Hey look -- an update. (A boring one I'm sure, but an update!)

( General rambling about life as I know it )

I spent a ridiculous number of hours yesterday trying to sort, organize, package and pack my jewelry making clutter. I've been a bit lazy about putting things away anyhow, but I've also got more things than I can properly store in the organization set up that I have.

The last time we moved, I had three boxes of supplies, tools and equipment, plus my "tackle box" and bead storage drawers. This time, I have a number of smaller boxes and it probably would take five of the boxes I used before to pack everything up.

What this tells me is that I have too much crap and I need to 1) finish the projects that I have sorted into my "pending projects" pile and 2) stop buying more things until I've used up the current things. At some point, assuming I can successfully get through step #1, there may be an open "tell me what to make with < insert list of components here >" request in order to make some progress on step #2.

Don't hold me to it...but we'll see.

Quick weekend review and house update:

Saturday was Pi Day and Pi Day is good. =) MMM....PIE...

Also, I should not be permitted to attend gem and jewelry shows unattended and without a strict spending limit (enforced in cash, with the credit cards left at home). Thanks to a tip from ladyofdragons, I spent some time yesterday at a gem and jewelry show at the county fair grounds. I was (thank goodness) smart enough to walk the entire exhibition hall and check each booth for interesting things before I started spending money, but it didn't stop me from probably shelling out more than I should have. But everything was so SHINY!!!

And of course, I now have ideas...

House -- ( ain't nothin' really changing but the date )

I seem to be developing a routine of sorts -- spend the week trying to make note of all the things that I wanted to post about and then get time on the weekend to post, promptly forget everything that happened during the week, and write about the house hunt.

I'd love to break that routine, but really don't have much else to mention. ( Where I try to remember the week and thus make a liar of myself )
And that was longer than I expected...however, there _is_ house news, so I should update: ( Upping the ante )

Ok - I've got one of those "I can't decide how I like this" problems with a piece I'm working on.

gwenrose found this lovely little pendant that says, "Je te lecherai jusqu'a tu cries." As she expected, I find this highly amusing, since it's a nicely classic looking charm and if you don't read French, you'd have no idea that it says, "I will lick you until you scream." (Mental note, don't wear this too close to our patent attorney...)

Here's the thing -- I've come up with two different necklace patterns that it works with, but I don't know which one I like better. The first is full of the amber and garnet combination that I love, but the second has the more neutral color tones of tiger's eye and amber that go with anything and everything I could ever wear. (I really only have so much that garnet can go with.)

Help!! Which version should I go with? (I have a center for the one that doesn't get used, so neither is wasted work...)

( Pictures below the cut )

After whinging yesterday about lack of motivation, I did indeed kick things into overdrive and completed three new pieces. I also took better pictures of the accent bits I did for Shar's Halloween costume (Harry Dresden). I'm not sure how I feel about the third one though, so I think I'm going to do an alternate version and put it up to a vote. And I've got one more piece planned for today as well...maybe two.

So, since I subjected LJ land to my complaints yesterday, I figure it's only fair to share what came of them. ( Photographic Evidence of Motivation )

I'll post the third one later when I have the second version done. I'm going to want opinions on that one regarding which is the better way for it to look.

And now...onward! *grin*


ETA: After a rather remarkably productive (possibly even obsessive) weekend of crafting, I have 2 more pieces in addition to the one I solicited input on. Rather than blow everyone's f-page away with multiple photo heavy posts, I'm adding a few more pictures here... ( Obsessive? No. Why do you ask? *twitch* )

On comedic timing - childhood friends will always know the best buttons to push and despite tremendous progress with my arachnophobia over the years, the convincing suggestion of a spider crawling on me will still make me scream if properly timed. Said friends are very lucky I contract, rather than flail, when presented with this sort of suggestion while holding pliers. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye...

On wine - port is good. Port is always good. Port solves most of life's minor problems. The rest are cured by backrubs and cuddling.

On creative genius - it doesn't matter what you intended it to be, sometimes creative projects just go sideways and become something else. The necklace I finished yesterday is not the one I was working on when I started it. Now I'm going to have to make another, and improve my resolve to "de-stash" some of my finished projects as well as my components. (Pictures will be on DevArt a little later.)

On home maintenance - before attempting to fix a leaking sprinkler/irrigation system, it's good to have instructions. Google is my friend. It's also important to identify the shut off valve for the system...before unscrewing valves and other parts. Skipping this step makes your morning shower a little redundant.

On costume design - the costumes that seem the simplest will inevitably prove to be the most expensive to implement. I had an idea for Halloween that should have been easy and instead could easily cost me $100 if I don't rethink it. Time for a Goodwill shopping trip...

I haven't posted pics of any of my projects recently, and since Golden Gate Faire wound up giving me a whole bunch of new focal pieces to work with, I thought I'd share a couple recent projects.

These sets are what I made with two of the three pieces I picked up at GGRF plus a commission piece I did for RedMinx as a gift for a friend (KalendarGirl). I've got plans for the third focal piece and am working on designs for another commission piece, so I'll post those as I finish them.

( Pictures for the Curious/Interested )

Yesterday we conducted our usual "ant swarm" moving maneuvers and successfully packed up ladyofdragons and Gryphon from their place in Fairfield and brought them home to the tri-valley. Turns out, they (along with He-Who-Has-No-Online-Handle-That-I'm-Aware-Of) will be living just a couple of blocks from the Harlequin House where Shar and I were just a couple years ago. (God...hard to believe it's been almost two years since we moved into this place.)

I crashed out around 9pm after the long day of heavy lifting, but I'm pleased to find that I'm not as stiff and sore this morning as I expected to be. Maybe I really am slowly getting into better condition...

But even if I'd woken up unable to walk, it'd be worth it - we're all happy to have them back in the area. And I'm feeling more inspired to get on the ball with my plans for looking into buying a place of my own soon. I've got plenty of contact information and recommendations. I just need to USE it.

But today it's going to be more prosaic pursuits...and possibly some new baubles. I have a set of focal components that I picked up at Golden Gate Faire and I have this idea for a sort of series of necklaces that would use up some of the stash of materials I have. I doubt I'll actually finish three pieces in one day, since I'm getting a slow start and have other things to do, but I'm feeling motivated to do at least one of them.

Friday: Finished up the knotted necklace that I've been trying not to get so frustrated with that I throw it at a wall working on and managed a pair of earrings to go with it. I've had one person on DevArt comment that it looks like something Inara would wear. I tend to think of appropriate jewelry for a Companion as a bit more elegant, but thinking about it, I can kind of see where they got that.

Friday gathering was small this week - just me, Killian, Keshian, RoseRed, Atavik, BettyBaker and Fallen. Watched the Olympic opening ceremonies -- there was much snark and geographic humor. For the record, 2008 people doing tai chi in perfect synchrony is impressive. Also, the audience in the stadium outnumbers the entire population of Tuvalu by almost 8 to 1 and China's field of athletes for the games would be over 50% of Tuvalu's population. Oh, and Bush doesn't hide his boredom well on camera.


Saturday: Lairian and I discovered that after only two weeks of laying off RockBand, we got sucky. Fortunately, everyone arrived from game in time to save us from our selves. (But we DID manage Enter Sandman on expert. *looks at Leiland* Now we just need a drummer. *evil grin*) Game went late but well - managed to not get Poe's character killed, but she's going to smack me when I tell her what my curiosity resulted in. :D


Sunday: House got tidied. Kitchen got cleaned. New media cabinet got the last of the assembly done and our CD/DVD/video game collection has been relocated. Nothing like new furniture to make the room look totally different.

In all, a good weekend.

Stocking up on silver rings and components for a commission piece I'll be working on. I could say, "Whoo hoo...new rings to play with!"

But it's so much more fun to think of it as "soon there will be bits of metal flying through the air in my general direction..." and then cackling maniacally. =D



Of course this means that I better finish that damned necklace I've been fiddling with off and on for a couple weeks now. I think I've finally got the knack of the cursed knots I'm using and MIGHT be able to finish it without throwing it across the room. But we'll see...

I finally broke down and got a display pedestal to put my jewelry on when I take pictures of it, and I had an excuse to give it a try last night. Maybe it's just the necklace I was photographing, but I think it's going to work really well. I now have visions of spending part of my weekend organizing my collection and taking better pictures of some of my older stuff to replace the shots I currently have on DeviantArt.

Oh, and if you'd like to see what happens when gwenrose hands me a bag full of garnets and tells me to cut loose with just a rough idea for a necklace...the results are over here.

Usually I don't post things until the commissioner has received and approved the finished piece, but I just loved how this came out and couldn't wait to post it. Loved it so much that I may break my rule about never duplicating a piece...

It's just so...slithery! *purrs* It's the kind of piece I'd like to wear with something really low cut for the pure pleasure of feeling it drape against my skin and slide down my cleavage. *grins evilly*

Gwen...you won't mind if I end up with a near duplicate for myself, right? ;P

Before I head into a meeting I'm not in the least bit prepared for but will bullshit my way through... *sigh*

For those who have been waking up, choking and wondering "What's burning?"...apparently the answer is "the entire state of California."

Other than that, I've been attempting to be productive about jewelry making again, since I've had some projects languishing. For those who like to see what I've been up to, poke over to my DeviantArt page. (I'm too lazy to do a proper post with pictures right now.)

And thanks to a couple things I found on DevArt, I now have the desire to make chain mail belts. Several of them. In differing patterns, widths and designs. *sigh* Guess I'll add that to my list of "maybe I'll get back to this idea eventually" projects.

For them's as care *glances at mdyesowitch*, I added a couple things to my DeviantArt page yesterday.

And ladyofdragons got into the "here...this is a bunch of stuff that is complied into a less than aesthetically pleasing configuration...maybe you can make it better" game yesterday - which means there will be more, because apparently I cannot be handed something random, slightly tacky or even downright hideous but made of decent components, without trying to improve it.

[Edit: Come to think of it, I think she mentioned that poeso gave that hideous mess to her, because it was her colors...which means that Poe has once again managed to hand me something that I am immediately driven to turn into something wearable....Poe, if you keep this up, I may have to dub you "Muse"! ;P]

In this case, she handed me a necklace and what might have been earrings that looked a bit like something you'd find for $0.25 at a local garage sale - one of those long chains of beads and godawfulnasty (yes, that's a technical classification) wire with little charms dangling off every inch or so, all of it compiled into something that's really...gaudy - even if the individual components are relatively nice - and would probably snag on hair, sweaters, shirts or passing animals. I coiled the whole thing in my hand, eyed it speculatively, and told her it looked like a Muppet.

Then I proceeded to take it apart, separate out the pieces (lots of purple glass beads, crappy metal beads and glass flower and leaf pendant pieces), and start turning it into something else. I was sort of startled to discover that the individual components really weren't all that bad - it was just that godawfulnasty wire and the configuration that were camouflaging the potential the components had.

I now wish I'd taken a picture of the...thing...before I took it apart, because then you could understand the significant difference between what was and what will be. I'm about three quarters done with reworking it - at which point I shall offer it back up to ladyofdragons for her collection - and will post a picture, since I think I've made a rather remarkable difference in it.

I totally didn't make the necklace I was going to work on last night...either of them...but that's ok, since one was for me and the other -- well, let's just say that LoD would have gone home with something else if the idea had worked, so she really only sabotaged herself. :P

( Edited to add photos...since I finished the piece )

Ok - I know a few of you follow my DeviantArt page and have seen these already, but for those of you who don't and are curious what sort of jewelry things I've gotten up to lately, here's the fruits of the last couple months (with one exception since I have a piece intended as a surprise).

( Cut to spare you my egotism )

I'm working on emptying out some of the stash of beads and bits that I've developed over the years. I have ideas for gifts for several people and I've got three or four themes in my head that could be used to create a whole array of pieces, which I'm not sure if I would gift those out or try to sell them...we'll see. (First I have to make them - then I can worry about what to do with them.) I figure if I actually manage to make a good dent in my collection, I'm going to end up making a LOT of pieces this year.

Seriously...I'm supposed to be at a birthday party in about 3 hours, and since I'll probably be leaving straight from there to the airport (or close to it depending on how the car/husband shuffling works out), I should be packing. Or better yet, I should be packed.

But some of last night's flop/relax/cuddle vibe is still there and it's making it hard to get motivated. (I continue to be sure that every long week should end with a cuddle pile...I'm still collecting empirical evidence on this one, but two weeks running is starting to confirm my suspicions.)

I think the motivation I need is probably at the bottom of my tea cup. Or at least I hope it is, since once I finish my tea (and you can tell I'm in a rush to do that by the fact that I can't drink and type effectively at the same time...) I'm totally going to do that packing thing. And maybe some stretching. And dishes. (Hmm...maybe I should ask Poe what it would cost me to come home to a clean house next weekend...) Seriously. I'm totally going to. See...this is me going...

Really.

Any minute now.

*looks out window* Ooh...there's sun today. I should get a picture of the necklace I made for my cousin (very very late Christmas present) while I can get the sparkly bits to shine! *gulps down last two swallows of tea and scampers off*

Wanna see what I've been doing to occupy my time lately?

( Sure you do! )

Oh, and I've also been trying to get to the gym more, am devouring the Dresden Files books, have finished Season 3 of Dr. Who and keeping busy at work.

And cleaning plum wine off my ceiling. (Note to self - the wine is not salvagable after having pineapple sitting in it all night. Returned to the bottle, it will carbonate. Champagne has NOTHING on carbonated plum wine - either for loud bangs when "uncorked" or for fountaining of contents. While amusing, it would be advisable to find a better motivation for cleaning the kitchen.)

And I went to Cirque du Soleil for the fist time on Friday night. Wow. Seriously. Just WOW. (but how could I not love a circus with seelie sluha and unseelie satyrs on hamster wheels.) Poe and Killian were a couple rows in front of me, so they couldn't see the look of fascination and wonder on my face for most of the show, but I am properly convinced that I should have been finding a way to get tickets and join the annual birthday trip to Cirque for several years now.

Argh.

MUST. STOP. DESIGNING. JEWELRY. AT. WORK!

*forcibly puts down pen and note pad*

Seriously...I have pages at the back of certain note pads/books dedicated to random ideas, and they're making my shopping list expensive! Must stop. Must stop now!

Must finish current projects before buying parts for new ones!

I still haven't made up my mind on what to do with that piece of malachite that I've been polling the audience about. I did a piece of wire weaving that I was hoping to use for a neck piece, but the weave is uneven and I'm generally unpleased with it. I think I may end up with the black ribbon, just because I liked the way it looked and it's an easy solution. =/

I have done a couple wire wraps in the last week or two though, and I thought I'd share. The first is a piece of agate I've had floating around forever and the second is a petroglyph that fallen42 picked up for a holiday present. There's also a pair of earrings that I did for gwenrose to go with the necklace I made for her.

Happy Birthday Gwen!

And a belated Happy Birthday to gianni - I didn't make you a necklace...sorry. ;)

( Pictures below the cut )

Ok - so last week I asked opinions on a piece I'm trying to finish. General consensus was that ribbon was better than chain, though the main chain objection seems to be that it's too thin for the focal piece.

Therefore, I've set up a couple of alternatives for further consideration: ( Pictures below the cut to save your f-page )


Poll #1090429 Necklace Opinions (Round two)
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27

So - What do you think?

If the white cord --

Other thoughts?

I'm personally leaning towards the double thickness neckwire or the knotted cord idea (though I'm not sure that beige cord wouldn't be a better choice). I also kind of like the black ribbon. I think the thin green ribbon is too thin, and the silver embroidery thread has the same problem as the chain. What do you think?