Small Lemons

At one of the best bead society meetings, we had jeweler Elizabeth Nephew show us how to make small beads using Fimo/Polimer clay.  We had a blast making these small lemons and baking the clay. 
We started with these flat colors and built up a larger lemon shape.  The large lemon shape is condensed with pushing and squeezing.  We rolled the shapes and cut them carefully with a razor.
My daughter tried to make something different and sculpted slices of cake with small lemon slices on top of them. 

Personalized Necklaces

These sterling tags are hand stamped, hammering each letter individually.  Perfect for birthdays or holidays, the gemstones can be further personalized with birthstones. Initials or whole names are available.

Wine, Cheese, and Beads

October 2009
What a party!  We love to host beading parties at the studio.  The all made different projects and worked for a few hours.  These ladies brought wine and food to keep the party going.

Student Work

October, 2009
This 11 year old student loves making ancient Egyptian jewelry by hand.  These earrings were hand hammered bronze and wire wrapped crystals. We are working on a final project of an egyptian collar of handmade paper beads.  Moving on to Roman jewelry next!

Birthday Girls!

Birthday party smiles!  These girls sure did have fun making jewelry, giving each other tattoos, drawing on the mural, and petting the guinea pigs.  They had cupcakes and pizza afterward.  Girls are so giggly! It always makes me smile.

Second Meeting

Our second meeting went very well, filling up my store with bead people. The crowd was low key and I tried to loosen them up, but I don't know any jokes. I demonstrated wire wrapped rings and everyone practiced with copper wire and old buttons. Next week everyone has to bring some items we can recycle into unexpected jewelry parts; keys, watch parts, paper clips, board game pieces, money, coins, clock parts, old silver spoons, buttons, sea glass, playing cards and more. We will all make a piece of jewelry with these wierd parts.

I finished a bangle bracelet for a customer that traded scrap sterling. She bought a sterling silver fork at a yard sale for $1 and I curved it into a bracelet, adding recycled material when I could.

Chester County Bead Society

We had the first meeting of the Chester County Bead Society at the store this week. It was great to see familiar faces and meet new people that are interested in beads and jewelry. In a world of internet groups, it was wonderful to be a part of something that felt REAL. I love connecting to people through their crafty obsession. We always have a basic element in common. Our favorite bead celebrity, Meredith Roddy from Beadalon, was there to loosen me up and to wake up the crowd from shyness. Thanks Meredith. Next meeting we will make wire wrapped rings with me. I will demo and show everyone how to make their own.
Don't forget to sign up for spring classes through the www.chestercountynightschool.org.

Birthday and Snow

November 18, 2009

Julianna's birthday celebration is this weekend. We are bringing everyone we know to the movies to see Bolt. She is ten years old. We had homemade apple pie and ice cream for breakfast!
Last nights class was silly and fun. All the women knew each other and were howling with laughter, making jokes and poking fun at their lack of jewelry experience. They went home with beautiful bracelets and some even made a necklace to match a bracelet they brought with them.
It snowed here, just for a minute. All the kids (and adults) ran outside to catch snowflakes on their tounges. Silly.

Calder at PMA

Aug 31, 2009

We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art today to see the Alexander Calder Jewelry exhibit. He was so inventive, experimental, and impulsive with this jewelry work. He was just doing what came naturally, his mobiles in a small scale for the body to balance. I took some photos, with glare through the glass, just for inspiration. I can't wait to get back to the studio and add some of this inspiration into my jewelry. He used cold connections (no soldering), hammered and forged wire, and found objects.
It was a beautiful, sunny day with bikers, joggers, runners, and walkers outside in Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River. We tried to stop at Reading Terminal Market, but Sundays are a no-go for Amish food. We went to the Wayne Bertucci's instead and ate too much pizza. (not really a problem for a self-proclamed pizza snob). The Ubead2 in Wayne is out of business and the store is empty! That was fast. Let's support our local bead stores instead of Michael's or online stores, because we are there for you during a beading emergency!

Giant Toad

July 24, 2009
Julianna started the day off right. She found an extra large toad in the basement window thing. Her screams of enjoyment could be heard for miles. She immediately gave the unsuspecting toad a great big kiss! We drew him in art class this morning then let him go in the pond out back. She kept missing him all day and kept daydreaming about him with a great smile on her face. What a kid!
A customer brought in 3 large and heavy sterling silver spoons to make into bangles or cuffs. I can't wait until Monday to work on them.

150th birthday

July 19, 2008
Today was the Uwchland Township's 150th birthday. The festival was a great time and a hot day to meet friends and fellow business owners. Customers kept dropping by the store with questions or with repairs. My husband cooked on the grill in the parking lot and we had ourselves a little block (parking lot) party. We had a wonderful view of the fireworks as they were set off in the dirt field across the field.

Day at the Beach

June 2, 2008

We went to the beach today. My favorite place is at the end of the earth, Sunset Beach, Cape May, NJ. There is an old concrete ship (yes, they made a ship out of concrete in WWI) that, you guessed it, ran ashore and has been there ever since. Every year we go, the ship is smaller. I usually collect "cape may diamonds" that wash up from the Delaware River. The Concrete ship apparently makes the little bits of quartz wash up just in that spot. I usually collect the 'diamonds' polish them for 3 weeks and make jewelry out of them.