Tuesday, January 29, 2013

New things listed...

I found a big bag of stones at the thrift store.  I guess someone got rid of their collection.  I am terrible at stone identification--the only thing I recognized for sure was black tourmaline, and only because it's so obvious.  I assume these guys below are clear quartz clusters.  That's what I listed them as.  
Everything in the bag was raw and most stuff is pretty small.  These chunks are about as big as it gets.  I don't solder and wire wrapping things this small is hard, so I decided to use polymer clay as some kind of agent to see how I could incorporate some of the stones.  The above quartz are actually set into Dimensional Mod Podge though.  That stuff is really useful.  There's no baking, heating, or mixing involved--you just apply it and it sets like resin.  It's not perfect though--I've learned I have to kind of go with its nature, which is a real 'liquid' nature.  But if you experiment a little, you find ways of doing things with it that you usually have to be more hi-fi with--I've even made head pins with it.  Here with the quartz earrings something strange happened and it turned blue--it's a clear, uncolored product.  I put aluminum foil on the bottom under the rocks--I wonder if it was some kind of reaction between the foil, the oxidization, and the Mod Podge?
 Above are a couple of "polymer stones."  I have a pair of earrings with smaller ones in my shop too.  I just mold a mix of regular and liquid polymer clay over the stones trying to get it kind of seamless so it looks like it melds together, and then carve it after curing.  They're not getting a lot of attention--maybe *too* creepy looking?  If they linger too long I might embellish them with some beaded wire wrapping or something.
 These above are some of the stones set in the Mod Podge again.  It turned blue as well, and there's the foil under everything here too.  In some of the other pictures of these you can really see how it looks watery with ripples and a sense of movement.  There's a sense of 'artificial landscape' with these that intrigues me.  Like a fake creek that would be at an amusement park you'd be enchanted with as a child and always remember.  Or like a scene you'd view of a creekside puppet show inside a Viewmaster.  I really like fake landscapes of all kinds.  The rock cabs above will be listed in my supply shop within a couple days.  I am truly burned out on photos and listing--this  is my first terrible severe burnout of it.
 Above is a mixed set of polymer beads now available in the supply shop....
 ...and another single bead.  The other one did sell, so I guess it's a good idea.
 These earrings have been listed a while, but I don't recall showing them.  The beads are from Fall Hill Bead and Gem.  It's the bead store here in my little town that I've mentioned; she's recently opened an Etsy shop and I noticed there are now some vintage and Czech glass beads listed in addition to the Herkimer Diamonds and gems.
 These bright yellow Czech glass beads are from Fall Hill as well.
 And so are these little Russian blue glass trade beads!
More earrings....I am in love with the lampwork beads here.
Some little vintage sugar glass bead earrings....


 And finally, some handmade ear wires.  It's all new territory, this supply shop thing--I have no idea what will  or won't sell, so I'm kind of all over the board with the offerings right now.  It's so much easier to get things listed in there for some reason too.  Most of the objects are simpler in form, and more straightforward in a lot of ways--there is not as much having to make sure every single angle/color/shape/function is conveyed and communicated.    It's a welcome little relief.

There's much more listed in both shops--just feeling too photoed out to even open the files again to show--bleh, photos...
What a strange thing to be sick of!











4 comments:

  1. all the best for (one) of the hardest workin gals out there.

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  2. I think we all get photo edit and listing burnout. So time consuming. I rather like your odd shape polymer stones. Your fabulous beads with a twist. I might have put the hole in a different place but they're very nice.

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  3. The holes are one of the trickiest part of making these. You can't really tell where the stone is under the clay, and if you go in too close too center it's highly likely it'll hit stone, then there will be stab marks to rework. So far the best thing has been to just make them briolette style beads with top holes. But I've only made a few and have lots of experimenting to do. And they did sell last night, so I'll definitely be listing more.

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  4. So lucky finding stones at a thrift - love the raw organic quality. FancifulDevices has been using plumbers putty which might also work well to set. I browse your supply shop quite frequently and I think it's great.

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