More necklaces about books!

Hallo! Yes I've been lazy about posting. :-P But I've got some new shinies to show off today, both inspired by the book The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, through the Bards & Beads community. I loved this book, I haven't laughed out loud while reading in a very long time. The characters are all very colorful, and the tale intriguing. I wish I'd joined the fencing team back in high school...

This one will be auctioned for the Interstitial Arts Foundation, of which Ms. Kushner is a member. I probably will be someday as well :-) The necklace was inspired by Katherine, who is the main character.




And this necklace is based on The Black Rose, a well known actress in the city where Katherine is coming of age. This is based on a necklace I made previously, that sprang back up in my mind as I thought about the character. I added some more rosy details and tried a different shape for the garnets:



This necklace is mineallmine, but I can copy it for commission work. In fact, any necklace on this blog (of my make) can be copied for no additional charge if it is no longer for sale, material-supplies permitting.

The auction for the first necklace will have to be delayed, as someone hacked into my eBay account over the weekend and changed all my personal info :-( But the matter is being investigated, I hope it will be resolved quickly. Can anyone recommend another auction site while I'm holding my breath?

The Bards and the Beads!

I started a book club on Livejournal a couple of months ago. An interesting idea, coming together a bit slowly, but I'm having a good time with it. Each month, there is a new book sugested to the members to read, and then we all make jewelry inspired by the book in some way. If you're interested in joining or watching, check out our LJ community!

January's book was Coraline by Neil Gaiman. So you can tell how slow I've been about photographing my pieces lately. But here they are:



This was based on a lot of different aspects of the Other Mother, from her button eyes to her bone-white hands with nasty long, red fingernails. And of course the cold black key.



Was very glad to finally figure out how to use the rhodonite drops. I'm also getting the hang of wire wrapping, finally. The pinks and roses bring a grandmotherly look to the piece, and the onyx and black glass adds a bit of dramatic contrast. The stone with the hole is an important part of the story as well.


I'd like to auction off these pieces for charity, but that means I have to go look at Ebay and see how it works from a selling perspective. Hopefully I'm eligible for a vendor's account, otherwise I'll look for a smaller auction site.

Hopefully, this will get some of the other members posting soon. A lot of people like the idea, and I'm probably not the only person in the community suffering from repeating colds and a tight schedule. February's title was The Alchemist (yay novellas!), and March is... well, I guess you'll just have to go look ;-)

<3 Chrysilla

Music and beadwork

Last night I went to see the Cruxshadows for the first time ever, and it was great! I've been listening to their music on and off for the last 6 years or so, and I'm so glad I finally attended their show. They are incredible live :-) And their new album is also wonderful! Listened to it this morning before work, and it's already sparked some ideas for some new pieces.

Lately, even before I heard about the concert, I've been playing their albums as my main 'crafty' music, in addition to Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Loreena McKennitt, and Evanescence (tho not their new album yet). No wonder I've been using so much onyx and garnet lately...

And the Cruxshadows are still touring! If you like goth music, definitely check them out: http://www.cruxshadows.com/

Gifts and commissions

This was an Xmas/Solstice gift for my friend Teresa, she was quite pleased.


This was a Solstice gift for my friend Greg, he was also pleased.


This was commissioned by someone I know for their grandmother, to match some earrings he picked up for her from me earlier, with the same rose quartz roses and some other bits. He was pleased, I hope his grandma was too :-)


I think I've finally recovered enough from Wicked Faire to get back to work, so watch this space for some new pieces soon.

More bunnies!

While we were at the Wicked Faire, my friend Audrey was very happy about the shiny included in her payment (I pay my employees in free con tix and jewelry, haven't had any complaints yet). It was a little rhodonite (sp?) bunny rabbit with other pink and green beads. So happy was the webcomic artist that she drew this while we were at the event:


SQUEE!! I'M A BUNNY!!!

Not only did she capture my hair perfectly (I have poofy hair, I'm a librarian :-P), but bunny-me is also wearing my geek-flare shirt which is covered in patches from various fandoms. And now it's immortal. Yay!

Again, check out more of Audrey's bunny antics at The Bunny System, a webcomic with a PG-13 rating.

Bead Dreams 2007, Bead&Button's Annual Bead Artistry Competition

Bead & Button is a magazine I like to read now and then. Not sure if I'm going to put in an entry, but I'm definitely thinking about it.

For more info, click here!

Wicked Faire 2007

Yay, what fun!

And here are some pictures of our operation:



That's me in the middle, with my booth bunnies Audrey and Jenna :-) In fact, Audrey writes a webcomic called The Bunny System (rated PG-13, I'd say). She drew something really sweet for me while we were at the faire, I'll post that later ;-)


This is a closeup of half the table. The guy in the corner is Nick, my other booth bunny. He's starting up his own leather business at Nicholas's Leather and wanted to get a feel for how these things work. We have agreed to share a booth next year, yay!


And this is the other half of our table, with the raffle display.

And here's a complete gallery of pics from the faire!

Our raffle made $100 for the Joseph D'Angeli fund. The winner was this lovely lady, who once worked with Mr. D'Angeli at the Liberty Science Center:

(picture posted with permission)

Things I'm glad I did this time around:
-Brought my wooden hand. I purchased it to display rings, then, um, forgot to make rings. It seems happy to be passing out business cards tho.
-Made more of the picture-frame-earring displays, and set the pins into them *before* going to the faire.
-Printed out price cards for the earring displays and trinkets box, and signs for the raffle.
-Had a raffle! They are fun, make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and make more $$ for the charity in question than if I just sold the piece at retail value and donated the total.
-Brought three booth-buddies with me. After all the hours I've spent making jewelry, it's great to be able to doze behind the counter while your employees handle the salesmanship.
-Remembered to bring the scissors.

Things I may do next time:
-Get a bigger/extra table. This is the biggest I've had yet, and I still don't have room for everything! Wow, my inventory just keeps growing.
-Set up the table(s) in a more space effective way for the space.
-Have some new ideas in styles and techniques, but you'll see those later ;-)
-Bring tape.

My next engagement will be with Salon Con, but that's not until September! I'm really liking cons and festivals, I should find a couple to tide me over in the mean time. Any suggestions in the NY/NJ/CN area? Might do PiCon this year, it was highly recommended by friends of mine, but I'd have to figure out transportation first.