Westbeach Seastone Series

My EtsyLounge blog has been eating up all my time recently, but today I finally had some time finish up my prototype for my new Westbeach Seastones Series. This triple pendant necklace is listed in my Etsy store, Piacere. Two weeks ago, while strolling on Whidby Island's gorgeous westbeach, I loaded my pockets with some jewelry-worthy stones. When I got them back to my studio, I began wrapping them in silver and embellished some of them with freshwater pearls, intending to make single-pendant necklaces with them. I like the simplicity of the single pendants, but I really like the impact of the trio, so that is how I am introducing the first of this series. The pictures illustrate some options that customers can request, which includes the single pendant style, the triple pendant style either anchored in place or mounted freely to cluster at the bottom of the chain.

Other options will include the choice of sterling silver chain, adjusted to the customer's desired size. This prototype has a lightly anodized base metal chain, chosen because the patina and tone of the metal looks so beautiful with the stone.

Fantasy Flax Fashion Show from Etsy

Click the pictures to see these Etsy listings!
I made this handwoven fringed vest the other day, and decided it could look cool with these pants and bag that I featured on EtsyLounge on June 9 in my Flax Fashion feature. I think I'd add a skinny long-sleeve offwhite tee and brown boots for a transitional fall look, and take the shawl along for when it gets chilly. What do you think?
The vest is in my KatsaraYarns store. The cropped linen pants are by ObiMama, the embroidered linen shawl-wrap is by JurgitaMi, the bag is by iragrant. 69idxs3fzr

Bagatelle Necklaces: Baubles in Ombre'

My spectacular, affordable Bagatelle necklaces are now available in my Etsy jewelry store, Piacere. Bagatelle means baubles in Italian. I assemble and arrange my shimmering baubles in a color sweep for balanced assymetry, and loosely graduate the sizes so the big focal sits at center stage. I mostly use glass and crystal beads. Sometimes I may throw in a gemstone just for fun, like the faceted onyx drop in the green lariat (can you find it?) These necklaces anchor with embellished hooks or toggles so you can control the length. The long designs can be worn opera or lariat style, or wrapped multi-stranded once or twice around the neck. I love these versatile necklaces on simple black dresses or to "sassify" your tee and jeans for a casual evening out. These are sold in my Etsy store, Piacere. Please tell me: Do you prefer long lariats or the shorter length?

Click on the pictures to see these Etsy listings at http://piacere.etsy.com

My Long Long Lariat Necklace

I finally found time to sit down at my bench and finish up this lariat and get it listed on Etsy in my Piacere store.. The larger pendants are beaded front and back, so it took more time than originally estimated. It is 5-feet long, like a scarf, and I made the two inside pendants sliders to you can style it multiple ways and still have the pendants hang nicely. Now that I have the engineering figured out, I'm itching to make more of these. Where's the time for that, though -- all the blogging on EtsyLounge is stealing my bench time!

Etsy Lounge is Open!

I am changing my main blog focus and am building the new blog called Etsy Lounge. Please jump over and visit, and I hope to see you as a follower.

The mission of Etsy Lounge is to showcase remarkable creations by Etsy artisans, and create some synergy for some of the best talent on Etsy. If you like the items that catch my eye, please bookmark the blog or follow, and join in with your comments, plugs for other artists or for yourself, and mainly find some great Etsy Picks without having to do endless searching by scrolling through pages of listings.

Patina on Copper: More Green Obsession

I like shiny copper, but I LOVE (!) oxidized copper. So, I've been on a patina craze this last month, making things out of copper and playing with patina finishes in shades of green.

My circular shawl-pin design is based on the historical European penannular cloak brooches from the middle ages. The clever simplicity of this design looks both ancient and modern at the same time

I use copper for my version, hammered and hardened in a tumbler, and patinaed for various effects. The ancient versions are quite robust and heavy. My version is lighter in scale and weight. These attractively anchor both light weight silk scarves, pashminas and heavy woven shawls or capes, holding them in place without damaging the fibers.

Fiddling with the the patina on these turned out to be such fun that I was inspired to patina everything in copper that I can get my hands on. I love the effect on my copper disks and washers, which I'm turning into earrings for Piacere.etsy.com.

Promote Yourself: Create Links

These are a few link directories where you can submit your site. It will help your SEO ranking to create as many links for yourself as you can.

http://www.directory.ldmstudio.com/
http://searchsight.com/

http://www.xtlinks.com/

http://search-o-rama.com/

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http://www.netinsert.com/

Handmade Link Directory

Handmade Feed (page rank check tool and directory)