Commissioned work with new materials

I heart figuring out a new jewelry method by mistake or chance encounter. Actually, no - fewer things make me happier than when people ask me to make custom jewelry to celebrate a loved one. Wait - no, I am happiest when I have returning customers asking for more. Scratch that - I am happiest when a returning customer asks me to make jewelry for their loved one and I learn a new technique in the making!

Recently, my friend Nilsa's husband Sweets contacted me with a simple request: leather. Apparently this is the traditional third wedding anniversary gift and Sweets wanted to go traditional and romantic, yet stick within his wife's tastes and aesthetic, which he knew I knew. I was up-front with him: as a vegetarian, I will admit that I have never really worked with leather before. Oh, and did I mention that the necklace was needed in less than 4 days? :) He asked me to go for it and see what happens. 

After doing some "research" (i.e. browsing around the internet for inspiration) I had an idea of the type of necklace I wanted to do (i.e. no hammering or welding required - heck, I prefer to stay away from glue, too) though knew that leather string is thicker than your average beading wire and would thus require beads with very large holes. The only beads I had on hand with large-ish holes happened to be some beautiful gemstones and crystals I purchased from Arizona and LA. So, after some playing around, we had this:

The little white beads are especially cool... my mom purchased them for me from a Native American craft vendor in South Dakota. Apparently they are hand-cut glass beads that are over 100-years old. When she gave them to me, I thought to myself, "Where the heck am I going to use these?" It makes sense that I used them with leather! I also avoided having to use glue thanks to some gold crimp beads. 

But then came the real challenge - closure. How dost one secure leather strings with a clasp? After tying the strands in two large knots, I played with all kinds of methods of getting a clasp on there. I even gave in and used glue to make sure that the leather wasn't going anywhere. Then it dawned on me - duh - free-style wire. Thanks to that pesky glue, I know this closure is there to stay.

Nilsa was tickled when she received the necklace: "You are so sneaky! I cannot believe you worked with Sweets to make such a GORGEOUS necklace for me! I absolutely love it and hope that your first go with leather wasn't too painful. =) We went to a concert last night and I picked an outfit that ensured I could wear the necklace. LOVE IT!!! Thank you so much for turning it around so quickly!" See, this is why I love working with returning customers who want to make something for their loved one while I learn a new method in the process...! 

Meanwhile, I was sitting on another piece that was quite overdue. At one of my shows, a client noticed that I had a porcelain Chinese bracelet on display. She bought it, then handed it back to me: "I would like a necklace to match a pair of earrings that I own which feature the same beads." Her earrings seemed simple:

But then I realized - though I have wrapped beads before, I have not necessarily wrapped rounded beads, let alone such smooth and glossy beads! I sat down at my work table and just stared at my material: a bracelet that I made which I will have to cut apart, and some wire. I played and played with the beads and wire with no luck - that wire was movin' everywhere and would not stay in one place. Then I noticed a Sharpie marker nearby and LIGHTBULB! I first wrapped the wire about the Sharpie to create a coil, then popped the bead inside the coil to get it to stay in place - rather than trying to make the coil around the bead itself. After some working, I finally had this: 

Not quite what I had envisioned, but it worked and resembled the inspiration earrings. Now that I know how to work it, I think I will play with this method more often! 


What are some new materials that you have worked with and ended up loving?

Stocking up at the LA Jewelry District!

Knowing it would be one of my last times in LA for awhile, I made SEVERAL trips to the jewelry district to stock up for my Fall Line and whatever is to follow thereafter! I went a month before we moved and stocked up... but then went back a few weeks later and stocked up again... and after making the 200 necklaces sale, I went back when I was in town one last time and fully stocked up - again! That makes 3 full stock up trips - which resulted in these:

::ah!::

::pearls!::

::and gemstones!::

::and turquoise!::

::and crystals!::

::and findings - oh my!::

In addition to stocking up on jewelry for my fall line, moving cross country, planning my hub's ordination, and making those 200 necklaces I mentioned last week, I made sure I didn't forget one of the most important tasks on my list -- an outfit (and coordination jewelry!) for myself to wear to the ordination event! I found a chic pink dress with a high collar early long before the event and the move (on sale at Macy's!), and topped it off with my hub's black tie as a sash and some CUTE Steve Madden shoes! I knew I needed to make a fun and bold necklace to coordinate. During one of my many re-stocking trips downtown, I spotted some pearls and immediately knew what to do... here is the final outfit! (Sorry that picture to the right is ghetto-tastic, it's the only one I have of the whole outfit)!

Sue's necklace looks like mine - because I custom made it for her last year!

And on a final note, I finally got a job here in KC! I will be serving as a chaplain at a large Trauma Level 1 hospital downtown - and the best part is that it doesn't start until September! Which means I have between now and then to totally tackle all these supplies I have accumulated and make a killer Fall Line! Yeehaw! Here are a few previews of the line, in a semi-4th of July fashion!

Yee-haw Cowgirl It Up necklace on Etsy

The Chuck: All-Star necklace on Etsy

Happy 4th of July!

Made-to-Order Monday

I promise I still exist. I hate that I have only had time to blog once a week. The Hubs and I have been traveling... and traveling... and traveling! But I have had some time to fill some custom orders!


The first is a continuation of my last post of custom graduation gifts for my sorority big, Katie :) In addition to making a coordinating necklace and bracelet set which I blogged about last week, Katie also asked me to make a necklace and bracelet for another cousin of hers who is also graduating soon. Katie instructed that her other cousin has strawberry blonde hair and enjoys wearing earth tones with gold and does like chunky, though not necessarily funky (though not necessarily chunky - opposite of the other necklace set!). I told Katie that I had just purchased some new gemstones in Arizona that I thought would do the trick - some of which were definitely chunky - as they were the shape and near size of a Milano cookie! Here was my layout:

Which, after some wire wrapping, lead to this:

Along with a bracelet to coordinate (NOT match!):

Katie was thrilled: "Oh, Christyn!!  I LOVE THEM!!!  Wow, they turned out nothing like I envisioned, and everything like I wanted, LOL!" Katie is happy = I am happy :)


Next I was asked by a high school classmate to make another necklace as a gift. Lindsay said: "After scouring Etsy for some sort of Confirmation necklace I thought you might be able to help me! My niece is getting confirmed soon and I am her Confirmation sponsor. I want to get her some sort of necklace and was thinking about engraving, but not sure if she would wear that all the time. I was hoping for some sort of silver cross/charm with maybe like a pearl and an initial T charm for "Taylor" -- possibly a dove if it's not too cluttered? I am thinking the simpler the better... because I would like for her to wear it often, but still have some meaning."

Lindsay and I exchanged several e-mails and I ideas before we decided to order a "T" charm from Artbeads and experiment with the necklace. I first added a cross, dove, pearl, and the T-shaped charm and on sterling silver chain and came up with this:

Lindsay and I both agreed that it was a little too much (how I love the word EDIT!) and we narrowed it down to this:

She said Taylor loved it, and was nice enough to send a picture of Taylor wearing her new necklace:

So, that's the latest! I will (hopefully) be back soon with more items from my Summer Line and maybe even more custom orders! Craft on!

MIA Monday: Quartzsite, Arizona

I wish thoughtfully posting to my blog was as easy as it is to upload a photo to Facebook. That way I would be much more regular in my Bead Up postings and not feel like I have to cram in everything once I do get a chance to blog it up! In other words, so sorry for seeming MIA!

For what I have lacked in posts I have made up in preparing for my Summer Collection ("Huh?" you may ask, "What happened to your Spring Collection?" Good question, o' faithful reader. Due to crazy life changing events going on this spring, I am going to put everything I had planned to make this spring into a Summer Collection - and now that I bought tons of new supplies I have my work cut out for me!). 


This week the hubs, the dogS (we adopted ANOTHER one!), and I drove to Tucson, Arizona to visit family. I forgot how much I loved suburbia when a HUGE Jo-Ann Etc. and Michael's greeted me in Arizona. The hubs and I went out of our way to schedule in a good chunk of time visiting Jo-Ann on our way out of town, so already I felt like the otherwise obligatory visit was advantageous to this beader.


However, on our way home I spotted a huge billboards that simply stated "GEM WORLD: Beads and Findings, this exit." I TOLD the Hubs that we would be making an unexpected pit stop at this promising place in the hopes that I will leave with a good story or two, especially considering that we were literally in the middle of the Arizonan desert near the California border (as evident in this picture). I figured I would find either some great trucker-stop-type souvenirs or a cool selection of over-priced turquoise. What I found in the fittingly titled town, Quartzsite, however, was MIND BLOWING.

After accidentally passing by the store on "Main Street" (the only street in this otherwise truck stop), I parked on a dirt lot behind "Hardes Bead and Jewelry." The store featured Native American-esk jewelry in the front of the store and lots of beading supplies and products in the back. At first glance I figured that I buy everything that I saw at the store just as well in the Los Angeles Jewelry District, until I saw a sign that said "Everything 50% off marked price!" Suddenly everything was a total deal! I walked away with a bunch of Swarovski and glass crystals that would have cost me at least $40 elsewhere and paid only $13! Score!

Walking past souvenir merchants and locals who have set up shop out of the back of their trucks, I came across the store I was waiting for: GEM WORLD. I walked in and couldn't believe my eyes: aisles and aisles of gems and findings and coral and turquoise and necklaces and earrings and on and on and on! Not only was there a vast selection, but ALL THE BEADS WERE ON SALE! We are talking 75%-off turquoise and coral; $1 pearls by the strand, crystals for less than a dollar... in other words, it was like I was in China again! 

I quickly grabbed a basket and went to town as quickly as I could since the Hubs and dogs were in the car. I managed to buy all kinds of gemstones and pearls and findings within 10-minutes and rushed out to the car to show my family. The Hubs was so impressed that he encouraged me to go back in the store and do it again. NO problem! I went back in and did it again, and this time didn't hold anything back. Overall, I bought what would have been over $500 here in LA yet only spent a 1/5th of that. I asked the guy at the counter where he got most of his beads -- turns out China, so he and I had a good little chat of all that's available in Shanghai. He also said that they are moving to a 2-story location later this Spring, which will include several big-screen TV's for all the unfortunate husbands who have to come and wait for their ladies to get their beading on! Um, who wants to make a trip to the middle-of-nowhere, Arizona?

Here's a look at what I bought:

I also bought something pre-made for myself. I can't remember the last time I bought a necklace for myself, but when I saw this one, I looked and looked over it for a good 5-minutes thinking of ways I could take it apart and re-string it. I could think of no ways I would want to change it! And best of all, it was only $5! I think I am going to take notes from this bold piece and make some similar pieces for Bead Up!

Whew! What a trip! I literally had an adrenaline rush to last for the rest of the trip thanks to the amazing deals in the middle of nowhere, Arizona! Now I have LOTS of work ahead! New pieces to come soon!