-After-Independence Day!

I created the Summer Highlights series with summer, sun, and color in mind. I found beads from a supplier and fell absolutely in love with their boldness. The "Beach Ball Fun" necklace above is made with huge 22mm cherry tomato resin beads, perfect for summer picnics.

2012 Etsy Treasury

I've been writing a lot about the subject of 2012 lately for a freelancing gig, so all the various prophecies and predictions were floating through my mind when I decided to make an apocalypse treasury.

You've got all sorts of possibilities here: nuclear winter, supernatural forces, Yellowstone caldera eruption, fire, solar maximums, extreme climate change...

Check out the the 2012 treasury!

Art Therapy

"A Cordial Greeting" necklace - Bountiful Winepress

I don't know about you, but although I price my items as a business woman and I'm looking into more business practices, jewelry is primarily a hobby for me. I'm an anxious and fidgety person, with a number of destructive tics, so it's actually very relaxing for me to sit down during the evenings or weekends and make jewelry.

I compulsively search for new components and weed through all my favorites for sold and expired items or new listings from favorited sellers. I love looking through even irrelevant listings just to enjoy the colors, and sometimes I find surprising items that I wasn't looking for but now I just have to have. On any given day, I have 10-14 pages of primarily supply favorites.

It gives me a lift every time I see packages in the mail, even if there are only basic findings (shout out to my main findings suppliers, who I adore!). As my work days get progressively more stressful for me (for reasons I'd like to avoid talking about here), it's a real pleasure to come home to something beautiful. I see potential, and I start planning for my three-day weekend.

Then the weekend comes, and I sit down with all my jewelry components around me and a favorite television show marathon on the TV, and I think So what am I going to make today? Weekends when I can't do this are disappointing, although I sometimes make up for it with a spurt of writing creativity.

When I write, my mind is frenetic, moving from point to point, always thinking of new words. It's a creative rush, and I like it. But because it feeds off my anxiety, I enjoy relaxing with my jewelry. When I'm creating jewelry pieces, my mind shuts up. I'm extremely focused, and while I can sometimes become frustrated (wire-wrapping! not enough components! running out of head pins! what the hell kind of glue am I supposed to use!), when I get into a groove, especially the process of creating the above beaded necklace, for example, jewelry-making is one of the few things that can calm me down, as relaxed as a person like me can get. It may take a long time and a lot of money, and trying to sell jewelry on Etsy may be something of a thankless task, but the process of jewelry-making itself is the therapeutic part. In spite of anything, I can't imagine what I would do if I stopped.