Bad Blogger!

I can't belive so much time has gone by between posts! I have been neglectful for too long!

It's not for lack of thought - quite the opposite.
I have so many ideas. Hundreds.
These past few weeks? So many ideas that it's been hard to make time to sit still and share. That was then. This is now.
Beware.
I'm about to explode all over this dang blog.

SO.

I've officially switched to etsy from ebay as far as my favorite interweb jewelry supplier goes. There is just so much to choose from! I like set prices versus having to bid, and I like that everyone on the site is an artist - rather than a random ebay seller somewhere in China who never responds to your questions, but that's a whole other story...

One of the great thing about etsy is how inspired I get from looking though people's items.
This necklace below is verrrrry close to what I'm doing. It's beautiful...

I especially like the urchin charm.

I'd like to be able to offer mine for less than $160 though.

And choose a better chain to compliment the antiqued look of the charms...

SO.

I've been looking through little charms, trying to choose which ones to start my collection with. For simplicity's sake, I will be starting my collection using Sterling, but will happily make anything in gold to order. Plated, fill, 24k, you name it.

My goal is to make each necklace as personal as possible. This makes it a little difficult to choose particular pieces ahead of time. Just look at what's out there:

Have a look at these stamped pendants:

I could do that! It would be a great little somethin, somethin to have up my sleeve. That way I don't stock up on different charms, I just have sterling medallions that I stamp to order. Cute, non? Several people on etsy offer stamping kits...


ANOTHER of my goals is to make an earring jig à la:
It speeds up the process of wire work exponentially. You can buy kits that allows for more complex wire wrapping... But I'm really more interested in SOLDERING!

Turning Sterling wire into Headpins:

And then turning those headpins into ear wires:

With a little practice, I could one day turn out even fancier ear wires:

Dare I dream?...

I've found a few sellers who offer soldering kits on etsy, but I think that instead I'll drag the Mr. over to Metalliferous here in Manhattan and see the stuff in person.


Mostly because it would be a rather good idea to meet someone who could walk me through the process - as much as I like play with fire...

Roses... in black and white.

After much searching and many side-by-side comparisons I've chosen my favorite flowers.

Then I took away all their pretty color and ramped up the contrast using Jack's very advanced version of iphoto.



I'm thinking the next step will be to soften edges, cut out the background and re-create the image in two contrasting colors - making a sort of screen-print-esque 2 dimensional look. This I can then emblazon all over my website, business cards, and use to make stickers that will personalize my packaging.

The question is... Pink? Is that too obvious?

I mean you ALL know what color I'm thinking here...right?


No?

You Should, so you'll just have to *wait for it*!

Photoshop, here I come!
(Thanks Diana!)

PS - They look pretty hot with the colors popped too...

Request Accepted.

Stay tuned for a behind the scenes look at EmmaRoses's photography studio!
COMING SOON.

New Zealand Paua Shells...

These are what started it all. These exact shells you see before you.

I found them at The Bead Shop in Victoria BC. These were the first pieces of jewelry that I ever sold, all the way back in 2003. Unfortunately when your materials start at $22 a set it is hard (read: Impossible) to turn a profit - especially after the shopkeeper takes their commission, And you pay yourself for parts and labour - so after a few sales I hung up my hat, thinking that was that.
Fast forward 6 years to 2009 (what!?!) and the wonders of the interweb can now more easily connect me directly to suppliers in New Zealand where these beautiful shells are found, thereby cutting out the middle man and making me very happy indeed.

During a recent troll on ebay I found a great seller with a huge selection of paua at a GREAT price. Rather than spending $7-$11 a piece, he sells LOTS of 10 - 100 for $9-$15. I am a happy woman.
My project this weekend was to set up a photo studio in my apartment and take some photos of the types of shells I'm looking for. I'll be sending these to the seller in the hopes that he will create custom orders for me so that I don't end up with a bunch of mismatched shell pieces that I really don't need.
These are all from my collection. Aren't they pretty? It was verrrry difficult to get these to photograph well and show their true colors. I ended up getting frustrated with the camera set up after a while and dejectedly retired to bed before getting the shots I was looking for. Lucky I did, because when I opened these pics up in Jack's new version of iPhoto the ext morning, I was able to boost the colors and reduce the highlights... giving me what you see here.

These are the first two lots I've bought from said ebay seller. I always work with large pieces because that's what I like wearing, but I thought I would branch out into medium and smaller pieces. At first I was just thinking of turning these into small drops as is my usual route, but now that I'm sitting here looking at all these pieces, I'm wondering about layering. Combining color and sizes... They make a great little twinkling sound as they bounce against each other...

Too bad. I'll have to play with them when they get here... ; )

Don't worry, I'll show you what I'm up to.

I wish...

I wish I could make it so that the older posts are at the top of my blog...
Everything is up-high-side-down!

My first EmmaRose Ebay Purchase!

Yesterday I missed an Awesome lot of about 50 gold tone charms and was only out-bid by ONE DOLLAR! Today I joined auctionsniper.com and won my first EmmaRose related auction.

Look what I got!

Cute, n'est pas?!

Cross your fingers for me, cos I reeeeeaaally want to win these babies...

...Couldn't you just see one on a gold chain alongside a little shell and a gold charm??

I'm glad I get to sleep in tomorrow and let auctionsniper take care of these Instead of getting up at 6am to bid. (Thanks Dad!)

Yes Aunty Dale, I still have an aversion to 6am.

A Heckovalotta Roses

Wow. I did not not know that one could stay up until after 3AM looking for the perfect rose...

Now I know.

These first three I love for their silhouette... Love.

(this last one might be a teeensy bit too perfect)

These three I like for their lovely spiraling centers...

(I love how simple this one is)

That first one might be IT, but I didn't want to post only one photo after looking for so long!
Let's take another look...



I'd like to take this (or a combination of these flowers) and do something like this:





Then Again... Mum reminded me tonight that the Rennie MackIntosh roses are very simple and beautiful. Something like this would be really nice too.

What do you think?

A Note on Centers...
When I was little, we used to go on these looooong car trips (from London to FLORIDA) with my Nona who is this skinny little bit of a thing from Boston. She used to carry this big plastic bag of little sugar-free candies in her 'pocketbook' and would launch them my way any chance she got. She always used to say 'DON'T chew! Suck on it and when you get to the middle, there is a soft chewy Santa'. Well. Let me tell you. I would take that candy out of my mouth every two seconds and look and loook, waiting for a chewy Santa to appear in the middle of my dime sized sugar-free candy. It took an embarrassingly long time to comprehend that she was saying 'center' in her wicked-thick Boston accent ...sadly... NOT Santa. Every time I think the the word center, I think of all those little candies I ate in vain, looking for that chewy little Santa.
Now you Know...