Are YOU Having a Grape Day?

 I totally am! Or at least try to. I finally got around to doing something with this little grape that's been sitting in my component box ever since I realized it was too small for a needle minder commission I got over a year ago now.

Cute, huh? I WAS going to turn it into a pair of earrings, but guess what? Too lazy for that. Just slap a jump ring and a phone charm cord on it and call it done! My mantra for the past several months and years has been "Put a chain on it." This is a phrase my mother told me in high school as I was making ginormous, fully beaded work. It took me many years to realize the wisdom in that advice. I tell her that every time my business comes up in conversation.

I also believe this is about the point where I entirely gave up on trying to get Delica 0565 to even contrast with any of my other greens. This past month I finally used it up and won't be ordering it in future. I have switched over to Delica 0566 entirely, despite liking the color slightly less. Contrast is everything and I've since ordered it in bulk. The grape charm isn't a piece that suffers from the lack of contrast, thankfully, but future pieces will benefit from the switch.

There's only one available at the moment, but like all my simple stitched pieces, it is made to order indefinitely. To purchase please click below.

Going Overboard with Albion Stitch

 Alright, so I make an almost weekly habit of frequenting my local library (post farmer's market cuz it's right down the street) and checking out far more books than I'd ever read in a three week time frame. That goes double for when I ILL a book from another library. Hence this necklace:

The edge bezel is a modification of the center portion of one of Heather Kingsley Heath's bracelets in her book Introducing: Albion Stitch. And of course I unintentionally jumped right into advanced difficulty in attempting to bezel anything in the first place. After four failed attempts, it did turn out, but mostly because I finished it out of spite.

I even made matching earrings to go with the necklace station elements!

Also, a netted back to set off the solidly painted back of the piece of matt board the flower is drawn on.

Pictured here is one of my first three attempts cast aside, next to a bead soup pile of even prior attempts, and the final version in progress. Getting the initial math right for this was HARD!

And to torture myself even more, I opted to stitch in the ditch to create a second bezel layer UNDERNEATH the first one. What kind of crazy am I? The kind who needs to fill up extra space, that's what. The depth of this was significant without it. I did end up taking the red leaf out, as I did cover the drilled hole of the faceted acrylic cabochon in the end. And it cluttered the design.

So, what do you think? Love it enough to buy it? You can do that here:

Getting Back to the Bench

 It's been what feels like EONS since I've sat down and done any piercing work. At all. Like, I can't tell you how excited I am to have finished this little set!!!! 

It's quite beautiful and nice. I've had it on hold for.......two years or so now? Because, well, I didn't have a bench and doing piercing work for me at a standard desk is more of a hassle than it should ever be.

BUT! That all changed a few weeks ago. My partner found this amazing beauty at a local yard sale type place!

I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to him and his super power level thrifting instincts. I am soooooo lucky to have scored this bench for far below asking price. I was like a tempest leaving the house and rushing over there. I literally exclaimed at the lady "MINE!" while excitedly pointing and could throw my money at her fast enough.

Needless to say, there's a lot more work and setup to do prior to being able to be at max functionality. I've never had a proper home studio setup before, but I have a ton of the basics leftover from my college courses, with a few upgrades over the years. But I still lack a functioning torch (not pictured). The one that was given to me a while back I'm searching for parts and ensuring safety before getting to work, and then we'll be in business baby!

In the meantime, feel free to check out the newest piece and click below to purchase.