New clasp

Well, Christmas time has come and gone.

Now that I'm done with the presents, I can go back to working on shop inventory. I made everyone one of those rosary-style necklace and earring sets but with a new clasp.

I'm not sure whether I'll offer this instead of or in addition to the current clasp. It's easier to make, and I think it looks a little better, but that's just my preference. I don't want to make the made to order listings too complicated. Once I get started on building inventory, I may just do away with them altogether and list what I've made as I make it. But I like having them there as a visual reminder that you can ask for what you want and I'll make it.

I made a pair of silver and pearl earrings for my brother's wife which will be featured in the shop perhaps next week. I've got enough silver to do that and I'd like some more real silver things in the shop. I'll be ordering my silver metal in a week or so, so I'll have more variety soon, but it still won't be real silver.

Happy holidays to all, and I'm looking forward to 2012.

Howlite in Byzantine

The bracelet has been listed!

I made this bracelet a couple of years ago, back when silver was way more affordable. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back to working in silver. I do have a good amount of 24 gauge wire left, so there'll be earrings and such, but not a lot of my 18 gauge. I have enough for a project or two if I don't have to use a lot. Certainly not enough for chainmaille.

Howlite is a nice stone to use. It's an inexpensive borate mineral - calcium borosilicate hydroxide. It's naturally white, and very pretty. A nice bang for the buck, you might say. Howlite can be dyed very easily, so it is used most often as a turquoise substitute. As you can see, though, it's dyed in a variety of colors. I like the red.

A silver preview

This is an older piece I did that I'll be relisting:

The chain is byzantine and the stone is red howlite. I really like it and it looks great on my wrist, but I'm not a bracelet guy. So someone else can have the pleasure of wearing it.

There will be more silver up on the shop, but for the most part it's too expensive for me to purchase right now. I do have a lot of 24 gauge silver that I'll be making some earrings with. I'll be purchasing a silver metal very soon, but it'll either be silver-plated copper or niobium. Not nickel silver. I think nickel silver is too dull and not white enough.

Anyway, once I change out the clasp to a lobster clasp (which I think is better for bracelets) and get new pictures, the listing will go back up.

Another preview coming later next week.

I'm not great with the blogging, but I thought a status update might be in order.

As you can see from my little Etsy doodad on the right, I've got stuff up on the site now.

The idea here is to have a core of made-to-order stuff while supplementing it with one of a kind or special items that don't get listed until they're made. The whole removable clasp thing is supposed to work in that direction. I've got the chains up there mainly because my focal pendant pieces will be clasps with removable bails. So they can work as focal clasps for my basic chains, or you can put the bail on and use it with any other chain that has a clasp already attached. That's the idea, anyway.

I'm working on Christmas presents at the moment. Can't say what they are, though. Once those are done, I'm going to get back to the big plan.

I need to finish some 20 and 18 gauge chain segments for all the size comparison pictures, as well as the brass segments for the color comparison pictures. After that I'll be adding in more metal colors one at a time. I've also got two more basic chains on my list to learn. And once I get a contrasting metal color (silver is next up, although I'm not sure if it'll be silver-plated or niobium) I've got another neat specialty made-to-order chain to put up. The rosary chain will also be available in all sorts of bead colors. I'll be adding glass beads to the mix and rotating things out as my inventory is used.

I'm also figuring out how to use social media like Facebook and Google Plus pages. So far they seem to be marginally effective, but I'm sure they'll become a valuable networking/marketing tool. Likewise, I want to try out some advertising. Etsy has a program that I might use in conjunction with Project Wonderful.

I haven't seriously thought about craft/vendor shows yet, but once I get the shop in order I think that's a direction I need to explore, if only to give exposure to the Etsy shop.

And then there's the lampworking... I really should get some pictures to put up here. Lampworking is fun.

Sneak Peek

The removable clasp system seems to work pretty well.

I have two copper chains done for pictures, three more to go. I'm going to put up made-to-order listings that will offer a choice of metal for the chains. When ordered, simply tell me which metal you'd like. It'll save me money on listing fees, and I think it's just an easier way of doing it. Of course, if a miracle happens and I get a whole bunch of sales, I may have to reevaluate it, but somehow I think my customer base will be small enough to keep up that way.

My wife took the elfweave chain out for a stroll yesterday to see how it worked practically, and she loves it. The clasp makes its way down to the front because it's heavier than the chain, but I think a pendant would balance that out. She also says that the basic clasp looks nice enough that it works well as a simple focal piece, which is the point. I'm not fond of the S-shape down in front, but she likes it. I'm going to try an M/W shape so it hangs a bit more evenly. But the experiment seems to be a success, so I'm going to go in this direction.

And now, a sneaky peek of the clasp in question:

Coming Back to Etsy

There will be pictures eventually. I still need to set up a photo station, which will probably be outside. I've got a nice little area with lots of indirect sunlight for staging.

I've been refocusing my design work and trying to find an identity for the shop. I can't in good conscience sell anything made of polymer clay, at least not the dragons and magnets I like to make. The clay is too fragile to last. I may attempt to do beads again, but not for a while. I'm experimenting with plastic to make durable magnets and figurines.

In the meantime I'm developing my lamp working skills. I really enjoy messing about with molten glass. I took a beginners' workshop and enjoyed the heck out of it so I bought a hot head torch set. Man it's amazing what difference better tools make! The safety glasses that came with the set supposedly filters out UV light, but it washes out color and actually makes the flare more yellow so I can't see what I'm working with. The torch itself is also much different, but not necessarily inferior. I just have to get used to it. So my few beads so far are a little sloppy, but I'm just working on bead shape at the moment. I'm working on getting a handle on the basics: heat control, flame awareness, basic gestures and motions, bead shape, dotting (adding dots to beads). I'm not getting too complicated with things yet, and I'm keeping my color choices to only a couple of colors. Right now, just black and white.

I do have a couple of beads from the workshop that I really like, though, that I'll be making into focal pieces.

Speaking of focal pieces....

The new focus of the shop is chainmaille and glass. I'd like to be able to make my own focal beads and play around with artistic wire for color and excitement. And because silver is expensive. ;) The focal pieces themselves can also act as clasps for what I hope will be a signature design for Crifmer Creations. It's simple, just some rings at either end and a removable clasp system, but hopefully it'll be nice and distinct enough to identify me.

I've got a checklist of things I want to keep in stock, and I'm working full steam ahead. Hopefully I'll get the store up sooner rather than later. And there will be pictures soon.

Made a new dragon last night. I may or may not put up a sneak preview - depends on how soon I do the scales. I'm trying a new method putting these guys together. I'm doing everything but the scales and then baking the dragon so the body cures, and then I'll put the scales on with a bit of adhesive help from some liquid clay. The theory is it should be easier since I'll have a firm body to work with, and I won't accedentally squish the body out of shape while I'm applying the scales. Also, this way I can experiment more without fear of messing things up too much by mixing the clay if the scales don't come off clean. I can also fix cracks and "moonies" during the scaling step.

That said, I baked the dragon itself last night (it's so cute!). And lo and behold there's a thin crack running along its side. So I'll fix that with some clay and then do scales. I know what color they're going to be, just not what shape.

I've been thinking about ways to do the dragons in stages to better control their construction, and this method may work out.

Meanwhile, I've finished a matching chain for the Marble Ice pendant. I was adjusting the bail this morning, and it broke. But that's okay because the bail sucked anyway. The weave on it was horrible, and now I have a chance to make an all-new bail with a much better weave. I've improved by leaps and bounds since I did this pendant, and I'm glad I get to repair it. The problem is, I'm not entirely sure how yet, but I'm working on an idea which will incorporate a bit of chainmaille into the bail. Preview pictures of that will be forthcoming. Hopefully I can get it finished and on etsy this weekend. I really want more jewelry stuff on there.

Also going to organize the basement a little to get my supplies in order. With all the house stuff we had going on, the basement just sort of became a dumping ground. I've started making it usable again, but it's got a ways to go. At least I can move my stuff off the kitchen table now.