Just a few of the not so "showy" gems. You know, all the Czech glass, Swarovski crystal, cubic zircons etc...all that sparkle! Well I've been trying to use some of the less flashy stuff and incorporate a little bit of understated sophistication into my work. Blue chalcedony though quite popular is rather under-rated. I think this is probably due to the fact that most of the precious or semi precious gemstones that are more on the opaque side tend to get less attention. People naturally seem to gravitate toward stuff that glitters or sparkles. It's only natural that this should occur, as we always give most attention to that which catches our eye, and holds it. Sparkly things are more noticeable, therefore get first notice. But if we look a second time and just a little harder or longer, I find that some of the less glitzy sparkle sits quietly waiting to get discovered. And once I do, the payoff is usually great! Take simple turquoise. If it's real, (rather than dyed howlite) it has a soft mottled texture with more than one shade of blue and green swirled together. There can even be bits of dark gray or black lines in it. Black onyx, black agate, jet, obsidian - some of my favorite black gems are stark and gleaming in their simplicity. They can add so much needed "grounding" to an otherwise light or airy design with no foundation other than - you guessed it SPARKLE! Well sparkle can only go so far and I find that if you look hard, you'll be rewarded at the subtle yet colorful, subdued yet sophisticated and the understated yet "out there" qualities in opacity! Often the cut of an opaque gem can make up in facets what it may lack in sparkle. The facets give it back some of the glimmer it may lose when it gives up to nature the translucence we place so highly esteemed! Take a second look. You might be surprised...

I had my bead board resting on my portable AC unit while I made a phone call. My roommate came in and decided to turn the AC on. After about 5 minutes the subtle vibration of the unit sent the board and it's contents of about 300+  2, 3, 4 and 5mm faceted glass beads tumbling down, bouncing, rolling, flying, sailing, dropping, cascading and sprinkling all over the plush carpeting. At first I only remembered that I had left out some 11mm faceted rectangular tiger eyes and thought no big deal. Then I remembered all the little Czech glass beads, and oh yeah, almost forgot 1-2mm crimp beads (about 200). Well I'm still crawling around on my knees and elbows picking up beads. I even used my little hand held vacuum cleaner to pick some up. I managed to find a dead moth and it got sucked up into the vacuum as well. I learned my lesson. I'm usually quite good about putting my projects away when not in use. This one time...Damn! I always feared the day when I would drop hundreds of tiny beads and well, today it finally happened. So now at least I don't have that to fear anymore. Unless...these things really happen in 3's!! NOOOOOO!!! Time to get out of the bead workshop for awhile. Maybe try something relaxing like fishing, or stock car driving, or...

Last night I sat down with a huge pile of old invoices from suppliers with the goal of finding each item I use in making jewelry and determining my actual cost per piece. Well it was about as fun as, well, sitting down with a huge pile of old invoices...

I was somewhat surprised. My estimates as to what it costs to make a piece of jewelry were surprisingly close to the actual. So much so, that I am only going to use the actual findings as a back-up or if there is a particular question. I guess when you're spending money to make money, you remain pretty aware of what goes out vs. what comes back in.

So, I'll keep on making my jewelry as long as I can afford to do it. After all, I'm not in it for the money. Ha! If that were the case, I'd be eating canned cat food. Really though, I find it cathartic, relaxing, satisfying. Some people write music, some people make furniture, some people perform surgery on other people's brains...Yikes! I'll stay with the jewelry making for now. It's fun. It's satisfying. Ya know what I mean?

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to comment. Feel free to pat me on the back. Freel free to disagree. Feel free to blast my opinion. Feel free to publicly humiliate me (or have fun trying). Whatever you do, feel free to take what I read, use it, throw it away, get insulted, inspired...as long as it evokes some kind of emotion, thought or simple reaction. Otherwise, why bother?

When listing keywords to go on my ad campaign for my ecommerce website (www.planet-tribal.com) I never know which "tense" or "singular" "plural" or whatever. So I list all the combinations. I hope this isn't a waste of time or keywords or a bog down on the whole keywords listing thing. Does any of this make sense to anyone else? Why do they call this "blog" anyway? "bring little orange gifts?" bubbles linger on grass?" "buy lots of goods?" ...am I rambling?  "bright loveable old gal?"

A lady asked me if I would make her some earrings. I said I didn't know how. I figured it out. She loved them. Now I make earrings to go with my necklaces. Or just earrings to go with your ears. Either way, now I make earrings. Hooda thunkit? I'll post more on ebay as I make them and have the time and desire to take all the damn pictures!