New Kid On The Block

Well, here I am, ready to take a stab at making a buck or two on eBay.  I have to say that right now I'm a little overwhelmed.  There's so much that's new to learn and to think about doing.  I've had to keep myself from hovering over my auctions like some old mother hen, checking them every two or three hours.  So far not much activity, but that's to be expected.  I'm brand new here so no one knows if I'm trustworthy or not, but hopefully I'll get a couple of brave buyers who will help me rectify that.

Right now I've got five of my best pieces up for auction and I'm a little nervous that none of them will sell.  It took a bit of courage for me to decide to do this.  I've always been concerned that, in some way or another, my work just isn't good enough.  Exposing myself to the possibility of having those concerns proved right is a wee bit nerve-racking.  I guess that's a normal part of being an artist.  Whether you create jewelry, paint, dance, or sing you're putting a piece of yourself on display for others; laying your creative side bare for people to look at, hopefully enjoy, and often critique.  All I can do is try to use whatever experiences I have here to help me to grow and further hone my skills.

I have a couple of other pieces that I plan on putting up here on eBay, including a choker and earring set and a bracelet based on abstract shapes.  Abstract shapes always remind me of jazz music for some reason, so I themed the pieces after the voices of two of my favorite female jazz singers: Billy Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. 

The bracelet is themed after Billy Holiday and is made from 22 gauge copper wire and blue and black Czech glass mini-beads in various finishes (frosted, irridecent, foil lined, etc).  Holiday started out as a blues singer though her career also made her famous in the world of jazz.  Her voice has a very smokey, husky quality and its range of vocal expression is incredible.  With this in mind, I chose copper wire, which has a darker feel to me than silver or gold, and since I can't help but see the world in blues and blacks when I listen to Holiday I chose the bead colors accordingly.  The end result is actually quite striking.  It's 6 1/2" in length without the "hook and eye" clasp and I added and inch of jumprings onto the end for adjustability.  The end also has a larger blue glass bead to weight it so that one-handed use of the clasp is easier. 

The Ella Fitzgerald choker and earring set is quite a bit different.  The woman had an incredible gift for scatt so the abstract shape I used for the set is more angular than the one I used in the Holiday themed bracelet.  Fitzgerald's voice is also brighter in tone and quality than Holidays and I tried to reflect that by using 22 gauge silver wire.   For the beads, I chose 8mm rainbow flourite, smokey quartz chips, and purple foil-lined Czech glass mini-beads.  My bead choices are also meant to reflect my impressions of Fitzgerald's voice.  She had a truly versitile range and a deft control when it came to expression and pitch so I chose beads that were more than one color (rainbow flourite and smokey quartz) and that caught the eye (foil-lined mini-beads). 

Whether or not I was successful in capturing these two divas of jazz in jewelry I will leave up to you to decide.  I anticipate puting the choker and earring set and the bracelet up for auction some time next week.

Thanks for taking the time to look and read!

~Elizabeth Farnsworth