I'm still here. I've been busy with school and then the Holidays. and now I have a tiny window with which I can concentrate on more creative endeavors. I recently bought a new tool called the 1-Step Crimper and I can't wait to use it. I can spend more time creating and less time fumbling over trying to get things to crimp properly. Hopefully I'll get pictures of that stuff up soon.

In the meantime, here is another article that I find to be very interesting: Etsy and The Culture of Cheap

The author talks about pricing and how it is hard to compete sometimes with people who undervalue their work. It kinda reminds me of an aspect that has stopped me from posting jewelry on Etsy even though I have an account. I always worry about pricing and if people will be willing to buy my little treasures.

Another problem is that I don't have the best camera though I really want to get the best photos that I can of my work. I can't buy one just yet and I'm hoping some kind beneficiary wouldn't mind letting me borrow theirs. :-D Until then, I'll make do with what I have. I plan on putting some of my work up starting at the beginning of the new year.

Well that's all for now. Take care and be cool, my babies.

Branding yourself

I knew that once school started that my blog was probably going to suffer badly. Well it has, but I have not forgotten about it. Since I don't want to gripe about school, which I wouldn't do because school is rocking this semester so far, even though there is TONS of work. I figured it would be neat to link to another blog that I found interesting:

branding yourself or your work

This blog is from a woman who used to be in corporate america and then decided to quit and assist people who are in small business. She talks about how branding is fine and good but it's not worth anything if you don't have the work and passion to back it up. The funny thing is, I was just thinking earlier today that I should concentrate a bit more on my branding and "voila!" (<-- this is what people are actually trying to say when they say "wah lah!") this blog drops into my lap.

Now I've gotta go back to doing homework but I'll make a mental note that I also have to work on other things that I am passionate about to have something of quality to brand about... if that makes any sense. I should keep a sketch pad with me to fight the urge to doodle on my homework or notes.

success!

so I finally finished the bracelet. It seemed to take forever and I was so happy when I was finally done!

This is the bracelet next to my original sketch for it

Close up

I decided to call this one Green Goddess. Naming is hard. lol

if, at first, you don't succeed...

So I had to put the peach spiral bracelet (or whatever it will end up as) aside because I need a few more supplies to make it work like I want it to. In the meantime, I'm re-purposing an old lariat into a bracelet. I drew up a new design. Unfortunately, being experimental and all, I've had to restart the darn thing about 6 or 7 times. I'm taking a break right before the 8th time to update.


     This was the way I had laid out the main beads for the bracelets, but since i took this picture I have scrapped that idea. it's going to be similar, but i had to trim a bit for sake of length and the holes in the little blue beads were too small or the multiple pass-throughs that I was planning.

Now I'm off to put this thing together and hoping that the 8th (approximately) time is the charm...

My first post

So I finally decided to make a blog and I call my blog "Ooh! Shiny!" because it's the main reason why I do what I do. I love beads with all their sparkle and the nifty things that I can make with them. I figured that a blog would be a good place to put things that I am working on.

This is what I'm working on right now. It's why I wanted to do the blog so I can show stuff like this in progress.

Here is another pic of it that I took using a flash. I don't like how the flash makes things darker, but I do like how, in this instance, it shows more detail:

 Extreme close up:

I'm not exactly sure what it's going to become. My first thought was "bracelet" but lately I've been tossing some other ideas around. I'll post the finished product whatever it will be.