Indigoskye Bead Fashions

I took workshop with Connie Fox yesterday and I thought that I’d share a few of the earrings that I made via techniques inspired by her class. This is my second workshop with Connie. It is such a genuine pleasure to learn from a giving and gifted instructor. I’m grateful for the opportunity to study with her.

Education as an artist is something that I didn’t value during the first eight or nine years that I was in business. I felt that being self-taught was more important in order to develop your own unique style. While I still feel that it is important to have your own voice as an artist, I’m starting to realize the value in learning from others. I no longer reinvent the wheel when I attempt new techniques and at a class I’m able to meet with other like minded artists and gain more understanding of the medium.

The earrings on the far left are turquoise and bali spacers. The hammered sterling station is the “eyelet” pattern that I learned in the class. The earrings are hammered french hooks. The earrings at the top have a handmade cone earwires in sterling silver with african turquoise coin shaped beads dangling below. Finally, the all sterling earrings are a combination of the cone shape and coiled swans. Learning how to create a loose enough coil to hammer after coiling was very interesting. I love the little swan hooks too.

Earrings similar to these will be part of the new line of jewelry to be found in my booth this coming spring. I’ll have them in a wide assortment of stone choices. For those of you that request copper earwires, I will try and stock a few of the new earwire shapes in that metal. Please feel free to ask me about them while you visit my booth.

Whew! I think that 2006 had to be my busiest year in business to date. I did far more venues than I’m used to and was happy to see most of my jewelry find new homes with my customers. What I have left I’m going to be photographing and popping up into my esty store which can be found at the link in the topbar of this blog. My art prints are available there as well.

2007 is going to be the year of changes for my jewelery business. I’m going to continue to do many of the new venues that I started this past year and I’ve earmarked one or two new venues to add to my schedule this year that should be plenty of fun. You’ll be able to see where my booth will be in the “event” section of my blog. Just press on the link and all the shows will be listed as they approach on the calendar. Venues for 2007 will start to be listed there as my confirmations come in.

Another change this year is that I’m currently in the process of setting up a new area in my studio to do metalsmithing. While I don’t expect to have anything of a gallery quality to showcase this year, I am hoping to have sterling and stone rings, pendants and earrings to add to my usual wire wrapped work possibly in late spring. I’ve been growing fascinated with hot metal and all the fun things that you can do to it with a torch. I’m not sure where my inner muse will take me, but it is going to be an adventure.