Metal Clay Today Design Challenge.

 Metal Clay Today magazine has posted online the entries to their "Chains, Links, and other Connectors" challenge.  It will be a two part vote this time.  Entries will be judged and voted on by a jury, and the pubic is also asked to vote for their favorite.  Below are photos of my entry.  Read all about it and vote at Metal Clay Today.

Have a great day!

Janie

CADEAUX CACHES Gift Shop in Fairhope, Alabama

I have a new shop that I am consigning my fine silver jewelry with in Fairhope, Alabama.  It's name is Cadeaux Caches.  It's a wonderful shop with lots of different types of merchandise.  They also have lots of nautical gifts.  That's why I decided to give my fine silver jewelry a try with them.  They are located at  337 Fairhope Avenue, right next to the BB&T bank.  The owner, Donna, is a wonderful lady who treats all her customers and visitors with such grace that it makes you feel glad to be there.  Here are some photos that I took the last time I was there:

Here's my little display (Please ignor the terrible photo).  If you would like to read about the construction of the large oval nautical pendant (second from the left), I wrote a post during construction with in-process photos here.

They even sell "Pretty Tools" brand tools for women.  All kinds of every basic tool you can imagine with enameled flowers all over them.

And they are ready for Mardi Gras! 

I have to say that my photos don't really do the shop justice.  I took them during a quick impromptu visit while in the area.  There is so much to see and such variety.  All types of local artisan wares as well as fair trade items.  She even sells some gem stones.  I got a very nice lapis stone the last time I was there that I plan on setting in a metal clay piece later.  There are some unique gifts there that you won't find any where else.  She even sells some beautiful seashells.  You know, the kind that you can never really find intact on the beach.  In fact, I made the silver nautical pendant  from molds that I made using some really cool seashells I got from there.  

One of the great things about Cadeaux Caches is the location.  It's right on the main street in Fairhope where you will find all kinds awesome places to shop and eat and stroll.  I can't wait to go back and try out another resturant!

Some other places where you can see my jewelry locally:

Mac and DD's Emporium, Dauphin island, Alabama

The Gingerbread House, Semmes, Alabama

And, I have a shop online at Etsy called Life Art Designs.

Have a great day!

Janie 

  

Your Own Special Songs

Allow yourself to be yourself. If you don’t want what the world says you should want, have the courage to say so.

Your greatest opportunities for making a difference in this world flow from your unique perspective. Explore, strengthen, celebrate and express that perspective every chance you get.

It’s not a matter of being different just to be different. It’s a matter of being honest with yourself and others about who you truly are.

You have your own special songs to sing. Sing them with passion, just because it feels so right.

What the world tells you is to be like everybody else. What the world needs is for you to be you.

Give to life the unique beauty of your own special making. Allow yourself to feel how good it feels, and to see what a positive difference the real you can make for everyone.

— Ralph Marston

Read more: http://greatday.com/motivate/100427.html#ixzz1iUlUIGIb

Update on the Silver Nautical Pendant and a New Photography Resource

The completed silver nautical pendant came out great!  It is now in a gift shop for sale in Fairhope, Alabama.  Read the oriinal pot with in-procss photos here.   The gift shop is "Cadeaux and Caches", which is located at 337 Fairhope Avenue.  If you are in the area, please go visit them. They have lots of great gifts and some very original artisan gifts of all types.  More on that and them later in another post though... Back to the silver nautical pendant.  Here it is:

And here is another photo of it:

Pretty nice photos?  That brings me to the main point of this post.  After I finished the nautical pendant and photographed it, the final photographs just didn't do it any justice.  Matter of fact, my photo made it look just terrible.  I had already taken the pendant to Cadeaux and Caches to sell, so it wasn't available to me to re-photograph.  Luckily, I had a new resource.  An online clay pal and teammate from Etsy, Robin of  "Adorned by Robin" came to the rescue!   She is an award winning and published jewelry artist herself.  Therefore, she quite understands the tribulations of non-professional photographers who try to capture professional looking images. Robin has started a new photo retouching service specifically for artists called, "An Even Better Image".   She does great work with photographs and also understands the type of photos required for juried events and publications, having experience in this herself.  She offers basic editing services as well as in-depth corrections.  Please visit her site to see some examples of her work and how the whole process works if you would like to enlist her help. 

Now, would you like to see wht my original photo looked like? 

Have a great day!

Janie

Open Heart Fine Silver Clay Chain Link Necklace

I just finished this necklace today.  It was my first attempt at making links from fine silver metal clay.  It wasn't easy, but I'm happy with the results.  The links were tedious to finish, sand, and polish while they were all hooked together prior to firing.  It was a challenge to be careful and not break one while sanding them.

Have a great day!

Janie



Complex Nautical Pendant In Progress Photos

Here is what I have on my work table today.  I'm working on a couple of new fine silver metal clay pendant designs for a gift shop.   One is a sea turtle and the other is a complex nautical pendant.  They are going to be really large and the nautical one is going to be very complex.  The nautical pendant is complex because it contains sea horses, star fish, and sea shells.  I've got it built and I am starting to work on the fine sanding.  Here it is without the bail.  The bail is drying and I will attach it once all the sanding is done.  I don't want to worry about it breaking while I'm doing the sanding, so I'll attach it last.

This pendant has been a lot of work to create.  I had to make each piece separately and attach them to the base one at a time.  Before I even began the construction, I made all the individual pieces in polymer clay so that I could practice out my idea first.  I knew the pendant would take a lot of silver to make.  I wanted to be sure about my design before I opened my first pack of silver clay.  I'm glad that I did that.  I must have changed the design and placement a million times! 

If you look close at the photo below, you will see some tissue paper stuffed under the belly of the second starfish.  I had a gap there and I was afraid of his body would sink during the drying.  So I used the paper to prop him up until he dried.  I am going to leave it in when I fire the pendant.  I hope it works!

Here is the other large pendant that I am constructing.  It's a sea turtle.  It's hard to tell much about it just yet.  I'm still working on him, and I still have to make the base.  There is also a sand dollar in the works next to the sea turtle that I'm making for a custom order.  Above the turtle's head is the bail for the nautical pendant.  It's drying on a piece of cured polymer clay.

  

Well, that's what's on my work table today.  I can't wait to see how it all turns out.  I'm really excited about the complex nautical pendant.

Have a great day!

Janie

P.S.  Here's the final post on the nautical pendant update and where it ended up:

Free to be Happy

     One of the greatest causes of unhappiness is letting other people tell you what will make you happy. For true happiness is not something you must chase in a particular way.

     Happiness is yours when you choose it. Yes, it really is as simple as that.

When you let go of the notion that this thing or that thing will make you happy, something truly amazing happens. You are suddenly free to be happy without condition.

The good things you associate with happiness are not things that will cause you to be happy. Quite to the contrary, they are things that will come about once you allow yourself to be happy.

Putting conditions on your happiness keeps happiness at a distance away from you. Drop the conditions, and happiness is free to flow into your life.

Stop trying to figure out what it means to be happy or what will cause you to be happy. Simply choose to be happy, and you’ll know exactly what it means.

— Ralph Marston

Read more: http://greatday.com/motivate/050423.html#ixzz1fNjBY2Wt

Have a great day!

Janie